The Official NBA Draft Day Thread 2014 Edition

During the offseason, I've...


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#61
IT has said he'd be fine having someone start over him if they were better than him. The problem is.. I don't think IT thinks anyone is better than him. I don't see him willingly accepting a 6th man role, even though he would be perfect for it.
The open market will determine his value and if it's low well then, it is what it is and it's COACH Malone's job to assign him a role and IT's responsibility to do his job to the best of his abilities. IT has been professional his entire time here in Sac and there is no reason to believe that will change.
 
#63
A question for thise that have watched both Payton and Smart play in college, out of those 2 PGs, who is most ready to come into the league and be a genuine NBA starting level PG from day 1?
I downloaded a bit of game footage on Payton because I had almost NO info on him prior to workouts. He looks good... Basically I would rate them like this;

Dribbling = Payton
Ball Handling = Payton
Passing = Smart
Court Vision = EQUAL
Shooting = EQUAL
Outside Shooting = EQUAL (although Smart will take more chances)
Taking the Ball to the Rim = Smart
Defense = Smart
Defensive Awareness = Smart
Defensive Switching = Smart
Defensive Pick and Roll = Smart


Smart is better suited to contribute now IMO.. But I have seen a LOT more of Smart than Payton. Probably 20-25 more games. I have only watched about 3 halves of basketball with Payton including all the draft videos. That's all I could find on him.
 

Spike

Subsidiary Intermediary
Staff member
#64
I'm very disappointed that you (Tetsijin) have us passing on Egg Nog for the all-too-showy Rocky Road. Egg Nog is fundamental; it's the type of pick Popovich would make without blinking an eye, knowing it would step up whenever it was necessary. Rocky Road is way too conflicted, with the ingredients clashing with each other oft-times instead of working together seamlessly like Egg Nog.
Egg Nog? You probably prefer cake cones over sugar cones.

Egg Nog? If we picked egg nog, we'd be great for a day, then terrible the rest of the year. Why do you want us to be terrible for a year?

;)
 
#67
I've watched a lot of Smart and where he separates himself is his intensity, the guy is ON every single second of the game. The knock on Payton (who I haven't watched) is he's sleepy.
 
#68
A question for thise that have watched both Payton and Smart play in college, out of those 2 PGs, who is most ready to come into the league and be a genuine NBA starting level PG from day 1?
I wish I could give you my perspective on Payton, but haven't watched him, however I watched a ton of Oklahoma State games, they were on ESPN all the time and I watched it mainly to watch Marcus Smart so I focused on him most of the time. The thing is from the beginning of the year I really wanted to like him, he was supposed to be so good, but overall I was a little underwhelmed. He is a good player, don't get me wrong, but there were many holes in his game. I have seen a lot of comparisons to Dwayne Wade, I don't know where that came from, but those two are nothing alike. He is much more Tyreke Evans like.

His outside shot is not good and he takes too many bad shots. He is a very good penetrator, but I don't think his shot can keep defenders honest in the NBA. Now his shot is better than Evans', especially from 3-point range, but it needs a lot of work. I think his PG abilities are overrated, he does most of his passing when he drives and dishes, much like Evans, he can get assists, but I don't see him making his teammates better like a good PG does. Also other than when he drives his game speed appears a little slow and athleticism limited. Now he does get a lot done out there so maybe he slows the game down for everyone so he can do what he needs to do, hard to tell. On the good side his individual and team defense is very good. If he gets that shot down and works on his passing some I think he could be an excellent player, but will he? While I think he does have the ability to start right away he is still a project of sorts.
 
#69
I've watched a lot of Smart and where he separates himself is his intensity, the guy is ON every single second of the game. The knock on Payton (who I haven't watched) is he's sleepy.
He is intense and I like his leadership, but the same stuff has been said about Isaiah Thomas and it's not always a good thing. Sometimes a player needs to reel it in a little bit.
 
