Durant fans are HYPOCRITES

[BusBoyIsBack]

The same people who would have been happy if we took 6'9 210 pound Kevin Durant and the same people who would be angry if we took Brandan WRight who is the same height or Yi Jianlian who is 7 feet.

I don't understand.

Brandan Wright has a longer wingspan and actually has a POST GAME. Overlook his wingspan and athleticism but because of it he's a better defender than Kevin Durant. And that baby hook when he fully extends his arm is unstoppable.

Then you have Yi who dribbles well for his size like Durant but in addition to that HE'S 7 FEET TALL. 7'0 245 pounds. That's a helluva lot more like the size the Hawks need than Durant's.

Not only that but his game is also more oriented around the basket just like Wright.

So in Brandan Wright and Yi Jianlian you have guys just as tall and taller than Durant.

You have two guys who's game is more oriented around the basket.

Yet somehow they are bad picks and Durant is a good one.

Explain.

[thesheedera]

Difference between Wright and Durant is that on the college level Wright's game was limited to the post while Durant's game had no limitations at all. They're completely different players who happen to be pretty much the same size. Durant is the kind of guy that you make room for. The only player on our team that does what he does is Joe Johnson, and they would complement each other superbly at the 2 and 3. You get Durant and you do everything you can to move Marvin and Childress for a PG or C, because from day one he brings more to the table than both of those guys.

If you take Wright he's not enough to displace Josh Smith and Shelden at PF and he can't play center in the NBA. Josh Smith is our most untouchable player after Johnson, so if you trade him you need to get something very substantial in return. I suppose you could still trade Marvin and/or Childress and play Smith at 3 and rotate Wright and Shelden at the 4, but then you've got two top 5 picks rotating at one position, and neither is ready to be a legit starter at the position.

I love Wright, but he's not the pick for this team,a nd he's no Durant. These are two very different talents.

I know nothing of Yi not posted here or on the draft websites.

[Joker]

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Difference between Wright and Durant is that on the college level Wright's game was limited to the post while Durant's game had no limitations at all. They're completely different players who happen to be pretty much the same size. Durant is the kind of guy that you make room for. The only player on our team that does what he does is Joe Johnson, and they would complement each other superbly at the 2 and 3. You get Durant and you do everything you can to move Marvin and Childress for a PG or C, because from day one he brings more to the table than both of those guys.

If you take Wright he's not enough to displace Josh Smith and Shelden at PF and he can't play center in the NBA. Josh Smith is our most untouchable player after Johnson, so if you trade him you need to get something very substantial in return. I suppose you could still trade Marvin and/or Childress and play Smith at 3 and rotate Wright and Shelden at the 4, but then you've got two top 5 picks rotating at one position, and neither is ready to be a legit starter at the position.

I love Wright, but he's not the pick for this team,a nd he's no Durant. These are two very different talents.

I know nothing of Yi not posted here or on the draft websites.

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I agree with the first paragraph, but I totally disagree with the second. I feel Wright is light years ahead of Smith or Shellhead.

[CBAreject]

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Yi is a significantly better pick than taking another 6'9 guy who could be the next Marvin except significantly worse free throw shooter.

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BBB, I sort of remember that you said the above yesterday. Now, you've changed positions on Wright. That's fine, but don't call people hypocrites just because they haven't jumped ship yet.

I also notice that my post "there are only two choices" yesterday was met with criticism, but now you are essentially espousing the same view as your own. Whatever.

[TheDude]

i think most of it comes from the fact that Durant just plain dominated and was unstoppable. If you KNOW you're getting kevin garnett, it's hard not to jump on it.

[thesheedera]

I didn't miss a single second of UNC preseason or regular season hoops, and Wright isn't lightyears ahead of either of them. He's got some great skills and potential, but he's gonna have to do a lot of development to pass Smith.

He's not a game changer on defense, but he was good on the college level. He has the little hook shot but no other distinct post moves. He relies on his quickness, length and smooth touch to score down there. He has no midrange or perimeter game. He's not much of a ball handler and when pressured heavily he will sometimes start to fold and make multiple mistakes in a row. Didn't happen a lot, but it showed that he needs to develop his confidence a great deal. For the most part he's smart, efficient and extremely coachable. He doesn't, however have the fire that Durant and even Smith have on the court.

In certain games he has a matchup he can exploit and he feels good early and he can take over a game. But Durant is always the focal point, it's always his game, his team always goes as far as he can take them.

[Packfill]

The difference is Durant is better then the other two so you make room for him.

[TexasPete]

Durant is a franchise player and they are few and far between. This isn't all that tough to understand.

[AHF]

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Durant is a franchise player and they are few and far between. This isn't all that tough to understand.

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Yep.

[Diesel]

The main difference between Wright and Durant is that Wright is already pro sized. There's no real doubt as to weather he can play PF. The guy has gorilla arms... He's 6'9 with a 7'6" wingspan and a low post game.

I watched a lot of Big 12 games, Durant doesn't have a low post game. Durant has a lot of other weapons... He's got a helluva midrange game and he can put the ball on the floor, but defensively, who does he guard? Until he puts on some weight, I'd be scared to let him guard SGs. Can't you see him getting posted up by Tmac?? And let's not mention Kobe. Kobe would make it his mission to crush him.

Still... I'd take Durant over Wright because of the fullness of his game. He's not prosized yet, but when he does become prosized, he will have a lot more weapons than Wright.

Yi... I think he's on the hypemachine but not so much. I don't know how strong he is. But I do know he's fast and he has pretty good bbIQ. YJL is one of those feast or famine kinda picks.

[Johnnybravo4]

I would put just as much credence in Yi's international experience as I do in Durant's NCAA experience. I would argue that Yi probably played against tougher competition.

