UseNet Draft, Lakers & Portland pick
mat...@pram.cs.ucla.edu
final two picks in the UseNet draft. The Lakers pick, made by Gidi Avrahami,
is:
> 1. Who did you draft?
Kevin Lynch, Minnesota. All I know about him is that he's 6-5, plays
small forward / guard, and shoots well. That's approximately what the
Lakers need (see below).
> 2. What did your team need?
The Lakers need backups at point guard, shooting guard and small
forward (i.e., they need Michael Cooper). The point backup is
especially up in the air, with Larry Drew probably going away and Tony
Smith's one year of service resulting in a hung jury. Teagle, the
backup G/F was okay in the regular season but lacked offensive punch
in the playoffs (as Jamerson of the Rockets will attest). At power
forward / center there's enough for comfort and maybe even for trade.
But assuming that they don't trade A.C. or Campbell or Divac for a
high-octane guard, the Lakers will look to find some extra help at the
1-2-3 range.
> 3. Who else did you consider (heavily)?
Well, as far as the Mock Draft is concerned, and ignoring what I
know about the real draft, I'd say the interesting remaining
players are George Ackles (F/C), LeRon Ellis (C), Doug Overton (G),
Anderson Hunt (SG), King Rice (PG). A real GM might take Ackles
or Ellis for trade value, but real GMs don't do mock drafts.
> 4. Who do you think your team will probably pick?
Anthony Jones of Oral Roberts (lucky guess, eh?)
The Trailblazers' pick, made by some guy named "Mark", is:
Who did you draft?
The Portland Trailblazers select........
Greg Carter 6'6" Forward Miss. St. University
What did your team need?
Let's face it, Portland need one of two things, a strong center/power
forward that can replace an extremely inconsistent Kevin Duckworth (
of which none at this time are availible), or a really good guard that
can shoot the ball, as well as control it. Both of these two players
were not availible at this time in the draft, so I went with someone who
controls the ball well, can shoot the three, and can play tenacious
defense.
Who else did you consider (heavily)?
Pete Chilcutt- UNC : This guy will probabbly be real good, but Portland
does not need a 6'10" guy who does not yet know
the low post game.
Cameron Burns- Miss. St. : Cameron has the skill, but his defense is
questionable.
Marcus Kennedy- E. Mich. : Just like cameron. except his defense is a
little less suspect.
> 4. Who do you think your team will probably pick?
Well Portland chose kennedy, so I guess that's who I think they will
pick.
The final UseNet draft results:
Team Player College Conference
Charlotte Hornets Billy Owens Syracuse Big East
New Jersey Nets Larry Johnson UNLV Big West
Sacramento Kings Kenny Anderson Georgia Tech ACC
Denver Nuggets Stacey Augmon UNLV Big West
Miami Heat Doug Smith Missouri Big 8
Dallas Mavericks Rodney Monroe NC State ACC
Minnesota Timberwolves Brian Williams Arizona PAC-10
Washington Bullets Dikembe Mutombo Georgetown Big East
LA Clippers Steve Smith Michigan State Big 10
Orlando Magic Stanley Roberts LSU SEC
Cleveland Cavs Mark Macon Temple Atlantic 10-
New York Knicks Keith Jennings ETSU Southern
Indiana Pacers Shaun Vandivier Colorado Big 8
Seattle Sonics Dale Davis Clemson ACC
Atlanta Hawks Luc Longley New Mexico WAC
Golden State Warriors Andrew Vlahov Stanford PAC-10
Golden State Warriors Chris Corchiani NC State ACC
Milwaukee Bucks Chris Gatling Old Dominion Sun Belt -> Colonial
Denver Nuggets Eric Murdock Providence Big East
Houston Rockets Terrell Brandon Oregon PAC-10
Utah Jazz Greg Anthony UNLV Big West
LA Clippers Rich King Nebraska Big Eight
Orlando Magic Mark Randall Kansas Big Eight
Boston Celtics John Turner Phillips NAIA
Golden State Warriors Chad Gallagher Creighton MVC
Chicago Bulls Perry Carter Ohio State Big 10
Sacramento Kings Rick Fox North Carolina ACC
Philadelphia 76'ers Pete Chilcutt North Carolina ACC
Detroit Pistons LaBradford Smith Louisville Metro
Phoenix Suns Victor Alexander Iowa State Big Eight
LA Lakers Kevin Lynch Minnesota Big 10
Portland Trailblazers Greg Carter Mississippi St. SEC?
Not bad. I hope people enjoyed the draft, since it was a bear to run.
Matthew Merzbacher ARPA: mat...@CS.UCLA.EDU
Moo - Moo Moo UUCP: ...!{uunet|rutgers|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!matthew
FILMNET:...!jaws%exorcist!matthew@arachnophobia
Andy Shaw
After reading Matthew's final posting about the UseNet draft, I was
interested in comparing the UseNet draft against the Real Draft. In the
far right column is the difference between the position of the UseNet draft
and the Real Draft.
I think that a difference of + or - 5 positions means the the UseNet GM did
a decent job and drafted the player at about the right position. If the
difference is less than -5, then the UseNet GM either knows something the
NBA GM's didn't know, or else the UseNet GM did a bad job of drafting. If
the difference is greater than +5, then the UseNet GM probably did a good
job, and more likely, several GM's above him/her did a poor job.
I think that the NBA GM's did a better job than the UseNet GM's, but it
only takes a few bad UseNet GM's to really make the UseNet Draft look bad,
and that's not so unlikely considering our "qualifications" ;-).
