March 25 - "USC junior forward Nikola Vucevic announced Friday afternoon that he'll forgo his senior season, sign with an agent and enter the NBA draft. His announcement came at the Galen Center before a small group of reporters and his teammates. Vucevic, dressed in a suit, sat at a table with USC Coach Kevin O'Neill at his side.

"I just felt like it was the right time," said the 6-foot-10, 260-pound Montenegro native who averaged 17.1 points and 10.3 rebounds this season."

misterearl wrote:Second Choice

March 25 - "USC junior forward Nikola Vucevic announced Friday afternoon that he'll forgo his senior season, sign with an agent and enter the NBA draft. His announcement came at the Galen Center before a small group of reporters and his teammates. Vucevic, dressed in a suit, sat at a table with USC Coach Kevin O'Neill at his side.

"I just felt like it was the right time," said the 6-foot-10, 260-pound Montenegro native who averaged 17.1 points and 10.3 rebounds this season."

I just love numbers like that no highlight reels or do we wait to June for those? Did you see Gasol walking up and down the court the whole 4th quarter last night?

SupremeCommander wrote:

VCoug wrote:

misterearl wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:I am hoping the Knicks go with Faried. Even though he isn't projected to go when they pick his strengths are the Knicks weaknesses. If he gets on the court I think he would have a big impact.

With all due respect, Faried is not what the Knicks need. He is also too small to have an impact as a standout NBA frontcourt.

"Weaknesses: Undersized both in height (6'8) and weight (225 lbs) to play the 4 position at the NBA level"

- nbadraft.net

The Knicks do not need another forward. We need a center.

Really? If you were to give Jared Jeffries' minutes to Faried that wouldn't be an immediate improvement? Honestly, I don't see how we get a starting caliber center when we're picking this late in a pretty lousy draft.

I'm with you and Blly Donovan. I think the other side of the argument simply has not seen him play. I've been all about darfting Faried because he will immediately help the Knicks REBOUND. He has been compared ffavorably to Dennis Rodman by Rodman himself.

This team drafting for "need" would be utterly insane. They need help accross the board. Draft the best player available. Faried will likely be the BPA at 17. As I've explained before, he will slide because he played at Morehead State. And he played at Morehead because he misdiagnosed with asthma when he really had his nasal packages shut off, which wwas fixed with surgery.

The last guy that was smaller but ripped, a good rebounder and defender, and went to a smaller school was Ben Wallace. I'm sorry, but guys who are excellent at something come into the NBA and make a career for themselves. While I'm not suggesting he'll be DPOY of a HOF, he is the most excellent rebounder in the country and premiere defender. The Knicks need that.

Maybe he doesn't weigh or measure well. But I'll tell you what. He's not some unathletic finesse big.

It's funny, even if we were to draft for need, how does a great rebounder and defender not fill one of our biggest needs? The centers that are going to be available all seem soft and I don't think there's going to be any point guards available (Nolan Smith is not a point guard, he's a better version of Toney Douglas.) And I can't believe that some people above are comparing him to Balkman! Balkman never even dreamed of putting up the type of numbers that Faried does.

misterearl wrote:Highlight Reel? The Answer Man Don't Need No Steenkin' Highlight Reel!

Q. Olbrannon - Did you see Gasol walking up and down the court the whole 4th quarter last night?

A. I also watched Memphis nearly achieve the unthinkable.

I believe they'll get the next one. SA had 82 games to brandish the spear. But in the end seems to have passed the torch.

VCoug wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:

VCoug wrote:

misterearl wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:I am hoping the Knicks go with Faried. Even though he isn't projected to go when they pick his strengths are the Knicks weaknesses. If he gets on the court I think he would have a big impact.

With all due respect, Faried is not what the Knicks need. He is also too small to have an impact as a standout NBA frontcourt.

"Weaknesses: Undersized both in height (6'8) and weight (225 lbs) to play the 4 position at the NBA level"

- nbadraft.net

The Knicks do not need another forward. We need a center.

Really? If you were to give Jared Jeffries' minutes to Faried that wouldn't be an immediate improvement? Honestly, I don't see how we get a starting caliber center when we're picking this late in a pretty lousy draft.

I'm with you and Blly Donovan. I think the other side of the argument simply has not seen him play. I've been all about darfting Faried because he will immediately help the Knicks REBOUND. He has been compared ffavorably to Dennis Rodman by Rodman himself.

This team drafting for "need" would be utterly insane. They need help accross the board. Draft the best player available. Faried will likely be the BPA at 17. As I've explained before, he will slide because he played at Morehead State. And he played at Morehead because he misdiagnosed with asthma when he really had his nasal packages shut off, which wwas fixed with surgery.

