Thursday, June 26, 2008

Horford on USA Select Team and Hoopinion's Draft List

Here I was thinking I'd have no reason to link to DraftExpress this pick-free draft season:
Being the patriotic website we are, we will start with an exclusive look at the USA Select Team, courtesy of a “piece of paper we found on the floor,” which just happens to have the entire roster, plus the alternates. This is the group of players which could possibly graduate onto the next crop of invites to the USA Men’s Senior National Team, after the Olympics. The players will scrimmage against the senior team this summer to help them prepare for the Olympics in Beijing.

Point Guard: Rodney Stuckey, Derrick Rose
Shooting Guard: Kevin Martin
Small Forward: Andre Iguodala, Jeff Green
Power Forward: Al Horford, Kevin Durant
Center: LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Jefferson

Alternates: O.J. Mayo, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Monta Ellis, Devin Harris

Also invited were Brandon Roy, who will be resting this summer and finishing up his degree at the University of Washington, and David West, who wants to rest after an extremely long season. They will still be in the mix for the future.
Should anyone care what I think (or, should any of these opinions look prescient and thus be something I would like to link to in the future) about tonight's draft class...

Point Guards
---LOTTERY---
1) Derrick Rose
2) Jerryd Bayless
3) OJ Mayo
---1st ROUND---
T4) Mario Chalmers
T4) Eric Gordon
6) DJ Augustin

Shooting Guards
---1st ROUND---
1) Russell Westbrook
2) Brandon Rush
---2nd ROUND---
3) Courtney Lee
T4) Kyle Weaver
T4) Jamont Gordon

Small Forwards (excluding Gallinari as I'm not adequately knowledgeable about him)
---1st ROUND---
1) Chris Douglas-Roberts
2) Donte Green
3) Pat Calathes
---2nd ROUND---
4) Bill Walker
5) Joe Alexander
6) Malik Hairston

Power Forwards
---LOTTERY---
1) Michael Beasley
2) Kevin Love
3) Ryan Anderson
---1st ROUND---
4) Marreese Speights
5) Darrell Arthur
6) JJ Hickson
7) Richard Hendrix
---2nd ROUND---
8) Anthony Randolph
T9) Joey Dorsey
T9) DJ White
11) Darnell Jackson

Centers
---LOTTERY---
1) Kosta Koufos
---1st ROUND---
2) Roy Hibbert
3) DeAndre Jordan
4) Brook Lopez
---2nd ROUND---
5) Javale McGee
T6) Sasha Kaun
T6) Robin Lopez
8) Jason Thompson
9) Aleks Maric
10) Brian Butch

Those are very rough categories I've put them into seeing as I've got just 7 players graded in the lottery and 15 more graded as 1st Round picks.

If he goes in the lottery, Joe Alexander will almost certainly be the worst pick in this draft though someone taking Brook Lopez ahead of Kevin Love will look awfully foolish quite soon. Unless Jerryd Bayless falls to the end of the lottery, whichever of Ryan Anderson or Kosta Koufos gets drafted last will provide the most value in the second half of the first round. There's a decent chance that, as with PJ Tucker and possibly Nick Fazekas, I'll never get to know how wrong I may be about Pat Calathes.

Ballhype: hype it up!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jamont Gordon didn't get drafted. Being a Miss St. fan, I can't help but be biased, but I really think the Hawks need to take a look at him. He really hurt himself by not participating in the pre-draft camp in Orlando. I'd be interested in knowing exactly how he measures.

There's plenty of questions about him-his jumpshot isn't that great, and he tends to fall in love with it. And is he a 1 or 2? And will he able to out physical guys like he did in college? Honestly, I think he's got the physical attributes of a lottery pick but his lack of a consistent jumper and a propensity to make poor decisions (like declaring for the draft because he thought he'd go in the first round) cost him. I still think he should be on an NBA roster somewhere.

Anonymous said...

Horford would actually have been a great choice for this Olympics. He's the kind of hard working power forward the team could use to back up Howard and Bosch plus he has the all important intangible of having won 2 championships in college.

Anonymous said...

Man I read your site all the time. Its great. Go Hawks. Please keep us updated. AJC sucks.