# Chad Ford Draft Watch



## Ghost (Jun 21, 2002)

> • Is it time to stick a fork in Roy Hibbert's draft stock? The Georgetown big man has been on the NBA radar screen for the past three years but hasn't really shown much improvement. He ended his college career with 6 points and 1 rebound in 16 foul-plagued minutes against Davidson, which had zero size to match up against him. Hibbert should've been able to score at will, but he fell into foul trouble and out of the game.
> 
> Hibbert has great size and skill, but his lack of athleticism, rebounding and lateral quickness could really hurt him in the NBA. I haven't met a scout who's had him in the lottery since December. And it's rare to find him in the top 20 nowadays since most scouts believe he won't be anything but a decent backup in the league. Still, his size may help him into the mid-first round.



http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draf...?columnist=ford_chad&page=TourneyWatch-080327


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

He's obviously correct.


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## HB (May 1, 2004)

POB part deux?


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## Greg Ostertag! (May 1, 2003)

POB's a bit different though, isn't he... He jumped before he could plateau, whereas Hibbert stuck around for said plateau.

.'. QED


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## MemphisX (Sep 11, 2002)

I hope he enjoyed the college experience.


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## JerryWest (Jun 24, 2002)

Erick Dampier lite


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## rocketeer (Oct 7, 2002)

he cost himself a lot of money, but he's still going to be a solid nba player.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

You can't play your best when the refs won't let you play. Chad Ford also loved Darko.o


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## FSH (Aug 3, 2002)

HKF said:


> Chad Ford also loved Darko.o


So did most nba scouts and most nba teams


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

If you want to read Chad Ford for draft knowledge of American prospects, not sure what to tell you. The only thing he is good for is overrating European players.


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## rebelsun (Nov 25, 2003)

I didn't like Hibbert coming back at all, regarding his draft stock, and he predictably failed to improve it, let alone keep it neutral. He'll still get guaranteed money, but it probably cost him 5-10 spots, and 7-figures in rookie-deal total salary, for returning. He seems to be an intelligent guy, and a government degree from GTown is a solid hedge against injury or career not spanning out, though. Still, from a business standpoint, I don't like it at all. You can always finish a degree later; you can't replicate the perception boost of giving the best center prospect in a decade all he could handle in the Final Four. He's huge, smart, and skilled and should get an NBA paycheck for 10 years, barring injury.

The most interesting thought in the article is regarding DeAndre Jordan and the possibility that the Aggies' staff choked his minutes to increase the chances that he returns. It'll be interesting to see how league personnel respond to his season and how it could affect his draft projection. Even with the volatile year, I don't see him returning at all.


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

5-10 spots? He was arguably a Top 7 pick last year! This year he might be in the 20s.


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## rocketeer (Oct 7, 2002)

Nimreitz said:


> 5-10 spots? He was arguably a Top 7 pick last year! This year he might be in the 20s.


if he falls to the 20s, that said a lot about the ****ty state of gms in the nba.


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## bigbabyjesus (Mar 1, 2003)

Hibbert is a poor mans Big Z, AT BEST.

He doesn't deserve to be top 10.


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

rocketeer said:


> if he falls to the 20s, that said a lot about the ****ty state of gms in the nba.


I don't know man, I think 20s is about where he deserves. He won't start for anyone.


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## rocketeer (Oct 7, 2002)

Nimreitz said:


> I don't know man, I think 20s is about where he deserves. He won't start for anyone.


come on. he'd start at center for half of the teams in the league.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Just to be clear, this is the same league where Nazr Mohammed (Bobcats), Eddy Curry (Knicks), Samuel Dalembert (Sixers), Johan Petro (Seattle), Mark Blount (Miami), Brendan Haywood (Wizards), Joakim Noah (Bulls), Kendrick Perkins (Celtics), Erick Dampier (Mavs), Darko Millicic (Grizzlies), Jeff Foster (Pacers), Rasho Nesterovic (Raptors), Francisco Oberto (Spurs), Nenad Krstic (Nets) are considered starting centers. Let's cut the hyperbole please.

