HOOPLOG: Draft

Draft Day Fashion

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:38:32 -0800

With the 2006 NBA Draft less than a week away, what better time to take a walk down Draft days past, with the help of NBA Photos; first up, Grand-ma-ma himself, Larry Johnson:

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images

We pretty much think Larry nailed what he was going for -- Odessa, Texas meets Miami Vice. Our two observations about Larry's attire are --

1.) If our country's economic prosperity were accurately represented by the amount of bling on the arms and necks (and ears) of NBA draft picks, then America would have come a really long way since 1991. A tiny wristwatch with a leather band? They won't even let you into the NBA with that anymore.

2.) The lowtop Nikes with dark socks -- a very nice touch. Obviously Larry knew this was a special occasion, and he showed respect by goin' with the dress socks. Good call LJ.

What's really unfortunate about the picture is that they couldn't find anything besides the emerald green backdrop for him to pose with. And whatever happened to a jersey or a team hat?

Still...you've gotta love Larry Johnson.

NBA Mock Draft-College players only 1. Noah 2 Morrison 3. Thomas

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:16:17 -0800

Here is my mock draft, usually when a player does well in the tournament, their stock goes up in the draft. Teams are gonna pass on Sheldon Williams, due to poor tournament performance. He’ll be the next Elton Brand and will help that Hornets go to the playoffs next year. I put Reddick with the Jazz, looking at the Jazz's draft history they pick over hyped white dudes, who can’t play in the NBA. Hopefully the Sonics get Brandon Roy, he and Ridnouer will form the best back court in the league circa 2110. I only did college players that I have seen play and one Eurotrash dude that Espn ranked high. I guessed the teams that will end up with the highest lottery picks.

1. Bulls from knicks- joekim Noah. Had a good tournment, he could really develop

2. Portland Trailblazers- Adam Morrison. Keep him local.

3. Charlotte Bobcats- Tyrus Thomas

4. Atlanta Hawks-Lemarcus Aldridge

5. Toronto Raptors- Randy foye

6. Orlando Magic- Josh Mcroberts

7. Golden state- Andrea Bargani. The bay area better have ample olive oil and garlic.

8. Boston Celtics- Dee Brown

9. Timerwolves- Rodney Carney

10. Supersonics- Brandon Roy

11. Rockets- Al Hortford

12. Bulls- Ronnie Brewer

13.Utah jazz- J.J reddick. Another white person playing basketball in Utah, I don’t understand.

14 Hornets- Sheldon Williams. Every team will regret passing on him

15. 76ers- Maurice Ager

16 Indiana- Jordan Farmar.

17. Sacramento-leon powe

Rudy Gay was going pretty high but he will end up a second rounder, due to poor performance in the tournement

No comments

Nailon Goes to Cleveland

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:11:37 -0800

Philadelphia 76ers President Billy King announced today that the team has traded forward Lee Nailon and a 2006 second round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for a conditional second round pick in the 2006 NBA Draft.

Divac: Draft Evasion Charges Non Issue

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 08:25:00 -0800

The following statement was issued Wednesday night by former Lakers center Vlade Divac through his agent Marc Fleisher regarding charges that Divac was avoiding the military draft in his native country, Serbia-Montenegro: I have learned about this a couple of days ago and it came as a complete surprise to me."

The Truth is Out.

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 09:27:35 -0800

Here at FBB headquarters, we do our best to make sure that our readers (hi, Mom!) are as prepared as they could possibly be for their fantasy drafts. And because we did all these rankings, analysis, etc., you’d think that we’d be totally ready for our draft, which happened this past weekend. But were we really ready? Well, that’s for you to judge. So, today, I’m going to go over my team and do a little self-analysis. Then tomorrow, DM will do the same for himself.

So you know, our league is 12 teams, and our positions are PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util, Bn, Bn, Bn.

BV’s Draft

1st Round (7th overall): Tim Duncan, F/C.
I was expecting at 7 to get the remains of Duncan/Kobe/T-Mac, but then D. Wade went at 6 and I ended up with both T-Mac and Duncan and I had to make a choice. I ended up with Duncan because of my concerns about McGrady’s legs. Sure, Duncan is a big injury risk, but I couldn’t allow myself to enter the season with my stud player already hurt.

