High Draft Pics

by **VCFAN** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:04 am

Besides Lebron James how will you think other top picks like Darko Millici, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh will do this year. Which of these players do u think the best shot at Rookie of the Year?

by . on Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:59 am

I dont really know....ive only seen Bron and Melo play so I cant say anything about the rest...But from what I have seen, I think Melo will end up winning the ROY...cause IMO he is more ready then Leron James and has college experience

by **Full Surface** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:42 am

Carmelo has the best chance of winning the award, only because he's already had the roughness experience on how it's like to play in the NBA (while he was at college). Then LeBron only played with "kiddies" in High School, so the competition wasn't as intense. Just look at Kwame. He thought he had it going on when he was drafted #1 but he didn't show improvement for his first two years.

It will be interesting to see how LeBron develops, whether he'll actually make a name for himself, or be a bust.

by **wangster** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 10:12 am

You know, when you make such a huge name for youself, get such unprecedented hype around yourself, and with a legion of supporters and admirers.... all even before you play a single game in the NBA, you've got to succeed. There's just no excuse for not living up to your potential after stirring up such a carnival. I know most of it was how the media was portraying it but that's the situation right now and there's nothing he can do to lessen the hype. He's just got to show up. I know some people have way too high of an expectation for Lebron but I believe the general consensus is he's going to be a great player in the league. Not a good player. a GREAT player. If he doesn't become one, it's simply going to be the end of story. I, for one would love to see him succeed, as I feel it would be very unfair for him if he didn't. But the ultimate choice remains solely within Lebron, and it's up to him if he's going to make it big... live up to his fame. If he doesn't win Rookie of the Year, I know it's going to be a huge disappointment.

My apologies for getting off-topic but now about the others. Well, I think Carmelo has all the makings of a good and possibly great player, and I think he's going to make a big impact in his first year. Being in Denver is a great situation for him, as he has the potential to be the leader of a young, talented group and I think Denver can become a powerhouse in the next few years.

Darko Milicic, for me, is a big question mark because I've never seen him play, but many experts and Dumars really saw something in him so I'm guessing he'll do just fine. Chris Bosh, with me being in Canada, I really hope he develops into the player he's projected to be and help Vince make Toronto a force to be reckoned with.

That's just about it.

by **air gordon** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 10:18 am

amare stoudemire played with less 'intense' high schoolers and wound up winning ROY and perhaps having the best numbers of any high schooler jumping straight to the nba in their rookie year...

of the players in that list, i think all have a decent shot @ROY. but i think marcus banks has the best chance. good ball handler, defender, passer, athletic ability, 4yrs college exp, and had a great summer league. and more importantly, he'll be the pg on a playoff contending team

by **Vins15** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 11:19 am

i think the highest chance is Melo..with Andre Miller creating shots for him he should be able to win the ROY..since there is not much scorer on the team...Barry should help with Denver but Melo is gonna have to to 75 percent of the offence for them to with games...

YouTube · by **Andrew** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 12:48 pm

I think Melo is the only one who will have a chance. I think the usual lottery pick fate will befall Milicic and Bosh - they'll be given limited minutes behind veteran players, making us wonder why their teams bothered to use a lottery pick to get them if they had no interest in playing them.

Gone are the days where high draft picks played significant minutes. We haven't seen any Magic/Bird/Jordan/Olajuwon/Shaq/Hill-like rookies for a while. LeBron and Melo are both in a good position to change that trend, but I have a feeling most of the other high picks will be made to wait.

Take Stro Swift for example. The 4th pick in the 2000, but he's still not assured a place in the starting five even though he could (should?) be a starter.

by **Robby** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 12:51 pm

I think Anthony will be Rookie of the year. He will be Denver's go to guy and will get lots and lots of opportunites to do whatever he wants to do on offense, whether that's scoring or passing.

by **magius** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 1:41 pm

i dont know if stro should be a starter. he is either an undersized power forward with good athletism but somewhat wiry frame, or small forward with no handle or range. he is a good energy player though.

by **Vins15** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 2:01 pm

Andrew wrote:Take Stro Swift for example. The 4th pick in the 2000, but he's still not assured a place in the starting five even though he could (should?) be a starter.

actually he's a great player but just got drafted on a wrong team..if he is on the nets...he'll be like a jefferson player running the floor on fast breaks and finish it off with a long court pass by kidd...u see different coach plays different stragegy...Memphis is not good at creating to therefore they're is not much for Swift to jam...if Jason Williams was a kidd type player Swift would have like 10 pts average then he'd have now..and give him more cofidence that he could play better...

