Kings 2009-2010 NBA Draft:

roasthawg said:
I agree... he's not very good offensively and not a great rebounder. I'll pass... Cousins is the ideal pick and Aldrich is the consolation prize.
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Doesnt Udoh average like, 9.5ish a game (rebounding)? Thats not bad.

I do agree with the rest of your post though. If Aldrich and Udoh are both on the table, I want Aldrich. If somehow we end up with pick #3, I want Cousins.
 
hammystyle said:
I don't want Sanders over Ekpe, but every other single first round post prospect shoots 52% or better, most in the mid to high 50's. Udoh shoots 49%. That's a glaring difference. Bosh shoots 49% now, but he shot 56% in college. Being on a guard oriented team, if anything Udoh should shoot a higher percentage off assisted dunks and offensive rebounds. Settling for jumpers in college is not a point in his favor, that's a negative.

That's my point, that shooting percentage is a pretty glaring red flag that's getting glossed over because there's so much else nice about his game. I like him a lot, but think that as an older prospect Monroe, Aldrich, even Davis and Whiteside all are likely to be better NBA players. I'd already read that article, and his business like attitude and basketball IQ are certainly very appealing.

BTW - I am a stat guy but I don't search for stats to prove my point. I didn't go out looking for holes in Udoh's game, they were right there in front of me and I brought them up.

I'm pretty sure Jordan led UNC in scoring his soph and junior years.
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First of all, he doesn't settle for jumpers, he takes what the offense gives him. He actually has a balanced game offensively. You totally ignore the fact that just about every player you listed plays totally in the post, so they should have a higher shooting percentage. And yes, I do look at all the things little things he can do, because they matter. Monroe is a walking turnover every time he puts the ball on the floor. The turns the ball over a little over 25% of the time he drives to the basket. That matters to me. Udoh is a much better ballhandler. Udoh is a much better defender than Monroe. Udoh has a fairly consistant jumpshot, that will get better once he gets to the NBA. Monroe has no consistant outside shot at all. I think he shot around 25 or 26% from the outside this season. I will give Monroe credit for improving his defense this year, but I doubt he'll ever be the defender that Udoh is. Udoh is just a better athlete. I will give you that Monroe probably has the size to play center if needed, and Udoh is strictly a PF in my opinion. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
 
I like Aldrich just slightly more than Udoh .. and both of those guys behind Cousins and Favors.

I'd be pretty satisfied with any of them, but since everyone is talking about Udoh right now, I'll just explain why I like Aldrich over him.

There isnt a huge gap for me, but the obvious one would be Cole's size. Hes a center, Udoh isnt. With JT and Landry still on the team, It just makes sense to go after a center if the differense between both players is as slim as I think it is. Just a side note though, Hawes and Aldrich will be the same age next year. Hawes will be on his 4th year .. and only 22. Im not ready to give up on him, but maybe this will push Hawes and we can always trade one of them. Thats another minor issue I have with Udoh, hes a year+ older than Aldrich, Its not a huge deal, but if you have to choose, why not take the player whos younger?
 
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MassachusettsKingsFan said:
I like Aldrich just slightly more than Udoh .. and both of those guys behind Cousins and Favors.

I'd be pretty satisfied with any of them, but since everyone is talking about Udoh right now, I'll just explain why I like Aldrich over him.

There isnt a huge gap for me, but the obvious one would be Cole's size. Hes a center, Udoh isnt. With JT and Landry still on the team, It just makes sense to go after a center if the differense between both players is as slim as I think it is. Just a side note though, Hawes and Aldrich will be the same age next year. Hawes will be on his 4th year .. and only 22. Im not ready to give up on him, but maybe this will push Hawes and we can always trade one of them. Thats another minor issue I have with Udoh, hes a year+ older than Aldrich, Its not a huge deal, but if you have to choose, why not take the player whos younger?
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I have said consistantly that I would prefer Aldrich over Udoh, and for the reasons you just stated. We need a center and not a PF. But, I do think if we can't get Aldrich, that JT could move to the center position as either the eventual starter or as the backup. Obviously he would have to pack on some more weight in the form of muscle. Not my preference, but JT has actually played a little better at the center position than he has the PF position stat wise. Since were doing stats.

