There haven’t been too many center classes this deep or with as many intriguing prospects. The 2010 class offers three compelling freshmen in Cousins, Orton and Whiteside, and a solid junior in Aldrich at the top. Then there are the intriguing and multi-talented Ekpe Udoh and Greg Monroe, along with talented projects Larry Sanders, Tiny Gallon and Solomon Alabi. If things break right, this could become a pretty darn good group. There is also a deeper than normal group of seniors that would … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2010: Centers

A couple of players who are reportedly on the rise as the pre-draft analysis winds down. The two players have some similarities, but are hardly mirror images. The similarities are both are good passing big men with a decent outside shot. Both are somewhere between a forward and a center. Neither is a very impressive scorer in either frequency or efficiency. Both are decent enough rebounders. Udoh is more of a shot blocker, while Monroe is a good all around defender. Neither looks like a … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2010: Ekpe Udoh and Greg Monroe

I like analyzing the PFs. They’re a fairly easy bunch to look at. Basically they need to meet the following benchmarks: Hit .580 on 2-point shots and score 20.0 P40. In both cases, the higher the better. The best have typically been over .600 and pushed 25.0 P40 as they got older. For freshmen some leeway is given. At least 10.0 R40, preferably higher. The best have been at least 12.0. Again the higher the better here. Combined 3.5 steals and blocks per 40 minutes, or SB40. … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2010: Power Forwards

The job of the combo forward or, more accurately the small PF, is to give his team a different look. The CF usually comes in to play PF when the team needs to go smaller and quicker. But they can also be used at SF, if a team needs to go bigger. The nature of the position almost guarantees that this player is going to come off the bench. Because of that this group is often lacking in star power. That isn’t the case this year, as Aminu, Patterson and Babbitt all appear to be on the rise as … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2010: Combo Forwards

I’m going to take a quick break from the forwards here to look at a couple of young big guys. These are a couple of freshmen centers whose most impressive skill is blocking shots. While Orton has been a good shot blocker, Whiteside has swatted away shots at a historic rate. I’ll look at each separately below, but first here’s a table showing the best freshmen shot blockers. I included players from major conferences who played over 500 minutes as freshmen only. The cutoff was 4.0 blocks per … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2010: Daniel Orton and Hassan Whiteside

The SF class of 2010 is a deep group, but doesn’t have much in the way of potential star power. There are several players who I feel would make a good late first, or second round draft pick, but few who look like lottery picks. The plight of these players is further complicated by the fact that there is a strong group of combo forwards also in the competition to catch the eye of scouts. So we have several SFs who have the potential to forge decent NBA careers, but few, if any stars or … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2010: Small Forwards Part 2