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Layups: Behind the Scenes with Ty Lawson

Posted by Neil Paine on October 23, 2009

I'm not a huge fan of the reality genre, but I make exceptions for shows based on current athletes, which is why this new Ty Lawson series could be interesting:

The general consensus from us stat folks is that Lawson -- at #18 overall -- could go down as the steal of the draft (thanks, Dean Oliver!), so I'm pretty interested in how well he makes that transition from college stardom to the NBA, since the metrics say he should probably have been taken ahead of Flynn & Holiday.

8 Responses to “Layups: Behind the Scenes with Ty Lawson”

  1. Owen Says:

    As a Knick fan it's so painful to think we could easily have had Ty Lawson and Dejuan Blair and ended up with Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas.

  2. Jason J Says:

    I'm not a scout or anything, but do you even need a metric to suggest that Ty Lawson should go ahead of Flynn & Holiday? I wasn't necessarily shocked he fell so far in the draft, but I was surprised by how many PGs went ahead of him.

  3. Jared Ras Says:

    What metric is used to say how Lawson will translate to the NBA? And where do the other PGs (Brandon Jennings) fall in relation to that?

  4. khandor Says:

    Neil,

    I'd be very interested to know who exactly fits into the category of "us" when you say,

    "The general consensus from us stat folks is that Lawson -- at #18 overall -- could go down as the steal of the draft,"

    If you could please list those names, in addition to Dean Oliver, I'd sincerely appreciate it.

    From my POV, I'll go on record now by saying that, when all is said and done, Ty Lawson will NOT be thought of as the steal of the 2009 NBA Draft.

  5. Joe Schaller Says:

    John Hollinger had Blake Griffin and Ty Lawson in a virtual tie by a large margin over the rest in his draft ratings. I don't do college ratings anymore but I would bet Ty's scoring stats in college such as shooting percentages were excellent. Hollinger has exposed some real gems in his draft ratings (Thaddeus Young & Marreese Speights recently)- and he keeps improving on them.

  6. Owen Says:

    Erich Doerr at Draft Express and David Berri of the Wages of Wins also had great things to say about Lawson. I doubt there was any statistically focused analyst who didn't think Lawson should have been drafted much higher actually.

  7. khandor Says:

    At this early point in their careers, the players who look like they might have a significant upside in the NBA over the long haul, above their actual order/position in the Draft, include [at least] the following names [identified in bold]:

    2009 NBA DRAFT

    1 L.A. Clippers Blake Griffin PF, 6-10, 248 Oklahoma
    2 Memphis Grizzlies Hasheem Thabeet C, 7-3, 267 Connecticut
    3 Oklahoma City Thunder James Harden PG, 6-5, 222 Arizona State
    4 Sacramento Kings Tyreke Evans PG, 6-6, 220 Memphis
    5 Minnesota Timberwolves
    (from Washington) Ricky Rubio PG, 6-3, 180 Spain/DKV Joventut
    6 Minnesota Timberwolves Jonny Flynn PG, 6-0, 196 Syracuse
    7 Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry PG, 6-3, 181 Davidson
    8 New York Knicks Jordan Hill PF, 6-10, 235 Arizona
    9 Toronto Raptors DeMar DeRozan SG, 6-7, 211 Southern California
    10 Milwaukee Bucks Brandon Jennings G, 6-1, 170 Lottomatica Roma/Italy
    11 New Jersey Nets Terrence Williams SF, 6-6, 213 Louisville
    12 Charlotte Bobcats Gerald Henderson SG, 6-5, 215 Duke
    13 Indiana Pacers Tyler Hansbrough PF, 6-9, 234 North Carolina
    14 Phoenix Suns Earl Clark SF, 6-10, 226 Louisville
    15 Detroit Pistons Austin Daye PF, 6-11, 192 Gonzaga
    16 Chicago Bulls James Johnson SF, 6-8, 257 Wake Forest
    17 Philadelphia 76ers Jrue Holiday PG, 6-4, 185 UCLA
    18 Minnesota Timberwolves
    (from Miami) Ty Lawson

    (traded to Denver) PG, 6-0, 197 North Carolina
    19 Atlanta Hawks Jeff Teague PG, 6-1, 175 Wake Forest
    20 Utah Jazz Eric Maynor PG, 6-3, 164 Virginia Commonwealth
    21 New Orleans Hornets Darren Collison PG, 6-1, 166 UCLA
    22 Portland Trail Blazers
    (from Dallas) Victor Claver PF, 6-9, 224 Pamesa Valencia/Spain

    23 Sacramento Kings
    (from Houston) Omri Casspi SF, 6-9, 211 Maccabi Tel Aviv/ Israel

    24 Dallas Mavericks
    (from Portland) B.J. Mullens
    (traded to Okla. City) C, 7-1, 258 Ohio State
    25 Oklahoma City Thunder
    (from San Antonio) Rodrigue Beaubois
    (traded to Dallas) PG, 6-2, 182 Cholet Basket/France

