Winning The Lottery: Drummond or Okafor?

[Ghost]

I want to see what the public thought is right now. The assumption is that we win the lottery (and Monroe walks).

1. Do you take a different position: like Mudiay/Johnson, and pair with Drummond?

2. Do you take Okafor, and then trade Drummond for someone?

[epheisey]

We've needed a wing or guard that can create for a long time. Hold on to Drummond and take the best scorer that plays either PG or SF. Don't really know anything about who's out there yet, I usually wait until later in the college season to really pay attention.


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[Pistons888]

If the season continues in this fashion, especially Dre's play, and the team gets the #1 pick I don't think that you can pass up an NBA ready center with more advanced post skills than what they currently have. It is way to early to tell, but if the season ended today than I think that is the best move. Flipping Drummond for a package of some sort of young SF/PG/pick and selecting Okafor with the top pick would do wonders in my opinion.

[Kilo]

Depends on what we could get for Drummond. I think the best play would be keep Dre and draft an alpha #1 scorer that this team desperately needs, allowing Dre to take on a lesser complimentary role he's more comfortable with.

Actually I'd trade #1 overall (Okafor) and Josh Smith for a first rounder a couple spots back and then draft Towns - we'd have $36M under the cap if we could move Smith to a team with enough cap space to take him on without giving up any players to us. Use that money to be very aggressive in FA and overpay to get RFA's like Butler/Dragic.

Also the #1 overall pick would probably have more return trade value than Drummond, and we could be selling low on a 22 yr old center who's brain just seems fried right now.

[MotownMadness]

Personally I still like Drummond better then Okafor as a prospect. But I thought up a realistic scenario where I would entertain the idead of trading Drummond and drafting Okafor.

If NY continues on thos trajectory then they should be picking around 3rd-6th. If we land the #1 pick we draft Okafor and then offer them Drummond for they're pick, but they also have to take on Smith. NY will be looking for a center anyways and they will probably strike out in FA. We can offer them one of the best young big man prospect in the game. They will then have theyre frontcourt in Smith and Drummond to play alongside Melo.

With Smith, Drummond and Monroe gone we are now starting from complete scratch. We draft Okafor and use the NY pick on BPA. Hoping Mudiay but unlikely so im thinking Stanley Johnson who is a nice athletic defensive SF.

The only other main piece to ditch now is Jennings but he will be on a expiring and should be easy to move by the trade deadline. So I think we just worry about getting our PG of the future in the next draft seeing as we should be looking at another top 5 pick and theres no sense in spending big money on anyone this early into this rebuild.

Go into FA targeting a PF. Milsap seems too old for this new roster so im thinking about someone like Kanter. A shot blocker would be ideal to put next to Okafor but im not sure whos available. So ill just go with Kanter and then make a few other signings to fill in the rest. Then basically just have to tank again next season for another top pick before we start to make a playoff push. So the roster would look something like this-

Dinwiddie/Jennings
KCP/Meeks
Johnson/Singler
Kanter/FA
Okafor/FA

Thats a pretty bad team but its about the only quick way to start a fresh rebuild and not look at Smith anymore. Basically if im trading Drummond then Smith has to go with him and I want a top pick back or a talented young player. If thats not possible then I just draft Mudiay and move forward with him and Dre and worry about movinv the idiots later.

[haulerch]

Mudiay.

[pistontr]

is okafor a good defender?

[pistontr]

whan I diss drummond everybody act like I am crazy. what is this

[MotownMadness]

is okafor a good defender?

Nothing to brag about. Hes basically Monroe with more potential.

[ImHeisenberg]

Too early to make any kind of call in this theoretical situation. We still need to see a lot more of Okafor.

Okafor isn't the athlete that Drummond is, but he definitely projects as a superior player in the long term. Okafor claims he models his game after Tim Duncan, and he can potentially get there or at least in the conversation.

Mudiay's season in China wrapping up so quickly really makes him a question mark. He looked very good, but in such a limited amount of games. He'll just be working out until the draft next year (that's what I've heard).

There's also Stanley Johnson. He's looking pretty good, but he would have to make one heck of leap throughout the season to be a more clear cut prospect than Okafor.


