2014 Draft Thread

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,033]

Smart is a top 6 or 7 player. He won't be on the board at 9.

 

Bit of an over reaction over the Embiid thing. Guy may be back by sweet 16 time and he's not the first player to have an injury. One injury doesn't make a pattern, In my opinion the Noel injury was a lot worse and he still went #6. Is it worrying? Yes. Is it indicative of the rest of his career? No. Will he still be a top 3 pick? probably. He'll probably stay in college though if he takes a stock hit.

Tbh if I was him I'd still declare for the draft. The Celtics and Lakers are the best organizations in history and if I was a player I wouldn't mind taking a small pay cut and have a chance to play for them. Who the hell knows who will have the #1 pick next year?

[CTMagicUK 1,491]

Tbh if I was him I'd still declare for the draft. The Celtics and Lakers are the best organizations in history and if I was a player I wouldn't mind taking a small pay cut and have a chance to play for them. Who the hell knows who will have the #1 pick next year?

 

Very true but he was unsure about declaring anyway apparently so this may push him to stay. Still think he'll come out and be the #1 pick personally if his medicals show that this shouldn't be a recurring issue.

[MagicFanInNevada 51]

The fact that he's a tank of a PG who does practically everything well except shooting (pushing the ball, rebounding, defending, getting to the rim/foul line, hustle) makes him top 5 to me. Forget the character questions. I still think he's the ultimate competitor and a leader. He's bound to improve his handle and shooting at least some. I can see Randle, Gordon, or some other players having more intriguing box scores occasionally, but I don't see them having as much impact on winning as Smart.

 

He's not my first choice in the top 3-4, but there aren't many players I see being better.

 

I agree with everything you said boss, Smart was a top 6 pick regardless of the Embiid injury. Yes we all know about his altercation but he's 19. Most of us were all knuckleheads at that age but I think he's learned from it. In saying that, if we miss out on Wiggins or Parker I'd be more than happy with Smart on this roster. I'd be all for a Oladipo/Smart backcourt

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

I agree with everything you said boss, Smart was a top 6 pick regardless of the Embiid injury. Yes we all know about his altercation but he's 19. Most of us were all knuckleheads at that age but I think he's learned from it. In saying that, if we miss out on Wiggins or Parker I'd be more than happy with Smart on this roster. I'd be all for a Oladipo/Smart backcourt

 

I'm hesitant to correct you because I know it's going to seem pompous, and that's not my intention, but Smart is 20.

 

I'm not a fan of smart because he's not very good offensively. he's shooting 39% in conference play. He doesn't shoot freethrows all that well for a point guard. His outside shooting is poor.

[JudeMorrigan 3]

De gustibus, but the reason I'm personally not a fan of Smart in the top 5 has nothing to do with any supposed character flaws and everything to do with his shooting.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

De gustibus, but the reason I'm personally not a fan of Smart in the top 5 has nothing to do with any supposed character flaws and everything to do with his shooting.

 

This.

[ML6 520]

Seeing Smart described here as a good decision maker makes me cringe a little bit. He is not the worst, but he certainly tends to do a lot of dumb things for his team. I am probably fairly well-recognized at this point as being anti-Smart, and it mainly has to do with his stunning inability to take good shots, and even more importantly, make them. A guy as dreadful as he is from 3 should not be taking 6.8 attempts from that range per 40 minutes... by comparison, he makes Josh Smith look like a responsible offensive focal point. The next time OKST plays, count how many times Smart takes a bad jumper early in the shot clock. The number won't be insignificant.

 

I can't deny that the defensive potential of a Smart-Oladipo backcourt is intriguing. However, the resultant offensive spacing of the team would be horrendous as a result. You'd have to be pretty confident in the ability of one of them to drastically improve his shooting, and I think Oladipo probably has more potential in that area. I will ask the same question I've posed before: if you're interested in a big, strong, charismatic point guard who is lauded for his leadership and work ethic, don't we already have that guy? Further, don't we already have a better version of that guy than Smart? Oladipo is a better shooter, more athletic, and probably makes better decisions after continually improving as a lead guard this year. What is the point in drafting a worse Oladipo?

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Seeing Smart described here as a good decision maker makes me cringe a little bit. He is not the worst, but he certainly tends to do a lot of dumb things for his team. I am probably fairly well-recognized at this point as being anti-Smart, and it mainly has to do with his stunning inability to take good shots, and even more importantly, make them. A guy as dreadful as he is from 3 should not be taking 6.8 attempts from that range per 40 minutes... by comparison, he makes Josh Smith look like a responsible offensive focal point. The next time OKST plays, count how many times Smart takes a bad jumper early in the shot clock. The number won't be insignificant.

 

I can't deny that the defensive potential of a Smart-Oladipo backcourt is intriguing. However, the resultant offensive spacing of the team would be horrendous as a result. You'd have to be pretty confident in the ability of one of them to drastically improve his shooting, and I think Oladipo probably has more potential in that area. I will ask the same question I've posed before: if you're interested in a big, strong, charismatic point guard who is lauded for his leadership and work ethic, don't we already have that guy? Further, don't we already have a better version of that guy than Smart? Oladipo is a better shooter, more athletic, and probably makes better decisions after continually improving as a lead guard this year. What is the point in drafting a worse Oladipo?

 

Smart is further along as a pg than oladipo but your point remains.

[Soul Bro 1,422]

The Embiid news is tough for him and us

[NittanyBuc 757]

The Embiid news is tough for him and us

We need a wing; not sure it really does anything for us. Only thing you could argue is that Wiggins' and Parker's stocks go up (potentially).

 

Vucevic is already one of the better centers in the east, though that's more of a reflection of how poor the east centers are. Still, point stands.

[ML6 520]

Drafting for need is how you get in trouble though. When you're talking about a guy with the potential/upside of Embiid, you could make the argument that this sort of news has an impact on nearly every team.

[Optimist Prime 197]

I think it's great for Embiid if it forces him to stay a year. He has the chance to really develop his game, especially if Wiggins is gone and he becomes a focal point for that team. Hopefully, he will be able to make a full recovery over the offseason (assuming they're ousted somewhat early in the tournament).