Was Ed Davis the Wrong Pick for the Raps?

As stated in my post below, the injuries (both college and pro) and lack of full training camps have set him back. I think we need a full season of more consistent play, AND a better ability to compete physically in the post before he’s tradeable for anything approximating significant value.

As much as we would like to skip to the middle of the story, we’re going to have to let his development play out.
I am grateful that we have some depth around Ed so we don’t need to roll him out there for more minutes then his frame can handle. Even better, Dwayne has the ability to let his play and effort dictate his minutes.

In a perfect world (ie he wasn’t injured in college and had full training camps at the start of both seasons) we would have more of a body of work, and thus could HOPEFULLY use that to plan the bigman rotation for the year that Jonas V comes over. Getting the Big Lithuanian acclimatized to NBA basketball, will be enough of a chore. Having a second bigman who’s nightly efforts are a mystery would gum up the works and make Casey’s job more challenging then it already will be.

had a jumper coming into the NBA.

Ed came into the NBA with shot blocking and rebounding.

I need to see more from him in order to be a player I want the raptors to take. I really like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist from Kentucky. He plays hard defense and can score on the other end. Perry Jones is looking a lot better lately as well. March Madness is where we will see players stock rise and fall and I think you will see Kidd-Gilchrists rise the most.

From what pundits say, (and the amount of players that passed on entering the 2011 draft) the 2012 draft class is going to be a strong one. The 2005 draft class was reputed to be weak, and I think the results of that draft class towards the end of the lottery / mid first round bear that out. Aroujo was a mistake to be sure, and less forgivable then the Joey Graham gamble. At the very least, Joey Graham had the physique and physical game to tempt scouts into projecting him as a power SF. In Araujo’s case, he was physically overmatched in any dimension aside from size and strength.

We’re going to get something good, I think it will come down to our particular mix of preferences with this pick. Is there a prototype Casey player, a type that is rare enough that drafting them is the best way to acquire them? Are we going to bet on the player with the highest potential, regardless of how far they are from achieving it (DeRozan)? Do we look for a player that plays a premium position, and embodies some intangibles that will help him maximize how much of his potential he realizes(ie work ethic). Is a players behavioural issues (DeMarcus Cousins) or leadership qualities (Shane Battier) going to play a major part in tiebreaking?

The lack of significant track records, has turned the draft into more of a speculative science then it already was with players staying till they were upperclassman. Each team’s method of arriving at “Best Player Available” is different, and in a deep draft, it should make things all the more exciting.

March Madness is big for a few reasons. First off it shows how players play in big situations. It shows how consistent they are as they are playing every day in a packed house against good competition. And finally it shows who strives under pressure and who hides when it gets to the big moments. Look at carmello anthony when syracuse won the title he thrived under pressure. Look for Gilchrist to have a big tournament on both the defensive and offensive side.

I see it is as a bit of both

To me the NCAA does show how competitive a player can be when the lights go on in pressure situations. Anyone can get lucky with one shot that gets keep being replayed year after year during the NCAA tournament. You have to look at how they did for the entire tournament.

Want you want to see is how the players do in the tournament vs how they did during the season. Of course this is not the be all, end all. There is a lot more to drafting than just how they do on a relative basis.

However, if you have a kid who has shown that he can step up and make big plays consistently even when the big bright lights aren’t on him and then do it when they are then you have a pretty good confirmation that the player will be a competitor. Of course that is just one aspect to making a good player.

To me March Madness is just another tool in the scouts tool box when it comes to weeding out the best possible NBA players.

He’s a freshman at College and I’ve heard many people saying he is the leader of that team both verbally and the way he plays on the court. You never see that from a freshman. And to say hes playing against weaker talent doesnt make sense. He’s playing at a high level against kids older than him and still striving. College basketball is not weaker opponents its why you see upsets all the time. Try telling North Carolina that there last game was against a weaker opponent.