Chad Fords Mock Draft 6.0 (Chalmers,Pekovic,Dragic)

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

In Chad Fords most recent mock draft he has us taking Mario Chalmers in the first round, At first glance i was like no way, not going to happen... then the more i thought about it the more trouble i had finding something wrong with the pick.. he was the point guard on the national champs, his size is good (6'2) hes very good defensively and can shoot it .. sounds like a less athletic but overall better version of russel westbrook without that 'upside' and chamlers is actually a pg so the undersized 2 guard problems westbrook could have arent an issue here ..

im not saying i love the pick, but im finding a hard time seeing something wrong with it .. i watched a decent amount of kansas this year but probly less than alot of you .. my opinion on this can change but thats why i opened it up for discussion .. whats wrong with chalmers?

Chad also had us grabbing two europeon players in the second round ..

Nikola Pekovic - A big man from serbia, he just signed a new deal with the greek league team Panthanikos so theres questions on whether or not he'll come over .. if we draft him and leave him over there ill be able to watch him .. im greek and we get greek satalite tv at my house where we get many panthanikos games so thatd be pretty cool.. this is a pretty successful basketball team in europe ..

Goran Dragic - He has us taking Anotther Point Guard here.. dont know that much about him .. from the description he sounds like a rajon rondo type, athletic and can get to the rim, apparently hes nba ready and can contribute next year

if we draft chalmers and dragic i wouldnt mind starting chalmers and using dragic off the bench and then letting beno go .. both seem nba ready so why not .. we need to rebuild, no reason to sign beno for a ton of years, i dont see him getting any better than he is right now.

 

[nbrans]

Honestly I thought the mock draft was kind of a joke, not least of which because he completely messed up the order of 2nd round picks. Obviously anything can happen on draft day, but I don't really agree with your assessment that there aren't still PG questions about Chalmers. He's not really a great distributor or dribbler, so he's yet another player where people question how he'd handle the PG position. I like that he can shoot from outside, but I don't know if he has the quickness to hold down the PG spot full time. He struggled with DJ Augustin's quickness in college, and Augustin isn't even as quick as some of the guys who play PG in the NBA.

I think Chalmers could be a solid, strong backup, sort of like Anthony Johnson, but I struggle to see him as a starting PG in the NBA. It would be a solid later first round pick, but I think at #12 you have to take a flyer on one of the young bigs before you reach for someone like Chalmers -- there are plenty of cheap vets who can do what Chalmers can do on the floor.

In the second round, Pekovic is one of the better bigs in Europe and if he falls to the Kings in the 2nd he would definitely be worth one of the two picks. I don't think anyone is sure whether he'll come over to the NBA, but it's worth getting his rights. Don't know much about Dragic.

 

[nbrans]

Ha -- they fixed the order, now he has us getting Pekovic and Omer Asik in the 2nd Round.

 

[bajaden]

I think that Ford was smoking something. Its one thing to reach for a big, but it would be a huge reach for Chalmers, who I happen to like. If he's who you want, then for god's sake trade down for him.

 

[=LarryLegend=]

I like Mario....but have we even given him a workout?

 

[91sickness]

Why does he have us taking two guys in the second round that both are both going to be "near impossible" to get to come to the NBA. If thats true why in the world would we draft them? Doesnt seem to make much sense to me. Not a big fan of this trio he has us taking in the 6th mock draft.

 

[hammystyle]

Honestly I thought the mock draft was kind of a joke, not least of which because he completely messed up the order of 2nd round picks. Obviously anything can happen on draft day, but I don't really agree with your assessment that there aren't still PG questions about Chalmers. He's not really a great distributor or dribbler, so he's yet another player where people question how he'd handle the PG position. I like that he can shoot from outside, but I don't know if he has the quickness to hold down the PG spot full time. He struggled with DJ Augustin's quickness in college, and Augustin isn't even as quick as some of the guys who play PG in the NBA.

I think Chalmers could be a solid, strong backup, sort of like Anthony Johnson, but I struggle to see him as a starting PG in the NBA. It would be a solid later first round pick, but I think at #12 you have to take a flyer on one of the young bigs before you reach for someone like Chalmers -- there are plenty of cheap vets who can do what Chalmers can do on the floor.

Statistically he whipped Augustin's *** in their two games. I don't know how much they were matched up, but my guess is quite a bit.

