Unfortunate | Syracusefan.com

Unfortunate

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bevosu

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We are again blessed with highlighting a basketball article about the pitfalls of the NBA draft.

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Stephen Curry went No. 7 to the Warriors in 2009. The Timberwolves took Jonny Flynn one pick earlier. (Photos by Getty Images)

Analysis | Think teams have gotten smarter in the NBA draft? Think again.
 
I'm not going to read the article because this comparison has come up one billion times. Sometimes the guys bringing it up are able to take into consideration all of the factors that impacted the draft stock and NBA careers of these two, sometimes they're not.

-Steph ended up the better NBA player than Flynn ever could have been. That's a given.
-The Warriors were gambling when they picked Steph. It wasn't a reckless pick, but there was no consensus that he'd be good in the NBA.
-Flynn's injury derailed a career that could have been pretty good. Defense was an issue, but it's the NBA so nobody cares. He could shoot okay, but really needed his athleticism to shine. Once he lost a step on the court, he was toast.
-Regardless, I don't think articles like this are unfortunate for Cuse basketball. If anything, they highlight how many guys we send to the NBA.


If this article tried to say Steph was the smarter pick in that draft than Flynn, the author is dense. Arguments could have been made at that time for either player. Hindsight is always 20/20.
 
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Brooky03 said:
I'm not going to read the article because this comparison has come up one billion times. Sometimes the guys bringing it up are able to take into consideration all of the factors that impacted the draft stock and NBA careers of these two, sometimes they're not.

-Steph ended up the better NBA player than Flynn ever could have been. That's a given.
-The Warriors were gambling when they picked Steph. It wasn't a reckless pick, but there was no consensus that he'd be good in the NBA.
-Flynn's injury derailed a career that could have been pretty good. Defense was an issue, but it's the NBA so nobody cares. He could should okay, but really needed his athleticism to shine. Once he lost a step on the court, he was toast.
-Regardless, I don't think articles like this are unfortunate for Cuse basketball. If anything, they highlight how many guys we send to the NBA.


If this article tried to say Steph was the smarter pick in that draft than Flynn, the author is dense. Arguments could have been made at that time for either player. Hindsight is always 20/20.
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You make good points - The article wasn't really about how Minnesota screwed up by taking Flynn. It was about how hard it is to draft these kids. Even with the advanced analytics available now, it's a crapshoot.
 
RandygoCuse said:
You make good points - The article wasn't really about how Minnesota screwed up by taking Flynn. It was about how hard it is to draft these kids. Even with the advanced analytics available now, it's a crapshoot.
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I heard or saw something this week that said 42% of the NBA players from this past season were either 2nd round picks or undrafted. Not surprising but wonder what the stat is on how many lottery picks or first rounders are out of the NBA by year 4 or 5. And compare that to the NFL. Is there a difference in different sports.

It's a huge crap shoot, especially in the NBA when a lot of guys are being selected for how their development is projected. Rudy Gobert #27 pick in the draft. Anthony Bennett #1 pick in the draft. Why did one guy sign a $100,000,000 contract and one guy is playing for peanuts in the G League. Hopefully Bennett was smart enough to sock some money away.
 
cliftonparksufan said:
I heard or saw something this week that said 42% of the NBA players from this past season were either 2nd round picks or undrafted.
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More NBA teams are making use of their expanded rosters and the G-League. I'd wager that most of those 42% got less than 10 games. The top-15 picks still excel at putting up the most minutes and most points and of those, the top-5 are dominant.

There always diamonds in the rough, though. I think Flynn could have been a good 10-year player in the right system and without the injury. He was killed by both his hip and Rambo and the T-Wolves (Note that after trying to implement the Riley triangle offense in Minnesota, Kurt hasn't had another non-interim NBA HC job).
 
Fly Rodder said:
More NBA teams are making use of their expanded rosters and the G-League. I'd wager that most of those 42% got less than 10 games. The top-15 picks still excel at putting up the most minutes and most points and of those, the top-5 are dominant.

There always diamonds in the rough, though. I think Flynn could have been a good 10-year player in the right system and without the injury. He was killed by both his hip and Rambo and the T-Wolves (Note that after trying to implement the Riley triangle offense in Minnesota, Kurt hasn't had another non-interim NBA HC job).
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He didn't mention the G-League. He said 2nd round, or undrafted.
 
Rage4CUSE said:
He didn't mention the G-League. He said 2nd round, or undrafted.
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I only meant that over the last 6-8 years more teams are using the G-League to stash players and then bring them up on 10-day contracts. That adds to the overall pool of players and the bulk of those players are usually 2nd rounders or undrafteds.
 
Orange87 said:
I think the takeaway is, and has always been, that Boeheim does more with less.
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wern't most of our guys that got drafted 4 or 5 stars coming in (Grant being the exception)?
 
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cliftonparksufan said:
One of the downfalls of being a lottery pick. You usually don't end up in a stable organization with a top coach. The injury definitely didn't help.
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As a Dubs fan, I can assure you Steph was not picked by a stable organization (at that time) either. And it’s not like he was injury free either. Likely unknown outside of the Bay, but the majority of people preferred Monta over Steph.

44cuse
 
44cuse said:
As a Dubs fan, I can assure you Steph was not picked by a stable organization (at that time) either. And it’s not like he was injury free either. Likely unknown outside of the Bay, but the majority of people preferred Monta over Steph.

44cuse
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Really, I'm surprised by that. I always thought Monta was a chucker, and preferred Steph easily.
 
Rage4CUSE said:
Really, I'm surprised by that. I always thought Monta was a chucker, and preferred Steph easily.
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100%. High volume shooter, explosive hops...at a time when Don Nelson didn't give a damn and the team was winning 26 to 40 games a year. He was the "exciting" spot on a bad team with weird personalities like Baron Davis and Andris Biedrins. The only good thing that happened during that phase of Dubs existence was BD dunking over . Cohan owned the Dubs through 2010 and was so bad/cheap he didn't even use trade exceptions. Monta played HARD, was a little guy who went to the rim and would take anyone on. So for a fan base that had 1) a terrible owner, 2) made the playoffs twice in 15 seasons, and 3) couldn't keep any good players or get free agents, he was the fan favorite.

Similarly...most fans wanted Larry Ellison instead of unknown Lacob and Guber. $450M spend to $2.6B valuation, three championships, the greatest shooter of all time and two MVPs...I think Lacob/Guber and Steph certainly played out OK.

Confession: while I preferred Steph over Monta because statistically Monta was not a great player, I loved watching him play.

44cuse
 
RandygoCuse said:
wern't most of our guys that got drafted 4 or 5 stars coming in (Grant being the exception)?
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I don’t know but I think that’s irrelevant. The knock on Boeheim has always been that he doesn’t win enough (even though he wins a lot) considering the talent he has had.

My take is to look at what the talent has done after it left the program. Maybe people overrate the players when they are here based on how well they perform within the system.

It seems to me that more times than not, Syracuse players get drafted high but then, with few exceptions, don’t do a whole helluva lot as pros.
 
Orange87 said:
I don’t know but I think that’s irrelevant. The knock on Boeheim has always been that he doesn’t win enough (even though he wins a lot) considering the talent he has had.

My take is to look at what the talent has done after it left the program. Maybe people overrate the players when they are here based on how well they perform within the system.

It seems to me that more times than not, Syracuse players get drafted high but then, with few exceptions, don’t do a whole helluva lot as pros.
Expand...

This is, in my opinion, a pretty accurate synopsis. JB and his system generally gets players (that have generally been non Mickey D types, etc.) to showcase their talent and, in some ways, elevate it to a level where they appear to be greater than they actually are. Other than Melo, SU guys are generally role type players in the NBA, and nothing more. This is not a knock by any means, as being a journeyman/role type player in the NBA is nothing to sneeze about, it's just the reality.
 

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