2010 NBA Draft
Player: Derrick Favors, 10.9 PTS, 7.2 BOARDS, 23.7 WS, 3rd
Pick to Toronto
We’re quick to forget about a lot of people. If you would
have asked me if Derrick Favors was still playing in the league before this
article I would have had to really think about it. I guess if he’s playing in
Utah it is kind of like not playing in the NBA but that’s a whole other story.
Just ask Enes
Kanter. Favors has quietly carved out a nice little stat line with the Jazz
the past few years. He’s close to a double, double and him and John Wall have
close to the same number of win shares (25.9 as compared to 23.7). He needs to
get closer to being a close range 50% shooter and try to get some semblance of
a mid range game (22% last year) but, there’s only so much you can ask. For the
big men of today and what they’re being asked to do, his numbers are right
there. He was lucky to have come out in 2010, as a guy like him doesn’t get
taken third in drafts now-a-days.
Player: DeMarcus Cousins, 18.9 PTS, 10.6 BOARDS, 23.6 WS, 5TH
Pick Sacramento Kings
A polarizing figure due to his personality but no one can
argue that he is an All-Star quality player year in and year out. No one can
argue his skill set and I think the attitude gets a bit overblown. I would
probably act like Cousins if I had to survive in an organization as
dysfunctional as the Sacramento Kings. Any team that could potentially chose to
have three different head coaches in less than a year should be taken over by
the NBA for gross incompetence. Some might say he wouldn’t put up these numbers
if he wasn’t on the Kings but I see skills that would translate anywhere. It’s
not his fault he is the vocal point of a team and can’t find anyone else who
can make a shot. If the basketball Gods are good, the Lakers will find a way to
land him.
Player: Greg Monroe, 14.3 PTS, 9.2 BOARDS, 7th Pick
Detroit Pistons
Another guy who I would have loved to see on the Lakers and
who would be best served parting ways with his current organization (the Bucks
though? Really??? Just kinding. I’d pick them over the Lakers too). They tried
and I think, with Stan the Man at the helm, Detroit will eventually turn it
around but if you don’t want to start a guy like Greg Monroe, than there’s no
point in keeping him. Monroe has the numbers to make him an attractive
commodity and fits the mold of what big men are being asked to do now-a-days.
His game doesn’t venture to far from the basket and you’d like for him to be
more of a presence on the offensive boards but he will be a good complimentary
piece in Milwaukee. Sadly he won’t
provide seventh pick value for the original team but I could see him as the
player that gets the Bucks to the second round of the playoffs and maybe to
contenders in three years.
2011 NBA Draft
Player: Enes Kanter, 10.4 PTS, 8.4 BOARDS, 12.7 WS, 3rd
Pick Utah Jazz
The guy doesn’t like venturing three feet or more from the
basket and he’s not a big fan of Utah as previously mentioned and...I think
guys like this, like Jahill Okafor or a Joel Embid, will continue to slip
little by little as more and more drafts unfold. The big man is becoming more
versatile and teams want him to be more of a Swiss Army Knife than a one trick,
back to the basket pony. Kanter is close to a double double and does fit into a
needed role but it is a role that will be featured less and less as the game
gets faster and spreads out more. But as long as he can board, he’ll still get
a paycheck.
Player: Tristan Thompson, 10.1 PTS, 8.4 BOARDS, 18.9 WS, 4th
Pick Cleveland Cavaliers
Five years, 80 million. That’s what a year in the playoffs
averaging 10.8 boards and 9.6 pts will get you. Good for Thompson to take
advantage of a Kevin Love injury and show his defensive prowess. That’s about
the only thing he has on Love. He saw his point’s average dip this year but
that’s bound to happen with Love and Lebron coming on and he might just play
better without having to be relied upon as a scoring threat. It helps too that
he’ll have a healthy Irving and James to set him up. It will be interesting to
see how he and Love coexist on a Cavs team that needs to stay healthy to
contend with the West.