Some of you guys need to start watching the NBA more closely. These guys actually start in the NBA at the 5. Hibbert is easily a starting NBA 5.


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

If you honestly think he's better than Curry, Nazr, Dalembert, Haywood, Noah, Perins, Dampier, and Foster, I don't know what to say. Hibbert is no where near those guys. I'd say that his rookie year he is much closer to Johan Petro than Sam Dalembert.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Uh, yes Hibbert is as good as those guys. You think those guys are anything more than serviceable? The only thing they have on Hibbert is NBA experience. I have no doubt he'll have a better career than every single one of them.

You said he wouldn't start, don't backtrack now. Name all of them. The fact is Hibbert will be an NBA starting center for the majority of his career. PERIOD!


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

Yeah, but the odds that he goes to one of the few teams that would actually start him is low. He'll most likely end up backing up someone like Dalembert, who by the way, will have a much better career than Hibbert. I think Hibbert will be somewhere around the Dan Gadzuric level of center, between the 20 and 40 best in the league. Wilcox is better too.


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## ThatBlazerGuy (May 1, 2003)

I think Hibbert is a starting C, but you best have a good backup because Roy wont be effective if left on the court for more than 26-28 minutes.


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## knickstorm (Jun 22, 2003)

Nimreitz said:


> Yeah, but the odds that he goes to one of the few teams that would actually start him is low. He'll most likely end up backing up someone like Dalembert, who by the way, will have a much better career than Hibbert. I think Hibbert will be somewhere around the Dan Gadzuric level of center, between the 20 and 40 best in the league. Wilcox is better too.


gadzuric is a freak athlete........hibbert on the other hand is not, he's a career back up at best....he's basically jerome james with even less offense.

hibbert's too slow which is why he gets in foul trouble in freaking college, imagine NBA wingmen and even forwards and centers going at him......against quick teams, he's pretty much useless, vs Davidson he barely saw the floor, in the big east tourney vs Villanova, he barely saw the floor.

Great character guy, but NBA potential wise, he's a backup at best.....i wouldnt even use a first rounder on him.....i mean come on people, he's grabbing 6.4 boards a game in college.....he's had 5 double digit rebound games in over 30 contests.....


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

If Kendrick Perkins is quick enough to be a starting center in the NBA then Roy Hibbert is.


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## cpawfan (Jun 20, 2004)

Roy Hibbert is 21 years old and was extremely raw when he entered college. He is not a finished project and is already an incredibly efficient player with a high BBall IQ and a damn good work ethic.

Fundamentally sound true Centers are nearing extinction and Roy is being undervalued because of it.


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## cpawfan (Jun 20, 2004)

I forgot to add the most import part - Chad Ford is ****ing moron.


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## cpawfan (Jun 20, 2004)

Nimreitz said:


> Yeah, but the odds that he goes to one of the few teams that would actually start him is low. He'll most likely end up backing up someone like Dalembert, who by the way, will have a much better career than Hibbert. I think Hibbert will be somewhere around the Dan Gadzuric level of center, between the 20 and 40 best in the league. Wilcox is better too.


Do you want me to pull up your evaluations of Darko and Kaman from 2003?


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

Go for it. I'm sure you'll find a few other people buying into Darkomania.


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## bigbabyjesus (Mar 1, 2003)

> Nazr Mohammed (Bobcats), Eddy Curry (Knicks), Samuel Dalembert (Sixers), Johan Petro (Seattle), Mark Blount (Miami), Brendan Haywood (Wizards), Joakim Noah (Bulls), Kendrick Perkins (Celtics), Erick Dampier (Mavs), Darko Millicic (Grizzlies), Jeff Foster (Pacers), Rasho Nesterovic (Raptors), Francisco Oberto (Spurs), Nenad Krstic (Nets) are considered starting centers. Let's cut the hyperbole please.


