How many teams with lottery picks are going to be good enough to have Knecht make a difference his first year? Most are more than a 23 year old with one good season at the highest level of college basketball away from being good and would prefer to go with upside.
It does not matter to me if either lottery pick helps the team in any impactful way this season. Get a dude! Salaun is raw … but what he can be at PF … and Williams needs to put on muscle getting to around 200 pounds. He’s frickin’ 6’6.5” with a 7’1” wingspan and all of 178.4 pounds — but has the frame to get there. It’s what he can do now plus when he develops for 2-3 years. Players who needs time are fine. Topic needs a year just to get healthy. And Knecht at 23 has room to grow his game at only 23. Dan Majerle (1st round, 14th pick) was a 23-year-old rookie and had a stretch with Phoenix until 29 (and then to Cleveland) earning Thunder Dan at 27 scaling up on 3’s playing SF/SG. How risk averse will Cronin be?
If we keep all 4 picks I predict we take projects in the first round and ready-to-contribute older players in the second. The counterexamples to that are old Murray in the first round and young Rupert in the second last year, but I think Murray was taken because of Dame, and Rupert was just too good value to pass up.
of course the analysts are saying the Lakers won the draft. It could have been Dalton, Ware, Carter, etc etc. LeBron just has to steal all the credit on draft night. I'll just sit around and wait for AD to demand a trade to Miami.
