Wait here is an unbiased opinion of the draftees !!!!


#23 LaMarcus Aldridge
Birthdate: 7/19/85
NBA Position: PF/C
College: Texas
Class: Sophomore
Ht: 6-11
Wt: 245
Hometown: Dallas, TX
High School: Seagoville
Teamsite Profile
2005 Stats


NBA Comparison: Channing Frye

Strengths:
Considered the top bigman prospect in the country ... Extremely smooth post player ... Has excellent touch within 12 feet of the basket ... Soft hands ... Excels on the offensive end with great fundamentals and footwork ... Put on 25 pounds of muscle between his freshman and sophomore seasons and it's made him a much more aggressive and confident post player ... Runs the floor especially well for a (near) 7 footer ... Good transition player ... Good shot blocker, with his long arms he should get a fair number of blocks on the next level ... Long arms and a quick leaper ... Very versatile big man ... Has many effective moves in the low post including a go-to jump hook. Has even developed a sky hook in his sophomore year ... Great at positioning himself in the post ... Has nice form on his jumper, range is developing ... Positions himself well for rebounds and excels on the offensive glass ...

Weaknesses:
In high school he developed a reputation for being soft and not showing enough heart. Scouts still have some question marks about his toughness inside. He is vastly improved in that area, but still struggles against big and strong players on the NCAA level ... Not a physically imposing player inside, plays more a finesse game. Needs to get nastier ... Should still add an additional 10-15 pounds ... Not an out of this world leaper, but solid ... Not an extremely emotional player, which is both a positive and a negative ... Passing and ball handling are decent but can improve ... Also has been injury prone (missed half of his freshman year after a hip injury that required surgery) ... Must develop a killer instinct, more intensity ... Free throw shooting is just average ...

-Aran Smith 3/15/06

#12
Tyrus Thomas
Birthdate: 8/17/86
NBA Position: Power Forward
College: LSU
Class: Freshman
Ht: 6-9
Wt: 218
Hometown: Baton Rouge, LA
High School: McKinley
Team Site Profile 2005 Stats

NBA Comparison: Shawn Marion

Strengths
: Agile bigman with great leaping ability ... Feathery touch out to 12-15 feet ... Has a very nice turn around jump shot ...Spectauclar dunker, his explosiveness and quickness getting off the ground is unrivaled among college post players ... A super shot blocker due to his long arms and explosiveness ... Runs the floor well ... Huge wingspan ... Has good hands for rebonds and catching passes ... Plays with good energy, loves to dunk ... Extremely long arms plus great lift make him a monster on the boards and allow him to play much bigger than 6-9 ... Plays with great intensity, has an edge to him ... Excellent passer, great vision ... Great upside ...

Weaknesses:
Unproven, must prove himself on the college level ... Must put on a good deal of weight as he can be pushed around due to lack of bulk . He needs at least 20-25 pounds of muscle ... How well he weight trains and maintains his agility will be huge ... He's so talented he can get away with not hustling or working hard, so staying intense and focused is important ... Needs to become better conditioned, gets winded easily ... Has a bit of a hitch on his free throw shot ... He's a risky pick because it's uncertain how his body will turn out. Will he be able to add the weight?

Notes: Redshirted his first year at LSU after sustaining a neck injury.
-Aran Smith 11/28/05


#3
Adam Morrison
Birthdate: 7/19/84
NBA Position: SG/SF
College: Gonzaga
Class: Junior
Ht: 6-8
Wt: 220
Hometown: Spokane, WA
High School: Mead
Team Site Profile
2005 Stats

NBA Comparison: Larry Bird

Strengths:
A special talent ... Old school right down to the stripes on the socks ... Like a coach on the floor ... Incredibly competitive ... The game comes very easily to him ... A great player in the half court ... Can create offense for himself or others ... Really excels with the ball in his hands at the top of the key ... Very good scorer with complete offensive repertoire ... Effortless shooting stroke ... Has great anticipation and basketball understanding ... Great intangibles, competes and inspires others to play hard ... Hard worker ... Plays with great intensity and aggressiveness ... Fundamentally solid, does all the little things to help his team win ... A true competitor. Will not back down from anyone ... Wants to take the big shot ... Sees the floor well, and is creative finding teammates for baskets ... Catches and shoots, or can shoot on the move ... Great at moving without the ball ... Finds a way to score against better athletes ... Great leadership ability ...

