ESPN's 2005 Draft - Top 10 by position

Rockets34Legend · Mar 30, 2005

Remember, take it w/ a grain of salt....

2005 NBA Draft Top 10s
By Chad Ford, ESPN Insider

It's March Madness baby, which means it's time to do another comprehensive update of our Top 10 rankings by position.

The college crop is pretty solid. There are a few top underclassmen prospects like Chris Paul (Wake Forest), Marvin Williams (North Carolina), Rudy Gay (UConn), Andrew Bogut (Utah), Chris Taft (Pittsburgh), and Deron Williams (Illinois).

But like this year, only a handful of the best prospects will be college seniors. Danny Granger (New Mexico) and Joey Graham (Oklahoma State) top the senior list.

After a record eight high school players went in the first round this year, scouts are saying 2005 will be the worst high school class in recent history. The six preps with the best shot of making the jump this year are Gerald Green, Martell Webster, Monta Ellis, Louis Williams, and Andray Blatche. However, Green and Webster are the only guys with any real shot at the lottery at this point.

The Euro crop might be the strongest ever. A stunning 28 international underclassmen pulled out of the 2004 draft, fearing the high school crop would push them out of the first round. That left a gaping hole in last year's draft but also brought a promise that this year's crop could look pretty good.

While there will be three dominant 18-year-olds looking for promises, the strength of next year's international class is with the 19- and 20-year-olds. Familiar names like Martynas Andriuskevicius, Tiago Splitter, Kosta Perovic, Johan Petro and Marko Tomas likely will be in again next year. They'll be joined by new and highly-touted prospects like Nemanja Aleksandrov, Fran Vazquez, Rudy Fernandez, and possibly Andrea Bargnani and Ersan Ilyasova.

The consensus top five? Marvin Williams, Paul and Bogut are clearly the top three. Taft, Andriuskevicus, Deron Williams, Vasquez, Granger and Green are somewhere in the next group.

TOP 10 POINT GUARDS

Rank Name Ht, Wt - Age School/Country
1. Chris Paul 6-1, 195 lbs - Sophomore Wake Forest
2. Deron Williams 6-3, 210 lbs - Junior Illinois
3. Raymond Felton 6-0, 180 lbs - Junior North Carolina
4. Ronnie Brewer 6-7, 210 lbs - Sophomore Arkansas
5. Monta Ellis 6-3, 175 lbs - HS Senior Lanier High School (MS)
6. Mardy Collins 6-5, 205 lbs - Junior Temple
7. Jarrett Jack 6-3, 200 lbs - Junior Georgia Tech
8. John Gilchrist 6-3, 200 lbs - Junior Maryland
9. Roko Leni Ukic 6-5, 185 lbs - 20 yrs Croatia
10. Curtis Stinson 6-3, 215 lbs - Sophomore Iowa State

Best of the rest: Daniel Ewing, Duke; Luther Head, Illinois; ; Chris Thomas, Notre Dame; Travis Diener, Marquette; Anthony Roberson, Florida; Aaron Miles, Kansas; Tim Smith, East Tennessee State; Jose Juan Barea, Northeastern; Ivan Koljevic, Serbia; Ender Arslan, Turkey; Marcelo Huertas, Brazil

Wait until next year: Daniel Gibson, Texas; Guillermo Diaz, Miami; Uros Tripkovic, Serbia; Rajon Rondo, Kentucky; Marcus Williams, UConn; Sergio Rodriguez, Spain; Jordan Farmar, UCLA; Mustafa Shakur, Arizona; Justin Gray, Wake Forest; Bracey Wright, Indiana; Dee Brown, Illinois; Jeff Horner, Iowa; Taquan Dean, Louisville; Darius Washington Jr., Memphis; Churchill Odia, Xavier; George Tsintsadze, Russia; Cenk Akyol, Turkey

TOP 10 SHOOTING GUARDS

Rank Name Ht, Wt - Age School/Country
1. Gerald Green 6-7, 210 lbs - HS Senior Gulf Shores Academy (TX)
2. Martell Webster 6-7, 235 lbs - HS Senior Seattle Prep (WA)
3. Marko Tomas 6-8, 210 lbs - 19 yrs Croatia
4. Rudy Fernandez 6-5, 200 lbs - 19 yrs Spain
5. Antoine Wright 6-7, 210 lbs - Junior Texas A&M
6. Francisco Garcia 6-7, 190 lbs - Junior Louisville
7. Rashad McCants 6-4, 200 lbs - Junior North Carolina
8. Nate Robinson 5-9, 190 lbs - Junior Washington
9. Julius Hodge 6-7, 205 lbs - Senior North Carolina State
10. Louis Williams 6-2, 175 lbs - HS Senior South Gwinnet (GA)

