OT: MKG Charlotte bust

[husky91]

He is not good, tweener, terrible shooter, I know that was a bad draft but imagine today's draft getting either Parker, Wiggins or Embid vs. being stuck with him. Another great GM move by MJ.

 

[jfuchs91]

MKG certainly hasn't lived up to the #2 pick, but keep two things in mind. One, he's twenty years old. He's younger than half the guys still playing in college. And two, he's a very good perimeter defender, so he does bring some value at the moment.

However, I do ultimately think that his complete lack of a jumper will hurt him. He's a good defender, but is essentially a garbage man on offense, and playing the 3, that really hurts a team's spacing. So I wouldn't say he's terrible, and with young guys you do need some patience, but it certainly appears like a questionable pick in retrospect (though, to be fair, it was also a questionable pick at the time of the draft. The 2012 top 3 should have been Davis, Drummond, then Lillard, in that order).

 

[husky91]

I take that back, Lillard, Drummond and Beal in top 10 after MKG.

 

[husky91]

Good post. Yes, hindsight is just that, but why take a tweener 6-7 guy over Drummond. This was a bad draft and there are easily 10-15 much better players than MKG. MJ did do well with Kemba though, Adam Morrison and MKG not so much.

MKG certainly hasn't lived up to the #2 pick, but keep two things in mind. One, he's twenty years old. He's younger than half the guys still playing in college. And two, he's a very good perimeter defender, so he does bring some value at the moment.

However, I do ultimately think that his complete lack of a jumper will hurt him. He's a good defender, but is essentially a garbage man on offense, and playing the 3, that really hurts a team's spacing. So I wouldn't say he's terrible, and with young guys you do need some patience, but it certainly appears like a questionable pick in retrospect (though, to be fair, it was also a questionable pick at the time of the draft. The 2012 top 3 should have been Davis, Drummond, then Lillard, in that order).

 

[CTBasketball]

MKG is a bust and will never be a good NBA player. He lacks the skills necessary to succeed at this level. He was a physical monster in college, which allowed him to score at will most of the time. Now he cannot because his offense is so fundamentally poor.

Don't be surprised, this happens all the time.

 

[TheChamps990411]

i think most people going at #2 was crazy! looks like the bobcats and jordan in particular were victims of the kentucky hype machine. It still boggles me how AD fell so far in the draft and now the pistons reaping the rewards and should be for the next decade and a half.

 

[UconnU]

Just a terrible terrible pick.

 

[gtcam]

it blows my mind how terrible MJ is at judging talent - with the exception of kemba
its like a corporation who makes a top salesperson a manager and this person can't manage people
my guess is that mj would be a terrible coach

 

[uconngb]

He is not good, tweener, terrible shooter, I know that was a bad draft but imagine today's draft getting either Parker, Wiggins or Embid vs. being stuck with him. Another great GM move by MJ.

Before people go off the deep end, I have two words: Hasheem Thabeet.....just saying

 

[BoatShow]

At least he doesn't have Chris Douglas Roberts hair.

 

[Fishy]

Before people go off the deep end, I have two words: Hasheem Thabeet.....just saying

"Just saying" what? What's the larger point you were hoping to make by randomly dropping Hasheem Thabeet into a thread about Michael Kidd-Gilchrist?

 

[scotty0330]

Cody Zeller is another lottery pick that hardly strikes fear into anyone. Jordan's drafting has been about as bad as one could get . You would think he would hit on a few more often given he usually is at the top of the draft.

 

[Clockshop]

Please google Rich Cho and Rod Higgins. Jordan hand selected Kemba and hasn't been apart of drafting for awhile other than agreeing to what those two have suggested.

 

[jfuchs91]

Please google Rich Cho and Rod Higgins. Jordan hand selected Kemba and hasn't been apart of drafting for awhile other than agreeing to what those two have suggested.

Cho is a good basketball mind. He was prominent in OKC's front office when they selected Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka. I also think it's too early to make any kind of judgement on what kind of pick Cody Zeller was. He's still a rookie, and may turn into a 7' stretch-4; a valuable commodity with the direction the modern-day NBA is heading.

Al Jefferson was also a great signing. In his Utah days it was clear that he was one of the best low-post scoring guys in the whole league, which is a rare trait in the NBA right now.

MJ has certainly had some questionable calls since he's been involved with front office management, and I know this thread is about MKG who at this point hasn't developed like people hoped... But the Bobcats have made some serious improvements to their roster over the past couple seasons. Yes, the East is weak, but the Bobcats have come a long, long way from the talent-devoid roster in 2010, which was arguably the worst team in NBA history.

 

[Gurleyman]

Zeller was chosen in a horrid draft. Best guy they passed on was MCW, but picking him would have been bad for Kemba.

At the time, going with another raw big like Drummond when they were trying to develop Biyombo didn't make sense. In hindsight, Biyombo is clearly a starving man's Drummond, so obviously if they had it to do over again, they'd probably just bail on Biyombo and take Drummond. But oh to have Brad Beal on this team - floor spacing, another creator, etc.

MKG is just a mess. That jump shot is unfixably broken. He plays hard and is a scrapper, good defender, etc., but you need more than that picking No. 2.

 

[tentoes4rings]

"Just saying" what? What's the larger point you were hoping to make by randomly dropping Hasheem Thabeet into a thread about Michael Kidd-Gilchrist?

I think his point was, speaking of complete busts who went #2?

 

[PcketknfNiels]

MKG certainly hasn't lived up to the #2 pick, but keep two things in mind. One, he's twenty years old. He's younger than half the guys still playing in college. And two, he's a very good perimeter defender, so he does bring some value at the moment.

