Espns first mock draft: Kings taking Julian Wright

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sactownfan

Guest
#1
The first mock draft has the Kings taking Julian Wright. i realize that if theres a talented big in the 10th spot left we got to take'em like Noah drop'n or Y. But Im not sold on Hibbert. its brought up again and again "SLOW" i could totally see picking Hibbert as a typical team reaching for a big and passing up a future allstar. We obviously cant take a SG. but PG SF PF and C? Im wit Petrie take that best player at your spot. Pickin up a sec pick could go for the Big.
 
#5
To Julian Wright, I say NO! :)
I say no as well. The track record for small forwards who can't shoot in the NBA is not good at all, no matter how athletic they are. I'd much rather take a small forward like Thad Young, who is just as athletic but has an NBA-type SF game and can shoot, instead of a college tweener game like Wright's.
 

CruzDude

Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
#6
Wow!! Another 6-7/6-8 SF, that 4 in a row!!! At least he weighs 40 lb more than Martin. Can't image GP adding yet another SF no matter his upside. NBAdraft.net says his weaknesses are too unselfish, poor outside jumper, and not NBA ready physically. On the upside, they said his strengths are athleticism, quickness, size and potential and he is a good defender with really good passing skills.

I'd rather have a 15/10 big body in the middle who can defend (Marc Gasol, Pau's brother at 7-0 and 275?) or top notch PG. Not sure if the 6-ft Mike Conley Jr is the answer either.
 
#8
Copy/pasted from another forum:
from a Chad Ford blog:


Julian Wright


Wright arrived on Friday for his first workout with Grover.

Like many of this year's underclassmen, Wright has been in school trying to finish his semester before starting NBA workouts -- meaning he's had to skip the more formal training and try to keep in shape in his college gym. Wright has been adamant since coming to Kansas that he wanted to graduate from college. Wright was on a three year plan, but after getting such positive feedback from GMs, he decided it was time to go pro. Wright however, remains committed to getting his degree.

"I just had to make sure I took care of my school work," Wright said. "My education is really important to me. So is basketball. But I wanted to take care of my school commitments and then give my full attention to the NBA."

Wright has a reputation as a hard-working, thoughtful student in the classroom and it quickly became apparent on Friday that he was a quick study on the court too.

Wright arrived in Chicago on Thursday night and by 8 a.m. on Friday he was working up a sweat on the court under Grover's tutelage for the first time. With every drill, Wright listens intently and asks questions.

Wright possesses as many basketball gifts as any prospect in the draft. He is an excellent athlete with great size (he measures 6-foot-8 in socks with a 7-foot-2 wingspan) for his position. If you've watched Wright play at Kansas you know he possesses an excellent basketball IQ, good ballhandling and passing skills, and a good motor.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=ford_chad


Basically means he'll be 6'9'' in shoes(average height for NBA PF) with a very long wingspan. He can rebound and he has a couple post moves, he has a good mid range J too and he's got A TON of athleticism. He's got good character. I don't see why everyone is so upset.
 
#9
Copy/pasted from another forum:
from a Chad Ford blog:





http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=ford_chad


Basically means he'll be 6'9'' in shoes(average height for NBA PF) with a very long wingspan. He can rebound and he has a couple post moves, he has a good mid range J too and he's got A TON of athleticism. He's got good character. I don't see why everyone is so upset.
He can't shoot and he can't take the ball to the hoop. Until he can do those things he's not going to be a good SF in the NBA. I don't know if he's strong enough to be a PF, but he looks like a tweener to me.
 
S

sactownfan

Guest
#10
Julian Wright looks like he could become a stud with great all around skills and great skills in a few areas. hes got size to play as a center for Golden State or a very small lineup. more likely hes a 4 in an avg. small ball line up. and a massive 3 in a normal line up. 7'2 wingspan 6'9 tall.

If im petrie his look'n like a more sure thing that Hibbert ever was, and if the best pick at 10th is a SF,PG,PF,or C im taking the best thats there. the only spot on our team that is Filled right now is SG. so as long as we dont draft another SG it fills a void. We could try to fill the PF, C wit trades,FA's, or if we get our hands on a sec pick in the draft.

This draft is deep with bigs but after the top 8 or 9 their all kinda in the same boat and i think petrie has his eye on some late first round early sec round Bigs. Like it said in the bee today. Look for Petrie to work for another pick.
 
#12
ESPN's mock draft, as of a few minutes ago, has Green going in the top 10, but we're now hearing that he's going to wait until next year, which makes their #10 projection meaningless.

