Brandan Wright Ducks Noah in Boston

[TheDude]

he's not getting abused personally and i don't think anyone has disagreed with the potential he has....but to me, he has too much POTENTIAL and not enough ALREADYHAVEIT for our team right now. plus he's not a good fit....

maybe the wuss thing is too harsh but he should be playing against noah.

[thesheedera]

I'm not saying he's be a good pick or that he's a fit for us. I think he'd be a terrible pick.

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he's not getting abused personally

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but he is:

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this guy doesn't have the balls to go out there and put it on the line

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Wight's such a puss

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what a wuss....

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"This sport is about competing. I come from Carolina, where you have to compete game in and game out. When the time presents itself for me to go up against guys, I'll be ready." -- Boston Globe

But you do another.

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- note - this quote was in response to him not doing the one on one. What he's saying is that these workouts are not "the time to compete", but rather in practices and in games.

I personally disagree with that, and I'm sure most of you do as well. But you're taking the quote out of context and making it look like he has a character flaw of dishonesty. I don't think that's accurate.

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someone who is scared to lay it on the line

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He's a 18 or 19 year old doing what his handlers tell him to do and getting pretty much abused for it. It bothers me, but I admit that I have a personal vested interest as a UNC fan.

Maybe I'm being too sensitive?

Here's looking at it another way. Are these prospects competing for the highest possible draft pick, or are there agents doing things to try to steer them into ideal situations? I thnk there's more at work than just - he's willing to go one on one, he's a competitor. Other guy's not, he's a wuss.

Is Yi a wuss for only working out for specific teams and not setting up 1 on 1s with Oden and Durant? Wouldn't that settle his positional debate?

It just isn't that simple sometimes. Who knows what Wright's agent is trying to accomplish or avoid?

[gsuteke]

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I'm not saying he's be a good pick or that he's a fit for us. I think he'd be a terrible pick.

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he's not getting abused personally

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but he is:

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this guy doesn't have the balls to go out there and put it on the line

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Wight's such a puss

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what a wuss....

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"This sport is about competing. I come from Carolina, where you have to compete game in and game out. When the time presents itself for me to go up against guys, I'll be ready." -- Boston Globe

But you do another.

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- note - this quote was in response to him not doing the one on one. What he's saying is that these workouts are not "the time to compete", but rather in practices and in games.

I personally disagree with that, and I'm sure most of you do as well. But you're taking the quote out of context and making it look like he has a character flaw of dishonesty. I don't think that's accurate.

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someone who is scared to lay it on the line

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He's a 18 or 19 year old doing what his handlers tell him to do and getting pretty much abused for it. It bothers me, but I admit that I have a personal vested interest as a UNC fan.

Maybe I'm being too sensitive?

Here's looking at it another way. Are these prospects competing for the highest possible draft pick, or are there agents doing things to try to steer them into ideal situations? I thnk there's more at work than just - he's willing to go one on one, he's a competitor. Other guy's not, he's a wuss.

Is Yi a wuss for only working out for specific teams and not setting up 1 on 1s with Oden and Durant? Wouldn't that settle his positional debate?

It just isn't that simple sometimes. Who knows what Wright's agent is trying to accomplish or avoid?

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that quote from me wasn't talking about Wright alone. if you read the entire thing I was talking about Wright, Yi, and whomever else that bails on competing against another player at the same position for a draft slot.

i'll say the same thing about Conley if he ducks Law.

[thesheedera]

Fair enough. I still think there's more at work than whether or not the player's a competitor. It's not necessarily up to them how the handle their predraft business.

But your opinion's absolutely valid when applied to each player equally.

[TexasPete]

Sheed, here is the bottom line. Both players showed up in Boston ready go work out against one another. Wright, agent opinion or not, pulled out. It is not uncommon for teams to book guys together and watch how they play against one another.

I think your UNC slant has affected your judgement. If Noah has more enthusiasm then so what? Noah's intensity will be far from the most Wright will face. This is about two guys with both having a lot on the line going at it. May the best man win. When one guy pulls out it looks like he is protecting his reputation and he is basically saying that if this guy kills me I could take a hit. Wright showed no competitive juice and that will hurt him anyway. Teams don't want guys who back down.

