If Kelly Olynyk was in the 2014 Draft, Where would you take him?

[NorthernLightning]

What does flame out mean? Is Kelly Olynyk going to go Stephan Marbury or Allen Iverson or something?

Or will the first half jitters that he shook off after the all star break suddenly and permanently return, causing him to go into a shame spiral for the rest of his career?

[greg683x]

no one mentioned Marbury or Iverson or even veteran players at all.  Young players come in the league their rookie season and play great, and then they come back to earth.

Nick even provided a list of examples for you earlier but you clearly neglected to acknowledge it.  So I'll post it again.  These guys had great rookie years, and then their jitters returned as you like to call it

Tyler Zeller
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Marshon Brooks
Wesley Johnson
Jonny Flynn
Jamario Moon
Adam Morrison
Luther Head
........ and so on.

[Vox_Populi]

Olynyk had a nice rookie season, but he was the 13th pick in a historically weak draft (both beforehand and after their respective rookie seasons).  Olynyk would be lucky to be a first round pick in this draft.  Even if you counted his rookie season, I don't think he goes in the lottery in this draft.  Just the sad reality with Olynyk.

Yup.

[NorthernLightning]

"and then their jitters returned as you like to call it"

Are you suggesting that Olynyk didn't have jitters earlier in the year? His pre-all star break and post all star break stats are night and day, and he finally started using his dribble drive. Are you suggesting he only developed the ability to dribble after the all star break?

Olynyk came into the league last year as one of the more highly polished big men in years. He was and is more skilled than every single guy on that list.

MKG wasn't skilled, he was just athletic. When an unskilled player plays with a low skill level, and does so for years, that's not jitters.

I don't see how you guys can yawn at Olynyk's passing ability as a rookie, or his 3 point %s shooting on pretty high volume. Or his above average rebounding. Or his way above average ball handling for a 7 footer. Or his wide assortment of spin moves, fadeaways, hooks, up and unders, ambidexterity, etc.

Just major bias, major hate.

[NorthernLightning]

And Marshawn Brooks was pretty skilled coming into the league, but he's dumber than a box of rocks and just about the laziest player in the league.

[Rondo9]

no one mentioned Marbury or Iverson or even veteran players at all.  Young players come in the league their rookie season and play great, and then they come back to earth.

Nick even provided a list of examples for you earlier but you clearly neglected to acknowledge it.  So I'll post it again.  These guys had great rookie years, and then their jitters returned as you like to call it

Tyler Zeller
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Marshon Brooks
Wesley Johnson
Jonny Flynn
Jamario Moon
Adam Morrison
Luther Head
........ and so on.

From that list I think they all had okay seasons, Olynyk I feel is too good not to fall down to earth. There's a great article highlighting Olynyk's rookie season, you should check it out.

[Ogaju]

REAL question is knowing what you know now, where would pick Olynyk in the 2013 draft?

[colincb]

Knowing what we knew last year? Late first.

Knowing what we know now? Somewhere ahead of Saric who has chance for a top 10 slot. Not a fan of Gordon and his 42% FT shooting, so somewhere after the top 7. 

I like KO's upside better than anyone else in 2013's draft 3 years from now. Very weak draft if MCW is your ROY.

[NorthernLightning]

I've been so busy defending Olynyk I haven't even weighed in on where I'd draft him in this draft.

I'd take two way players like Smart and Gordon over him, and I'd take McDermott over him because he is probably a better offensive player then KO.

Vonleh has a low bball iq, little natural feel for post moves, and his athleticism won't be maximized because of his brain. On the other hand he is only 18 and KO is what, 23 now?

I might take Randle over KO because of his age, but then again I don't think Randle will be a better defender, and KO is a much better 3 point shooter and passer than Randle, and is smarter in general.

But I'd put KO in the lottery, probably inside the top 10 but who knows. We know more about Olynyk than we do about Saric and his father, or Nurkic and his intangibles, and how Nurkic looks against american talent.

Push comes to shove I'd take him at 7 after Smart and Gordon.

I compared KO to Parker earlier, but Parker does seem to have a more aggressive mentality. I don't see Parker refraining from dribbling the ball or passing up a lot of shots like KO did early in the year.

But KO will probably be a more efficient scorer than Parker, a better 3 point shooter, and a much better passer.

Kevin O'Conner's writeup talks about KO's great efficiency working in isolation, and that didn't even separate his pre and post all star break isolation situations.

Both Parker and Olynyk could be variations of Paul Pierce.

[knuckleballer]

I don't see how he could be a variation of Pierce.

I think he'd be in the mid teens to early 20s.

[D.o.s.]

And Marshawn Brooks was pretty skilled coming into the league, but he's dumber than a box of rocks and just about the laziest player in the league.

We know this because we're not only extremely skilled at discerning intelligence through our televisions, we're also privy to what these athletes do in the offseason and during practices.
 

[tarheelsxxiii]

He went 13th in a draft with considerably less talent.  He'd be a year older and would have exhausted his full college eligibility.  I think he'd be a late first rounder at best, along the lines of Napier.

Agreed. In NBA history, how many scrubs put up numbers when playing for awful teams? Even if he is a contributor to a legit team someday, he will never be a starter. His offensive talent is not, and will never, compensate for his defensive deficiencies.

[rollie mass]

Kelly O -imagine walking into NBA without the prototype athletics skills and having to adjust to length,  athleticism and strength of NBA players then adjust to travelling.press and amount of games ,a losing squad and new coach and NBA refs while already at disadvantage of strength and lateral speed add to that early injuries a bad ankle  throws everything off -just finished a highlite clip but saw enough there to be impressed with his IQ,passing and putting the ball on the floor-who says this kid can't be one of best 7 foot outside shooters-i'm sure gonzaga didn't promote that side of his game or focus on lateral movement drills and strengthening --celtics fans have never had a jordon or lebron or oscar robertson,wilt chamberlin--we had the russells,havilcheks,cowens ,silas ,satch sanders mchale,birds--someday maybe kelly will be one of those hardworking ,high IQ players that were not prototypes-be interesting to see how these young boys adjust-it could break some--

[BballTim]

He went 13th in a draft with considerably less talent.  He'd be a year older and would have exhausted his full college eligibility.  I think he'd be a late first rounder at best, along the lines of Napier.

Mistakes were made. Why do you think so many GMs called him the steal of the draft in that NBA poll after summer league? What does steal of the draft mean to you?

You mean before he even played a game.  Wouldn't the rookie of the year who was drafted 11th be considered a bigger steal than the guy who went 13th?  Or maybe the 1st team all rookie that was drafted 24th?  Or how about the 1st team all rookie that went 22nd?  Or maybe the fellow 2nd team all rookies that went 21st and 15th?

Olynyk had a nice rookie season, but he was the 13th pick in a historically weak draft (both beforehand and after their respective rookie seasons).  Olynyk would be lucky to be a first round pick in this draft.  Even if you counted his rookie season, I don't think he goes in the lottery in this draft.  Just the sad reality with Olynyk.

  Olynyk's not a superstar but he's a pretty skilled 7 footer.While he might drop a little in the draft but dropping into the second round is just silly.

[Celtics4ever]

20-30 range because of his age.