Poll: Which player do you think we should pick at #3 if Wall & Turner are gone?

[rainmaker]

IIRC, Chad Ford was the one who released an ESPN Insider mock day before yesterday, which had the Kings taking Favors at #3.

I can kind of imagine that, too, since Geoff was supposed to have really wanted Noah, and Favors is kind of similar to Noah in what he'd bring to the team... plus less goofiness and arguably more upside than Noah. He can run well enough to play well in an open court, and could probably manage some minutes at C after a while in the weight room. Geoff's likely had his fill of shooting bigs at the moment, so I don't find Ford's idea/rumor implausible.

What I wonder is how Petrie feels about Spencer and his future here. If he thinks Spencer can still be our future center, and is still high on him, I can see him opting for Favors instead of Cousins. There are other factors to, but in regards to Spencer, if we draft Cousins, I think Spencer will be gone within a year.

Petrie might want to give Spencer another couple years to mature, which I don't disgree with doing(I also would be all for drafting Cousins, and trading Spencer). Draft Favors, start him next to Spencer, bring Landry and JT off the bench, and that could work going forward. All depends on Spencers development.

 

[fnordius]

There might be a third possible route for Hawes.

Rather than consider Hawes to be our C of the future, or someone who will be traded this year, what if he just became the opposite/equivalent of Scot Pollard? I don't see him as having much trade value, and we can use a tepid FC on our bench. Even if he never improves much, someone's gotta play garbage time.

 

[ElRey]

There might be a third possible route for Hawes.

Rather than consider Hawes to be our C of the future, or someone who will be traded this year, what if he just became the opposite/equivalent of Scot Pollard? I don't see him as having much trade value, and we can use a tepid FC on our bench. Even if he never improves much, someone's gotta play garbage time.

Yeah Spencer would make a decent backup. You can't have enough centers, esp when you are in the Western Conference

 

[Prince_XY]

Yeah Spencer would make a decent backup. You can't have enough centers, esp when you are in the Western Conference

I think this is the best thing to do rather than wait forever for our finessed white-hope to become the mentally and physical tough 7-footer starting center we all want him to be. We should draft Cousins, start him at center and make Hawes his back-up or even back-up power forward at times behind Thompson and Landry.

I also favor drafting the more physical 6' 11" 270 lbs center Cousins ahead of the smaller 6' 10" 246 lbs power forward Favors, because Cousins have a better chance of solving the most glaring problem of the team – a need for a player who could physically match the likes of Howard, Gasol/Bynum, or even the aging Shaq at both ends of the floor. IMO, Favors or even Bosh, Stoudamire, and Boozer just don’t have what it takes to defend those frontline powers.

 

[sc3252]

We would take tons of **** if we picked Favors #1, he has to pan out huge time or we are going to be a joke. Really it all comes down to Potential and if Petrie sees Favors as the number #1(same with #3) then you have to take him. I am just worried he will take him because we need a big, since that never seems to pan out. Last thing we need is to draft the next Kwame Brown in Cousins or Tyrus Thomas in Favors(just an example thats been used).

 

[Kingster]

When your giving the edge to Favors in the talent dept, how are you defining talent?

The totallity of innate qualities: coordination, quickness, length, speed, jumping height, jumping quickness, BB IQ.

 

[bajaden]

The totallity of innate qualities: coordination, quickness, length, speed, jumping height, jumping quickness, BB IQ.

So your basing it totally on athletic ability and not aquired skills. In other words it doesn't matter how skilled another player might be, you would still rate the player with the superior athletic ability above that player. With that logic you would have passed on Larry Bird.

At this moment in time, Cousins is more skilled than Favors. And he certainly has more length if the measurements of the two hold true. I'm not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that Favors has a higher basketball IQ than Cousins. As a matter of fact I'd give the edge to Cousins in that catagory right now. So it then comes down to jumping ability and speed. Personally I'm not concerned to much about that, since Favors is a PF and Cousins is a center.