2nd Round (18th overall): Stephon Marbury, PG
After Duncan in the first round, I knew I wanted a PG in the second. My choices here were Marbury, Bibby, Baron Davis, and Stevie Franchise. I went with Marbury because of four numbers: 82, 81, 81, 82. Those are the number of games he’s played in the last four seasons. After getting an injury risk with Duncan, I needed someone I could count of for 80 games as my number 2 man.

3rd Round (31st overall): Jason Richardson, SG
After getting both a C and PG in the first two rounds, the third and fourth rounds were going to be purely best-player-available. Richardson was that, just edging out Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard.

4th Round (42nd overall): Chauncey Billups, PG
At this point I was hoping for one of three forwards to slip to me here: Bosh, Howard, or Richard Jefferson. Didn’t happen. Though I didn’t really want 3 guards in my first four picks, Billups was the best player available, just edging out Andre Iguodala.

5th Round (55th overall): Sam Dalembert, C
Well, this was stupid. I wanted a big man, and I liked Dalembert, but I forgot the golden rule of drafting: Before you make your pick, make sure he’s not hurt. I should have taken Carmelo Anthony here. Now, I’ve got some work to do to make up for this pick.

6th round (66th overall): Antawn Jamison, F
Here, we’re really in the worst part of the draft. Guys that you know are going to have to contribute to your team, but nobody that you really want to depend on. I could have gone a bunch of different directions with this pick, but I took Jamison because A) Other than last year, he’s not much of an injury risk, and B) I needed rebounds after the disastrous pick last round, and he gives you that.

7th round (79th overall): Troy Murphy, PF
This late in the draft, if you can find a double-double guy who will also contribute in three’s, you’ve gotta take him. Between him and J-Rich, I’ve got a lot of faith in the Warriors this year.

8th round (90th overall): Jamaal Magloire, C
At this point, I’m still reeling from my Dalembert pick, and I know that I’m going to need some depth at C. So here’s a BCA (Best Center Available) pick, and I’m happy to have him as a fill-in starter/utility man for Duncan and Dalembert.

9th round (103rd overall): Nenad Krstic, C
See above. Now I’ve got 4 centers that I can feel ok about putting into my starting lineup. That will hopefully be enough.

10th round (114th overall): Ricky Davis, G/F
Call it a hunch, maybe, but this late I want someone I can play at the Utility spot when I have to, but that I can also sit on my bench so I can ride a hot hand. Also, as a G/F, he’s going to give me some roster flexibility.

11th round (127th overall): Charlie Villanueva, F
OK, I know, this is early for Illanueva (come on, that’s an awesome nickname for him and you know it). But there were three guys I was targeting to get in the mid-late rounds: Stromile Swift, Eddie Griffin, and Villanueva. Swift went in the sixth, three picks before I was going to take him. Griffin went in the seventh, which nearly made me fall out of my chair. So I reached a little bit so that I was sure to get one of my three targeted guys.

12th round (138th overall): Antoine Walker, F
Seriously? I mean, Walker can be a kiss of death for a fantasy team, but in the 12th round? This is a guy who could have gone in the 7th or 8th and nobody would have blinked.

13th round (151st overall): Rashad McCants, G
Hey, why not? I mean, the kid can score. But at the same time, I don’t expect him to be on my team for more than a week.

So, for those of you keeping score at home:

PG Stephon Marbury
SG Jason Richardson
G Chauncey Billups
SF Antawn Jamison
PF Antoine Walker
F Troy Murphy
C Tim Duncan
C Jamaal Magloire
Ut Nenad Krstic
Ut Ricky Davis
Bn Samuel Dalembert
Bn Charlie Villanueva
Bn Rashard McCants.

My major concern this year will be my FT%, but if Duncan can get back over the 70% mark, I should be ok. Plus, if Dalembert gets healthy soon, then I should have a glut at C which should help me out in the trade market. Only one guy on my squad played under 66 games last year (Magloire), so that is comforting.

Tomorrow: DM.

Boston Celtics 2005-06 Season Preview

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:40:13 -0800

OFFSEASON ADDITIONS: Curtis Borchardt - Acquired from Utah in five-team trade; Dan Dickau - Trade with New Orleans; Albert Miralles - Draft rights acquired from Miami in five-team trade; Brian Scalabrine - Free ...