As far as age goes, all things being equal, then yeah, I would go for the younger player. But other than that, I don't put that much emphasis on age, unless the player hasn't improved from one year to the next in college. Such as Jerome Jordan. He's not a whole lot better now in his senior year than he was his freshman year. He still might pan out, but definitely a riskier pick. Udoh doubled all of his production from his sophmore year to this year. Leads me to believe that he's going to get better. I mean there was a time not long ago where every player coming into the NBA was 21 or 22 years old. Most of the good ones went on to have fairly long productive careers.
 
MassachusettsKingsFan said:
Just a side note though, Hawes and Aldrich will be the same age next year. Hawes will be on his 4th year .. and only 22. Im not ready to give up on him, but maybe this will push Hawes and we can always trade one of them. Thats another minor issue I have with Udoh, hes a year+ older than Aldrich, Its not a huge deal, but if you have to choose, why not take the player whos younger?
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Age aside Hawes and Aldrich are two totally different players. Hawes has never been a good rebounder or shotblocker while Aldrich excels at both.
 
I'm truly surprised by the amount of people still on the Aldrich bandwagon in here. Every time I've seen him in college he's looked ordinary. Not that athletic, solid defensively, solid offensively... big. I'm skeptical his game will transition well to the nba where everyone is his size and more athletic than he. I also am surprised about people complaining about Udoh's fg%. He was supposed to be a pretty raw prospect most of the year. He's known as a defensive specialist who is an excellent shotblocker.

After watching him play in the tourney (and the big 12 tourney) I just think he's much more than advertised. His offensive game is much better than advertised. He plays completely within himself. He has solid court vision for a big, his handling isn't a disaster, his jumpshot form is solid. More than that you could see him gain confidence as the tourney continued. By the end of the Duke game he was actively going at his guy towards the end of regulation (he seemed to even become the guy they were looking for to answer Duke which surprised me). His first step for a big is really impressive. I've always though JT's first step was great for a big he just lacked the explosiveness to finish... Udoh doesn't lack that explosiveness.

I was just really impressed with Udoh after seeing more of him. I would definitely take him above anyone else ive seen who isn't in the clear top five (johnson-wall-turner-counsins-favors). I haven't seen whiteside though and he's supposed to be pretty impressive.
 
I think the true core is Tyreke, Omri, Greene, Landry. our most important need is a big man coach, we need one bad. Thompson and Hawes seem to have taken a step back in their development.
 
bajaden said:
Look, I'm not going to convince you, thats obvious. I already told you that I'm not that much into stats and that I go by what I see. Your a stat guy and thats fine. But stats can be used in a lot of different ways to lead the outcome a person might want. To just list stats, and not the circumstances under which they were aquired, renders them somewhat meaningless. Chris Bosh's field goal percentage is 49.1%, while Boozer's is 54.4%. Does that make Boozer a much better player than Bosh?

In the right system, maybe yes. But in the right system Bosh might be the better player. The truth is that they're both totaly different types of players. Boozer plays predominately under the basket, thus his higher shooting percentage. Bosh plays under the basket but also away from the basket. Which make him the more versitat of the two, but it also drops his field goal percentage because jumpshots usually have a lower percentage than shots right at the basket.

The same is true with Udoh. His game is more like that of Bosh or Garnett, where he can play under the basket, but he also shoots jumpers, which have a lower percentage. Almost all the players you listed play under the basket. Aldrich and Varando might take an occasional jumper, but its hardly their mainstay. If you've seen Sanders play, and you'd take him over Udoh, then I just don't know what to say. By the way, I'm not saying that Udoh = Bosh or Garnett. Just their style of play.

As far as being the first or second option on a team. Michael Jordan wasn't the first option on his team at North Carolina. Which option was Favors at G. Tech? The third, fourth, or just an afterthought? Whichever it was, its wasn't his fault. He was stuck in a system that didn't use his talent properly.

If you had watched Kevin Johnson play at Cal, you would have thought he was just a halfcourt PG. But if you watched enough games you would see him rebel on occasion and show his real ability. It ususally got him in trouble, but anyone that saw him, knew that there was more there than we were being allowed to see, because of the system.

