The Raptors and the 2014 Draft

[blackjitsu]

Debatable. Legitimate argument could be made for LaVine or Elfrid Payton.

I will say that Ennis is the best pure PG prospect though.

LaVine? Really? You're going to compare LaVine to the starting PG for the 18 and under US team (Payton) and the best pass first point guard in the NCAA's this year (Ennis)?

Uber-athlete? Yes. Tons of potential? Yes. POINT GUARD prospect? He's not even on the same page as Payton or Ennis.

[The Great One]

Report: Dario Saric will join NBA next season if Celtics or Lakers draft him http://t.co/MIZHm9PI6z

— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) May 29, 2014

[blackjitsu]

Boston had just about every SF that we might look at in for their workout today. Kyle Anderson (UCLA); DeAndre Daniels (UConn); Cleanthony Early (Wichita State); P.J. Hairston (North Carolina/Texas Legends of the NBA Development League); K.J. McDaniels (Clemson); and T.J. Warren (North Carolina State).
Other than Hairston who projects as 2 rather than a 3 these are the guys in the Raps snack bracket at 20 if we go SF. Any body find anything on how the one on ones went with this group ?

Good luck finding an honest report on this one. Celtics media is all over the K.Love visit and Saric news instead. I've seen 3 different rumors stating that Anderson, Warren, and Early stood out. What a mess.

[white men can't jump]

Boston had just about every SF that we might look at in for their workout today. Kyle Anderson (UCLA); DeAndre Daniels (UConn); Cleanthony Early (Wichita State); P.J. Hairston (North Carolina/Texas Legends of the NBA Development League); K.J. McDaniels (Clemson); and T.J. Warren (North Carolina State).
Other than Hairston who projects as 2 rather than a 3 these are the guys in the Raps snack bracket at 20 if we go SF. Any body find anything on how the one on ones went with this group ?

Word from Celtics workout is that Kyle Anderson stood out, but all fared well - TJ Warren, PJ Hairston, C Early, D Daniels, KJ McDaniels.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) June 3, 2014

[e_wheazhy_]

The Raptors and the 2014 Draft

20: Payton/Ennis
37: Inglis/Dinwiddie
59: Bachynski

20: Porzingis/Capela
37: Inglis/Dinwiddie
59: Carson/Brown

20: McDaniels
37: Stokes/Tavares
59: Carson/Brown

20: Capela
37: inglis
59: Russ smith/ Keith appling

20: Mc Daniels
37: Tavares/stokes
59: Po (if he's there)/Carson/Ejim

20:Payton
37: GR3
59: Bachynski/ P Young

[stooley]

I. Want. BACHYNSKI!!!!

So anyone asking for anyone else at 59: you're wrong >.< nanana booboo

[Shantz]

I don't have ESPN Insider, but Hoopshype has posted a lot of interesting quotes from the new Chad Ford article

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft...-top-prospects

Multiple league sources say that there are a surprising number of top picks for "sale" this year. "I thought getting a lottery pilck via trade would be virtually impossible this year," one NBA GM told Insider. "It's not. There are a lot of teams in the lottery right now that would prefer a proven player. A lot of owners have lots their patience with the rebuilding process."

Among the teams that would be open to trading their lottery pick? It's highly likely that the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz are all holding their picks.

Look for the Bucks, Hawks, Mavs, Blazers and Raptors to be especially busy trying to move up or acquire a second pick."

Some good tidbits for Raptor fans. Anyone have Insider to see if there is further information provided on these items, or other intriguing information about the draft?

[mcHAPPY]

Raptors director of scouting Dan Tolzman:

On impressions of the draft as a whole:
“It’s great. It’s extremely talented this year. I think … it’s a very good draft to have three [picks]. We’re kind of all across the board, too, at 20, 37 and 59. There is going to be a player on the board at all of those picks.”

On trading up in the draft:
“You’ve got to be realistic. It’s hard to move up in the draft. Every year, everyone complains about the draft all year long. And then when the draft comes around, everyone loves their draft pick and never want to trade it, because they fall in love with somebody.”

On whether his opinions change during draft workouts:
“We might have a list of, say, 10 guys or whatever. The order of that, we don’t know what that is. They’re all kind of bunched together. If they can come in and compete in workouts, and hopefully go up against one another if we can set that up, that’s where the jockeying for the position within that list happens. Workouts, they’re important. But we’ve seen these guys so many times. Seeing them in live action is the key anyway.”