    26 Chicago Bulls
    (from Denver) Taj Gibson PF, 6-10, 214 Southern California

    27 Memphis Grizzlies
    (from Orlando) DeMarre Carroll SF, 6-7, 207 Missouri
    28 Minnesota Timberwolves
    (from Boston) Wayne Ellington SG, 6-5, 202 North Carolina
    29 L.A. Lakers Toney Douglas
    (traded to New York) PG, 6-2, 183 Florida State
    30 Cleveland Cavaliers Christian Eyenga SF, 6-5, 210 DKV Joventut/Congo
    31 Sacramento Kings Jeff Pendergraph
    (traded to Portland) PF, 6-10, 240 Arizona State
    32 Washington Wizards Jermaine Taylor
    (traded to Houston) SG, 6-4, 207 Central Florida
    33 Portland Trail Blazers
    (from L.A. Clippers) Dante Cunningham PF, 6-8, 227 Villanova

    34 Denver Nuggets
    (from Oklahoma City) Sergio Llull
    (traded to Houston) PG, 6-2, 180 Real Madrid/Spain
    35 Detroit Pistons
    (from Minnesota) DaJuan Summers SF, 6-9, 243 Georgetown
    36 Memphis Grizzlies Sam Young SF, 6-7, 223 Pittsburgh
    37 San Antonio Spurs DeJuan Blair SF, 6-7, 277 Pittsburgh
    38 Portland Trail Blazers Jon Brockman
    (traded to Sacramento) PF, 6-7, 255 Washington
    39 Detroit Pistons
    (from Toronto) Jonas Jerebko PF, 6-8, 231 Sweden

    40 Charlotte Bobcats
    (from New Jersey) Derrick Brown PF, 6-8, 225 Xavier

    41 Milwaukee Bucks Jodie Meeks SG, 6-4, 211 Kentucky
    42 L.A. Lakers
    (from Charlotte) Patrick Beverley
    (traded to Miami) PG, 6-1, 172 Ukraine
    43 Miami Heat
    (from Indiana) Marcus Thornton
    (traded to New Orleans) SG, 6-3, 194 LSU

    44 Detroit Pistons Chase Budinger
    (traded to Houston) PF, 6-7, 206 Arizona

    45 Minnesota Timberwolves
    (from Philadelphia) Nick Calathes SG, 6-6, 194 Florida
    46 Cleveland Cavaliers
    (from Chicago) Danny Green SF, 6-6, 208 North Carolina

    47 Minnesota Timberwolves
    (from Miami) Henk Norel PF, 6-10, 230 DKV Joventut/Netherlands
    48 Phoenix Suns Taylor Griffin SF, 6-7, 238 Oklahoma
    49 Atlanta Hawks Sergey Gladyr SG, 6-5, 190 Ukraine
    50 Utah Jazz Goran Suton C, 6-10, 245 Michigan State
    51 San Antonio Spurs
    (from New Orleans) Jack McClinton PG, 6-0, 185 Miami (Fla.)
    52 Indiana Pacers
    (from Dallas) A.J. Price SG, 6-2, 193 Connecticut
    53 San Antonio Spurs
    (from Houston) Nando De Colo SG, 6-5, 190 Cholet Basket/France

    54 Charlotte Bobcats
    (from San Antonio) Robert Vaden
    (traded to Oklahoma City) SG, 6-5, 205 Alabama-Birmingham
    55 Portland Trail Blazers
    (from Denver) Patrick Mills PG, 6-0, 165 St. Mary's (Calif.)
    56 Dallas Mavericks
    (from Portland) Ahmad Nivins PF, 6-9, 235 St. Joseph's (Pa.)
    57 Phoenix Suns
    (from Orlando) Emir Preldzic PF, 6-9, 205 Bosnia and Herzegovina
    58 Boston Celtics Lester Hudson SG, 6-2, 190 Tennessee-Martin
    59 L.A. Lakers Chinemelu Elonu PF, 6-10, 235 Texas A&M
    60 Miami Heat
    (from Cleveland) Robert Dozier PF, 6-9, 215 Memphis

    There are a whole swack of cats who should not be ruled out, just yet, as possible candidates for the designation of "steal of the 2009 NBA Draft".

  8. khandor Says:

    Neil,

    Was there a problem of some sort with the question I asked earlier?

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I'd be very interested to know who exactly fits into the category of "us" when you say,

    "The general consensus from us stat folks is that Lawson -- at #18 overall -- could go down as the steal of the draft,"

    If you could please list those names, in addition to Dean Oliver, I'd sincerely appreciate it.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I would very much like to know the answer to this question.

    Thanks, in advance.