If we land the top pick- you take the best player, without hesitation. Positional logjams do not matter when you're a lottery team. You could take Okafor, and trade Drummond for a wing, or high value assets (picks) if Okafor made it immediately clear that he is a superior player.

[ducler]

I take Towns and keep Andre. The Drummond-Towns duo would be great!

[ImHeisenberg]

is okafor a good defender?

Not yet.

But, these guys are never good defenders if they're known for their offense. The reason is- their high school (and college) coaches don't want them picking up fouls and instruct them to play very conservatively on defense so they can stay in the game as much as possible.

The only bigs that come into the league with sharper defensive instincts are those who were never offensive options.

Okafor has the tools to be a good defender. Not Anthony Davis good, but still an above average defender.

The question would really be- do you take a rookie big who can become an impact player on both sides of the ball. Or, do you roll with Drummond who also projects to eventually be a very good defensive big man but the offense probably isn't going to come.

[mattao313]

To be totally honest I would keep both I don't see way they can't play together . But if I was forced to make a decision I guess I would trade Dre for more picks.

[epheisey]

If Okafor models his game after Duncan, wouldn't he be able to play alongside Drummond?


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[Ghost]

If Okafor models his game after Duncan, wouldn't he be able to play alongside Drummond?


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I think it would be the Greg Monroe argument right now... It might not be accurate as it is so early, but I think a lot of people look at both Towns and Okafor as centers, and making them play power forward would not be the best decision :?

[epheisey]

Duncan and the Admiral seemed to do ok.


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[Ghost]

Duncan and the Admiral seemed to do ok.


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Okay, great... that was forever ago. Drummond isn't The Admiral, and I doubt Okafor really ends up being arguably the best PF of all time . He might not have the versatility/athleticism to really play both positions. That's what I was saying.

[MrBigShot]

Depends on what we could get for Drummond. I think the best play would be keep Dre and draft an alpha #1 scorer that this team desperately needs, allowing Dre to take on a lesser complimentary role he's more comfortable with.

Actually I'd trade #1 overall (Okafor) and Josh Smith for a first rounder a couple spots back and then draft Towns - we'd have $36M under the cap if we could move Smith to a team with enough cap space to take him on without giving up any players to us. Use that money to be very aggressive in FA and overpay to get RFA's like Butler/Dragic.

Also the #1 overall pick would probably have more return trade value than Drummond, and we could be selling low on a 22 yr old center who's brain just seems fried right now.

Nothing personal, but I see this idea being proposed a lot and I just can't help but wonder why. If we end up with #1 and feel Okafor is head and shoulders above the rest the best prospect, it would be strange to trade down just for the sake of getting rid of Smith. And we'd still have 22 mil to go after other FAs.

Anyway, so far both Okafor and Mudiay look pretty impressive. If we get #1 and feel Okafor is the best prospect come draft time, I'd take him and sort it out later. I don't imagine they'd be able to play together but I wouldn't deal Drummond just for the sake of dealing him.

[Notanoob]

Okafor is more like a rich man's Moose than Duncan right now. Not really a rim protector but slow for a PF. Towns looks like he's a tad bit quicker and would be better suited to playing PF than Okafor.

I kind of hope that Kristaps Porzingis makes things easy on us and blows up overseas to be the #1 pick. He's a 7 foot tall PF who is very quick, fast and athletic. Plays above the rim. Has a good face-up game and has a nice looking jumpshot all the way out to the 3 point line. He can cover PFs well but also brings shot-blocking- he's the best young shotblocker in Spain since Ibaka.

The problem is that he's currently a bit skinny, so he gets pushed around on the block, doesn't finish though contact well or draw fouls, and he's a bit weak on the glass (although in this area it looks like he's improved this year). If he's bulked up and his shot gets more consistent, we could be looking at a taller version of Ibaka.

Also, this year there are two lottery teams with extra first round picks coming their way- the Lakers (who have their own pick top 5 and the Rocket's unprotected pick) and the Celtics (who are getting the Clipper's first round pick, lotto protected). We could look to trade down with one of them if we don't want Okafor.

I always love trade down scenarios because they let us load up on young talent. There are a lot of promising prospects at every position in this draft, although it is bigman-heavy.

[Bakuto]

Depending on who's picking second, they may want Okafor. See if they'll eat Smith or Jennings and draft Mudiay at 2.