SB Nation User Blog: dalt99

Hollinger Power Rankings - Kings Falling

dalt99 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:06:23 -0000

Hollinger Power Rankings - Kings Falling

Kings are falling lower on the Hollinger power rankings.

Say what??

Kings 2008 Summer League – Player Rankings

dalt99 — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:12:35 -0000

(From the FanPosts. Sussing out Darnell Jones' potential is much better than arguing Ron-Ron for the 250th time, in my opinion. - TZ)

Some of you know about my statistical system that scores current college players by comparing them to past college players. Since we have some new faces coming to the Kings’ Summer League team I thought I would take a look at these players from a statistical prospective to see how they measure up and who may be sleepers (if anybody) to make the team based on past performance.

(Note: “Inc.” means that I could not find statistics to score that player)

Guards:

Quincy Douby (PG/SG)/6-3, Score = 87.5

Sean Singletary (PG)/6-0, Score = 86.5

Zabian Dowdell (PG/SG)/6-3, Score = 78.5

Bo McCalebb (PG/SG)/6-0, Score = 77.5

Marcus Malone (SG)/6-5, Score = 36

Darnell Jones (PG/SG)/6-4, Score = 26

David Johnson (PG/SG)/6-4, Score = Inc.

I hope this is Douby’s year. He needs to really shine in Summer League this time. I am hoping this is the season he shows his potential. I have faith in him still! Sean looks to be a very solid back-up behind Beno Udrih. He has the talent to possibly challenge Beno in the next couple seasons for the starting role. I look for him to be one of the better point guards in the camp, especially among the rookies. Zabian Dowdell and Bo McCalebb both have a chance to make a roster somewhere if they can show to be really good in at least one or two areas. Players scoring in the 70s will rarely ever play major minutes unless they do at least one thing very well. Bo (at only 6’ tall) was a big time scorer for the past two seasons (25.0 and 23.2 ppg respectively) for the New Orleans Privateers (who?) and shot the ball fairly well (50.5 FG%, 40% 3-pt) but will need to be able to shoot lights out and score very consistently to make the Kings. Both he and Zabian do not seem to be true playmaking point guards so they will have to either be fantastic lock-down defenders or lights-out scorers to make the Kings. Marcus Malone played on Houston and showed little signs of life. He averaged 7.2 points in 23 minutes of action with 1.5 assists while shooting a whopping 35% from the field. He has basically no chance to make the team. Darnell Jones played for Mesa College. Yah, a big powerhouse. Not only is that a WEAK college but he was not even close to being the best player on the team. He shot 33.5% from the field (32% 3-pt) and averaged just over 8 points per game with 2 assists and 3.9 rebounds. His stats indicate he played more of the big guard role ala Quincy Douby. Why he is on this summer league team I absolutely have no clue.

Forwards:

Jason Thompson (PF/C)/6-11, Score = 89

Matt Walsh (SG/SF)/6-6, Score = 85

Justin Hawkins (SF)/6-7, Score = 70

Patrick Ewing, Jr. (SF)/6-8, Score = 67

Juan Palacios (SF/PF)/6-8, Score = 56

Noel Felix (SF/PF)/6-9, Score = 41.5

Patrick Sanders (SG/SF)/6-6, Score = 40

Matt Walsh looks like a possible player. For a 6-6 guard/forward he has some decent passing skills and a decent stroke. He shot 42.6% from 3-pt range in a tough conference in his junior year at Florida. He has some athleticism and can create his own shot fairly well. He may score pretty well in Summer League but with Garcia, Artest, Martin, Salmons and Ewing on the roster, he has very, very little chance to make the roster. Justin Hawkins is an interesting player. He is a very good scorer and is fairly athletic. He played under Reggie Theus for two seasons at New Mexico State so Reggie should know about what he getting. To make the team he is going to have to show something very special. He is a longshot but should be fun to watch. Patrick Ewing only scores a 67 but he excels in areas that just are impossible to quantify statistically. He is a superstar athlete and a lock-down defender. He also has that ability to just go non-stop for every second he is on the floor. He will tip the ball away, dive for loose balls and harass everybody he can. His score should probably be more in the mid-seventies because of those intangibles but even still, I find it hard to believe that he will make a big impact on the Kings this season, if he even makes the team. Juan Palacios, Noel Felix and Patrick Sanders have basically no shot to make the roster.