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/...014-nba-draft/

[stooley]

I don't have ESPN Insider, but Hoopshype has posted a lot of interesting quotes from the new Chad Ford article

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft...-top-prospects







Some good tidbits for Raptor fans. Anyone have Insider to see if there is further information provided on these items, or other intriguing information about the draft?

here:

However, after pick No. 5 things are much more fluid. Sources say that the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns are all open to offers.

While picks No. 5-14 don't hold the same value as a top-4 pick in this draft (which explains why so many anonymous GMs are now suddenly praising the middle of the lottery and questioning whether there really is a top tier of four players) there still is a lot of talent at this point in the draft and a number of bad teams would love to get their hands on a second pick.

While the Celtics, Lakers, Kings, Hornets, Wolves and Suns aren't likely to get an All-Star for their picks, they should be able to score players or multiple assets that help their teams right now. Look for the Bucks, Hawks, Mavs, Blazers and Raptors to be especially busy trying to move up or acquire a second pick.

All three players helped themselves at the NBA combine, despite not playing in the drills. Their measurements and athletic testing were terrific. And all three were impressive in their individual workout sessions that Insider saw in New York and L.A.

I think Smart still has the lead over those other two and is most likely the second point guard taken after Dante Exum. Depending on where Exum goes, Smart could go as high as No. 4 to the Magic.

Payton appears to be closing the gap considerably -- something reflected in Payton's move to No. 13 on our Big Board. Several team sources say he's in the mix at No. 8 in Sacramento after a terrific workout there. The Hornets at No. 9 and the Magic at No. 12 are possibilities, as well. I doubt he gets past the Bulls or Raptors in the mid-first round.

Ennis is also more than holding his own and looks to be sitting in that same range between No. 8 and No. 20.

sound pretty unlikely that Payton will still be there at our pick

[imanshumpert]

LaVine? Really? You're going to compare LaVine to the starting PG for the 18 and under US team (Payton) and the best pass first point guard in the NCAA's this year (Ennis)?

Uber-athlete? Yes. Tons of potential? Yes. POINT GUARD prospect? He's not even on the same page as Payton or Ennis.

Stop looking at just what the player is right now. You also need to consider the fact that LaVine was forced to play off-ball due to having several more experienced ballhandlers on his team.

LaVine has more upside than either of them imo. More bust potential as well. But then I guess it depends on what you mean by "best" prospect. Ennis is definitely the safest one, but he has the least upside of the 3 imo.

[white men can't jump]

Stop looking at just what the player is right now. You also need to consider the fact that LaVine was forced to play off-ball due to having several more experienced ballhandlers on his team.

LaVine has more upside than either of them imo. More bust potential as well. But then I guess it depends on what you mean by "best" prospect. Ennis is definitely the safest one, but he has the least upside of the 3 imo.

You have to look at what he is now. Those are the skills he has, and the only real evidence available, as opposed to trying to project whether someone who has never displayed even average level PG skills (or any at all) will suddenly develop them. You have to see if there is a real basketball reason to expect him to develop as one, which at this point, there really isn't a single such reason. All signs point to him being a skinny athletic SG. Nothing about his game whatsoever says PG.

I was going to write my opinion of LaVine's skills in terms of why he's an absolutely awful PG prospect, but as usual, draftexpress offers a well written perspective on his weaknesses.

Where LaVine struggled this season was when he was forced to take more responsibility upon himself and create offense in the half-court in pick and roll or one on one situations. He's just an average ball-handler, as he doesn't do a great job of reading defenses and playing at different speeds, and struggles badly finishing through contact around the basket, particularly with his left hand. LaVine made just 17 shots around the basket in the half-court this season in 37 games, and did so inefficiently at that, only hitting 45% of his attempts in these situations. He only got to the free throw line 2.8 times per-40 minutes pace adjusted, which rates dead last among all college players in our Top-100 prospect rankings.

LaVine's feel for the game and decision making skills leave a lot to be desired at this point in time, as his shot-selection can be very poor and he has a difficult time making the simple play at times. His propensity for settling for long 2-point jumpers hurts his efficiency, and he doesn't do a great job of creating for teammates, as all his passing metrics are poor even for a wing prospect. He generates an assist for a teammate on just 13% of his possessions (18th best of the 22 SGs in our Top-100), and dished out 2.8 assists per-40 pace adjusted, which also ranks similarly among SG prospects.

To his credit, LaVine does a good job of not turning the ball over too often, coughing the ball up on 12% of his possessions (11th best of the 22 SGs in our Top-100), which helped him post an acceptable PPR (.21) and assist to turnover ratio (1.57). When LaVine puts the ball on the floor, it's mostly to shoot a pull-up jumper, which helps him keep the turnovers to a minimum. Somewhere along the line a narrative developed about LaVine possibly projecting as a point guard down the road, but after watching him in high school and at UCLA, it's difficult to see where that came from.

