This Guy: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/226671/Thunder-Recall-Perry-Jones-From-D-League

I'm watching Perry Jones getting minutes in Oklahoma City and wondering about the  Fab Melo draft pick over Perry Jones. Wasn't it because Perry was also considered an injury risk (like Sullinger) ? Perry Jones looks like to be a big man with some skills , and Fab Melo is still in the D League....

I do see that the 3 guys from China got some minutes tonight  , and so did Jordan Crawford so that's good....

I think OKC will try to dump Perks salary this offseason and it will be because of Perry Jones...

Still, I wonder what he'd look like in a Celtic uniform and wonder if drafting Fab Melo was the right choice

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PJ3 is not a Center.

If he was a Center then the Celts would've picked him.

Regardless of position, the C's should have taken PJ3 over Melo ... C'mon!

You don't draft for position, you take the best player on the board and you should know that.

word on the street from many sources was that OKC was going to amnesty perkins' bloated salary before the beginning of THIS season.  can they still do it in the off season?

If okc meets la in the first round they may be glad they kept perk.

"Melo was a terrible pick."

Umm - no. He is a two to three year project and that was always understood. 

To get a big man of that size you have to take them raw at that position in the draft. 

OK, yeah, maybe Perry Jones was a better pick, but that doesn't mean Melo was a bad pick. 

You have to take chances on big men at the point in the draft we are in. Not all of them will work out. 

We'll know who the better pick was - but it may be a couple more years. 

Perkins hasn't been needed in OKC because OKC's main rival, the Heat, has no big man and the Lakers with Howard are more irrelevant than anyone thought. 

Perk trade however was still either a bad or terrible trade on Ainge's part depending on how Green pans out. Right now I''m leaning more towards a bad trade versus a horrible one.

There is no way we know if Melo is a bust yet, but guys like PJIII and Moultrie were more talented IMO and despite the presence and Sully and the intention to bring back Bass (who should have been signed and traded) one of those 2 guys would have been my pick.

Perk was likely not amnestied this offseason b/c of the presence of Dwight on LA, if OKC had known how good Harden was going to be as the main man in Hou an how bad LA was going to be Perk would have been dumped, I'm almost sure of that.

Jones isn't taking Perk's job... but Thabeet is a 5 and Collins and Ibaka both play the 5 in a speed lineup... so dumping Perk and mixing Jones in at the 4 would essentially mean he takes his job.

 

I would have taken Jones myself hoping either him or Sully worked out.  Best case is both of the turned in to good players.   Melo may turn out to be something but I don't see it.  Doesn't look that coordinated to me.  Jones played in my neck of the woods,  I think he will be a pretty good player one day. The main reason he is in the D league is the lack of time he would get with the Thunder.

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In response to Mployee8's comment:

When Danny does that, he gets criticized for drafting all the tweeners, this time he went for needs, and now he gets dumped on...can't win..

In response to rameakap's comment:

I was high on both jones and moultrie,and the kid with GS,but understood why we took melo..

and I don't think it was so he could come in and start today...

In response to Kirk6's comment:

I think I read somewhere that he will be called up again after two or three games...??

I thought that PJones should have been picked by Boston instead of Sullinger(due to Sullinger's bad back and his being undersized and slow). I hate to admit that I agreed with the Melo pick only because Boston didn't have much of a choice due to that gaping hole at the 5. Apparently, Danny Ainge has already soured on Melo by attempting to trade him away for Crawford. Fab Melo should be held accountable for his lack of progress but I do wonder if a team like San Antonio could have done a better job at developing him.

In response to Kirk6's comment:

 

In response to BostonTrollSpanker's comment:

 

"Melo was a terrible pick."

Umm - no. He is a two to three year project and that was always understood. 

To get a big man of that size you have to take them raw at that position in the draft. 

OK, yeah, maybe Perry Jones was a better pick, but that doesn't mean Melo was a bad pick. 

You have to take chances on big men at the point in the draft we are in. Not all of them will work out. 

We'll know who the better pick was - but it may be a couple more years. 

Perkins hasn't been needed in OKC because OKC's main rival, the Heat, has no big man and the Lakers with Howard are more irrelevant than anyone thought. 

Perk trade however was still either a bad or terrible trade on Ainge's part depending on how Green pans out. Right now I''m leaning more towards a bad trade versus a horrible one.

 

Melo was a terrible pick.

 

He won't be any different in three years.

 

Maybe. Avery bradley looked pretty awful his first year. 

Also no other postion takes longer to develop than center. it will be a while before we know for sure. 

PJIII is playing about 7 minutes a game this year. He is averging around 2 points and has a PER of 7.21.

 

I'm not seeing anything yet that makes really regret the pick we made. 

Melo is plain horrible right now.  We need a big to help out and he can't give the team anything.  The guy is weak and uncoordinated.  Seems like a problem to me .  Will he get better? I hope so but I  don't see him ever being a force in the league.  He might be a marginal backup at best.   

In response to Mchampion's comment:

I remember Perk being slow and overweight and he played below the rim. He wasn't very good initially. From what I understand Melo has a great work ethic. He just looks so uncoordinated. Completely lost. At least Perk played with an attitude (still does!). I am hopeful that Melo will get better. He can't get any worse!

Perry Jones Doesn't have to be a Center to take Perks job next season. OKC plays positionless just like everyone else these days, P Jones is a big who can play.

My point is, he's getting minutes with OKC right NOW , not 3 seasons from now.

 

If he's good enough to break into the OKC rotation, then he would have been good enough to get playing time next to KG THIS SEASON. Think of how great it would be to have Perry Jones playing now that Sullinger is out for the season. There are two guys from China getting playing time for the Celtics over Fab Melo, if Ainge had picked Perry Jones, he's be playing NOW for the Celtics !

Shades of JuJuan Johnson ! HE was such a great pick, Ryan Hollings and Sean Williams were able to come in off the street and get playing time over HIM !

Can't believe Fab Melo cannot at least get 10 minutes a night with the gaping hole the C's have at the Center position....even Semih Erden averaged 14 minutes a game for 40 games as a Celtic, he was a rookie too !  Why can't Fab Melo play THIS SEASON ? Just how bad is he ?

 

Perry Jones III is good enough to get into the OKC rotation and he looks good, a big man with skills, how did Ainge not pick him over Phantom Fab Melo ?

In response to guyfromtex's comment:

 

In response to Mchampion's comment:

 

Melo is plain horrible right now.  We need a big to help out and he can't give the team anything.  The guy is weak and uncoordinated.  Seems like a problem to me .  Will he get better? I hope so but I  don't see him ever being a force in the league.  He might be a marginal backup at best.   

 

I remember Perk being slow and overweight and he played below the rim. He wasn't very good initially. From what I understand Melo has a great work ethic. He just looks so uncoordinated. Completely lost. At least Perk played with an attitude (still does!). I am hopeful that Melo will get better. He can't get any worse!

 

 

Uncoordinated players will ALWAYS be that way. That's why I wanted Festus Ezeli. I don't want ANY player that reminds me of Acie Earl.

 

In response to DaCeltics' comment:

I forgot about Acie. Unfortunatley, I think that you are right.

EDIT: Wrong thread... sorry about that guys.