Centers:

Spencer Hawes (C)/7-0, Score = 91

Shelden Williams (PF/C)/6-9, Score = 86.5

Darian Townes (PF/C)/6-10, Score = 80

I can’t wait to see Spencer’s new hook shot. He said he would be working on it this offseason so I look forward to the unveiling. Shelden needs to bring it this season. It’s now or never for him. Darian Townes is a guy that can rebound fairly well, score fairly well, block shots fairly well and shoots a high percentage of 60% from the field. 21 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.9 bpg per 40 minutes. Those are very solid numbers but nothing extra special. He could possibly push Spencer and Shelden a bit in practice but as far as making the team, I really doubt it. A good showing though, could get him taken in the NBDL draft.

Draft Sleepers

dalt99 — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:00:59 -0000

Draft Sleepers

Here is an interesting article (pre-draft) that happens to list both Jason Thompson AND Sean Singletary as sleepers in the 2008 draft. There are some interesting and informative comments about each player as well.

2008 NBA DRAFT PLAYER RANKINGS by DALT99 (Complete List)

dalt99 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:01:20 -0000

Now that the date has come and gone to pull out of the draft, I hope everyone will indulge me as I post my rankings of ALL the main players coming out for the 2008 NBA Draft. Four years ago I created a statistical system to rank college players based on many factors such as height, age, position, experience and of course season game stats. I created this system to take the college stats of each player and project their NBA potential. Each player's score is rated from zero to as high as the low 100s, though most scores of prospects fall between 50 and 105. This can be used for any player coming out of college from as far back to the early 1980s. I have seen some great results with this system such as having Brandon Roy and Rajon Rondo ranked as the 2nd and 3rd best prospects coming out of college in 2006. Yes, you could argue that Rudy Gay (4th) and LaMarcus Aldridge (9th) are better than Rondo but Rondo was criminally drafted as the 21st pick! Also in that draft the system had Jordan Farmar as the 14th best prospect, Paul Millsap as the 9th best and Leon Powe as the 16th best prospect. Those players were drafted 26th 47th and 49th respectively and are showing to be much better than where they were drafted. Consequently I do admit to the system not being perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Nick Fazekas (12th) from last year’s draft has shown flashes but not even close to where a projected lottery pick should. Tyrus Thomas (1st) has lots of potential but is still raw and Quincy Douby (15th) well, hopefully he will come along. Still on average it’s had a very good showing each year with many more successes than failures. It takes a lot of time to figure out all the player’s rankings in a draft so forgive me for posting this so close to draft day!

Now, below are the rankings in order of highest to lowest score. If you are curious, before the list is a (relatively) brief explanation of the scores and what they represent.

00-60: NOT NBA MATERIAL. Just about 90% of the players in this range will go undrafted and never make an NBA roster. The ones that do get drafted rarely last in the NBA for more than a season or two.

60-70: ROSTER FILLER/END OF THE BENCH. Very rarely will a player scoring in this range ever make any big impact in the NBA. Almost all of them will be out of the league in less than 3 years. Most players in this range never even become drafted into the NBA. Notable players in this group include Maurice Ager (69) and Darryl Watkins (65.5).

70-75: THIRD STRING/CAREER RESERVE. Not many players who score in this range make a large dent in the NBA. Some will have solid careers as a backup, usually in the specialist role such as a good 3-pt shooter. Players in the group include J.J. Redick (73.5), Steve Novak (72) and Mateen Cleaves (71).

75-80: CAREER RESERVE/6TH MAN. A wide range of players find themselves in this group. Some will find the right team to stick in the NBA with and some will not. A lot of specialists (sharp shooter, shot blocker, volume rebounder) will find roles on teams for many years while a player without any great skill or consistency in one area will usually be out of the league within a few seasons. Players in this group include Daniel Gibson (79.5), Eddie House (79.5) and Lawrence Funderburke (76.5).

