2017 Draft Thread

[Krapinsky]

Saw Dennis Smith against Duke on Tuesday, he looked like a first overall pick type player.
Lauri Markennen is shooting 50% from 3 at almost 5 attempts per game. Pretty crazy for a 7 ft

Unfortunately, we already whiffed on our future point guard. I doubt Thibs or anyone outside of David Kahn has the cajones to take another point guard.

[Worm Guts]

Saw Dennis Smith against Duke on Tuesday, he looked like a first overall pick type player.
Lauri Markennen is shooting 50% from 3 at almost 5 attempts per game. Pretty crazy for a 7 ft

Unfortunately, we already whiffed on our future point guard. I doubt Thibs or anyone outside of David Kahn has the cajones to take another point guard.

I don't think we'll draft that high, but I think it's fun to watch the top guys.
If we do get a top 3 pick, it seems like there's some top end PG's available. There would be some decisions to make.

[FinnTheHuman]

Think the thing we need the most is an elite defender in the mold of Draymond Green/Kawhi who can defend 3/4/5, if we're planning to shoot for the Championship in 4 years or so. We don't have a player who's gonna prevent the Durants and the Kawhis of the West beast on us in the playoffs, , who's gonna be able to switch on multiple guys and be quick to rotate or help.

You ain't winning such series without such a player. I hope our scouting personnel focuses on finding that. Every other skill on top of that would be only a bonus.

Right now there's not a single player on our roster who can defend more than 2 positions 1 on 1 on an above average level, except for maybe Wiggins on 1/2/3.

[minimus]

Taj Gibson can be that guy.
1) played under Thibs
2) veteran
3) tough but mobile defender

As much as I like Bjelica game, I'd still add Gibson as our backup PF

[Worm Guts]

Think the thing we need the most is an elite defender in the mold of Draymond Green/Kawhi who can defend 3/4/5, if we're planning to shoot for the Championship in 4 years or so. We don't have a player who's gonna prevent the Durants and the Kawhis of the West beast on us in the playoffs, , who's gonna be able to switch on multiple guys and be quick to rotate or help.

You ain't winning such series without such a player. I hope our scouting personnel focuses on finding that. Every other skill on top of that would be only a bonus.

Right now there's not a single player on our roster who can defend more than 2 positions 1 on 1 on an above average level, except for maybe Wiggins on 1/2/3.

I don't know what type of defensive player he is, but as an athletic 6'11 SF Jonathan Isaac seems the most likely to fit that description. OG might have too but he blew a knee. Then you have Miles Bridges who is an athletic 6'6 but built like a tank. Also maybe Harry Giles if he ever starts to look like his healthy self.

[FinnTheHuman]

Think the thing we need the most is an elite defender in the mold of Draymond Green/Kawhi who can defend 3/4/5, if we're planning to shoot for the Championship in 4 years or so. We don't have a player who's gonna prevent the Durants and the Kawhis of the West beast on us in the playoffs, , who's gonna be able to switch on multiple guys and be quick to rotate or help.

You ain't winning such series without such a player. I hope our scouting personnel focuses on finding that. Every other skill on top of that would be only a bonus.

Right now there's not a single player on our roster who can defend more than 2 positions 1 on 1 on an above average level, except for maybe Wiggins on 1/2/3.

I don't know what type of defensive player he is, but as an athletic 6'11 SF Jonathan Isaac seems the most likely to fit that description. OG might have too but he blew a knee. Then you have Miles Bridges who is an athletic 6'6 but built like a tank. Also maybe Harry Giles if he ever starts to look like his healthy self.

Incredibly skinny long guys turn out both ways when it comes to defense, but they don't tend to figure it out quickly, so Isaac is a question mark on D, but potentially he could turn out great. The problem with Isaac is we are not going for projects anymore, we're gonna look for more nba ready players, at least I think that's what we're supposed to do.

Bridges and Giles look promising and more ready to play nba defense, and would fit our defense better, because we lack physicality and size more than length and because we want the guy we draft to become primarily a starting 4 in the long run the way I see it, and I don't see Isaac being able to fight 4s with his size anytime soon.

If we end up at the 8th spot and therefor out of the lottery, we might possibly lose all of these 3 options, but probably not. Still, the higher lottery pick we get, the chances for us to be able to pick one out of those rise. The way we play lately tho, most likely we're late lottery and we can't go for Isaac because he's probably gone somewhere in the mid-lottery, and one more of the other 2 is gone as well as they're projected to go somewhere between 10th and 20th, so we're left with either Bridges or Giles to pick up.

I like Bridges the most, he fits the Draymond mold more than anybody, could be a very versatile defender and he's really built like a tank while having good lateral quickness. Might be a blessing in disguise that he's currently rated lower than Isaac (and Giles here and there) so that he would fall to us.

Anunoby shouldn't be considered, he won't look good for a while after the knee surgery, and we want a win-now pick.

[_AIJ_]

Miles Bridges is a beast!

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using RealGM mobile app

[Worm Guts]

Think the thing we need the most is an elite defender in the mold of Draymond Green/Kawhi who can defend 3/4/5, if we're planning to shoot for the Championship in 4 years or so. We don't have a player who's gonna prevent the Durants and the Kawhis of the West beast on us in the playoffs, , who's gonna be able to switch on multiple guys and be quick to rotate or help.