Baylor is a guard oriented team. And no one can deny that LaDarius Dunn is a great scorer. I have no doubt that if he were to declare for the draft he would certainly be drafted. Tweety Carter is a pretty talented PG. Being around 5'7" in height doesn't help, and is always an uphill battle for these types of PG's. Udoh is the best defender on the Baylor team and thats how the coaching staff decided to primarily use him.

Here's an interesting article on Udoh and a little of his background.

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncb/columns/story?columnist=caplan_jeff&id=4867681
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I agree about stats. They are even less useful in college than in the pros because you're buying into potential when you draft a player, not today's stats. By the way, how do you compare Udoh vs Favors? From what I've seen, Udoh is more of defensive force, no?
 
Kingster said:
Since when? It looks to me like they both are playing better.
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Since the season began. Both of their stats are down in almost ever category. Thompson who I am a huge fan of still cries prob still leads the league in fouls. Still doesn't take it up strong, always takes extra dribbles. Both can get 20/10 or 6/3. I just would like to see a real bigman coach hired.
 
This is interesting. Im definitely seeing a udoh>aldrich group and an aldrich>udoh group. Im in the former. I think its pretty close to impossible to buy Aldrich actually being a better talent than Udoh. I cant help but think people want Aldrich because hes a center. If Aldrich was an inch or two shorter and played powerforward, would anyone still want him?
 
It's fun to discuss all the pros and cons for potential players, and it's going to be even more interesting once our draft position is set.

If we get the 1st pick then do we go with who looks to be the most likely star (Wall), the best player in college and probably the best fit next to our superstar (Turner), or the fierce big man who will definitely shore up our weakest position (Cousins).

If we get the 3rd pick I'd imagine that we go with whomever of those three is left over.

If we get the 4th pick, then we should be taking Favors.

The 5th pick and beyond is where it really gets interesting.

BPA would probably be Wes Johnson, but is his talent and athleticism enough to bypass some big men who might better fit the needs of this team?

Aldrich is the only solid center left over, so do we go for Pryzbilla 2.0?

Udoh played fantastic ball in the Conference and NCAA tournaments. Even though he looks to strictly be a PF, do we go with what appears to be great defense, good athleticism, and a fairly rounded offensive game?

Or do we go with the highest risk/reward Center in Whiteside? By far the highest defensive potential of anyone in the group, but will he ever reach it, or will he sputter and fail?

If we don't come away with one of those 7 players I'll be bitterly disappointed.

I want no part of Monroe. We already have a skilled passing big man who can struggle on the boards and on defense in Hawes. Monroe will add absolutely nothing to the table for us.


I saw Syracuse play about 6-7 times this year. A couple of times before Wes had his injury and then a few times afterwards.
I like his outside shot, his length, athleticism, and especially his rebounding.
I think he has all the tools to be a good defender, but it's impossible to know for sure, playing in that zone.
The problem is that we've got two young players in Donte and Casspi. I think Donte can become our starting 3 and Casspi can definitely play extended minutes for us as well.
Since Wes won't be able to play the SG spot (his biggest weakness is ball-handling which we have to have in the 2-spot next to Tyreke), it just seems like too much of a log jam.
If Petrie takes Wes after evaluating all the players in the work-outs, I won't for a moment try and second-guess the decision, but it will be interesting.

I'd never seen Baylor play before this year, but I watched about 7 or 8 games this year and I have been high on Udoh for the last few months.
His showing on the big Tournament Stage just accentuated all the things I liked about him going into the tournament.
He's a great shotblocker and would definitely help this team on the defensive end.
He's got good athleticism and looks to have a fairly well-rounded offensive game. He's a good passer, and as the season wore on, he got more and more comfortable facing people up and taking them off the dribble, and with his fairly good ball-handling skills he had good success there.
The biggest problem with him would again be the positional squeeze. He's not a Center and he's not a SF, so unless we're playing the Warriors he's going to get almost all of his minutes at the PF spot.
I guess you could play Hawes/JT at the Center with Landry/Udoh at the PF spot, but I think it likely a trade might be in order, if we end up with Udoh.

