2014 Draft Thread

[CTMagicUK 1,488]

Let me ask you something, do you believe what others tell you all the time? Or just those that have a website where they hire people like Brian Schmitz to make little youtube videos and point out things from players they like?

 

I have been preaching Young since the fall. Sorry dude.

 

Except Brian Shmitz is a local beat writer who knows nothing about basketball. Draftexpress is a professional company that literally makes money off of it's scouting. But ya know, those are the same thing.

 

("Thank you for running your website... we refer to it as the Wall Street Journal for the NBA Draft."- Sam Presti about Draftexpress. )

 

Also isn't it more telling that you only apparently judge a player with your own eyes and don't let things like stats, measurements and the findings of others affect your own opinion. What you're essentially saying here is that even when someone slaps you around the face with game footage of Young being an average athlete and of measurements showing he's an average athlete you're still willing to believe he's an elite athlete because you've been a fan of him all along.

 

But we must be wrong. The people who go by more than just their gut feeling. The people who look with their eyes and see but also allow stats and other facts to affect their judgement because that's the rational way to judge everything.

 

Let's say you see a picture of a restaurant online. Maybe you even check out the menu and think it sounds awesome. Maybe you even saw the chef cook a nice meal once. Would you decide that's the restaurant you're going to eat at even if everybody, including professional food critics, said it was awful? Even if they showed you pictures of the food looking awful?

 

That's essentially how you're acting here.

[Ibn Battuta 127]

Orlando Magic forums. Serious business.

[TreyMachine 398]

#4 – Orlando Magic:

The Magic are also very much open for business. They hold two lottery level draft picks, have a roster full of promising young talent and they have the creatively structured contract of Jameer Nelson ($8 million salary, $2 million guaranteed) and shooting guard Aaron Afflalo to dangle in would-be trades. The Magic may also have an ample amount of cap space in July to absorb a big contract if required.

The Magic have been linked to Golden State’s David Lee, although sources in Orlando down played that report as one of many things being presented their way. Take that to mean, it’s something they could do if they wanted to.

The Magic did not jump up in the draft, in fact they fell back a spot, but that fundamentally hasn’t changed what the Magic had planned for this draft which was to look at maybe 30 players in the draft pool. Five or six related to their top pick and at least 20 related to their 12th pick.

There is a sense the Magic would like to see Exum fall to them and that still remains a possibility, but at four they may have to settle for who else is there.

The Magic have been high on Wiggins and Parker all season, so if one of them is there at four the Magic likely grab them. The question becomes what about Embiid? If Embiid is there at four it likely means there are serious questions lingering about his back and would the Magic take the risk on Embiid given his potential?

The Magic have the luxury of a loaded roster and a promising big in Nikola Vucevic, so in theory they could draft Embiid, let him work through the medical parts of his rehab and develop him slowly. It all comes down to how bad is the injury?

Reports from Kansas during the Final Four pegged Embiid’s injury as a stress fracture which is called Spondylolysis, which is a small crack in the pars interarticularis portion of the lumbar spine. This injury usually heals normally with rest and rehab. The unknown in this equation is if the condition is really Spondylolisthesis, which is a recurring stress reaction, related to vertebra shifting forward and sitting on nerves. The surgical treatment for that is surgical fusion, which is a scary concept for NBA teams. It is believed this is the second time Embiid has had this injury, which is why there is so much debate and concern.

There is a sense that Embiid’s agent is playing this coy to steer him to the right team, however with such a huge unknown looming around his draft stock it’s hard to peg what’s real and what’s not.

Orlando could have the option of being the Embiid broker with the fourth pick, however if he is there it means three other teams passed on his back, because his potential as a player is off the charts.

There are a couple of dark horse candidates for the Magic with the fourth pick. If Wiggins, Parker and Exum are off the board the Magic may look at Marcus Smart and Noah Vonleh. Smart was a player the Magic thoroughly scouted last year; they are very familiar with his game and were high on a season ago. Vonleh may be more of a reach for the Magic who have similar size and position players on the roster already, but are said to be high on his character and his potential in the NBA.

The smart money says the Magic catch whoever falls to four. The Magic do have some assets to dangle to move up including the number 12 pick; however, sources close to the process don’t see that happening at this point.

The Magic expect to be busy with individual workouts all the way up to the draft and have been trying to schedule as many guys as they can, so they will be involved in a lot leading up to the draft.

 

via basketball insiders

 

 

Quality stuff. All of which I can believe. Great scenarios!

[Jay Magic 1,251]

NBA All-Rookie First Team: Carter-Williams, Oladipo, Burke, Plumlee, Hardaway Jr.