#70
I wish I could give you my perspective on Payton, but haven't watched him, however I watched a ton of Oklahoma State games, they were on ESPN all the time and I watched it mainly to watch Marcus Smart so I focused on him most of the time. The thing is from the beginning of the year I really wanted to like him, he was supposed to be so good, but overall I was a little underwhelmed. He is a good player, don't get me wrong, but there were many holes in his game. I have seen a lot of comparisons to Dwayne Wade, I don't know where that came from, but those two are nothing alike. He is much more Tyreke Evans like.

His outside shot is not good and he takes too many bad shots. He is a very good penetrator, but I don't think his shot can keep defenders honest in the NBA. Now his shot is better than Evans', especially from 3-point range, but it needs a lot of work. I think his PG abilities are overrated, he does most of his passing when he drives and dishes, much like Evans, he can get assists, but I don't see him making his teammates better like a good PG does. Also other than when he drives his game speed appears a little slow and athleticism limited. Now he does get a lot done out there so maybe he slows the game down for everyone so he can do what he needs to do, hard to tell. On the good side his individual and team defense is very good. If he gets that shot down and works on his passing some I think he could be an excellent player, but will he? While I think he does have the ability to start right away he is still a project of sorts.
My biggest concerns with Smart is how much his offense relies on trying to bully opponents to the basket. It worked in college and he got to the line a lot but I don't think it will be as easy in the pros. When that fails, his offensive game doesn't really wow you in any other area.
 
#71
Well, really when it comes down to it, nothing could ever compare to the great Donte v. Omri wars of 2009-2011 or, before that, the Rubio and Evans flame war of the 2009 draft.
Those threads were epic and years later here's their career state line.
Evans
Shooting -44.6%
ppg - 16.8
rebs - 4.8
ast - 4.9
3pt - 26.8%

Rubio
shooting - 36.8%
ppg - 10.1
rebs - 4.1
ast - 8.1
3pt - 32.3%
 
#72
The pressure he was under in college to do everything was immense, he wont have that on his shoulders in the NBA he can pick his spots.

I don't see any of Smarts intensity in Thomas personally.
 
#73
More on Smart: when he hits the more wide open NBA, I think he will thrive even more in open spaces. While I love Payton's defense, Smart is equally a defensive disruptor imo. 3 steals per game.

I think his 3pt shot will actually improve at the NBA level with more space. His shot is way more ready than Payton's at this point. Smart played with 2 or 3 other guards at OKC and they weren't really known for giving up the ball. Their offense was always really cramped.

The good news is if the Kings end up with one of Payton, Smart, or Rondo, those are all great defensive PG's.

And I really like Ray's defense too.
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
#76
Watching nbatv mock draft....some crazy stuff...had Stauskus going at 5 to Utah, Embiid at 7 to Lakers, McDermott going 8...GregAnthony saying Dougie would be a multiple times all-star and the panel agreed that Dougie would be a perfect fit on the Kings as Cuz would open it up for him or visa versa. GHarris goes 9 and then Gordon at 10. Still no Smart coming off the board.

Just opinions and I think David Aldridge, who is on the panel is a moron but Greg Anthony is usually solid and also John Thompson Jr is a good basketball mind.

This is not the 1st time that someone has raved about McDermott and this panel is clearly favoriting shooting as you see Gordon and Smart slip. Makes for an interesting perspective.
 
#78
Well Pete talks about wanting "shooting at every position" if he's actually serious about that, you have to rule out Gordon, Payton, Smart etc etc and focus in on the elite shooters.

unless of course he's just b'sing.
 
#79
This is not the 1st time that someone has raved about McDermott and this panel is clearly favoriting shooting as you see Gordon and Smart slip. Makes for an interesting perspective.
It's why I think Gordon and Smart are great picks at 8. They have NBA ready/needed skills but are being discounted because of shooting. I think they both will improve their shot. Guys like Michael Redd and Nick Van Exel had the same doubts at one time...
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#80
Egg Nog? You probably prefer cake cones over sugar cones.

Egg Nog? If we picked egg nog, we'd be great for a day, then terrible the rest of the year. Why do you want us to be terrible for a year?

