Chad Ford Mock Draft 5.0: Raptors still selecting Jan Vesely

[Tim W.]

if we come away from the draft with only vesely i'm done

WHat if Vesley turns out to be one of the best players in the draft?

[ceez]

then i'm back baby!

[Apollo]

Glad to see you come back in this hypothetical situation. It was a shame to hear that you were going to hypothetically hang'em up.

Has anyone mentioned Vesely's vertical in here?

[G-locity]

Glad to see you come back in this hypothetical situation. It was a shame to hear that you were going to hypothetically hang'em up.

Has anyone mentioned Vesely's vertical in here?

Yup, its pretty high!! But not high enough to be picked at #5..

[hateslosing]

So where does 6'11" get you in the scenario where player upside doesn't turn into actual ability?

I think you're left with a guy who can't shoot, who can't handle and who can't defend. A guy like that is no good to you no matter if he 7'11".

It's a risky pick.

I agree, he is very risky but at the same time if he worked out it would be awesome. I guess I like to take the optimistic approach. His shot is bad now but he doesn't have terrible form and if he plays power forward his handles are already better than they have to be. Maybe he isn't mobile enough to play the three but that means we will have an extremely mobile four who is not undersized. He gets his jump shot and he will be downright unstoppable. I tend to prefer more sure picks but I do kind of like getting a guy who could be a franchise player if everything turned out.

[ebrian]

WHat if Vesley turns out to be one of the best players in the draft?

Then it will make this draft class officially the worst in the history of the NBA, if not all of professional sports.

[Tim W.]

Then it will make this draft class officially the worst in the history of the NBA, if not all of professional sports.

I'm curious how you are so sure that Vesley will be such a bad player. I certainly have questions regarding a lot of players, but I'm not about to go out and say that this player or that player absolutely will be good or bad. How much have you watched Vesley play?

[ebrian]

I'm curious how you are so sure that Vesley will be such a bad player. I certainly have questions regarding a lot of players, but I'm not about to go out and say that this player or that player absolutely will be good or bad. How much have you watched Vesley play?

I'm sure I've seen everything you've seen, unless my Google skills are severely lacking or you've secretly hacked into Colangelo's spank bank.

Do I know for sure? No, but having salivated over hours of Il Mago's pre-NBA highlight reels I can tell you I'm not as easily impressed as I used to be. It's a guess as much as your guess of how great Enes Kanter will be. But here's what we know:

- he's not an especially accomplished outside shooter
- his ball handling leaves much to be desired
- he's not even an accomplished rebounder, at 6'11"
- he shot less than 50% from the FT line

This all leads me to believe he won't be very good, and if he's the best this draft class has to offer then as I said, this will be the worst draft class the NBA has ever seen.

[Dr Hannibal Lecter]

Can we all agree Chad Ford is D***
USELESS!!!

[ebrian]

Ha.. I don't think Chad Ford is useless.. I just think he's making some real educated guesses as to what he thinks this team will do. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if Colangelo likes and ends up drafts Vesely. Why wouldn't he?
- he loves Europeans
- he loves players who seemingly can play multiple positions
- he believes that the European leagues/competition are an acceptable and reliable tool with which to evaluate talent
- he's a !@#%ing moron

Yup, all signs point to a high possibility of drafting Vesely.

[Tim W.]

I'm sure I've seen everything you've seen, unless my Google skills are severely lacking or you've secretly hacked into Colangelo's spank bank.

Do I know for sure? No, but having salivated over hours of Il Mago's pre-NBA highlight reels I can tell you I'm not as easily impressed as I used to be. It's a guess as much as your guess of how great Enes Kanter will be. But here's what we know:

- he's not an especially accomplished outside shooter
- his ball handling leaves much to be desired
- he's not even an accomplished rebounder, at 6'11"
- he shot less than 50% from the FT line

This all leads me to believe he won't be very good, and if he's the best this draft class has to offer then as I said, this will be the worst draft class the NBA has ever seen.

I'm certainly not high on Vesley at all, for all the reasons you listed, but I'm not going to go out on a limb on predicting he's going to be a bust, though. And I never liked Bargnani's game at all because of what I saw as fatal flaws in his defense and rebounding. If Vesley can in fact play the SF position, and be a Kirilenko-type player, which some believe, then I wouldn't have a problem at all with the Raptors drafting him. I just don't know.

I feel I've actually got a better feel for Kanter's worth because I don't have as many question marks over his game. I'm secure in the knowledge that he can play center, that he can be, at least, a capable scorer and should be a pretty good rebounder.

