NBA Season Thread 2011-2012

[All-inMcLovin]

TheDean1 crushing it as usual itt.

A. Davis, imo, is a nice personality fit with the team of NO and coach Monty. He also just won the NCAA champ. in the city of NO, so his positive comments about the city aside he def. has very positive associations and memories with NO.

I agree that A. Davis in CLE pairing him with Kyrie would have been crazy delicious, but as has been said NO has a more ready/complete team with EG most likely coming back.

I can't really understand how this is anything but awesome from a NBA Fan standpoint but to each his own. I will def. be looking forward to watching the Hornets next season.

[Deanglow]

Why would T-Rob fall out of the top 5?

[TheDean1]

Originally Posted by CrunchyBlack

Deaner -

He doesn't turn 19 until August, he should be graduating high school right now.

HGH comparison is okay, Drummond is bigger but prob not quite as bouncy. Reminds me more of Oden than HGH. The amre''e' comparison doesn't make any sense at all

Originally Posted by Pwn_Master

Main points stand, but Drummond is still 18.

Being 18 helps a bit, forgot that he reclassified.

Anyway, right now I think he'll end up somewhere on the scale of Michael Olowokandi to DeAndre Jordan. He certainly has a physical upside that extends quite a bit higher than DAJ, but based on anecdotes it seems like he needs to undergo major personality changes to achieve that. From personal experiences I've learned that you need to REALLY want success to achieve it, iirc a few months back Bobbo linked an article about Derrick Coleman where he conceded that he never cared about being good at basketball, seems that Drummond has a bit of that in him. Still not as wildly hopeless as PJ3, but I think it's just ridiculous that anyone wants to compare him to Oden/Davis/Howard when they all CRUSHED in their NCAA frosh/NBA rookie years and Drummond sucked dick.

People glowing about his natural abilities feels like Darko all over again, especially when David Kahn went on NBA TV and called him "manna from heaven" and was talking about him as if he was a scout who just saw his first pre-draft workout even though he had like an 8 year NBA career of suck. Fortunately Drummond is young enough to turn things around, I just wouldn't bet on it to happen.

Originally Posted by Deanglow

Why would T-Rob fall out of the top 5?

Because GM's gonna GM? After Davis > MKG I think it's hard to see 3 more prospects going ahead of him. Drummond > Barnes > Beal? I'd snap take him at #3 FWIW.

[EYESCREW]

TZ on page 2?

I'm not having it..

[Assani Fisher]

Originally Posted by Noze

Ah yes, Captain Objective Assani Fisher reporting for duty as always

dude, why are you being so hostile? Peace and love, brother! It seems like every post of yours towards me starts off with some "you're so butthurt" or "hey captain objective" nonsense.


As a friend, I'm happy for YOU that you get to enjoy Davis. I'm just upset at the overall situation. Nothing against you at all.

You would rather have Davis go to the worst team in history than the team that was probably going to gain more wins this coming year regardless of whether they got Davis or another top 5 pick.

Correct, although you only state about half of the facts in your post, and you leave out almost all of the reasons for why I would have preferred he went to the Bobcats. I agree that when you only look at the reasons you provide in your posts, the Hornets look like a better landing spot for him.

Hornets aren't going to be holding out anywhere from 2-5 starters the vast majority of the year anymore. Davis/Okafor is going to be a pretty good defensive situation and they'll probably add a PG or SF with the 10 pick to grow with Davis and Gordon. Could easily be an entertaining team.

Agreed, they could be an entertaining team, although in both this and the "they can make the playoffs" posts, I think a liberal interpretation of "could/can" is needed.

Sorry the Wiz didn't get that third #1 pick in the last 11 years though.

Seems like you're not reading my posts....as I said, thats like 10% of why I'm upset at the situation. I barely even root for the Wizards, although I'll probably jump on the bandwagon hard if/when they become a playoff team, as I'm very much a casual Wiz fan(but a huge NBA fan overall).

[Assani Fisher]

Originally Posted by Pwn_Master

Dean, Chad Ford said Drummond reminds him of Dwight Howard coming out of high school both in size and athleticism and potential to dominant games almoast just based on those, and in attitude. Was saying that Dwight Howard was just as bad coming out of high school. Disappointing senior season and was shooting 3s, clowning around and sucking wind during his NBA workouts. This lack of maturity finally turned toxic this season but was a sick 7 year run ORL got out of him, and prob some nice assets when he leaves.

Ofc, there are way many moar busts that Drummond could prob be compared to, but you can see the temptation if what he is saying is true.........

