Post by Heebs on Nov 3, 2016 14:22:20 GMT -6
Good afternoon sim GMs and welcome to another installment of the world famous Cuban Report Draft report!
This year, instead of a mock draft, we wanted to objectively rank the profiled prospects from most promising to least promising. We plan to update these rankings at least one before the draft after the Nike Summit.
Without further ado, we bring you the pre-summit profiled players draft rankings draft report by the Cuban Report TM
1. Connie Hawkins
20
SF/PF
6'8
210
Iowa
B B- C B- B- A
Connie will be a fantastic two-way player and a perennial all-star. Between him and Jerry Lucas, we give the edge to the wing that will block shots. He may need a year or two to develop since he comes into the league as a tremendous athlete, but given a couple of TCs he will be dominant.
2. Jerry Lucas
22
PF/C
6'8
230
Ohio State
B C C- B A- A
Efficient two-way bigs are rare, and we think Jerry will be the next great one. The big knock against him is his size - but Dejuan Blair proved size only matters if you're running for President and you've got little girl hands.
3. John Havlicek
22
SG
6'5
203
Ohio State
B- B C+ B C+ B
John is our pick for ROY assuming he winds up getting PT. He's one of the more developed players entering the league, but due to limited athletic capabilities we think he's got a pretty low ceiling.
4. Walt Bellamy
22
C
6'11
225
Indiana
B+ C- D+ B A- B
Like Jerry Lucas, Walt has the potential to be an efficient two-way big. He doesn't come into the league as polished a rebounder as Jerry, but his inside game should be better. He may have limited potential, though.
5. Andy Phillip
23
PG
6'2
195
Illinois
C+ B- B B- C B
You may be wondering why a no-name player like Andy Phillip is cracking the top 5 of our list. Well, first scan the rest of the list and count the names you recognize. Second, he's a plus athlete and rebounder at the PG position and the only two knocks on him are his lack of 3 point range and steals. Thankfully, both of those grow quickly at the PG position. By the end of his rookie deal, we expect Phillip will be one of the best players in this class.
6. Willis Reed
21
C
6'9
235
Grambling State
B C D+ B- B+ B
Willis isn't far behind Jerry and Walt. He, too, could become a very good two-way big. He'll need some help training up his post defense and will need to spend some time in the weight room.
7. Kevin Loughery
22
PG
6'3
190
St. John's
B- C+ B- C+ C- B
Loughery may be a stretch at 7, but we like his starting athletic ability and ability to score inside - both attributes that are hard to grow at the point guard position. He will need some help on his jumper - but that's what RCs and SCs are for.
8. Terry Dischenger
22
SG
6'7
189
Purdue
B B- C C+ C+ B
Terry is a big guard that will score at an efficient clip and pull down a lot of rebounds. The one knock on his offensive game is his poor range. Thankfully at SG Terry should be able to improve his range tremendously and turn out to be an outstanding wing.
9. Dick McGuire
22
PG
6'0
180
St. John's
C + B- B C+ C- A
We've got our first Dick of the list. McGuire may not score a lot, but he should be a good game manager. With some RCs, SCs, and a couple of lucky TCs, he could boost his inside scoring enough to turn into a nice scorer. Drafter beware though: he's likely going to frustrate you by scoring very little, very efficiently.
10. Chet Walker
22
SF
6'6
212
Bradley
B C+ C- B- C+ A
Chet is a little undersized for a SF and has turnover problems. He probably needs to move to SG to turn him into anything other than a role-playing wing. That said, he has great athletic abilities and could surprise us with some nice TCs.
11. Zelmo Beatty
23
C
6'10
225
Prarie View A&M
B C B B- B B
Zelmo is really interesting. B passing for a big man is unconventional. The knock against him is his lack of strength and defense. Both of those are very important attribute for a big man, so he is not without significant downside. That said, if you can pump points into his strength and blocking, and he gets a couple of big TCs on blocking, he could turn into a competent two-way big. The ugly downside is that he turns into an inefficient big that can't play defense.
12. Bill Bridges
22
PF/C
6'8
238
Kansas
B- D+ D+ B- B A
Bill is an outstanding athlete that needs a lot of polish to reach his full potential. He reminds us a lot of how we saw Hot Rod Hundley years ago: an athletic specimen that needed to mature. There is a lot of potential here - but he could very easily bust out. He's a good pick for a stacked team that can afford to gamble a little.
13. Tom Meschery
23
SF/PF
6'7
215
Saint Mary's
B- B- C C+ B- B
Meschery looks nice. A great athlete with a good jumper, he'll need to work on his range and his defense. He won't ever block a lot of shots, but if he could become a competent shot blocker he could be a very nice player.
14. Dave DeBusschere
22
SF/PF
6'7
220
Detroit-Mercy
B C C- B- B B
Xavier McDaniel, I mean Dave DeBusschere, should be a nice SF in the league. He won't meet certain GMs profile of what a good SF look like (including ours, in fairness to eric) because he won't block shots or shoot a lot of 3s, but D.B. could be a solid starter for a playoff team. Not much more you could ask for at this point.
15. Don Kojis
22
SF
6'6
215
Marquette
B- C C- B- B- B
Kojis is the last of the non-blocking SFs in this list. We keep repeating ourselves at this pint - but he's going to need help with shot blocking and his range to be a good starting SF. Kojis is last because he likely will also have TO problems. We don't like turnovers.
