Comments on: 2010 Report Card: Jonathan Bender

By: Dan Panorama

Dan Panorama — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:36:13 +0000

If Wade actually cares about team loyalty in the terms he defined it, we are out of the running. Jordan has good reasons of his own for not working in Chicago, namely team ownership, but NYK has snubbed Ewing ever since he retired. But who knows what he’s thinking.

By: ess-dog

ess-dog — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:49:20 +0000

Speaking of point guards, does anyone know anything about Matt Bouldin out of Gonzaga? NBADraft.net makes him sound like an interesting prospect, yet I haven’t heard much about him. He’s got good size and what sounds like a good nose for the game.
But yes, at #39 I would consider Collins a very safe pick. Although if the money was equal, I just as soon go with Sergio Rodriguez and draft another position. But it looks like it will be hard to retain Sergio.

By: Ted Nelson

Ted Nelson — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:51:22 +0000

@44

I hadn’t thought about Ben Wallace. If he’d come to NY that would be a great use of a veteran’s minimum contract. Two considerations are whether he can get (a bit) more money elsewhere (if that matter to him at all at this point) and whether he wants to play with LeBron (assuming he’s more likely to come if the Knicks have LeBron, he and LeBron played together in Cleveland so I have no idea what their relationship is like).

I don’t advocate drafting for need. I think bigmen could be a bit of an exception, to some extent: because they are so rare and valuable, it might be worth taking a bit more of a risk than it would on a similarly talented smaller player. However, only to an extent and you don’t want to reach on a bigman ahead of clearly better prospects. I especially wouldn’t draft for need in the 2nd round, since only a handful of 2nd rounders in the average draft are actually NBA players.

This is also a very deep draft for bigmen, so that might be where the positional value is when the Knicks pick. This is a weak draft for PGs. Still if the prospect they like best is a PG, then take him.

Shved is, in fact, raw. Couldn’t crack the rotation for powerhouse CSKA at 21 years old. Had to be lent to Dynamo, where he played pretty well for four games in the 2nd Division EuroCup. He has no outside shot (even the youtube clip provided on nbadraft.net is of him bricking uncontested 3 after uncontested 3 in practice). He’s not a PG. He’s got legitimate development potential (especially since his slashing style may play better in NBA than Europe), but with all the roster spots the Knicks have to fill I doubt that’s a gamble I’d take early in the second round. I haven’t really seen him play, though, so I can’t really say.

Knicks may be able to pick up Jerome Randle after the draft as a free agent.

As far as PGs/combo-guards: between Bledsoe, Warren, Vasquez, Terrico White, and Armon Johnson one or more might fall to the Knicks, and Collins and Scheyer should be on the board. Collins may never be a starting NBA PG, but he seems to me like someone who can play but doesn’t “measure” or “project” well… Depending on who else falls to them, I would have no problem with the Knicks taking Sherron Collins. Could be a solid 2nd round pick up to fill out the guard rotation.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:42:25 +0000

My brother is a big Suns fan, and I can’t even imagine how much of a gut punch that loss must have been. Yikes.

By: supernova

supernova — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:50:39 +0000

Even if we get Bosh our inside presence will need a lot of work. Although the draft has a lot of big men, I was wondering about veteran big men help such as Ben Wallace. He had a real comeback year for the Pistons, and maybe he would be a cheap way to fill the bench. I know he can no longer provide 40 minutes a game, but he would provide the kind of defense and shot blocking that this team would sorely lack when he would be on the floor. The downside is that he is old and probably would not fit into D’Antonio’s run and gun. Therefore, on offense he might not be a good fit, but I would be looking at him mainly for defense. I am not sure it is feasible to bring in a guy like that if only half his game fits your team’s concept.

I hear a lot of talk about big men, which we certainly need, but does anyone have thoughts about drafting a point guard? There are a couple of interesting late round prospects who might be good fits for D’Antonio’s style of play. I refer to Jerome Randle out of Cal and Alexey Shved from Russia. Shved per DraftExpress, seems raw, but sounds like he has a huge amount of upside. He might be an interesting gamble.

I guess if the Knicks buy another first round pick like last year, they might have a bit more flexibility to draft a point guard. I will certainly understand though if they only pick big men, since this is currently a glaring need. A point guard that could be developed for the future, would be a nice pick up though in my opinion.

By: TDM

TDM — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:39:04 +0000

Anyone watching the game? Alvin Gentry’s half time speech was anything but inspiring. And what the hell is up with Marv Alpert’s hair? He looks like a muppet. The Lakers may be the best in the west, but Magic-Kareem-Worthy would make these guys look like clowns.

By: Loathing

Loathing — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:46:15 +0000

One more amusing tidbit.

http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/videogames/blog/_/name/thegamer/id/5226649/unlock-shaq-ufc-undisputed-2010

Yes, you read that right.

By: Loathing

Loathing — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:41:02 +0000

Sorry, here’s the link.

http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/videogames/blog/_/name/thegamer/id/5222964/michael-jordan-appear-nba-2k11-cover?readmore=fullstory

By: Loathing

Loathing — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:39:54 +0000

Michael Jordan has been announced as the cover boy for NBA 2K11. Any thoughts?

By: massive

massive — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:23:57 +0000

@36,

That’s what I’m thinking. That Miami team won’t win it all for another three years with Wade and another superstar. But I’m not too sure he’s trying to sell Miami, and if he is, he must be content with his one title. The Heat aren’t as close to contending as we are. Say they get Amar’e, Kurt Thomas, Steve Blake, and Wade comes back. Blake/Wade/Beasley/Amar’e/Kurt Thomas really isn’t that much better than this year’s Arroyo/Wade/Beasley/Haslem/O’Neal team. This team is better offensively, but worse defensively. Even if they retain Jermaine O’Neal for cheap, I’m not too sure if he’s a significant upgrade over Kurt. They do have enough to bring in a quality free agent after two max guys, so maybe they can take on a larger contract to fill a need. Still, they won’t be much more than what this year’s Atlanta team was. Unless Beasley turns into the mega-stud people expected, that’s the only way this team is a contender.

And this is tampering if D-Wade is talking about Miami. If he isn’t, then this wouldn’t be considered tampering.