Think you can spot talent and draft better than most NBA GMs and basketball player evaluators?
I know you do because you probably wouldn’t be on this blog and other sports forums critiquing and criticizing the decisions of your favorite team’s management. So with the 2008 NBA Draft today, I put together this fun little test for you.
The Challenge
It’s quite simple actually. Pick the the player that you think is the better overall prospect based on the information provided. To take the possibility of a dispute out of the equation, there is without question a better player. Don’t try to guess the players – trust me you won’t get it.
Player A – Point Guard
Measurements
Height (w/o shoes) – 5′ 9.88″ / Height (w/shoes) – 5′ 10.88″ / Weight – 175lbs / Wingspan – 5′ 11.5″ / Standing Reach – 7′ 7.5″ / No Step Vertical – 30.5 / Max Vertical – 36
Player Description
Strengths:
- Very quick especially with his first step
- Athletic and very good jumping ability
- Good mid-range and three-point shooter
- Aggressive on-ball defender and fundamentally overall sound defensively
- Solid, but still developing court vision
- Good decision-maker and looks to get teammates involved first and score second
- Proven leader
Weaknesses:
- Vastly undersized and skill may not be able to overcome his lack of height
- Short arms and small hands which can hurt him defensively
- Needs to improve strength to finish around the basket
- Can sometimes get pushed around by tough on-ball defenders and bigger point guards on offense
Player B – Shooting Guard
Measurements
Height (w/o shoes) – 6′ 2.75′‘ / Height (w/shoes) – 6′ 3.75” / Weight – 210lbs / Wingspan – 6′ 5” / Standing Reach – 8′ 1” / No Step Vertical – 24 / Max Vertical – 28
Player Description
Strengths:
- Crafty scorer who is able to use his body to create space to get his shots off
- Really likes to bang and get inside to rebound for a guy this height
- Streaky shooter but does have decent range on his shot
- Toughness
- Core strength
- Shows a desire to play good defense
- Unselfish and is a great teammate/intangibles
Weaknesses:
- Foot speed and athleticism leave something to be desired
- Quickness on defense
- Is an odd tweener in that his game and mentality are better suited to a small forward but his size puts him as an undersized shooting guard
- Extremely unorthodox style
Make your choice!
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Player B sounds like Willie Green, player A reminds me of DJ Augustin.
Great post Dannie, I like this little test. That’s got to be DJ Augustin for the A…and that’s a nicely written summary of his talent btw!
I have no clue who B is…I’d guess CDR, except CDR is more in the 6′5 – 6′6 height range, whereas this mystery fellow is 6′2 – 6′3. That leaves Mayo, Bayless, Gordon & Westbrook as the prominent guys in that height range. Mayo, Bayless and Westbrook all have “tweener” games…but I wouldn’t say any of them have an unorthodox style of play. Eric Gordon is definitely an undersized two, but his game isn’t most fit for a SF.
Not sure on that one…I’d probably guess Mayo because of the “willingness to play D”, “body space to create scoring”, “streaky shooting” and “intangibles” listed, which all fit him to a tee.
player A—-dj augistin??
Dannie, are they players in this draft? No, right? I’d also need to know which year they’d be playing in.
at first glance…
player A- mario chalmers
player B- eric gordon
people mentioned singletary and augustin and i don’t think they could every be looked at as getting teammates involved “first”…..
go ahead, dan…tell me im wrong…
Zack – No hints! But I will say outside the box thinking is absolutely needed if you really are trying to guess the who the players are.
Rosko – I will tell you, you are wrong after the poll is over. But I completely disagree with your point of Augustin not being a pass first point guard when that is actually what he is. He shot in college because he absolutely had to with the departure of Durant that doesn’t mean that is his ideal style of play though. In the NBA he is a pure look to find teammates point guard without question.
Singletary on the other hand is a scoring point like Tony Parker (not as good as Tony Parker) with a better jumper.
My fuck up…I didn’t mean to put augustin in the same group as singletary…no question, augustin can be a little too unselfish at times…
Dannie, I’m not guessing the players, the year would tell me which skill set would be more valued that year. For example, for last season, I think Player A would’ve created more wins for his team just for his speed and quickness alone. Player B sounds like he’d thrive more in the 90’s or in the early 00’s.
BTW, I might not go to my computer during the draft, so here are my final predictions for tonight:
I’m gonna believe everything I’ve read about the Sixers’ pick, and Stefansky’s reputation of taking risks and say they go with the French guy, Alexis Ajinca with the pick. He doesn’t need to contribute right away. There are some risks here. He’s more athletic than DeAndre Jordan and JaVale McGee, and with DiLeo at the helm they haven’t been drafting big in terms of width. The Sixers seem to be big on workouts and Ajinca was supposedly great in them.
If he’s not there and Chalmers is available, then Chalmers is the pick, and the Sixers get into the 2nd round by buying a pick from Seattle or Portland to get J.J. Hickson.
If they get Ajinca they don’t do anything in the 2nd round unless…
Last call, my riskiest: Reggie Evans gets traded tonight. I read that Stef tried to get rid of him at the trade deadline in February, he finally gets that done tonight.
Anyone else wanna make their predictions?
Zach, I like you’re thinking but sincerely doubt Ajinca is going to be the pick. I generally don’t like talking about players I haven’t seen play, and we are all obviously in the same boat in that none of us, unless there are some real big Euroleague or French Premier League bball heads out there, have actually seen this guy play in an actual pro game, which is what matters.
That said, from the small samplings of workouts and columnist chatter about the guy, he seems like more of a defensive presence big man then an offensive force, kinda reminds me a bit of UConn/NJ Josh Boone. If the Sixers are going to take a big man, it is definitely going to be one that has solid offensive potential: Speights, Arthur, Hickson, Koufos, J Thompson…and Greene, much to my chagrin.
I’m still shocked at just how little buzz there is about JJ Hickson. Obviously half of all this media firestorm is smoke screen, but I’m just amazed this guy might go in the 25-30 range and not before then.
Holy sh*t the Bucks just pulled a coup…they just landed Richard Jefferson!!! Nets trade RJ for Yi and Bobby Simmons. You could not ask for a more perfect fit for Milwaukee…gives them a great scorer, great defender, unselfish team guy, good locker room presence, and clears up the Yi/Villanueva logjam a bit. And they got rid of Bobby Simmons HORRIFIC 10 million a year contract.