If you take out all the terrible teams on there, every centre is clearly better than Hibbert.

So yes, Hibbert could start for a horrible NBA team.. by default.


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## knickstorm (Jun 22, 2003)

bigbabyjesus said:


> If you take out all the terrible teams on there, every centre is clearly better than Hibbert.
> 
> So yes, Hibbert could start for a horrible NBA team.. by default.


LOL exactly, more then 3/4 of the guys he listed on there id take over hibbert...nenad krstic's offensive game is light years ahead of hibbert.....he was averaging 16-18ish a game i think before his acl tore last year.


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## Tragedy (Dec 9, 2002)

HKF said:


> Just to be clear, this is the same league where Nazr Mohammed (Bobcats), Eddy Curry (Knicks), Samuel Dalembert (Sixers), Johan Petro (Seattle), Mark Blount (Miami), Brendan Haywood (Wizards), Joakim Noah (Bulls), Kendrick Perkins (Celtics), Erick Dampier (Mavs), Darko Millicic (Grizzlies), Jeff Foster (Pacers), Rasho Nesterovic (Raptors), Francisco Oberto (Spurs), Nenad Krstic (Nets) are considered starting centers. Let's cut the hyperbole please.
> 
> Some of you guys need to start watching the NBA more closely. These guys actually start in the NBA at the 5. Hibbert is easily a starting NBA 5.


Don't forget Jason Collins when he was on the nets.


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## knickstorm (Jun 22, 2003)

Tragedy said:


> Don't forget Jason Collins when he was on the nets.


jason collins has no business being on an NBA roster, we here in ny/nj have known that for a long time but he just happens to be the coach's pet so what can you do, and now he barely plays.....and saying hibbert will be somewhat better than jason collins is basically saying he's worthy of a 2nd round pick at best.


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## Tragedy (Dec 9, 2002)

Nimreitz said:


> Go for it. I'm sure you'll find a few other people buying into Darkomania.


It was the height of "euro players with potential"

The mystery of the player, coupled with the hype machine in europe made A LOT of euros sound better than they really were. Then a GM goes to scout the player, all you would have to do is create a favorable situation for that player to look good, you can do it to anyone anywhere in anything - highlight the best features, cover up the flaws.

You can't just say since GMs went for it that means it was ok, and that he was a great player at the time. They all went off potential. If you took Hibbert and shrouded him in mystery, and gave him a Euro name and threw him overseas, that scouting report would read like a top 5 lottery pick.
Like Jason Kapono said, "If my name is Jason Kaponovic I would have been a lottery pick" or something to that effect.

Also, don't bring up people here who thought Darko would have been great, they don't know anything. They had darko doing something like 12/8/2blk and lebron not even breaking 8 points and 3reb and 3 ast. We all see how that turned out.


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## Tragedy (Dec 9, 2002)

knickstorm said:


> jason collins has no business being on an NBA roster, we here in ny/nj have known that for a long time but he just happens to be the coach's pet so what can you do, and now he barely plays.....and saying hibbert will be somewhat better than jason collins is basically saying he's worthy of a 2nd round pick at best.


Doesn't matter. He was still an NBA starting center, for 404 out of 534 games


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## knickstorm (Jun 22, 2003)

Tragedy said:


> Doesn't matter. He was still an NBA starting center, for 404 out of 534 games


so because one team decides to idiotically start an undeserving player, that becomes the bar for the rest of the league?? hell no, that's just a losing attitude.....no one drafts and goes "ok we gotta get a guy who's not totally the worst center in the league.....alright our guy might not be great but he's better than jason collins so let's take him!"


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

HKF said:


> You can't play your best when the refs won't let you play. Chad Ford also loved Darko.o


And what was the problem with loving Darko? Darko's skillset for a 7-footer is *still *intriguing. What was he, 18 yrs old at the time? Probably just about anyone who saw Darko in a workout would have loved him at the time.

