VanWest82 wrote:BoogieTime wrote:VanWest82 wrote:I don't know if there's any truth to this but I'm endlessly fascinated by this subject and can't wait for all the details to slowly come out from all sides.
Im not seeing the fascination. Bagley was a phenomenal college prospect and long considered atop the class. He was seen as the better fit as Luka is ball dominant and they just spent the 5 on a PG. Luka had become a majority, but not hard consensus top two by draft night. Vlade needs to be fired at this point for the outcome (although not totally definitive). Some GMs may have done the same thing, though not the better ones
We can dig up the draft thread, and i think the tone would be surprise not shock that a GM made an outlandish pick. That’s the hindsight here
It's fascinating because Valde knew the family. That and the fact that many assumed, perhaps naively, that he'd jump at the chance to pick the next star from the former Yugoslavia region.
I thought it was insane right in the moment that people thought those other guys were at the same level. I definitely posted as much. The way he played in FIBA worlds and throughout the Euroleague season and playoffs, winning MVP at each stage, etc., just dwarfed everything those other guys were doing in college. So I guess I don't care what got said in some RealGM thread is what I'm saying lol. No offense. It was unbelievable then and it's unbelievable now. Hopefully Bagley grows into being a star so we don't have to talk about it like Bowie over MJ.
I know you have basketball knowledge so I don’t question it. But still, an unathletic Euro was coming in the NBA to be a point forward dominating the ball, I personally think that could’ve gone either way. Not to defend Vlade, a better GM may have spotted that talent, for sure. But to the lower GMs, you have a Euro that could/couldn’t translate