The 2015 NBA Draft Thread: Draft Day Is Here

[hood17]

Minny is in good position to be really good in 2-3 years. But let's face it, they've never been good. And they will mess this up somehow, someway too. 

Wiggy and KAT won't allow that

Yup! We coming!

View media item 1594159

I'll fade Flip's whole family

Watching every game of LaVine/Wiggins/Towns.

Fast breaks are going to be .


The defense potential between Wiggins and Towns is crazy too, really excited to watch that next year.

Man having KG there with Towns will help him so much.

 

[keko jones]

I'm pulling for the Wolves man ... That salt to the wounds will def be heard.

I'm still sticking with

Towns
Okaford
Pirzingis
Russell
Winslow
Mudaiy

1st two are in order and after that is going to be wild.

 

[jpzx]

5Dimes NBA Draft prop bets have been posted:

Towns drafted No. 1 overall is -800 (not is only +467 - seems pretty lax)
Okafor drafted No. 1 overall is +600
Porzingis drafted No. 1 overall is +2200
Russell drafted No. 1 overall is +3300

Towns drafted No. 2 overall is +650 (-1350 if drafted anywhere else)
Okafor drafted No. 2 overall is -600 (not drafted No. 2 overall is +400)
Russell drafted No. 2 overall is +1200
Porzingis drafted No. 2 overall is +2000

Russell drafted No. 3 overall is -140 (not is +100)
Porzingis drafted No. 3 overall is +100 (not is -140)

A simple, who will go higher between two players: Russell -175, Porzingis +135

Mudiay draft position under 6 is -130 (over 6 is -110)
Winslow draft position over 6 is -150 (under 6 is +115)
Cauley-Stein draft position over 8.5 is -155 (under 8.5 is +115)
Lyles draft position over 12.5 is -155 (under 12.5 is +115)
"Kaminsly" (as the web site has it) draft position over 12.5 is -120 (under is also -120)


EDIT: In the time that passed since I posted these, Russell drafted No. 3 overall moved from -140 to -160, and Lyles draft position over 12.5 moved from -155 to -175.

 

[pmatic]

Woj:

D'Angelo Russell makes his case for the Lakers to take him No. 2 in the NBA draft

D'Angelo Russell hasn't pursued the stature of the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft on Thursday night, as much as he's pursued its possessor: the Los Angeles Lakers. The stage, the burden, the long, long point guard shadow of the incomparable Magic Johnson, Russell has relentlessly chased it all. D'Angelo Russell has made his case.

He was talking inside in a suburban Southern California restaurant recently, awaiting his trip to New York for Thursday night's draft, and slowly, surely Russell has made the Lakers think longer and harder about his candidacy. Once, everyone was so confident Duke center Jahlil Okafor was the Lakers' easy choice, with Kentucky's Karl Towns fastened to Minnesota's No. 1 overall pick.

Only now, on the cusp of the draft, Russell keeps coming. He is a spectacular 6-foot-5 freshman out of Ohio State with a gift to accurately deliver passes at the most improbable of angles, to the most darting of targets. He comes with a developing jumper and a Showtime point guard presence that washes over him. As much as anything, Russell is a fascinating blend of confidence and cockiness harnessed within an understanding of how you heed the expertise and cull the lessons of those before you.

Russell makes his case to be the cornerstone for a Lakers revival, wanting desperately the chance to earn Kobe Bryant's trust, earn a mentoring for the duration of Bryant's stay in the uniform.

"If I were to go to the Lakers, I wouldn't want anybody to hand me anything," Russell told Yahoo Sports. "I wouldn't expect Kobe to take me under his wing. I think he will want to see a resemblance of that hunger and fire that he came into the league with as a young kid. No one needs to be nicest guy in the world, or needs to pretend to be that. He will see through that, pick all that apart.
"I've got to be me."

Russell has been coached hard, broken down and reconstructed into the world's best NBA guard prospect. At 19 years old, Russell never had the basketball privilege that comes with the sport targeting you as the next big thing – and that makes him so much surer of his preparedness to take the mantle of the NBA's glamour franchise. He had been raised in Louisville, a rising young talent playing in the shadow of Rajon Rondo, under Rondo's old high school coach, Doug Bibby, who had moved to Central High School where Russell had enrolled.

