Who were your 2016 Draft Day Winners and Losers?

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My Winners (subject to change)
San Antonio - another draft steal falls into their lap.
Phoenix - they chose a direction for their franchise, taking on two talented projects.
ChoKC - people will be talking about this trade for 10 years.
International Players - both current players (who were tweeting congrats) and new NBA players.
Weber State - just doubled their number of NBA players!
Jake Layman - picked up by an awesome franchise where he'll fit perfectly.
Utah - Somehow got the great veteran 3 and D PG that they desperately needed, filling their final hole.



My Losers (subject to change)
Orlando - gave up the kitchen sink for a rental.
Boston - a reach and a couple of draft and stashes, headshake. Danny always seems to leak rumors of Boston doing great things that don't happen. #resourceswasted.
Boogie - hilarious tweet.
Ibaka - welcome to losing.
Skal - the NBA may be rethinking the whole green room thing after this year.
Maker - Like it or not, High Expectations are here to stay.


OT: Instead of Funny, Notice, and Exclusive tags, there should be a "Draft" tag.

 

I really like Milwaukee's draft, actually. I think Thon Maker will turn out to belong where he was taken and I love Malcolm Brogdon. That's bound to be a minority opinion. I think Chicago getting Denzel Valentine is going to look very smart, and Paul Zipser could turn out to be a steal. I also like Denver's draft, and not just because of the high percentage of foreign players. Jamal Murray has a good chance to be ROY, or at least finish second behind Ben Simmons. And Petr Cornelie looks like a possible contributor at 53.

 

Is CBSSports the new RealGM? They list both ORL and OKC in their top 3 "Winners" and this is what they say about the Ibaka trade:

Under ORL - "Serge Ibaka gives them an All-Star caliber player who can defend and play small-ball center. He can hit from 3-point range..."

Under OKC - "Getting all three players for Ibaka, who was a terrible 3-point shooter during the season limiting his effectiveness on offense, is a coup for Sam Presti."

So, Ibaka is an all-star caliber player of limited effectiveness who can, or cannot, hit the 3. He's an enigma wrapped up in a conundrum.

Of course, they also PRAISED the Harden trade because it got them Steven Adams. No mention that they blew up a potential dynasty because they were too cheap to amnesty Kendrick Perkins.

BNM

 

In some ways, I like to give them the benefit of the doubt. They've had to do a lot during a stressful deadline period.

In other ways, I just don't get it.

 

Loser: Danny Ainge's legacy

 

If Danny Ainge really turned down Noel plus 24th and 26th picks for the 3rd pick then he is a loser. If Noel was in this draft he would have went #3 imo. 24th or 26 he could have flipped to POR for a future 1st.

Well he already is a loser for not moving any (or did he move a 2nd rounder? - big deal) of his 8 picks.

 

If

Danny has resuscitate his legacy if he hits in free agency. If he doesn't, then yes, his legacy is in jeopardy.

 

Given the moves made by other teams I think we have to be considered a "loser" at this moment. Of course we still have trades and free agency to change that, but for now it sure seems like our direct competition surged ahead of us.

 

Curious as to which teams you feel surged. Surely, OKC and Utah improved. Who else?

Some on these boards are still pissed about the trade in which we gave up our 1st rounder this year. I see a lot of squandered picks by other teams, which balances things out.

 

In addition to OKC and UTH, I think MIN is finally poised to become a good team. I don't follow NCAA but it sounds like Dunn could be another great player OR be used to get Butler which would accelerate their rise. Plus they hired Thibs, which I'm including in this summer's moves.

Those three teams alone - given that they're all division rivals - is enough to make it feel like the competition is nipping at our heels, if they haven't already blown past us. GSW isn't going to get worse. Kobe retired so LAL may start to show signs of life (not that I'm concerned they'll be better than us, just saying). I don't have any expectations that SAC will put it all together, but they certainly have pieces...just need new management.

We had a nice season, but I think it's very tough to exceed expectations in consecutive seasons. We were a surprise team, and now that surprise is gone. In order to maintain our position we need to improve our roster, and in order to take the next step forward we need to greatly improve our roster.

 

That improving of our roster was never planning to happen during this draft. In fact we got a pick when we didn't even have one. There were something like 8 teams without a pick in this draft. I believe only two of those were able to trade in for one.

 

I don't buy that was ever on the table. There are always lots of rumors about what Boston is trying to do... I think Ainge sends out false rumors in hopes of increasing the value of his assets.