I did my usual, and looked to 3 different mock drafts to try to see if there's any sort of consensus forming. According to the 3 (Draftexpress, ESPN and Nbadraft.net), these are the guys we're not going to get:

1. Oden
2. Durant
3. B. Wright
4. Horford
5. Conley
6. Brewer
7. J. Wright
8. Noah

Up to this point, 3/3 of the mock drafts agree that all of those guys will go in the top 9 (once Green is taken out)

9. Jianlian (2/3 have him going by #4, only Draftexpress has him still around at #10)

So we're looking at someone like Hawes, Thornton, Law, Splitter, or Young (Thad or Nick, take your pick).
 
#13
I say no as well. The track record for small forwards who can't shoot in the NBA is not good at all, no matter how athletic they are.
Um- I think Gerald Wallace and Josh Smith (just to name two) might disagree with you. Kirilenko is a little taller but is also an athletic 3/4 with no real outside shot who has done well. All three of these guys can be considered "game changers."

Maggette, Deng, Jefferson, and Prince (and Doug Christie) are all also athletic players who are not great, or in many cases, even good shooters...

There is more to the game than shooting- drafting someone who turns out to be like any of these eight guys would be a nice pick, even if they aren't much of a shooter.

Hell- Bonzi Wells couldn't shoot a lick, and wasn't even particularly athletc and he did fine. Artest is a pretty poor shooter but he makes up for it in other ways...
 
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Kingster

Hall of Famer
#14
Um- I think Gerald Wallace and Josh Smith (just to name two) might disagree with you. Kirilenko is a little taller but is also an athletic 3/4 with no real outside shot who has done well. All three of these guys can be considered "game changers."

Maggette, Deng, Jefferson, and Prince (and Doug Christie) are all also athletic players who are not great, or in many cases, even good shooters...

There is more to the game than shooting- drafting someone who turns out to be like any of these eight guys would be a nice pick, even if they aren't much of a shooter.

Hell- Bonzi Wells couldn't shoot a lick, and wasn't even particularly athletc and he did fine. Artest is a pretty poor shooter but he makes up for it in other ways...
I agree. You can't teach quickness, or speed, or jumping ability, but you can get better at shooting with practice and good coaching. If I had to make a choice between a not so athletic shooter and an athletic guy who's not great at shooting, I'll take the athletic guy. Also, the athletic guy is going to be at D than the non-athletic guy, just one more reason to take him over the shooter.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#15
Wow!! Another 6-7/6-8 SF, that 4 in a row!!! At least he weighs 40 lb more than Martin. Can't image GP adding yet another SF no matter his upside. NBAdraft.net says his weaknesses are too unselfish, poor outside jumper, and not NBA ready physically. On the upside, they said his strengths are athleticism, quickness, size and potential and he is a good defender with really good passing skills.

I'd rather have a 15/10 big body in the middle who can defend (Marc Gasol, Pau's brother at 7-0 and 275?) or top notch PG. Not sure if the 6-ft Mike Conley Jr is the answer either.
Petrie says he wants guys who can defend, so Julian Wright fits that bill.
 
#16
Um- I think Gerald Wallace and Josh Smith (just to name two) might disagree with you. Kirilenko is a little taller but is also an athletic 3/4 with no real outside shot who has done well. All three of these guys can be considered "game changers."

Maggette, Deng, Jefferson, and Prince (and Doug Christie) are all also athletic players who are not great, or in many cases, even good shooters...

There is more to the game than shooting- drafting someone who turns out to be like any of these eight guys would be a nice pick, even if they aren't much of a shooter.

Hell- Bonzi Wells couldn't shoot a lick, and wasn't even particularly athletc and he did fine. Artest is a pretty poor shooter but he makes up for it in other ways...
Gerald Wallace and Josh Smith can shoot just fine, especially Smith. Wallace wasn't a good shooter when he came into the league, but he got better. (Which, yeah, can happen to Wright too.) Same with all of the other guys you mention -- Maggette, Deng, Jefferson and Prince -- they're all good shooters. Maybe not from 3, but they are deadly inside the 3 point line. Even Bonzi could knock down 30% from 3.

We're not talking about a guy who is an inconsistent shooter, we're talking about a guy who struggles to hit a 15 foot jump shot standing still. Meanwhile, every single one of those guys has moves to the hoop, which Wright doesn't yet have. Maybe, like Wallace, he can get better, but until he does he's a seriously risky pick.

Antoine Wright, Joey Graham, Kedrick Brown, Chris Porter, Dahntay Jones... The list of athletic SFs who came into the league who can't shoot is very long, and the track record just isn't good. Sure there are isolated exceptions like Kirilenko (freakish athlete and body) and Diaw (who would probably suck outside of Phoenix), but I'm not really interested in this kind of a gamble with the 10th pick.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#17
Petrie says he wants guys who can defend, so Julian Wright fits that bill.

deosn;t matter how good a defender he is if there are no minutes for him, or the only minutes available are at a position he cannot defende int he NBA, such as PF. Carlos Boozer might snap him in two, and Tim Duncan would just engulf him.
 
