Keeping our pick? This might be a Lottery year

Banchero is 6'10, 250 with a handle like a guard and a terrific motor and killer instinct. Not even close to the kind of defender his size/athleticism can allow right now, but passing on him for Chet would be a mistake.

Chet has great skills and could have a higher ceiling, but has so many limitations that you'd have to build the PERFECT team around him for him to flourish. He's not the plug and play elite big that Evan Mobley is. I don't want to have a situation where we have to hide a top 3 pick and avoid playing him in certain situations.

And we'd have to have perfect injury luck which we know is a losing proposition. Steer clear.

 

Banchero reminds me of Jabari Parker.

 

I feel the same.

 

I see a motivated Mike Beasley.

Parker's nba career also woulda been different had he not torn both his ACLs

 

I'm pretty much in agreement. I think with Banchero you have a pretty good idea of what you're getting. Parker was a good player before he got hurt. Banchero will get you points. I could see him also being a bit like Blake Griffin post-injury.

Chet's just got way too much variation for what he might be. People compare him to Porzingis; I don't think that's the compliment they think it is.

 

Agbaji from Kansas look real nice as well. Dude’s a lights out shooter.

 

Major shift in philosophy.
Neil: Get shooters, teach them to play defense.
New mgmt: Get athletic defensive players, teach them to shoot.

I think that'll be reflected in draft choices.

 

Little and Simons weren’t known as shooters coming into the draft. Neil’s approach to drafting in the 20’s was take the guy with most upside who fell for one reason or another.

Lots of other GM’s preferred the 4 year player who are more of a proven commodity their late 1sts

 

I'm hoping that we win the whole shabang and that means getting Jabari Smith Jr. I think he's the best complement next to Nurk out of the three posts that are considered by many to be the top three prospects in this upcoming draft. He's not as big as Paolo but he's just as long and he's more athletic, with a better shot.

 

Yeah I think he definitely has the most upside if he puts it all together. Superstar potential no doubt.

 

Smith would be amazing. I don’t like Chet or Banchero. If we land a top 6 pick I’d be thrilled with Smith(obviously), Ivey, Griffin, or Davis. I don’t see us keeping both picks however.

 

Ivey would be so be fun man.

I think the Purdue system hides his talent a little bit, but he's getting more on ball reps lately in the half court and you can see him starting to use change of pace more.

I like that he has the size to slide to the 2 and he looks pretty useful of the ball offensively too. Ridiculous speed around screens, really good weakside attacker and cutter too.

 

Super sleeper - has the makings of an an elite shooting modern stretch-four.

Physically he’s a clone of Chet: 7’1” 190 lbs

He’d be smart to stay in school - he would have a good chance of being a top-10 pick next year.

 

Ivey would pretty much be the perfect compliment to round out our guards. So far it’s

Dame/
Simons/Hart/Johnson

I’d love to bring in Ivey and just develop him as a PG behind Dame. With Simons still developing his playmaking abilities as well, a trio of Dame, Simons, and Ivey down the line would be lethal. Hart and Ivey are both scrappy defenders. Simons will get better on defense as well, and I’ve seen Dame do well on defense when needed. Hart’s size and rebounding ability give you the option to move him to the 3 as well. I don’t think anyone else expects anything else out of Johnson other than to develop into a player like Hart.

Didn’t really look at any other PG prospects outside of Ivey prior to the deadline. But I will start looking now that we need another PG.

 

Yeah, watching Smith shoot actually is a pleasure. Pure. I see him as Michael Porter Jr. with a more all-around game, or Simmons without quite the defense and handle but a much, much better scorer.

He'd be an awesome fit on this team. Of course, if he is anything like I think he's going to be, he'd be an awesome fit on pretty much any team.

 

Kind of brings up an interesting situation/dilemma if he's the top player on the Blazers' board when they're up to pick. He's got some people comparing him to Ja. He's also about 6-4, and I'm not sure I have the stomach for putting a guy at the 3 who is undersized again ... and Ivey's probably good enough to start.

That would open the door for A NUMBER of trade possibilities for the pick or even for Ant or Dame. Do you trade a guy who might be the next Ja for what could return a couple of solid pieces at other positions, or do you trade the established guard for other pieces because your scouts think Ivey's a star?

For me, I'd probably go with the former. Then I hope Sharpe's available because I see some Brandon Roy in his game. BRoy could have played the 3 in this NBA much more easily that Ivey can. You put him on the court with Dame, Ant, Nurk ... you have a lineup that's got a lot of shooters who can consistently make shots well behind the 3-point line and A LOT of open space to drive, penetrate, create screen-and-rolls, etc. It'd be a very difficult team to defend.

 

I wouldn’t be mad at us drafting Sharpe, but he’s be a PG imo. I suppose you could develop him into one, but in terms of trying to win right now, that doesn’t make sense. Hart makes too much sense as a backup SG for us, and ideally we wouldn’t have to wait several years for a player to develop outside of Holmgren.

If we got Ivey, I’m ultimately okay with parting with Dame if he wants to leave. Ivey and Simons would make a really great backcourt, especially if Ivey’s shooting translates early. Dame can bring in at least a star level forward like Siakam.

Guess we’ll have to see how the season plays out.

 

Games of note today:

Sac @ BRK - probably a loss for the Kings, but the way the Nets have been playing, cross your fingers for a Sac win.
Okc @ NYK - probably a loss for the Thunder, but how many times have you heard that the first game back after a long road trip is a loss?
Sas @ CHI - most likely a loss here. Bulls are playing well again.
Por @ MIL - schedule loss if I've ever seen one.
Tor @ NOP - should be a tight game. Need a Raptors win here.


Unfortunately, many of the teams we need to get a win, are on the road against superior opponents. Hopefully at least one or two can pull off a W.

 

You did a better job than I did in the Tankathon thread; now I am too lazy to go back and fix it so it's good you did this.