mkwest wrote:
I'm not sure what to think about the rumored promise to Ben Bentil by the Clippers. Both DX and NBAdraft.net have him in the 2nd round, so I assume he's been killing it in the private workouts but I don't see the appeal of going after him in the 1st round when you can possibly nab him or Brice Johnson in the 2nd round. Plus, neither address our need for a small forward. Hey, I'm a proponent of BPA, but again, neither Johnson or Bentil stand out as such right now but that would be dependent on how the draft actually plays out. I'm still not even caught up on draft materials or rather I haven't really started (a little pooped from the MLB Draft and other stuff) but I'm concerned with buzz around the draft already.
Assuming we did make a promise to Bentil, does that mean that we no longer think we have a shot at either Taurean Prince or DeAndre Bembry when we were supposedly split between the two previously? Or how about talk of both Denzel Valentine and Timothe Luwawu also falling down into our range? Seems kind of odd that we'd put ourselves in another Yaroslav-Korolev predicament when there seems to be so many things in flux. Plus, what if we did successfully trade up the draft board? Does that promise now carry over to the higher draft slot? This doesn't make sense to me. Of course, that's the whole point of the scuttlebutt and smokescreen being spread by other teams and player agents.
Speaking of red flags, I'm not keen on drafting Valentine or Tyler Ulis given their respective medical concerns. I wasn't too enamored with Valentine even before his reported medical issue, but he is a productive player who would make sense for teams with multiple picks in the opening round like the Boston Celtics. I don't feel the Clippers can afford to take such a gamble right now.
Also, the Lakers are rumored to be considering both bypassing Brandon Ingram and trading away D'Angelo Russell for another top-5 pick. Personally, I think it would be a mistake on both counts. I get why Ben Simmons would be the more appealing option given his package of talent and versatility, but like Lamar Odom before him, I'm not sure he has the inner drive and commitment to make the most of those gifts to be a great player in the NBA. Ingram, on the other hand, may need to be developed especially with regards to his physical stature, but long-term I see him being the only prospect worthy of being drafted 1st overall in this draft class. With regard to Russell, I think the Lakers would be passing up on a golden opportunity to have both Ingram and Russell grow together to be the faces of their franchise, but at the same time, trading him for the upside of Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, or Jamal Murray could be decent value if they want to cut their losses with Russell if they feel he has lost the locker room.
As I've mentioned before, a private pre-draft workout can be enlightening like it was with Kobe Bryant and Anfernee Hardway during their respective draft years, but it can be a dangerous distraction from scouting reports from game action such as were the cases with Michael Olowokandi and Darko Milicic.
Update: It's odd that NBAdraft.net would delete the tweet mkwest cited only to post it again later on with I believe the addition of "strong" in front of "possibility".
