Busting Brackets 2014 NBA Draft with Google Chat of Doom

Jun 27, 2013; Brooklyn, NY, USA; NBA commissioner David Stern (right) introduces deputy commissioner Adam Silver after the first round of the 2013 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to the first weekly-ish Busting Brackets 2014 NBA Draft (insert a clever name because we haven’t found one yet). What we are doing, or attempting to do at least, is take a look at some 2014 NBA Draft prospects, but in a different, lighter setting. We are basically doing this because Joseph (that is me!) is a giant coward and hates being degrading while talking about an unpaid laborer’s chances in the NBA. It is also a way for Jared to do more things with the site because he is an incredibly busy person.

The format is pretty simple. The birth of this thing is basically an accident. I was on Twitter complaining about a certain player’s hype, Jared and I spar, somehow went back and forth on Google Chat (yeah, I barely know what that is too. I kid. I really love Google Chat) and now we have this. The conversation that you will see is the same one we had. Sans some spelling errors as well as some language not appropriate for all audiences.

Being that I am a nerd, any f-bombs will be replaced with “frack” (Battlestar!). There is also no need to worry about too many inside jokes. Ours are not that clever to begin with and you will see through them relatively quickly. Really, what I am trying to say in the most roundabout way as humanly possible, we are not nearly as cool as we pretend to be. That mostly falls on Jared, though. Plus if there is any weird thing we think you need to be aware of, we will let you know in the sidebar of parenthesis.

In today’s edition of Busting Brackets 2014 NBA Draft Talk (clever name), we go heavy with Michigan Wolverines prospects, which include this crazy Nik Stauskas hype. Also some Cleanthony Early, with Joseph using him as an example as a “practical” second-round draft choice. Finally, we have Jared being grumpy because he is evil.

If anyone thinks I am being too hard on Jared, well, he should have done the post instead of some really, really (in fact incredibly) handsome guy with above-average to swell hair.

(Oh, and we know. There’s a TON, SLEW, BUTTLOAD of spelling and other errors in the chat, but that’s kinda the point here. So take a chill-pill, Francis)

The dreaded, grammatically error-filled….

GOOGLE CHAT OF DOOM

Joseph Nardone: No really, what’s the deal with this Stauskas hype?

Jared Mintz: I don’t see it, i don’t think he has the quickness to make it in the league.

Jared Mintz: Aaron Craft looks like Eric Bledsoe when it comes to big 10 basketball, so of course Stauskas looks like Bradley Beal. He’s very, very talented, but we’ve seen talented shoot first guards in college basketball lately who just don’t have the athleticism to be two way, or even proficient one way (scoring) players at the next level and I think Stauskas, at this stage, falls into that.

Joseph Nardone: It’s just weird to me. A week ago he was pegged as a second-round talent, but because Mitch McGary back injuries and Michigan I guess, Stauskas becomes the defacto guy on the rise. Granted, it is the same people who had McGary as a top-four draft pick last year who are jumping Stauskas up essentially 20 some draft positions, but it is insane to me.

Joseph Nardone: The two-guard, if you are a starter, in the NBA is a premiere position. John Salmons (similar size) has been all over the league and that’s despite the fact he had some years of going over 17 ppg. His best is probably better than Stauskas’ best, but hey, let’s make that kid a lottery pick.

Joseph Nardone: I mean, really, everyone loves a two-guard who won’t be able to create his own shot, right?

Jared Mintz: Anthony Bennett went first in the draft this past year Joseph, and his biggest competition seemed to be Alex Len…with these guys scouts fall in love with potential and draft based on that more than anything. Which is what worries me about Stauskas…how good can he get with limited athleticism? I think best case we’re comparing him to Klay Thompson, but Klay got to the rim with ease in college and was able to handle an offense being put on his back. Stauskas is playing the part well this season, and the way he’s shooting the ball, 46% from three! Which is amazing.