Draft report card

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 13:53:24 -0800

More NBA draft: Winners and losers | Pick-by-pick analysis Yahoo! Sports' NBA analyst Steve Kerr grades the most important classes of the 2005 draft.

Fantasy Basketball Mock Draft – Round Five

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:01:53 -0800

(For rounds one, two and three, just scroll down)

Players already on the team are in parentheses.

Team A: Jamaal Magloire (J. Terry, R. Allen, P. Stojakovic, K. Garnett)
Team B: Rasheed Wallace (E. Okafor, R. Artest, S. O’Neal, L. James)
Team C: Corey Maggette (A. Iguodala, B. Davis, Y. Ming, D. Nowitzki)
Team D: Zack Randolph (M. Camby, C. Bosh, S. Marbury, S. Marion)
Team E: Cuttino Mobley (A. Miller, B. Wallace, J. O’Neal, T. McGrady)
Team F: Carlos Boozer (R. Jefferson, M. Ginobili, M. Bibby, A. Stoudamire)
Team G: Kenyon Martin (K. Hinrich, S. Francis, E. Brand, K. Bryant)
Team H: Rafer Alston (M. Redd, D. Howard, S. Nash, T. Duncan)
Team I: Rip Hamilton (R. Lewis, J. Johnson, J. Kidd, A. Kirilenko)
Team J: Tyson Chandler (Z. Ilgauskas, C. Billups, V. Carter, D. Wade)
Team K: Samuel Dalembert (L. Hughes, P. Gasol, P. Pierce, A. Iverson)
Team L: Bobby Simmons (J. Richardson, L. Odom, B. Miller , G. Arenas)

In the fifth round, for the first time since round two, we run into 12 players who are all in the same tier in our overall rankings (we’ll get to our overall rankings at some point in early October). This is the last round of the draft where you are drafting a player who will unquestionably be on a roster all year long. Starting in the sixth round, you’ll hear some names that at least have a chance of ending up on the waiver wires. But not here. Everyone here should be getting at least 30 mpg, and will make real contributions to your team.

Because everyone here was in a similar tier, the selections this round really took into account team needs more than player ability. If after five rounds, you’re lacking at either of the scarcity positions, you could be in serious trouble. And as we see here, only 2 teams are left without a center (Teams G and I). Only one has no PG, but they do have LeBron James, who will contribute to assists like a PG would. Put yourself in the position of the two teams with no center as yet. Particularly in leagues like this one where teams are required to start two centers, you’re going to have to either pass up greater talent to select a center in the next few rounds or stick a couple of bums in the starting lineup every day. Neither option is particularly appealing. This is where the “Best Player Available” strategy can handcuff you.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at Round 6, the last round we did for this mock draft. But before we do, anyone have any major disagreements with selections we’ve made?

Fantasy Basketball Mock Draft – Round Four

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 09:43:18 -0800

(For rounds one, two and three, just scroll down)

Players already on the team are in parentheses.

Team L: Jason Richardson (Lamar Odom, Gilbert Arenas, Brad Miller)
Team K: Larry Hughes (Pau Gasol, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce)
Team J: Zydraunas Ilgauskas (Chauncey Billups, Dwayne Wade, Vince Carter)
Team I: Rashard Lewis (Joe Johnson, Andrei Kirilenko, Jason Kidd)
Team H: Michael Redd (Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash)
Team G: Kirk Hinrich (Steve Francis, Kobe Bryant, Elton Brand)
Team F: Richard Jefferson (Manu Ginobili, Amare Soudamire, Mike Bibby)
Team E: Andre Miller (Ben Wallace, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O’Neal)
Team D: Marcus Camby (Chris Bosh, Shawn Marion, Stephon Marbury)
Team C: Andre Iguodala (Baron Davis, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming)
Team B: Emeka Okafor (Ron Artest, Lebron James, Shaquille O’Neal)
Team A: Jason Terry (Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Peja Stojakovic)

In round four of our mock draft, we’re seeing basically an extension of round three. With only about one round left of “solid” players (more on that later in the week), your goal in the fourth has to be to start setting yourself up for the later rounds. You want to be worried about team needs, but at the same time, you want to be able to take the best player available (BPA). There’s nothing worse than really stretching for a guy this early just because your team is really lacking in a category so far. So what you’ll see happening in our mock draft is that teams are settling for someone who at least comes close to qualifying as a team need and a BPA.

