Pretty ridiculous little post up on the Fanhouse that's indicative of how for all the whining and jeering bloggers do about announcers and writers overhyping and overselling players and teams, they are pretty guilty of it themselves. The Big Lead is taking a look at some of the top players from the Tourney and how they project as NBA players.
Joakim Noah - Mark Madsen
Jeff Green - A shorter Tim Duncan
Derrick Byars - Desmond Mason but potentially Josh Howard
Corey Brewer - A combination of Scottie Pippen, George Gervin and Clyde Drexler!
Kevin Durant - A better shooting Kevin Garnett
Sean Singletary - Mark Price
Julian Wright - A better rebounding James Worthy
Al Horford - Karl Malone
Brandon Wright - Kevin McHale
Greg Oden - Hakeem Olajuwon
Brandon Rush - Reggie Lewis
Aaron Afflalo - Michael Cooper
Mike Conley - Kenny Anderson
Nick Young - A better shooting Dominique Wilkins
Josh McRoberts - Juwan Howard
I agree with the writer about Oden, Durant and Noah otherwise I think he's gotta take a couple of weeks and then revisit some of these projections. Corey Brewer is a combination of three of the greatest basketball players in history? Really? Unless you're saying he has Pippen's looks, Gervin's coke habit and Drexler's hairline, wouldn't he have been a little bit more dominant as a college player? Al Horford is Karl Malone? How in the hell did Florida lose three out of four regular season games? Is Big Baby Davis the love child of Willis Reed, Wes Unseld and Jesus Christ?
You know what else is interesting on their home site The Big Lead says that Jeff Green should stay in school. Not fans of Duncan's game, I guess, because when I hear a player compared to Duncan I tend to think he could handle the professional grind. They don't project his teammate Roy Hibbert but I'm assuming he's some sort of Voltron-type amalgamation with Artis Gilmore's hair and shotblocking ability, Patrick Ewing's sweat glands and jump shot and Fred Astaire's dancing ability.
For those of you scoring at home, that means this draft has analogues or improvements on eight of the 50 Greatest Players of All Time, as voted in 1996-97, plus Wilkins, Garnett and Duncan who would be on some people's lists and are all Hall of Famers. Remember kids, stem kills, look what it did to Superintendent Chalmers.
Good post.
Wish I had more room to ramble, but I tried to keep it tight. Of course Green isn't yet like Duncan - but he's a good passing big man with a nice bank shot and great touch around the basket. Does everything well (except show up, I guess). Green won't average 20-10, or lead a team to any titles.
Corey Brewer is the man. If Oden and Durant don't come out, he could be one of the first three picks.
Posted by: The Big Lead | April 03, 2007 at 06:11 PM
I see Noah more as a Marcus Camby and Durant as Dirk. That's just me though.
Posted by: alumnigonzo | April 04, 2007 at 02:54 PM
This draft isn't nearly as deep as people were saying. We've got two all-stars, max. Compare that to 2003, and this isn't even close.
Posted by: oden | April 04, 2007 at 10:30 PM