Augustin: 15 ppg 26% FG 1.5 RPG 9.5 APG 1.5 TO 0 SPG 0 BPG
Chalmers: 21.5 PPG 52% FG 3.5 RPG 5.5 APG 2 TO 2 SPG 1 BPG

I really like Chalmers. He might not be a "star", but he will be a really good player for a long time. He is not your classic penetrate and dish PG, but he's outstanding in two areas: Shooting and defense. How about Mookie Blaylock with a better jumper? A rich man's Derek Fisher?

There are definitely interesting bigs at #12, but I think Chalmers has been underrated on the draft boards the whole time and would be a great pick.

 

[Gary]

No possible way the Kings draft Chalmers. Ford is an idiot for thinking Chalmers is lottery material. He wouldn't have even been a first rounder if Lawson stayed in the draft imo.

BUT, it wouldn't surprise me at this point because there has been so much movement in the last week or two.. My problem with Chalmers is that in a guard oriented offense he was not aggressive enough. He is the floor general but he acted like a floor corporal.

 

[PurpleHaze]

There are definitely interesting bigs at #12, but I think Chalmers has been underrated on the draft boards the whole time and would be a great pick.

I too like Chalmers a lot and made these comments on April 7, 2008 right after NCAA Championship game in which he was certainly not outclassed by Rose - as many thought might happen. Oh, I might have been bragging a bit since I had just won "Unofficial Kingsfans NCAA Tournament Pick'em via Yahoo.

Every reason I picked Kansas to win the championship came true. Their depth compared to Memphis, especially on the inside. Memphis shooting their normal mediocre around 60% FT vs. Kansas hitting around 95% FT including their last 14 straight. I'm a big fan of Rose, but I thought the Jayhawks had a likewise big back court with some fast hands that could give him problems - and it did. I saw all kinds of "flinching" on the part of Memphis (including Rose) having a 9 POINT LEAD WITH 2:12 LEFT in regulation - only to lose the game by 5 in OT. Kansas is NCAA national champs and nobody can deny their impressive execution finally wore down a powerful Memphis team. If the Tigers had been a little better poised down the stretch, in the heat of the moment, like Rose fouling Big Shot Mario so he never got off that 3pt prayer Memphis would be nat'l champs - period. Or even after he hit that miraculous shot, calling a time out to set something up with just under 3 seconds remaining on the clock - instead OT with Memphis best big inside player on the bench having just fouled out.

http://www.kingsfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25879

 

[hammystyle]

No possible way the Kings draft Chalmers. Ford is an idiot for thinking Chalmers is lottery material. He wouldn't have even been a first rounder if Lawson stayed in the draft imo.

BUT, it wouldn't surprise me at this point because there has been so much movement in the last week or two.. My problem with Chalmers is that in a guard oriented offense he was not aggressive enough. He is the floor general but he acted like a floor corporal.

Ford bases his info off what scouts and GM's tell him. That is all.

He was sharing time at PG with two other solid guards and was the second leading scorer on a team that really spread its scoring out between seven different guys in both the front and backcourt. He definitely has a weakness in dribble penetration, but to say that he wasn't as aggressive as he should have been seems weird since they won a championship. I'd say that instead of gunning for his own stats he played an incredibly efficient team game that helped lead the team to the title.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Ford's record for predicting drafts right is spotty at best. I think he went a little nuts with this one, as his sources are likely spooning him tons of information both true and false, and he has no idea what's going on.

 

[bajaden]

There is a danger in listening to scouts. I mean, lets say if your a scout for Portland, are you really going to tell other teams who your interested in. I think that when scouts speak in generalities about players, your probably getting decent info. But when they start talking down or talking up a player, there's probably an agenda.

 

[Smills91]

I like the Chalmers pick, IF we trade down. No reason to take him at 12. Around 17-20 or even later, ABSOFRUITLY. But not at 12, no way.

 

[hammystyle]

Ford's record for predicting drafts right is spotty at best. I think he went a little nuts with this one, as his sources are likely spooning him tons of information both true and false, and he has no idea what's going on.

I agree with that, I'm just saying that calling the guy an idiot is a little rough. He's just going off the info he's given, some of it is legit, some of it is BS. He's still the best draft guy out there.

 

[VF21]

I agree with that, I'm just saying that calling the guy an idiot is a little rough. He's just going off the info he's given, some of it is legit, some of it is BS. He's still the best draft guy out there.

Isn't that similar to saying "He's still the best snake oil salesman out there"?

 

[SacKings7]

I agree with that, I'm just saying that calling the guy an idiot is a little rough. He's just going off the info he's given, some of it is legit, some of it is BS. He's still the best draft guy out there.

Better than Jonathon Givony? Not a chance