Thorpe: Top 20 Rookies of 2008

[TheGuiltyParty]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=thorpe_david&page=Rookies-080627

David Thorpe of ESPN.com, your boy NOT mime, has posted he Top 20 list for rookies in 2008. A key absentee from his list happens to be the Sixers pick at #16. Normally, you might want to get mad and upset over such a thing however... this is a blessing. You see, last year... the rookie expert didn't include Thaddeus Young on his Top 20 at the start and didn't have Young crack his Top 10 until February. Well, we all saw how that worked out so thank you, Thorpe, you have made my day.

Also... I find it interesting that he has Beasley over Oden and Rose at #5 behind Marc Gasol.

[johnny broad-street]

I move for a moritorium on anyone who says anything close to the following....."Joe Blow is a long lean pont guard with a silky touch (Think Mike Hunt with a jumpshot)"

How about  "Think me punching you in the grill" Thorpe!?

PS - I also posted this on REALGM as lots of guys over there like to use this formula to display their scouting skills while educating their fellow posters. Hahahaha

[Skates]

Actually in a chat wrap I read Thorpe said he thought Speights could be an all-star or out of the league in three years.  Perhaps a bit extreme, but essentially an extremist version of the general view of Speights held by most people.  For his rookie picks he leaned heavily on guys he expects to gte a lot of minutes early, which is not the case with Speights according to Ed S.

[carolina blue]

I'm not sure how objective Thorpe is in his rankings.

Speights is a FLA kid who went to UF, then decided to go out to Vegas to prepare for the draft rather than stay in FLA and train at IMG (where Thorpe works).

I bet if he had stayed home and worked out at IMG he'd have made the top 20.

[jemagee]

I bet you're wrong...cause he has bad things to say about guys who have worked at IMG as well if they don't do well and deserve bad things said about them.

Someone i forget who (thorpe or hollinger) did the 3 year PER regression analysis (i think it was hollinger) and 3 years out speights was a top 5 in this class based on per numbers

[tk76-]

Speights per minute productivity has always been great.  He's had questioned raised in other areas.

[jemagee]

The big question on speights is work ethic, his upside is tremendous, but he had some issues at UF this year and so people questioned his attitude, i personally think his 'never had to work out' excuse is alright, for now, but let's see what happens

[jemagee]

And the reasoning for Speights not being in the top 20 (he's at 28) has primarily to do with playing time...and if the sixers get brand or smith, there won't be a lot of it.

He expects speights to spend time in the D league (which is odd given the sixers history with it) but not get a lot of major minutes with the sixers...can't rank a guy highly if there aren't minutes for him in your restimation...

[DuckyNinja]

It's very possible Speights heads to the D-League.  Where do his minutes come from when you already have Dalembert, another signed PF, Smith, Evans, and possibly even Thad slotting up?  If they want to get him in shape, they can send him down.

[jemagee]

Except for the sixers history with using the D-league I totally agree with everything you just said

[shadowTerp]

It's very possible Speights heads to the D-League.  Where do his minutes come from when you already have Dalembert, another signed PF, Smith, Evans, and possibly even Thad slotting up?  If they want to get him in shape, they can send him down.

I don't think he'll get many minutes in games at first, but he'll see a lot of practice time.  Besides, I don't think you'll see Thad slotting up in a PF all that much... because of the loss of Carney, we're actually slim at the 3 now. 

Smith last year got 14.5 minutes as the third PF and backup C.  Booth got about 6 minutes a game.  Speights will get Booth's minutes (and maybe a little more if he's better than expected).

[DuckyNinja]

Except for the sixers history with using the D-league I totally agree with everything you just said

Didn't Lou-Will play there for most of his first season when the Sixers were trying to contend?

[jemagee]

Except for the sixers history with using the D-league I totally agree with everything you just said

Didn't Lou-Will play there for most of his first season when the Sixers were trying to contend?

After stellar performances in the NBA D-League, averaging 26 points and 7 assists over three games[2], and with trade rumors surrounding the 76ers' starting point guard Allen Iverson[3], Williams was restored back to the 76ers roster on December 5, 2006.

http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/louis_williams/game_by_game_stats.html

[Derek Bodner]

Except for the sixers history with using the D-league I totally agree with everything you just said

Didn't Lou-Will play there for most of his first season when the Sixers were trying to contend?

He played there 3 games, at which point the Sixers realized he was a man among boys and brought him back up.

[DuckyNinja]

I was wrong.  So yeah, I agree.  Unlikely he heads down to the D.