Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary Gorski
Did you see Blair's line last night? How in the hell did ANY team in the 2nd round pass on this guy? I understand taking the cautious approach in round 1 (although seriously, you'll throw millions at the Brian Scalabrines of the league but not take a chance at guaranteeing late first round money on Blair?) but why on earth would you pass in round 2?
As for Lawson I think his biggest downsides are that he's 5'11 and that he can't shoot the outside shot. He can work on the latter but how does he check a 6'3 PG like Derrick Rose? I didn't see the 2nd half of the game last night - how much of his damage came with Deron Williams in the game? 17 points against Deron Williams is one thing - its another against Ronnie Price. Regardless I think Lawson is certainly NBA ready - I don't know how much upside he has but he's certainly playing well so far this offseason and now in the first game. I'd be curious to see how he played if he was starting for Minnesota or Golden State.
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I agree with you on Blair. I still have no idea why everyone passed him up and he got to the Spurs. I know the knee injury was serious, but my God can that guy play. (remember, in the fantasy league I drafted both guys in the rookie draft)
Ty keyed a huge run in the late 3rd, early 4th with Deron on the bench. He went something like 3-6 for 6 points after Deron came back in the game. (along with a couple of pretty passes that ended up drawing fouls)
I understand the 5'11'' thing, but there are plenty of ways to counteract a short player. For example, Deron had 4 points, 3 assists in the fourth quarter last night. The reason: Denver put Afflalo on him.
I think Ty has major league upside. I'll predict right now that he'll have multiple all-star games in his future. His shot is underrated, he keeps care of the ball, he's fast as lightning and he works hard.
Keep in mind another thing Blair was cut down for was his size. He's a 6'7" power forward without a lot of range. His bulk makes up for some of that (265 pounds), his talent and game take care of a majority of it and a good coach will take care of the rest.
Ty is 195 pounds. Paul (175), Rose (190), Rondo (171), Westbrook (187) are PG's who are lighter. He's as strong as most of the guys I listed and faster than every one of them save Paul. I know size matters in the NBA. But watch a game this guy plays in and tell me he plays to that size.
(OK, so now he'll go 1-10 against Portland with 9 of his shots blocked and be torched repeatedly on defense. I'll be here for the laughter)
