Just saw that they are leaving Stanford for the NBA draft, I think they are Sophomores this year. How bad of an idea is this? They both looked terrible in the loss to Texas. Brooke the better one, is way too slow on defense and both of them against a solid defender will prob get eaten up.

Wouldn't they be better if they just waited another year or 2, so that they can get better but also their draft value won't be as bad since the draft class these next 2 years will be solid so they will probably won't be taken that high. Discuss.

If they fail the draft can't they just go to D-league for a year?

well considering Brook is projected as the #3 pick this year, no reason for him to wait.

http://nbadraft.net/

fail the draft? neither will go undrafted, brook was regularly discussed as being picked in the lottery this year.

thanks for the link. Don't get me wrong, I think Brooke should be fine but I'm not sure about his brother. Also looking at that link I really don't see how Kevin Love will be drafted behind Brooke.

I'm not saying undrafted, but shouldn't Robin wait another year just for draft value, or is this going to the best possible choice for him?

In other news, Stephen Curry said that he isn't going into the NBA draft and is staying another year no matter what anybody says.

Easy decision for Brooke Lopez, don't know about the other brother though.

brooke lopez is ready and has no reason to stick around other than playing with robin. robin's making a pretty big mistake. he's totally unpolished offensively and is much more likely to be a first round pick playing til graduation than he is leaving now

Links for use in discussion, some good, some not, form your own opinion.

http://www.nbadraft.net

http://www.draftexpress.com

http://hoopshype.com/draft.htm

Real GM Draft Forum

Assani's Big Board

Similar to Mel Kiper's in football, this has nothing to do with where I think they'll be drafted; Its just my personal ranking of the prospects. For discussion's sake I'll assume that every player who is questionable to stay in school or go pro will indeed go pro. I'll start out with my top 10 for now and post more as time goes by. And of course I reserve the right to change up my board a ton between now and the draft. Won't comment on every spot, but feel free to question/critisize any of my picks....

1. Derrick Rose
2. Michael Beasley
3. Danilo Gallinari
4. Jerryd Bayless
5. Kevin Love
6. Blake Griffin
7. Brook Lopez
8. DJ Augustin
9. OJ Mayo
10. Chase Budinger

I guess the Lopez Brothers thread was renamed with a title similar to this one....I guess move my post there and delete this thread then.

As a pro prospect Lopez >>> Love. He's a legit 7 footer, has legit post moves and is in shape.

I won't argue that I'm clearly going against the concensus here and I expect most to disagree with me. I do agree that the potential of any 7 footer is great. However, Lopez seems very mechanical to me. I don't really know how to describe it, but I think that this quote from draftexpress sums it up well:

"Lopez is very formulaic in this range when he has his back to the basket, never trying to further back his man down once he has the ball, never putting the ball on the floor for more than one dribble, and almost always going right up into a right-handed hook shot or a turnaround jumper, often rushing his shot. Watching him in this area of the court, you get the idea that he knows exactly what he’s going to do even before he gets the ball, regardless of how the defense is reacting to him. He shows no counter-moves or fakes in this range, and doesn’t adjust to what the defense gives him."


Love could very well be one of those "great college players/average pros", but I've just been so impressed by him this year. Rarely will a hyped prospect not only live up to ALL expectations but surpass expectations in each and every facet of his game, yet I think Love has done that. I'm really interested in seeing how Love does in personal workouts because if his "lack of footspeed" issue isn't as big of a deal as some are making it out to be then I definitely like my ranking of him.

Also I have no clue what you mean by saying Lopez is "in shape"....are you saying that Love(or any other top prospect) isn't?

brock should and will be a top five pick for sure...it sucks that they are prob attached at the hip, because robin could def be a lottery pick in the future if he stayed there and developed some more offense...he already noticeably improved from the beginning of the year...as it is now hell prob be a late first/ early second rounder...could def be a good role player

Love is overweight. He's a very good player, maybe great but you don't see many guys with a bunch of extra pounds excel at the next level unless their name is Shaq.

Love has a distinct advantage over Lopez when it comes to passing and outside shot but I don't know if it's enough to overcome some big differences in the two.

Yeah I don't necessarily disagree. Let me reiterate that I'm going to be changing my board a lot and that Love's "footspeed" will probably be a vital point on whether or not I drop him based upon what the rumors are out of his private workouts.

edited to add: Also I'll be honest and note that I've watched Love much more than Lopez this year, and while I don't feel as if I'm being biased, I understand that its natural to be so when you see one player more.

Come on, being fat is just a short guy's way of having upside. A tall guy already has that built in, if he doesn't dominate he has upside because he's long. A shorter guy who dominates and is in shape, how can he improve? Answer: get fat and then voila! weight loss leads to upside. I don't think this can be disputed.

If the Knicks don't get a top 2 pick I'm seriously going to be crushed.

Does anyone know what their odds are at top 2 at the moment?

I don't know exactly, but probably not that high considering there's a few teams worse than them. Cs were 2nd worst in the league last year and I think their odds for landing a top 2 pick was around 50%.

How does the David Stern conspiracy possibilities skew the percentages? I mean it has to bump us up a few points.

the espn mock draft has the knicks taking bayless which would be pretty funny

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/lotter...t&lid=tab1pos1

I think you need to worry more about whether or not your GM gets fired, because let's face it, even with a top 2 pick, with that GM, your team is going NOWHEREZ.

Also, the Knicks can keep their first round pick this year?

I think it's obvious at this point that Beasley/Rose go 1-2. The interesting part starts at 3. I also can't wait to see the final draft spot of both OJ and Gordon. How much scouts attribute Gordon's late season slump to injury/psychology could move him anywhere from #3-4 all the way down to #8-9.

Didn't OJ say he's staying. I know a lot of these guys are FOS, but I think his chances of going top 3 next year are much higher. Next years class is going to be a lot weaker than this one.