[Inbetweengame]

What's going to happen with the lockout and draft? Are the best players going to stay in school? Should we look into trading our pick?

[Kstat]

How will Richard Hamilton feed his family?

[Inbetweengame]

It's a serious question fellas. Because it looks like there will be a lockout and if I'm Jared Sullinger or one of the other lottery type guys the prospect of getting my degree seems much, much more interesting if there's no NBA to go to. Why get drafted and then get locked out of both school and the NBA?

I really don't know what the schedule for it all is but it could also happen that there is no draft this year because the lockout happens before the draft. What happens to the picks then? Are they simply held over until whenever the NBA resumes (if it resumes)? What happens if they start again in January during the college season?

I'm surprised you all didn't have anything else to offer than snide remarks about the #4 or 5 all time great Pistons guard.

[Kstat]

I never said anything disparaging about Jerry Stackhouse or John Long....

[Inbetweengame]

RealGM: Two Plus The Foul - On Contraction

Interesting thoughts on contraction.

[ThaMaestro]

I'm surprised you all didn't have anything else to offer than snide remarks about the #4 or 5 all time great Pistons guard.

Really? How many years have you've been coming to this forum Ryan?

If I was an underclassman, there's no way I'd declare this season. I'd stay in school have some fun and try to win a championship next year. You may be risking an injury, but at 20 years old you think you are invincible anyways.

[Kstat]

Does no one else remember we already had a draft prior to a lockout?

[Lou Stefanic]

It probably affects players who are slotted to go late in the first-round or later. But if you're a top pick, probably not all that much.

[Lou Stefanic]

Originally Posted by Kstat

Does no one else remember we already had a draft prior to a lockout?

Yes, I look forward to next year's version of Michael Olowokandi.

[Inbetweengame]

NOOOO!

And I didn't remember how the draft worked during the '99 lockout. I still figure if there's talk of a lockout most of the guys who're happy with their college program will stay put which could have a negative effect on the whole draft.

Also I'm interested to see what the league looks like after the lockout it could be an extremely long one.

[tin mad dog]

I think the Lockout allowed Tractor Traylor to really let himself go.

[Trakkor]

Originally Posted by Inbetweengame

It's a serious question fellas. Because it looks like there will be a lockout and if I'm Jared Sullinger or one of the other small run cd duplication guys the prospect of getting my degree seems much, much more interesting if there's no NBA to go to. Why get drafted and then get locked out of both school and the NBA?

I really don't know what the schedule for it all is but it could also happen that there is no draft this year because the lockout happens before the draft. What happens to the picks then? Are they simply held over until whenever the NBA resumes (if it resumes)? What happens if they start again in January during the college season?

I'm surprised you all didn't have anything else to offer than snide remarks about the #4 or 5 all time great Pistons guard.

Personally I dont think there will be a lockout.....

[Lou Stefanic]

Welcome, Trakkor!

[Billl]

There is going to be a draft either way.

For the top picks, I really can't see any of them staying in school. It would probably be different if we are talking about a bunch of juniors who might want to come back for their senior year, finish out their program, and get a degree. That isn't the case though. These are all 1 or 2 year players we are talking about for the top 10 picks.

[Dave Bing]

From ESPN's C-Fizzle:

Baylor's Perry Jones has edge at No. 1

January, 4, 2011 Jan 4
9:59
AM ET

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By Chad Ford





We interrupt our regular weekly Stock Watches to note that we've reached the midway point in the college basketball season. Teams are beginning conference play, which inevitably changes things from a scouting perspective.


Conference opponents scout much the same way NBA teams do. They understand what star players in their conference like to do and try to take it away from them. Every year a few players smash up against the wall against the tighter defenses they'll face in conference play while others really start to shine.


So I asked a number of NBA scouts and executives a few questions about the NBA draft that should be answered in the next three months.


1. Who is the No. 1 pick?

Harrison Barnes has been a disappointment. Perry Jones has been better, but just put up a zero-point effort against Texas Southern. Kyrie Irving got off to a great start but went down eight games into the season, and it isn't clear when he'll be back. Enes Kanter hasn't played a game. Everyone else is talented but not exactly No. 1-pick caliber talent. So, who is No. 1?


As you can guess, the NBA scouts and execs I spoke with are all over the board. A small handful are expecting Barnes to breakout in the second half.


