I almost got banned on Blazersedge because I went into a meltdown when we drafted CJ instead of my picks of Giannis or Steven Adams.
I really liked Steven Adams. I was always hoping the Blazers would get a Scottie-Pippen-type player and that seemed to be what Giannis was at that time. Either one seemed to make more sense than McCollum to play with Dame, though CJ certainly turned out to be a success as an individual player, better than any player picked before him except perhaps KCP.
He played in college two years, but you want to omit the other year where he shot 25% from 3? His college shooting percentages were 44/32/74. None of those are elite and one would hope a top 5 pick wouldn't be hovering near the average NCAA shooting percentage, which is why I considered it sub-optimal. In the NBA his shooting percentages are 42/33/75. When you don't omit 50% of his college sample size and look at his career shooting in both college and pros, they look very similar, don't they?
Drafting CJ was a great pick though, the best of Olshey's entire tenure, so that kinda goes against the case you're making
I watched a brief summary of how the Pistons got to this era of futility. They did OK drafting, but had terrible talent assessment, and some really bad luck. Detroit drafted Khris Middleton in 2nd round, traded him in a package to Milwaukee for Brandon Jennings. Brandon unfortunately tore his achilles while playing for Detroit. Detroit went all in trading Tobias Harris and other stuff to get Blake Griffin. While it worked marginally mediocre in Blake's first season, Griffin's bad knee flared up and he started missing all the games. i think Pistons drafted Spencer Dinwiddie in 2nd round, i don't remember how he luckily escaped Detroit. KCP showed real talent after getting drafted by Detroit... they let his contract expire and he walked. Ultra cheap Pistons owner didn't like him for some odd reason ?? Detroit drafted tough defending guard Bruce Brown in 2nd round... the Pistons gave him the pink slip !! He wasn't good enough to play in Detroit, but now he has a big shiny Nuggets championship ring. The scouts in Detroit have been finding good young players, but their Front Office keeps trading and cutting their best ballers before they can put a winning team together.
In Detroit, Dinwiddie was a 2nd round pick that didn't play much and after his 2nd season was traded to Chicago for Cameron Bairstow. Chicago waived him, and in December of his 3rd season he signed with the Brooklyn Nets.
the Bulls might start their own chapter of hopeless. Chicago is a few cap cutting trades away from taking a crack at the Pistons losing streak in the near future.
Simons was arguably a better pick. CJ didn't fit. And if he WAS BPA, then you turn around and flip him.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Rudy Gobert Steven Adams Kentavious Caldwell-Pope CJ McCollum Kelly Olynyk Dennis Schröder Tim Hardaway Jr. Mason Plumlee Mike Muscala Victor Oladipo Otto Porter Jr.
Ant may end up being a better pick. Either way, CJ was a good pick. Holding him through and past his prime value while playing next to Dame, that's where the ball was dropped in my opinion.
If anyone should have been taking a swing on Giannis, it should have been us. Neil was allergic to tall, athletic, long players. Why draft a score-first combo guard? How was that useful to that team as it was?
surely theyre losing deliberately, but not for tanking purposes maybe they want to get rid of monty williams
It wasn't the best pick possible. Most teams rarely make the best pick possible. Yes, Olshey could've taken Giannis or he could've taken a big swing like Lucas Nogueira (the pick after Giannis) and came up totally empty. It was a solid value pick. CJ could've easily been moved in around 2017 for a very solid forward. Olshey didn't fail by drafting CJ, he failed by not moving off him when his value was highest.
To inherit an all-star and lose him for nothing, then to fail to put another all-star next to Dame for nearly a decade is an unbelievable failure.
And on top of that not trade a borderline all star in a clear ellis/curry situation! God damn it was a frustrating decade.
And having to listen to Olshey be condescending every time he was asked about the incompatibility of Dame and CJ or actually every time he was asked any question, exacerbated that frustration.