Its like a guy who had too many drinks declining a breathalizer. If he goes ahead and takes the test he loses. If he declines the test...he still loses. Wright should never have agreed to go head to head with Noah. Once he agreed he had to go forward.

Seriously, if he wasn't UNC I think you would see this different. And this is NOT character assasination, this is simply lacking the cajones and confidence to go head to head with your competition.

[gsuteke]

it's really getting ridiculous now.

Yi works out against a fold out chair. not once, but twice.

Wright pulls out against Noah and a C from Michigan.

J Wright has supposedly said he won't work out either.

why should anyone show some faith in these players if they don't show it in themselves?

i'm having a difficult time finding the link again where i saw Conley and Law were going head to head in Atlanta. it's got me pulling my hair out. i swear i saw it, i just can't remember where.

[TexasPete]

Thats also why I'm not for drafting Yi. To me, if a guy won't lay it out there he is not the one. I want a guy who says he will take anyone on at anytime.

However, Yi did not agree to go forward and then have a change of heart. That looks worse because it looks like your ducking somebody.

Lets face it. If you are the man and you know it...you relish the competition. If you aren't so sure...you run and protect your yourself because no workout is better than getting abused.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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i said 2 weeks ago Noah won't be afraid to work out against anybody, anywhere. i'm not a proponent of taking him 3rd, but i'm also not a proponent of taking someone who is scared to lay it on the line at #3 either.

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I love Noah but he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by outperforming Wright.

Same thing with Law calling out Conley.

Conley is the cosensus #1 PG in this draft, his stock can only go down. From a business standpoint it would be stupid for him to put that on the line.

Just like it would be stupid for Wright to put his stock on the line like that.

Just like it would be stupid for Yi to put his on the line.

But Wright is the only one called out for doing something that's just smart.

[deester11]

Ok, so Yi only played in the Chinese League, but he did play against our USA team which may be a small sample size, but I'll take it. I'm not happy or sad that someone works out against another person. Competitive or not, if you draft someone because they had a better one on one workout does that ensure stardom? Let's be honest, the agents are pulling the string on these workouts trying to keep their client from losing millions. Right or wrong it is what it is.

I don't have a beef with Wright or anyone not choosing to workout, but it does look bad when you're at the gym ready to face your competition and you leave. That's all I'm saying. Right or wrong it happened.

[Swatguy]

Last year when the Hawks had Foye, Marcus Williams and Rondo to workout, It proved to me heart. My reports are that all three played well with Foye stepping out ahead of the other three.

Afterwards I heard Foye say that he was ready and willing to workout with ANYONE ANYWHERE. I was sold at that point.

Noah has stepped ahead Wright. I'm in the Y1 for #3 club for now, but I would not be disappointed if Noah was the pick.

[deester11]

If we choose Noah at 3, there should be a mini-revolt in the "A!"

[gsuteke]

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i said 2 weeks ago Noah won't be afraid to work out against anybody, anywhere. i'm not a proponent of taking him 3rd, but i'm also not a proponent of taking someone who is scared to lay it on the line at #3 either.

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I love Noah but he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by outperforming Wright.

Same thing with Law calling out Conley.

Conley is the cosensus #1 PG in this draft, his stock can only go down. From a business standpoint it would be stupid for him to put that on the line.

Just like it would be stupid for Wright to put his stock on the line like that.

Just like it would be stupid for Yi to put his on the line.

But Wright is the only one called out for doing something that's just smart.

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and as they fall 3 to 4 spots respectively each they'll be thinking maybe showing the other guy up wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all.

[gsuteke]

to think of it BB i completely disagree with you. right now Conley is being valued in the #11 range by most mocks. if Conley works out against Law and blows him out of the gym his stock soars. in fact if Conley blows Law out of the gym all of a sudden he's a top 3 pick. as of today it may be hard for BK to justify taking him there.

Conley is better right? If so he has nothing to worry about. show Law up and be done with it.

[Packfill]

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i said 2 weeks ago Noah won't be afraid to work out against anybody, anywhere. i'm not a proponent of taking him 3rd, but i'm also not a proponent of taking someone who is scared to lay it on the line at #3 either.

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I love Noah but he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by outperforming Wright.