I only saw Aldrich play 3-4 times, and I never came away overly impressed. I felt a bit let down after each game.
So, since the sample size probably wasn't too great, I don't want to be too critical of him.
Honestly, if he is actually going to be a Pryzbilla 2.0 then I think he should be our pick at 5 and onward if he's available.
He's not a sexy pick, but he's going to be solid. So if he's going to be Pryzbilla, then he'll probably be like Pryzbilla almost right out of the gate, and would most likely have the greatest impact (of the 5+ spot) in turning this team around from the start, as a solid defensive presence in the interior to shore up the greatest weakness on this team.
Now whether or not he has the potential be Pryzbilla 2.0 is another matter entirely. I just didn't quite see it myself in my limited viewings. So I'll let those who saw a lot of Kansas debate that one.
I'm just saying that though he might not be the best player, if he can address our weakest need and be a solid defensive player for a play-off bound team, then that's what we need most.

I only saw Whiteside play once. And that was in the conference tournament against Tulsa where he went up against Jordan.
He looks as if he could bring the shotblocking that we need, but he is a 'potential' guy, so I don't think Petrie would take a chance on him unless he really impressed in the work-outs.

It's always difficult when trying to decide between BPA and Need, especially when the talent gap between the BPA and Need gets smaller and smaller. I have really good feelings about both Wes Johnson and Epke Udoh and would be happy with either of them, but I would hate to end up making a mistake in passing up on a solid defensive center just because I didn't like what I saw the few times I watched him.

Also, in a few months I'll be a bit saddened, as this should really be the last time we're in a position to draft a high pick, and it's always fun speculating on some of the elite young talent coming into the league and how they might fit on this Kings team. Of course, I prefer the playoffs, so I guess I won't be too sad, and I expect to be pushing towards that 8th spot next season.
 
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Chupacabra said:
This is interesting. Im definitely seeing a udoh>aldrich group and an aldrich>udoh group. Im in the former. I think its pretty close to impossible to buy Aldrich actually being a better talent than Udoh. I cant help but think people want Aldrich because hes a center. If Aldrich was an inch or two shorter and played powerforward, would anyone still want him?
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I agree with you.
I like Udoh a lot, and for some reason saw more Baylor games than other college team this year. I think he's going to be a great talent and I definitely think he could help our team.
I also think that currently he has more talent than Aldrich, and I think he's got more potential to grow than Aldrich.
So in my book Udoh wins, hands down.

I also wasn't impressed with Aldrich the few times I saw him, and if he was an inch or two shorter and played the PF I wouldn't want anything to do with him.
BUT....if he actually is a Pryzbilla 2.0 then I would take him over Udoh.

I truly believe that we could have contended for the 8th seed this year if we had a defensive presence in the paint to play good man defense and protect the paint against penetrating guards.

If Aldrich can play that defensive role while at the Center position as well as rebound well to cover for Landry's shortcomings there, then we shoud have a legitimate chance at shooting for that 8th seed next year.

Now I don't know if he can be Pryzbilla 2.0, and just from the games I saw it definitely didn't look as if he could be.
Petrie will most certainly be putting him through the paces, and if he proves it to Petrie, then I think we select him over Udoh.

Udoh is definately a better shotblocker than Aldrich. Udoh is also more athletic and looks to have a better offensive game. But Aldrich' size will allow him to guard all the big men in the league, and that may be more important to this King's team than what Udoh can bring.

Of course I'd take Cousins 1st, and Favors 2nd, and will jump for joy if we get the opportunity for one of those players, so we'll just see how things play out until the draft positions are declared.
 
=LarryLegend= said:
you draft Wall and if you think Cousins is a better fit for the team you trade for Cousins and another player.
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If im trading John Wall before he has ever played in the NBA i would look for more than Cousins and another player. Wall has franchise player written all over him.
 
Uncia03 said:
It's fun to discuss all the pros and cons for potential players, and it's going to be even more interesting once our draft position is set.

If we get the 1st pick then do we go with who looks to be the most likely star (Wall), the best player in college and probably the best fit next to our superstar (Turner), or the fierce big man who will definitely shore up our weakest position (Cousins).

If we get the 3rd pick I'd imagine that we go with whomever of those three is left over.

If we get the 4th pick, then we should be taking Favors.

The 5th pick and beyond is where it really gets interesting.