;)
It's an all-too-common misconception that Egg Nog is a one-trick pony. Nothing could be further from the truth. Egg Nog can step it up in a variety of situations, and is often overlooked by opponents. The only time when Egg Nog could conceivably have problems is in the dead of summer if it's left out too long - and since we don't play in the dead of summer that wouldn't be a problem. Expand your horizons. Embrace the Egg Nog.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#81
Well Pete talks about wanting "shooting at every position" if he's actually serious about that, you have to rule out Gordon, Payton, Smart etc etc and focus in on the elite shooters.

unless of course he's just b'sing.
All of the recent rumors have emphasized defensive players.
 
#82
Well Pete talks about wanting "shooting at every position" if he's actually serious about that, you have to rule out Gordon, Payton, Smart etc etc and focus in on the elite shooters.

unless of course he's just b'sing.
My hope is that he's trying to convince some team that they'll need to trade up to 8 to get McDermott
 
#83
If we keep the pick and make no other roster changes, the only way I'd be remotely satisfied is if the pick was Gordon, Payton, or Smart. Payton might be the most exciting if only because the Kings believed in him THAT much that they would be the ones to take him at 8 instead of risking a trade down.

I'd still prefer Gordon out of those three I mentioned, but I'd take any of them and be OK with it.

If we take McDermott and do nothing else I might lose my mind.
 

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
#87
I downloaded a bit of game footage on Payton because I had almost NO info on him prior to workouts. He looks good... Basically I would rate them like this;

Dribbling = Payton
Ball Handling = Payton
Passing = Smart
Court Vision = EQUAL
Shooting = EQUAL
Outside Shooting = EQUAL (although Smart will take more chances)
Taking the Ball to the Rim = Smart
Defense = Smart
Defensive Awareness = Smart
Defensive Switching = Smart
Defensive Pick and Roll = Smart


Smart is better suited to contribute now IMO.. But I have seen a LOT more of Smart than Payton. Probably 20-25 more games. I have only watched about 3 halves of basketball with Payton including all the draft videos. That's all I could find on him.
This is a lot of eye of the beholder type of stuff. I'm not sure what the difference is between dribbling and ball handling, but I would actually give Smart the edge there. He's stronger and gets closer to the ground on his drives but both guys can get out of control at times.

I'd give Payton the edge on passing and court vision. Smart occasionally makes exceptional passes but he also gets tunnel vision. Payton makes smart easy passes rather than trying to force things and just generally looks the part of a dedicated distributor whereas Smart I'd say is more of an opportunistic one (similar to Tyreke in that regard).

Smart gets the edge on shooting but neither one is very good. I think Payton is better at getting to the rim but Smart is better at finishing when he gets there. Payton was #2 in NCAA in free throw attempts this season (302 attempts) which is obviously exceptional, but he's got to do a better job at converting those too (61%). Smart got to the line at about the same rate and converted 73%.

I really disagree on the defensive head-to-head. Both guys are really good, but I don't think Smart gets the edge across the board. I think you have to watch a lot of tape to really get a good idea on this, but from what I saw I'd say that Payton is the more consistent defender and he's better man-to-man at containing the ball without fouling. Smart is a really aggressive defender and used his strength advantage at every opportunity this year but that might work against him in the NBA. Both guys are exceptional at anticipating passing lanes. The only real weakness I saw with Payton is that his activity off the ball can leave him out of position on shooters. It's just a matter of him measuring his strides though and making sure his help defense doesn't take him more than two full strides away.

So I guess I would go:

Dribbling = Smart
Ball Handling = Smart
Passing = Payton
Court Vision = Payton
Shooting = Smart
Outside Shooting = EQUAL (neither is very good, Smart shoots more of them)
Taking the Ball to the Rim = EQUAL (Smart converts better at the line though)
Defense = EQUAL
Defensive Awareness = Payton
Defensive Switching = Smart
Defensive Pick and Roll = Smart

One last note on defense, I think it's close enough to call it a wash. My general impression though is that Payton is a little better at playing the ball handler and Smart is a little better at playing the floor.
 
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Kingster

Hall of Famer
#89
Well Pete talks about wanting "shooting at every position" if he's actually serious about that, you have to rule out Gordon, Payton, Smart etc etc and focus in on the elite shooters.

unless of course he's just b'sing.
If he is b'sing, you have to admire how consistently he's bs'd over such a long period of time.:)
 
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