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Originally Posted by alphadog
Surely you're not comparing KG as a sr. to JO as a sr.? Absolutely NO comparison. KG was...and still is...the exception. He was sure-fire. The fact that JO was drafted 17 says alot. Sure some guys drop because they get caught but alot of guys still end up getting picked high with questions about their fire. TT, anyone? BTW, Frank Williams dropped because of questions about his attitude AND, more importantly, his jump shot. There's also a lot of "I bet"s, and "could be"s in your post. If you graphed the player's progress, ITs tenure would only fall on the curve, not change it. In fact, there is NO question Brad Miller is better now than he ever was before. Same with JO. Those are facts. Since Thomas has been gone 4-5 years from those guys, the only argument you can make is that IT instilled some type of knowledge to these guys that they used in future years. That would be speculation of the most unsubstanciated kind. Since their developmental curve started before he had these guys, it is safer to say that he MAY have contributed. No way can one say he had the most to do with the development.
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KG AND JO HAD NO COMPARISON COMING OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL? Let's review, Kevin Garnett averaged 25.2ppg, 17.9rpg and 6.5bpg and was named "Mr.Basketball" in Illinois. Jermaine O'neal averaged 22.4ppg, 12.4rpg and 5.2 bpg and was named "Mr. Basketball" in South Carolina. The difference in rebounds could be explained by a Bud Johnson who was also a 7-footer older than JO that rebounded the ball quite well so I think the rebounding issue is somewhat nullified. So, your telling me because of 2.8ppg, and 1.3bpg less accounts for Jermaine dropping to 17th compared to Kevin Garnett going 5th just the year before? Maybe in your eyes but certainly not in mine. It's obvious that there were serious issues about the likihood about JO surviving in the league being as thin as he was. His time spent in Indiana showed him to use his strength's in the same situations that many thought he couldn't survive, playing with his back to the basket. Alot of people would say he couldn't hold his position on the block but no one ever wondered whether people would be able to keep a body on him with his speed on the block.
My posts may have a few "I bet's" so on and such but their actually on point. I just told you that alot of teams find the guys that "don't have the fire" and pointed out 3 players that dropped as a result of it. You mention Tim Thomas as your defense who went 7th in a weak draft where only Tracy McGrady was a better player than him at that point. Sounds to me as Sixers just went with the best guy they felt was available at that point because you could have gotten stuck with an
Olivier Saint-Jean, Johnny Taylor, Chris Anstey, Danny Fortson, Adonal Foyle, Anthony Parker, or Ed Gray that followed him in the first round. As for Isiah Thomas developing those players in Indiana, I simply said that they became players of significant under his watch. I ain't giving him complete credit for their development but once again, there have been alot of guys that have fell out of the league because they did not have a favorable situation to grow. Isiah created an environment where they did just that and while they may be bigger stars right now, it's because of a natural maturation along with the confidence they got playing for Thomas.
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