Weak Draft?

[rav123]

The 2009 NBA Draft was billed as being one of the weakest ever, with Blake Griffin being the only player likely to be worth much.

However, after a quarter of the season, we have a number of stars. Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans are tearing it up right now. On a lower level, you have Flynn and Curry looking productive as starting PGs, and you get the sense they can amount to something big in the future. Ty Lawson, Darren Collison and Jrue Holiday are also contributing well off the bench - the PG class seems very strong actually, especially with Jeff Teague and Eric Maynor yet to show off their stuff.

Ricky Rubio was the only international prospect, but Jerebko and Casspi are solid all-round players. Beaubois is also looking like a great pick. James Harden, Demar Derozan, Terrence Williams, Taj Gibson and Dejuan Blair have all emerged as players. Special mention for Marcus Thornton and Chase Budinger, picks 43 and 44, who've made the most of their playing time.

This draft is looking great, even when the 2 best players (and only ones tipped to succeed)- Griffin and Rubio - haven't even played yet!

[PosImpos]

It is still a weak draft in a lot of ways.  For one thing, there's a very noticeable dearth of big men.  What productive rookie big men can you name besides DeJuan Blair and Taj Gibson, and probably Blake Griffin when he returns?  I can't think of any. 

There aren't really any great center prospects in the draft class, from the looks of it.  Hasheem Thabeet looks like a great shot blocker but not that remarkable in anything else, and very, very raw.  He doesn't look like a #2 talent to me.  The only other center I can even think of in the whole draft is Byron Mullens, and he's in the D-league.

As for small forwards, there are a few: Budinger, Casspi, Jerebko.  That's basically it.

There are a lot of point guards in the draft class, and a few pretty solid shooting guards.  It's definitely a good class for guards. 

I think it's reasonable to expect that at least a few of the players from this draft will be All-Stars at some point.  Maybe one or two will be deemed superstars, but that's very iffy at this point.  So far none of the rookies has really emerged as a person I could see carrying a previously-doomed franchise on their shoulders for years to come.  Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans have been pretty darn good so far, definitely surprising, but while I could see them being All-Star franchise players I'm not sure I'm convinced yet they will ever be MVP-candidate type players (which is really my definition of a superstar).

Next summer's draft has a ton of big men prospects and the consensus #1 draft pick (so far), John Walls, has been toted as one of the top three draft talents of the past decade (along with LeBron and Dwight).  I think this draft may end up looking fairly weak compared to that one.  Compared to 2008, though, this draft might not look that weak.

One thing I can say, though, is that with the emergence this year of Rondo as one of the top 5 point guards, Derek Rose breaking onto the scene last year, the surprise of Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans in this year's draft class, and the upcoming promise of John Wall, the next decade could be one of if not the greatest era of point guards yet.  The title of "best PG" might not belong to Chris Paul anymore 3-4 years from now.  It's fairly exciting.

Chris Paul
Deron Williams
Derek Rose
Brandon Jennings
Rajon Rondo
Tyreke Evans
John Wall

That's a potential top 7 for PGs in the league just a couple years from now, and all of those names are pretty young with tons of potential for even the older members.

[Who]

I think most agreed that there was a lot of solid players in the draft but only a one or two (Griffin/Rubio) star talents. The draft got a bad rep not because of it's lack of depth because of the lack of high end talents involved.

Obviously, Tyreke Evans and the hugely surprising Brandon Jennings have changed that view. Now there's 3-4 clear All-Star talents in the draft.

[rav123]

It is still a weak draft in a lot of ways. 

It may be weak, but not 2000 Draft weak. People were saying this was one of the weakest ever, but I think it is of average strength. Next year's is a strong one, but compared to all the drafts overall, this one is not bad.

Hasheem Thabeet looks like a great shot blocker but not that remarkable in anything else, and very, very raw.  He doesn't look like a #2 talent to me. 

It's not his fault he was picked there though. If we resorted the draft based on what we know now, he would have been picked a late first rounder, and at that position, he is great value (maybe not yet, but it is not impossible to think he will improve to that level)

Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans have been pretty darn good so far, definitely surprising, but while I could see them being All-Star franchise players I'm not sure I'm convinced yet they will ever be MVP-candidate type players (which is really my definition of a superstar).

How many MVP players do other draft produce? Last year's was actually a fairly strong one, but only Derrick Rose looks like ever threatening to win MVP. He averaged 16-4-6, while Jennings is at 21-4-6 and Evans is at 20-5-5. I think Jennings will easily become as good as Chris Paul and Deron Williams. We have to remember Jennings is not actually a score-first point guard, but more in the mould of the two above.

Otherwise you're right in that the draft is weak in big men, and below average in small forwards (and maybe even shooting guards)