Official 2020 NBA Draft Thread

[KillMonger]

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[Nyce_1]

Josh Green hype train.

[Rayshard7]

Did the Magic scout Haliburton heavily this yr?

[Bensational]

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everything Maxey says shows he really gets it. The part about being unselfish and coming together to win games at kentucky as a group is solid. He's still my guy at 15 if he's there.

Haha, that was such a coached response though. Not that I doubt it, but can tell he's had someone in his ear make sure he frames it like that.

The kid looks fantastic. Even just his frame with those insane shoulders. His shot was insanely consistent in that clip, though the arch does sit on the flatter side. Not that it matters if he hits them.

I'm actually surprised he hasn't moved up boards more already. He really does throw up a lot of the same markers that Mitchell did. I feel like he goes top 14 on draft night.

[OrlChamps2030]

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everything Maxey says shows he really gets it. The part about being unselfish and coming together to win games at kentucky as a group is solid. He's still my guy at 15 if he's there.

Haha, that was such a coached response though. Not that I doubt it, but can tell he's had someone in his ear make sure he frames it like that.

The kid looks fantastic. Even just his frame with those insane shoulders. His shot was insanely consistent in that clip, though the arch does sit on the flatter side. Not that it matters if he hits them.

I'm actually surprised he hasn't moved up boards more already. He really does throw up a lot of the same markers that Mitchell did. I feel like he goes top 14 on draft night.

I feel like Maxey goes to Boston at 14. He seems like an Ainge guy. Definitely a player that is capable of more than he showed in college, and can shoot better than the %’s show (IMO).

[Knightro]

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[cedric76]

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everything Maxey says shows he really gets it. The part about being unselfish and coming together to win games at kentucky as a group is solid. He's still my guy at 15 if he's there.

I wouldnt mind Maxey at 15

[basketballRob]

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everything Maxey says shows he really gets it. The part about being unselfish and coming together to win games at kentucky as a group is solid. He's still my guy at 15 if he's there.

I think he'll end up better than Hayes or Haliburton. He was projected to go high in the lottery before his poor shooting season at Kentucky.

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[Def Swami]

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[MagicMatic]

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Is Haliburton worth Nesmith and Bamba?
Not entirely sure.

I know some people are sold on Nesmith as is.

[Knightro]

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I'd do it.

I am a huge Haliburton fan. I think he's one of the best prospects in the draft.

His shot form is unique, but he's a tremendous catch and shoot player with deep range. He isn't that good right now off the dribble or against tough contests, but I believe there's room for improvement there.

Where I don't think he's very good is at the rim. He's got a thin, weak frame and shies away from contact. He can explode vertically with a completely clear lane, but he isn't a confident or willing finisher. That's the one major drawback for me.

I'm not as down on his defense as other people. I think he has the length, quickness, and motor to be really effective. He's not very strong and will simply get overmatched at times, but I like way he competes on that end if nothing else.

Where I'm super intrigued with Haliburton is the intangibles. I think he's a great leader. The vocal, active type of leader who really has the ability to take control over the whole operation and can force the other four guys on the court to rally around him. This is an area I really think Fultz is lacking.

Combine those leadership skills with legitimate plus passing skills and genuine unselfishness and I personally see a really good NBA lead guard. But because of the shooting, I think he could also be a great secondary ball handler to pair with Fultz.

[Knightro]

Is Haliburton worth Nesmith and Bamba?
Not entirely sure.

I know some people are sold on Nesmith as is.

I'm not high on Nesmith at all.

He has one thing he's really good at (shooting), but I don't see one other skill that he's even average at by NBA standards.

Not a good defender. Not a good passer. Not a good dribbler. Not a good finisher.

Plus I question if Nesmith's sophomore season was actually as good as it appears on paper because he got hurt before conference play really started and the competition he faced was quite poor out of conference.

[Xatticus]

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Is Haliburton worth Nesmith and Bamba?
Not entirely sure.

I know some people are sold on Nesmith as is.

No.

Let me put it this way... if Bamba spends a couple extra years at Texas, posts monster block and rebound rates, and demonstrates the potential ability to space the floor, isn't he a lock for the top 5 in this draft? Do you give up that plus the 15 pick to get Haliburton? The answer to that is obvious.

The issue is that we have Vucevic and we hired Clifford. Neither of Vucevic or Bamba have any positional versatility and Vucevic is the better player right now. Clifford wants to win games now, so who is he going to favor? What do you suppose Clifford's input was when it came to the trade deadline with Vucevic's impending free agency? What do you suppose Clifford's input was when Vucevic hit free agency? Bamba was in an adversarial circumstance with Vucevic from the moment he entered the NBA. If this front office had any inclination to re-sign Vucevic, they never should've drafted Bamba. Drafting Bamba should've meant the end of Vucevic's tenure here. I'm fairly certain that Clifford doesn't actually want to play Bamba. He was sent home during the bubble with some weak excuse and then immediately cleared to resume basketball activities when we were bounced from the playoffs. We've basically sabotaged his value from the moment he arrived. It's just such a waste to have Bamba on this roster and you are never going to get anything near equal value if you deal him, so using him to move up in the draft probably feels like a viable means of saving face for this front office. In this draft, moving down to add someone like Bamba would be very enticing to me.