However, I do ultimately think that his complete lack of a jumper will hurt him. He's a good defender, but is essentially a garbage man on offense, and playing the 3, that really hurts a team's spacing. So I wouldn't say he's terrible, and with young guys you do need some patience, but it certainly appears like a questionable pick in retrospect (though, to be fair, it was also a questionable pick at the time of the draft. The 2012 top 3 should have been Davis, Drummond, then Lillard, in that order).

It wasn't really a questionable pick at the time as nearly everybody had him going 2nd after his tourney performance. Drummond was hurt by his offensive game and the "does he love basketball" bs storyline that was floating around then, Lilliard was unproven coming from a small conference. Not saying MKG was the right pick because Dre should have still gone 2, but MKG wasn't criticized as being questionable at the time.

That was seen as a very good draft going into it though, you had Davis as a guy who'd be taken 1st in most of the drafts in the past 15 years, then you had MKG who was looked at as a stud at the time, then you had Dre, Beal, Lilliard, and then a few other guys who were decent prospects, like Barnes, TRob, and even guys like Lamb/Rivers/Waiters.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

i think most people going at #2 was crazy! looks like the bobcats and jordan in particular were victims of the kentucky hype machine. It still boggles me how AD fell so far in the draft and now the pistons reaping the rewards and should be for the next decade and a half.

Dre stupidly fell because of his lack of offensive game and the ridiculous "he might not love basketball" or "he doesn't seem like a hard worker" narratives that were floating around at the time. Honestly, what probably hurt him most was how Davis had played by comparison, so people preemptively assumed Dre was a disappointment or wasn't working hard without realizing how young he is and the physical tools he has (obviously the size and athleticism, but who have you ever seen run the floor like he does at that size?)

 

[Kembacity]

Dre stupidly fell because of his lack of offensive game and the ridiculous "he might not love basketball" or "he doesn't seem like a hard worker" narratives that were floating around at the time. Honestly, what probably hurt him most was how Davis had played by comparison, so people preemptively assumed Dre was a disappointment or wasn't working hard without realizing how young he is and the physical tools he has (obviously the size and athleticism, but who have you ever seen run the floor like he does at that size?)

And also get steals off of allstar SGs at the top of the key and have the athleticism and control to take the ball and finish at the other end... Drummond is going to be an absolute monster on the court and a great asset off the court, love that kid

 

[FeedTheDove]

I think his point was, speaking of complete busts who went #2?

Yeah, but no one is saying that Thabeet wasn't a bust. It's just pointless to bring it up. That "point" would only be valid if he had said something like, "Drummond should have been drafted before MKG because UConn never has busts"

 

[UConNation]

i think most people going at #2 was crazy! looks like the bobcats and jordan in particular were victims of the kentucky hype machine. It still boggles me how AD fell so far in the draft and now the pistons reaping the rewards and should be for the next decade and a half.

AD is a great player... now. He fell to where he did in the draft because he had a terrible freshman year. The reason he wasn't drafted lower than where he did is because he is an athletic freak of nature. But, from a basketball standpoint his only year in college was mediocre. Obviously every GM that passed on him other than New Orleans is dissapointed now, but you can't blame them after seeing him struggle in college. Again, he got drafted as high as he did because GM's picking that late were scared to not take him in the first round, but that was based solely off of his athleticism and ceiling, not because of the skill he showed in college.

 

[Inyatkin]

AD is a great player... now. He fell to where he did in the draft because he had a terrible freshman year.

We're doing this again?

 

[caw]

AD is a great player... now. He fell to where he did in the draft because he had a terrible freshman year. The reason he wasn't drafted lower than where he did is because he is an athletic freak of nature. But, from a basketball standpoint his only year in college was mediocre. Obviously every GM that passed on him other than New Orleans is dissapointed now, but you can't blame them after seeing him struggle in college. Again, he got drafted as high as he did because GM's picking that late were scared to not take him in the first round, but that was based solely off of his athleticism and ceiling, not because of the skill he showed in college.

10 ppg, 7.8 rpg 2.7 bpg in 28 minutes is a terrible freshman year? UConn had a disappointing year and Drummond was overhyped but he had a pretty good overall year.

His per40 #s were 14.3, 11.1, 3.9. His problem was consistency and poor spacing in college. He still had a pretty darn good year for a freshman, just everyone was expecting Shaq numbers.

 

[UConNation]

We're doing this again?

10 ppg, 7.8 rpg 2.7 bpg in 28 minutes is a terrible freshman year? UConn had a disappointing year and Drummond was overhyped but he had a pretty good overall year.

His per40 #s were 14.3, 11.1, 3.9. His problem was consistency and poor spacing in college. He still had a pretty darn good year for a freshman, just everyone was expecting Shaq numbers.

Sorry, if I'm rehashing this from a couple of years ago... I may not have been a BY member when that thread played out.
And yes, I was being a little dramatic. He didn't have a terrible year, but were those numbers worthy of a number 2 or 3 pick overall? In my opinion it's not. So the point in my last post is just that, I don't think we should be surprised that he didn't go in the top 5. That's it.

 

[caw]

Sorry, if I'm rehashing this from a couple of years ago... I may not have been a BY member when that thread played out.
And yes, I was being a little dramatic. He didn't have a terrible year, but were those numbers worthy of a number 2 or 3 pick overall? In my opinion it's not. So the point in my last post is just that, I don't think we should be surprised that he didn't go in the top 5. That's it.

MKG averaged 12-7 in 3-4 more minutes.
Davis averaged 14-10-4.7.

Neither guy had amazing stats (Davis blocks excluded). Or at least neither had Shaq like stats. One was correctly evaluated, one wasn't.

Drummond wasn't. GMs did a poor job with him and Charlotte did a poor job with MKG (I wanted them to take Beal or Drummond).