Emory889

This whole discussion of whether or not shooting can be improved upon reminded me of a really good Grantland article that I read a few weeks ago. It was so relevant to this conversation that I had to go back and find it. http://grantland.com/features/the-shot-doctor/ There are obviously examples of players that never improved their jumpshot. However, there are a TON of examples of guys that came into the league with questionable mechanics etc that ended up improving into good to even great shooters. I think that without a doubt its a skill that can easily be taught with the right coaching and a player that is determined to improve.

In fairness BJ, I said I wouldn't be upset if the Magic were to select Randle at 5. I would actually prefer Gordon, Smart and possibly Vonleh over him though. The difference between drafting Randle at 4 instead of 5, for me anyways, is that I think there is a clear cut top tier in this draft (although I think Smart is on the verge of putting himself in the conversation for the top tier) and those guys are Embiid, Parker, Wiggins and Exum. And I think there is a decent gap between those guys and the next 8 guys off the board. I know that you don't feel that way and that's completely fine. However, I think your fandom for all things UK is playing a major role in your viewpoint on this and that is a dangerous thing to do when projecting prospects to the next level.

This is seriously insane. By your view, there's only been 3 superstar point guards in league history? Seriously? Lets ignore for a second that Jerry West is typically considered a shooting guard, we will keep him on your list for argument sake. That still leave the majority of 2 decades of basketball unaccounted for in terms of a "superstar" pg. John Stockton Gary Payton Jason Kidd Chris Paul Steve Nash You are seriously saying that these guys aren't superstar players? Nash won the MVP award twice. Stockton led the league in assists for 9 straight seasons. Payton was the best pg of the 90s. And how does this work for point guards coming up? If you consider the Big O to be a superstar (and he absolutely was) then what happens when a truly transcendent point guard makes his way into the league? Does Robertson get his superstar status revoked? Who was the odd man out in the small forward category when Lebron came into the league? Your thinking on this subject is seriously jacked up.

It makes sense that they would look at him hard. It's not out of the question that they take him at 4 (although I wish it were) and I think its very likely they move up to try to take him if they don't draft Exum. I suppose there's even the remote possibility he falls to 12.

I think most casual fans just pick the name that they know. I think McDermott will have a productive career as a roleplayer for some team but I think there will be better value at 12.

Randle wouldn't be my first choice at 5 but I wouldn't be upset with the selection. That's my point because I would be upset with taking Randle at 4. I don't think that kind of thing happens very often in a draft. There's actually a few players that I would love to take at 5 that I don't want at 4.

I think Randle could be a good fit, but not at 4. The crazy thing is that I don't think I would be upset if we had the 5th pick and took him.

You clearly never saw Isiah Thomas play basketball.

Jesus. The kid doesn't appear to have many weaknesses at this point of his career.

On the flip side of that, a lot of people were calling Oladipo the safest pick in the draft and that looks like its going to work out for us.

I watched it like 20 times and I'm still in awe.

5 years to contend is a little too long. It might be a good estimate for winning a championship but not for competing for one. There's probably 6 teams in the league that can say they contended this year.....with varying levels of expectations. I think we are 1 more year away from being in the playoffs. 2 to 3 years from being in the playoffs and starting to make a serious push for contending. If in 3 years we don't see a championship caliber roster being assembled then this rebuilding project has failed. If we draft well this summer, I think we are only one to two good players away from being a nasty team. That's a lot of ifs but I see it as a likely scenario.

I have to admit BJ, he looked pretty damn explosive in that video. I still have some reservations about him, particularly if we are considering him with the 4th pick, but his explosiveness and athleticism is no longer one of them. I think he could have won the NBA dunk contest with a couple of those dunks.

You may be the worst poster on this forum.

No one is suggesting that we take Gordon at 4.

It doesn't matter because Wall played for the University of Kentucky. It doesn't matter that there are plenty of examples of not just good pgs playing in the league that couldn't shoot, to include several game changing allstar pgs. Exum played in Australia, against inferior competition - you know, because we have seen the competition he was playing against over there personally - and he can't shoot therefore we should pass on him for a point guard that played at OK State and also can't shoot. Seriously, half of the Spurs perimeter players were considered below average to poor outside shooters at one point in their career. Can we please put this idiotic notion that shooting is a skill that can't be improved upon to bed? There are so many examples of players going from poor shooters to good shooters that it is laughable. If you want a great example of a player who has improved his shooting, just look at Oladipo....a guy being dogged out in this thread by some for being an AVERAGE 3 point shooter (yes, 33% from the 3pt line for a rookie is average) He's a WAAAAAY better shooter now than he was when he played for Indiana.

JJ was a god awful defender when he came into the league as well and now he's pretty respectable at it. A lot of defense is basketball IQ and the willingness to work at it. Parker seems like a coachable kid so I think there's the possibility that he could become a passable defender with the right players and system around him.

If we went "all in" for Lance, we still wouldn't have an allstar on the team. You might be able to contend for a championship with Lance Stephenson as your third best player on the team. Maybe. You don't pay out a max contract (or something along those lines, who knows what he will actually get) for a 3rd tier guy when we don't currently have a first tier guy on the roster.

Junkie must be brainwashing me. I'm to the point where I hope we draft a Kentucky player with our 12th pick just so he will shut the hell up about it.

I agree. I think people are confusing two big men successfully playing together with two HOF big men playing together successfully. There are plenty of examples of 2 big men currently playing well together.

You aren't all there, are you?

I think the way more likely scenario involves the Bulls using the amnesty on Boozer.

His offense drastically improving and him being healthy are too pretty large ifs, don't you think? Are you going to conveniently forget that you were pining for him if he turns into the bust that is extremely likely? Also, other than the fact that he didn't play for the University of Kentucky, what exactly was your problem with Oladipo's play this year? I thought the kid played well most of the time, which is pretty remarkable considering he was learning a new position, in the middle of the season, against the best basketball competition in the world.

I said a tank, tank, tankity tank. A tank, tank, tankity tank.

How did someone manage to give you a negative rep for this?