80-85: 6TH MAN/FRINGE STARTER. A player in this range usually will make it in the NBA as a solid back-up on the right team. Many of these players will even find themselves in the running for Sixth Man of the Year. Sometimes a player in this range will be a starter if that team does not have a good player at his position. Players in this group include Brandon Bass (83), Bobby Jackson (81.5) and Aaron McKie (80.5).

85-90: FRINGE/SOLID STARTER. Players in this range are usually talented enough to make an NBA roster as a starter, but may or may not be good enough to be a full-time starter on a good team. The closer they are to 90, the much greater chance that they will end up being a career starter. Most, however, will at least have a long NBA career. Players in this group include Marcus Camby (89.5), John Salmons (87.5), Francisco Garcia (86.5) and Doug Christie (85.5).

90-93: SOLID STARTER. A player in this rage will usually impact any team he plays on. He may not be the best player on the team (sometimes is the best player on a bad team) but will usually be a very productive and valuable player for most of his career. Some players in this range go on to be all-stars or are just missing the cut. Some of the great players scoring in this range include Jason Richardson (92), Shareef Abdur-Rahim (92), Gerald Wallace (91.5), Ron Artest (91) and Spencer Hawes (91).

93-96: SOLID STARTER/ALL-STAR. This is the start of the elite groups. A player in this group will almost always become a very solid starter in the NBA. Over 80% so far have. Many in this range (about 50%) have even gone on to be an all-star or multiple all-star. Players in this group include Chauncey Billups (95), David West (93.5) and Joe Johnson (93.5).

96-98: ALL-STAR. This is where some of the franchise players begin to show up. Starting with this score range, the best players in the world are in this group and above. A player in this group will usually, by his 30th birthday, be a multiple (two or more appearances) All-Star. The closer to 98, the more appearances are probable. This group can be the most difficult to gauge however because only so many players can be all-stars and many very good players in this range (such as Zach Randolph, 97) miss out. Also, a few players such as Drew Gooden (97) and Corey Maggette (97.5) never reach the potential that their college stats indicated. Players such as Rasheed Wallace (96), Ray Allen (96.5) and Paul Pierce (97.5) are in this elite group.

98-100: ALL-STAR/FRANCHISE PLAYER. Same as the 96-98 group except a player in this group is likely to become a superstar. Players like Carlos Boozer (98), who was a 35th pick in the draft, Chris Webber (99.5) and Dwyane Wade (99.5) fall into this category.

100+: SUPERSTAR/NBA MVP. The cream of the NBA crop. Players such as Tim Duncan (100), Allen Iverson (102.5) and Shaquille O’Neal (105.5) have fulfilled their college statistical projection of Superstars.