You can only make judgements based on what you see. You can only partially account for what marbles are rolling around in the head of the player. It isn't Darko's body or skillset holding him back, it is his head. You inject a shot of concentration and confidence into Darko and no reason he can't be around a 18ppg, 9rpg, 3apg, 3bpg player. He just doesn't have the mental fortitude to pull that off. 

He showed flashes in Orlando. He showed flashes in international competition. He has showed flashes in Memphis. Unfortunately at this point flashes are all anyone is going to get. Doesn't mean Ford was wrong for loving Darko.


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## Tragedy (Dec 9, 2002)

knickstorm said:


> so because one team decides to idiotically start an undeserving player, that becomes the bar for the rest of the league?? hell no, that's just a losing attitude.....no one drafts and goes "ok we gotta get a guy who's not totally the worst center in the league.....alright our guy might not be great but he's better than jason collins so let's take him!"


You're missing the point. The point is, you cannot say Hibbert wouldn't start on an NBA team, because there have been far worse players who have. You don't need that athleticism from a center, not as much as you think you do.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

People still defending Darko huh. I hear people are still defending Jon Bender and Skita too. Good grief. The funny thing about people not liking Hibbert, if he was a little quicker, people would love him because he possess all the skills you'd actually want in a big man, unlike Samuel Dalembert who is strictly a garbage player on offense but can block shots. I guess if Hibbert goes 11th, people still expect the top 10 players drafted ahead of him to end up being good, when the truth is at least half of them will bust hard.

The problem here is most of the people really don't follow the game. The NBA is not a place where everyone is a monolith. Hibbert next to an Okafor, makes Okafor a better player because he can play in the high post but also defend 5 men to alleviate the burden from Mek. Hibbert next to an Al Jefferson allows him to operate on the low block. Hibbert would actually help Sam just be a defensive player and clean up the offensive glass. He has excellent hands, is a shot changer, more than a shot blocker because of his presence and he always plays well against guys his size. He also has better ball handling and passing skills than 70% of the bigs in the league. He's a team player and obviously a hard worker that has a jumper out to 20 feet and has shown he's willing to put in the work. I guess because he's not a dumb jock he won't succeed. 

When he does succeed in the NBA, just know this, I will probably have to be put on ignore, because I will be rubbing it in everyone's face and if he flops I expect the same to come my way.


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## pG_prIDe (Jun 23, 2002)

Roy Hibbert is like the Yao Ming of college basketball. He does great against players his size, gets better every year, and is often on the receiving end of whistle happy officials. I'm not even indicating he will be as good as Yao in the league. However, there's something to be said about a 7'2" center with great hands and court awareness who entered into college as a raw project and has improved his game to the present day with a 20 hour practice rule in NCAA ball. I look forward to his progress in the NBA.


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## knickstorm (Jun 22, 2003)

HKF said:


> People still defending Darko huh. I hear people are still defending Jon Bender and Skita too. Good grief. The funny thing about people not liking Hibbert, if he was a little quicker, people would love him because he possess all the skills you'd actually want in a big man, unlike Samuel Dalembert who is strictly a garbage player on offense but can block shots. I guess if Hibbert goes 11th, people still expect the top 10 players drafted ahead of him to end up being good, when the truth is at least half of them will bust hard.
> 
> The problem here is most of the people really don't follow the game. The NBA is not a place where everyone is a monolith. Hibbert next to an Okafor, makes Okafor a better player because he can play in the high post but also defend 5 men to alleviate the burden from Mek. Hibbert next to an Al Jefferson allows him to operate on the low block. Hibbert would actually help Sam just be a defensive player and clean up the offensive glass. He has excellent hands, is a shot changer, more than a shot blocker because of his presence and he always plays well against guys his size. He also has better ball handling and passing skills than 70% of the bigs in the league. He's a team player and obviously a hard worker that has a jumper out to 20 feet and has shown he's willing to put in the work. I guess because he's not a dumb jock he won't succeed.
> 
> When he does succeed in the NBA, just know this, I will probably have to be put on ignore, because I will be rubbing it in everyone's face and if he flops I expect the same to come my way.



