2020 Draft Thread

[Mylie10]

There’s no waste in regards to Wiseman. He’d play right away, and the improvement throughout the year, to Playoff time would be drastic in a positive sense.

He absolutely does not hurt a title run next season. He enhances it.

[Scoots1994]

Clippers play Zubac. Boston plays Williams and Theis. Miami plays Bam, who's not a traditional center but not a wing either.

Are there any 7 footers who are playing 30 minutes a night still in the playoffs?

Lopez is a -16 against Bam and the Heat for 3 games.

Jokic was under 30 minutes in the first game of the Clippers series, but he's the best 7 footer in the game and maybe the last of the elite 7 footers, and his game is certainly not that of a traditional center.

Lopez, Gasol, Howard, McGee, Vuc are all in their 30s and toward the end and getting progressively more marginalized. The traditional big is clearly fading in imporance.

So ... a 7 footer who moves like a wing, defends like a wing, shoots like a wing, sees the game like a wing, rebounds and blocks shots like a traditional center? IF he can stay healthy and on the court then yeah, he's super valuable. But that player is the unicorn ... and the last unicorn, Porzingis, hasn't paid off for the Knicks.

If Wiseman is a KP who can stay healthy then yeah, he's worth the #2 ... but a LOT of players have been taken high on the prospect that they will fundamentally improve all of their flaws only to see them fail one way or another, and because of it in every draft you can find bigs draft well above their skill level.

No you may not be able to play them more than 10-15 minutes a game deeper into the playoffs, as was the case for Bogut.

But during the season, you're going to need someone with size and length to play 20-25 minutes, so that your small lineup 4s and 5s don't get worn down or just beat up during the season.

So the obvious question is the #2 pick and around $40M on the first contract worth a 20 minutes a game in the regular season player? If that player is not transcendent of the trend, probably not.

[Little Digger]

Stick to your guns M10..don’t ever reevaluate..That would be a sign of weakness

[wco81]

Are there any 7 footers who are playing 30 minutes a night still in the playoffs?

Lopez is a -16 against Bam and the Heat for 3 games.

Jokic was under 30 minutes in the first game of the Clippers series, but he's the best 7 footer in the game and maybe the last of the elite 7 footers, and his game is certainly not that of a traditional center.

Lopez, Gasol, Howard, McGee, Vuc are all in their 30s and toward the end and getting progressively more marginalized. The traditional big is clearly fading in imporance.

So ... a 7 footer who moves like a wing, defends like a wing, shoots like a wing, sees the game like a wing, rebounds and blocks shots like a traditional center? IF he can stay healthy and on the court then yeah, he's super valuable. But that player is the unicorn ... and the last unicorn, Porzingis, hasn't paid off for the Knicks.

If Wiseman is a KP who can stay healthy then yeah, he's worth the #2 ... but a LOT of players have been taken high on the prospect that they will fundamentally improve all of their flaws only to see them fail one way or another, and because of it in every draft you can find bigs draft well above their skill level.

No you may not be able to play them more than 10-15 minutes a game deeper into the playoffs, as was the case for Bogut.

But during the season, you're going to need someone with size and length to play 20-25 minutes, so that your small lineup 4s and 5s don't get worn down or just beat up during the season.

So the obvious question is the #2 pick and around $40M on the first contract worth a 20 minutes a game in the regular season player? If that player is not transcendent of the trend, probably not.

Warriors will have to decided that.

They're going to pay $40 million regardless if they can't trade the pick.

So who in the draft is worth that money? Who'd going to be playable for a lot of minutes?

Do you see players who can become a starter in the first or second year, getting 30-35 minutes?

[Little Digger]

Avdija

[gandlogo]

The only thing with Deni that spooks me is the free throw shooting. The list of players who became dead-eye shooters with such a poor free throw percentage is miniscule. I don't know how comfy I am hoping he becomes a statistical outlier. But otherwise, his game is intriguing. We need an oversized wing and it would be quite nice to have another ball-handler, particularly one at his size, next to Steph/Klay.

Agreed his ft shooting truly concerning on whether or not he’ll be able to shoot consistently. If he were at 70% I’d probably take him 1. Although I’m thinking he’s my no 1 now.

Wolves fan here (Niners too) -

I’m not worried Deni’s shooting at all. I can see him easily at 70-75% from the line and 35% from three. He does strikes me as more of a scorer than shooter, however. Offensively he looks super versatile. Not sure where he’ll end up defensively. I’m hoping that the Wolves take him at #1.

Cheers to y’all.

[Scoots1994]

Warriors will have to decided that.

They're going to pay $40 million regardless if they can't trade the pick.

So who in the draft is worth that money? Who'd going to be playable for a lot of minutes?

Do you see players who can become a starter in the first or second year, getting 30-35 minutes?

Sure, but it's all projection that is just questions we don't know and hopefully the Warriors can get much closer to real answers.

Edwards, Ball, Avdija, Okongwu, Haliburton, Okoro, Vassell, and Wiseman are all possible if everything goes perfect for them.

Of course there ARE all those questions for all of those names and what their correct value level is in the draft and to the Warriors.

[Quazza]

It's difficult to get full game video on players instead of just watching highlights. I couldn't find any Euro League games on Avdija, but I did find the 2019 FIBA U20 European Championship. The Wiki page links to the FIBA page where you can get complete boxscores and watch full game replays. I killed nearly six hours watching Avdija in the quarter, semi, and final games. It was some really good basketball and fun to watch how hard those national teams compete. The style is pretty hard-nose, basically like watching Big Ten basketball. But the stakes were much higher, and you could tell the teams were highly vested. These three games from a year ago were stiffer competition than the three games Wiseman played in college. Then he went on to play another season in the Euro League.