Rank Player-Class Pos. Score

1 Michael Beasley-F F 102.5

2 Kevin Love-F FC 97

3 Derrick Rose-F PG 96.5

4 Marreese Speights-So FC 96

5 OJ Mayo-F G 93.5

6 Ryan Anderson-So PF 92.5

7 Richard Hendrix-J FC 91

8 Bill Walker-So SF 91

9 Nathan Jawai-Euro C 90.5

10 J.J. Hickson-F FC 90.5

11 Chris Douglas-Roberts-J SG 90

12 Jerryd Bayless-F PG 89.5

13 Anthony Randolph-F FC 89

14 Jason Thompson-Se PF 89

15 Brook Lopez-So C 88.5

16 D.J. Augustin-So PG 88.5

17 DeAndre Jordan-F C 88.5

18 Mario Chalmers-J PG 88.5

19 Aleks Maric-Se C 88.5

20 Tony Lee-Se G 88

21 Darrell Arthur-So PF 87.5

22 Omer Asik-Euro FC 87.5

23 Nicolas Batum-Euro SF 87.5

24 Russell Westbrook-So PG 87

25 Joe Alexander-J SF 86.5

26 Eric Gordon-F SG 86.5

27 Sean Singletary-Se PG 86.5

28 Reggie Williams-Se GF 86.5

29 Roy Hibbert-Se C 86

30 Walter Sharpe-So PF 86

31 Joey Dorsey-Se PF 85.5

32 Kosta Koufos-F C 85.5

33 David Padgett-Se C 85.5

34 Danilo Gallinari-Euro F 85.5

35 Jamont Gordon-J G 85

36 Maarty Leunen-Se PF 84.5

37 Malik Hairston-Se SF 84.5

38 George Hill-J G 84

39 DJ White-Se PF 84

40 Donte Greene-F F 84

41 Shawn James-J PF 84

42 Courtney Lee-Se GF 83.5

43 Trent Plaisted-J FC 83

44 Darnell Jackson-Se PF 83

45 Brandon Rush-J GF 82

46 Gary Forbes-Se GF 81.5

47 J.R. Giddens-Se GF 81.5

48 Serge Ibaka-Euro FC 81

49 DeMarcus Nelson-Se G 81

50 Sonny Weems-Se GF 81

51 Mike Green-Se PG 80

52 Darian Townes-Se FC 80

53 Kyle Weaver-Se G 80

54 Davon Jefferson-F PF 80

55 Robin Lopez-So C 78.5

56 DeVon Hardin-Se FC 78

57 James Gist-Se F 78

58 Will Daniels-Se F 78

59 Anthony Slack-Se F 77.5

60 Bo McCalebb-J G 77.5

61 Goran Dragic-Euro PG 77

62 Mark Tyndale-Se G 77

63 Wayne Chism-So PF 76.5

64 James Mays-Se PF 76.5

65 JaVale McGee-So FC 75.5

66 Jeremiah Wood-Se F 75

67 Jamar Butler-Se PG 75

68 Shan Foster-Se SG 75

69 Josh Duncan-Se F 75

70 Marcelus Kemp-Se G 74.5

71 Charles Rhodes-Se PF 73

72 Chris Lofton-Se G 72

73 Novica Velickovic-Euro PF 71.5

74 Reggie Larry-Se F 71

75 Kentrell Gransberry-Se FC 70.5

76 JaJuan Smith-Se G 70.5

77 Kyle Landry-Se FC 70

78 Kojo Mensah-J PG 70

79 Justin Hawkins-Se GF 70

80 Quan Prowell-Se SF 70

81 Sasha Kaun-Se C 69.5

82 Brian Butch-Se FC 69.5

83 Mike Taylor-Se PG 69.5

84 Othello Hunter-Se F 69

85 Anton Ponkrashov-Euro G 69

86 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute-Se F 68.5

87 Sundiata Gaines-Se G 68.5

88 Mykal Riley-Se GF 68.5

89 Bruce Price-J PG 68

90 Rob McKiver-Se G 68

91 Draelon Burns G 68

92 Patrick Ewing Jr.-Se F 67

93 Deron Washington-Se GF 66.5

94 Joe Crawford-Se SG 65

95 Bryce Taylor-Se SG 65

96 Charron Fisher-Se GF 63

97 Kalen Grimes-Se FC 63

98 Pat Calathes-Se F 61.5

99 Tyrone Brazelton-Se PG 61.5

100 Martin Zeno-Se G 61.5

101 Durell Vinson-Se PF 60.5

102 Richard Roby-Se SG 60

103 Jiri Hubalek-Se FC 59

104 Jaycee Carroll-Se G 58

105 C.J. Giles-Se C 58

106 Kevin Bell-Se PG 54

107 Dion Dowell-Se SF 46.5

108 Derrick Low-Se PG 45

109 Boris Meno-Se PF 42.5

110 Alex Harris-Se SG 42

While this is not as good a crop of players this year, the Kings should still be able to draft a player or two that can help out fairly soon. If anybody would like an explanation of why a player is higher or lower than you expect I will try to explain! If you want to know the score of any player from the past 30 years, just ask! Also, if anybody would like to me, I will gladly post the rankings of the past couple NBA drafts.

Kings Bench Not Being Used Correctly

dalt99 — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:15:04 -0000

Theus has done very well with players like Salmons, Beno and Miller. He is getting them into position to play the game they excel at and running offensive sets to take advantage of their skills. However, I feel that three of the Kings' bench players are not being used to the best of thier abilities by Theus.

