Some nice 2nd round talent:

Purer PGs
Darren Collison - His defense might put him ahead of these other 2nd round PGs. Barely.
Nick Calathes
Jeremy Pargo - Leader, physical.
AJ Price - Pretty steady and clutch.
Lavance Fields - Physical/strong, clutch, ran a decent show at Pitt.

Scoring PGs
Tyrese Rice
Curtis Jerells
Jerel McNeal

Shooters
KC Rivers - Steady, can shoot, plays very good defense, contributes on the glass, productive, can come in & help an NBA team out right away.
AD Vassallo - Smooth all-around game, shows a high BBall IQ, big, good shooter.
Jack McClinton - Damn fine little scorer, enough ability to play some point, I think his game carries over nicely to the NBA in a House/Robinson/Barbosa-type role.
Dionte Christmas
Jodie Meeks
Jermaine Taylor
Paul Harris
Robert Vaden

SFs
Austin Daye - Too much talent to pass up if he slips, probably won't be there though.
DaJuan Summers - Nice all-around package. Very Sam Young-like, although I like Sam a little better. He's probably a 1st rounder.
Terrance Williams - Strong and versatile. Probably goes end of the 1st round but could slip.
Danny Green - Versatile. Does a lot of things well.
Tyler Smith

PFs
Trevor Booker - Might be just as good as DeJuan Blair. Think he's going back to school though. Could've been a 1st rounder.
Taj Gibson - Plays both sides of the ball well, lunch pail/team-oriented guy, plays hard/never complains, can help an NBA team right now. Will yield a nice return as a 2nd rounder. Talent-level's in the 1st round as far as I'm concerned.
Jeff Adrien
Josh Heytvelt
Jeff Pendergraph
Jarvis Varnado - Big shot-blocking totals but didn't really impress me too much the few times I've seen him. He's raw, loses focus quickly and suprisingly get bullied down low. Appears to get winded rather quickly too. He's not what you think - not yet anyway. The shot-blocking totals are impressive though and to be fair I've only seen him play 3 times so I never saw him at his best. I think he's gonna test the waters but he needs to stay in school.
Luke Harangody
Leo Lyons
Gavin Edwards
Yancy Gates - He'll stay in school but remember the name in a couple of years. He's raw right now but I think he could develop into a nice player in a year or two for Cincy.

Centers
Andrew Ogilvy - Won't wow you at first (doesn't have the overly impressive physique, foot speed, etc..) but the more you watch him the more you realize he's got a pretty complete game. Space-eater, has nice finesse skills but can play physical when needed, can step out and shoot it, plays real well in the post, he rebounds and can challenge shots around the rim. Very Kosta Koufos-like. Not sure if he's coming out. If not, could be a 1st rounder next year. I'd argue that he's got a more complete game than Cole Aldrich right now (both guys go 6'11", 250 lb.).

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few guys. Been sayin' it - this draft is a lot deeper than people are giving it credit for. These are some damn good players here.



[Edited by - finestrg on 05-07-2009 2:44 PM]

IMO both Carroll and Lyons are bad fits for the Knicks. Interestingly Demarre Carroll was compared to Renaldo Balkman, although apparently his defense is inferior to Renaldo's. He too is a hybrid, undersized for the pf role and not a good enough shooter on the offensive side or fast enough on the defensive side to guard a quick sf. Leo Lyons also looks unappetizing for the Knicks. While his shooting is accurate back to 18 feet, he would need considerably more range than that to work well for the Knicks. Also he has defensive limitation at the college level, which means he has major problems in the NBA. How can you suggest that someone that only averaged 23 minutes a game has a great pro career waiting for him. These guys need to be dominant at the college level, to become good players in the NBA, and neither was.

Maybe if you didn't tell me previously that my opinion was BS, I might not be motivated to expose your draft suggestions.

Posted by Paladin55:

Posted by TMS:

if we end up buying a 2nd rounder i'd like to get Dionte Christmas or Taj Gibson

I like Gibson. Tough kid. Balkman/Rodman/Bo Outlaw type of player??? Wonder how tall he really is?

Hope he keeps that beard.

yeah i can see him becoming 1 of those JYD / PJ Brown type players who do the dirty work down low & make all the hustle plays... he's a good shotblocker & is a vocal leader type guy, we could use more of that on this team.

Posted by JohnWallace44:

Why is Meeks rated so low? Anyone else understand this?

That's tough to answer. I'd have to say that there's just better 2-guard talent out there ahead of him right now - not to mention the slew of other talent at other positions. It might just be that simple. There are questions with Meeks (too one dimensional, a little selfish, only adequate size for the next level - height & frame, turnover prone) but he's a big-time scorer no question. Made himself into a great scorer after not doing too much his freshman and sophmore years. His ability to shoot off the dribble with a lightning-quick release is just incredible, plus he's got a good enough handle and is athletic and aggressive enough to put it on the deck and take it to the rim strong. He finishes pretty well around the rim and can absorb some contact and still convert despite being slightly undersized in terms of an NBA 2. Good body control on the finish, even showing a nice left hand too. Takes good/high % shots and appears to be very confident in his ability - can really create his own shot out there when plays break down. Looks like a guy you want with the ball in his hands as the shotclock runs down similar to how we used Jamal and Allan Houston before that. That 54 pt. performance against Tennesee this year was just sick.

Anyone know if Larry Sanders is coming out or is he going back to VCU? He's a guy that's similar to Varnado but better IMO - better athlete and even longer with a better motor.


[Edited by - finestrg on 05-07-2009 11:03 PM]