Following potential 2014 draftees

[BTP]

Who would trade the #1 for the #3 and #12 from Orlando or #3 and 11 from Phili?

I pride myself in staying objective with my teams when analyzing potential deals and having a good understanding of various front offices and their situation.
But I have to say I have no clue what direction Orlando is going to go. They developed patterns, mimiced others. I have no clue.
I believe their decision makers to be smart basketball guys and I think their final product will be very intriguing.

Right now they have a lot of assets listed by probability that they're being a part of their final product:
Oladipo, Harris, Afflalo, Harkless, O'Quinn, Vucevic, Nicholson

In order to have a basketball lineup that comes close to patterns of San Antonio and OKC they need 1 thing the most: DEFENSE and a playmaker.
They have a lot of shooting, hustle and rebounding.

So the 2 no brainer picks for them would be Embiid or Wiggins.

What does Orlando do with Embiid? They'd have to be confident he could defend 4s and create twin towers. But if Embiid is deemed healthy he's gone at #3 unless Exum does some magic. Like black magic(no racialist).
If they go Embiid they have the size and have flexibility with Vucevic, who'll receive a 44-48 offer for 4 years from the Magic this summer or is dealt. If both work together, so be it otherwise you trade Vucevic but you'll only get phone calls from very few teams and if he doesn't outplay his hefty contract by improving his defense or scoring 18-20 a night while pulling down 12 boards they'll get limited value in return.

Playing twin towers would result in possible scenarios:

Oladipo, Afflalo, Harkless, Embiid, Vucevic
2015 PG, Oladipo, Afflalo, Embiid, Vucevic
Oladipo, Afflalo, Harris, Embiid, Vucevic
Oladipo, Afflalo, 2015 wing, Harris, Embiid
2015 PG, Oladipo, Harkless, Harris, Embiid
Oladipo, Afflalo, Harris, 2015 PF, Embiid

Then if you draft Wiggins that basically means you'll need different front court players because their current aren't playing defense like Hennigan wants them to. And that also means that Oladipo is their PG like Reggie Jackson. Secondary ball handler, grind opposite defenders tired. That would also means that one or both or Harkless and Harris are traded. Both want to start and I don't know if they'd be willing to concede their starting spot if Wiggins outplays them year one as a 6th man and they become that guy. My guess is no. And you need to deal with your frontcourt, even though Harris could play stretch 4 with Wiggins together if you have someone like Dwight Howard clogging the paint.

Oladipo, Afflalo, Wiggins, Harris, Monster Center FA/draftee
Oladipo, Afflalo, Wiggins, athletic PF, Vucevic
Oladipo, Wiggins, Harkless, Harris, center beast two way player
Oladipo, Afflalo, Wiggins, new PF, new Center

So there's versatility and very much. Which direction they'll go will probably depend on the offer they get. If Milwaukee selects Embiid and they find the Bucks' troublemaker Sanders to be worth the headache(which I doubt) or even decide that he has developed or it was Milwaukee's fault then they'll gladly rip them off a second time in 2 years and hand them Afflalo or a future first rounder.

That being said if the Jazz end up with the #1 pick I'd consider doing that depending on what's coming back with the #3 together. If I'm the Jazz I want Wiggins, Embiid, Parker, Exum in that order and if we get Parker with that deal then I'd have to make my mind up about the following questions:

Can I hide Parker while having a real defensive combo forward?(The only ones I know are Smove and Unibrow, but neither is coming to Utah)
I mean I'd be comfortable with Taj Gibson guarding Anthony Davis the next years when he's going to be the 2nd best player on the planet and best power forward to ever play the game. Yes I think he's that good and it's a shame what New Orleans management is putting around him. They'll rename into New Orleans Blues after he leaves them in 5 years unless they can repair this situation.
But Gibson and Favors in a front court? Too limited IMO. I'd be comfortable with Favors going against Davis' pick and roll and I'd feel okay long term with Parker understanding defense and making important switches against Davis' backscreen curls.
I don't feel okay with Smove's contract even though he'd give the Jazz the best guy next to Parker whose shooting woes would be eliminated via Parker and who could guard Durant one night, Davis the next, while getting them tired with his back to the basket game.
So I don't really like that option of Parker falling for us when we could have Wiggins or Embiid with #1, no matter who we're getting with #11 or #12.

I really like Exum but he would cause a need to restructure so much of the roster to create a contender that I also don't like this move too much.

I probably prefer Embiid the most for the Jazz team combined with a talented wing defender and if he's sure to fall to #3 I'd take that deal but I'm sceptical that might not be the case depending on lottery results.

 

[spycam1]

If Gordon goes to the right team that will develop him correctly (as in not stick at SF right away and play him mostly on the perimeter) then yes.

Just been really disappointed with Parker. Don't see that much room for growth in his game and he struggles to defend, even in zone schemes. Proclaimed hard worker, but appears to be out of shape?

I would still probably take Parker over Gordon though, just because his offensive game is so advanced for his age and as a GM it would be hard to pass up, but I would prefer this risk of Gordon as a fan.

This worries me too.

 

[BTP]

Yes.

I love that game vs. Mercer when Parker took all the criticism and took a ton of bad shots and didn't drive on the ultra athletic and big Mercer defense. That was awesome. Oh then there was Parker playing that Pippen like defense preventing all those simple cuts from Mercer........ wait, nvm lol.

