Prospect watch 2011

Dime Dropper

Dime Dropper

All-Star
#1,171
#1,171
bajaden said:
A tweet on Motiejunas: Apparently not helping himself.

DraftExpress Jonathan Givony
by sam_amick
Donatas Motiejunas working out in Treviso. Meaningless workout, but he's not doing himself any favors with how he's looking. Brick city.
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I have to say I'm surprised. Whi;e Motiejunas is by no means a lights out shooter, he does have very good touch and range for a guy of his size. Varying reports, as Scoot Howard Cooper (who did NOT give Motie glowing reports) said "While he showed the agility and a shooting touch uncommon at 6-feet-11 power forward, the lottery-bound power forward appeared tired to those who had watched him during the season."

I wouldn't be at all surprised at him being tired. He certainly has a lot to improve on, but I really like his long term potential. Irrelevant as he won't be in the discussion for our pick.


Count me on the Jimmer bandwagon at this stage. If I'm honest, he's a great fit if we're leaning towards a guard, and he's an excellent player. People under value excellent basketball players, which is what he is. Also a hard worker and a very nice guy. Can't go wrong with Jimmer. People can have a look at this video to see what kind of person he is. It's a little cheesy, but it's telling of his character and work ethic. I want that kind of guy on my team. Set a goal, and do everything humanly possible to achieve it.

 
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est.1999

est.1999

Starter
#1,172
#1,172
Would love to see a fredette/cousins pick n roll. Could even work with Thompson. Thompson's got a good shot from the elbow, but there's more to just being able to shoot to run a pick n roll.
 
Aenadin

Aenadin

Starter
#1,174
#1,174
I was doubtful of jimmer at the start but he is kind of growing on to me. he would be the ideal pick for the kings. we don't need to draft down.. remember if petrie sees a pick available now he picks it straight up. thompson was a reach at 12 too. at any rate. he clearly fits the need for a shooter a point guard and another scoring threat. adding thornton this offseason will add another scoring punch to our bench.. its going to be a toss up for me if knight falls to us. :D
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#1,178
#1,178
Sounds like we have all the problems solved. I can sleep well now.. Gotta be careful though. The other night I told my wife to be quiet and go to sleep so I could get some sleep. She asked me if I was interested in eternal sleep.. I think I detect a threat in there somewhere.
 
Aenadin

Aenadin

Starter
#1,179
#1,179
bajaden said:
Sounds like we have all the problems solved. I can sleep well now.. Gotta be careful though. The other night I told my wife to be quiet and go to sleep so I could get some sleep. She asked me if I was interested in eternal sleep.. I think I detect a threat in there somewhere.
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hahaha gotta buy her something nice the next day ;) yeah you have a nice night there buddy
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#1,181
#1,181
Rumors from the Eurocamp. By the way, I saw part of Biyombo's workout via a video from a tweet from over there. Not good from an offensive point of view. He's a huge project offensively. He has no offensive game except dunking the ball. He also had trouble making simple catches into the post from one of the coaches. That equals bad hands. Two teams that appear to still be interested are the Pistons at number 8 and the Bobcats at number 9. Some are saying he's going to slide down into the 17 to 20 range, based on what they saw. He even missed simple layups while being defended by an overweight, slowfooted, undersized coach on the floor.

Most GM's and scouts are projecting Vesely and Valanciunas to go somewhere in the top 10. In Valanciunas case, a lot depends on what kind of deal he can workout in way of a buyout from his current team. I believe we'll know by tomorrow sometime, which I believe is the deadline for euro's to withdraw their names from the draft.

After Motiejunas poor workout, and poor display of shooting the ball, which was somewhat a surprise, since he's known as good shooter, he's now being projected to go somewhere between 12 and 17 in the draft. Vesely, whose projected as a SF in the NBA, really needs to work on his outside shot. He shot around 31% overall from the three last season, and was equally poor from the freethrow line shooting only 49%. One GM commented, he plays like Bargnani, but he can't shoot the ball like Bargnani. Colangelo who attended the workouts, commented that Vesely might be the most athletic big man to come out of europe since the NBA started drafting international players.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#1,182
#1,182
Glenn said:
Although this is in the rumor stage, I can't see anything positive about this move unless he really isn't as good as the others and fears being exposed. Certainly most teams know where they place Knight in their list of hopefuls but I would drop him down if this rumor is true. That could cost him a lot of money. In the end, money is important.
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I hope he drops down - right into the Kings lap. This workout thing is soooooooooooooooooo unimportant compared to actual game performance.
 
Glenn

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#1,183
#1,183
Kingster said:
I hope he drops down - right into the Kings lap. This workout thing is soooooooooooooooooo unimportant compared to actual game performance.
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I agree that the workouts show far less about physical peformance than game films, etc. but this shows something about his character. Or his agent's character. In any case, it does not impress me. I want a guy who accepts challenges and doesn't run away from them.