The fourth round, perhaps more than any other, is where your draft preparation will really come into play. If you’ve ranked players about 50 or 60 deep, it will make your fourth round much earlier. All you have to do is take your draft sheet, identify the 4 or 5 highest-ranked players, and then choose the one among those who best serves your needs. Take, for example, Team H. The top available players there (according to our lists) were Redd, Hinrich, Jefferson, and Miller. We would have those guys ranked with Jefferson first, then Hinrich, followed by Redd and Miller. However, we felt like this team needed some scoring punch, as it’s possible that neither Dwight Howard nor Steve Nash will put up 16 ppg this year. The highest scoring player among our BPA’s was Michael Redd, so he was the choice there, despite the fact that we had ranked Jefferson and Hinrich ahead of him.

So, what teams do you think look the best so far?

Fantasy Basketball Mock Draft – Round Three

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 09:06:30 -0800

(For rounds one and two, check the previous post)

Players already on the team are in parentheses.

Team A: Ray Allen (Kevin Garnett, Peja Stojakovic)
Team B: Ron Artest (Lebron James, Shaquille O’Neal)
Team C: Baron Davis (Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming)
Team D: Chris Bosh (Shawn Marion, Stephon Marbury)
Team E: Ben Wallace (Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O’Neal)
Team F: Manu Ginobili (Amare Soudamire, Mike Bibby)
Team G: Steve Francis (Kobe Bryant, Elton Brand)
Team H: Dwight Howard (Tim Duncan, Steve Nash)
Team I: Joe Johnson (Andrei Kirilenko, Jason Kidd)
Team J: Chauncey Billups (Dwayne Wade, Vince Carter)
Team K: Pau Gasol (Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce)
Team L: Lamar Odom (Gilbert Arenas, Brad Miller)

Round three of our mock draft is arguably the most important round. The first two rounds have put the top talent on your team. The third and fourth rounds will dictate how the rest of your draft will go. A team that is weak in a category after two rounds might be a coincidence. A team that is still weak in those categories after three rounds is a problem. Take, for example, the case of team J, who after three rounds has maybe 1.5 blocks per game to his name. He will need to reach for size at some point in the draft – maybe not in round four, but in the middle rounds he will certainly have to take someone whose strength is blocks, perhaps well before he should be drafted. You don’t want to be put in the position of having to consider drafting Adonal Foyle or Theo Ratliff. Making the right moves here will save you from that fate.

The other important thing to note is that in the third round, we see the end of the third tier of players. DM and I agreed that this drop happens right around where Steve Francis was drafted in our mock. The drop from him to Dwight Howard is pretty significant. While you can make arguments that maybe Joe Johnson or Lamar Odom belong in that third tier, everyone taken after Francis at least makes you hesitate before you pick them.

So after three rounds, which teams look best? I think Team A looks pretty strong, with three players who could have been first round picks last year, as well as the best overall player in the game. Team B certainly has a ton of upside, but after LeBron he took two major question marks. Teams picking in the second half of the first round certainly appear a lot weaker than the teams with earlier picks. The teams with the earlier picks not only got their pick of the top tiers, but also got two of the third tier players. This might even out over the next couple of rounds – we’ll see later this week. Tomorrow, the fourth round.

2005 Fantasy Basketball Mock Draft

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 10:16:18 -0800

Is it ever really too early to do a mock draft? Absolutely not. Especially with training camp starting next week, and the season only about a month away. So what we’re going to do is spend this week going through a mini-mock draft. Today we’ll do rounds one and two, and we’ll do one round a day for the rest of the week. After six rounds, it’s really far too early to tell who’s going to go where. But hopefully we’ll give you an idea of how you can expect the first few rounds to shake out, so you can start targeting certain players.