Rondo heard the comparisons, stopped into the old high school gym to watch Russell, and somehow it seemed like the freshman never played his best. "He didn't take me under his wing," Russell told Yahoo Sports. "I would've thought the same way as him, though, if everyone was saying, "Oh, [D'Angelo's] the next you.' And then you watch him play, and you think, "Oh man, I was better than him in high school.' "

Russell's father, Antonio, wanted D'Angelo groomed in a more intensive setting and decided to send him off to a basketball prep school. "Everybody wanted me to go to Oak Hill and then Kentucky, follow Rondo's footsteps," Russell told Yahoo Sports. Before his sophomore year, Russell found his way to Montverde Academy in Florida, where the coach, Kevin Boyle, had built a national reputation as a tough Jersey guy with a gift for developing great point guards and greater teams.

Soon, Russell was the fourth guard in the rotation, and Boyle sure didn't seem too interested in Russell's autograph. ''You're too cool,'" Boyle told him. "And 'too- cool guys' never make it."

Russell called his father and pleaded: Get me out of here. No chance, D'Angelo was told. Truth be told, three words ended that conversation: "Suck it up."

"I thought I was better than what I was," Russell told Yahoo Sports. "Coach Boyle gave me a reality check, told me: 'Dude, you're not that good. You can't do this, can't do that.'

"…Going to Montverde, it forced me to mature at a younger age. I'm 15 years old, at a boarding school, doing my own laundry and being told that I have to shave the two pieces of [facial] hair that I had been trying to grow forever."

Russell laughs, and offers a knowing nod: "I became a lot more self-sufficient."
Eventually, Russell became a tougher-minded, wiser point guard, and his plans for a two-to-three-year college stay at Ohio State transformed into a one-and-done scenario. Now, there are a host of teams trying to trade into the high lottery to secure him, league executives say. Nevertheless, Russell is glad to go to No. 3 Philadelphia or No. 4 New York.

Still, the Lakers are different. For him, they're still a standard. Kobe Bryant remains, Julius Randle is getting healthy, $24 million in salary-cap space could open, and, yes, such a part of Russell believes that he's the point guard to start bringing it all together, to bring it all back again.

"I want to work for it," Russell told Yahoo Sports. "I know I can earn it. I am not Magic Johnson and I'm not 6-9, but I am 6-5 and it gives me an advantage to see over the smaller guards. Watching Magic, you learned to turn your back, put the guards on your hip and then dice up the defense."

Russell understands his basketball history, and he'll concede that it's understandably hard for teams to pass on the potential of franchise centers – and that makes Okafor tough to overcome. Russell's gone to the Lakers twice for workouts now, and hopes they'll take into consideration how the NBA has transformed itself into a point guard league. He wants that job, and thinks he was born and bred and trained to do it.

Wherever he goes, Russell promises, they'll get that no-look pass, that tenacity, but the Lakers are still the Lakers. D'Angelo Russell is making his case for No. 2, for the chance to take the ball, the stage and basketball's biggest burden. Yes, D'Angelo Russell wants it all.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/d-ange...ake-him-no--2-in-the-nba-draft-202142022.html

 

[mgrand15]

You guys seriously need to stop with the NBADraft.net scouting reports. Those guys are literally a joke. Compare every high schooler to HOFers. Overrate everyone. Consistently reach wildly in an effort to be ahead of the curve. They don't scout. They guess. Fun to read or get a feel for someone's strengths/weaknesses but those guys are literally worst of the worst when it comes to the draft.

 

[pmatic]

So I decided to hold a mock draft with some of the die-hard fans and regulars of NT over the course of the last few weeks.

Here are the results:

1. Minnesota T'Wolves - jpzx

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Karl-Anthony Towns

2. Los Angeles Lakers - C CP1708

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Jahlil Okafor

3. Philadelphia 76ers - @Buc Em

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

D'Angelo Russell

4. New York Knicks - johnnyredstorm

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Emmanuel Mudiay

5. Orlando Magic - @awwsome

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Willie Cauley-Stein

6. Sacramento Kings - rck3sactown

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Justise Winslow

7. Denver Nuggets - @Nelson999

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Mario Hezonja

8. Detroit Pistons - @nickmaz96

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Stanley Johnson

9. Charlotte Hornets - @woody2626

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Devin Booker

10. Miami Heat - @mr2cool80

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Sam Dekker

11. Indiana Pacers - Vincent Van Goat

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Cameron Payne

12. Utah Jazz - @Verdykt

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Frank Kaminsky

13. Phoenix Suns - @Addict4Sneakers

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Kelly Oubre

14. Oklahoma City Thunder - @itsaboutthattime

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Kristaps Porzingis

15. Atlanta Hawks - @ryanjumpman420

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Bobby Portis

16. Boston Celtics - @JD617

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Trey Lyles

17. Milwaukee Bucks - @freshbottoms

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

R.J. Hunter

18. Houston Rockets - do work son

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Justin Anderson

19. Washington Wizards - @JJs07

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Jerian Grant

20. Toronto Raptors - @Osh Kosh Bosh

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

21. Dallas Mavericks - @SneakerPro

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Tyus Jones

22. Chicago Bulls - @Bigmike23

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Delon Wright

23. Portland Trailblazers - @Chester McFloppy

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Robert Upshaw

24. Cleveland Cavaliers - @FinallyFamous

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Christian Wood

25. Memphis Grizzlies - @bhzmafia14

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Kevon Looney

26. San Antonio Spurs - @AntiDope

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Montrezl Harrell

27. Los Angeles Lakers - essential1

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Anthony Brown

28. Boston Celtics - @JD617

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Myles Turner

29. Brooklyn Nets - mgrand15

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Rashad Vaughn

30. Golden State Warriors - noblekane

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Jonathan Holmes

 

[denni5themenace]

JRS would end up with mudiay

and porzingis dropping to 14th

 

[CP1708]

Noble repping the Warriors in that mock.

 

[pmatic]

After invites got declined by Jumpman and dland, I figured why not Noble.

 

[noblekane]

View media item 1594430

 

[rck3sactown]

@Nelson999,

 

[MVP]

Not that I believe him but KAT says the promise report is untrue.

 

[keko jones]

JRS would end up with mudiay

and porzingis dropping to 14th

I seen it. LoL

I really like Tyus Jones, I think this kid will be special in the bigs.

 

[carver]

Not that I believe him but KAT says the promise report is untrue.

of course he says that. I'm sure it wasn't supposed to get out at all.

@ kristaps falling to okc in that mock

 

[do work son]

Rockets reportedly trying to move up from 32 to 25/26. Hoping we can come out of this draft with 2 out of Justin Anderson, Jerrian Grant, RHJ, and Rashad Vaughn.

 

[keko jones]

Rockets reportedly trying to move up from 32 to 25/26. Hoping we can come out of this draft with 2 out of Justin Anderson, Jerrian Grant, RHJ, and Rashad Vaughn.

Rockets need to buy a souvenir trophy for Howard. Dudes is super emotional and he thinks he's a champion even if he hasn't won. Ya need to stroke that ego.

 

[essential1]

Rockets reportedly trying to move up from 32 to 25/26. Hoping we can come out of this draft with 2 out of Justin Anderson, Jerrian Grant, RHJ, and Rashad Vaughn.

Rockets need to buy a souvenir trophy for Howard. Dudes is super emotional and he thinks he's a champion even if he hasn't won. Ya need to stroke that ego.

And that's where Jeanie Buss' idea of the Stay Campaign came from.

 

[do work son]

Rockets reportedly trying to move up from 32 to 25/26. Hoping we can come out of this draft with 2 out of Justin Anderson, Jerrian Grant, RHJ, and Rashad Vaughn.

Rockets need to buy a souvenir trophy for Howard. Dudes is super emotional and he thinks he's a champion even if he hasn't won. Ya need to stroke that ego.

This was a really good post. It was highly relative to what I posted and provided insight that I would consider reading again.

 

[moneymike9]

NT really does not like Kristaps

 

[keko jones]

This was a really good post. It was highly relative to what I posted and provided insight that I would consider reading again.

you're welcome man. I'm here to give you more insight if needed.

 

[ValarMorghulis]

NT really does not like Kristaps

The Latvian God will be respected very soon!!

 

[johnnyredstorm]

JRS would end up with mudiay

and porzingis dropping to 14th

Mudiay in NY

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

I didn't even realize Porzinguis was still on the board, I would have taken him on the Pacers 

 

[earldagoat]

 

[big j 33]

I see how it is...

Porzingis dropping to 14th is absurd