BPA would probably be Wes Johnson, but is his talent and athleticism enough to bypass some big men who might better fit the needs of this team?

Aldrich is the only solid center left over, so do we go for Pryzbilla 2.0?

Udoh played fantastic ball in the Conference and NCAA tournaments. Even though he looks to strictly be a PF, do we go with what appears to be great defense, good athleticism, and a fairly rounded offensive game?

Or do we go with the highest risk/reward Center in Whiteside? By far the highest defensive potential of anyone in the group, but will he ever reach it, or will he sputter and fail?

If we don't come away with one of those 7 players I'll be bitterly disappointed.

I want no part of Monroe. We already have a skilled passing big man who can struggle on the boards and on defense in Hawes. Monroe will add absolutely nothing to the table for us.


I saw Syracuse play about 6-7 times this year. A couple of times before Wes had his injury and then a few times afterwards.
I like his outside shot, his length, athleticism, and especially his rebounding.
I think he has all the tools to be a good defender, but it's impossible to know for sure, playing in that zone.
The problem is that we've got two young players in Donte and Casspi. I think Donte can become our starting 3 and Casspi can definitely play extended minutes for us as well.
Since Wes won't be able to play the SG spot (his biggest weakness is ball-handling which we have to have in the 2-spot next to Tyreke), it just seems like too much of a log jam.
If Petrie takes Wes after evaluating all the players in the work-outs, I won't for a moment try and second-guess the decision, but it will be interesting.

I'd never seen Baylor play before this year, but I watched about 7 or 8 games this year and I have been high on Udoh for the last few months.
His showing on the big Tournament Stage just accentuated all the things I liked about him going into the tournament.
He's a great shotblocker and would definitely help this team on the defensive end.
He's got good athleticism and looks to have a fairly well-rounded offensive game. He's a good passer, and as the season wore on, he got more and more comfortable facing people up and taking them off the dribble, and with his fairly good ball-handling skills he had good success there.
The biggest problem with him would again be the positional squeeze. He's not a Center and he's not a SF, so unless we're playing the Warriors he's going to get almost all of his minutes at the PF spot.
I guess you could play Hawes/JT at the Center with Landry/Udoh at the PF spot, but I think it likely a trade might be in order, if we end up with Udoh.

I only saw Aldrich play 3-4 times, and I never came away overly impressed. I felt a bit let down after each game.
So, since the sample size probably wasn't too great, I don't want to be too critical of him.
Honestly, if he is actually going to be a Pryzbilla 2.0 then I think he should be our pick at 5 and onward if he's available.
He's not a sexy pick, but he's going to be solid. So if he's going to be Pryzbilla, then he'll probably be like Pryzbilla almost right out of the gate, and would most likely have the greatest impact (of the 5+ spot) in turning this team around from the start, as a solid defensive presence in the interior to shore up the greatest weakness on this team.
Now whether or not he has the potential be Pryzbilla 2.0 is another matter entirely. I just didn't quite see it myself in my limited viewings. So I'll let those who saw a lot of Kansas debate that one.
I'm just saying that though he might not be the best player, if he can address our weakest need and be a solid defensive player for a play-off bound team, then that's what we need most.

I only saw Whiteside play once. And that was in the conference tournament against Tulsa where he went up against Jordan.
He looks as if he could bring the shotblocking that we need, but he is a 'potential' guy, so I don't think Petrie would take a chance on him unless he really impressed in the work-outs.

It's always difficult when trying to decide between BPA and Need, especially when the talent gap between the BPA and Need gets smaller and smaller. I have really good feelings about both Wes Johnson and Epke Udoh and would be happy with either of them, but I would hate to end up making a mistake in passing up on a solid defensive center just because I didn't like what I saw the few times I watched him.