Joseph Nardone: I was/am a huge Klay Thompson guy. It feels almost anti-human for you to even bring up that they might even be remotely comparable. With that being said, I am not saying Stauskas can’t make a roster. I am saying he isn’t going to start in the league. Tim Hardaway Jr. is twice the player as him and is an iffy rotation guy for the lowly Knicks. Plus I think someone like Hardaway has a legit chance in the league. Stauskas feels like another one of those, um, white savior guys who people want to be good in the NBA more than they actually think he will be good in it.

Joseph Nardone: If someone were to scoop him up early in the second-round, hell even the late, late first-round, I wold be okay with it. But if someone is stupid enough to think he warrants to be drafted over Gary Harris then I have nothing for them. There is no debate to be had because we would be living in two completely different universes.

Jared Mintz: That’s really what this is all about for you huh? Someone having the notion that he could be a better ball player than Gary Harris.

Jared Mintz: As much as I love Gary Harris, if you can be a knock down shooter at the next level it’s reason for people to fall in love with you. Lottery love seems insane, but I think he can be a rotation player at the next level at the very least.

Joseph Nardone: I think it is pretty simple. If you were an NBA GM and those were the only two players available and your team stinks to the high heavens, which player has a better chance to turn your franchise around? Because that’s what we are talking about when we talk the tenth overall pick or so.

Joseph Nardone: I don’t think Harris is some franchise player either, but I can seem him as a guy who makes a team a few wins better. Stauskas feels more like an off-the-bench situational player to me. A poor man’s JJ Redick or a rich man’s Adam Morrison, depending on your outlook on w-o-w (means white-on-white player comparisons) comparisons. But is he Klay Thompson? Nope.

Joseph Nardone: I think as the season goes on the Stauskas is the greatest thing since sliced-bread talk will cool off. He is the type of prospect who can’t afford to have a three-game bad stretch. So I think his draft stock will settle in the late first to early second, where it probably belongs.

Joseph Nardone: If Stauskas were to go in the lottery, think about it, it would mean he would probably go higher in the draft than Tyler Ennis…who is being mostly projected as a 20-ish pick.

Joseph Nardone: Ennis’ ceiling is higher, no?

Jared Mintz: I’d imagine so, and I’d also imagine Harris’s is higher than Stauskas, but maybe we’re talking about a team with an abundance of athletes that needs a shooter. i know the draft is supposed to be talent over need, but it’s not like there aren’t 3 unexplainable top 10 picks every draft – at least – maybe Stauskas will be this years.

Jared Mintz: I have to run to a meeting, you gonna be around in a little bit to continue this?

Intermission Update:

As Jared is gone to his meeting I go to pick up my five-year-old daughter from school. It is there that I am greeted by other parents who always talk to each other but not me. I don’t know why, but I feel incredibly excluded from whatever it is they are talking about. I can only assume they are talking about dumb things like whatever it is that normal people talk about. Their loss…….?

Jared Mintz: You still around?

Joseph Nardone: Yeah. Give me a minute tho. Just got home from picking up my daughter from school.

Jared Mintz: Do your thing.

Joseph Nardone: Sorry my man. Give me about a half hour, my kid spilled juice box all over her. I am headed into an emergency tubby situation

Jared Mintz: hahaha Do what you gotta do, I may be out to lunch so if i am we’ll reconvene later

Intermission Update #2:

Five-year-old spills juice box all over herself. I’m not mad, mind you. I just want to clean her up in a proper way before her mother gets home. No need for an angry wife and a sticky daughter. Also, sidenote: If anybody ever meets Ava W from my daughter’s school, please tell her to stop bragging about this Doc McStuffins doctor center she got from Santa. The thing is like elventy-billion dollars.

Joseph Nardone: Alive?

Jared Mintz: I’m here but leaving in 15

Joseph Nardone: We can start real quick on Mitch McGary?

(horrible transition later because I mentioned I might post this)

Jared Mintz: Speaking of Stauskas and Michigan, you brought up Mitch McGary before…do you think he comes out this year despite the injury, and if so, where do you see him going in relation to how good you think he’s going to be?

Joseph Nardone: I think he needs to turn pro before he becomes a late second-round to undrafted player. I didn’t buy into his hype during the tournament last year, so I am definitely not pro Mitch, but I can see him (because height) tricking some into thinking he is worthy of being selected 20th. I do project him as the second big guy off the bench for the NBA team, though. What say you?