I think several drafts stand out:
Mr. Jennings and Andrew Vlahov seem to have been picked way before they
should have been. I think it is obvious to just about everybody that
Vlahov was an incredibly poor pick. As for Mr. Jennings, the jury's still
out, but I find it hard to believe that he could have escaped the second
round unless he was _definitely_ not as good as he was hyped up to be. Too
many teams need good point guards to pass up an opportunity at a potential
first round (much less #12) draft pick level point guard.
Rodney Monroe went much lower in the real draft than anyone expected -- he
probably should have be low first round, but probably not high second
round. Stanley Roberts is generally acknowledged to be the biggest
potential steal of this draft at #23 in Real Life, so Orlando's UseNet pick
wasn't as poor as it might seem to be -- it is interesting to note that
Stanley _was_ picked by Orlando in Real Life, albeit with their second
draft pick (their other pick was Brian Williams). Chris Corchiani was
another rather poor pick in the UseNet draft.
There were two seemingly good picks in the second round of the UseNet
draft, in Victor Alexander and LaBradford Smith. Both of these kids
definitely have NBA athletic ability, although if I remember correctly,
Alexander is questionable because of one of his knees. I think it is
reasonable that both of these players slipped that low, because there are
some questions about Smith's judgement and level of play (as the only good
player on a pretty poor Louisville team). I think these were definite
gambles by the NBA GM's, but they could pay off quite handsomely, and both
players are certainly good picks for the second round by the UseNet GM's.
Three players who were picked in the NBA first round were not picked in the
UseNet first or second rounds: Anthony Avent (#15 Atlanta), Kevin Brooks
(#18 Milwaukee), and LeRon Ellis (#22 LA Clippers). I personally liked
Avent a lot, and I was really surprised that no one considered him. LeRon
Ellis really seemed like a stiff and a big disappointment from what I saw
of him last year. I think it was a poor choice by the Clips, but they were
picking kind of low anyway. I don't know much about Brooks.
-Andy Shaw
Team Player College Conference Pos Diff
Charlotte Hornets Billy Owens Syracuse Big East 1 -2
New Jersey Nets Larry Johnson UNLV Big West 2 +1
Sacramento Kings Kenny Anderson Georgia Tech ACC 3 +1
Denver Nuggets Stacey Augmon UNLV Big West 4 -5
Miami Heat Doug Smith Missouri Big 8 5 -1
Dallas Mavericks Rodney Monroe NC State ACC 6 -24
Minnesota Timberwolves Brian Williams Arizona PAC-10 7 -3
Washington Bullets Dikembe Mutombo Georgetown Big East 8 +4
LA Clippers Steve Smith Michigan State Big 10 9 +4
Orlando Magic Stanley Roberts LSU SEC 10 -13
Cleveland Cavs Mark Macon Temple Atlantic 10- 11 +3
New York Knicks Keith Jennings ETSU Southern 12 -infinity
Indiana Pacers Shaun Vandivier Colorado Big 8 13 -12
Seattle Sonics Dale Davis Clemson ACC 14 +1
Atlanta Hawks Luc Longley New Mexico WAC 15 +8
Golden State Warriors Andrew Vlahov Stanford PAC-10 16 -infinity
Golden State Warriors Chris Corchiani NC State ACC 17 -19
Milwaukee Bucks Chris Gatling Old Dominion Sun Belt -> Colonial 18 +2
Denver Nuggets Eric Murdock Providence Big East 19 -2
Houston Rockets Terrell Brandon Oregon PAC-10 20 +9
Utah Jazz Greg Anthony UNLV Big West 21 +9
LA Clippers Rich King Nebraska Big Eight 22 +8
Orlando Magic Mark Randall Kansas Big Eight 23 -3
Boston Celtics John Turner Phillips NAIA 24 +4
Golden State Warriors Chad Gallagher Creighton MVC 25 -7
Chicago Bulls Perry Carter Ohio State Big 10 26 -infinity
Sacramento Kings Rick Fox North Carolina ACC 27 +3
Philadelphia 76'ers Pete Chilcutt North Carolina ACC 28 +1
Detroit Pistons LaBradford Smith Louisville Metro 29 +10
Phoenix Suns Victor Alexander Iowa State Big Eight 30 +13
LA Lakers Kevin Lynch Minnesota Big 10 31 +3
Portland Trailblazers Greg Carter Mississippi St. SEC? 32 -infinity
Tim Foster
In article <SHAW.91Ju...@whopper.lcs.mit.edu>, sh...@whopper.lcs.mit.edu (Andy Shaw) writes:
>
> After reading Matthew's final posting about the UseNet draft, I was
> interested in comparing the UseNet draft against the Real Draft. In the
> far right column is the difference between the position of the UseNet draft
> and the Real Draft.
>
> I think that a difference of + or - 5 positions means the the UseNet GM did
> a decent job and drafted the player at about the right position. If the
> difference is less than -5, then the UseNet GM either knows something the
> NBA GM's didn't know, or else the UseNet GM did a bad job of drafting. If
> the difference is greater than +5, then the UseNet GM probably did a good
> job, and more likely, several GM's above him/her did a poor job.
>
> I think that the NBA GM's did a better job than the UseNet GM's, but it
> only takes a few bad UseNet GM's to really make the UseNet Draft look bad,
> and that's not so unlikely considering our "qualifications" ;-).
>
I understand the point that you're trying to make, but I think that
in reality you can't make an accurate assessment of what was a good
or bad pick until we see how these players perform in the pros. It
would be most interesting to see this type of assessment a year from
now. Was there a UseNet draft last year? If so, did anyone save
the picks so that we could compare them with the actual picks based
upon how the players performed in their rookie years?
<remainder of original post deleted>
--
Tim Foster (Software Engineer)
Viewlogic Systems, Inc. (The CAE Company)
293 Boston Post Road West
Marlboro, MA 01752
508 480 0881 x224
E-mail: tfo...@Viewlogic.COM