Most of the questions I have about players in this draft revolve around either their true position or important aspects of their position. Can Derrick Willliams defend the 3? Can Vesley? Can Valanciunas stay out of foul trouble and how good are his hands? Is Knight a PG? Can Walker find his niche when he's not the best player on the team? Can Leonard shoot the ball at all?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then those are fatal flaws which could end up really hurting their career. The thing is that they are simply questions. I don't know the answer, but because I don't I'd be hesitant to take any one of them over Kanter, who I think has a floor of a 10 year NBA player, which is not bad. It's not to say I am predicting any lack of success from any of the other players, and wouldn't be shocked if they all they all turned out to be decent players.

[Tim W.]

Can we all agree Chad Ford is D***
USELESS!!!

You may not like him, and he's made some very public mistakes (Darko Milicic for example) but he's got the best record of anyone for predicting the draft, so he obviously knows something.

[Matt52]

Vesely Will Work Out for Teams

Jan Vesely will work out for the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday and he expects to meet with the Pistons as well, reports Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press.

As Ellis mentioned, Vesely wasn't supposed to work out for anyone before the draft, but both he and Bismack Biyombo have changed their positions and are now willing play in front of coaches and scouts.

Read more NBA news and insight: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?...#ixzz1PZgS9UBQ

No mention of Toronto, thankfully.

[RaptorDan]

No mention of Toronto, thankfully.

Interesting. I guess their agents think that their stock can only go up if they work out for teams. Biyombo supposedly had a horrendous euro combine, so I can understand him wanting to work out with teams. Vesely, though, had an excellent game in the championships that was watched by many nba teams, so I'm a bit surprised. I think Vesely will be taken top 10 and before Biyombo, who will fall outside the lottery.

[Tim W.]

No mention of Toronto, thankfully.

On another site, can't remember which one and am too lazy to look, I read Toronto listed as one the teams.

[Matt52]

On another site, can't remember which one and am too lazy to look, I read Toronto listed as one the teams.

Bloody hell.

[ebrian]

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then those are fatal flaws which could end up really hurting their career. The thing is that they are simply questions. I don't know the answer, but because I don't I'd be hesitant to take any one of them over Kanter, who I think has a floor of a 10 year NBA player, which is not bad. It's not to say I am predicting any lack of success from any of the other players, and wouldn't be shocked if they all they all turned out to be decent players.

It's not bad at all. 10 years for a center is very good. Everyone says this is a weak draft, and if the 6th ranked player ends up being the best player, then I don't see why this wouldn't be one of the worst drafts ever.

The worst NBA draft in my recent memory was 2000. 11 years later, I count 12-13 players still in the NBA, and 7 still playing more than 15 minutes per game. None will make the hall of fame, and correct me if I'm wrong but DeShawn Stevenson taken 23rd overall is the first one to win championship and play a significant role in it?

[Tim W.]

It's not bad at all. 10 years for a center is very good. Everyone says this is a weak draft, and if the 6th ranked player ends up being the best player, then I don't see why this wouldn't be one of the worst drafts ever.

The worst NBA draft in my recent memory was 2000. 11 years later, I count 12-13 players still in the NBA, and 7 still playing more than 15 minutes per game. None will make the hall of fame, and correct me if I'm wrong but DeShawn Stevenson taken 23rd overall is the first one to win championship and play a significant role in it?

I don't follow your logic at all. Because the best player might be the 6th ranked player it's not a bad draft? I'm not sure what one has to do with the other. And 2000 was an AWFUL draft year. Of the top 15 picks, only 3 have averaged more than 30 mpg. The best player from that draft might be Michael Redd and he's made the All-Star team a grad total of once. The 2000 draft had neither star power or depth, with only 5 players averaging more than 30 mpg over their career.

Another bad draft year was 2006, which also have only 5 players who have averaged 30 or more mpg. AT least that year had a few All-Stars, though. And the best player from that draft is probably Rondo, who was drafted 21st.

This draft lacks star power and it lacks depth. I think there might be a few good players, but I'd be surprised if more than a handful of players become rotation players.

[EuroBaller]

With Chad Frd reporting that the Raps are high on Jan Vesely, I got a bit scared. But after looking at some tape, he is not a typically "Euro" at all. He is lanky but is not afraid to get dirty. He is tall athletic and a beast around the rim. He is looking to posterize you every single time he gets the ball. I would not be surprised if the Raps choose him and I wouldn't be mad at them either.

[octothorp]

I don't disagree that he's not a typical European; I could also see him being a solid NBAer. I'm worried that he doesn't address any of the biggest Raptors deficiencies at SF: rebounding, wing defense, and 3-point shooting. I just don't see him really adding to the Raptors team in any real way. Given that there will be wing players available at 5 who address at least two out of three of these issues (Leonard), I would be disappointed if we end up with Vesely.