I would also argue that dominating the NCAA doesn't necessarily mean you will dominate in the NBA. We only need last years draft to prove that with Morrison.

[thesheedera]

What was BS that I "carried"? I thought it was a pretty fair post, especially considering my bias towards UNC players. So what, now I'm biased against a UNC player?

As for your pro sized comment, you would be right by saying pro "lengthed", but one of Wright's biggest weakness is his lack of mass and strength. Even on the college level Wright got pushed around and did not always react well to physical players. Durant was more open to contact than Wright. I watched a lot of Texas as well, and while Durant doesn't have a plethora of go to moves in the post he certainly was adept at scoring in the post, and not just by penetration. He played mostly on the perimeter, but has an inside game as well.

Neither are gonna be all that great defensively to start out, but Durant was the more active defensive player as a freshman. They were pretty even as shotblockers, Durant more of a steals and deflections guy, and Wright had more defensive support around him on the interior and out on the perimeter than Durant did. Durant was often the lone big man inside the Texas zone.

Switch the two players this season and surely Wright's numbers would have gone up and Durant's would have gone down, but it would by no means have been an even trade. Durant would still have been the best player on his team if he were on UNC, while Wright was on the same or lower level as Hansbrough and Lawson.

[thesheedera]

Wait, maybe you were referring to Julian Wright with the pro size comment?

[BusBoyIsBack]

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BBB, I sort of remember that you said the above yesterday. Now, you've changed positions on Wright. That's fine, but don't call people hypocrites just because they haven't jumped ship yet.

I also notice that my post "there are only two choices" yesterday was met with criticism, but now you are essentially espousing the same view as your own. Whatever.

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I told you I had a relevation last night. Actually it was more like a recollection. I don't know how I completely forgot about the fact that Wright was actually a higher ranked prospect that Durant.

The thing about Wright that made me as well as others not be as high on him is that he wasn't as effective offensively as Durant.

We were all so captivated by Durant's ability to score, we forgot about Wright's upside.

There is no denying Brandan Wright's upside. My Marvin Williams comment is completely off base because Marvin doesn't have that post game or that interior defense.

So yeah maybe Im the pot calling the kettle black as far as the whole hypocrite thing.

Either way I shouldn't call people that. WE all may change our minds 1000 times before draft night.

All Im saying is that just remember how highly regarded Brandan Wright once was. If you weren't aware, take it into consideration. The man has potential to be an absolute defensively. Sure he's the same height as Shelden and Marvin Williams but neither have the upside as post players that Brandan Wright has.

He was compared to Garnett for a reason.

[thesheedera]

Saying Durant is better than Wright at a lot of things is in no way a slight to Wright. Durant's rise to where he is doesn't make Wright any less of a player than he was supposed to be. It's just a credit to his blossoming freshman year, and his ability to take advantage of a great opportunity at Texas.

Wright had a sensational freshman season.

It's just that Durant was well beyond sensational as a freshman. He was the best player in college all season long. No one expecetd anything like that from him.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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Saying Durant is better than Wright at a lot of things is in no way a slight to Wright. Durant's rise to where he is doesn't make Wright any less of a player than he was supposed to be. It's just a credit to his blossoming freshman year, and his ability to take advantage of a great opportunity at Texas.

Wright had a sensational freshman season.

It's just that Durant was well beyond sensational as a freshman. He was the best player in college all season long. No one expecetd anything like that from him.

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But that's just the thing. Durant's season was UNEXPECTED. He had a sensational season, the best in college basketball history.

Not taking anything away from the season.

But let's not diminish Brandan Wright as a prospect because of that one season.

But if you say that one season means Durant goes from below Wright to the point where Wright can't even hold his jock strap, then that's diminishing him.

I think we have all subconsciously diminished Wright because of Durant's season.

I am guilty of this as well because I had amnesia about the fact that Wright was once ranked higher.

I still think we should take Yi but man I will not be dissapointed at all if we take Brandan Wright.

[AHF]

Who cares that Wright was once ranked higher based on a much smaller sample size and less applicable set of data to review? It is nice but doesn't mean very much.

A LOT of guys were ranked higher than Tim Duncan prior to college ball. Who cares?

What Durant did in college means a lot more than a pre-college ranking from Rivals.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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Who cares that Wright was once ranked higher based on a much smaller sample size and less applicable set of data to review? It is nice but doesn't mean very much.

A LOT of guys were ranked higher than Tim Duncan prior to college ball. Who cares?

What Durant did in college means a lot more than a pre-college ranking from Rivals.

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Well how about the fact that he clearly is a better post player on both ends of the floor?

You should care about that seeing that is what we need.

Wright and Smoove could be an elite duo folks. An elite duo

[CBAreject]

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All Im saying is that just remember how highly regarded Brandan Wright once was. If you weren't aware, take it into consideration.

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WTF? I KNOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. I TOLD YOU. You disagreed with ME. Why are you now acting like you are having to explain it to me? This is unbelievable.

I've been saying that Wright/Yi are the two possible choices at #3. If we want Conley, I want to trade down and get something extra. I think we'd do better to wait until 11th to get a PG.

BTW, your position (that Wright was "once" highly regarded) is horrendous. My argument for taking Wright is based on his current evaluation and the skills he showed for UNC. He has the potential to be a great PF.

[thesheedera]

I'm not diminishing Wright't potential at all, I just think Durant moved past him.

In highschool Brandan was going about 85 mph, Durant was around 80. As freshman Durant went way past 100 while Wright was still in the 85 to 90 range. Wright's an awesome prospect, Durant's just a much better one for a franchise that needs a guy to build their future on.