Saba was an excellent player. Just too bad he didn't come over when drafted in '88(!!)

1st round lock, pure speculation as to how high

He wouldn't have fallen past the second round... prob not past pick 35.

Prob a favorite to go top 10

Did he ever log 35-40 mpg in any league? That would be the only reason I think he may fall in this league. Minutes aren't as valuable in the real NBA due to the breadth of talent but getting 35-40 minutes of Wilt / Shaq / etc. is probably more valuable than 25-30 minutes of Sabonis.

Tough to say for sure, but he had an insane amount of hype. People were calling him a cross between Magic(don't laugh, look at some of the highlights in Bobbo's writeup I copied and pasted) and Shaq. And considering how amazing he was when entering the league at age 31, it seems justified. I think he most definitely belongs in the Hakeem/D Rob conversation, and its not crazy to say he belongs in GOAT conversation, although obviously we can never prove that one way or another.

from hooppedia:

Ex-players and current players alike contend that Sabonis, little known in the U.S., would have been recognized as one of the top centers ever to play the game of basketball had he come to America in his prime. Scottie Pippen was quoted as saying that Arvydas was "the best European basketball player to ever play the game". Ex-Spur undrafted routinely claimed that Arvydas "should be in the conversation as one of the greatest centers ever". Hall of Famer undrafted describes "Sabas" as "the greatest passing center of all time". And undrafted, a former Boston Celtics player, said that Sabonis would have been an all-star "ten times over" had he played his healthy years in the States.

Brian Meehan, a columnist for The Oregonian, followed Sabonis' career over the course of decades. Recalling the 1988 Olympics, when Sabonis' Soviet team beat an amateur United States team with the likes of future NBA stars David Robinson and Mitch Richmond. Meehan notes one play when a healthy Sabonis reacted to a teammate's missed shot: Sabonis slashed towards the rim, jumped over Robinson, and slammed the ball home. Meehan is of the opinion that it was the play of Arvydas in the 1988 Olympics that influenced Team USA to use professional players in the Olympics, hence the "Dream Teams" of 1992 and 1996. Meehan ranks Sabonis as the 6th best all-time center behind, in no particular order, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

gogogo elrey

ya this draft is a at a crawl

write up to come, i take carlos boozer.

we are taking GOAT Kevin Love write up incoming

lol

looked at Boozer, seems ok

Love is great here. I know we already covered this in threadzilla around Christmas time, but hes insanely underrated in today's NBA....legit top 10 current player imo.

i needed a good pf. boozer fit that, and i think he would play better d with a hof center behind him.

im finally around pick coming

you double pick right? then name on the cake then me again right?

im taking SG Sam Jones. Another mr. rings.

3 point shooting still to come.

team so far:

PG: Maurice Cheeks
SG: Sam Jones
SF: Rick Barry
PF: Karl Malone
C: Pau Gasol

double picks

pick 1





team

pg steve nash
sg george gervin
sf michael cooper
pf larry nance
c marcus camby/wes unseld

Round 5 Pick 124
Kevin Love PF



-Dr. Robert Fitos

-THE Assani Fisher

Really couldn't be happier about this pick. Bitchface and I are of the opinion that KLove is the best remaining offensive player by decent margin. So that's nice.

What really makes this pick a home run for us is the amount of flexibility that it provides. We have the option to play matchups with two of the most unique players to ever play the game of basketball in Rodman and Love. We can throw Rodman + Deke at teams that have two dominant post options. We can insert Love to tool on defensively challenged fours while dispatching Rodman's crazy ass to check the other teams best wing player.

Everyone knows Love is having an incredible season but let the numbers sink in



I don't know what the **** an offensive win share is, but I figure leading the league in them must be a pretty good thing!

Team so far:
Dennis Rodman
Dikembe Mutombo
Tracy McGrady
Black Tony Parker
Kevin Love

We're taking hall of fame, all world wing defender Dennis Johnson.



While we were sworn to drafting a three-point shooter in this spot, Dennis was just way too much value to pass up.

He's got a 35k minute career as one of the greatest wing defenders of all-time. He's made 9 All Defense teams, 2 All NBA teams, and won a Finals MVP.

We had a great start towards best defensive team in the league with our first two picks, and I think now we've made it indisputable.

The two Dennis's will be tenacious on defense and cause every other team's forwards total nightmares. The Kevin Love pick is really important here because if we need scoring we can slide him in for Rodman and not lose a whole lot on the boards.

A lineup of Parker-McGrady-DJ-Rodman-Mutombo is beyond insane on defense, and a lineup of Parker-McGrady-DJ-Love-Mutombo is just insane in general.

We're still very confident we can get some good 3pt shooters later.

Team:
PG - Tony Parker
G/F- Tracy McGrady
SF - Dennis Johnson
F - Dennis Rodman
F/C - Kevin Love
C - Dikembe Mutombo

camby is great value here

Nice picks by Vic too. Camby is valuetown here.

We're taking hall of fame, all world wing defender Dennis Johnson.



While we were sworn to drafting a three-point shooter in this spot, Dennis was just way too much value to pass up.

He's got a 35k minute career as one of the greatest wing defenders of all-time. He's made 9 All Defense teams, 2 All NBA teams, and won a Finals MVP.

We had a great start towards best defensive team in the league with our first two picks, and I think now we've made it indisputable.

The two Dennis's will be tenacious on defense and cause every other team's forwards total nightmares. The Kevin Love pick is really important here because if we need scoring we can slide him in for Rodman and not lose a whole lot on the boards. DJ can also guard PGs pretty easily allowing us even more flexibility.

A lineup of Parker-DJ-McGradyRodman-Mutombo is beyond insane on defense, and a lineup of Parker-DJ-McGrady-Love-Mutombo is just insane in general.

We're still very confident we can get some good 3pt shooters later.

Team:
PG - Tony Parker
G/F - Tracy McGrady
G/F - Dennis Johnson
Forward - Dennis Rodman
F/C - Kevin Love
C - Dikembe Mutombo

Camby and DJ were my two tops. As soon as one was taken I was gonna trade up for the other one. Now they both get taken in like 5 minutes. FFS.