If Fredette and Knight were available at #7 and they were absolutely dead even in skills, I'd go with the warrior who welcomes challenge. This is a stretch but this willingness to accept a challenge and perhaps welcome a challenge may show the difference between Wade and LeBron, also.
 
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D13

D13

Bench
#1,184
#1,184
Here's some of the Biyombo workout. Pretty rough... I bet he spends more time in D League than Thabeet and Whiteside combined..

 
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Hoovtrain

Hoovtrain

All-Star
#1,186
#1,186
D13 said:
Donatas Montiejunas workout.. almost as painful to watch as Biyumbo;

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Word from Draft Express was that he did a heavy lifting session right before his workout, and that is why he shot so poorly. Not quite sure why you would lift weights before going out for a shooting display. They said that he had another workout that went much better. Showed "excellent agility and footwork" and left a better impression.
 
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Dime Dropper

Dime Dropper

All-Star
#1,187
#1,187
Hoovtrain said:
Word from Draft Express was that he did a heavy lifting session right before his workout, and that is why he shot so poorly. Not quite sure why you would lift weights before going out for a shooting display. They said that he had another workout that went much better. Showed "excellent agility and footwork" and left a better impression.
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You know, that was exactly what entered my head upon watching the video. He looks completely gassed, and he loses his form on some of his shots (usually the ones he misses badly). His t-shirt is also visibly soaked in sweat. It's unusual for him as he's very skilled and a pretty solid shooter for a big guy. Might sound weird, but I thought there are some positives to be taken from the video. In my opinion, he looks very big. Not just tall, but much stronger and heavier than he was just a year ago. He must have put in a huge body of work to put on so much muscle in the last year. And that's a good sign. I know there's no chance we take him with our pick, but he's someone I'm really intrigued by. Vesely is the only other Euro I'd consider taking ahead of him.
 
ElRey

ElRey

Starter
#1,189
#1,189
Hoovtrain said:
Word from Draft Express was that he did a heavy lifting session right before his workout, and that is why he shot so poorly. Not quite sure why you would lift weights before going out for a shooting display. They said that he had another workout that went much better. Showed "excellent agility and footwork" and left a better impression.
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That explains the poor shooting in that workout. Lifting weights right before will completely mess up your shooting ( i know from personal experience). he's an intriguing prospect, but yes those questions about his motor are concerning.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#1,190
#1,190
Glenn said:
I agree that the workouts show far less about physical peformance than game films, etc. but this shows something about his character. Or his agent's character. In any case, it does not impress me. I want a guy who accepts challenges and doesn't run away from them.

If Fredette and Knight were available at #7 and they were absolutely dead even in skills, I'd go with the warrior who welcomes challenge. This is a stretch but this willingness to accept a challenge and perhaps welcome a challenge may show the difference between Wade and LeBron, also.
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It shows nothing whatsoever about his character. If it did, I wouldn't think it was infinitesimal in importance. This thing is just a sideshow. You want to see a warrior, look at the last few minutes of a game to see that, not some cat and mouse game between agent and GM.
 
Dime Dropper

Dime Dropper

All-Star
#1,191
#1,191
Here's a second video of a different Motiejunas workout, presumably the one which Givony stated he looked much better in. Unfortunately the video is less than a minute, but worth watching to see the skill and touch he possesses. I also think it's astounding that he's put on so much muscle/weight over the past year. He won't have any issues with strength in the NBA long term, and probably not even in the short term. I think some team could get a very good player in Donatas.


 
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ElRey

ElRey

Starter
#1,192
#1,192
Dime Dropper said:
Here's a second video of a different Motiejunas workout, presumably the one which Givony stated he looked much better in. Unfortunately the video is less than a minute, but worth watching to see the skill and touch he possesses. I also think it's astounding that he's put on so much muscle/weight over the past year. He won't have any issues with strength in the NBA long term, and probably not even in the short term. I think some team could get a very good player in Donatas.


Yeah he has put on quite a bit of weight compared to when he played in the TEAM USA game. Wouldn't be surprised if he is Petrie's surprise pick.
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Capt. Factorial

Capt. Factorial

ceterum censeo delendum esse Argentum
Staff member
#1,197
#1,197
Vlade4GM said:
Cleveland is most likely I suppose.
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I'm not sure Cleveland has anything of value to offer. Hickson or Varejao is about it. I would think that Cleveland would want to hold on to Varejao (who, at least, is probably the type of vet that the T'Wolves are after), and I'm not sure Hickson would even get any playing time with Love, Kanter, and Manna around.
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#1,198
#1,198
A tweet about the workout today with Jimmer and Kemba.

TheHoopsReport Ryan Feldman
A source at the Jazz workout today said Jimmer Fredette was the best player there and that Kemba Walker had trouble guarding him.
6 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
 
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