NOTES ON THE 2001 NBA DRAFT   Last season was a record for the least amount of productivity from a rookie class. With the youth in the 2001 draft that record could be broken. Below is my commentary on the first ten picks in the NBA draft. The HoopsKlyce player rating report will rank them relative to the NBA veterans according to your league scoring system. My gut reaction after looking over the draft is that Jason Richardson, Shane Battier, and Eddie Griffin have the best shots at leading the rookies in fantasy value next season. 1) The Wizards took high school player Kwame Brown with the first pick. In the previous draft the Clippers took High School player Darius Miles who went on to average 26 mpg over the course of the season. Early indications from the Wizards are that Brown will be given all the minutes he can handle unlike other players straight from high school who build up their playing time slowly. This will be a positive for the fantasy value of Brown and might break the trend of high school players having minimal value in their rookie season. The major wild card will be if Brown has the skills and conditioning yet to be on the court for 30+ minutes. I believe most likely he will not break the 30 minute barrier. On the plus side he has good passing skills, shot blocking abilities, and can shoot (unlike other young players like Miles who need to develop their offensive game). He will play forward for Washington where there is very little competition for playing time (Michael Smith and Etan Thomas are the other Wizards PF). 2) The Bulls acquired high school player Tyson Chandler who will play somewhere on the front line although he does not quite have the strength required to play effectively at center or even power forward. He will tend to try to score from the outside on offense and has good shot blocking abilities. The Bulls will have four players who can player center next year led by Brad Miller who the Bulls opted to keep for two more seasons and another rookie Eddy Curry. This should mean that the Bulls will give Chandler time to develop, limiting his fantasy potential next season. 3) The recent emergence of Dirk Nowitzki and Predrag Stojokovic has reduced the reluctance of NBA teams to gamble on foreign players. I still have concerns though over players such as Pau Gasol who lack strength and will try to play offensively from the perimeter. Jump shooters typically have limited fantasy value. With the Grizzlies Gasol will compete with Shane Battier for playing time but if he can succeed offensively by mixing up his game with drives to the basket (which he has the ball handling skills to accomplish) then he could find some rookie success on a team which just traded away the majority of its offensive player from last season (Rahim and Bibby). 4) The main appeal to Eddy Curry is that he has an NBA body. That NBA body going against high school competition can appear very impressive but in the NBA he will need to do more than be physically large. In fact in the NBA, his size and weight may become a conditioning issue. With the Bulls their will be alternatives at center so don't expect heavy playing time his rookie season. 5) At 6-6 Jason Richardson is the smallest of the top five picks in the NBA draft and the only one with college experience having played two years at Michigan State. Although a surprise pick at this high spot he could end up with more fantasy value than the top four as he uses his speed and jumping ability to score and defend at the NBA level. Players who are drafted for their size typically take longer to adjust to the NBA game where they compete with stronger older players. Richardson though may need to fight for playing time should Larry Hughes not be effective at the point guard position and with Mookie Blaylock still on the roster. 6) Shane Battier is the most proven player taken in the top ten in the NBA draft. His college stats showed that he contributes across the stat sheet including steals, blocks, and the three pointer. In Vancouver he should be given plenty of playing time and has a good shot at being rookie of the year. 7) Eddie Griffin was a tremendous shot blocker and rebounder in college. Last year Houston started the likes of Maurice Taylor and Walt Williams at forward. They should not be formidable competition for the rookie Griffin. He will play small forward in the NBA and should have the quickness and outside shooting ability to be effective. His poor attitude kept him from being drafted higher but has the potential to be the most productive rookie next season. 8) DeSagana Diop is one of those players who was taken in the lottery basically because he has size. But he also has foot problems like his teammate Ilgauskas. I would be shocked if he has any fantasy value his rookie season since he will probably be ineffective offensively. 9) Rodney White has the skills to be either a power or small forward. The Pistons will like him to play small forward next to Ben Wallace. If Corliss Williamson and Joe Smith remain with the Pistons it will reduce the playing time and fantasy value of White. The Pistons desperately need another offensive player to complement Stackhouse and White has the potential to fill that role. 10) For Joe Johnson to earn playing time for the Celtics, Paul Pierce will need to move to shooting guard and Bryant Stith will need to see less playing time. The Celtics hope that Johnson can develop into a third scoring option for them. If Johnson can not provide adequate rebounds from the SF spot, which is a possibility, he will find his playing time reduced. He may also find himself spitting playing time with #11 pick Kedrick Brown.   Previous Article Next Article Copyright © Hoops Klyce 2001 - All Rights Reserved Website Designed by Lelnet Failed to execute script '../cgi-local/ax.cgi': Win32 Error Code = 2