 

good post. I can't believe I forgot Minny.
good post.
To me, we are still above Mavs, Griz, Rockets, and are at the same or better than the Clips.

Minny and Utah improved significantly. Enough to pass us next year? The homer in me says no, but is a bit nervous. If we do not use our cap space, then I agree we are treading water. If we get Whiteside....

 

agreed, in fact I'll go even further. If we would have been gifted a middle 1st, we'd be worse off because of diminished free agency options due to our decreased cap space.

 

Agreed, but that's why Danny's rep. has taken such a large hit.

 

Winner: Nuggets had a nice night. I like a Jamal Murray a lot for that #7 pick and the overall opinion on their #15 is that he's a solid, physical forward. Beasley also gives them some needed shooting.

 

I did think about Denver, and I like what they did, but don't they now have 4 good SGs? Until that changes, I can't classify them as winners, though they are certainly not losers.

 

I'm not saying that I was expecting us to improve by drafting a player, but I was hoping that we'd make a trade during the draft. I get that trades are still a viable option, but with all the chatter about picks being available, and Ibaka getting traded, etc, I was disappointed we didn't do much to improve the team last night.

Also realize that I'm someone who (a) doesn't put much faith in improving via free agency, (b) doesn't think there are (m)any good free agents that are available, and (c) isn't impressed with Neil's FA targets thus far.

 

The problem with exceeding expectations two years in a row is after the first year the expectations go way up. You can be better the second year, but still not match the much higher expectations.

That said, under Terry Stotts, the Blazers have greatly exceeded expectations two of the three years. Two years ago, we won 54 games when most experts had us finishing around .500 and in the 8th to 11th range in the West. We also beat HOU, who 16 of 16 "experts" expected to beat us in the 1st round. Of course this season we greatly exceeded the consensus 26.5 expected wins and again made it to the second round.

The year in between, the season after winning 54 games, the expectations were higher. Most preseason predictions were in the 56 - 58 win range, and that's exactly where we were, with the second best record in the Western Conference (trailing only eventual champs GSW) in early March when Wesley Matthews went down. That team won 51 games, but was considered disappointing. This year's team won 44 games, but was considered one of the most enjoyable seasons in team history because the expectations were so low.

So, I don't put much stock in expectations. I'm more interested in results. And, that's where we agree. We do need to improve our roster. There will be some continued internal improvement from our guys. Most are still quite young and not yet entering their prime. So, that will help, but I do agree we need at least one, perhaps two, more significant pieces to take the next step forward to becoming a top 5 team in the NBA (which means a top 4 team in the West).

MIN sure has a LOT of young talent (finally, after being in the lottery forever), but as a young team they still need to learn how to win at this level. They may be a bubble playoff team this year, but I don't see them catching us, yet.

Same for UTA. They finally got a PG. He's an average one, but that's an improvement. Like last year, they will be among the best in the league defensively, but again will struggle to score. Their best scorer isn't really a go to guy who can take over a game and will his team to victory. Plus, he's rumored to be unhappy and wanting out. Another young bubble team I don't see catching us.

OKC was already ahead of us and the third best team in the West. While their trade looks good on paper, I'm not sure how much it will help them on the court this year. Their perimeter defense got better, but their interior defense got worse, and if anything their outside shooting got even worse. I liked Kanter in his role as 6th man. If they start him, their interior defense takes a huge hit, and while he gives them reliable low post scoring, they won't have anyone in their starting line up, other than Durant, that you will have to guard more than 12 feet from the basket. You can basically pack the paint and play a box and one against them with your best defender shadowing Durant. But again, they were already ahead of us and I don't think their moves, so far, did much to widen that gap. It seems like they got Oladipo specifically to help get past GSW. Curry and Thompson killed them in that series. So, they brought in a defensive specialist to help slow down the Splash Bros. I think that's both short sighted and tunnel vision. I think it's their attempt to convince Durant to resign with them and take one more shot at winning a ring before he flees OKC for greener, less cow pie infested, pastures. The problem with trying to get past GSW is you still need to score more points than they do and I don't know if this new OKC team, with their reliance on one player for outside shooting, can do that over the course of a 7 game series.

I do think, given our cap space, and the available free agents, we still have opportunities to address our biggest weaknesses, and as such, still have the opportunity to improve at least as much, and possibly more, than our division rivals. We shall see. July 1 will be here before you know it. I'm excited to see what happens.

BNM