1. Quincy Douby
We all know that Quincy is great with that running one-handed floater in the lane yet just about everytime he uses this shot it is on a fast break or because the offense has broken down and Q is forced to make something happen one-on-one. Most the time Douby is on offense however, he is relegated to bringing up the ball and getting players the ball that are coming off screens. That is not Douby's game. He is no Steve Nash or even Beno. Theus needs to realize this. Douby is best when the floor is spread and he is given the chance to take his man one-on-one on the perimeter. He is a creator similar to Salmons yet he is not being given the chance to shine.

2. Spencer Hawes
Yes, he is a rookie and very unexperienced yet all we heard about this guy all summer was how talented a low-post scorer he was. We saw him in Summer League use very impressive moves in the paint to set up turn-around jumpers, drop-steps and advanced hook shots with both the right AND the left hand. He did most of his scoring at Washington in the low post teamed with a nice 18-22 foot shot. With the Kings though, he rarely touches the ball on offense and sees the ball in the post maybe once every five games he plays. While it is true that he is a 19 year-old rookie, Theus needs to get him some touches EVERY GAME in the post. He is usually in the game with the second unit and other than Garcia, there are not many scorers on that unit. Douby is a scorer yet he is relegated to setting up Garcia and the one remaining starter usually left on the floor (Salmons or Artest most often). Theus needs to get Hawes on the block where he is MOST useful on offense. Using him for only screens and rebounding is putting Spencer in a position to if not fail, then to just be a body. Sometimes he finds a way to get involved either with an assist or finding a way to get an open 17 footer but usually his line is a handful of rebounds and a put-back or two. He needs to be much more involved on the offensive end when he's out there.

3. Justin Williams
FREE 3-Wil!!!!!!!!!

That's all I'm going to say. For the 500th time that is.

Poll

Which Kings bench player is being mis-used the most when they play?

Quincy Douby

7 votes

Spencer Hawes

15 votes

Francisco Garcia

0 votes

Kenny Thomas

2 votes

Dahntay Jones

0 votes

Nobody

0 votes

All the Above

1 votes

25 votes | Poll has closed

Kenny Thomas > Justin Williams?

dalt99 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:31:20 -0000

(From the diaries. Rather brilliant and obvious takedown of the decision to let Kenny Thomas play while Justin Williams racks up the DNP-CDs. -TZ)

Last 4 games played combined:

Kenny Thomas:
39 minutes, 8 rebounds, 0 points, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 1 steal, 5 turnovers, 9 fouls, 0-3 FG, 0-0 FT

Justin Williams:
DNP-CD

I think it's time that Reggie Theus stands by his word and puts Justin into the game instead of K-9 (b-arf).

Reggie has said many times that he is going to play the players that produce. He says he is going to play the players that hustle and bring it every night. If a player is not producing he will make a change. So he says. In almost all instances, he has stuck to his word. His philosophy. His creed. Except with Kenny Thomas.

Why?

Are there reasons that the Kings and Theus would put Thomas on the floor instead of Justin? Sure:

1) The Kings are trying to "showcase" Thomas for a trade. Show that he is healthy and can be a part of a team's plans.
Well, with these stats I don't think any GM is going to be knocking on Petrie's door. Actually, no GM will be.

2) Kenny is much more experienced than Justin.
Guess what? So is Vitaly Potapenko. So is Chris Dudley! If they were here, should they play ahead of Justin Williams?? Uh, no.

3) Kenny makes less mistakes.
How can you prove this if Justin is spending the whole 48 minutes picking splinters out of his ass? Kenny has committed a ton of turnovers this year and 5 in the last 39 minutes he's played as well as 9 fouls. I don't see how Justin could do much worse. Also, with time on the court, a young player should improve while Kenny is what he is.

4) Justin is a horrible free-throw shooter.
Yes he is and he needs to work much harder on it to be a legit 20+ minute a night player yet how many free-throws has Kenny made in the past 4 games? None. How many attempts? None. I don't think Justin could do any worse. In fact, nobody could.

5) Kenny will whine if he is benched.
GOOD! Maybe it's time he sits his butt down and realizes that he has to play well for Theus to get minutes from him. If he whines, let him watch the game from the locker room.