Jared Mintz: Yeah I don’t see him being a star big in the league, the obvious w-on-w comparison here is Kevin Love because he lacks athleticism, but has a nose for the ball, great awareness, is a tremendous passer and is probably most effective on the offensive end facing up from mid range.

Jared Mintz: With that said, I think having a back injury at his age is a horrible omen. Maybe he’d be able to come back for his junior season and improve his draft stock, but I share your sentiment that the longer he waits the more time he gives scouts and GMs to sour on him.

Joseph Nardone: If Jack Cooley is an in-and-out player in the NBA, I just don’t see how McGary hits. He isn’t a comparable player (Cooley is a bruiser, McGary a finesse), but a handful of good games in college shouldn’t make a player seem worthy of awesomeness. Regardless, McGary needs to turn pro ASAP. Who knows, maybe playing better big men competition or at least practicing against them on the regular will help his development. I just don’t see it, though. Who I do see as a good prospect, and I might be the only person on the planet who is saying this, is Cleanthony Early (Wichita State), who is mostly rated as an undrafted grade by most sites. Am I a crazy person?

Jared Mintz: I don’t want to be criminally wrong on Early like I was on Kawhi Leonard…but this is one I don’t see. I think he’s an impact player on the collegiate level – like McGary – but doesn’t have that explosiveness at the 3 or toughness at the 4 to play at the next level.

Jared Mintz: I also think he’s limited from a skills standpoint. I can’t see him being able to create his own shots at the next level because from the few Wichita State games I’ve watched this season he hasn’t done a remarkable job of it. We’re looking at a college four who’s trying desperately to show the skills of an NBA three, but I don’t think he necessarily has them.

Joseph Nardone: I think this is more of a value conversation. No, Early won’t be able to create his own shot at the next level or be even remotely good enough to be a starter, but how many guys in the second-round even make an NBA team each year? I have a theory about the second-round of the NBA that I think should be put in practice more. Use it to draft stash-and-cash players or players that will at least be good “practice players”. I think Early could go to a team that is full of veterans and can help prepare them for big games.

Joseph Nardone: I know it sounds stupid, to waste a draft pick on a practice player, but second-rounders are so ho-humish to being with that I think being practical is something that should be practiced more in the NBA Draft — NOT DRAFTING FOR NEED, which is about the dumbest thing ever.

Jared Mintz: Well thanks for taking time in our draft evaluation session to tell me what you think NBA organizations should do with second round picks. We should let Carlos Boozer, Manu Ginobili, and Lance Stephenson practice with the vets.

Jared Mintz: But in all seriousness, that’s not a bad idea, and I think your theory would be fine for Early…yanno…either that or the D League.

Joseph Nardone: They are exceptions, not the rule.

Jared Mintz: Be back in a bit.

Intermission #3

Waiting for Jared to come back from whatever it is that people with higher-educations do (I assume it is throwing random objects at uneducated people like me. Which would also explain a ton of awkward situations in my life). While he was gone I saw that statement by the NCAA about Northwestern football players forming a union. They talk about education being the most important thing in college (which, in most non-billion dollar business cases, is true). The NCAA also talks about playing Division I sports being voluntary, but just a few sentences later acknowledging they “give players scholarships to play”. I am confused. Playing football is voluntary even if there’s a string (scholarship) attached? Does the NCAA even care enough anymore to make up good excuses? Come on, guys. You are better than that. Well, let me rephrase that. You are good enough at being selfish, jerkface, unpaid laborer mongrels to come up with better lies.

Joseph Nardone: No one is going to read this far.

Joseph Nardone: Also, let’s be honest…I am not sure if anyone will read this or read it after the first few slates of us being whatever it is that we are. Should we stop it here?

Jared Mintz: lol Please.

The End

Thanks…and sorry, I think?

#uneducatedjoeprobz

If for (some ghastly, unknown reason) you want to hear about the Knicks and their bright future, follow Jared on Twitter @JMintzHoops.

I won’t waste your time. Don’t follow me. I am a horrible Twitterer.