Exclusive Official 2020 Draft Thread

Not related to this years draft but Chet Holmgren is generational..my goodness

 

I'm becoming more and more okay with Saddiq.

He doesn't excite me but pretty sure he's not going to suck and has a TJ Warren / Rodney Hood hybrid type upper end outcome.

Don't think he's as talented offensively as those guys but lower usage should allow him to give a bit more defensively.

Trust him more than Nesmith, Pat Will or Jaden.

Sounds like he won't be there though.

 

Man I actually disagree with you there about his offensive talent. I feel that outside of his 3, which I think with be solid if not great, he can really develop a back-to-the-basket game. Stotts has also not shy’d away from posting up guards and wings. Wes became really good at it in his last year here, Hood was able to score off post-ups and win us a 4-OT playoff game, even Trent is starting to post up smaller guards now. He’s got a strong frame with time to work with professionals to get bigger/faster. Call me crazy, but I can see him eventually averaging 20 if he came here lol

 

Not a lot of impressive players available at #46 and certainly would never profess that of him. But I think there is potential and he has ridiculous length. For #46, that is not bad. It's such a crap shoot by that point.

 

Ive seen a little bit of him and he gets rave reviews. But the kid is Shawn Bradley skinny.

I’m afraid every time he lands that his leg is going to snap in half.

Hopefully he chooses my Zags

 

Would you attempt to trade up to get him?

 

No

 

Watched him for the first time a couple weeks ago.

Special talent.

 

The thing is this team should easily be 9 deep even if they "run it back" so I'd rather just pick the best possible prospect and not worry about any of that other stuff.

 

I agree with you, the best case scenario is that we package this pick with personnel already contributing to the team or someone on the cusp of contribution to upgrade that personnel. That's the best thing that Olshey can do and it is what I hope he does. If he doesn't do that and we can't be sure that we'll get a better pick in next year's draft for this pick, I don't know why, with your philosophy of everything having to be about Dame's window, we would just move this same process back a year.

The truth is the only player that I think would get major minutes on this team in this draft in this upcoming season is Obi Toppin. On this team I don't think any of the freshmen or other sophomores in this draft are ready to contribute at a rotational level, especially with Stotts' history of how he never plays rookies. None of the upperclassmen in this draft are good enough and likely won't be good enough to crack a rotation on a team this good... maybe one will surprise me but it isn't likely. I don't mind Saddiq Bey or Nesmith as the pick but Bey honestly seems very similar in skill set to the Carmelo we had last year... probably not as strong as Melo but he is as slow and unathletic and he lacks all of the savvy and know how Melo did and hopefully this upcoming season Melo wouldn't or won't even crack our rotation... Nesmith is at least a year away but probably more and so is Bey, Smith, even Vassil and Achiuwa. Hell the guys at the top of the draft outside of Toppin are a season or more away from being able to contribute on a playoff team unless that playoff team has a gaping hole at one position which we really don't. No PG in this draft is ready to be our backup and actually help us win games, we'll likely need to address that with the MLE and I don't think anyone outside of Toppin could take the starting spot from Zach or even effectively back him up, so that's another thing we'll have to address with our limited free agent money or hope that Wenyen has made huge strides.

I say all of this because regardless of if you agree with me that Poku is the biggest home run swing we can make or if it's someone else that guy (the guy with the highest possible ceiling) will either help us before Dame's prime has gone in 5 or more years or that guy will be a bust. So any prospect in this draft will either never contribute to this team winning a championship or will be able to contribute to this team winning a championship led by Dame. So again for me it's Poku and maybe for you it is Bey but lets not pretend either is going to get us more wins this upcoming season and lets also not pretend to know for sure that neither can help us get meaningful wins as soon as the season after.

 

If healthy no one would crack the rotation this year. I don't mind Bey due to Villanova players been pretty good role players due they been coach very well. Poku is my dark horse at 16. Nbatv has us picking him at 16.

 

I think if you can play D you can always get some playing time. Josh Green makes a lot of sense at 16 with that in mind. He could serve the Matisse Thybulle role for the Blazers.

 

True but there is always the possibility that if you stockpile enough young players, that another team that wants to "blow it up" could trade you their vet that could help you win a championship. Not saying we will get an Anthony Davis type player in return but maybe some good veteran player with a bad contract or unhappy because he doesn't want to go through the rebuilding process.

I do agree that there are not many in this draft that could fit in Dame's window, but you still have to have some young players on the team in case that window closes sooner than we would hope. (i.e a major injury to Dame) I say go BPA unless the difference of them is so small that you might as go for position of need.

 

Pick #46:

 

The question isn't BPA or not BPA but what BPA means. Does it mean BPA at this moment with the highest floor but a low ceiling or possibly BPA in their career and within the next couple of seasons with a low floor but a very high ceiling? That's the debate here especially if a GM is faced with the question of Saddiq Bey or Aleksej Pokuševski. Bey can hit the three with efficiency, Bey is intense defensively, seems to be able to play the three or the four, has active hands on defense, has a high BBIQ but Bey is not athletic and most scouts think he may have already peaked and project him as a role playing "glue guy". Poku has a really nice stroke, can handle the ball like a guard, is fluid and quick, he's athletic, he has a great handle, he's a great passer, he sees the floor well and passes well to, he has good timing on rebounds and rim protection, he's just 18 but he's also only 18 so he doesn't always follow through on his sweet shooting form making him a streaky shooter, he makes a lot of little mistakes, he forces things at times and his biggest downside is that he is weak and very thin, he's the most likely player in this draft to be a "unicorn" but he could also be a total bust. Bey's floor is low and Poku's ceiling is high, there is a lot of debate about who a GM should take between the two the better player today or the more intriguing prospect.

 

I see a lot on here talking about us getting a wing with the 16th pick... I just don't see it. We have two young very promising wings in Gary and Nas, not to mention Ariza and Hoodie who are on the last year of their contracts but all four could have really great seasons. If we stay at 16 then I think we should either draft a guard with PG skills and a little size (Hampton or Maledon) or a post (Achiuwa, Smith, McDaniels, Stewart or maybe my guy Poku). I know most of us talk about BPA but look at all of the top mock drafts there is no consensus on BPA pretty much 10 through 30, hell there's not really a consensus BPA at any tier in the draft but the third tier starts at 10 and goes through the rest of the first round or further and every one of those 20+ names is all over these mock draft boards.

 

I have a strong feeling that we’re going to regret passing on Tillman.

 

I like that, you have your guy. I hope Neil knows better than all of us and maybe you and Neil are on the same page.

 

Chad Ford on his podcast today said he’s hearing three names for Portland:

Jaden McDaniels
Tyrese Maxey
RJ Hampton

If this is true I just don’t see why Olshey would consider mcdaniels but not poku. My guess remains one of those two.