right and zach randolph wsa gonna make eddy curry a better player because zach can play the high post and draw defenses away because of his jumper......roy hibbert does not have a 20 foot jumper, in college a 20 foot jumpber basically means he's shooting 3's which he isnt.........i dont know what your standard of success is, but if it's 9 pts 5-6 rebounds a game for his career i'd sign up for that right now if i was roy hibbert,,,,,,,,,and when he flops you'll just disappear and ignore the threads and no one will remember those who said he would suck.


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## knickstorm (Jun 22, 2003)

pG_prIDe said:


> Roy Hibbert is like the Yao Ming of college basketball. He does great against players his size, gets better every year, and is often on the receiving end of whistle happy officials. I'm not even indicating he will be as good as Yao in the league. However, there's something to be said about a 7'2" center with great hands and court awareness who entered into college as a raw project and has improved his game to the present day with a 20 hour practice rule in NCAA ball. I look forward to his progress in the NBA.


if roy hibbert is the yao ming of college basketball, what does that make brooke lopez? the Yao Ming of the NCAA can not be averaging 6.4 rebounds a game as hard as he works, it's a no brainer that most people are disappointed he hasnt improved more since his hr year.


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## rocketeer (Oct 7, 2002)

knickstorm said:


> if roy hibbert is the yao ming of college basketball, what does that make brooke lopez? the Yao Ming of the NCAA can not be averaging 6.4 rebounds a game as hard as he works, it's a no brainer that most people are disappointed he hasnt improved more since his hr year.


brook lopez would be the overhyped inefficient scorer.


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## HB (May 1, 2004)

Man you wont let this field goal percentage issue go will you. But yet during your arguements against Stanford, you kept repeating that Stanford has terrible guards. Well there you go, that is why his field goal percentage is that bad. Quite frankly 47% isnt as terrible as some of you make it. Anything below 45% should be considered horrid. For a guy who takes most of the shots for his team and has to bail them out numerous occasions, is there really any wonder why he is shooting 47% from the field. I dont even like Brook that much, but if you watch Stanford play, you know that he carries the offensive burden of that team


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## rocketeer (Oct 7, 2002)

HB said:


> Man you wont let this field goal percentage issue go will you. But yet during your arguements against Stanford, you kept repeating that Stanford has terrible guards. Well there you go, that is why his field goal percentage is that bad. Quite frankly 47% isnt as terrible as some of you make it. Anything below 45% should be considered horrid. For a guy who takes most of the shots for his team and has to bail them out numerous occasions, is there really any wonder why he is shooting 47% from the field. I dont even like Brook that much, but if you watch Stanford play, you know that he carries the offensive burden of that team


bad guards is a legitimate excuse for not getting the ball enough and can be a cause for more turnovers(trying to control bad passes). it's not much of an excuse for a bad field goal percentage.

we'll see what happens in the upcoming season. hibbert is going to be a better center than brook lopez. if not, feel free to bump any of these threads at any time.


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## HB (May 1, 2004)

Bad guards mean defenses can focus better on the best offensive option. Bad guards in Stanford's case also means giving Brook a lot of shots that he has to rush, especially when the shot clock is dying down.

I dont know if he will be a better center than Roy, quite frankly I have never been impressed with Roy's game, but I reserve judgement on both. Especially Brook who I want to see what he can do when he actually plays with better guards in the NBA


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

Bad guards also means Lopez doesn't get fed when he has good position in the post, which leads to much more turn around jump shots from 10 feet. It's not like all his shots are dunks like DeAndre Jordan. If you want to analyze a player who takes similar shots because the rest of his team is hopeless, look at Anthony Randolph who shoots 46.4%, virtually the same as Lopez.