Best of the rest: Salim Stoudamire, Arizona; Hassan Adams, Arizona; Mickaël Gelebale, France; B.J. Elder, Georgia Tech; Nikolaos Zissis, Greece; Romel Beck, UNLV; Keith Langford, Kansas; Alan Anderson, Michigan State;

Wait until next year: Malik Hairston, Oregon; Jawann McClellan, Arizona; Costas Vassiliadis, Greece; Thabo Sefolosha, Switzerland; CJ Miles, HS senior; J.R. Giddens, Kansas; J.J. Redick, Duke; Roy Bright, Cincinnati; Rashad Anderson, UConn; Kelenna Azubuike, Kentucky; Von Wafer, Florida State; Matt Walsh, Florida; Brandon Roy, Washington; Brandon Rush, HS senior; Marko Belinelli, Italy; Vasily Zavoruev, Russia; Marcus Vieira de Souza, Brazil

TOP 10 SMALL FORWARDS

Rank Name Ht, Wt - Age School/Country
1. Marvin Williams 6-9, 230 lbs - Freshman North Carolina
2. Danny Granger 6-8, 235 lbs - Senior New Mexico
3. Nemanja Aleksandrov 6-10, 220 lbs - 17 yrs Serbia
4. Andrea Bargnani 6-11, 225 lbs - 19 yrs Italy
5. Adam Morrison 6-8, 215 lbs - Sophomore Gonzaga
6. Joey Graham 6-7, 220 lbs - Senior Oklahoma State
7. Ersan Ilyasova 6-9, 220 lbs - 18 yrs Turkey
8. Kennedy Winston 6-6, 230 lbs - Junior Alabama
9. Rodney Carney 6-7, 205 lbs - Junior Memphis
10. Ryan Gomes 6-7, 245 lbs - Senior Providence

Best of the rest: Dijon Thompson, UCLA; Jawad Williams, North Carolina; Shawne Williams, HS Senior; Eddie Basden, Charlotte; Sean Banks, Memphis; Quemont Greer, DePaul; Steven Smith, LaSalle; Omar Thomas, UTEP; Luka Bodganovic, Serbia; Milan Majstorovic, Serbia; Stefano Mancinelli, Italy; Zhu Fangyu, China

Wait until next year: Rudy Gay, UConn; Jared Dudley, Boston College; Jeff Green, Georgetown; Juan Diego Palacios, Louisville; Corey Brewer, Florida; Keith Brumbaugh, HS Senior; Damir Omerhodzic, Croatia; Regis Koundjia, LSU; Damjan Rudez, Croatia; Ricky Sanchez, Puerto Rico; Ivan Chiriaev, Russia; Dusan Sakota, Greece

TOP 10 POWER FORWARDS

Rank Name Ht, Wt - Age School/Country
1. Andrew Bogut 6-10, 240 lbs - Sophmore Utah
2. Chris Taft 6-10, 250 lbs - Sophomore Pittsburgh
3. Martynas Andriuskevicius 7-3, 230 lbs - 19 yrs Lithuania
4. Fran Vazquez 6-10, 230 lbs - 21 yrs Spain
5. Tiago Splitter 6-10, 240 lbs - 19 yrs Brazil
6. Hakim Warrick 6-8, 218 lbs - Senior Syracuse
7. Shelden Williams 6-9, 250 lbs - Junior Duke
8. Charlie Villanueva 6-11, 240 lbs - Sophomore UConn
9. Wayne Simien 6-9, 255 lbs - Senior Kansas
10. Ronny Turiaf 6-10, 250 lbs - senior Gonzaga

Best of the rest: David Lee, Florida; Lawrence Roberts, Mississippi State; Jared Homan, Iowa State; Michael Harris, Rice; Chevon Troutman, Pittsburgh; Jason Maxiell, Cincinnati; Taylor Coppenrath, Vermont; Juan Mendez, Niagara; Andray Blatche, HS Senior; Angelo Gigli, Italy; Erazem Lorbek, Skipper Bologna (Italy); Axel Hervelle, Belgium; Yiannis Bouroussis, Greece; Drago Pasalic, Croatia; Uros Slokar, Slovenia;

Wait until next year: Taj Gray, Oklahoma; Al Horford, Flordia; Oleksiy Pecherov, Ukraine; Ike Diogu, Arizona State; Vladimir Veremeenko, Belarus; Vilmantas Dilys, Lithuania; Pops Mensah-Bonsu, George Washington; James Augustine, Illinois; Josh McRoberts, HS Senior; Nick Fazekas, Nevada; Sean May, UNC; Ekene Ibekwe, Maryland; Kevin Pittsnogle, West Virginia; Paul Davis, Michigan State; Torin Francis, Notre Dame; Brandon Bass, LSU; Craig Smith, Boston College; Glen Davis, LSU; LaMarcus Aldridge, Texas; Linas Kleiza, Missouri; Ian Mahinmi, France; Miguel Marriaga, Venezuela