The only remote positive is he doesn't turn it over a lot, but mostly because he tends to hog the ball and throw up bad shots instead of trying to make a pass for an easier bucket.

LaVine is a SG, not a PG.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Zach-LaVine-7153/

**In fact, if you saw LaVine play some, and have looked through the info on him, there are a lot of alarming signs basketball-wise even as a SG.

[Chr1s1anL]

PG's in the mix for Raptors

Cream of the crop

• Marcus Smart, Tyler Ennis and Elfrid Payton appear to be getting early head-to-head matchups in workouts. The three worked out against each other Monday in Sacramento and are scheduled to work out again on Wednesday for the Lakers.

Smart also had a workout in Orlando. Payton has worked out for the Bulls, and Ennis with the Raptors. A month ago, there was a pretty clear pecking order with Smart at the head of that group, followed by Ennis and then Payton.


All three players helped themselves at the NBA combine, despite not playing in the drills. Their measurements and athletic tests were terrific, and all three were impressive in the individual workout sessions Insider saw in New York and Los Angeles.

I think Smart still has the lead over the other two and is most likely to be the second point guard taken, after Dante Exum. Depending on where Exum goes, Smart could go as high as No. 4 to the Magic.

Payton appears to be closing the gap considerably -- something reflected in Payton's move to No. 13 on our Big Board. Several team sources said he's in the mix for No. 8 in Sacramento after a terrific workout there. The Hornets at No. 9 and the Magic at No. 12 are possibilities, as well. I doubt he gets past the Bulls or Raptors in the mid-first round.

Ennis is also more than holding his own and looks to be sitting in that same range, between No. 8 and No. 20.

The late risers

• Missouri's Jordan Clarkson was once projected as a first-rounder, but a slide in the second half of the season caused his stock to dip. He looked much better at the draft combine in May, and that performance has carried on to other workouts as well.

Clarkson has worked out for the Bulls and Heat already and has a workout scheduled Tuesday with the Raptors. A handful of GMs raved about him after he did a group workout for NBA GMs last weekend in Long Island. He seems to have moved confidently into the mix in the late first round.

• Louisville's Russ Smith is riding on a high since being one of the lone standouts in a two-day, league-wide workout the NBA scheduled in L.A. right after the draft lottery.

He has since gone on to work out with the Celtics, Suns, Thunder and Heat and seems to be moving into the discussion as a possible late first-round pick.

"Everyone knows Russ is one of the quickest players in this draft, and he can obviously put the ball in the basket," one GM said. "But I think he's been showing off that when he wants to be, he can be a guy who can really play point guard. He seems like a perfect change-of-pace guard who can score and speed up the game coming off the bench."

[magoon]

LaVine has more upside than either of them imo. More bust potential as well. But then I guess it depends on what you mean by "best" prospect. Ennis is definitely the safest one, but he has the least upside of the 3 imo.

He has the least athletic upside, that's for sure - LaVine is an insane athlete and Payton not far behind. But Ennis is a far surer thing - think of him as an Andre Miller type, and that's always worth having on your team.

[The Great One]

So when do we retire Vince Carter's number? the guy has made such a huge impact in the growth of basketball in Canada. And oh, he's a hell of a player too. Future Hall of Famer for sure.

#GameTime gets draft hopeful Andrew Wiggins for a chat with @steve21smith on a host of topics: http://t.co/gqySULtQql pic.twitter.com/cgYKCiVnuk

— NBA.com (@NBAcom) June 4, 2014

[blackjitsu]

Stop looking at just what the player is right now. You also need to consider the fact that LaVine was forced to play off-ball due to having several more experienced ballhandlers on his team.

LaVine has more upside than either of them imo. More bust potential as well. But then I guess it depends on what you mean by "best" prospect. Ennis is definitely the safest one, but he has the least upside of the 3 imo.

Holy Batman, I never said I disliked LaVine, BUT, if we are assessing him as a POINT GUARD and not for his overall potential as a basketball player (regardless of position) he's not even close.

If 3 years from now LaVine is a star that wouldn't surprise me, but Payton has WAY more potential to be a stud at the point guard position and Ennis could end up being a player whose game translates into his late thirties/early forties as a point guard.

Now as a slashing 2 guard LaVine may have more potential than anyone else in the draft.
I certainly wouldn't be upset if he fell to the Raps, and he had the patience to let the staff in Toronto help him iron out the holes in his game.

But who knows if he has that type of patience. A lot of it isn't his fault -- as others informed me when I was unimpressed with his play at UCLA -- the coach there is a hot mess.