In reality, I'm just wasting my breath on you. You, for some reason have you mind made up and nothing is going to change it. I, just want the best player for the Kings. If that happens to be Favors, I'm good with that. I don't hate or dislike any of the players in the top ten. They all bring a little something different to the table. I happen to believe that the concensus top 4 are just more talented than the others. I lean to Cousins over Favors, not because I dislike Favors, but because the Kings need a center more than they need a PF. Cousins fits the bill in that area. And despite what you might think, he's a big talented low post player. Something the Kings are devoid of at the moment.

Its possible that Favors will grow another inch of two and then become the next Dwight Howard. Or maybe just become a quicker version of Cousins. But here's the deal in my mind for what its worth. Cousins doesn't have to grow at all. He doesn't have to put on more weight. He just needs to refine whats already in place. He's far from a finished product, so he still has a lot of upside left in the tank.

Next week things will start to fall into place. We'll know where we're picking, and then we'll find out just how tall these guys are along with wingspans and how high they can jump. Then we can add real substance to this conversatioon instead of just speculation.

As an aside. Just to show how so called journalists skew the facts. In Ailene Voisin's collumn this morning about Jerome Randle she comments on his diminutive size and seems to doubt his listed size at Cal. Saying that he might be 5'9" in cowboy boots but not in sneakers. In fact, Randle was just recently measured at the Portsmouth invitational and was 5'9.25" in his bare feet. So his 5'10" measurement in shoes is probably accurate, if not a little short, since shoes usually add and inch to a inch and half.

But hey, don't let the facts get in the way of a cutesy article.

 

[Gilles]

1. Cousins is strictly a C, Favors will be PF/C.
2. Favors will be better overall defender at C.
3. Cousins will be better off. rebounder, they are similar on the other end.
4. Neither have developed post moves. Favors had a few succesfull drives into the paint from high post, Cousins has never left paint his whole college career.
5. Favors is a better finisher, at least against the type of competition they will meet in the league.
6. Both have shaky, almost non-existing jumpshot.
7. Neither have even decent passing.
8. Favors appears to have better work ethic based on not totally reliable articles that cite his HS coach and relatives but no one has written something like "last to leave the gym" about Cousins.

 

[bajaden]

1. Cousins is strictly a C, Favors will be PF/C.
2. Favors will be better overall defender at C.
3. Cousins will be better off. rebounder, they are similar on the other end.
4. Neither have developed post moves. Favors had a few succesfull drives into the paint from high post, Cousins has never left paint his whole college career.
5. Favors is a better finisher, at least against the type of competition they will meet in the league.
6. Both have shaky, almost non-existing jumpshot.
7. Neither have even decent passing.
8. Favors appears to have better work ethic based on not totally reliable articles that cite his HS coach and relatives but no one has written something like "last to leave the gym" about Cousins.

Agree with Number 1. Number 2 is subjective, but I would tend to lean toward Favors as the better overall defender. Agree with number 3. disagree with number 4. Cousins has great footwork in the post and has several nice seal moves and spins moves to go along with a hook shot. Although Cousins lives mostly in the paint, I have seen him dribble drive from the high post a couple of times, and he does, like Favors have a seldom used jumpshot.
Number 5 is once again subjective. All I know is that Cousins had a very high scoring per posession rate. In college he was a much better finisher in the post than Favors was. How that translates is up for discussion.
Number 6 I already covered in number 4.
Disagree on number 7. Cousins is a far better passer than Favors. He was very good at passing out of the double team. I also saw him make some nice passes under the basket when being doubled. Favors on the other hand is very weak in this area and really needs to work on it. He constantly tried to force his shot up through double teams, and at times seemed slow to recognize it.
Number 8 takes us back to Cousins reputation, warranted or not. I've done all I can to post articles that show him in a different light. Doesn't seem to matter whats posted or said. It appears that people have their minds made up already, one way or another, and nothing short of drafting him and having him prove different will change their minds. And probably not even then.

You did leave out ballhandling, and Cousins is a much better ballhandler than Favors. Overall, Favors probably has the bigger upside. But I doubt he'll ever be as big as Cousins. I think with Cousins your closer to seeing what your going to have in the future. And if he continues to improve on what he already has, he should be pretty darn good. Maybe great.

