2018 NBA Draft Talk

Quake Griffin · Post #1101 » by **Quake Griffin** » Thu Jul 19, 2018 2:20 am

I've never known back surgery to be the type of thing a player just bounces back from.

Glad we stayed away from him.
Glad we didn't add to the list of top Clipper picks/ busts/ injury-busts.

esqtvd · Post #1102 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Jul 19, 2018 2:26 am

Quake Griffin wrote:I've never known back surgery to be the type of thing a player just bounces back from.

Glad we stayed away from him.
Glad we didn't add to the list of top Clipper picks/ busts/ injury-busts.

questionable between the ears as well

definitely not "face of the franchise" material

Ranma · Post #1103 » by **Ranma** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 3:57 pm

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Ranma · Post #1104 » by **Ranma** » Sun Dec 2, 2018 2:16 am

So the Suns--or at least their former GM McDonough--really liked SGA at 11th overall, but liked Mikal Bridges more at 10th overall? Or did they just settled to pull the trigger on the deal with Philadelphia after-the-fact once the Clippers traded 2 future second-round picks to move up one slot to select Shai? Based on the context and tweet from the previous post above, it sounds like the latter to me.

Also, I wonder if Shai's refusal to work out for other teams was what caused that someone in the Suns' front office to shutter the deal. That would be huge, if so, and I suspect that factored into the decision. If the Suns had selected SGA 10th overall after securing the deal with the Sixers, the Hornets might still have selected a Bridges but it could have been consensus ClipBoard favorite Mikal instead of Miles, which would have left us with choosing among Miles Bridges, Michael Porter, Jr. (and his back problems), my personal favorite Zhaire Smith or maybe even Lonnie Walker IV unless the Clippers liked Mikal enough to offer the same trade to move up and Charlotte was still amenable to it.

Jerome Robinson was always going to be the 13th overall pick, if that, because the Clippers were reportedly looking to trade down to select him lower until they got word that other teams right behind them were interested in him as well. It's interesting and quite fortunate for us how things worked out as Shai has actually put up better numbers than Mikal thus far.

Edit: I realized afterwards that Mikal Bridges would have been taken 10th overall in both scenarios since the Suns initially targeted the Hornets' 11th overall pick.

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Kellan Olson, ArizonaSports.com (11/29/18)

According to 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s John Gambadoro, Phoenix was working on a deal with the Charlotte Hornets to move up to No. 11 in the draft to select former Kentucky point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Suns had Gilgeous-Alexander No. 1 on their board among point guards, per Gambadoro, ahead of names like 5th overall pick Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young and No. 8 selection Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Collin Sexton.

The deal fell apart due to someone in the Suns front office shutting down the deal and Charlotte making a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers at No. 12 to move back one spot and allow the Clippers to move up and select Gilgeous-Alexander.

Suns Targeted Gilgeous-Alexander in 2018 NBA Draft, Had Him as Top PG

Ranma · Post #1105 » by **Ranma** » Sun Dec 2, 2018 8:56 pm

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Quake Griffin · Post #1106 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sun Dec 2, 2018 9:59 pm

It's odd that Phoenix would have him as #1 on their board but "someone" in their front office would nix the deal.

More realistic IMO that the Clippers made the better offer and from that came someone nixing the deal.

Ranma · Post #1107 » by **Ranma** » Mon Dec 3, 2018 5:36 am

Quake Griffin wrote:It's odd that Phoenix would have him as #1 on their board but "someone" in their front office would nix the deal.

More realistic IMO that the Clippers made the better offer and from that came someone nixing the deal.

That could be the case, but the article stated that the Suns had SGA as their top-rated point guard. Obviously, that doesn't mean he's their top-rated player overall on their big board or even necessarily BPA, however, given their need for a point guard and the fact that they apparently initially focused on the 11th overall selection slot specifically with intentions to select Shai, you'd have to think the Kentucky product was their top priority as an acquisition target on the draft board.

And if that was the case, then you'd also figure that Phoenix was willing to give up the same package that they ended up trading for Mikal Bridges one slot earlier: the 16th overall selection and Miami's unprotected 2021 first-round pick. Granted it's going from the 10th overall selection to just about outside the lottery, but that extra future first-round pick makes it a more appealing package to me than the 12th overall pick and 2 future second-rounders.

Was Charlotte really that sold on Miles Bridges, especially with Michael Porter, Jr., Zhaire Smith and Lonnie Walker IV still in play at that point? Maybe the Hornets were but it seems an awful lot to pass up to settle for our offer. I know I would have preferred Phoenix's offer over ours if given the choice, but it's an educated guess on my part so we don't know for sure what was and wasn't available when the Suns decided to make a deal.

Ranma · Post #1108 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 5, 2018 4:06 am

As far as I can recall, aside from trying to make a deal for Kawhi with the Spurs in exchange for our draft pick(s), which Popovich was not at all interested in, the Logo and our front office were proactively trying to trade up for Luka Doncic when he was falling on draft boards. Alas, the Hawks were enamored with Trae Young and wouldn't drop any lower than the Mavericks' 5th overall selection slot. Likewise, other teams seemed to had fallen in love with respectively targeted prospects at least more so than the idea of having 2 late-lottery selections in exchange.

In the end, the Clippers still made out as this draft is already considered one of the more impressive classes in recent memory. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander even has a case for being a top-5 selection in a 20-20 hindsight redraft at this point.

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Ranma · Post #1109 » by **Ranma** » Thu Dec 6, 2018 7:41 am

The cited Athletic article is pay-protected, so I can't verify the exact details but piecing the info summarized by HoopsRumors.com together with the protections on the referenced "extra first-round pick it owns from the Bucks" as detailed by this Bright Side of the Sun article, Phoenix apparently was willing to trade 2 first-round picks to Charlotte for the 11th overall selection in order to acquire Shai Gilgeous-Alexander only for owner Robert Sarver to override that call and push for the trade with Philadelphia for 10th overall selection Mikal Bridges for a different set of 2 first-round picks instead.