"He's struggled, but I believe he's going to have a big second half of the season," one scout said. "He's been a guy that just has been trying to find his rhythm with a different system and a team filled with returning guys. I think North Carolina needs him to dominate to succeed in the ACC, and I think Roy Williams will help facilitate that. If he blows up, he'll be the No. 1 guy.


More scouts feel that Irving, despite the injury, is the guy. "We're in an era of great point guards," one NBA executive said. "So many teams now have top-tier guards. If you don't have one, you're going to be at a major disadvantage down the road. Irving can be one of those guys. I think there's very little risk in taking him, and he can be a guy who can turn around your team."


But a surprising number had Jones a top their board, not so much for what he's done, but for who he could be in the pros.


"He's the most talented guy in the draft, and he also has the most upside," one NBA executive said. "Baylor doesn't really know what to do with him, but all of my scouts feel he's got the most potential. 6-10 players with that sort of athleticism are just hard to come by."


Factor in team needs (which always come into play when there is no consensus No. 1) and I think Jones has the upper hand followed by Irving and then Barnes. But all that could change if the guy in question No. 2 comes to play.


2. Who is Enes Kanter?

Kanter hasn't played a game for Kentucky this season, which complicates things greatly. He's waiting to hear word on his appeal from the NCAA. If he's allowed to play, he could quickly move into the No. 1 talk with a dominant performance for the Wildcats.


If the NCAA denies his appeal, it will get very interesting. This late in the season, there aren't a lot of options for Kanter. If he declares for the draft, which is likely, he'll have to do his damage in individual workouts for team. He's not the sort of player who will shine in that setting the way uber-athletic guys do, but given the competition in the paint (and a head-to-head beating of Jared Sullinger at the Nike Hoop Summit) he could still emerge as the default top big man in the draft.


The scouts and execs I spoke with all had Kanter somewhere between No. 1 (yes, No. 1) and No. 10 on their boards. But no one was really willing to venture a guess on where he lands until we get more info. Stay tuned.

3. Who is the best non-freshman draft prospect in the country?

College freshmen and international men of mystery dominate the Top 10 of our Big Board. The highest rated upperclassmen are UConn's Kemba Walker, North Carolina's John Henson, Arizona's Derrick Williams and Kansas' Marcus Morris.


Who's the best? Three of the four (Walker, Williams and Morris) are having big, big seasons. But of the group, Henson got the most votes, because he has the most upside. He's got the sort of length and athleticism that NBA teams covet. Walker is an undersized, shoot-first point guard, and Williams and Morris don't have traditional positions. So despite their terrific production, most of the scouts I spoke with had Henson rated as the top non-freshman in the US.


4. Are the international men of mystery for real this year?

After the international frenzy of 2002 and 2003, it looked like international players were taking over the league. However, a number of high profile disappointments from Nikoloz Tskitishvili to Darko Milicic to Yi Jianlian have made skeptics of both fans and NBA scouts. Sure, a few players like Anderson Varejao, Andrea Bargnani and Danilo Gallinari have been solid. But the next Dirk Nowitzki has yet to cross the Atlantic.


Could this be the year that changes? Scouts are very high on three international players -- Jonas Valanciunas, Jan Vesely and Donatas Motiejunas. All three break the mold of former international busts. Vesely and Motiejunas have been patient with their NBA dreams and now play important minutes for big teams in Europe. Valanciunas is younger, but he also plays solid minutes for a Euroleague team and has a toughness to his game that scouts say is very -- wait for it -- American. Vesely can jump out of the gym, Motiejunas is an aggressive scorer in the paint and Valanciunas uses length and quickness to get things done. There are no soft, 3-point-shooting big men here.


While scouts won't go so far as calling any of them worthy of the top pick in the draft, most believe all three are likely to crack the Top 10 on draft night.


5. Who's most likely to hit the skids in conference play?

Scouts uniformly brought up a candidate who showed problems last year -- Klay Thompson of Washington State. Thompson got off to a red-hot start last season before getting shut down in conference play in the Pac-10. Why will it happen again? Some scouts worry that Thompson doesn't have the explosion or athleticism to get his own shot when defenses key in on him. After watching him shred folks in Hawaii a week ago, I'm not sure I agree.


6. Who will rebound in the second half of the season?

Barnes got, by far, the most votes here. Most of the scouts that were believers before the season still think he's going to be terrific and are waiting for him to break out.