Same thing with Law calling out Conley.

Conley is the cosensus #1 PG in this draft, his stock can only go down. From a business standpoint it would be stupid for him to put that on the line.

Just like it would be stupid for Wright to put his stock on the line like that.

Just like it would be stupid for Yi to put his on the line.

But Wright is the only one called out for doing something that's just smart.

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It's not stupid if they are better.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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It's not stupid if they are better.

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You just aren't looking in terms of business.

If you are a guaranteed top 5 pick, THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GO IS DOWN.

So one bad outing, and you could lose millions of dollars.

Why the hell would you risk something like that when you have nothing to gain?

It's a one-sided bet.

You're looking at it from the perspective of benefiting our team. You have to look at it in terms of the individual.

[Packfill]

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It's not stupid if they are better.

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You just aren't looking in terms of business.

If you are a guaranteed top 5 pick, THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GO IS DOWN.

So one bad outing, and you could lose millions of dollars.

Why the hell would you risk something like that when you have nothing to gain?

It's a one-sided bet.

You're looking at it from the perspective of benefiting our team. You have to look at it in terms of the individual.

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There is a reason a guy like Calvin Johnson, with nothing to gain, ran at the NFL combine. Same with Deion Sanders years ago. If they don't think they are good enough to come out on top then maybe they aren't as good as perceived.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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There is a reason a guy like Calvin Johnson, with nothing to gain, ran at the NFL combine. Same with Deion Sanders years ago. If they don't think they are good enough to come out on top then maybe they aren't as good as perceived.

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Funny you mention the NFL draft.

You know a guy named Mason Crosby took it your route. He knew he was all that so he decided to enter a kicking competition after the season. Now this guy was so highly regarded he was considered a 1st day pick as a kicker.

What happened? He had a terrible outing and his stock plummeted.

Absolutely stupid decision.

Calvin Johnson was the consensus best player in all of college football. Calvin Johnson is the equivalent of Kevin Durant. Sure he could perform at the combine because his stock can't possibly drop because of how highly regarded he is.

The people who DO have something to worry about is the people who are guaranteed to be top 5 picks, but not locks for the top few spots. Their stock could still potentially drop.

Brandan Wright is one of those guys. Mike Conley is one of those guys. If Brandan Wright got outplayed by Joakim Noah his stock would drop. Same for Conley vs Law. Same for Yi.

What these guys did was what Joe Thomas did. They knew their stock was high, so they decided to keep it that way.

If Joe Thomas works out and he looks worse than Levi Brown, he loses millions of dollars.

He didn't take that risk, and neither did these guys.

It's called a business decision and anyone who wouldn't do things this way would make a horrible agent.

[Guest Walter]

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No thanks. Just stay the hell away from Wright Billy.

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I agree, although it's the 200 lbs that scares me more than how scared he is scares me. Wright need's to grow some and they need to weigh about 20 lbs each.

W

[BusBoyIsBack]

Im just curious do people think he didn't go up against people who weighed more than him in college?

I mean I know players get stronger as you go up each level but some of you act like Wright has never faced anyone bigger than him.

Who cares how big and strong his opponent is if they can't beat him to the spot or they lose him as he slithers to find a hole in the D.

What he lacks in size and strength he makes up for with talent and basketball IQ

[Guest Walter]

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Im just curious do people think he didn't go up against people who weighed more than him in college?

I mean I know players get stronger as you go up each level but some of you act like Wright has never faced anyone bigger than him.

Who cares how big and strong his opponent is if they can't beat him to the spot or they lose him as he slithers to find a hole in the D.

What he lacks in size and strength he makes up for with talent and basketball IQ

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...or he needed to go through with it. Pulling out of a workout is a clear sissy move. Don't like it one bit. Once you've committed yourself (and Horford) be man enough to follow through.

I expect Wright to be a great pro and all but I have little respect for showing up at the biggest job interview of your life weighing less than I do when you're 6'9.5" and calling your potential boss late to say you can't make it to the group interview itself because you interview better individually. I respect it no more than Marvin Williams coming to the Hawks workout OUT OF SHAPE. Those are bad signs of bad things to come. The bad things might not necessarily happen, but YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

W