What Favors you betting that all his work ethic and athleticism will eventually transform him into a star player in the league. And I wouldn't bet against it. I think he's going to be a good one. He's a unique combination of size and athleticism. Especially if he measures out at 6'10" with a better than average wingspan. I'll be happy with either one of them. I only lean toward Cousins because he's a center. And a legitimate one. Not Al Horford part two. But I'm not going to cry if we end up with Favors. My prayer is that we stay in the top four..

 

[rainmaker]

Agree with Number 1. Number 2 is subjective, but I would tend to lean toward Favors as the better overall defender. Agree with number 3. disagree with number 4. Cousins has great footwork in the post and has several nice seal moves and spins moves to go along with a hook shot. Although Cousins lives mostly in the paint, I have seen him dribble drive from the high post a couple of times, and he does, like Favors have a seldom used jumpshot.
Number 5 is once again subjective. All I know is that Cousins had a very high scoring per posession rate. In college he was a much better finisher in the post than Favors was. How that translates is up for discussion.
Number 6 I already covered in number 4.
Disagree on number 7. Cousins is a far better passer than Favors. He was very good at passing out of the double team. I also saw him make some nice passes under the basket when being doubled. Favors on the other hand is very weak in this area and really needs to work on it. He constantly tried to force his shot up through double teams, and at times seemed slow to recognize it.
Number 8 takes us back to Cousins reputation, warranted or not. I've done all I can to post articles that show him in a different light. Doesn't seem to matter whats posted or said. It appears that people have their minds made up already, one way or another, and nothing short of drafting him and having him prove different will change their minds. And probably not even then.

..

That is a very good point that really hasn't been talked about. Cousins is a very good passer for his age, and I think that goes along with a relatively high basketball IQ. One of the reasons I am so high on Cousins, is that he has the size, and the post game, to command double teams within his first few years as a pro. When you combine that with his ability to pass out of the double, that really is a great combination, and a threat most successful playoff teams have. I took Dirk years to figure out how to pass out of a double team. That's just one example, and their games are nothing alike, but point being passing out of double teams is something generally learned at the next level, and Cousins is ahead of the curve.

I agree with you that Favors has more potential, but I think he is more of a risk because I think there is more of a question as to whether or not he reaches his full potential. Cousins is much more polished, you know what you're getting to a certain extent. The questions are more about his maturity, not his game. I also agree that it would be great to have either of them.

 

[JB_kings]

I'm just not seeing Favors as a center unless it's more small ball. I would rather have a true big man down in the paint that demands attention on offense and can defend big men, rebound and swat some shots. The west still goes through Laker land and unless they go crazy down there, they have Gasol and Bynum to deal with for years to come.

Hawes is bench material and JT is not an answer at center. As long as Cousins doesn't have some serious red flags on his mental makeup, he is the guy you have to look long and hard at drafting.

 

[CaAllDay]

Size and skills Cousins all the way, there are alotta freak athletes playing in the D leauge right now, u seen what happened to Milsap and Boozer. Gasol is not a crazy athlete, but i would take him over any other big man in the leauge right now. Cousins is a true big man, and most important he plays like it. i would prefer Monroe over favors, if we dont take cousins regarldess of pick i would be disappointed, with his addition and maybe a mle player i really think next year we can be at best 8th seed in west worst 10th.

 

[bajaden]

Size and skills Cousins all the way, there are alotta freak athletes playing in the D leauge right now, u seen what happened to Milsap and Boozer. Gasol is not a crazy athlete, but i would take him over any other big man in the leauge right now. Cousins is a true big man, and most important he plays like it. i would prefer Monroe over favors, if we dont take cousins regarldess of pick i would be disappointed, with his addition and maybe a mle player i really think next year we can be at best 8th seed in west worst 10th.