A few other scouts voted for Florida's Patric Young. Young has all of the physical characteristics scouts look for in a player but virtually none of the production. He's averaging 2.4 ppg in his first 13 games and seems lost out there most nights. But scouts were so impressed with his play for Team USA this summer that they believe it's only a matter of time before he starts to put things together.

[Dave Bing]

7. Who is the most overrated player on our board right now?

Scouts were a bit all over the place here. Barnes got votes. So did Perry Jones and Terrence Jones. A few were really hard on Kemba Walker and Derrick Williams as well. It was impossible to get a consensus, in part because of the different ways people scout.


Some were totally unimpressed by the lack of production by Barnes and Jones. Others were unimpressed by the lack of physical tools that Walker and Williams brought to the table despite their production.


But the one guy who virtually everyone mentioned was Kentucky's Brandon Knight. Most of the scouts and executives that I spoke with struggled with him as a first rounder, let alone a lottery pick.


8. Who is the most underrated?

Again, there wasn't a ton of consensus here. San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard got the most votes followed by Kansas' Thomas Robinson and Markieff Morris and Brazil's Lucas Nogueira.


Leonard doesn't fit the traditional mold, but he's been super productive on one of the few undefeated teams left in college basketball. Every scout that has watched him this year has walked away impressed. A number of them claimed he could be a lottery pick.


Robinson has been coming off the bench for most of the season, but his size, athleticism and toughness are obvious fits at the next level. He's moved into the starting line-up the past two games and has played really well.


Morris has been overshadowed by his brother, Marcus, but scouts really like him. He's not as offensively polished, but he's a better shot blocker, rebounder and defender, and he's coming along on the offensive end too.


And Nogueira is a name to keep an eye on. He was a dominant rebounder and shot blocker versus Team USA in the under-19s this summer. The scouts who have traveled to Spain to watch him play say he's still raw and needs to add strength, but his motor and shot blocking ability make him a very intriguing prospect. We've had Robinson, Morris and Nogueira outside the Top 30 all year, but scouts say all three are first round picks if they declared this spring.

[fredsue]

tough year to close to the top it appears but lots of intrigue

[Mainevent]

But the one guy who virtually everyone mentioned was Kentucky's Brandon Knight. Most of the scouts and executives that I spoke with struggled with him as a first rounder, let alone a lottery pick.

Pretty much how I feel after watching a handfull of his games. He doesn't look like a PG at all, and he jacks up a ton of 3s.

[RodimusPrime]

So he is everything that Joe looks for in a guard.

[DYNOMITE]

....and power forwards.

[Inbetweengame]

That's very discouraging I was putting a lot of hope in the Brandon Knight basket.

[DYNOMITE]

Passing is over-rated.

[Stefan S]

Not draft/lockout news but, still, sth about general league issues.
I felt that games progress much faster recently:

Wednesday, February 23, 2011
NBA's New Warning Horns Work to Speed Up Games
By Paul Steinbach

How long did it take for the NBA’s new warning horns to shorten the duration of games? If their debut Tuesday night is any indication, not long.

The league instructed scoreboard operators to sound a warning before a time out or quarter break was about to end, and then a second horn blast by the time players are expected back on the court. In addition, referees were to promptly disperse player huddles. According to Associated Press reports, courtside memos pointed to “prolonged delays after breaks” as the main reason games have been dragging.

The new measures appear to have made an immediate impact. NBA games have typically lasted two and a half hours, but the nine games on last night’s schedule averaged 2 hours, 13 minutes. Miami took only 2:02 to top visiting Sacramento by 20 points. Boston blew out host Golden State, 115-93, in 2:10. In Charlotte, the Bobcats dispatched Toronto, 114-101, in 2:12. Indiana won at Washington, 113-96, in a game that ended in 2:21 despite featuring 55 fouls.

If you’re thinking closer games with more timeouts would have drawn out those contests, consider that Houston’s 108-100 win at Detroit last night ended in 2:04 — the Pistons’ quickest of 30 home games this season.

None of last night's games was televised nationally. NBA spokesperson Mark Broussard tells AB that a different procedure will be used for nationally televised games, which won't be expected to run as expeditiously as locally televisied games.

Athletic Business Newswire - NBA's New Warning Horns Work to Speed Up Games