Here are the rules we’re going by. It’s a 12-team league, with PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util as the positions. We’re also trading off picks by team – so if I pick for a team one round, then DM picks for that team the next round, so that the teams aren’t necessarily shaped by just one person’s views. Pretty simple, right? Anyhow, let’s get started with the first two rounds:

Round One

Team A: Kevin Garnett
Team B: LeBron James
Team C: Dirk Nowitzki
Team D: Shawn Marion
Team E: Tracy McGrady
Team F: Amare Stoudamire
Team G: Kobe Bryant
Team H: Tim Duncan
Team I: Andrei Kirilenko
Team J: Dwayne Wade
Team K: Allen Iverson
Team L: Gilbert Arenas

The first round went – pretty much – right down the list of our overall player rankings. There are two pretty big drops in the first round, from pick two to pick three, and from pick nine to pick ten. KG and LBJ are the unquestioned top two, especially with Nowitzki no longer qualifying at center. At three, though, you could make an argument foe Dirk, Marion, McGrady, Stoudamire, or maybe even Kobe or Tim Duncan. After Kirilenko was a clear cut choice to us at nine, we really felt there was another drop-off at ten, where Wade was a decent choice but really there are 5 to 7 players who could all be a possibility there.

Round Two (Players already on team in parentheses)
Team L: Brad Miller (Gilbert Arenas)
Team K: Paul Pierce (Allen Iverson)
Team J: Vince Carter (Dwayne Wade)
Team I: Jason Kidd (Andrei Kirilenko)
Team H: Steve Nash (Tim Duncan)
Team G: Elton Brand (Kobe Bryant)
Team F: Mike Bibby (Amare Stoudamire)
Team E: Jermaine O’Neal (Tracy McGrady)
Team D: Stephon Marbury (Shawn Marion)
Team C: Yao Ming (Dirk Nowitzki)
Team B: Shaquille O’Neal (LeBron James)
Team A: Peja Stojakovic (Kevin Garnett)

In the second round, we started to drift away from our overall rankings. As much as we like to preach the idea of taking the best available player in the first few rounds of the draft, sometimes you just can’t. For example, for team H, was Steve Nash really the best player on the board? Probably not. We had ranked Elton Brand ahead of Nash, but with Tim Duncan already on the team, Nash was just a better complement than Brand. Granted, we didn’t have to go very far down our board to find a nice #2 man for Duncan, but nonetheless we strayed from the “draft the best player” strategy.

By the end of round two, all of the top players at the scarcity positions – PG and C – should be off the board. We all know that Shaq is gonna kill your FT% and miss some time, but still, he shouldn’t slip to the third round. One thing to note about the second round is that there was never a huge talent drop. Really, Peja Stojakovic has just as much potential this year as Paul Pierce does. It’s also interesting to note that almost every player here was at one point in their careers a first-round fantasy pick, with a few exceptions. Tomorrow – Round Three.

Rockets give tryout to ex-Bull Williams

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 09:42:52 -0800

Free-agent guard Jay Williams, the second pick of the 2002 NBA Draft whose career was derailed by a motorcycle accident, worked out for the Rockets on Wednesday, though no contract offer was made or is immediately expected. Williams, 24, has...

Palacio passes physical

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 09:21:52 -0800

Point guard Milt Palacio passed his physical in Utah on Thursday and later signed a contract to play for the Utah Jazz team senior vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor announced Thursday afternoon. It was reported in Thursday's Deseret Morning News that the signing of the former Toronto Raptors player would happen once the physical was completed. Financial terms were not disclosed. Palacio 6-foot-3 and going into his seventh NBA season at age 27 gives the Jazz some veteran leadership at the point where rookie Deron Williams the No. 3 overall choice in the June NBA Draft is expected to play a fair number of minutes.

Jazz Sign Whaley

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 09:32:43 -0800

The Utah Jazz have signed Robert Whaley to a contract it was announced today by Utah Jazz Sr. Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin OConnor. Per club policy terms of the contract were not released.Drafted by the Jazz in the second round 51st pick overall in the 2005 NBA Draft Whaley played and started for the Jazz in six games during the 2005 Reebok Rocky Mountain Review averaging 7.7 points and 5.2 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game.

Clippers and Wolves Swap PG's-Clippers Also Get a First Rounder

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:06:52 -0800

The Los Angeles Clippers today re-signed guard Marko Jaric and traded him and guard Lionel Chalmers to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for point guard Sam Cassell and a lottery protected first round selection in the 2006 NBA Draft, it was announced by Vice President of Basketball Operations Elgin Baylor.