Not to quible, but we don't have the MLE this coming offseason. If your under the cap the MLE is not available. However I get the spirit of what you were trying to say. Since the Kings will be around 23 million under the cap, they have the ability to sign a pretty good player. Did you know that the highest paid player on the Kings next year, barring the signing of someone, will be Nocioni at 6.8 mil. Scarey thought in a way. But it also shows that the Kings are in pretty good financial shape. My hope is that before the start of next season Nocioni will no longer be a King.

 

[Kingster]

So your basing it totally on athletic ability and not aquired skills. In other words it doesn't matter how skilled another player might be, you would still rate the player with the superior athletic ability above that player. With that logic you would have passed on Larry Bird.

At this moment in time, Cousins is more skilled than Favors. And he certainly has more length if the measurements of the two hold true. I'm not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that Favors has a higher basketball IQ than Cousins. As a matter of fact I'd give the edge to Cousins in that catagory right now. So it then comes down to jumping ability and speed. Personally I'm not concerned to much about that, since Favors is a PF and Cousins is a center.

In reality, I'm just wasting my breath on you. You, for some reason have you mind made up and nothing is going to change it. I, just want the best player for the Kings. If that happens to be Favors, I'm good with that. I don't hate or dislike any of the players in the top ten. They all bring a little something different to the table. I happen to believe that the concensus top 4 are just more talented than the others. I lean to Cousins over Favors, not because I dislike Favors, but because the Kings need a center more than they need a PF. Cousins fits the bill in that area. And despite what you might think, he's a big talented low post player. Something the Kings are devoid of at the moment.

Its possible that Favors will grow another inch of two and then become the next Dwight Howard. Or maybe just become a quicker version of Cousins. But here's the deal in my mind for what its worth. Cousins doesn't have to grow at all. He doesn't have to put on more weight. He just needs to refine whats already in place. He's far from a finished product, so he still has a lot of upside left in the tank.

Next week things will start to fall into place. We'll know where we're picking, and then we'll find out just how tall these guys are along with wingspans and how high they can jump. Then we can add real substance to this conversatioon instead of just speculation.

As an aside. Just to show how so called journalists skew the facts. In Ailene Voisin's collumn this morning about Jerome Randle she comments on his diminutive size and seems to doubt his listed size at Cal. Saying that he might be 5'9" in cowboy boots but not in sneakers. In fact, Randle was just recently measured at the Portsmouth invitational and was 5'9.25" in his bare feet. So his 5'10" measurement in shoes is probably accurate, if not a little short, since shoes usually add and inch to a inch and half.

But hey, don't let the facts get in the way of a cutesy article.

Yep, I'm basing it on overall athleticism. Potential. What they both will be in three to four years time. I'll take the 6'9" guy with more athleticism over the 6'11" guy with less. Yes, Cousins is probably more skilled. It's somewhat unclear though. Imagine Cousins at GT. What kind of player would you have seen? Cousins played with the best pg in the country. That does tend to make the big guy look good, all other things being equal. Favors played with terrible guards, making him look not nearly as good, all other things being equal. So Favors plays in one of the worst situations for a big guy in the country and Cousins plays at the best. That's bound to have an effect on skill assessment. And I come back to the character/temperment thing. There is smoke there. This isn't the court of law. You can say, well, you just don't know. You're right. I don't. But you don't know either. Just the fact that there are articles and disagreement on the subject indicates that the court of opinion is not in on this one. So even if I thought they were identical in talent and skill, I'd choose Favors because of the risk factor. It's interesting to me that there is a fog that we have to look through in our assessment of Favors' skill and talent and another fog we have to look through in our assessment of Cousins' character.

Like I've said before, I really hope all of this stuff about Cousins and Favors is wasted breath. We need to get #1 or #2. Period. Otherwise, there is not going to be a significant jump next year in this team's wins and losses imo. Whether it's Favors or Cousins, they are both going to have a longer development period than Turner or Wall. It would be more similar to Hawes and Thompson rather than Tyreke last year imo. We need a booster rocket, not another long fuse...

