Wow what a steal by clark picking up patrick ewing there.

So far alot of horrible picks.... Dirk ? ?? ? Barkley ???

This should be fun.

How much time does each person have to make their pick ? once they are on the clock.

God Shammgod?

LOL this is really funny

Frankly, I'm surprised Gheorghe Muresan is still on the board ...

Should get extra points for starring in a movie iyam.

MJ, Shaq, Penny, Muresan... who else?

LOL I looked up "basketball players in movies" and found a mock draft of characters: <-link
#1 Teen Wolf (Teen Wolf)
#2 Neon Budreau (Blue Chips)
#3 Saleh (The Air Up There)
#4 Jesus Shuttlesworth (He Got Game)
#5 Jimmy Chitwood (Hoosiers)

etc

Oh yeh Ray Allen is in He Got Game. Goot movie.

Are you Ashy Knuckles? I thought you didn't have time?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

HUH ?

I would definitley say Kobe has improved since his age 22 season. I think he is a much better shooter now (although this is downplayed by the fact that he has taken many thougher shots in the past few years than he did playing on a team with Shaq in his prime who would always draw a double) FWIW I detest Kobe so hate saying that, but I think he went from being a potent offense player to a top 5 or 6 offensive player in the history of the NBA.

I wouldn't say that KG "improved significantly" since the age of 22, but i feel that his performance is somewhere between the same level or a slightly higher one. Perhaps we have definitions of peak... I think of it as the best someone will play throughout their career and thus the suggestion that Dwight has "peaked" would mean to me that this will bascially his best season ever, not that he will probably maintain his current level of performance or only improve on it slightly.

I should also say that I see where you are coming from in that he isn't going magically develop a decent mid range and back to the basket game out of thin air, and he may never be proficient in either of these catergories. The two main things I am trying to convey are

1.) Individually, Howard has been putting up these numbers due to freakish athleticism and being dominant on the offensive glass and around the hoop. He certainley has the build and athletism to become more adept in these areas... hell even shaq added a decent enough baby hook and 8-10 turnaround shot in the post in the late 90's and early 2000's.

2.) Players who enter the league out of high school are more likely to peak later and/or sustain their peaks for extended periods of time. Their learning curve is ahead of people their age, but behind people with the same number of years of experience in the NBA.

Dwight isn't guarenteed to improve signficantly, but I think there is a very reasonable chance he will improve measurabley from this point in his career. All the points/variables you have brought up are legitimate, we just disagree about how relevant they are to Dwight.

Your question was answered in the rules, caused a huge debate here, and caused spinoff drafts.

Please give criticisms and arguments instead of just saying that the Dirk and Barkley picks were horrible. It adds nothing to the thread to post what you just did.

Who do you guys think some of the last players selected will be? Has anyone made a mock that far down?

How do specialists' values compare to those of a second rate scorer (Bruce Bowen versus Mike Miller), considering how stacked the teams will be relative to a regular NBA team?

Barkley was basically a 22/12 guy over a 15 year NBA career. He played spent a few years of his prime in Phoenix on a loaded offensive team where he played efficient offense and fit into what the team needed from him. In Houston was with Hakeem and Clyde, so the ball was being distributed amongst several scorers. He shot over 54% for his career, and was also a pretty versatile offensive player who scored in many more ways than most people who play his position, not to mention that he was dominant on the boards despite only standing 6'6. I can see if people want to make arguments for other people, but saying "lol Barkley is such a bad pick" etc... just seems silly to me.

I kinda think the Amare pitch is a large stretch. Some of my favorite parts of the post:

hmm? lol
not coaching the Suns afaik

Also re: my Kidd pick since I haven't been around. I understand his jump shot development has happened later in his career but I think people really are forgetting just how amazing he is/was and overestimating the drop off on Kidd strategy. I'm planning on surrounding him with some athletes/shooters. He's experiencing his decline but I really do think he's better than "the other PG". The defense is pretty close IMO and the overall game isn't.

Also, this is prob one of my fav threads that I've participated in so far.

I agree with your post, and I'm totally nitpicking here....

Why do people say stuff like this or mention Iverson's weight when trying to talk good about them? Yes they lack natural size, but they were also blessed with great athleticism. If I were to say "And Shaq accomplished all that he did without being blessed with the natural speed of Allen Iverson" everyone would laugh.

And its not like you get bonus points for being smaller than the competition or anything.

How has giniboli not gone yet?

god its a great thread but its so slow. hopefully speeds up during the work week

I'm enjoying following along. Thanks to Assani for a great idea and let me know when the baseball one starts.

I'm curious about whether the drafters are taking off-court issues into account. For example, if I'm starting a new franchise and want to appeal to my fan base, I'm not doing it by picking a man who fathered a child with a twelve year old if there's someone with similar on-court skills. Anyone taking this stuff into account?

For a certain certain player who condoned hitting his wife, yes. For Malone, no he was just too good. And there's a decent chance, considering where it happened, that it might get swept under the rug again.

I phrased it that way because there is a strong correlation between height and rebounding ability and I feel it's appropriate to point out when someone excels at something while being faced with a handicap compared to other elite performers in that statistical catergory. So if a 6'1 guard averages 2.5 blocks per game or a center averages 11 assists, it's worth noting the value of that stat relative to people who play their position or have an obvious trait which would make them inherently better at something.

In this specific context, I was trying to empashize that Barkley was a ****ing animal and put together an amazing career despite having an unusual build for his position.

Or Bynum.

Just for clarification, who have the powers that be decided we can discuss, or just name, and who is 'off-limits"?

chris dudley can be talked about

How about Deron Williams?

i have an autographed UNC hat, my mom saw him in the mall in indianapolis of all places

Why would you even bring him up?