Jerry West Thinks The 2014 Draft Is 'Poor'

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/4/2/5575250/jerry-west-thinks-the-2014-nba-draft-poor



Warriors consultant and Lakers legend Jerry West isn't impressed by the upcoming draft.


Sorry, Jabari. Lakers legend and Warriors consultant Jerry West thinks people should cool it with talk about the impact of the 2014 NBA Draft.

In an interview with ESPN Radio in February, West discussed the state of the NBA and at the end of the interview went with a bold statement about the upcoming draft.

"There's not enough players to go around," West told radio host Scott Van Pelt. "This is the weakest I've seen this league, the weakest. We are depending on people who go to school for a year to come in and change the fortune of franchises. Rarely does that happen. Everybody is talking about an incredible draft this year. I think it's just the opposite. I think it's a poor one, myself.

"At one time you could get a branded name," West added. "These kids are not branded today. They're not branded. And by that I mean a kid has played in school for four or five years, or  three years, and comes out and people know who he is. He's tutored, he's more matured, more experienced."

West probably means branded with experience, because college basketball players are certainly branded by name -- that's the whole reason we're having this discussion.

Andrew Wiggins was named the next LeBron James unfairly, and fellow lottery picks like Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker and Julius Randle gave their own arguments over who should go first overall.

It seems that West truly believes this draft isn't what it's been made out to be. The Warriors dealt their 2014 first-round pick to the Utah Jazz in the three-team deal that netted them Andre Iguodala this summer. That came after draft night, when Golden State traded their second-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

But West isn't alone in his thinking.

Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge put it all into perspective, telling the Boston Globe he thinks the 2014 draft class is relatively better than the last few underwhelming classes, but nowhere close to being one of the best, even in the last 10 years.

DraftExpress's Jonathan Givony told SB Nation's Paul Flannery the same deal, saying that "it's a fairly normal draft, which is not a bad thing."

Of course, it won't be clear if anyone is right for another few years.



bob
MY NOTE:  Either Jerry West and Danny Ainge are drinking the same bath water or this draft has been completely and totally overhyped. I absolutely agree with his opinion about how weak the league is 100%. When you're counting on "one-and-doners", players who were in high school last year, to turn your franchise around, you are incredibly weak. Just one more reason to hate tanking, as if more were needed.


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Danny and Jerry must be vacationing in Colorado these days.



KJ

k_j_88 wrote:Danny and Jerry must be vacationing in Colorado these days.



KJ

KJ,

So you think this is a much stronger than usual draft?


bob


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bobheckler wrote:
KJ,

So you think this is a much stronger than usual draft?


bob


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I think this draft is better than a typical draft. There's a lot of good talent throughout the first rounders. I can't say yet if this is one of those once in a generation drafts, but that remains to be seen for a good 5-10 years.



KJ

....well there sure are alot of better SF options than Jeff Green in this draft I hope. If hes the 4th best SF in the league, this league is terrible.

This draft has taken on the aura of a panacea in the minds of many people.  Will we be #4?  Could we have enough balls to be #1?  Will our second pick be #18 or 19?  Who's rising?  Who's falling?  It's like a feeding frenzy in which fantasy is outstripping logic.  Handicapping the draft...a game the whole family can play.  Absolutely nothing wrong with any of it.  There just must be a lot of free time out there. 

Give me a good trade any day.

Sam