The last guy that was smaller but ripped, a good rebounder and defender, and went to a smaller school was Ben Wallace. I'm sorry, but guys who are excellent at something come into the NBA and make a career for themselves. While I'm not suggesting he'll be DPOY of a HOF, he is the most excellent rebounder in the country and premiere defender. The Knicks need that.

Maybe he doesn't weigh or measure well. But I'll tell you what. He's not some unathletic finesse big.

It's funny, even if we were to draft for need, how does a great rebounder and defender not fill one of our biggest needs? The centers that are going to be available all seem soft and I don't think there's going to be any point guards available (Nolan Smith is not a point guard, he's a better version of Toney Douglas.) And I can't believe that some people above are comparing him to Balkman! Balkman never even dreamed of putting up the type of numbers that Faried does.

Completely agree. There'd be the added benefit of his ability to spell Melo and Amar'e as well. AS you said, he would contribute immediately in areas this squad is defficient in. The only reason to consider passing on him is his height, but let's be real here. The Big Fella, The Admiral, The Dream, and Shaq Attack, with the alternate cast of Zo, Mutombo, Smits, etc. aren't exactly looming on the horizon

VCoug wrote:

misterearl wrote:VCoug - what tells you that Nikola Vucevic is "soft"?

How does Faried match up with any of the starting centers (or forward for that matter) for the remaining playoff teams?

I don't think Vucevic can guard big men in the NBA. And I never said that Faried was a center, he might see some playing time there but he's more of a forward; and he's only 21 so it's possible he could grow another inch or two. I'm not worried about drafting a guy to matchup with Dwight Howard or Bynum/Gasol because I don't think there is a guy like that in this draft. I understand that the we need a center but we also need talent and I'm a big believer in taking the best player available in the draft. If all we're looking for is some random big man with six fouls at center we have Jerome Jordan and the D league. Hell, Vucevic will probably still be available later in the first round when teams are selling picks; I'd absolutely buy a pick in the 25-30 range and take him. But with the 17th(?) pick I want a guy who I know can play, and that's Faried.

VCoug, it is one thing to throw out an assumption about Vucevic, quite another to back it with some evidence. Faried seems to be the flava flav of the month, that's cool. I don't understand the fascination with a player who is a slightly more muscular Xerox of Renaldo Balkman.

I would have less problem with a brigade of people advocating for Kemba Walker as an understudy to Chauncey Billups. The next person who lists Toney Douglas as a lead guard on any depth chart is banished from the kingdom.

My kingdom for a center.

AnubisADL wrote:I'd prefer to get a young big buried on an NBA bench to wasting our draft pick on a scrub.

BJ Mullens comes to mind since OKC has Perkin and Aldrich already.

Timofey Mozgov is buried fairly deep on the Nuggets bench.

BigSm00th wrote:if is still around, trey thompkins may make sense:

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/trey-thompkins

he's 6'10 and his NBA comp is channing frye.

then again we drafted jordan hill and MDA refused to play him so who knows whether donnie solicits any input whatsoever from the D'Offensive Genius.

Why wouldn't we just trade for the real Channing Frye?

crzymdups wrote:i like the brazilian kid Lucas Nogueira. known as the brazilian Marcus Camby.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Lucas-Nogueira-5957/

you dudes are sleeping on this kid.

i think this is also a year donnie should try to buy a late first rounder or early second rounder.

crzymdups wrote:

crzymdups wrote:i like the brazilian kid Lucas Nogueira. known as the brazilian Marcus Camby.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Lucas-Nogueira-5957/

you dudes are sleeping on this kid.

i think this is also a year donnie should try to buy a late first rounder or early second rounder.

agreed on the buying of extra picks.

the knicks have 7 guys under contract currently for next yr (stat & melo, billups, fields, douglas, turiaf, balkman). balkman likely won't play so that's 6. no way we can waste the pick on an 18 yr old kid with limited experience.

BigSm00th wrote:"Tallying 17 rebounds in that game, and 13 in Morehead's subsequent loss to Richmond in the round of 32, Faried did the same thing he's done his entire career: hustle, play with toughness, and pursue absolutely every loose ball on both ends"

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kenneth-Faried-5325/#ixzz1KsIxrkdd

This is exactly the type of player the Knicks need. All-time college bball rebounder, surpassing Tim Duncan this year. averaged 14 boards a game last year and over 2 steals. he's definitely not a C (6'8") but the knicks have glaring glaring weakness in the rebounding department and the "true grit" (hustle and toughness) department, and this guy fills both.

this team has the stars. we need guys like faried to hustle, dive for balls, and be a general pest for opponents. i know the size is lacking and i know he's not a C, but i'd rather get a guy who can be a rotation player and give us much needed rebounding and toughness than swing and miss on some hybrid, MDA style center. if they work faried out and he can defend 4s (which i think he can), i think you've gotta make him the pick. so long as amare doesn't have to guard the better post player on D, he won't kill us.