NBA Draft 2011: 6 First-Round Picks That Would Be Absolute Disasters
The 2011 NBA Draft is filled with players with a plethora of question marks surrounding them. While some players have a high basketball IQ and little athletic ability, others have an abundance of athleticism but limited basketball skills.
The quest is for teams to stay away with the players who are deceptively one-dimensional. Most likely, these players will be the ones showing loads of promise of a high ceiling only to have that ceiling shrink thanks to such one-dimensionality.
And while there are always going to be a number of these players in every draft, this year's draft seems to be filled with them. Should these players be taken in the first round, they'll almost certainly be considered busts, never fully developing for the NBA and its high level of competition.
Taking such risky players with limited ceilings would be disastrous for any team. Which players should general managers across the league stay away from?
Jimmer Fredette
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Jimmer Fredette dictated the college basketball narrative for the majority of the season. His uncanny ability to sink buckets where they shouldn't be sunk wowed crowds across the nation.
Fredette's ceiling, though, is limited.
Jimmer Fredette is quick off of his first step, but he's not up to par with the athleticism you'd expect from your average NBA point guard. But while athleticism isn't a necessity at the point guard position (see: Steve Nash, Jason Kidd), it's almost a requirement for a player just starting out. The basketball savvy comes afterwards when athleticism vanishes.
And it doesn't help that Fredette is a score-first point guard.
Generally, score-first point guards rely on athleticism—or, at least, utilize their athleticism well—to get to the bucket and score instead of taking contested jump-shots. Fredette's method of scoring involves a lot of contested jump-shots, and now that he'll have to shoot over taller, faster, and quicker point guards, the buckets he got in college won't fall in the pros.
Overall, Fredette's brand will get him into the lottery pick. But when he gets drafted, he won't contribute as much as some teams are coerced into believing he will.
Kawhi Leonard
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Teams across the league are infatuated with Kawhi Leonard's physical attributes. At 6'7'', he has a wingspan of just over seven feet while possessing nine-inch-long hands.
He's also really athletic and his basketball IQ isn't terrible. What Leonard lacks is his ability to score and that could be a huge problem.
With large hands, it's difficult for Leonard to make shots out to the perimeter. During his time at San Diego State, he proved to be a streaky shooter, converting on just 44 percent of his field goals.
Leonard's defensive abilities are there, but his lack of able offense is damning. His court vision isn't as good as you'd like from your typical 3, and he doesn't have a shot to help spread defenses in half-court situations. His dribbling is also sub-par, meaning he won't be able to slash to the basket, either.
Leonard's physical abilities give him potential to be a defensive stalwart, but his lack of offense could be a huge liability ala Kwame Brown.
Bismack Biyombo
3 of 6Bismack Biyombo is a scary athlete. Though he's 6'8'', his wingspan measures at 7'7''. He also weighs in at nearly 250 pounds (with just under five percent body fat). It's also well-documented that he has amazing explosiveness.
But there's a problem.
Biyombo lacks any real offensive skill-set. He has zero shot and cannot finish around the rim, save for his explosive dunks. He lacks the ability to pass out of the middle and doesn't handle the ball well.
Biyombo's game involves playing with raw emotion while using every inch of his physical abilities. That should be a red flag to general managers across the league, because, if Biyombo gets injured, it could limit his usefulness dramatically.
There's no telling whether he'll learn to become a savvy defender in the NBA, but if he does, the process will be painfully slow.
If there's one thing that should be learned of all draft prospects, it's to stay away from the players who rely entirely on physical talent.
Kenneth Faried
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Kenneth Faried is yet another athletic, but undersized, "big man" who relies on his high motor to be effective on the court.
Faried does rebound well and he isn't a complete loss on the offensive end; he's learned some decent post moves down low over the past year, which could help him in the NBA.
The problem with Faried is that, for a 4, he's undersized. Typically, starting power forwards range from 6'9'' in height up to 7'. He's just 6'7'', an inch taller than most 2-guards.
Additionally, Faried's skill set on offense is also very limited, despite his improvement. His ceiling on the offensive end doesn't look promising either, since his improvements from year to year are almost insignificant. His high motor suggests he relies too much on his athleticism rather than much basketball savvy.
Overall, Faried is a high-energy-type player and at 6'7'', that won't fly at power forward.
Klay Thompson
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Klay Thompson was an elite scorer in his last season at Washington State. He is a consistent perimeter shooter, especially from the three-point line.
However, Thompson doesn't have much else to justify guarantees for his success in the NBA.
He lacks athleticism, and though for a sharpshooting wing, that isn't a huge imposition. His shooting could spread the floor, but what he lacks is the ability to take a player off the dribble. In most situations, wing players are forced to dribble up after a defender flies at them to contest the open three. Thompson lacks such a skill, and his ability to slash is also damning.
He doesn't have the vision to pass out of situations where he's trapped in the corner, either: He's a supbar passer and that could prove to limit his offensive contributions.
Defensively, Thompson has no chance against a mid-level wing. He isn't quick nor threateningly long. That suggests he'll often be a liability on defense, forcing coaches to substitute his offense for defense in various situations.
Shelvin Mack
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Shelvin Mack is projected to go 28th in the draft to the Chicago Bulls. Further, most NBA analysts suspect that they'll want to use Shelvin Mack as the 2-guard the Bulls have shown a need for.
The Bulls might not be making the right call.
Mack lacks the quickness and speed of a typical rotation player in the NBA. At 6'2'', that's a damning fact, because his size won't allow him to do much as an on- or off-guard. He is extremely savvy, but if he doesn't have the athleticism to get inside the paint, it'll be tougher for him to finish at the rim when necessary.
Mack was also a score-first point guard for Butler, and that is never a good attribute from a player who lacks the explosiveness to beat defenders off the dribble. He can shoot well, but if he's going to be used as an off-guard, it could spell trouble for the team that drafted him, as he isn't going to be a great passer at the professional level.
Overall, Mack is too under-sized for both guard positions and lacks athleticism to make up for it.
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