I honestly think you have a very selective perception. You have a guy that's super talented and has a great feel for creating his own offense at a young age, who is more athletic than everyone thought and has some knocks. Some of the knocks will probably never go away. Others are fixable and some hopefully will improve to a certain degree.

If you ask me that description would fit to both Jabari Parker and Aaron Gordon. But yet you're thinking that Aaron Gordon will bring world peace while Parker's Wladimir Putin figuratively speaking.
I'd like to know why.
Why can one prospect fix his issues and the other one can't? I mean maybe you're seeing more than we do. Or maybe you're seeing things that aren't even there in the first place.

I'd just like to know why you think that Jabari Parker won't develop a certain court vision, improve his passing, improve his shot selection, improve his go-to moves even more and understand defensive schemes and how he can be successful within them while his coach tries to move him away from situations where he has to guard Kevin Durant.
Why can Aaron Gordon all of a sudden develop mental toughness needed to convert free throws? Or the necessary muscle memory with repetitions or eye hand coordination? Why can Aaron Gordon extend his range to the NBA 3 line? Why can he tighten his handles? Why can he develop real go-to moves that make him valuable in the fourth quarter and playoffs? Why can he become more than a luxury junk yard dog with high BBIQ and pasing skills?

You know I'm not saying he can't. But for both prospects and some of their weaknesses, history suggests there's a very low chance that they will get a lot better with more time. Both prospects have areas where they can easily work on and see better results.
Why is it Parker's destiny to not improve?

 

[Hantlers]

I'm gonna have to disagree with Cy on this one.

I like Gordon, but Parker is better.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

^Because Parker is pretty much the same player as he was when the season started.^

Yeah, Gordon still sucks at FT shooting. He has improved every other aspect of his game through the year though.

 

[8]

He spent some time playing center too. Things will be different for him when he gets to the NBA.

Who he is does matter. Melo thinks he is Lebron and has a poor work ethic. This is the guy that said he would be willing to take less money for a shorter season. Compare that with a kid that you keep hearing good things about. A kid that is very "coachable". I would expect an 18 yr old kid to have poor shot selection. I don't think he will throughout his NBA career.

You have to have a work ethic to be as skilled as Melo is. He wasn't just born these skills.

 

[Hantlers]

FWIW, it's easier to coach a player to be more aggressive than it is to coach them to be a better shooter.

 

[Hantlers]

You have to have a work ethic to be as skilled as Melo is. He wasn't just born these skills.

Thank you.

Is he the smartest player ever? No.

Is he the hardest working player ever? No.

However, to say that he doesn't work hard is stupid. Every single star has had to work hard to get where they are…maybe it's not as hard as we want them to work, but they worked hard. Harder than most posters here work at their own job.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

+

+

 

[Fabtrey]

He has no D.

He has bad shot selection. He can't pass.

He is not on Carmello's level, he is more of a Granger/Deng.

I don't think anything I said was that crazy.

i see that you haven't watched parker much. let me break it down for you.

1. he was out of his natural position defensively. you should know this by now. he played 5 most of the season. ridiculous for a 6ft 7 guy.
2. despite his shooting struggles and bad shot selection(which is very common in college) he still shot .473% avg 19/8.7 as a freshman.
3. per 40? 25/11.4reb. KD's per 40 was 28.8/12.4. shot same .473% as parker.
4. but KD really was one man show for that team. Parker really shared the load with many other players.
5. and he plays for coach K. dude really couldn't freelance as much as he should be. believe it or not, he actually had to control himself. yet, still avg 19.
6. yes, he's not a good defender. but so is james harden and carmelo. plenty of nba stars play bad D. those who play great D are true superstars. there are only few of them. even Bron is struggling defensively this year.
7. Deng's per 40 was 19.4/8.9 when he played in duke. big drop off compared to parker's
8. athletically parker is superior - parker is significantly heavier than deng yet parker is still a better athlete.
9. parker just has much more diverse offensive repertoire and range compared to freshman deng. as far as offensive arsenal goes - parker is clearly elite. there is not a thing he can't do offensively. Deng had problem on his weak side, and his pull up wasn't smooth. deng was a good post player, but so is parker.
10. in the next level, parker can create his own shot at will, much like melo.
11. Melo's per 40 at syracuse 24.4/11 .453%.


deng is a very good player. but parker will be putting up 24/7 by his 3rd year. 46%-47% is my guess. could parker be somewhere between deng and melo? maybe. i have no idea if parker can take that next step and be a 28pt scorer like melo did. to do that, he would have to be a consistent 3pt shooter, play 38 min, and must get some easy points by getting to FT. so it's safe to say when you draft parker you will get fringe top 5 scorer.

 

[Bodhi]

Saying Gordon sucks at FT shooting is an understatement. He's atrocious. As in, as it currently stands, he's almost unplayable in anything resembling a tight game, or into the future, the playoffs.

Also, 33% from 3 on ~1 attempt a game is basically saying he doesn't have NBA range, currently.

I'm absolutely intrigued by the kid, but I don't think anyone looking at the two (Parker and Gordon) without bias could say Gordon projects to be the better pro on this day, 25th of March this the year of our lord 2014.

 

[Fabtrey]

i did panic a little when duke lost to mercer. i have no idea how that happened, but it's march madness. he was not good in that game. and better team doesn't always win. KD was bounced early too. 1 game shouldn't make or break a player. **** happens. but honestly, i think parker will stay 1 more year.