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An Early Look at Wiggins, Parker and other Top Freshmen

July 10, 2013 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

The 2014 draft class is already being called one of the strongest in years. We’ll see on whether that becomes the case, but it seems promising. The two most talked about players have been SFs Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. In December of last year Jabari Parker landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the caption, “The Best High School Basketball Player Since LeBron James is Jabari Parker.” That was some heady praise, but Parker quickly became yesterday’s news when Andrew Wiggins … [Read more...] about An Early Look at Wiggins, Parker and other Top Freshmen

2013 Draft Grades

June 28, 2013 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

This may have been the most entertaining draft ever. There was drama, plot twists, comedy and surprises. We got David Stern basking in the glory of his 30 years as the best commissioner in sports. We got the entertaining ESPN crew actually giving some critical analysis. We got Shane Battier auditioning for his post-playing career. That was fun. My MO is to grade on a curve with 3 As, 6 Bs, 12 Cs, 6 Ds and 3 Fs. I try to focus on what exactly was gained by the first round pick in the draft, … [Read more...] about 2013 Draft Grades

NBA Draft 2013: Centers

June 27, 2013 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

The centers are a varied group this year. There are a lot of draftworthy prospects, most of them starting in round 2. There are also a lot of potential specialists. There are stretch 5s, shot blockers, rebounders and youngsters with upside. A good number of these guys are older than the typical prospect. My feeling is that in 10 years when we look back on the 2013 draft one of the stories will be how many of these players went on to decent NBA careers. My advice to any team drafting in round … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2013: Centers

Draft 2013: Small College Guards

May 30, 2013 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

The success 2013 Rookie-of-the-Year Damian Lillard had coming into the NBA out of Weber State has put more of a spotlight on small college guards. Lillard in 2012 marked the 5th consecutive year a small college guard has had a major impact. Starting with the 2008 draft class George Hill, Stephen Curry, Jeremy Lin and Norris Cole all came into the league from a small college and have had a big impact. While I generally loathe questions like: “Who will be this year’s Damian Lillard?” the fact … [Read more...] about Draft 2013: Small College Guards

A Closer Look At Eric Murdock

May 20, 2013 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

Two of the biggest stories basketball stories of the last two months are the firing Mike Rice at Rutgers for abuse and the recent commitment of newest high school basketball prodigy Andrew Wiggins to Kansas. While these stories seemingly have little common ground, old school NBA enthusiasts will recognize 1980s and 1990s players figured in both stories (Eric Murdock and Mitchell Wiggins). The man behind the Mike Rice story is former point guard Eric Murdock. Murdock was director of player … [Read more...] about A Closer Look At Eric Murdock

NBA Draft: Michael Carter-Williams

May 7, 2013 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

Carter-Willams as a prospect is the opposite of the other top PG prospect this year, Trey Burke. Burke is 6’0”, which is small even by PG standards. Carter-Williams is tall for a PG, listed at 6’6”. Burke is a good offensive player who is limited defensively. Carter-Williams is dominant defensively and erratic on offense. Burke could probably step right in and play decent NBA PG right now, but has little upside because of his size and weak defense. Carter-Williams is very much a developmental … [Read more...] about NBA Draft: Michael Carter-Williams