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Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

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  • #16
    Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

    Originally posted by Will Galen View Post
    Complete list? This was the whole article. But there are way more than enough players to cover the second round. He rates 83 players.
    He only lists 37 of the players. I'd like to see the full list of 83+ players. Do you see this and I don't?
    "I'll always be a part of Donnie Walsh."
    -Ron Artest, Denver Post, 12.28.05

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    • #17
      Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

      Originally posted by blanket View Post
      He only lists 37 of the players. I'd like to see the full list of 83+ players. Do you see this and I don't?
      Sorry! I saw the 83 and didn't look any further. No, what's up above is the total list in the article.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

        Originally posted by naptownmenace View Post
        This has been extremely interesting to me because of Ty Lawson being ranked #1.

        For a college PG, he had incredible productivity, better than any other college PG in this year's draft. I understand that's a huge contributing factor but I'm curious to know how he rates or compares to PGs drafted in the past 6 or 7 year sample of data that the Draft Rater used to come up with these rankings.
        I compared his stats/measurements to CP3 just for comparison's sake, and he compared quite favorably. That obviously doesn't mean that he's the next Chris Paul, but it's encouraging anyway. He also had better A/TO and shooting %s, while being substantially stronger that TJ Ford out of college. If we can trade Ford I think Lawson may be our best pick.

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        • #19
          Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

          Originally posted by ESutt7 View Post
          If we can trade Ford I think Lawson may be our best pick.
          I agree with that, but why would someone trade for Ford and his $8.5 m contract when this draft is loaded with point guards.

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          • #20
            Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

            Geez - this is the second recent article from a reputable source that has Lawson atop the PG crop. Draftexpress had him #1 in pure PG rating (his score was double that of anyone else).

            I have been against Lawson in the past, but I'm really starting to warm up to him at #13. He is short, but his strength and weight is exceptional for the position.

            I agree too that I think he could be our guy. Like Lawson - Danny, Rush, and Roy weren't all that hyped up before the draft - they all turned out terrific.

            Also, I agree with you guys on trading TJ if we go PG (especially an NBA ready PG like Lawson). I like Danny Green and Hansborough in the mid/late 1st round.

            OKC, Portland, Minnesota, and Dallas all need a PG, all have expirings to match up, and all have mid/late first rounders.

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            • #21
              Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

              Originally posted by Will Galen View Post
              I agree with that, but why would someone trade for Ford and his $8.5 m contract when this draft is loaded with point guards.
              Perhaps a "win now" kind of team. You never know, trades are made all the time, but I agree that it may not be easy. But, a team like Washington, Miami, maybe Philly if they don't resign Andre... we'll just have to see what happens. TJ may be one of the best PGs available via trade. Kirk and Rafer are the other two I know of that could be available.

              Could Portland be interested if they don't like how Blake has worked out? I know they have Bayless being "groomed" but they may be looking to capitalize or "accelerate" their progress this season. Sergio is rumored to be traded too. They're interested in Hedo but I'd guess he remains in Orlando. Maybe they look to upgrade the PG spot instead? IDK...

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              • #22
                Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                Originally posted by purdue101 View Post
                Geez - this is the second recent article from a reputable source that has Lawson atop the PG crop. Draftexpress had him #1 in pure PG rating (his score was double that of anyone else).

                I have been against Lawson in the past, but I'm really starting to warm up to him at #13. He is short, but his strength and weight is exceptional for the position.

                I agree too that I think he could be our guy. Like Lawson - Danny, Rush, and Roy weren't all that hyped up before the draft - they all turned out terrific.

                Also, I agree with you guys on trading TJ if we go PG (especially an NBA ready PG like Lawson). I like Danny Green and Hansborough in the mid/late 1st round.

                OKC, Portland, Minnesota, and Dallas all need a PG, all have expirings to match up, and all have mid/late first rounders.
                Haha you beat me to Portland. I think it's kind of funny too that the UNC guys could all be targets of ours. Hansbrough comes in tomorrow I believe.

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                • #23
                  Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                  Portland has cap space to play with...so couldn't they send us someone they don't use like Webster (a backup 2/3 that could shoot and may fit in with JOB) and the rights to a pick for TJ Ford? Wouldn't that be a feasible deal for both sides? Or do you think we'd demand more for TJ?

                  Perhaps Count can help us out with how Portland's contract situation is and if they could absorb enough money to trade a decent backup for TJ's contract?

                  Given how much trouble LA had with Brooks, and how much trouble they had with Portland, wouldn't adding a player like Ford to the Blazers give the Lakers fits? He had 21 and 8 in his 1 game vs. the Lakers. Just a thought.

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                  • #24
                    Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                    Originally posted by ESutt7 View Post
                    Portland has cap space to play with...so couldn't they send us someone they don't use like Webster (a backup 2/3 that could shoot and may fit in with JOB) and the rights to a pick for TJ Ford? Wouldn't that be a feasible deal for both sides? Or do you think we'd demand more for TJ?