Player: Jonas Valanciunas, 10.9 PTS, 8.7 Boards, 5th
Pick to the Toronto Raptors
Everyone needs to start taking notice for the basketball
team forming north of the boarder. DeRozen, Lowry and this sneaky good
Valanciunas are forming a core that will be right there with the Bulls for
second best in the East and may be able to catch the Cavs if Lebron ever starts
showing his minutes and age. If you want to win a few bucks, bet your buddies
that he was a top five pick and I’m sure one of them will say no. His point
totals have risen along with his FG percentage the past three years and his
total boards have increased as well. Now, should Kawhi Leonard, picked at 15,
have been a top 10 pick? It depends on how you value these guys. I’m thinking
there’s less of these big men who are capable of giving you a double-double a
night so you might have to reach to get one. This guy, though, has grown to into
one of the top five players from this draft.
2012 NBA Draft
Player: Anthony Davis, 19.7 PTS, 9.5 BOARDS, 30.5 WS, 1st
Pick to the then New Orleans Hornets
For a number one pick, Davis has exceeded expectations. No
one could have predicted the meteoric rise of the once lengthy, skinny kid from
Chicago. His point totals have jumped from 13.5 his first season to 24.4 this
past year and he’s averaging nearly three blocks a game. As the focal point for
the Pelicans, he has taken them from the lottery to 8th Place in the
West and doesn’t look to be slowing down. He’s the type of player that needs
one more superstar to make the team a legit contender and I’m sure it won’t be
tough to convince someone to come play with him (KD?? RW??). Davis has everything you want out of a
superstar big man, 75 % when close to the basket and a developing mid range
that is close to 50%. People wouldn’t mind drafting big men if they knew they
were getting the next Davis. The scary thing is, he’s only 22.
Player: Andre Drummond, 12.1 PTS, 11.8 BOARDS, 22 WS, 9TH
Pick to the Detroit Pistons
You have to remind yourself that Drummond is only 21. It
seems like he’s been around for so long or maybe it’s just the years in Detroit
wearing on him. He’s a classic post player but can carve out a nice spot in
this league with rebounding, stout defense, and a few buckets a game. Him and
Monroe have been sheltered in the losing cocoon of Detroit and are both due to
get a big payday because of their numbers. Monroe won’t be staying in Motown
but maybe Stan Van Gundy can work his magic and convince Drummond that he can
be a part of something special and a main centerpiece. He’s not a bad building
block to have.
2013 NBA Draft
Player: Nerlens Noel, 9.9 PTS, 8.1 BOARDS, 6TH
Pick New Orleans Hornets
Any draft
is basically a crapshoot and no other draft epitomized that more than the 2013
NBA Draft. The rookie of the year was
the 11th pick and the best guy from the draft might end up being the
6th pick and the man who didn’t even play the 2013-2014 season. Noel
was the second of four Kentucky big men to go in the top ten within the best
four drafts and it seems like that school is finding a way to develop long,
athletic defensive big man (if you can all one year in school developing). They might not all develop
the same offensive prowess as an Anthony Davis but they all fall into the rim
protector that more teams want their bigs to be. Teams are finding a way to get
the scoring from somewhere else. Whatever the Sixers are doing, they need to
make it a point to hold on to Noel. He was long touted as the number 1 prospect
in this draft and if not for injury probably would have gone there. It’s too
early to call but it seems that people might look back on this draft and wonder
how Noel slipped to being picked after the likes of Cody Zeller, Otto Potter
and Alex Len.
2014 NBA Draft
It’s all too early to tell. This draft has two potential
guys who could start filling up the state sheet in Jabari Parker and Julius
Randle but we’ll have to see how they recover from injury. They aren’t the
classic big men as well as they’re a little smaller and more in the power
forward mold but they could still develop into solid players. Parker especially
has the offensive skill set to do something special in Milwaukee and no one can
forget the tenacity Randle showed during the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
The names have changed, from Bynum to Oden to Davis back to
Griffin and even Jahill Okafor but at the end of the day the largest change has
been in the expectations surrounding the leagues big men. Teams used to want
that special breed that could average 20 and 10 and it took them a while to
realize how rare and special a Duncan or an O’Neal was. A big man now-a-days
will only be asked to do this in special cases but it still does not make a low
double double (10 PTS and 10 BOARDS) less valuable. The world’s full of sharpshooters or someone who
can give you 18 points a night but there’s less and less players coming through
that will throw elbows to keep the play alive. I’d say their more valuable than
someone who’s just going to hang out in the corner but as with any NBA Draft,
it’s all up in the air.
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