 

[Gilles]

Agree with Number 1. Number 2 is subjective, but I would tend to lean toward Favors as the better overall defender. Agree with number 3. disagree with number 4. Cousins has great footwork in the post and has several nice seal moves and spins moves to go along with a hook shot. Although Cousins lives mostly in the paint, I have seen him dribble drive from the high post a couple of times, and he does, like Favors have a seldom used jumpshot.
Number 5 is once again subjective. All I know is that Cousins had a very high scoring per posession rate. In college he was a much better finisher in the post than Favors was. How that translates is up for discussion.
Number 6 I already covered in number 4.
Disagree on number 7. Cousins is a far better passer than Favors. He was very good at passing out of the double team. I also saw him make some nice passes under the basket when being doubled. Favors on the other hand is very weak in this area and really needs to work on it. He constantly tried to force his shot up through double teams, and at times seemed slow to recognize it.
Number 8 takes us back to Cousins reputation, warranted or not. I've done all I can to post articles that show him in a different light. Doesn't seem to matter whats posted or said. It appears that people have their minds made up already, one way or another, and nothing short of drafting him and having him prove different will change their minds. And probably not even then.

You did leave out ballhandling, and Cousins is a much better ballhandler than Favors. Overall, Favors probably has the bigger upside. But I doubt he'll ever be as big as Cousins. I think with Cousins your closer to seeing what your going to have in the future. And if he continues to improve on what he already has, he should be pretty darn good. Maybe great.

What Favors you betting that all his work ethic and athleticism will eventually transform him into a star player in the league. And I wouldn't bet against it. I think he's going to be a good one. He's a unique combination of size and athleticism. Especially if he measures out at 6'10" with a better than average wingspan. I'll be happy with either one of them. I only lean toward Cousins because he's a center. And a legitimate one. Not Al Horford part two. But I'm not going to cry if we end up with Favors. My prayer is that we stay in the top four..

I guess will have to agree to disagree on 4 and 7. Concerning 8 he's not a headcase some make him out to be but he's not a gym rat either. Favors might be.

 

[Dime Dropper]

I guess will have to agree to disagree on 4 and 7. Concerning 8 he's not a headcase some make him out to be but he's not a gym rat either. Favors might be.

Whatever about anything else - if you don't think Cousins is a very good passer, then I really doubt that you've seen him play much. And if you have, I'd have to question your objectivity in this case. Cousins is a very capable passer which is very encouraging.

I wish Favours hadn't gone to GT. I only got to see a few of their games and I felt like smashing the TV when I got to see them. Their guards are a joke. Absolutely terrible. Disgraceful, even. At least from what I saw. I mean, you've got a top-ranked athletic freak in there, why not throw him the ball once in a while? They just dribble, dribble shoot. Never been more frustrated watching games that I wasn't even emotionally invested in. Still, I like Favors and would be very happy with him.

But I want Cousins. If his attitude isn't a problem, you have a top center. He's got the size, length, post-game, strength, passing, agression, footwork that you want from your big guy - and he's mean. He has everything you want. Just needs to stay focused, work hard and keep the emotions in check.

 

[Elektrik]

I want Cousins because of his size. You dont find "big" like that just anywhere. His skill level is good and has great potential at the center position which is where we are lacking. However, if he's gone I wont feel like we got screwed again if we get Favors. He will be a very good NBA player, perhaps even great! I just hope we dont fall to 5th or 6th.

 

[rainmaker]

I want Cousins because of his size. You dont find "big" like that just anywhere. His skill level is good and has great potential at the center position which is where we are lacking. However, if he's gone I wont feel like we got screwed again if we get Favors. He will be a very good NBA player, perhaps even great! I just hope we dont fall to 5th or 6th.

Well, there are some who think Cousins could drop as far as #10. So we might get our shot at him regardless.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Well, there are some who think Cousins could drop as far as #10. So we might get our shot at him regardless.

Where "some" = Doug Gottlieb, who last year had Jrue Holiday at #3, Jeff Teague at #7, and Tyreke at #11.

If Cousins falls past #4, I'll eat mayonnaise on my next hamburger. MAYONNAISE, I tell you!