                    Perhaps Count can help us out with how Portland's contract situation is and if they could absorb enough money to trade a decent backup for TJ's contract?

                    Given how much trouble LA had with Brooks, and how much trouble they had with Portland, wouldn't adding a player like Ford to the Blazers give the Lakers fits? He had 21 and 8 in his 1 game vs. the Lakers. Just a thought.
                    I believe you're correct - the salaries don't have to match up as they can absorb the difference due to their cap space.

                    Webster, Blake, and Outlaw all make about 4 a year - I would trade TJ for any of those three and Portland's first. TJ makes 8.5. We could use that difference to sign JJ and then take our team option on Quis. Quis as an expiring would have awesome value come next Feb.

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                    • #25
                      Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                      Originally posted by ESutt7 View Post
                      Portland has cap space to play with...so couldn't they send us someone they don't use like Webster (a backup 2/3 that could shoot and may fit in with JOB) and the rights to a pick for TJ Ford?
                      The problem with that is if we trade Ford it's because we can get someone in the draft, and Portland won't be under the cap until the new season starts.

                      I guess we could agree to a trade during the draft and do it later.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                        Originally posted by Hollinger
                        Who were the other 13 top-10 picks not favored by the Draft Rater? Spencer Hawes, Acie Law, Fred Jones, Melvin Ely, Marcus Haislip, Fred Jones, Jarvis Hayes, Rafael Araujo, Ike Diogu, Channing Frye, Randy Foye, J.J. Redick and Patrick O'Bryant.
                        We get it John, you don't like Fred Jones. Sheesh.




                        One thing about regression that I can tell you from lots of stat experience, they all run the risk of training too hard to the training set, looking good when you test against that same set, and then failing horribly when applied to new data because they have specifically dialed in whatever quirks were in that training set.

                        For a typical AI program I would work on, you first split your data into training and testing and don't mix them. But often, as in this case, you don't have enough data to afford this luxury. So you are basically validating against your own training, the one thing the regression shouldn't fail.


                        Simple example - I train a visual inspection system to identify great art. All I have are 4 Da Vinci's. I then test it on the Mona Lisa and it is correctly spotted as great art. Then I use my own painting and it's shown as bad art.

                        Then I pull out a brilliant Picasso and the system says "fail". What did I do wrong? I trained it to find Da Vinci, not great art.


                        I admire the heck out of what Hollinger is trying to do for the NBA, I really do. But I also used to have a system that never missed on predicting the Best Picture Oscar, and I mean over 18 years of back testing. It even had the close races with closer scores. Then it missed 3 years in a row and I gave it up as a dud.

                        It knew my training set (the past winners) but what I put into it as key items and how it weighted those key items were both flawed overall. It went off in a new tangent because of this.

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                        • #27
                          Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                          I do like that he has age as a consideration. I have to concede that some of what looks good about TWill and Sam Young, and AJ Price to an extent, is their mature awareness vs other college players. They know the game more, they handle the college game emotions better, but that doesn't mean they'll have that advantage at the next level. In fact you assume they will totally lose it among other very mature players with lots of pro experience.

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                          • #28
                            Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                            Originally posted by Will Galen View Post
                            The problem with that is if we trade Ford it's because we can get someone in the draft, and Portland won't be under the cap until the new season starts.

                            I guess we could agree to a trade during the draft and do it later.
                            I could see us doing a deal with them since we now have a history and they're looking to be active, as always.

                            But, if they're not under the cap until next season, how could they be going after signing Hedo? Is "next season" July 1? Because if so, we could agree, but the trade wouldn't be official for a week. Excuse me for being too lazy to look it up and figure it out for myself... Anyone know for sure?

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                            • #29
                              Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                              Originally posted by ESutt7 View Post
                              I could see us doing a deal with them since we now have a history and they're looking to be active, as always.

                              But, if they're not under the cap until next season, how could they be going after signing Hedo? Is "next season" July 1? Because if so, we could agree, but the trade wouldn't be official for a week. Excuse me for being too lazy to look it up and figure it out for myself... Anyone know for sure?
                              Yes, you can agree to a trade, and execute it at a later date. This is exactly what happened with both the Toronto and Portland trades last year. They were agreed to before/during the draft, but didn't become official until after July 9.

                              July 1, or a date shortly thereafter will mark "next season."

                              (I would guess Portland will not be signing Hedo. They probably don't have enough space under the cap, unless they cut Blake and/or Outlaw.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst, by John Hollinger

                                Originally posted by count55 View Post
                                Yes, you can agree to a trade, and execute it at a later date. This is exactly what happened with both the Toronto and Portland trades last year. They were agreed to before/during the draft, but didn't become official until after July 9.

                                July 1, or a date shortly thereafter will mark "next season."

                                (I would guess Portland will not be signing Hedo. They probably don't have enough space under the cap, unless they cut Blake and/or Outlaw.
                                So then, would a deal like TJ Ford for Outlaw or Webster and #24 (or a 2nd rounder since they have 4) work with the cap situation? Can they absorb that much? Thanks so much for being a cap expert!

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