TOP 5 CENTERS

Rank Name Ht, Wt - Age School/Country
1. Josh Boone 6-10, 245 lbs - Sophomore UConn
2. Randolph Morris 7-0, 266 lbs - Freshman Kentucky
3. Johan Petro 7-1, 250lbs - 19 yrs France
4. Peja Samardziski 7-0, 250 lbs - 19 yrs Serbia
5. Kosta Perovic 7-2, 240 lbs - 20 yrs Serbia

Others to watch: Channing Frye, Arizona; Jared Homan, Iowa State; Edu Hernandez, Spain;Luke Schenscher, Georgia Tech; C. J. Giles, Kansas; Mohammed Kone, Southern Idaho (JUCO); Martin Iti, Charlotte; Matt Nelson, Colorado State; Semih Erden, Turkey; Mile Ilic, Serbia; Marcin Gortat, Poland; Ante Tomic, Croatia; Tan Zhendon, China; Ioannis Bourousis, AEK (Greece); Dimitri Soklov, Russia; Pavel Mroz, Poland; Rob Rothbart; France.

Two Sandwiches · Mar 30, 2005

I'm still saying that Juan Mendez will be a player in the NBA, given a chance.

jopatmc · Mar 30, 2005

Well,

I guess maybe he got some of the point guards right. He's got Jack and Gilchrest too low though. They should be top 5.

Why in the world isn't Garcia, McCants and Hodge at the top of the shooting guards? And Salim should be in the top 10 somewhere.

Graham should be higher on the small forward list. Morrison is not in the draft. Has Marvin Williams declared? Is he a SF or PF?

Hakim is a SF at the next level. There is no way that he can bang in the paint at 190 pounds or whatever he is. Villanueva is another pretender. Turiaf and Simien should be right behind Bogut and Taft should be much lower. The Lithuanian kid is an unknown and probably a project.

If you are gonna make Frye a center, then he should be top 5. He's probably a PF at the next level.

And just imagine, Ford gets paid for this stuff. Only in America.

KaiSeR SoZe · Mar 30, 2005

Gerald Green was pretty damn good at the McDonald's game

emjohn · Mar 31, 2005

Looks awfully thin at SF. Deep at SG and PF (even though Bogut isn't likely to be a forward in this league). I personally don't think Marvin Williams is coming out, but maybe I'm just being naive. Wayne Simien looks rather low.

Ford shouldn't be saying 'wait til next year' and list HS kids, seeing as the age limit is going to slam that door shut. I'll bet money this year produces the largest number of undrafted HSers in the last 10 years. Tons of them are going to declare, stupidly, knowing that it's now or 2007 or 2008.

Evan

JeeberD · Mar 31, 2005

Any list that doesn't have Fili Rivera as a top PG is just utter BS...

DeAleck · Mar 31, 2005

Originally posted by jopatmc
Hakim is a SF at the next level. There is no way that he can bang in the paint at 190 pounds or whatever he is. Villanueva is another pretender. Turiaf and Simien should be right behind Bogut and Taft should be much lower. The Lithuanian kid is an unknown and probably a project.

Click to expand...

Warrick does have a legit chance to be a PF in the league. If Kirilenko and Garnett can do it with their frail frame, do does Warrick. It might be hard though.

sydmill · Mar 31, 2005

No way Warrick can play in the post, he's just anopther D. Miles waiting to happen...In terms of the Rockets, I believe that Turiaf is the man they chould be targeting.

emjohn · Mar 31, 2005

Originally posted by DeAleck
Warrick does have a legit chance to be a PF in the league. If Kirilenko and Garnett can do it with their frail frame, do does Warrick. It might be hard though.
Click to expand...

Both of those guys played plenty of SF (it's AK47s real position today), and both are considerably taller than Warrick (6-8).

He's got the size of SF, but almost none of the skills.

Evan

wrath_of_khan · Mar 31, 2005

Seriously, Bogut as a PF and Frye as a center?

Chad Ford is an idiot.

saleem · Mar 31, 2005

Ford wrote that Ike Diogu is going to be in next year's draft. Diogu has already has said he is going to enter the draft this year.

emjohn · Apr 1, 2005

I think "wait until next year" is to mean that they aren't ready, not that they won't come out. But who knows with this guy.

Evan

The_Yoyo · Apr 2, 2005

Originally posted by wrath_of_khan
Seriously, Bogut as a PF and Frye as a center?

Chad Ford is an idiot.
Click to expand...

and boone as the top center. i dont know what position he plays at uconn i havent seen them play too much this year but he seems to be a player that is more of a pf than a c. and also what happened to villanueva? chuckie v is a much better prospect for the nba than boone is.

i cant believe ford still has his job

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ESPN's 2005 Draft - Top 10 by position

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