I was interested in this comparison, so I googled for Dwight Howard scouting reports and took the first 3 I found that listed "strengths/weaknesses". Here were the weaknesses I found:

scout.com

Weaknesses: There aren’t many. Some critics fear he lacks passion and might be more Kwame Brown than Kevin Garnett. Aside from that, his biggest weaknesses are lack of experience and strength, which can be said of all players who come straight out of high school. He’ll obviously have to adjust to the physical nature of the NBA, and it remains to be seen whether he can continue to dominate against players who are all his size or bigger. Essentially, Howard’s main weakness is that he’s not as proven a commodity against big-time competition as Okafor.

espn.com

Downside: Not much. The biggest complaint from scouts is a perceived lack of passion. "You hate to claim that a guy might be too nice for the NBA, but that's about the most that I can come up with," one scout told Insider. 'I'm not sure he really has the edge that the great ones like Garnett and [Amare] Stoudemire had." Every other scouting report is pretty similar. Comments like "he needs time to develop" or "he needs to be a little nastier" are about the only negative things you hear. When Insider saw him in a workout in mid June a few more things stood out. He wasn't in great shape. His shot was all over the place and he seemed to struggle to pick up some basic low post moves.

usatoday.com

SHORTCOMINGS: Deciding whether he wants to be a small forward, power forward or center, and then adjusting his game and physique accordingly, would allow Howard to better fit into the NBA game. Despite his ability to play all three frontcourt positions, his body and low post game are weak for a center or power forward and his face-up game needs work at the 3-spot. Additionally, questions surrounding Howard's mean streak (or lack thereof) have been raised. After the Kwame Brown/Tyson Chandler/Eddy Curry debacles, clubs have put more emphasis on examining a player's intensity level.

[trainwreckog]

someone in this thread said something genius along the lines of how if a big man doesn't come into the league with offensive skill, he never develops offensively once in the league. i thought about this and found this to be remarkably true.

if drummond isn't going to be an offensive center, i'm trying to think of unskilled (offensively) big men with the bulky body type (as opposed to a chandler body type) that are considered good centers and i can't think of any.

[Assani Fisher]

Originally Posted by TheDean1

BTW- Chad Ford had him labeled as "Amare Stoudemire v 2.0" as recently as a couple of months ago, which goes to show how little of a clue he has. Whether you think he has the chops to succeed or not, the mold of his game is polar opposite from Amare.

Originally Posted by CrunchyBlack

The amre''e' comparison doesn't make any sense at all

The only thing I can think of is that they are comparing him to Amare coming into the league. I can't seem to find it now and I know its hard to believe, but I remember Amare's nbadraft.net profile said he was great at defense but struggled at offense....obviously that was way way off, but maybe that is what the Drummond comparisons are in reference to.

[trainwreckog]

the comparison to dwight howard is moot imo because dwight was a once-in-a-lifetime athlete. dwight reminds me a lot of a smaller version of wilt chamberlain with the bow legs - you normally see bow legs on a guard like iverson, mj, kobe, guys like that not on a 70footer. so drummond doesn't compare to howard imo.

[Dudd]

Dwight at the three spot would be high comedy

[Assani Fisher]

Originally Posted by trainwreckog

someone in this thread said something genius along the lines of how if a big man doesn't come into the league with offensive skill, he never develops offensively once in the league. i thought about this and found this to be remarkably true.

if drummond isn't going to be an offensive center, i'm trying to think of unskilled (offensively) big men with the bulky body type (as opposed to a chandler body type) that are considered good centers and i can't think of any.

Perkins maybe?


FWIW I'm on the anti-Drummond train. His stats were really bad/mediocre(lol @ 51% TS for a guy that big against college competition).

[Victor]

Originally Posted by trainwreckog

the comparison to dwight howard is moot imo because dwight was a once-in-a-lifetime athlete. dwight reminds me a lot of a smaller version of wilt chamberlain with the bow legs - you normally see bow legs on a guard like iverson, mj, kobe, guys like that not on a 70footer. so drummond doesn't compare to howard imo.

drummond is a redic athlete. he runs really well for a big guy, its unbelievable really.

your posts in this thread make it seem like you think he is some big plodding guy. hes not, hes a gazelle.

doesnt matter bc he pretty much sucks at basketball, but the dude can move.

[trainwreckog]

im with you on perk. perk is nice. a unique talent that goes against the grain of what normally works. i think perk is underrated athletically, and his mental strength and smarts on the court pushes his capability to a double double type of guy that can be valuable on d.

i have never watched a drummond game; i have only seen a couple highlights, so i have no idea about his mental makeup, which in cases like his, is what probably makes the difference between kwame and something better than perk, which is a big gap.

[trainwreckog]

i'll have to check out drummond some more. apparently it is his athleticism that gets everyone's attention; his biggest asset.

[CrunchyBlack]

his offensive numbers are bad, his offensive rebounding numbers and block numbers are excellent relative to his peers

just watch some of his mixtapes, his athleticism is pretty incredible. even if he never develops offensively at all (which I agree is a legit concern) he could still be extremely valuable