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Following potential 2015 draftees

Draftexpress has had a series examining the mental make-up of the guys who have beat the odds: Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Patrick Beverly. In the articles it makes a connection between some very important personality traits that allow them to overcome some odds.
 
Draftexpress has had a series examining the mental make-up of the guys who have beat the odds: Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Patrick Beverly. In the articles it makes a connection between some very important personality traits that allow them to overcome some odds.
Do you have a link for that? I'm very interested in the conclusions they draw. As a long-time coach, I'm not sure that I buy the ability to accurately predict that stuff. It's just not very quantifiable, and extremely subjective. I can think of numerous factors that I would believe are more indicative of future success that someone else would discount completely.

If someone could adequately predict mental toughness, it would be interesting to see their methodology.
 
Do you have a link for that? I'm very interested in the conclusions they draw. As a long-time coach, I'm not sure that I buy the ability to accurately predict that stuff. It's just not very quantifiable, and extremely subjective. I can think of numerous factors that I would believe are more indicative of future success that someone else would discount completely.

If someone could adequately predict mental toughness, it would be interesting to see their methodology.

I would say you're probably better off just saying that scrappiness can be thought of as a vaguely positive attribute and not going much further. I think you're totally right in thinking it's probably BS to be able to be much more exact than that.
 
I would be alright with Kaminsky at #12, but as of right now he is my 12th preference & is only that high because of the presence of Favors & Gobert. He is about as close to a sure thing offensively as there is coming out of college & his offensive repertoire is exactly what our rotation of bigs is currently lacking. Offensively, he is a perfect fit with Favors & Gobert. Defensively, he is about as close to a sure thing as there is coming out of college to be below average (at best). Luckily, we have two defensive big men who would help cover him on that end of the court. He is also limited in comparison to other potential draftees as far as room for growth. So, what it comes down to with Kaminsky is: are you okay using a #12 pick on a limited defensive player who brings rare offensive qualities (for a big), who will likely contribute more than the typical draft prospect, but is unlikely to ever develop into more than a quality third big? Personally I would, due to the skill-sets of our other 2 bigs & our apparent readiness to compete (with the right additions), but only if (in no specific order) none of Towns, Okafor, Russell, Mudiay, Hezonja, Winslow, Johnson, Porzingis, Turner, WCS, & Booker remain.
 
I would be alright with Kaminsky at #12, but as of right now he is my 12th preference & is only that high because of the presence of Favors & Gobert. He is about as close to a sure thing offensively as there is coming out of college & his offensive repertoire is exactly what our rotation of bigs is currently lacking. Offensively, he is a perfect fit with Favors & Gobert. Defensively, he is about as close to a sure thing as there is coming out of college to be below average (at best). Luckily, we have two defensive big men who would help cover him on that end of the court. He is also limited in comparison to other potential draftees as far as room for growth. So, what it comes down to with Kaminsky is: are you okay using a #12 pick on a limited defensive player who brings rare offensive qualities (for a big), who will likely contribute more than the typical draft prospect, but is unlikely to ever develop into more than a quality third big? Personally I would, due to the skill-sets of our other 2 bigs & our apparent readiness to compete (with the right additions), but only if (in no specific order) none of Towns, Okafor, Russell, Mudiay, Hezonja, Winslow, Johnson, Porzingis, Turner, WCS, & Booker remain.

I'd add Oubre to that list, and possibly Looney, too.
 
Lists of front court seniors in the last 10 years in the major conferences:

ACC - notable bigs Tyler Hansbrough, Jared Dudley, Mike Scott, Mason Plumlee, Tyler Zeller, Trevor Booker

BIG 12 - notable bigs: Jeff Withey, Chris Copeland, Quincy Acy

Big East - notable bigs : Roy Hibbert, Luke Harangody, Ryan Gomes, Hakim Warrick, Jae Crowder, Steve Novak, Dante Cunningham

Big 10 - notable bigs : Jon Leuer, Adreian Payne, Draymond Green

Conf USA - notable bigs : Jason Maxiel

SEC - notable bigs - David Lee, Chuck Hayes

PAC12 - notable bigs: Channing Frye, Jeff Ayres, Dwight Powell, Aron Baynes

The record is not great for senior bigs coming into the league, but there are some exceptions.
 
Wesley Johnson is still a role player in the NBA... Ammo had a horrible knee injury that ended his career... Evan Turner is still a rotation player in the NBA, and Jimmer suxx.

Jimmy Butler didn't do much his freshman year and was okay his sophomore year and was drafted as a 21.5 year old. Demarre Carroll went to 4 years of school and wasn't great until his Senior year. Klay Thompson led the PAC 10 in scoring as a sophomore... he averaged 19.4 points per game shooting 15.6 shots per game and committing 3.5 TO... 40.7% shooting... they went 16-15 that year.

All I am saying is if your argument starts with "he played 4 years of college basketball and only dominated for 2 of them" and never addresses his skills at all then your argument is stupid. I can say you should never draft a freshman or sophomore in the top 10 because look how that turned out for Anthony Bennett, Dion Waiters, Jonny Flynn, Michael Beasley, Greg Oden... If you hand pick the examples you use rather than looking at the entire sample you can make the data say whatever you want. There are a ton of examples of teams taking big swings on guys in the 9-14 range and them sucking badly.

I'd rather watch the guy and see what he does and think will what he does translate at the next level? I might also look at a few numbers and realize how dominant this guy was versus how dominant the other "busts" were and ask if he's different.

Ooh ohh! I love this game! Well... if your argument is only that wesley johnson turned out then YOU'RE stupid!

Didnt Jimmy Butler go juco due to grades then Marquette and immediately blew up?
 
I'd add Oubre to that list, and possibly Looney, too.

Those two & Portis (& possibly Dekker) are the only ones I'd consider drafting instead of him. Personally, as of right now, I'd go with Kaminsky, but fwiw I expect that he is lower than 12th on DL's board due to those defensive limitations. Frank is more of a shorter term pick, & due to how young our roster currently is, I expect DL to focus on the long-term. It's probably a year or two too early for him to make this type of "safe" pick. I just think it will be tough to find another big with that type of offensive repertoire, & if we're unable to move up for someone with a higher upside, I'd be okay with taking the sure thing as this team is fairly loaded with potential (not that you can have too much of that). Oubre has a very high ceiling, but I see him as a big risk, as I do Looney. As for Portis & Dekker, I like them both but don't view their skill-sets as rare as I do Kaminsky's. Although, if it'd be possible to still acquire one of them while also acquiring an additional 1st round pick, I would do that instead (so long as that pick has a decent chance of not being at the end of the 1st round).
 
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Ooh ohh! I love this game! Well... if your argument is only that wesley johnson turned out then YOU'RE stupid!

Didnt Jimmy Butler go juco due to grades then Marquette and immediately blew up?

He wasn't good his first year at Marquette and really never " blew up" per se. The argument is that those older players are still contributors even when they don't "blow up". Wes wasn't good for where he was drafted but we also aren't drafting fifth. What exactly are people expecting with the 12th pick? I'd like to do better than a Wes Johnson level player, but if that's the bust for an older player it's better than the upside guy who is out of the league in a few years.
 
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