2013 NBA Draft

[king183]

Not sure it would have mattered as he is signed to a four year, $44 million contract. Even if we did sign Harden to an extension, we would have had to trade someone a few years later to get below the cap and it probably would have been the SG (Harden or Curry) instead of Ibaka. Ibaka was just willing to take a little less money. Harden wanted to start and be the man on a team which is not going to happen when you have KD and Westbrook.

No, my friend, you're talking about STEPH(EN) Curry. He's talking about Duke guard SETH Curry who was just in the draft, but went undrafted. He's also STEPH's brother.

[warreng88]

No, my friend, you're talking about STEPH(EN) Curry. He's talking about Duke guard SETH Curry who was just in the draft, but went undrafted. He's also STEPH's brother.

Ha! Wow, how did I overlook that one. Well, that was a waste of a few minutes of typing. Thanks for the clarification.

[dankrutka]

Wish we can go back and select Seth Curry smh.

Why? He's not his brother and not that good.

[rlewis]

Ugh--not happy about the Steven Adams selection. As Yogi Berra put it, it's deja vu all over again. We have pretty good fortune with our draft picks except when we choose centers. I guess Adams will go to Tulsa for the next 2 years, and then we'll trade him to another team for a second round pick.

At least the Andre Roberson pick will be interesting. That was a surprise, but so was Reggie Jackson a couple of years ago (and that one has worked out pretty well). He looks like a good athlete that could maybe turn into a Kawhi Leonard type of player.

[G.Walker]

Steven Adams = Cole Aldrich 2.0

[workman45]

Steven Adams = Cole Aldrich 2.0

Not necessarily, we'll just have to wait and see.

[dankrutka]

Yep. We'll see. Cole was definitely a better player in college, but Adams has more upside/potential. Will he reach it? Maybe or maybe not?

I wasn't a fan of the pick, but we'll see. Big men are tough to project.

[BoulderSooner]

Yep. We'll see. Cole was definitely a better player in college, but Adams has more upside/potential. Will he reach it? Maybe or maybe not?

I wasn't a fan of the pick, but we'll see. Big men are tough to project.

Adams was significantly better as a college freshman .. .. really not close

[dankrutka]

Adams was significantly better as a college freshman .. .. really not close

I guess. Cole played on a national title team behind 3 big men draft picks so minutes were much harder to come by then on an average Pitt team. Anyway, the point still holds that Cole came out of college a better player. Again, Adams has more of an upside so we'll see.

[BoulderSooner]

I guess. Cole played on a national title team behind 3 big men draft picks so minutes were much harder to come by then on an average Pitt team. Anyway, the point still holds that Cole came out of college a better player. Again, Adams has more of an upside so we'll see.

the point that cole was better after 3 years at kansas .. than adams was after 1 year at Pitt is not really relevant ..

[dankrutka]

For those that haven't seen Adams play, here is his DraftExpress video:

[warreng88]

That kid better live at the free throw line to improve his FT%. He shoots 44% which is less than half of what KD does.

[Laramie]

perk makes 8.4 mil this season (2013/2014) and 9.1 next season ...

he is very trade able if you are willing to take back salary ...

and next summer he would be easy to trade as an expiring contract ..

According to ESPN NBA Player salaries for 2012-13 Kendrick Perkins made $7.8 million and this is probably going to go down. I don't know the reliability of this ESPN link.

Oklahoma City Thunder 2013 Team Roster - ESPN

If he (Perkins) is scheduled to receive $9.1 million next season (?); what team in their right mind would want to pick up that contract? We are probably stuck with Perkins...

[OKCisOK4me]

According to ESPN NBA Player salaries for 2012-13 Kendrick Perkins made $7.8 million and this is probably going to go down. I don't know the reliability of this ESPN link.

Oklahoma City Thunder 2013 Team Roster - ESPN

If he (Perkins) is scheduled to receive $9.1 million next season (?); what team in their right mind would want to pick up that contract? We are probably stuck with Perkins...

Good. Perkins is not the end of the world. We still need him for post interior defense when we play teams with big men. Would you rather Ibaka foul out? Even if he's not catching, not passing, not scoring, or not rebounding and he's turning the ball over, we still need a body that can give our starters a rest and keep our starters from fouling out.

[dankrutka]

That kid better live at the free throw line to improve his FT%. He shoots 44% which is less than half of what KD does.