Weaknesses:
Not especially gifted athletically ... Lacks great foot speed getting out into transition ... Runs decent, but needs a head of steam ...Better hand speed than foot speed ... Leaping ability is average ... Plays hard on defense but lacks great lateral quickness ... Lack of a great first step will make it harder to get shots off against superior athletes ...
-Aran Smith 12/28/04

Posted by OngBok:

Everyone, the bottom line is that if Curry was in the draft, he would be the first pick and everyone here knows it !!! SO STOP LYING !!! You talk about FYGAZY ??? Everyone hated that guy but because now he is on a different team he was a great asset when he was here along with Sweeteny who everyone here called FAT & UNDERSIZED AT 6'7 ?? You guys flip flop move than a fish out of water !!! Morrison equals Kyle Korver !!! Tyus Thomas equals Stromile Swift, Alridge equals Charles Smith ( Knicks version )

Dude, you can say that as much as you want. Is he worth TWO top 5 picks in TWO
consecutive years? Give me a break. He's not. He's not freaking KG here.

Bottom line for me is that I refuse to believe that Isiah Thomas could not have
lottery protected that pick if he had any skill as a GM. If he was intent on
getting Curry, he should have protected it. And next year's too.
And yes, yes, I know somebody's is going to say I don't know what happened in
negotiations, perhaps he tried and couldn't. Well then I say, he's not a
good GM, and this is the type of situation that somebody should be fired for.
If I made a mistake this bad at my job, I'd expect to get fired.


[Edited by - panos on 05-24-2006 08:33 AM]

BOth good points on both sides.

Remember when Larry said Eddy was "the franchise player"?

Some took it as a slant on Starbury, maybe he has been trying to build the kid up.

In the long run, its not words or past stats that count, but future actions. This draft is not very top heavy and I can live with the Eddy risk. The flipping of 1st rounders make no sense because the worse we are the more we have to pay for Eddy. That is the dumb part of trade.

If Eddy is physically unable either becasue of his heart or genetic disposition to become a strong player then Isiah is really at fault here. Talent wise I see the attraction and potential.

Depending on how the bulls go it will take a few more years to sort this out.

I saw him in the Dean Dome vs. UNC his senior year and he was on a differnt plane that the rest of boys. His explosion in person was jaw dropping. ANd he had an outside shot!

I never looked at that white stuff again after that. I had just gotten married and it hit hard. Not that I ever disgested all that much, but if a supreme athlete can fall to a mistake, what might happen to us mortals?

This guy was projectd to play in the backcourt.

Would have been a nasty team.

Marv - listen to Nalod. Unless you saw Bias in person you really couldn't appreciate his skil-set. Televison makes you look two inhes shorter anyway. Or is it two inches taller?

whateva

Nalod also states correctly that Bias would have eased seamlessly onto a talented Celtics team without any "savior" pressure. He would have developed in a team context and had the rings to show for it.

He had it all....

No matter, Len Bias had the Nike shoe contract on lock BEFORE even attending his first Celtics practice. Imagine how many sets of green basketball shoes would have sold.

Briggs - I am totally willing to stand by how I rated Bias as BETTER than Jordan.


The unfortunate thing is we will never know

I agree that there's no reason to whine or cry. We have the talented, brilliant, resourceful, and highly motivated Eddy Curry!!! Eddy is all about winning and is improving every year by leaps and bounds. Eddy, like our other Center Jerome James, really cares about basketball.

So far as the draft goes, we've had our draft, and our draft pick is Eddy Curry.

Mission Accomplished!