2018 Trade Board Mock Draft: Dallas (#5) selects Mo Bamba

[Texas Chuck]

No way would I give up a top 5 pick for Gobert. He’s useless against elite nba teams in the postseason

Roll your eyes all you want, your team has had their doors blown off in consecutive seasons by the warriors and rockets. Jazz will never proceed beyond the second round playing Gobert a fortune

So they lost to the best team in the league twice in a row? Oh the horrors! You have definitely proven that Gobert is useless and should be waived immediately.

Just stop.

[Homerclease]

Roll your eyes all you want, your team has had their doors blown off in consecutive seasons by the warriors and rockets. Jazz will never proceed beyond the second round playing Gobert a fortune

So they lost to the best team in the league twice in a row? Oh the horrors! You have definitely proven that Gobert is useless and should be waived immediately.

Just stop.

The quote was I wouldn’t trade a top 5 pick for Gobert. YOU somehow spun that into I think he’s useless and should be waived immediately. Nevermind that you let the post attacking me from the jazz fan go as well.

Gobert is a DPOY candidate every year and then when the playoffs roll around, elite teams score at will on the Jazz. You just don’t get enough bang for the buck for a supposedly elite player. It’s not just that they lose, it’s that they hang their hat on defense and stopping you and it’s been proven in back to back years that they can’t even slow these elite offensive teams down. Honestly, the Jazz should trade Gobert and build around Mitchell

[Spens1]

JJJ it is

I can also confidently say MPJ at 5 as well and Trae Young at 6 after this with Bamba at 7.

The real fun will resume at 8 i'd assume.

Turns out Bamba won 5, on to 6.

I'm actually shocked. I like Bamba but no way should he be taken ahead of MPJ unless he really is stuffed.

[QRich3]

This pushed me over the edge to vote for Bamba.

Elite players are elite players. Elite defense is an elite trait and expecting more than eliteness at 5 seems out of whack.

I would give up more than a pick 5 for Gobert, even including age and contract for instance.

Ill give it a shot here.

While they have a seemingly similar physical profile Bamba has a higher center gravity with longer, skinnier legs than Gobert who by comparison has a much sturdier base. This along with the normal learning curve for 20 y/o rookies trying to learn the ins and outs of NBA defense might have him still looking like a bust at the end of his rookie contract before figuring it out on that end later in his career ala Tyson Chandler (fellow skinny legged big), if he ever does at all. Will the Mavs exercise the amount of patience needed to wait for Bamba to become a meaningful contributor? will they take the risk of paying him big money based off of nothing but potential 4 years from now?

I think it's a little naive to think Bamba wil 'get it' on the defensive end as quickly as Gobert, who seems to mostly be an exception to the rule for bigs whose bodies arent fully developed.

Oh, I don;t think anyone is thinking Gobert is a default prediction. That should be a best case scenario, or else someone is missing the value of Gobert. But thinking Gobert isn;t worth a top 5 pick is missing the value of Gobert, which was my point.

I definitely agree that Gobert would be worthy of a top 5 pick, I'd even say that a guy that has a good chance of ending up like him should be the undisputed #1, but the problem with Bamba is he's a really long shot to end up having Gobert type of impact. He has the physical tools, but we've seen so many times how guys with the tools to be one-dimensional elite defensive centers bust out, and that's because you're betting on this guy developing great defensive instincts and having a high motor, which is the most difficult thing to evaluate in a prospect imo.

[Mr B]

JJJ it is

I can also confidently say MPJ at 5 as well and Trae Young at 6 after this with Bamba at 7.

The real fun will resume at 8 i'd assume.

Turns out Bamba won 5, on to 6.

I'm actually shocked. I like Bamba but no way should he be taken ahead of MPJ unless he really is stuffed.

See I just don’t see how anyone can say that definitively when he didn’t play this year. No one knows how he will he will do against top level competition.