The Official Draft Day Thread (For those actively watching the draft)

[Drbio]

With teh 50th (about damn time) pick in the NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks select Vassillis Spanoulis


Stupid ass ESPN missed us. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]

[dirno2000]

Royal Ivey to ATL...good to see a Texas kid go...I didn't think any of them would get drafted.

[ocelot_ark]

NBA Comparison: Steve Nash

Strengths: An excellent athlete that shows rapid development in the last couple of years. He is speedy, tough and has very quick reactions. He's got unlimited energy in his game. His leaping ability is impressive. His offensive game is aggressive. He likes to run in the open court and penetrate the paint. His crossover dribble is quick and brakes ankles. His passes are money in the bank; has quick decision making. He runs the offensive sets successfully and delivers the ball to the right person in the right time. He is an excellent defender in the full-court press. He puts great pressure on the ball when defending.

Weaknesses: His shooting has range but needs polish. He's more of a streaky shooter. Needs to put on some muscles. His fearless game may cause him foul-troubles.

-Dimitris Armadoros

[Drbio]

With the 50th (about damn time) pick in the NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks select Vassillis Spanoulis


Stupid ass ESPN missed us. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]

[ocelot_ark]

Dang Doc...you're a habitual tripple poster :-)

[EricaLubarsky]

Not a bad draft at all.

Harris is a serious contender.

Pavel could be a decent center. He may even find playing time this year.

We could still make some trades, pickup FAs, and then drop some extra players.

We may need to drop Stef if he isnt ready and place Spanoulis overseas as well as paying a few contracts without play, but we are in a good situation, especially if we trade multiple players for a single one.

Spanoulis is a mystery. We could have drafted him in the mid first round two years ago and placed him overseas and he could be coming into his own about now. If that was true we got a screaming deal for him at the 50. He also may be a flop. Big deal its a mid 2nd rounder.

[MavsFanFinley]

DA just said 5 teams contacted Seattle about Robert Swift. 3 teams called to congratulate them and 2 teams (Dallas and Boston) called them about a trade.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: MavsFanFinley
DA just said 5 teams contacted Seattle about Robert Swift. 3 teams called to congratulate them and 2 teams (Dallas and Boston) called them about a trade.

lol. It's the old high school trick of playing hard to get. He didnt even tryout for a single team.

[ocelot_ark]

But he is darn good...I saw him play at one of those all-star games and I was most impressed by him. He plays tough, and he's just looking for contact despite not being very thick. I think he'll be a good player in this league.

[giantbenmav]

I was hoping the Mavs would take Lloreda with the 50th pick....maybe this is another case of Donnie telling Don "dont worry, we will get him to a FA contract"....I think that guy could be a solid role player for this team

[FilthyFinMavs]

Swift sort of reminds me of a Brad Miller but with less bang. THat's not a guy I really want on my squad but looks to have a solid future in this league.

[HexNBA]

Mavericks-Rockets swap: Dallas traded the draft rights to guard Vassilis Spanoulis, which the Mavs selected with the 50th overall pick, to the Houston Rockets for the draft rights to Luis Flores, whom Houston selected 55th overall.

Spanoulis, a native of Greece, averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 assists in 21 games for Maroussi Telestet Athens in the FIBA Europe League and 11.0 points and 3.3 assists in 26 Greek league games.

Flores played his final three collegiate seasons at Manhattan after transferring from Rutgers. He finished his career as the Jaspers' all-time leading scorer (2,160 points) and averaged 24.3 points per game over his final two seasons

[ames7]

Didn't see this posted anywhere, sorry if it is. From the official site, comments from Donnie Nelson & Devin Harris:

On first round draft pick Devin Harris – No. 5 pick:

We’re fired up about getting Devin Harris on this team. One cheese head wasn’t enough. We had to get a running buddy for Michael Finley, fellow alumnus from Wisconsin. This kid is going to generate offense for us. We’re really excited about the ability he has to pick up in the open court and defend. He’s a young man that can generate offense for us. As we go forward, this doesn’t change our plans. We are fully committed to get Steve Nash back on this basketball team along with Marquis Daniels. We’re hopeful that Devin can learn from Steve and when the right time comes, pass the baton. We were looking for someone that could generate offense over the course of 82 games. We need someone to come off the bench and give Steve a nice little blow, get into the paint and generate opportunities for our shooters.