You ain't winning such series without such a player. I hope our scouting personnel focuses on finding that. Every other skill on top of that would be only a bonus.

Right now there's not a single player on our roster who can defend more than 2 positions 1 on 1 on an above average level, except for maybe Wiggins on 1/2/3.

I don't know what type of defensive player he is, but as an athletic 6'11 SF Jonathan Isaac seems the most likely to fit that description. OG might have too but he blew a knee. Then you have Miles Bridges who is an athletic 6'6 but built like a tank. Also maybe Harry Giles if he ever starts to look like his healthy self.

Incredibly skinny long guys turn out both ways when it comes to defense, but they don't tend to figure it out quickly, so Isaac is a question mark on D, but potentially he could turn out great. The problem with Isaac is we are not going for projects anymore, we're gonna look for more nba ready players, at least I think that's what we're supposed to do.

Bridges and Giles look promising and more ready to play nba defense, and would fit our defense better, because we lack physicality and size more than length and because we want the guy we draft to become primarily a starting 4 in the long run the way I see it, and I don't see Isaac being able to fight 4s with his size anytime soon.

If we end up at the 8th spot and therefor out of the lottery, we might possibly lose all of these 3 options, but probably not. Still, the higher lottery pick we get, the chances for us to be able to pick one out of those rise. The way we play lately tho, most likely we're late lottery and we can't go for Isaac because he's probably gone somewhere in the mid-lottery, and one more of the other 2 is gone as well as they're projected to go somewhere between 10th and 20th, so we're left with either Bridges or Giles to pick up.

I like Bridges the most, he fits the Draymond mold more than anybody, could be a very versatile defender and he's really built like a tank while having good lateral quickness. Might be a blessing in disguise that he's currently rated lower than Isaac (and Giles here and there) so that he would fall to us.

Anunoby shouldn't be considered, he won't look good for a while after the knee surgery, and we want a win-now pick.

The problem Giles is that he just hasn't produced. Of course if he does start producing he probably won't be around when we pick.

With Bridges, there was a time when it would be assumed that someone with his body type couldn't defend anyone. Too slow to guard SF's, too small to guard bigs. Green kind of changed that perception, whether Green is just unique or whether there's just a new perspective remains to be seen.

[Worm Guts]

Saw Fultz for the first time today, he wasn't all that impressive, he struggled shooting the ball.

[Worm Guts]

Jason Tatum looks bigger than listed, like 6'9+

[minimus]

Jason Tatum looks bigger than listed, like 6'9+

Is he quick enough to play/defend SF?

[esm1885]

Think the thing we need the most is an elite defender in the mold of Draymond Green/Kawhi who can defend 3/4/5, if we're planning to shoot for the Championship in 4 years or so. We don't have a player who's gonna prevent the Durants and the Kawhis of the West beast on us in the playoffs, , who's gonna be able to switch on multiple guys and be quick to rotate or help.

You ain't winning such series without such a player. I hope our scouting personnel focuses on finding that. Every other skill on top of that would be only a bonus.

Right now there's not a single player on our roster who can defend more than 2 positions 1 on 1 on an above average level, except for maybe Wiggins on 1/2/3.

Agreed - that's why I want Jae Crowder on this team. Ideal scenario would be if Boston trade for Boogie, receive Crowder and send Rubio or our pick to Sacramento.

[Worm Guts]

Jason Tatum looks bigger than listed, like 6'9+

Is he quick enough to play/defend SF?

He's not an elite athlete but SF looks like his natural position. On the draft board they compared him with Otto Porter.

[GopherIt!]

If a stud PG is clear bpa, I have no problem going down that road. Dunn looks more like an off ball guy at this point.

[vagelis]

Watch on YouTube

[minimus]

Dennis Smith is impressive for one who had ACL injury. Some of his finishes at rim remind me Kyrie Irving, while his toughness and athleticism remind me smaller Westbrook. And these qualities is something we could definitely use.

[Klomp]

From what I've seen so far, I feel like the PG who would best fit our team as currently constructed is Dennis Smith.

[TwolvesFanRome]

In the meantime LaMelo Ball (Lonzo's brother) scores 92pt...

[Worm Guts]

If a stud PG is clear bpa, I have no problem going down that road. Dunn looks more like an off ball guy at this point.

Just based on the way Draft Express mocks have looked this year, I think if we're in the top 3 and don't want a PG, Josh Jackson is probably a viable pick even as a high as #1. He's not a perfect fit either because shooting is a weakness, but he can play either the 2 or the 3 (eventually) and you could slowly work him in as a 3rd or 4th wing.
I think if we pick in the 3,4,5 area the possibility of a PG being the clear BPA is there. If we pick in the 5,6,7 area we're probably looking at either Tatum or Isaac, both who would be good fits I think.

[GopherIt!]

I agree w ya Worm. I really like Jackson if we luck into a top 3 pick. Tatum is probably more realistic if we pick in the 5-7 range.

I not sure if those guys fit this bill but we really need a SF or F/PF who can D up. We desperately lack toughness.