Jerry West calls this year's draft class "a poor one."

On ESPN last night Jerry West offered his surprising thoughts on the upcoming draft:


"Everyone talking about an incredible draft this year, I think it's just the opposite. I think it's a poor one myself, based upon there are going to be prospects there, but a lot of these franchises have really struggled. At one time you could get a branded name. These kids are not branded today. They're not branded and by that I mean a kid had played at school for three or four years and comes out and people know who he is, he's tutored, he's more mature, more experienced. Those kinds of kids come in and make an impact right away. But you look at some of these kids, it takes about three or four years to get going and for a team that's really struggling, you're selling your fans that this kid's going to make us better. Most of the time it does not happen today."


Interesting viewpoint. Many experts, however, disagree, and feel this year is loaded. We'll have to wait a few years to look back and see who's right.

I don't disagree with that viewpoint. If you want a lottery pick to have an immediate impact, this doesn't look to be the draft. I'm not sure that we'll see a draft with immediate impact players until the best prospects stop going 1 or 2 years of college and jump to the NBA. Parker and Randle could probably start right away and have an impact. I'm not sure about Smart, Exum, Embiid, Wiggins, and Vonleh.

And there is always a player or two that flies under the radar but ends up being a real good player. Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley come to mind. The kid Parsons has surprised.

Dboss

By Jerry West's criteria just about every draft is a poor one; when most players come out after a year or two, very few have an immediate impact. Indeed, this was true even when players stayed for four years.

He's not saying there's no talent there. He's saying there are no immediate saviors like many people seem to think. Since so many of these guys are coming after only one or two years of college, they will take time to develop once they are in the pros. There are no immediate impact guys here, like LeBron, Kobe, and Kevin Garnett were coming straight from high school.

A bunch of people are misinterpreting his comments to mean that he doesn't think any of these guys are talented, but that's not what he's saying.

Yet another reason why building a winning culture is more important than betting it all on #1 pick.

I can understand where he is coming from. Not every 19 year old "phenom" has the ability to immediately change the fortunes of the team that drafted them.

Should these kids stay in school longer? Perhaps. It would give them more time to polish their games. And they could probably impact their respective teams more positively. But there are also some other implications to consider. What if they get severely injured in college? That would inevitably kill their draft stock and also reduce the amount of money they could make after being drafted. Plus, the NBA is offering multi-million dollar contracts. The $$$ signs are hard to ignore for most and there are some good reasons for leaving early.

I will disagree with him, though on calling it a "poor" draft class. There are plenty of gems to be found and some more that are hidden.


KJ

He's not denigrating the latent quality of this draft. He's just saying that it usually takes a while for the raw materials to develop to the NBA level. Sometimes they never do (Melo, we hardly knew ye), and sometimes it can take a long time (in Gerald Green's case, absurdly long). It's yet another reason why I'd rather see the majority (certainly not all) of the Celtics' draft picks be used in trade because, in a trade, more is usually known about the ultimate upside of a player, and that upside is usually well on its way to full realization. In other words, the right trades can speed up a team development process better than the majority of draft picks. Fortunately, there are exceptions to the latter, and I believe one of them is Jared Sullinger.

Sam