The Phoenix Suns just missed out on having 3 first-round picks in the 2018 NBA Draft: the 1st, 16th and 17th overall selections. Instead the Suns had to settle for just the 1st and 16th overall selections while that other pick with limited and decreasing protections via Milwaukee rolled over into a future draft to be determined. That pick from the Bucks was the extra pick packaged in the initial offer to the Hornets while the unprotected 2021 Heat pick was packaged in the eventual deal with the 76ers. As it stands right now, Phoenix still has 5 first-round picks in the next 3 drafts.

So it's reasonable to assume that Sarver is the one responsible for bypassing Luka Donic in favor of Deandre Ayton as well as choosing Mikal Bridges over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Suns' roster woes and subsequent poor play are directly tied to their owner's interference.

Luke Adams, HoopsRumors.com (12/5/18)

Within an in-depth look at the Suns‘ point guard options, Bob Young of The Athletic reports that the team nearly traded up in the 2018 draft using the extra first-round pick it owns from the Bucks, and would’ve selected Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in that scenario. However, owner Robert Sarver pushed instead for the deal that saw the Suns give up Miami’s 2021 first-rounder for Mikal Bridges, according to Young.

Pacific Notes: LeBron, Durant, Suns, Shumpert

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Ranma · Post #1110 » by **Ranma** » Fri Dec 7, 2018 5:17 am

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Ranma · Post #1111 » by **Ranma** » Sat Dec 8, 2018 2:58 am

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Ranma · Post #1112 » by **Ranma** » Sat Dec 15, 2018 1:50 am

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Ranma · Post #1113 » by **Ranma** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 5:53 am

I love the fact that Jerry West & Co. reportedly tried to move up for both Luka Doncic and Jaren Jackson, Jr. while also throwing the smokescreen for Michael Porter, Jr. I admittedly was not as high on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as most of my fellow posters during the pre-draft process, but I quickly and ironically accepted him once the Clips gave up 2 future second-round picks to move up 1 spot in order to secure his draft rights.

I generally hate sacrificing draft capital but the cost was negligible and it indicated to me that the organization really wanted this kid. The fact that Shai wanted to be a Clipper was also very appealing.

Jerome Robinson, on the other hand, was harder to accept as a late-lottery pick but the team tried to trade down to still select him, so I was happy their asset valuation still seemed reasonable, but the fact that the team selected him anyway indicates that the front office values and believes in him. The kid is certainly advanced offensively but I'm not sure if he'll ever be a regular starter without improving his defense. Still, it says something when multiple teams after us were supposedly in on him as well.

For as much as I admire West's talent-evaluation ability, he obviously hasn't been perfect and has made some out-of-left-field calls for the Lakers' drafts during his time there, but this is supposedly Lawrence Frank, Trent Redden and Michael Winger's show and the Logo has more than proven himself so we'll see how it all turns out.

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Quake Griffin · Post #1114 » by **Quake Griffin** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 3:32 pm

Doncic looking like a star early.

Pretty cool to know our front office was in on both of those guys and in on Shai. Each scenario required or would have required them to move up to do it.

Loving their approach to the draft.
Wish they had a pick this year.

Quake Griffin · Post #1115 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 7:55 pm

Damn.

Dennis Smith might be made available.
Luka changing life in Dallas.

Ranma · Post #1116 » by **Ranma** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:00 pm

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Ranma · Post #1117 » by **Ranma** » Fri Feb 1, 2019 1:05 am

I was never sold on Mo Bamba despite how I liked the way he conducted his interviews, but the way his workouts were being handled had me suspicious toward the hype-building. I heard buzz that the Clips were interested in Bamba, but we were supposedly high on Michael Porter, Jr. as well, which turned out to be a misdirection. I was more onboard with talks of our interests in Jaren Jackson, Jr. and Luka Doncic.

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Post #1118 » by **QRich3** » Fri Feb 8, 2019 12:04 pm

With apologies to Heat fans, when do we start pick-watching our new 2021 present? I missed rooting for another team's misfortunes since that Minny pick in 2012

The Heat's cap situation looks messed up for the foreseeable future, and the only avenue they have to improve is trading their picks in the next couple years. Richardson and Adebayo are solid, but I can't see them improving to a point they elevate them to the top half of the East.

If they renounce Dragic and Whiteside, they might have about $30M in capspace in 2020, the year we need them to be bad, but there's no good free agents that year other than Anthony Davis (and he's not going there).

So what's our best bet for them to be horrible in 2021? having them implode as soon as, so they start rebuilding and they're still bad that season? having them treadmill until then, so they decline steadily?

madmaxmedia · Post #1119 » by **madmaxmedia** » Fri Feb 8, 2019 4:09 pm

My vote is for steady decline. As you say their avenues are limited, but of course they’ll go into the next couple of years with that missing pick in mind.

Ranma · Post #1120 » by **Ranma** » Thu May 30, 2019 1:07 am

I can't believe I missed out on my boy, Anfernee Simons, dropping 37 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in the final game of the regular season. Granted it was basically a scrimmage against the Kings, but he did go up against De'Aaron Fox. Regardless, it was an impressive performance and quite the confidence-builder for his continued development as I figured he'd need at least a couple of years before seeing significant NBA action.

Jerome Robinson could have used such an opportunity with the Clippers as well, but Doc wasn't inclined to do so. Yeah, we were chasing postseason positioning, but there were opportunities for Rome to get more play and be exposed to a higher level of competition since he was basically killing it in the G-League with regularity.

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