Andrew wrote:I think Melo is the only one who will have a chance. I think the usual lottery pick fate will befall Milicic and Bosh - they'll be given limited minutes behind veteran players, making us wonder why their teams bothered to use a lottery pick to get them if they had no interest in playing them.

well sum coaches like Riley in the past doesn't trust rookies...they're still too young so if u remember in 2001 the team had almost no rookies...well different story for Detroit cuz they have to much forwards/centers...Campelle,Okur,Big Ben just to give an 18 year old time..but i'm sure Brown will only give Milicic limited minutes cuz he trusts veterans more...and different story again for Raps...Bosh is too young only 19 too thin...they're still waiting for him to bulk up and develop but if he can become another Stoudmire it'll be great...but i wouldn't count on it...however i think he will get a resonable amount of minutes since Raps doesn't have much good PFs/Cs...

by **Bourbon** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 4:59 pm

actually he's a great player but just got drafted on a wrong team..if he is on the nets...

I don't agree. In his first few seasons in the league, Stromile has certainly had opportunities to crack the Grizzlies' starting lineup. His frontcourt mates haven't been spectacular; it's not like he's deferred to the likes of Shaq, TD, and KG. Instead, Swift can attribute his shortcomings to his dubious practice habits. Still, he's extremely talented and there's still plenty of time for Hubie Brown to turn him into an all-star caliber forward.

by **bballer22** on Fri Sep 19, 2003 6:25 pm

i think it will al depend on the player! I mean look at the 2001 draft, even that year how good was Tony parker? maybe not statisticly.
anyone in the draft can be ROY. The reason Amare had the best numbers form any rookie out of highskol. was coz he got the mst minutes, Kobe didnt get any coz of deep backcourt, neither did J.O'neal or T-mac or KG. As soon as Gogliata got injured Amare never got off the starting lineup, plus he's phisicaly ready. LBJ is very phisicaly ready to play the 1 and 2 spot and even3. Camalo doesn not look as strong as LBJ. Kirk Hinrich is getting min next to Crawford and Rose. anyone could take it. this year im looking more into lower draft picks coz theyr are the once with less to loose, just like amare!

by **Vins15** on Sat Sep 20, 2003 8:35 am

i think the rookies draft is not as solid as few years ago..i mean look at the 2002 draft..it wasn't as solid as the draft had like 10-6 years ago..

by **magius** on Sat Sep 20, 2003 11:22 am

im not sure, maybe we just have to wait for them to improve?

but if you're right the detoriation started after the last 'good' draft, the 99 one. and if you ask me, stro has good potential, but if he doesnt work hard he will be demoted to a bench energy player basically.

YouTube · by **Andrew** on Sat Sep 20, 2003 2:33 pm

Vins15 wrote:i think the rookies draft is not as solid as few years ago..i mean look at the 2002 draft..it wasn't as solid as the draft had like 10-6 years ago..

I kind of agree, and kind of disagree.

The infatuation with potential has seen teams draft projects rather than players. Guys who may become special players down the road. Teams don't seem to be looking for guys who can make an immediate impact - or maybe those players simply aren't coming along.

Rookies certainly don't get the opportunities that older generations of players did. Michael Jordan's college career didn't offer an accurate prediction of how he'd fare in NBA competition. Magic Johnson was great in high school and college, but he was still unproven in the NBA when he was drafted. Larry Bird was drafted 6th overall, Isiah Thomas was second to Mark Aguirre (who was by no means a bad player). All were given the opportunity to show what they could do, and they all had impressive rookie seasons.

A lot of players these days are probably entering the NBA a little too early. Potential has a lot to answer for. People see KG, Kobe and T-Mac producing All-Star numbers despite having never played college ball, and figure that most any high school player has the same potential. Give them a couple of seasons and they'll become the next Moses Malone/young Shawn Kemp/KG/Kobe/T-Mac. Not necessarily true.

And even if they are capable of decent numbers, they may not get the minutes. These days, no team is going to turn the offense over to a rookie, as they did with Michael Jordan. They're not going to be confident in a rookie running the ballclub as Isiah and Magic did. They're not going to be amazed by a player's talents as they were with Larry Legend, because they'll be playing limited minutes behind veterans.

The problem as I see it: teams are too patient when it comes to potential. Let's see if potential can be reached earlier, as it was with MJ, Magic and Larry. At the same time, there are few players with the potential to play like seasoned veterans straight away. Some players shouldn't be too quick to jump to the NBA, and NBA teams should realise that all potential stars are also potential busts.

The solution? The right players have to come along at the right time, and find themselves in the right situation. Coaches and GMs should recognise this, and give those players the opportunity to be great.

High Draft Pics

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