Brook Lopez shoots 78.9% from the free throw line and takes almost 15 shots per game. In the NBA, David West takes 17.5 shots per game and makes 47.5%. David West = Bust?


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Compare his percentages with those of other big men prospects, it is a low percentage.


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## rocketeer (Oct 7, 2002)

Nimreitz said:


> Brook Lopez shoots 78.9% from the free throw line and takes almost 15 shots per game. In the NBA, David West takes 17.5 shots per game and makes 47.5%. David West = Bust?


so you expect lopez to keep shooting the same percentage in the pros? why? bigger and better defenders in the nba.


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

Because he'll get the ball in the post more and take fewer mid-range jump shots. Read the entire post, not just what you can cherry pick to make me look like I'm not being candid about my entire opinion.


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## HB (May 1, 2004)

rocketeer said:


> so you expect lopez to keep shooting the same percentage in the pros? why? bigger and better defenders in the nba.


You are just arguing for arguements sake. You won't even acknowledge the fact that when he gets to the NBA he will be playing with guards and offensive players that are light years better than what he has right now. Every team in the lottery that might pick Brook have guards that are much better than what he has ever played with.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

I don't know if one can compare Lopez with Anthony Randolph as Randolph is definitely a perimeter player (although he may evolve into a face-up 4).


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## rocketeer (Oct 7, 2002)

HB said:


> You are just arguing for arguements sake. You won't even acknowledge the fact that when he gets to the NBA he will be playing with guards and offensive players that are light years better than what he has right now. Every team in the lottery that might pick Brook have guards that are much better than what he has ever played with.


right he will be playing with better guards and have better offensive players on his team. he will also be playing against bigger, better, and more athletic defenders.


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## rocketeer (Oct 7, 2002)

Nimreitz said:


> Because he'll get the ball in the post more and take fewer mid-range jump shots. Read the entire post, not just what you can cherry pick to make me look like I'm not being candid about my entire opinion.


he'll find it much harder to get post position in the pros because of the bigger and better defenders. and when he does take his midrange jumpers, he'll have bigger more athletic guys challenging them.

i read your whole other post. having better guards isn't going to help when he plays against better defenders.


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## HB (May 1, 2004)

rocketeer said:


> right he will be playing with better guards and have better offensive players on his team. he will also be playing against bigger, better, and more athletic defenders.


Lets not overrate the big men defenders at the center position in the NBA. That is by far the weakest position in the league.


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

HKF said:


> When he does succeed in the NBA, just know this, I will probably have to be put on ignore, because I will be rubbing it in everyone's face and if he flops I expect the same to come my way.


Good luck. Hopefully he's a big an NBA stud as John Gilcrhist.


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

I wouldn't consider Mitch Johnson a bad guard by any means.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Nimreitz said:


> Good luck. Hopefully he's a big an NBA stud as John Gilcrhist.


Hey I'll take an L on that one, but I didn't know he was bi-polar. Hard to give the keys of a team to a guy with that kind of problem.


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## Wade County (Jun 22, 2003)

You win some you lose some. Not everyone turns out to be a solid player in the L.


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## SheriffKilla (Jan 1, 2004)

I have Hibbert in my top 5 of course I'm very anti-potential when judging prospects(I count it of course but much less than others)

I have Hibbert right under Brook Lopez as the 2nd best center


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## jman23 (Aug 13, 2007)

take a look at nba draft.net's mock draft pretty good for 2008 and 2009

http://www.nbadraft.net/


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

I don't like NBADraft.net

I don't know what they pay for that #1 google result, but that's the only valuable thing they possess.