[Malik Buttface 57]

#4 – Orlando Magic:

The Magic are also very much open for business. They hold two lottery level draft picks, have a roster full of promising young talent and they have the creatively structured contract of Jameer Nelson ($8 million salary, $2 million guaranteed) and shooting guard Aaron Afflalo to dangle in would-be trades. The Magic may also have an ample amount of cap space in July to absorb a big contract if required.

The Magic have been linked to Golden State’s David Lee, although sources in Orlando down played that report as one of many things being presented their way. Take that to mean, it’s something they could do if they wanted to.

The Magic did not jump up in the draft, in fact they fell back a spot, but that fundamentally hasn’t changed what the Magic had planned for this draft which was to look at maybe 30 players in the draft pool. Five or six related to their top pick and at least 20 related to their 12th pick.

There is a sense the Magic would like to see Exum fall to them and that still remains a possibility, but at four they may have to settle for who else is there.

The Magic have been high on Wiggins and Parker all season, so if one of them is there at four the Magic likely grab them. The question becomes what about Embiid? If Embiid is there at four it likely means there are serious questions lingering about his back and would the Magic take the risk on Embiid given his potential?

The Magic have the luxury of a loaded roster and a promising big in Nikola Vucevic, so in theory they could draft Embiid, let him work through the medical parts of his rehab and develop him slowly. It all comes down to how bad is the injury?

Reports from Kansas during the Final Four pegged Embiid’s injury as a stress fracture which is called Spondylolysis, which is a small crack in the pars interarticularis portion of the lumbar spine. This injury usually heals normally with rest and rehab. The unknown in this equation is if the condition is really Spondylolisthesis, which is a recurring stress reaction, related to vertebra shifting forward and sitting on nerves. The surgical treatment for that is surgical fusion, which is a scary concept for NBA teams. It is believed this is the second time Embiid has had this injury, which is why there is so much debate and concern.

There is a sense that Embiid’s agent is playing this coy to steer him to the right team, however with such a huge unknown looming around his draft stock it’s hard to peg what’s real and what’s not.

Orlando could have the option of being the Embiid broker with the fourth pick, however if he is there it means three other teams passed on his back, because his potential as a player is off the charts.

There are a couple of dark horse candidates for the Magic with the fourth pick. If Wiggins, Parker and Exum are off the board the Magic may look at Marcus Smart and Noah Vonleh. Smart was a player the Magic thoroughly scouted last year; they are very familiar with his game and were high on a season ago. Vonleh may be more of a reach for the Magic who have similar size and position players on the roster already, but are said to be high on his character and his potential in the NBA.

The smart money says the Magic catch whoever falls to four. The Magic do have some assets to dangle to move up including the number 12 pick; however, sources close to the process don’t see that happening at this point.

The Magic expect to be busy with individual workouts all the way up to the draft and have been trying to schedule as many guys as they can, so they will be involved in a lot leading up to the draft.

 

via basketball insiders

 

 

This is definitely an interesting situation for the Magic to be in right now. If Wiggins and Parker go 1&2, do the 76ers pick up Embiid? I don't see them doing so. I'm hoping this injury isn't as bad as it quite possibly could be.

[MagicFanInNevada 51]

This is definitely an interesting situation for the Magic to be in right now. If Wiggins and Parker go 1&2, do the 76ers pick up Embiid? I don't see them doing so. I'm hoping this injury isn't as bad as it quite possibly could be.

 

I honesty think and this is my opinion of course that if Embiid doesn't go top 4 then there is something serious going on with his back.

[ML6 520]

I can't rid myself of the nightmare scenario in which one of Exum/Embiid/Parker/Wiggins falls to us and yet we still take Smart based on this reported obsession we've had with him since last year. I want to know with certainty that this disaster won't happen, and yet I think it is a remote possibility.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

@chadfordinsider: TJ Warren is never going to be a drills guy. But when they went live 3-on-3? Holy hell.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

I can't rid myself of the nightmare scenario in which one of Exum/Embiid/Parker/Wiggins falls to us and yet we still take Smart based on this reported obsession we've had with him since last year. I want to know with certainty that this disaster won't happen, and yet I think it is a remote possibility.

 

Yes. I have this nightmare

[JamminJ21 35]

That's your first problem, if that wasn't a joke.

 

Yeah it was a clearly a joke...hence the all jokes aside statement at the start of the next paragraph.

[CTMagicUK 1,488]

http://allball.blogs.nba.com/2014/05/22/great-moments-in-nba-draft-interviews/?ls=iref:nbahpt6f

 

Pretty funny little article with Daryl Morey tweets about the funniest draft combine interview answers. Wish I knew if any of these players were in the league still.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,033]

I can't rid myself of the nightmare scenario in which one of Exum/Embiid/Parker/Wiggins falls to us and yet we still take Smart based on this reported obsession we've had with him since last year. I want to know with certainty that this disaster won't happen, and yet I think it is a remote possibility.

It keeps me up at night