#18
I agree. You can't teach quickness, or speed, or jumping ability, but you can get better at shooting with practice and good coaching. If I had to make a choice between a not so athletic shooter and an athletic guy who's not great at shooting, I'll take the athletic guy. Also, the athletic guy is going to be at D than the non-athletic guy, just one more reason to take him over the shooter.
How about a guy who is athletic and a shooter? Sounds like Thad Young.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#19
How about a guy who is athletic and a shooter? Sounds like Thad Young.
Problem with Young is that he's either a star in the making...or he's a completely worthless dime a dozen softie playing a non-vital positon. We just got done winning 34 games with one of the 5 best SFs in the game. Now you are talking about a long term project coming off a disappointing freshman season, and a guy who might very well just be a scorer. If anything this franchise has been choking to death on too many guys who fit that description and lack the versatility to be impact players. Young would have to be really special to make any sort of difference for us.
 
#20
Problem with Young is that he's either a star in the making...or he's a completely worthless dime a dozen softie playing a non-vital positon. We just got done winning 34 games with one of the 5 best SFs in the game. Now you are talking about a long term project coming off a disappointing freshman season, and a guy who might very well just be a scorer. If anything this franchise has been choking to death on too many guys who fit that description and lack the versatility to be impact players. Young would have to be really special to make any sort of difference for us.
Agreed, that's the knock, and while I think he's a reach at #10, at least the upside is there. It's a gamble pick. Is he Paul Pierce, Josh Smith or Martell Webster? You never know.

Really though, I'm not really liking our options at 10 very much. I'm not much interested in the can't-shoot SFs (J. Wright, Green), the soft bigs (Hawes, Al Thornton) or the PGs (Conley, Law). There are some intruiging guys later in the draft and higher in the draft. We're pretty much in no man's land.
 
#22
#23
If he can make it past 7 he's all ours. If not we're probably kinda screwed. But I think he's a lot like Josh Smith but he's a better passer and doesn't shoot as well.
 
S

sactownfan

Guest
#25
im not a big fan of Noah but if some how he slips to us. i'd snatch him.

the most important thing to remember here is 2time champ. who would have been the first overall pick in last years draft? one or two.

this would be a steal for us. sure his shot is a tad less ugly than Marions but still ugly as hell. and sure his stats were down from last year. but lets get real.

OBVIOUSLY he didnt have to put up the same kind of numbers to win his sec. title. ????? he was able to let others pick up the scoring and worry about playing his heart out on defense. this guy could be a good low post guy and could seriously cause guys like Duncan and KG problems on defense. SIGN ME UP ! I wouldnt have to watch Miller get put on any more posters.


NOAH COULD BE ABLE TO DO EVERYTHING IF HE CONTINUES TO GROW. MINUS THE SHOOTING TOUCH OF BRAD MILLER. OH WELL.......

would we have been bummed out last year if we landed Noah over Douby? NO it would have been consider the greatest feat ever ! so getting him this year at 10 is just as good
 
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#26
im not a big fan of Noah but if some how he slips to us. i'd snatch him.

the most important thing to remember here is 2time champ. who would have been the first overall pick in last years draft? one or two.

this would be a steal for us. sure his shot is a tad less ugly than Marions but still ugly as hell. and sure his stats were down from last year. but lets get real.

OBVIOUSLY he didnt have to put up the same kind of numbers to win his sec. title. ????? he was able to let others pick up the scoring and worry about playing his heart out on defense. this guy could be a good low post guy and could seriously cause guys like Duncan and KG problems on defense. SIGN ME UP ! I wouldnt have to watch Miller get put on any more posters.


NOAH COULD BE ABLE TO DO EVERYTHING IF HE CONTINUES TO GROW. MINUS THE SHOOTING TOUCH OF BRAD MILLER. OH WELL.......

would we have been bummed out last year if we landed Noah over Douby?
Why would we have been bummed out about that?

Anyway my top 2 for us if Conley isn't there is Noah/J. Wright. Hopefully atleast 1 is there.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#27
deosn;t matter how good a defender he is if there are no minutes for him, or the only minutes available are at a position he cannot defende int he NBA, such as PF. Carlos Boozer might snap him in two, and Tim Duncan would just engulf him.
All of the guys after the top 2 are projects. Wright is going to have to get stronger. So give him a couple of years.
 
#29
deosn;t matter how good a defender he is if there are no minutes for him, or the only minutes available are at a position he cannot defende int he NBA, such as PF. Carlos Boozer might snap him in two, and Tim Duncan would just engulf him.
Well Duncan has said himself that length effects him the most, Julian Wright has plenty of that! I am guessing he has a 9' + standing reach, easy.

I think his length and athletic skill is going to make him very interesting at the 4. Same goes for Jeff Green.