This is someone that we’ve been eyeing for a long time. We were very active as you know, really all week. We came up with the fifth pick and we thought that this young man was the best talent, the most talented player with an eye on generating offense. I think that’s important to our basketball team. We feel he’s a true point-guard. He’s got good size and the ability to score the ball. Scoring point-guards have done very well in Nellie’s (Don Nelson) system in the past. We feel he’s got terrific range and excellent leadership abilities. He’s got all the intangibles that we look for with the Mavericks. He’s got the integrity and the solid background and again at the right time, we’re looking for Steve to pass the baton and for him to be able to run the show for us.

This kid is more out of the Steve Nash mold. He’s able to get into the gut and create opportunities. He can make shots, he can make big shots and he’s got a huge heart. We’re really proud to have him as a Maverick. He’s a really exciting basketball player and I think the fans of Dallas are in for a treat.

He’s really intelligent. He’s got the ability to get to places with his quickness, but it’s with a purpose and his leadership package I think is what really separated him. He can do it in different ways, he can get his own shot at any time and runs a terrific pick-n-roll.

On first round draft pick Pavel Podkolzine:
We’re really excited about our second pick. He’s a young, 7-5 developing player. He’s a guy that’s got good hands. He’s young to the game and has only been playing roughly four or five years. He’s a young guy that we hope down the line will develop into a nice backup.

His footwork is pretty decent, pretty good body control and he’s just massive. We’re pretty excited because he takes up a lot of space. With the center rotation as it is we’re hopeful that he can be a contributor at some level down the line. Bigger guys take a longer period of time to develop. They usually don’t kick in until 24 or 25. He’s got some things that you can’t teach like size, his hands are pretty good, he’s a pretty good shooter and makes his free throws. I think with some experience, the skies the limit with guys with natural abilities like that.

Summer league is going to be really important for him. We’re not planning on putting him overseas. We think that he has an opportunity to learn the Mavericks system and can be a guy maybe down the line that can come in a get some minutes.

His action on his shot is pretty good. His footwork is good, but he needs to learn the NBA way. He’s got a big heart, a solid work ethic and with time he’ll be a contributor at some level.

Mavericks first round draft pick Devin Harris:
Tell us a little about your game:
I’m a very smart point-guard, very versatile and I can do a lot of things well. I want to learn the system very quickly and contribute right away and just play my heart out for this organization.

How surprised were you to end up with the Mavericks:
I was very surprised seeing how I didn’t work out for them and had no prior contact with the Mavericks until earlier today. It’s kind of a shock.

Do you think that you can come in here and compete for a starting spot:
I think I can. I’m very competitive. It’s in my nature and that’s just the kind of player I am. If there’s plenty of time out there to get, than I’m going to work my hardest to try to get it.

When’s the last time you talked with Michael Finley:
Actually, I talked to him last night. I’m very excited as a fellow Badger and hopefully he can be one of the guys to mentor me and teach me what this NBA life is about and do things the right way.

How exited are you to play in Nellie’s system where point-guards thrive:
It excites me tremendously. Coming from a program where apoint-guard can score and thrive in that kind of system and then coming to the Mavericks is a dream come true.

[foglemann]

Hex, if that is true and we got Flores, than we just got a P-L-A-Y-E-R player, because this guy is a Iverson clone!!!!

[Dirkenstien]

This was a great draft by the mavericks. Absolute magician work to pull off acquiring Harris as well as the heavily coveted Pavel Podkolzine.

[Drbio]

He’s a young guy that we hope down the line will develop into a nice backup.

Backup? Who is he going to back up? Did anyone else read anything into this comment?

[Dirkenstien]

Originally posted by: Drbio

Backup? Who is he going to back up? Did anyone else read anything into this comment?

I believe he meant that Pavel will develop into a backup player for possibly this season and the majority of next depending on how rapidly he improves and what the center situation is with the mavericks