Also, in a few months I'll be a bit saddened, as this should really be the last time we're in a position to draft a high pick, and it's always fun speculating on some of the elite young talent coming into the league and how they might fit on this Kings team. Of course, I prefer the playoffs, so I guess I won't be too sad, and I expect to be pushing towards that 8th spot next season.
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A good summary of where things sit now. I do think that if we landed #3 the Favors vs. Cousins debate isn't so clear cut, but yes, outside of the top 4 is where it gets really interesting.
 
ovrush said:
I'm truly surprised by the amount of people still on the Aldrich bandwagon in here. Every time I've seen him in college he's looked ordinary. Not that athletic, solid defensively, solid offensively... big. I'm skeptical his game will transition well to the nba where everyone is his size and more athletic than he. I also am surprised about people complaining about Udoh's fg%. He was supposed to be a pretty raw prospect most of the year. He's known as a defensive specialist who is an excellent shotblocker.

After watching him play in the tourney (and the big 12 tourney) I just think he's much more than advertised. His offensive game is much better than advertised. He plays completely within himself. He has solid court vision for a big, his handling isn't a disaster, his jumpshot form is solid. More than that you could see him gain confidence as the tourney continued. By the end of the Duke game he was actively going at his guy towards the end of regulation (he seemed to even become the guy they were looking for to answer Duke which surprised me). His first step for a big is really impressive. I've always though JT's first step was great for a big he just lacked the explosiveness to finish... Udoh doesn't lack that explosiveness.

I was just really impressed with Udoh after seeing more of him. I would definitely take him above anyone else ive seen who isn't in the clear top five (johnson-wall-turner-counsins-favors). I haven't seen whiteside though and he's supposed to be pretty impressive.
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What you saw Udoh do toward the end of the Duke game, he did all year. When the game was on the line, or no one else was able to get anything done, he would just raise his offensive game to a different level. He also gets double teamed alot when he has the ball. Personally I just don't get this criticism of his offense. He plays under control and seldom forces things. He has a nice looking jumpshot. Yes, he needs to become more consistant with it, but he'll have all the time in the world to work on it in the Pro's. He's a smooth gracefull athlete with exceptional quickness. He's also coming off of a one year layoff because of transfering from Mich.

I've never suggested that he's a top five pick, but if your picking at 7 or lower, there aren't any players that I would choose over him at his position. His only downside, if you consider it a downside is that he's going to turn 23 years of age this summer.
 
Kingster said:
I agree about stats. They are even less useful in college than in the pros because you're buying into potential when you draft a player, not today's stats. By the way, how do you compare Udoh vs Favors? From what I've seen, Udoh is more of defensive force, no?
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I would say that right at this moment, Udoh is probably the better defensive player. But lets remember that Favors is considerably younger than Udoh, who has three year of college experience under his belt, so I would expect him to be better right now.

I would say, that considering the lousy system that Favors played in, he aquited himself quite well. As a matter of fact, I'm not really sure what system G. Tech was playing. There were times when Lawal and Favors seemed to be occupying the same space on the floor. As a result, it was very hard to get a read on just how good Favors is. But if you watched a lot of games, difficult tho it was at times, you would see moments where he stood out. I thought as the season progressed he started playing with more attitude and determination..

Considering his size and strength, along with his athleticism, I have to put him ahead of Udoh at the PF position. To me, Ed Davis is an entirely different story. Although he put up decent stats as the year went along and until he was injured, he just never had the moment where I stood up and said wow! Favors did, and so did Udoh, which is way I would put both of those guys ahead of Davis, who may not declare anyway.

Last year, after it was determined that we wern't going to get the first pick in the draft, I stated that the Kings needed a star, and that the next and only other player I thought would be a star was Tyreke Evans. I believe you agreed with me at the time. And we were in the minority. And people threw stats at me. He turned the ball over too much. His assists totals showed he didn't have the ability to create for his teammates. He couldn't shoot from the outside and wouldn't be able to get to the basket in the pro's like he did in college. Etc..

To be honest, when I suggested Evans as the pick, I didn't even know what his stats were. I only knew what I saw on the court. And I saw a player with, as Bricky calls it, the IT factor. He had that special something that just stood out. But it only stood out if you took the time to actually watch the kid play, because the stats didn't show it.
 
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Chupacabra said:
If we somehow lucked out and got the number 1 pick id have a very hard time choosing between Wall and Cousins.
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I wouldn't overlook Turner. I still think that right now he's the best player in college. He would look awfully good on the court next to Evans. As far as choosing between Favors and Cousins, I'd take Cousins. Big centers with his kind of ability don't come down the pike very often. I just couldn't pass on him.
 
LPKingsFan said:
No, but he is a 6-11 center, so what's the point?
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The point is that it appears that the biggest draw to Aldrich is his size, not his game. Im all for getting another big body stiff on this team but not if it means i have to use my lottery pick to get him. It seems like some people see that Aldrich is a center and a lottery pick and they immediately make up their mind that hes our guy. IF we get him ill hope for the best. I really dont think he'll ever be better than mediocre.
 
Chupacabra said:
The point is that it appears that the biggest draw to Aldrich is his size, not his game. Im all for getting another big body stiff on this team but not if it means i have to use my lottery pick to get him. It seems like some people see that Aldrich is a center and a lottery pick and they immediately make up their mind that hes our guy. IF we get him ill hope for the best. I really dont think he'll ever be better than mediocre.
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I think he will be a good defender, decent rebounder and work on his offense. better than mediocre.
 
=LarryLegend= said:
I think he will be a good defender, decent rebounder and work on his offense. better than mediocre.
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I'd go one step further and say I think he'll be a good defender, a good rebounder, a good shot blocker, and decent on offense. I'm admittedly pretty high on the guy though.
 
bajaden said:
Look, I'm not going to convince you, thats obvious. I already told you that I'm not that much into stats and that I go by what I see. Your a stat guy and thats fine. But stats can be used in a lot of different ways to lead the outcome a person might want. To just list stats, and not the circumstances under which they were aquired, renders them somewhat meaningless. Chris Bosh's field goal percentage is 49.1%, while Boozer's is 54.4%. Does that make Boozer a much better player than Bosh?

In the right system, maybe yes. But in the right system Bosh might be the better player. The truth is that they're both totaly different types of players. Boozer plays predominately under the basket, thus his higher shooting percentage. Bosh plays under the basket but also away from the basket. Which make him the more versitat of the two, but it also drops his field goal percentage because jumpshots usually have a lower percentage than shots right at the basket.

The same is true with Udoh. His game is more like that of Bosh or Garnett, where he can play under the basket, but he also shoots jumpers, which have a lower percentage. Almost all the players you listed play under the basket. Aldrich and Varando might take an occasional jumper, but its hardly their mainstay. If you've seen Sanders play, and you'd take him over Udoh, then I just don't know what to say. By the way, I'm not saying that Udoh = Bosh or Garnett. Just their style of play.

As far as being the first or second option on a team. Michael Jordan wasn't the first option on his team at North Carolina. Which option was Favors at G. Tech? The third, fourth, or just an afterthought? Whichever it was, its wasn't his fault. He was stuck in a system that didn't use his talent properly.

If you had watched Kevin Johnson play at Cal, you would have thought he was just a halfcourt PG. But if you watched enough games you would see him rebel on occasion and show his real ability. It ususally got him in trouble, but anyone that saw him, knew that there was more there than we were being allowed to see, because of the system.

Baylor is a guard oriented team. And no one can deny that LaDarius Dunn is a great scorer. I have no doubt that if he were to declare for the draft he would certainly be drafted. Tweety Carter is a pretty talented PG. Being around 5'7" in height doesn't help, and is always an uphill battle for these types of PG's. Udoh is the best defender on the Baylor team and thats how the coaching staff decided to primarily use him.

Here's an interesting article on Udoh and a little of his background.

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncb/columns/story?columnist=caplan_jeff&id=4867681
Click to expand...

I like stats, but I watch a lot of college basketball too. Frankly if you're paying no attention to stats than you're not maximizing your draft projection ability. Don't you think GMs and scouts in the NBA follow box scores and stats religously in between game tape and in person stuff? Don't you think they seek red flags in stats and then go back to the tape to verify it?

So yes, Udoh's 49% is a red flag any way you slice it. Its the lowest in class by far. Even if he was stationed 15 feet away from the basket every time, he should still shoot higher than that because a 6'11 athletic college big man should be getting ton of freebies on putbacks and fast break points. Bosh shoots 49% now, but he shot 58% in college.

The only solid scoring NBA big man I could find with a shooting percentage under 50% was Brook Lopez (who was 47% unbelievably). So I'm not writing Udoh off, I'm just pointing out a red flag.
 
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