 

[bajaden]

Well, there are some who think Cousins could drop as far as #10. So we might get our shot at him regardless.

Not going to happen. A rumor put out by the Pacers..

 

[bajaden]

Yep, I'm basing it on overall athleticism. Potential. What they both will be in three to four years time. I'll take the 6'9" guy with more athleticism over the 6'11" guy with less. Yes, Cousins is probably more skilled. It's somewhat unclear though. Imagine Cousins at GT. What kind of player would you have seen? Cousins played with the best pg in the country. That does tend to make the big guy look good, all other things being equal. Favors played with terrible guards, making him look not nearly as good, all other things being equal. So Favors plays in one of the worst situations for a big guy in the country and Cousins plays at the best. That's bound to have an effect on skill assessment. And I come back to the character/temperment thing. There is smoke there. This isn't the court of law. You can say, well, you just don't know. You're right. I don't. But you don't know either. Just the fact that there are articles and disagreement on the subject indicates that the court of opinion is not in on this one. So even if I thought they were identical in talent and skill, I'd choose Favors because of the risk factor. It's interesting to me that there is a fog that we have to look through in our assessment of Favors' skill and talent and another fog we have to look through in our assessment of Cousins' character.

Like I've said before, I really hope all of this stuff about Cousins and Favors is wasted breath. We need to get #1 or #2. Period. Otherwise, there is not going to be a significant jump next year in this team's wins and losses imo. Whether it's Favors or Cousins, they are both going to have a longer development period than Turner or Wall. It would be more similar to Hawes and Thompson rather than Tyreke last year imo. We need a booster rocket, not another long fuse...

I said in earlier posts that it would have been nice to see Favors in the Kentucky rotation, just to see how he would have produced. Unfortunately we didn't have that opportunity, so all I can go on is what I saw. Cousins and Favors only have one thing in common, and thats the fact that both players are at the moment, post players. Putting potential aside, because its an untangible that can't be proven of disproven in the now, I would rather deal with what is, and not what could be. Not that its not important for the future. But in the short term I'd rather bet on the now. And right now, if we were willing to say that both are equally talented. Perhaps in different ways, but equal, then I prefer to go to what the Kings need. And the Kings need a presence in the middle. Someone that can score in the post and demand double teams in the post. And hopefully improve our pitiful defense in the post. To my mind, Cousins comes closer to filling that need than Favors.

Now thats just my personal opinion. And unless Cousins measures out at 6'8" at the combine, or Favors suddenly grows to 6'10" or taller and has a 7'4" wingspan, then I'm sticking to that opinion. So I'm not saying I won't change my mind if, lets say the team workouts start showing Favors to be a superior player etc.

As far as Cousins temperment goes, I'm done discussing it. I'll leave that to the Kings. I'm sure they're way ahead of us as far as making judgements in that regard. Most teams have scouted these guys all through highschool. So they probably have a pretty good read on them.

So as Gilles said, we'll just have to agree to disagree. And if you end up being right down the road, I'll gladly admit it. As a matter of fact, if we end up drafting Favors, I damm well hope your right and I'm wrong.

 

[fnordius]

And unless Cousins measures out at 6'8" at the combine, or Favors suddenly grows to 6'10"...

You know that most sites have updated his height to 6'10", right? The Georgia Tech site, ESPN, draftexpress, etc? We have measurements coming up very soon, and I'm not jumping to any conclusions until then, but meanwhile I'm not ruling out the possibility that he's grown an inch.

 

[Vlade4GM]

If Favors can measure in at near 6'10+ with shoes and show off a 9'2 standing reach, that would be awesome. There's no way to know at this juncture though. Just because he's still technically young enough to have grown an inch, doesn't mean it's likely.

 

[swisshh]

I'm going Favors.

Why? Favors looks to have more star potential, and you need that still. Favors also may show to have more of an ability to go up and finish over people, which is important right now with Evans being the main ball handler. There's a lot of traffic inside already, where Cousins does his work but isn't as athletic. You need an Amare type more than an Al Jefferson type.

