I know we've got some Zags in here but I want the lowest seeds possible in this final four. This tourney has been so wacky, I just want the madness to continue.
I would be disgusted with trading our lotto pick. I’m fine trading the Knicks pick + Simons for an upgrade.
Yes. I’d much rather have a guy at the top of the draft picked by Schmitz that can be here for the foreseeable future on a rookie scale contract. Siakam is a guy with one year left on his deal. We’re going through the same situation with Grant RIGHT NOW. Even if Grant re-signs, I don’t know how a team that is required to stay under the luxury tax every year can field a competitive team around three guys making $30m+/yr, one of them at $50m+/yr. If it was Mikal, I’d rather trade the NYK pick to the bulls for our pick back then trading our available 1sts with Simons for him. But I would NOT trade our lotto pick. Then again, I’m a dumbass.
Say the Blazers have the #3pick in the draft.Both VW and Brandon Miller are taken. Do you draft Scoot as the BPA or go by position of need?
I would probably trade #3 and the Knicks pick for the two Magic lotto picks depending on where they fall and draft two wings. Right now, the two guys I love are Ausar Thompson and Taylor Hendricks. If we grabbed both guys to add to this squad, that’d be crazy. But if that wasn’t possible, trade down. We have too many guards already as it is.
I am liking Jarace Walker quite a bit as defensive PF/small ball 5 that can guard all 5 positions and is likely one of the best defenders coming out of this draft
Has anyone done enough homework on Dereck Lively? Is his defense going to translate as quickly as Evan Mobley at the NBA level? I’d love to know what Schmitz thinks of him and if Lively would be the best pick at #23. Lively would be a great long-term piece backing up Nurk for cheap. He’d get enough minutes to develop since Nurk doesn’t play 30+ minutes. Nurk/Lively/Eubanks is no worse than Nurk/Eubanks, with potential to be a lot better. I think Eubanks is a good third string C.
Lively defense will absolutely translate. He’s gonna be Jarrett Allen lite. But the interesting part about him is his offense. Sure he’s a lob threat. But he has this passing skill that I believe you can tap into. Not saying he’s gonna be Jokic. But he’s somebody that will be deadly on the roll cause not only can he dunk on anybody but he can make the right read. With that being said he will be taken before 23, probably in the late teen. So if he’s there at 23, you take him and don’t look back
i told myself i wasn't gonna bother with this draft but been watching a bunch of videos on prospects again. missing hoops. i'm souring more and more on miller. his inability to create separation or score at he the rim is not a great sign. thought he was gonna be a better jabari smith, but think that opinion is wrong. this is not PG 2.0. miller is also a year older than the other top guys. how wrong would i be if i took walker over miller?
He had some monster games this year. I doubt he will drop very much because of the tournament. He is young and inconsistent like all the others. It still comes down to projected potential 2-3 years from now. He might not meet our timeline but other teams will take him in the top 5 unless his off-court issues are a concern.
Sorry for the long winded answer but have been watching a ton of Lively and wanted to get all my thoughts out there on him. Mobley he's not, but really love his defensive projection. He doesn't have the movement skills of Mobley, but he still moves really well his size and I think he's a better pure rim protector with better strength and physicality. Mobley has settled into more of that roaming, helpside PF that switches a good bit. Lively is more of your traditional drop/anchor 5 man. Has the length and strength to play fairly deep in drop, but also think he's a good enough mover with good twitch and activity to play closer to the level of the screen. Pretty advanced already navigating those cat and mouse situations. Good using his hands to be disruptive and break up the rhythm of the ball handler and moves and jumps pretty well out of a backpedal. He's getting a lot of Gafford comps but Lively is already in another stratosphere in terms of pnr technique. Gafford is too often hunched over with his hands at his side and poor at playing 2. Next to no hand activity, roller routinely gets too far behind him and late to react to it to break up the lob. Lively, at least in my viewings is already at an above average NBA level at these things. Widely reported as one of the best and loudest communicators on Dukes team. Brian Geisinger who has a great Charlotte Hornet podcast (Buzz Beat) is also a credentialed ACC journalist and has seen that firsthand multiple times(ACC media sits courtside at Cameron). Also seems to have good comradery with his teammates both on the floor and in huddles. It shows up on film too. Impressive quality when you consider his role offensively. Was happy to do the dirty work and pick up the scraps he got on offense. I guess it was something the Duke staff had to coach out of Mark Williams, but not the case at all with Lively. Really good screener already with is rare for young bigs. Not afraid to lay the wood and has a lot vet craft already too as you'll see him get a little wider that legal with his feet with a little shoulder lean before getting into his roll. Good awareness and quickness flipping/ changing angles on the screen. Will back up and play in the pocket if a team is trying keep pnr's on the side. Very limited offensively outside of obvious catch and finishes. Gather+finish sequence looks a little rough at times. Doesn't seem to have the surest hands. Doesn't outright drop a lot of passes, but seems to struggle getting a clean catch and can be a little slow getting his body and feet organized to go up and finish. Miniscule usage. His teammates didn't seem to trust him enough to pass him the ball unless he was wide open. Passing looks good for his role. Especially if he develops into a guy that can finish off a dribble or two and draw a bit more respect from the defense. Right now, if say he catches a pass on a short roll where he's 10-15 feet from the rim, it's nearly an auto pass decision for him. Made a lot of clean and quick decisions, especially later in the year, but you'd like to see him be able to make a move a finish as he matures so those passing windows get bigger and lead to more wide open shots. But overall, I really like his value if you can get him outside of the lottery. His outcomes are too narrow for me as a limited on offense strict 5 to have him much higher than that. As it goes for all interior 5's at this point, if you aren't starting quality...it gets tough quick to even be in an NBA rotation, at least on NBA teams serious about winning. But I like his chances to get there and think he's physically ready and good enough at the things he'll be expected to do to bring value early.
All 3? I know a lot of focus has been put on the Blazers lottery pick, but even if that gets traded I’m excited about that first round non-lottery pick. I think the Blazers can nab a solid prospect at that range. Lots of good potential sleepers in this draft.