Selden had a nice game offensively against Texas but wow is he bad defensively. His defense has been awful all season. It's less freshman issues of team defense and more just a severe lack of lateral quickness. He's a good run and jump athlete but he almost never contains his man off the dribble. The only time he "contains" his man is if he settles for jumpers off the dribble. I'm not sure he's good enough offensively to make up for his defensive issues.
I hope Parker can regain his scoring efficiency. He's been shooting under 40 percent for most of his games since his hot start. It looks like he's slower off his feet or maybe he's always been that way. He's a good leaper with space, better than Pierce at the same age but he doesn't pop off the ground. It's affected him on drives as it's enabled defenders to block a lot of his shots. Carmelo's an average at best finisher around the basket as well (albeit in the much higher level of the NBA) so it's possible for Parker to be a high volume scorer with the other weapons he has in his arsenal.
I can't tell which Harrison twin is doing what but both of them had good games against Missouri. There's still time for them to rehabilitate their draft stock and go mid-first round. They could be in play for the Nets/Hawks pick.
That's odd because Bill Self specifically assigned Selden's main role as a "defensive and physical presence in containing bigger back court players". Self is first and foremost a defensive coach.
Parker may well be a fantastic NBA player. I saw him at Simeon and he is the same guy, although in better shape than after his injury.
Not trying to hate on the guy, but a "top three pick" in the "draft of the decade" should not need "three years of NBA training" as the above poster suggests? That type of development is more indicative of an average top 5 draft pick in an average draft year.
Problem with this? Let's say you develop the player for three years. And assuming he develops, you are then faced with a forth year of "the free agent decision game drama". Then his rookie contract is over and you or someone else has to cough up a max deal.
There are rare exceptions to developing young talent to a championship contender, but the odds are very slim. That where the Pacers and OKC are at right now.
The Pacers have a top five player in the league making under $3.2 million this year and a top 25 player making under $1 million. Next year this same combination will be more in the $25 million range combined, instead of the $4 million combined this year. Pacers are all in this year. That is why Bynum makes sense.
OKC has drafted near perfectly. Almost too perfect, as they could not even afford to sign all the star players they have drafted and had to decide between Ibaka and Harden. Nice problem to have.
So if you think Parker could be Paul George before his rookie deal is up, than he is the guy. Way too early for me to put anyone from this class except Embiid, in the difference maker category.
Topic: 2014 NBA Draft Discussion Thread (Read 128532 times)