 

[bajaden]

You know that most sites have updated his height to 6'10", right? The Georgia Tech site, ESPN, draftexpress, etc? We have measurements coming up very soon, and I'm not jumping to any conclusions until then, but meanwhile I'm not ruling out the possibility that he's grown an inch.

I read the same things, and its very possible. Favors was a young 18 years old last season and won't turn 19 until july 15th this summer. So its very possible that he could still grow an inch or two. One might have to readjust one's thinking if that happened.

 

[bajaden]

I'm going Favors.

Why? Favors looks to have more star potential, and you need that still. Favors also may show to have more of an ability to go up and finish over people, which is important right now with Evans being the main ball handler. There's a lot of traffic inside already, where Cousins does his work but isn't as athletic. You need an Amare type more than an Al Jefferson type.

Ahhhemm! You mean an Amare that plays defense of course...

 

[rainmaker]

I read the same things, and its very possible. Favors was a young 18 years old last season and won't turn 19 until july 15th this summer. So its very possible that he could still grow an inch or two. One might have to readjust one's thinking if that happened.

Petrie is probably well aware of any growth spurt Favors might have gone through. That might be why is an espn chat a few weeks ago the perception was that Petrie would take Favors as high as #1. I will only treat that as a rumor right now. But I want to ask you, if Favors has indeed grown to 6'10", would you start him at center if he and Landry fit well together? I am not at all convinced at this point Favors would be limited to pf at this level. There are a handfull of centers every team has touble guarding. But Favors mixture of height, athleticism, wingspan, and maturity on the defensive end, has me thinking either Favors or Cousins could be our starting center next year. I wouldn't be surprised if we put Favors out there today, he would be more effective defensively as a center than either Spencer or Jt at this point.

 

[fnordius]

But I want to ask you, if Favors has indeed grown to 6'10", would you start him at center if he and Landry fit well together? I am not at all convinced at this point Favors would be limited to pf at this level. There are a handfull of centers every team has touble guarding. But Favors mixture of height, athleticism, wingspan, and maturity on the defensive end, has me thinking either Favors or Cousins could be our starting center next year. I wouldn't be surprised if we put Favors out there today, he would be more effective defensively as a center than either Spencer or Jt at this point.

Agreed. At (an alleged) 6'10" and 246 lbs., you have to look at predraft measurements like these and wonder what the problem is.
Amare, 6'8.5", 233
Nazr Mohammed, 6'10", 221
Keon Clark, 6'10.5", 220
Chris Bosh, 6'10.25", 225
Dwight Howard, 6'9", 240
LaMarcus Aldridge, 6'10", 234
Joakim Noah, 6'10.5", 223

Seems to me like he's about average height for an NBA C, and beefier than any of those guys were. And he's only 18.

If he wants to learn the C game, I don't see why he couldn't pull it off. If we draft him, I see Westphal treating him as a F/C from day one.

 

[bajaden]

Petrie is probably well aware of any growth spurt Favors might have gone through. That might be why is an espn chat a few weeks ago the perception was that Petrie would take Favors as high as #1. I will only treat that as a rumor right now. But I want to ask you, if Favors has indeed grown to 6'10", would you start him at center if he and Landry fit well together? I am not at all convinced at this point Favors would be limited to pf at this level. There are a handfull of centers every team has touble guarding. But Favors mixture of height, athleticism, wingspan, and maturity on the defensive end, has me thinking either Favors or Cousins could be our starting center next year. I wouldn't be surprised if we put Favors out there today, he would be more effective defensively as a center than either Spencer or Jt at this point.

If he measures out to be 6'10" or above and has a decent to good wingspan, I don't see why not. He's very athletic and is a quick jumper. But make no mistake, he's weak in fundamentals in several areas.. The good thing is that he would be coming to a young team and would have time to grow. I could see Favors and Thompson on the floor at the same time. which would give you two athletic players with Height.

If we draft either Favors or Cousins, then Hawes better come into camp loaded for bear, because I know Thompson and Landry will be..

 

[JB_kings]

He looks 6'9" in shoes to me. I guess we'll find out soon.