6) Justin is not playing well enough in practice to warrant any playing time.
Obviously, there is no way I can refute this but I doubt this is the reason that the Kings and Theus are not playing Justin. However, if by some small chance it is, I will say that I doubt that Kenny is tearing it up in practice either. Some players are practice players and suck in games, sometimes the reverse is true. Obviously Kenny is not doing it, give Justin a try. Maybe he's a "gamer".

7) Kenny makes too much money to let him just sit on the bench all game.
Yes he does. Still is this really a good reason to play Thomas instead of Williams? Do I really have to answer that? This is probably the worst of all the reasons.

Is Justin a savior? 97.26% no, but we KNOW 200% that Kenny isn't. Playing Justin ten minutes a game, no matter how bad he does is not going to be much worse than playing Kenny those minutes. Justin is a team guy, energy player and very athletic. By playing him, Theus might find out that there's something to be said about active legs, youthful energy, hustle, fire and ability to run the floor, block shots, and rebound. Hmm, sounds exactly like what Theus likes out of his players.

So he says anyway.

Always with the Injuries!

dalt99 — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:19:19 -0000

I can see it now: Brad will get injured during training camp, Hawes and Sharif will both still be out with knee problems by end of training camp. Here's our starting roster and 2nd team off the bench:

Starters:
PG: Bibby
SG: Martin
SF: Garcia
PF: Thomas
C: Moore

Bench:
PG: Shakur
SG: Douby
SF: Salmons
PF: Watkins
C: Williams

I just hope Brad hasn't overworked himself getting back into shape.

We are going to need to stay healthy and get improvement from our young players such as Garcia, Douby, Williams and Salmons. Even Martin needs to keep progressing.

Poll

Who do YOU think needs to improve the most this year for the Kings to get into the playoffs

Quincy Douby

2 votes

John Salmons

2 votes

Francisco Garcia

12 votes

Kevin Martin

1 votes

Mike Bibby

10 votes

Justin Williams

4 votes

31 votes | Poll has closed

KHTK Poll

dalt99 — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:34:48 -0000

With all the talk about KHTK, I thought I'd ask a question of everyone. As Kings fans, most of us have listened to the Kings on KHTK but with the summer duldrums, what do we listen to the station for now? If we do at all. I have my own views of why they're not getting the ratings they have been but I'll not get into that here. Poll below.

Poll

Besides the Sacramento Kings, if you were to listen to the local hosts on KHTK, what topic would you be mostly interested in?

An equal mix of all the above topics

2 votes

I only listen to the local KHTK hosts when it's about the Kings

17 votes

I never listen to the local hosts of KHTK. EVER!

5 votes

Baseball (General)

0 votes

Baseball (Giants or A's mostly)

6 votes

NFL (General)

5 votes

NFL (Raiders mostly)

1 votes

Sacramento Monarchs

1 votes

Sports news of the day (Michael Vick, Ref accused of gambling, USA basketball, etc.)

7 votes

Boxing, Golf, Tennis, Hockey, Soccer and all other sports not mentioned above only

0 votes

44 votes | Poll has closed

Underrated - 2007 NBA Draft

dalt99 — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 00:10:53 -0000

I have been studying this draft for a few months now. First off I must say that I have a personal statistics system (of my own creation) that I have been using for a couple years now that has netted some very good results. Last year for instance it correctly (through most people's eyes and the Rookie of the Year award) picked Brandon Roy as statistically the best talent in the draft. Now Roy may not be the best 3 years from now from the 2006 crop but he should be up there and yet he was chosen 6th overall. Adam Morrison, a nice player, who was drafted 3rd and considered a top-3 prospect all year was only my 9th highest rated player below such players as Tyrus Thomas (4), Rajon Rondo (21) and Marcus Williams (22). Each of those players except maybe Thomas played better than their draft position. Paul Millsap, picked 47th, was my #8 rated player and he has played very well for Utah in limited minutes. Now, I will admit that it also had Quincy Douby listed #5 so it's not perfect (though I still feel he could become a very good player in time). Still, it's done fairly well.

As far as for 2007, there are a few prospects that are again rated higher and lower than where they are projected. I want to address the ones projected significantly lower than I have them rated.

