Ducks Attack Message Board Forum

greenyellow wrote:

mattc94 wrote:One thing I've noticed about both Bol and King is the coaching feedback coming from Oregon stinks. I don't know how much it helped sink Bol's stock since his medicals weren't good but I would bet that is what sunk King out of the second round. Ouch...

At this point, I don't really think the coaching staff says anything that will dissuade or persuade players to return. About the only thing they seem to do is support whatever decision is made regarding career options since you never hear the staff criticize the decisions afterward.

Sorry, I meant on the pre-draft scouting reports. I don't think they said anything Altman and the staff said anything to hamper their decision making process. I just think when scouts or personnel men called up to confirm questions about character or effort they were honest. Altman's very close with Larry Harris, the Assistant GM of the Golden State Warriors... one of the key reasons that Jordan Bell was drafted there. If Dana's network of former players and coaches call he probably gives them a decent assessment of what he thinks. But it could be any number of things that hurt Bol and King really. Eventually any team will take a chance on any player if they think their ceiling is high enough.

I actually really feel bad for Bol. I thought he made the correct decision considering the circumstances, but that slide last night was insane. There is NO way I thought he would even fall into the second round. Before he got hurt, he was being touted as a Top 5 pick, which would have put him in the $8.5 million range for his first two years. After going No. 44, he will be lucky to get $250k guaranteed.

I like Wooten too, but he was never going to getting drafted, regardless of if he entered this year, next year or the following year. I wish him the best and maybe this is just the best path for him, since IMO the NBA was not a realistic option for him. So while I don't like the decision, I actually understand it because he didn't lose millions of dollars by entering early. I see a lot of comparisons to Jordan Bell, but he is not even in the same ball park as Bell. Wooten was a great athlete and weak side shot blocker. End of story. He didn't position or rebound very well. His offense was non-existent. He doesn't handle the ball nearly as well as Bell. His ability to defend the pick and roll is not even remotely close to Bell. He doesn't handle the ball nearly as well. He court awareness is not even in the same ballpark.

King's decision is the biggest surprise, because he had legit first round talent. He had to know that entering was a HUGE risk, after coming of a major knee surgery that took more than a year to fully recover from and get back onto the court. And he only really had 10 or so decent college games, as it took him a while to shake the rust off. I love King's game. He is a great shooter, defends fairly well, and is long. He has great size for a wing. During his freshman year, he was out of control driving to the basket 1/2 the time, his handles need some work, and he needed to get more consistent, but that was all fixable with another year of college. By leaving one year early, he probably cost himself more than $3M over the first two years. For the record, I think King will make an NBA team eventually.

I'd be happy if the Blazers signed King up for the summer league with a 2-way contract on the line. At 6'9, he has length and talent that Portland could use.

northbeachsf wrote:I actually really feel bad for Bol. I thought he made the correct decision considering the circumstances, but that slide last night was insane. There is NO way I thought he would even fall into the second round. Before he got hurt, he was being touted as a Top 5 pick, which would have put him in the $8.5 million range for his first two years. After going No. 44, he will be lucky to get $250k guaranteed.

I like Wooten too, but he was never going to getting drafted, regardless of if he entered this year, next year or the following year. I wish him the best and maybe this is just the best path for him, since IMO the NBA was not a realistic option for him. So while I don't like the decision, I actually understand it because he didn't lose millions of dollars by entering early. I see a lot of comparisons to Jordan Bell, but he is not even in the same ball park as Bell. Wooten was a great athlete and weak side shot blocker. End of story. He didn't position or rebound very well. His offense was non-existent. He doesn't handle the ball nearly as well as Bell. His ability to defend the pick and roll is not even remotely close to Bell. He doesn't handle the ball nearly as well. He court awareness is not even in the same ballpark.

King's decision is the biggest surprise, because he had legit first round talent. He had to know that entering was a HUGE risk, after coming of a major knee surgery that took more than a year to fully recover from and get back onto the court. And he only really had 10 or so decent college games, as it took him a while to shake the rust off. I love King's game. He is a great shooter, defends fairly well, and is long. He has great size for a wing. During his freshman year, he was out of control driving to the basket 1/2 the time, his handles need some work, and he needed to get more consistent, but that was all fixable with another year of college. By leaving one year early, he probably cost himself more than $3M over the first two years. For the record, I think King will make an NBA team eventually.

Agree with all of this. A couple of other things:

1. I'll be rooting like crazy for Bol Bol. It's one thing that national media hates on him, but it drives me crazy that OREGON "fans" hate on him. He did nothing but praise Oregon and play his ass off and practice hard(per Altman). He put up monster #'s for us and if he'd been healthy, we might have been a Final 4 team. Anyone that says he didn't play hard at Oregon didn't actually watch the games he played in.

The NBA execs are generally cowards trying to keep their jobs while drafting. It's why Luka Doncic didn't go #1 last year when it was completely obvious he was the best player in the draft. If it wasn't for Mark Cuban, he'd probably have dropped further.

Anyhow, I sincerely hope the kid stays healthy and finds a great coach to work with him and be patient with him. If that happens, he'll be a dominant offensive force.

2. King said he was told 15-40 for his range. Whoever told him that is a s$%T bag.

A red flag should go up for any player being told they have a draft range of nearly 30 picks.

Also, it still boggles my mind that Troy Brown went so high last year. Lou King was significantly better than him.

GrantDuck wrote:Also, it still boggles my mind that Troy Brown went so high last year. Lou King was significantly better than him.

IMO King is a MUCH better shooter and has great length, but Brown is more athletic and probably has more long term upside. In addition, King had a major knee injury and didn't even play one complete season in college, so he is probably viewed as a much greater risk than Brown. Also there are some twitter reports coming out that indicate that maybe King's attitude in predraft workouts was a concern for some teams, but hard to trust anything you read on twitter these days.

Agree with northbeach. I could see teams comparing King to Al-Farouq, while Troy has the athleticism to get compared to some all-stars (not sayings it's warranted necessarily).

Denver is actually a fun fit for Bol Bol. Excited to see what he can do there.

UOducksTK1 wrote:Denver is actually a fun fit for Bol Bol. Excited to see what he can do there.

If he can stay healthy he will be the steal of the draft.


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I'm fascinated by what kind of player Bol will be as a professional and how he'll be used. I mean, you have to pair him with a defensive post, right? He got shredded a few times here, and any NBA forward/post would have their way with him.

I see Bol Bol going the same route as Shawn Bradley.. I went to watch him play against the blazers and he got injured at the very start of the game.. Manute did well, but had previous international experience... Bol didnt last very long in college.. I don't see him competing long as a pro... He has so very much talent...But just seems to be so fragile.. Time will tell... Hopefully I am wrong...

Bol is very thin and doesn't have effort on rebounds and isn't great at lateral quickness on defense. The lateral quickness is mostly covered with his insane length but he really needs to beef up and get aggressive on rebounds. Learn how to get low and explode to reach rebounds at the peak of his jump whilst boxing out. In the 9 games he played, he didn't really box out at all. Someone like a Kenneth Faried who's probably 7-8 inches shorter than Bol will easily out-rebound him at the NBA level.

Kristaps is also a trash rebounder (at 7'3) and he just got paid.

Time will tell for Bol. Really hope it turns out well.

IMHO he could really have used another year at NikeU and building body and skill set. Time will tell. Best of luck to the big cat...