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## Wade County (Jun 22, 2003)

Yeah NBADraft.net is not that great to be honest. Their analysis is terrible in comparison to DraftExpress.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

HKF said:


> People still defending Darko huh. I hear people are still defending Jon Bender and Skita too. Good grief. The funny thing about people not liking Hibbert, if he was a little quicker, people would love him because he possess all the skills you'd actually want in a big man, unlike Samuel Dalembert who is strictly a garbage player on offense but can block shots. I guess if Hibbert goes 11th, people still expect the top 10 players drafted ahead of him to end up being good, when the truth is at least half of them will bust hard.
> 
> The problem here is most of the people really don't follow the game. The NBA is not a place where everyone is a monolith. Hibbert next to an Okafor, makes Okafor a better player because he can play in the high post but also defend 5 men to alleviate the burden from Mek. Hibbert next to an Al Jefferson allows him to operate on the low block. Hibbert would actually help Sam just be a defensive player and clean up the offensive glass. He has excellent hands, is a shot changer, more than a shot blocker because of his presence and he always plays well against guys his size. He also has better ball handling and passing skills than 70% of the bigs in the league. He's a team player and obviously a hard worker that has a jumper out to 20 feet and has shown he's willing to put in the work. I guess because he's not a dumb jock he won't succeed.
> 
> When he does succeed in the NBA, just know this, I will probably have to be put on ignore, because I will be rubbing it in everyone's face and if he flops I expect the same to come my way.




Hmm... I think you misread or misunderstood my point. I wasn't defending Darko in such a way to say he is going to be a great player. Darko has had enough time and while, like I said, he has shown flashes he's also proven mentally he doesn't have what it takes to make anything out of his ability. 

What I was defending was Chad Ford's "liking" of Darko. 

The points about Bender and Skita aren't really relevant. Nobody really knows what Bender might have done, he was injured all the damned time. And Skita, well, Skita never even showed the flashes that Darko has.

Everyone likes to think they are great at evaluating talent. In the end we are all just guessing. Me, HKF, nbadraft.net, draftexpress, etc, etc. Some guys get lucky and get a rep for it for a while but eventually it all evens out. But anyone picking players on what they might become is shooting in the dark because it is nearly impossible to determine how hard a guy might work, how mentally strong he will be, how competitive he will be, etc, etc ...


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

HKF said:


> Just to be clear, this is the same league where Nazr Mohammed (Bobcats), Eddy Curry (Knicks), Samuel Dalembert (Sixers), Johan Petro (Seattle), Mark Blount (Miami), Brendan Haywood (Wizards), Joakim Noah (Bulls), Kendrick Perkins (Celtics), Erick Dampier (Mavs), Darko Millicic (Grizzlies), Jeff Foster (Pacers), Rasho Nesterovic (Raptors), Francisco Oberto (Spurs), Nenad Krstic (Nets) are considered starting centers. Let's cut the hyperbole please.
> 
> Some of you guys need to start watching the NBA more closely. These guys actually start in the NBA at the 5. Hibbert is easily a starting NBA 5.


Well he's in a rotation right now playing 12 minutes a night with who? Jeff Foster and Rasho Nesterovic? Two guys who are on your list. Both of them are basically doubling Roy's minutes.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Nimreitz said:


> Well he's in a rotation right now playing 12 minutes a night with who? Jeff Foster and Rasho Nesterovic? Two guys who are on your list. Both of them are basically doubling Roy's minutes.


He was starting for about 10-15 games. He is also picking up a ton of rookie fouls. He has proven he can play in this league, but O'Brien is playing a jumpshooting chucking offense. Roy has been fine. Rasho is expiring and will be off the team next year and Foster will be the backup next year.


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## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

Fair enough, but Hibbert isn't automatically better than those stiffs. I certainly haven't seen anything to convince me he's better than the Noah, Dampier, Dalembert level of center.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

He's a rookie center. Noah was two years older than Hibbert when he entered the league. Dampier and Dalembert are not much better than him right now, let alone when they first entered the league. This dude will be fine.


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