1. Rodney Stuckey, G (6'5") - He looks AWESOME on paper. Simply awesome. This guy is a sophomore, NOT senior, that can put the ball in the hoop. He is fearless and goes to the rim like a man possessed. He averaged 17 shots per game in college which means one of 2 things - or both: He is either a ball-hog or a guy that really knows how to get his shot off. The thing with Stuckey is he is almost ALWAYS rated below Nick Young in the mock drafts yet he is a better scorer than Nick, he is a better rebounder than Nick AND a much better playmaker. He is rated third overall on my system (behind Durant and Oden, in that order) by statistics alone, however due to his playing for a small college he gets negative points for that. Still, he is projected as a 15-20 pick and he may be a STEAL at that spot. He may end up being the best guard in the whole draft including Conley Jr and Acie Law.

2. Nick Fazekas, F/C (6'11") - 27 points and 15 rebounds per game. Wow. That's his stats per 40 minutes. Add 2 ½ assists and some blocks with fairly limited turnovers per game and the fact that he is projected 25-40 and you have an underrated player if I've ever seen one. What if those were Spencer Hawes' numbers or Sean Williams'? On my list he is statistically ranked fourth. Super efficient and he does a bit of everything. He can shoot off pick and rolls (!!!) and from out to 20 feet as well as rebound with the best of them. Again though, he is from a smaller college so that is hurting his draft stock as it should.

3. Jared Jordan, PG (6'2") - I feel he is the most underrated point guard in the draft bar none. Guys like Gabe Pruitt, Aaron Brooks and Taurean Green are usually rated much higher than him but he is someone to take a chance on in the lower picks and if my system is correct could be much better than them. Per 40 minutes his stats are eye-popping: 18 pts, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. He ranks 10th overall on my list. 2.6 assist/TO ratio is VERY good for college. Yet again, he plays for a small college and so his stock is not as high as other point guards. Still, he is projected as a second rounder to undrafted. With numerous double-doubles last season and TWO triple-doubles, the guy can play and is underrated big time in my eyes.

4. Javaris Crittenton, PG (6'5") - I see Javaris as POTENTIALLY better than Conley or Law. On my system he is statistically ranked in the top 20 but due to only being a freshman and the fact he is projected to go somewhere around 14-20, I feel he may end up being a star PG in the league and to nab him with the 15th pick or so, that is not bad.

5. Jason Smith, C (7'0") - OK, most of you know him and some of you think as highly about him as I do. I don't think he will be as good in the NBA as he was in college since he seems to have some limitations such as supposedly not being able to use his left hand. Still, at 7 feet and VERY mobile with a nice shooting touch, Smith is possibly a better prospect than Spencer Hawes and Sean Williams, both are ranked above Smith on some drafts. Especially Hawes. I like Hawes but not for the Kings. Smith however could be a very good player. He rebounds per minute as well as Greg Oden and scores more. As with just about all my underrated picks, they come from smaller schools and Smith is in that same boat.

6. Dominic McGuire, F (6'8") - As a long-shot I want to mention Mr. McGuire. He is pretty much projected as a mid to late second round pick but any team in the second round that is looking for an athletic SF that can rebound like crazy, pass, block shots, play tough aggressive defense and run the floor, Dominic would be a steal. He has NBA talent and is still young as a junior. He was one of the stars of the pre-draft camp in Orlando and on my statistical rankings, is listed in the top 25 of all prospects. Watch for who picks him and keep an eye out for him next season.

Now the thing is, it's likely that at least one of these players will come close to their college stats at some point in their career. If they do, they will be solid NBA players and in the case of the first two, could become stars. We will see. What does everybody else think?

Poll

Who do YOU think is the most underrated player in the draft this year out of these players:

Nick Young

0 votes

Al Thornton

2 votes

Julian Wright

1 votes

Jeff Green

1 votes

Rodney Stuckey

3 votes

Jason Smith

1 votes

Thaddeus Young

1 votes

Javaris Crittenton

0 votes

Spencer Hawes

0 votes

Tiago Splitter

0 votes

9 votes | Poll has closed