One of the reasons that I didn't want this kid is he's another big with bad hands. I'm so tired of our big men (Ibaka and Perkins) having bad hands. It's not the end of the world, but it just really annoys me.

[Bellaboo]

One of the reasons that I didn't want this kid is he's another big with bad hands. I'm so tired of our big men (Ibaka and Perkins) having bad hands. It's not the end of the world, but it just really annoys me.

Some of the highlights I've seen has him with somewhat decent hands...not that i've seen much, but keep in mind, he's only played 5 years of basketball. Only 1 year of college ball. They probably believe he has a lot of upside and have stated his work ethic is his best quality along with his size.... In 2 years, he may contribute in a major way.

[BoulderSooner]

One of the reasons that I didn't want this kid is he's another big with bad hands. I'm so tired of our big men (Ibaka and Perkins) having bad hands. It's not the end of the world, but it just really annoys me.

He has good hands and is a great athlete. He also is a good shooter. So IMO his ff % will go way up

[dankrutka]

He has good hands and is a great athlete. He also is a good shooter. So IMO his ff % will go way up

Not sure where you're getting your information on Adams. You're right that he's a great athlete, but he has bad hands (see Draft Express scouting report):

Even more concerning though is how poor of a finisher he appeared to be around the basket this year. Adams had a difficult time catching the ball cleanly all season long resulting in quite a few turnovers. He bobbles the ball on the catch regularly, as he seems to need to have it thrown to him perfectly so he can get two hands around it, at times using his chest to assist him. Because of his lack of control upon catching it, he tends to either hesitate going up strong for the finish, or just throws the ball up on the rim, seemingly just hoping for the best. The fact that he doesn't get great extension on his moves around the rim makes him fairly predictable and resulted in him getting his shot blocked a fair amount relative to his small number of touches.

And he also has shown no indication that he can shoot (from Draft Express also):

Stepping away from the basket, Adams is not much of a threat, as you would probably guess by his mediocre free throw shooting percentages (44%). He shoots the ball with poor mechanics, locking his elbow, not setting his feet, and showing no follow through on his release. Combine that with his average touch and it seems he has a long ways to go to become a legitimate threat outside of the immediate vicinity of the basket.

Anyway, I hope he improves, but if it takes 2-3 years until he improves then there's a chance we'll have him for 1-2 years before he leaves in free agency because we can't afford him (since we'll presumably be paying KD, Russ, & Ibaka a lot more than now). That's why I didn't want a guy that is so a total project. Hopefully, he can get on the court because of his defense sooner rather than later, but I just don't see it.

[BoulderSooner]

from the draft combine and in his workouts .. he shot the ball very well .. and he showed good hands ..

[Laramie]

"Adams had a difficult time catching the ball cleanly all season long resulting in quite a few turnovers. He bobbles the ball on the catch regularly, as he seems to need to have it thrown to him perfectly so he can get two hands around it..."

Serge Ibaka had pretty much the same problem. Coaches call this 'butterfingers. Serge has shown much improvement. Adams should be alright and hopefully this will not affect his game.

[dankrutka]

Uh, Serge still has this problem and it hurts his game a lot. Some guys improve in this area, but more have the problem their entire career.

I'll admit that Adams looked better in the summer league than I expected. I hope I was dead wrong about him.

[Laramie]

Uh, Serge still has this problem and it hurts his game a lot. Some guys improve in this area, but more have the problem their entire career.

I'll admit that Adams looked better in the summer league than I expected. I hope I was dead wrong about him.

My only concern about Adams centers around the fact that he left college so early. Will he have the endurance to work through all of the stress it takes to handle the challenges that goes with fine-tuning himself into an elite NBA center?

[Bellaboo]

My only concern about Adams centers around the fact that he left college so early. Will he have the endurance to work through all of the stress it takes to handle the challenges that goes with fine-tuning himself into an elite NBA center?

He's only 19 years old and has played just 5 years or organized ball. I think he'll be a force starting in 2014 -15 season. Don't think they expect too much this coming season, at least not early.

[Laramie]

He's only 19 years old and has played just 5 years or organized ball. I think he'll be a force starting in 2014 -15 season. Don't think they expect too much this coming season, at least not early.

Most NBA draftees get a pass the first year. Agree with you that they will monitor his progress and expect improvement.

[betts]

Presti thinks he has good hands. I watched summer league some and didn't see anything concerning. I saw more bad passes to him than anything when looking at turnovers.