Overall, Avdija was really fun to watch and impacts the game in nearly all areas - even if his shooting is off. He was the second youngest player in the tournament, but won the MVP award averaging 18.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.4 blocks and 2.1 steals per game. He was more athletic than I was anticipating. Very good straight-line speed. Decent leaper off one or two feet. Has a little glide/hang on his takes (needs to finish more consistently). Light on his feet for the second jump. Contests/blocks shots without fouling. The team's defensive scheme was to switch nearly everything, so you literally can watch him guard 1-5. France has a really small point guard and a thick post, and Deni does well against either. His BBIQ is off the charts. He understands spacing and pacing. His turnovers were usually poor execution and not poor recognition. He already has very good handles and shooting stroke - arguably was the team's primary ball handler. Probably most importantly, he's an alpha dog that competes hard and did not shrink in big moments of really big games. You can see he hates failure.

Quarterfinals against Lithuania

16 points, 10 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals, 4 blocks, 3/8 FT, 1/5 3PT

Watch on YouTube

Semifinal against France

26 points, 11 boards, 1 assist, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 12/14 FT, 2/5 3PT

Watch on YouTube

Finals against Spain

23 points, 5 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 2/3 FT, 3/7 3PT.

Watch on YouTube

This is a decent look at Deni that goes back to his early years and shows his development as a pro. You can see his body change and you get a better idea that he has actually been a pro - not a college player - for years. Likely better for development than AAU over the same period. I'm not buying the Luka comp as much as this guy is pushing, but I do agree he will be a very good play maker in the NBA. His player profile page for the Euro League actually lists him as a guard. Having watched the three full game videos I would list him a positionless basketball player. He is Ben Simmons with a better jump shot.

Watch on YouTube

Ugh...sigh

He's growing on me more and more

[Coxy]

Looks like Hedo Turkeyglue to me.

[wco81]

What if he's like his countryman Caspi?

[Little Digger]

Wishy washy draft thought of the morning..I like Avdija the best of the lot, but overall the top of this draft still sucks compared to most years..Warriors have to know this but so do most of the other front offices..Our best hopes are 1. Avdija 2. the Knicks 3. Michael Jordan interference

[Pistol King]

Agreed his ft shooting truly concerning on whether or not he’ll be able to shoot consistently. If he were at 70% I’d probably take him 1. Although I’m thinking he’s my no 1 now.

So maybe it might encourage you that since the hiatus, he actually shot 72% from FT (28 /39 on 12 games).

[Mylie10]

Stick to your guns M10..don’t ever reevaluate..That would be a sign of weakness

Lol, that’s what people who are unsure of themselves do.

I like lots of other guys and could make a case for each of them in different scenarios.

But I thought the goal was to pick BPA?

[Onus]

Agreed his ft shooting truly concerning on whether or not he’ll be able to shoot consistently. If he were at 70% I’d probably take him 1. Although I’m thinking he’s my no 1 now.

So maybe it might encourage you that since the hiatus, he actually shot 72% from FT (28 /39 on 12 games).

It’s encouraging for sure small sample size and all.

[Scoots1994]

Stick to your guns M10..don’t ever reevaluate..That would be a sign of weakness

Lol, that’s what people who are unsure of themselves do.

I like lots of other guys and could make a case for each of them in different scenarios.

But I thought the goal was to pick BPA?

That should be the goal and that could be Wiseman. It's only you who thinks it's only Wiseman

[jason bourne]

Stick to your guns M10..don’t ever reevaluate..That would be a sign of weakness

Lol, that’s what people who are unsure of themselves do.

I like lots of other guys and could make a case for each of them in different scenarios.

But I thought the goal was to pick BPA?

That should be the goal and that could be Wiseman. It's only you who thinks it's only Wiseman

I'm probably the opposite of M10 because it will take too long to develop Wiseman even if he is BPA 4 - 7 range like Okongwu (I think the Hornets will be drafting for need at #3). Second, he didn't complete his freshman season. He could've just came back and played the season, but chose to sit out. It means he lost the development experience and chance to show he deserves to be a top 3 pick as forecast. Maybe his defense would have won a lot of Ws fans over.

On the ww.net board, they had him as another David Robinson. That's just plain wrong. He's more like Hassan Whiteside and recently he was upgraded to a DeAndre Jordan with higher ceiling. I can buy that. Wiseman can't shoot as well as a David Robinson. The guy who would be like David Robinson would be DeAndre Ayton and he had a year's work at Arizona. I can see the Warriors taking him at #2 or even at #1 if they had the Twolves pick assuming he came out this year. This, even though he may not play right away; He probably could play a backup role. It would be hard to trade down.

Watch on YouTube

[KevinMcreynolds]

I'm not a fan Deni's shot or I'd be really high on him too. Release is pretty slow, doesn't seem to ever side step or step back into a jumper, and doesn't take any jumpers off the bounce.

[ShayDee]

Wiseman is the BPA in this draft, whether anyone wants to believe or not. Also has the least bust potential

[Scoots1994]

I'm not a fan Deni's shot or I'd be really high on him too. Release is pretty slow, doesn't seem to ever side step or step back into a jumper, and doesn't take any jumpers off the bounce.

He has been doing a LOT better in tape I've seen of him after the Corona-break. Better footwork inside and on the jump shot. Still brings the ball too low and takes to long to get rid of the ball, but a surprising improvement.

[Scoots1994]

Wiseman is the BPA in this draft, whether anyone wants to believe or not. Also has the least bust potential

The least bust potential between Ball, Edwards, and Wiseman I would accept. But Haliburton's floor is higher than all 3 of them ... his ceiling is lower too.