Posted by gunsnewing:

Martynas would have to be better or on par with Yao to justify picking him over green/taft imo. do u honestly think MA will be worth it? even if green was to average only 9pts that would still be 3 more points then our beloved ariza and he would contribute until he really becomes a star in 1-3yrs

Posted by TMS:

Lampe went in the 2nd round too because teams were scared away by his contract situation even though he was projected to go in the top 10...was that a similar situation to what happened to Baby Shaq?

Posted by VDesai:

Hard to make any kind of judgements on a player who is only given infrequent minutes. He will be judged by his pre-draft and individual workouts as well as any all-star game appearances.

How many 18 year old players got a lot of minutes in the Euroleagues?

Posted by joec32033:

Posted by BRIGGS:

its a no-brainer that you start with a 7-3 player and work down. If he dominated all of these so-called young euro lottery picks, it's just a matter of time he raises it to the next level of competition.

Not you in particular Briggs, but wasn't everyone preaching the same philosophy about Vranes when we could've had (and these are picks after Vranes...

Willie Green
Zaza Pachulia
Keith Bogans
Mo Williams
Kyle Korver
Brandon Hunter

I'm talking about the process of bringing him in and working him out, doing a full due dilligence on him. Unlike many of these other Euro bigs, Martynas actually dominated peers of his own age. the level of play there is higher than the MCDs game. So we can basically say that he is an elite level prospect for someone of his age whether its in Lithuania, the US, Japan etc.. because he proved to be dominate over a run of 10 games. I can't specualte on what an 18 year old does against men who are 23 + up, I can only specualte on his performance against people his age. Almost every player who came into the nBA early had an adjustment period. He has to be worked out extensively before he is canceled out as an option. for someone to say bluntly that because he is from Europe he has no chance is rediculous. Let him come here and prove what he is or isnt. Of course you are going to start with a guy like that if you dont win the lottery because he is 7-3 and has some proven bonafides.

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by joec32033:

Posted by BRIGGS:

its a no-brainer that you start with a 7-3 player and work down. If he dominated all of these so-called young euro lottery picks, it's just a matter of time he raises it to the next level of competition.

Not you in particular Briggs, but wasn't everyone preaching the same philosophy about Vranes when we could've had (and these are picks after Vranes...

Willie Green
Zaza Pachulia
Keith Bogans
Mo Williams
Kyle Korver
Brandon Hunter

I'm talking about the process of bringing him in and working him out, doing a full due dilligence on him. Unlike many of these other Euro bigs, Martynas actually dominated peers of his own age. the level of play there is higher than the MCDs game. So we can basically say that he is an elite level prospect for someone of his age whether its in Lithuania, the US, Japan etc.. because he proved to be dominate over a run of 10 games. I can't specualte on what an 18 year old does against men who are 23 + up, I can only specualte on his performance against people his age. Almost every player who came into the nBA early had an adjustment period. He has to be worked out extensively before he is canceled out as an option. for someone to say bluntly that because he is from Europe he has no chance is rediculous. Let him come here and prove what he is or isnt. Of course you are going to start with a guy like that if you dont win the lottery because he is 7-3 and has some proven bonafides.

Yes, BRIGGS, you're right, every player has an adjustment period. If you have been a good player in your league (NCAA, ACB or whatever), you will have enough confidence to think you can do it here, but if you have been going from the bench to the locker room it's going to be even worse in the NBA. If this guy would have done a Gasol-like performance in some important games, I wouldn't mind drafting him. But of course this is not an exact science, so I'm with you, let's prove him, make him work and see how good he is.

Posted by DarkKnicks:

Posted by VDesai:

It's a little paradoxical, because why would NBA scouts think so highly of them to be a top 10 pick if they flat out weren't even good enough to play in a lower level league, even at a younger age.

I believe its because:
1) There are very few centers in the NBA right now.
2) He's 7,3 and 18 years old and has shown good things in his past years.
Just 4 years ago very few players went to the NBA, and the ones that came here were awesome players in Europe (Sabonis, Kukoc, Divac, Petrovic). Nowadays with the lack of centers, the amount of players that go from the HS to the NBA and the recent USA team disasters, the scouts are searching prospects anywhere. From your point of view (with the NBA being much better than any other league, which is true) it can be logical to think that some European coach want to keep their players...but I can't think they do it even if they lose games because of it. At least not in Spain... remember people like basketball a lot here too, that could not ve tolerated. It's more like it happens here with Mike Sweetney. I bet almost everybody here knows that he is better than Kurt Thomas, but the coach still prefers Kurt Thomas, and it's just because he doesn't trust Sweetney enough. That's my opinion.