As larbrd said, in my experience people have been calling this draft weak since last year. If anything it's slightly under hyped. While most of the players at the top have their limitations, most should be able to atleast stick around in the league. I think the top two are slightly (and I mean slightly) overrated, and the 3-8 range is a tid bit underrated.

 I'd say it's pretty mishyped.   It's a pretty deep draft with no sure things imo.  Not a ton of superstars. 

I also think it's lacking in those guys you find later that turn out to be superstars. I don't see anyone really like that this draft.  It's just a fairly solid draft.\

There isn't a whole lot worth stressing over like omg we missed that guy or whatever.

It's a deep draft though.  I think it's ranked pretty well and there are good players throughout.  We should be able to find some good players if we pick the right guys.

The draft is under-rated at this point. The mantra that a few here repeat over and over again is that this draft is "weak". It's a "two person draft" (I addressed that about a month ago). Yet in terms of production, shooting and some other skills there are some excellent prospects to be picked up.

PickNRoll above is correct (TP). Beyond Simmons and/or Ingram, at least two other guys drafted in the top 10 of this draft will become All Stars. I have no idea who they are because I'm not in the private workouts. But I have confidence that 5 years from now this draft is going to be seen as one that was better than predicted.

And just remember...the Nets won't be getting any better on draft night! BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I find this phenomenon interesting too. I think the way we talk about/hype a player has to do with where a player is selected and the expectations that follow from that position. Like you pointed out, usually the only players facing expectations are the ones drafted 1-15. I'd say that's largely still the case. Because of this, the focus on players 1-15 isn't so much what they can do, as it is on what their weaknesses are. It's expected that they will be able to play the game, and drafting becomes more of creating hypothetical as to why they might not live up to their potential and be a bust. Thus, you hear a lot more about Bender's physical limitations, Brown's below average basketball IQ, Simmons' poor shooting, and Murray's lack of defense+effort  than you do about their positives. At this high in the draft, the positives are almost taken for granted--they wouldn't even be in this kind of conversation if they were not considered exceptional or full of potential, thus rendering moot a discussion of how fantastic they are.

On the other hand, late first rounders and second rounders are not expected to ever amount to much (with the exception of James Young). Because of this, people tend to hype up/focus on the possible positives of these players. We hear a lot about Korkmaz's silky smooth shooting and both Qi and Maker's tremendous physical upside, and not a lot about their flaws--they are expected to be flawed, if they weren't flawed, they wouldn't be second round picks.

This tint to the conversation skews the way we as fans regard our picks. While the 3rd pick is undeniably better (and should be more exciting) than the 16th pick, picking 3rd in a "two player draft" feels like a let -down, but picking 16th when there are arguably 10 guys who can fall anywhere from 6 to 16 feels like a tremendous opportunity. Picking Bender 3rd would be par for the course, but picking up Sabonis, Korkmaz, Chriss, or Ellenson with the 16th would feel tremendously lucky. Bender would still probably be a better/more exciting pick in a vacuum, but that matters less than the idea that we "stole" someone with our later pick.

My understanding of this draft is that it's a deep draft after the first 2 players. Simmons and Ingram are a step or two above the rest, (with Bender arguably only one step behind) and then everyone else from 3-17 are kind of on similar footing. I've seen Sabonis going as high as 5 and as low as 19. I've seen Korkmaz going 8th and not being drafted in the first round.

IS anyone over-hyping it?  My perception of it was that it's a kind of weak draft with maybe 2 guys with all-star potential (Simmons and Ingram).  Nobody seems to be suggesting any of the other prospects have star potential.

I think we just are more familiar with the names, because we have a high draft pick.

I think there are at least 6 or 7 guy sin this draft with All-Star potential, with two guys (Ingram and Simmons) with legit superstar potential.

I think this could be one of the better drafts for a while, and think people are really underrating it.  Just my 2 cents.

This draft is stacked with potential and question marks. It's usually not so clear that nothing is clear.

I fully expect another olowakandi, Bibby, traylor, lafrentz, Jamison, white chocolate draft sequence. Then somebody with a shred of basketball acumen takes the next paul pierce because they aren't into potential, upside, youth, or fancy 7 foot 3 point shooters who can walk and chew gum.  Red will roll over in his grave if we end up with a bender.

No question. Red wouldn't touch the Euromistake with a 10-foot pole.