here are some random links to some more or less interesting articles. i quoted an excerpt to catch your interest, the articles are usually much more longer than that. here we go:
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Finding-a-Niche-for-Enes-Kanter-3743/
Using recently acquired game footage from his prep school days in the 2009-10 season, we've been able to learn more about his strengths and weaknesses as a prospect, which can hopefully shine some light on his ability as a player.
Prep school basketball is far from an ideal setting to evaluate Kanter's NBA prospects due to the weak competition he faced, but it's more than we previously had to work with, which was very little.
In writing this report, we looked at the following games:
-Four Stoneridge Prep games spanning from November 2009 to January 2010
-The Nike Hoop Summit on April 10, 2010
-Turkey vs. Lithuania, August 2, 2009 – Kanter vs Jonas Valanciunas at the U-18 European Championship
We also created two edits (offense and defense) to help illustrate some of the points we're making. Due to potential rights issues, only clips from his high school games were included.
http://www.raptorshq.com/2011/6/8/2212231/raptors-draft-workout-numero-uno
Now normally a pre-draft workout that featured these two would be an incredibly interesting session to take in, but unfortunately Franchise and I were left quite disappointed when all was said and done.
Why?
Well for starters, it was reported that Brandon Knight's agent did not want his ex Wildcat client working out against Walker. This of course led to the creation of the two sessions, with Walker working out in the morning with Jacob Pullen and various other prospects, and Knight coming in separately for the afternoon run.
Second, well, even though media was granted access to the workouts, we were really limited in terms of what we were able to see.
We were only able to catch the tail end of these workout sessions, which was really only the outside shooting portions, and it seems that each year we're able to take in less and less of the live action that goes on. Franchise correctly noted that four years ago during our first pre-draft access, often media took in the last half hour of action, and we were able to not only get an idea of how certain players fared against each other, but also capture live action shots of the ongoings.
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2011/jun/09/morris-twins-bobcats-its-possible/
Marcus Morris going ninth is an easy sell. He could go higher, he could go lower, but he’s certainly a lottery pick, which means he’ll go in the Top 14.
Here’s Ford’s take on Marcus: "The Bobcats haven’t been the greatest drafters the past few years. Michael Jordan is determined to change that. The thinking in Charlotte is to not take big risks — to go with a proven product and swing for a double instead of a home run. Morris, with his versatility, toughness and Kansas pedigree is a very good option."
So we’re good there. But Markieff Morris at No. 19 is a little more of a stretch. The reason? The Bobcats have to hope that Markieff still is available when their second pick in Round 1 rolls around. It’s possible, but there has been plenty of talk of him landing in the lottery, as well.
Here’s Ford’s take on Markieff and the potential Morris twins merger: "A month ago I was in Florida with the Morris twins and the big topic of discussion was the inevitability of the two brothers breaking up when they were drafted by different teams. We explored a number of options that could reunite them on the same team. This is really the only plausible one, and it’s more plausible than you think. The Bobcats are one of those teams that thinks the twins can play together. If it happens, you’ll see two very happy twins on draft night."
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2011/06/nba_draft_2011_darius_morris.html
Our countdown to the 2011 NBA draft continues with a look at Darius Morris, a 6-foot-5 point guard from Michigan.
Morris led the Big 10 in assists per game (6.7) as a sophomore, setting Michigan’s single-season assist record with 235, and led his team with 15.0 points per contest.
Morris, who is drawing many comparisons to Andre Miller, has a scheduled workout with the Trail Blazersaccording to the Detroit Free Press. Portland holds the No. 21 and No. 51 picks in the June 23 draft.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=20067
This is one of the most deceiving times of year where teams can easily be fooled by a string of good workouts and solid interviews. The team that puts more stock in what they've seen over the last several weeks rather than what they saw during the regular season is most likely to end up disappointed.
The time leading up to the draft is really just a small piece of the puzzle allowing teams to get to know prospects on a personal level and see some of the skills they have to offer. However, what it all comes down to is whether or not they can play and there's no better judgment of that than game film.
Everyone in this draft believes their best days are ahead of them. They're doing everything they can to sell teams on that, but the ones who have truly succeeded are the ones who have a good track record to back it up. Those players compromise our five on the rise:
Meanwhile, the Wizards' brass is heading over to Italy this weekend to watch the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso, where they'll get a good look at guys like Jonas Valanciunas, Jan Vesely and Bismack Biyombo. Here's what's interesting, though. According to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express, the Wizards have joined Toronto and Utah to watch Jan Vesely in the Serbian League Finals prior to the camp.
Arizona's Derrick Williams is the most complete player available, and would be well worth trading for at No. 2 -- or even selecting ahead of Duke point guard Kyrie Irving at No. 1. Everyone knows that Williams is versatile; a search for his name and that adjective yields around 127,000 hits in Google. His standard stats make it clear he's an excellent scorer (19.5 points per game), rebounder (8.3 per game), three-point shooter (56.8 percent) and drawer of fouls (11.6 free-throw attempts per 40 minutes), but the hoops world may not realize the true degree of his versatility. The data in his Synergy file is stunning:
http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2011/06/post_178.html
The Cleveland Cavaliers own the first and fourth overall picks. With No. 1, they'll tab Duke point guard Kyrie Irving.
Or will they? Will the conventional wisdom prevalent since the lottery ping pong balls dropped the Cavs' way prove as unreliable as LeBron James at crunch time?
An NBADraft.net mock draft, on FoxSports.com, has the Cavaliers taking Arizona forward Derrick Williams with the first pick, with the comment:
