FanPost

Top 2011 Draft Lottery Prospects in Nationally Televised NCAA Games **UPDATED  1/27/11**

EDIT: Updated Jan 27 with season stats, the players' most recent in game performances and the removal of games already played.

This is a post that was suggested by eLonePB.

It will provide evaluations of the players who could be picked around the Nets' area in the NBA Draft Lottery and the nationally televised games that they will be playing in.

I'm not going to pretend like I am a professional scout which is why I am going to quote websites that have actually seen these guys play in person and/or have analyzed film of them.

Kyrie Irving - PG - Duke

17.4 PPG 5.1 APG 3.8 RPG 0.6 BPG 1.5 SPG .532 FG% .452 3PT%

Last Game: vs. Butler 12/4/10 - 21 PTS 2 REB 2 AST 6-10 Shooting

Kyrie-irving-action_medium

via acc.blogs.starnewsonline.com

Here's what Draft Express has to say about Irving.

Irving is scoring at a terrific rate thus far, nearly 22 points per-40 minutes pace adjusted, but is doing so without the luxury of taking very many shots. He's accomplished that feat by converting efficiently inside the arc (59%), hitting his 3-pointers at a blistering 45% clip, and getting to the free throw line over 8-times per-40. There really isn't much more you can ask for besides that, especially considering that he's only eight games into his college career.

On a team that has never been shy to get out in the open floor, Irving has pushed Duke's pace to a full throttle. They're playing almost seven (72.1 compared to 65.5) possessions faster per-game than last year, with Irving replacing the more conservativeJon Scheyerbeing the main catalyst behind that change. The biggest part of Irving's offense (27%) in fact comes in transition, according to Synergy Sports Technology, and he's been extremely efficient out in the open floor. Also seeing big chunks of usage in isolation (23%) settings and on the pick and roll (22%), the way Irving is playing and getting his production couldn't possibly lend itself any better to the NBA style he'll need to transition to next season.

Not as blazingly fast with his first step asDerrick Rose,John Wall, or evenKemba Walker, Irving plays at a very unique pace that keeps defenses consistently off-balance and allows him to get to the basket seemingly whenever he needs to. Able to drive left or right almost equally well, he has excellent timing on his drives, very good body control, and the ability to operate at different speeds. Rather than just attempting to blow by opponents using his pure first step, Irving instead likes to toy with his defender, using tricky stutter-steps, strong body fakes, and perfectly timed hesitation moves to beat opponents smoothly and slitherly.


From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kyrie-Irving-5735/#ixzz1BgYVtYjM

Irving is a quick point guard with good BBIQ and has already been compared to the likes of one Chris Paul.

Here is a video of Kyrie at Duke made by MarangellysLuna on Youtube:

Kyrie irving Duke Mix (via MarangellysLuna)

Finally, even though Irving is hurt currently, here is a list of the nationally televised games left on Duke's slate.

Sun. Jan 30 - @St. John's - 1:00 P.M. - CBS

Wed. Feb 2 - @Maryland - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN

Sat. Feb 5 - vs. N.C. State - 6:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Wed. Feb 9 - vs. UNC - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN

Wed. Feb 16 - @Virginia - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Wed. Feb 23 - vs. Temple - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN2

Sat. Feb 26 - @Virginia Tech - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN

Wed. Mar 2 - vs. Clemson - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Sat. Mar 5 - @UNC - 8:00 P.M. - CBS

Perry Jones III - SF/PF - Baylor

13.9 PPG 7.1 RPG 1.1 APG 0.9 BPG 0.7 SPG .576 FG% .125 3PT%

Last Game - @Kansas State 1/24/11 - 11 PTS 8 REB 1 AST on 3-5 Shooting

L4913405_medium

via d.yimg.com

mynbadraft.com writes this about Jones:

This T Mac look alike has super star written all over him but has what I like to call the "Tease" syndrome. He teases evaluators with future lottery type games one minute, then the next game he is like a deer lost in headlights. If Jones can show consistency in his unbelievable skills, he has a chance of being the top overall pick in the draft. You just don't find the rare package of skills that a guy his size poses, able to shoot the three ball of the dribble or spotting up, with the size to take smaller defenders on the blocks and terrorize them. He has supreme leaping ability with great timing to alter or block shots and the wing span of about 7'4, that alone will have opponents thinking twice about penetrating in his area. He has the ball handling ability and play making skills to some day become a full time wing player but is now a combo forward. My projection is, if he can put all his pieces to the puzzle together, he will impact the NBA for many years. At this early stage in development, he reminds me of a poor mans Anthony Randolph.

From: http://www.mynbadraft.com/NBA-Draft-Profiles-2011/Perry-Jones

From what I have seen, he is a good player with good size and a nice shooting stroke, but again, I haven't seen much.

Here's Jones at Baylor:

Perry Jones - Baylor bears Mix (6'11 Small Forward) (via Serafim009)

Here's Baylor's remaining slate of nationally televised games:

Tue. Feb 1 - @Oklahoma - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN2

Sat. Feb 5 - @Texas A&M - 12:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Sat. Feb 12 - @Texas - 2:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Wed. Feb 23 - @Missouri - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN2

Tue. Mar 1 - @Oklahoma State - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN2

Sat. Mar 5 - vs. Texas - ESPN

Jared Sullinger - PF - Ohio State

17.8 PPG 10.0 RPG 1.4 APG 0.5 BPG 1.0 SPG .576 FG% .222 3PT%

Last Game: vs. Purdue 1/25/11 - 17 PTS 7 REB 2 AST 2 STL on 7-12 Shooting

Jared-sullinger-apjpg-3e081c839b040c15_medium

via media.cleveland.com

Here is what Draft Express has to say about Sullinger:

The biggest key to Sullinger's dominance has been the opposition's inability to keep him outside of the paint. While he's lost a good deal of weight, he's still retained all of the strength in his lower body that makes him so difficult to handle one on one. With his terrific base and low center of gravity, Sullinger is constantly working to establish better post-position down low. Tough and extremely aggressive, he's not afraid to simply put his ass into a defender and go to work until he gets to where he wants to on the floor.

Once there, he has incredibly soft hands to catch pretty much anything thrown his way and an unbelievable awareness for where he is on the court relative to his teammates and opponents. Patient and confident, he has extremely polished footwork and excellent body control, showing a wide array of spins and counter-moves that help him create even higher percentage shots. With his feathery touch and ability to shoot with either hand, he doesn't miss very often despite the fact that he's rarely getting his shot off over the top of the defense. When the double-team inevitably comes, he's extremely quick to recognize rotations and does a very good job of finding open teammates spotting up on the wing.

With his excellent motor and insatiable hunger to score, Sullinger doesn't relent for even a minute when he's on the court, putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the opposition to alter their game-plan to stop him, fouling out entire frontcourts, and getting his team into the bonus early and often.

You can read more here from DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jared-Sullinger-5029/#ixzz1BgtDqhJb

At the end of the article, they compared him to Kevin Love, Luis Scola and Paul Millsap.

Jared Sullinger Mix - Ohio State Highlights (via swooshnationdotcom)

Ohio State's Remaining Nationally televised games:

Sat. Jan 29 - @Northwestern - 6:00 P.M. - ESPN2

Thu. Feb 3 - vs. Michigan - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Sun. Feb 6 - @Minnesota - 2:00 P.M. - ESPN

Sat. Feb 12 - @Wisconsin - 2:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Tue. Feb 15 - vs. Michigan State - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN

Tue. Feb 22 - vs. Illinois - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN

Sun. Feb 27 - vs. Indiana - ESPN/CBS

Sun. Mar 6 - vs. Wisconsin - ESPN/CBS

Kemba Walker - PG - UConn

24.4 PPG 5.3 RPG 4.3 APG 0.2 BPG 2.1 SPG .444 FG% .349 3PT%

Last Game: @Marquette 1/25/11 - 14 PTS 9 AST 6 REB 2 STL on 5-16 Shooting

Doc4b80884f976ce026896734_medium

via images.townnews.com

Draft Express on Walker:

Walker wasn't known as a great shooter coming out of high school, but he has put an unbelievable amount of time into improving his mechanics and increasing his range over the past few years. He's absolutely deadly now – both with his feet set and off the bounce. The fact that he can find the space to get his shot off whenever he pleases makes him that much more difficult to guard, particularly at this level. It's also made his shot fake (a frequent part of his arsenal) more credible, which has, in turn, made him an even more effective threat slashing to the basket.

Walker has always had terrific quickness and ball-handling ability, but it's only this year seemingly that he's really learned to use them at all times. Often quick to defer to teammates in his first two years at UConn Walker is embracing his role as the end-all, be-all offensive catalyst for the Huskies.

It's simply impossible for defenders to stay in front of him – both in transition and in the half-court. His aggressiveness with the ball, ability to change speed and direction instantaneously, and phenomenal body control allow him to knife through defenses effortlessly. He's not afraid to drive full steam into the paint and draw contact at the rim, either. He shows great strength and toughness around the basket and is getting to the free throw line at an exceptional rate.

The Rice High School product was known as an unselfish playmaker earlier in his career. While his stats this season may lead some to the impression that he has gone away from that, his increased production stems from necessity more than anything. UConn cannot survive without Walker scoring in bunches.

Digging deeper into his film, there are still plenty of instances where Walker's outstanding court vision and creative passing shine through. He's capable of threading the needle to teammates rolling to the basket with bullet passes, finding open shooters on the wing, and making fundamentally-sound entry passes into the post for high percentage looks around the rim.

Walker is noted for his strong intangibles and has showed improved leadership skills this season. He seems to enjoy making his teammates better and there's no reason to think that won't continue in the NBA where he'll be surrounded by more talented players. The fact that he's already a prolific pick-and-roll threat will only make his transition to the next level easier.


You can read more about Walker at DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kemba-Walker-5152/#ixzz1Bgy8QlE5

Here are some highlights of Walker's season last year:

UCONN Guard Kemba Walker Highlights (2009-2010) (via BigBeastCon)

UConn's remaining nationally televised games including SNY because that is a pretty common channel in NJ:

Sat. Jan 29 - vs. Louisville - 12:00 P.M. - SNY

Wed. Feb 2 - vs. Syracuse - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Thu. Feb 10 - @St. John’s - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Sun. Feb 13 - vs. Providence - 7:00 P.M. - SNY

Wed. Feb 16 - vs. Georgetown - 7:00 P.M. - SNY

Fri. Feb 18 - @Louisville - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN

Thu. Feb 24 - vs. Marquette - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN

Wed. Mar 2 - @West Virginia - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Sat. Mar 5 - vs. Notre Dame - 2:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Terrence Jones - SF/PF - Kentucky

18.3 PPG 8.9 RPG 1.6 APG 1.8 BPG 1.3 SPG .458 FG% .333 3PT%

Last Game: @South Carolina 1/22/11 - 14 PTS 7 REB 3 STL 2 BLK on 5-13 Shooting

Terrence_jones_kentucky_v_louisville_4fwxjw5et3al_medium

via www4.pictures.zimbio.com

Draft Express' Take on Jones

Surprisingly for a freshman combo-forward, Jones has also shown himself to be a willing passer with strong court vision, dishing out 2.2 assists per game in the early going, doing so in transition, hitting cutters in the lane, kicking out of double teams in the post, and just moving the ball in the flow of the offense. He sometimes will get in trouble not recognizing a passing lane closing down and force the ball through, but his errors are mostly good ideas and he shows a good feel overall in this area that can be developed further.

In terms of post offense, Jones isn't very adept at the moment, having trouble getting separation and finishing over larger opponents at times, not really having much in terms of rangy moves, relying heavily on simple hooks and spinning hooks. He seems to do a much better job operating from the perimeter where he's capable of building momentum and having more initial separation from his man, looking far more comfortable in that regard.

Off the ball, Jones also does a solid job finishing on cuts to the basket and crashing the offensive boards, doing an excellent job throwing his weight around and establishing deep position, showing good instincts running to the rim when shots go up and showing good hands and getting off the floor quickly for putbacks.

On the defensive end, Jones has shown a solid effort level thus far, not giving up on many plays and being pretty consistent in closing out on perimeter jumpers, always running full speed with his arms outstretched. Unfortunately, a good deal of those situations are created when Jones gets caught ball-watching off the ball, making him prone to losing his man in the flow of offense, leading to an easy shot.

You can read more at DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Terrence-Jones-5708/#ixzz1BhCrPmrE

Some Jones Highlights:

Kentucky Reloads with 6'8" Forward Terrence Jones (All-American) (via ONEent)

Kentucky's Remaining National Schedule:

Sat. Jan 29 - vs. Georgia - 4:00 P.M. - ESPN

Sat. Feb 5 - @Florida - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN

Tue. Feb 8 - vs. Tennessee - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN

Sat. Feb 12 - @Vanderbilt - 1:00 P.M. - CBS

Tue. Feb 15 - vs. Mississippi State - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN

Sat. Feb 26 - vs. Florida - 4:00 P.M. - CBS

Tue. Mar 1 - vs. Vanderbilt - ESPN

Sun. Mar. 6 - @Tennessee - 12:00 P.M. - CBS

Harrison Barnes - SG/SF - UNC

11.8 PPG 5.2 RPG 1.4 APG 0.4 BPG 0.7 SPG .373 FG% .315 3PT%

Last Game: @Miami 1/26/11 - 13 PTS 3 REB 2 STL on 4-11 Shooting

Bkcunc1112_ggc1t21cq

via media2.newsobserver.com

Well, Barnes has been disappointing in his season at UNC and all of the articles on Draft Express were from last April or earlier so here is what the writer of draft express thought about his struggles and his potential which he wrote on SI.com.

In studying his film and attempting to analyze his struggles, there are a number of issues that jump out immediately.

The first would be Barnes' perimeter shooting touch, which has gone MIA for the better part of the season. He cannot make a shot with his feet set, missing countless catch-and-shoot jumpers while standing wide open behind the three-point line. His confidence looks shot and there are moments when he has clearly been pressing, throwing up some very bad shots.

Rather than trying to get himself going by taking the ball all the way to the basket instead, Barnes has only exasperated his problems by settling for far too many off-the-dribble jumpers in the mid-range area -- tough looks that just aren't high-percentage shots.

When attempting to create his own shot, Barnes' athleticism has appeared rather pedestrian, as he possesses neither an overwhelmingly quick first step nor great explosiveness around the basket. He gets bumped off his path too easily, allowing himself to be coerced into more difficult, off-balance shots --appearing to have some problems adjusting to the physicality of the NCAA game.

The situation Barnes finds himself in clearly isn't ideal -- North Carolina's point guard play has been a disaster, and the team lacks much in the way of experience, offensive spacing and perimeter-shooting ability. The Tar Heels rightfully try to exploit their biggest strength by pounding the ball inside to their big men -- Tyler Zeller and John Henson -- as often as possible, and alongside Barnes we find a number of other young, but very highly touted recruits who probably also feel that they should be getting plenty of shots and putting up big numbers. There's very little hierarchy in his group -- no clear-cut leader and not enough role-players -- just a bunch of very talented prospects who are struggling to come together as a unit early on.

While things haven't looked very good for Barnes early on, we must keep in mind that we're only 14 games into the career of an 18-year-old freshman. Despite the struggles he's endured, there have been plenty of flashes of potential indicating that we're still looking at the same terrific player we saw in high school -- a highly skilled, confident and intelligent young player who is also a fierce competitor. Barnes has plenty of time to turn things around still, even if it's looking more and more likely that he'll need to stay in school if he wants to be drafted as highly as he was projected to just a few months ago.



Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/nba/01/04/underachieving.draft.prospects/index.html#ixzz1BhGsOJrz

Here are some highlights of Barnes which show why he was so highly touted.

Top Ranked Harrison Barnes Official Ballislife Mixtape - Top Player in the Nation? (via Ballislifedotcom)

Finally, UNC's remaining nationally televised schedule:

Sat. Jan 29 - vs. NC State - 2:00 P.M. - ESPN

Wed. Feb. 9 - @Duke - 9:00 P.M. - ESPN

Sat. Feb 19 - vs. Boston College- 4:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Wed. Mar 2 - @Florida State - 7:00 P.M. - ESPN/ESPN2

Sat. Mar 5 - vs. Duke - 8:00 P.M. - CBS

Well, there you have it. I hope this helps those of you that don't follow college basketball. I can see the Nets taking any of these guys with the range that their first round pick will be in.

I know some of them might not come out, but it is still fun to speculate about it. If there are any errors or if you guys have any suggestions to make this post better, please feel free to post them in he comments section.

Now I hope it will be easier for all of you to see some of the guys who could be part of the future of Nets basketball.