I like Haliburton, but I think his ceiling is rather low. I know that's a bit cliche, but what does he do well? You have to like his shot selection, poise, and ability to read the floor, but he doesn't really have any high-value tools. He isn't physically or athletically gifted. He doesn't have a dynamic shot. He doesn't get to the rim. He's the sort of player you'd love to have on a cheap deal to give you solid and reliable minutes if you already have your high-priced core in place. Isn't our high-priced core our problem? Should we be trading in chips to fill out our roster with complementary pieces in an effort to win 41ish games? Is that a viable strategy or does it just postpone our exit from purgatory (that exit being a full-on rebuild)?

Haliburton will probably give you solid value on his rookie deal whereas many young players are going to hurt you on the floor in the first season or two, but what is his realistic upside? Suppose, for instance, if the Knicks drafted him. Would that make you feel as though their front office has their **** together or would you be rather indifferent? If he is there at 15, then sure. That's good value. But I'm not trading in assets to move up into a position to draft a better version of Langston Galloway or Nate McMillan.

[MagicMatic]

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Is Haliburton worth Nesmith and Bamba?
Not entirely sure.

I know some people are sold on Nesmith as is.

No.

Let me put it this way... if Bamba spends a couple extra years at Texas, posts monster block and rebound rates, and demonstrates the potential ability to space the floor, isn't he a lock for the top 5 in this draft? Do you give up that plus the 15 pick to get Haliburton? The answer to that is obvious.

The issue is that we have Vucevic and we hired Clifford. Neither of Vucevic or Bamba have any positional versatility and Vucevic is the better player right now. Clifford wants to win games now, so who is he going to favor? What do you suppose Clifford's input was when it came to the trade deadline with Vucevic's impending free agency? What do you suppose Clifford's input was when Vucevic hit free agency? Bamba was in an adversarial circumstance with Vucevic from the moment he entered the NBA. If this front office had any inclination to re-sign Vucevic, they never should've drafted Bamba. Drafting Bamba should've meant the end of Vucevic's tenure here. I'm fairly certain that Clifford doesn't actually want to play Bamba. He was sent home during the bubble with some weak excuse and then immediately cleared to resume basketball activities when we were bounced from the playoffs. We've basically sabotaged his value from the moment he arrived. It's just such a waste to have Bamba on this roster and you are never going to get anything near equal value if you deal him, so using him to move up in the draft probably feels like a viable means of saving face for this front office. In this draft, moving down to add someone like Bamba would be very enticing to me.

I like Haliburton, but I think his ceiling is rather low. I know that's a bit cliche, but what does he do well? You have to like his shot selection, poise, and ability to read the floor, but he doesn't really have any high-value tools. He isn't physically or athletically gifted. He doesn't have a dynamic shot. He doesn't get to the rim. He's the sort of player you'd love to have on a cheap deal to give you solid and reliable minutes if you already have your high-priced core in place. Isn't our high-priced core our problem? Should we be trading in chips to fill out our roster with complementary pieces in an effort to win 41ish games? Is that a viable strategy or does it just postpone our exit from purgatory (that exit being a full-on rebuild)?

Haliburton will probably give you solid value on his rookie deal whereas many young players are going to hurt you on the floor in the first season or two, but what is his realistic upside? Suppose, for instance, if the Knicks drafted him. Would that make you feel as though their front office has their **** together or would you be rather indifferent? If he is there at 15, then sure. That's good value. But I'm not trading in assets to move up into a position to draft a better version of Langston Galloway or Nate McMillan.

I agree.

I don’t believe Haliburton goes before Bamba I’m 2018, especially over SGA. This draft isn’t great at all.
If Orlando trades up I would hope for at least a higher ceiling player that can be a decent backup now. Bamba could be good down the road but who knows.

I don’t think if I would want to give up #6 and #15 for #6 in a significantly worse draft.

[drsd]

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Is Haliburton worth Nesmith and Bamba?
Not entirely sure.

I know some people are sold on Nesmith as is.

Answer: no. It is a 80¢ to the dollar trade, and the Magic is not looking to tank by trading away Bamba.
(( Tank-related trades would involve one or more of: Gordon, Vučević and Fournier )).
Dumping Aminu does have value for Orlando though, looking at the 2021 FA market.

More practically, if Nesmith slides to #15, the Magic should make NO/nada/zilch draft-related trades.


The Magic is not going to ride three rookies, but I think management would be comfortable with Okeke and Nesmith as a dual-team.

..

[Xatticus]

Is Haliburton worth Nesmith and Bamba?
Not entirely sure.

I know some people are sold on Nesmith as is.

I'm not high on Nesmith at all.

He has one thing he's really good at (shooting), but I don't see one other skill that he's even average at by NBA standards.

Not a good defender. Not a good passer. Not a good dribbler. Not a good finisher.

Plus I question if Nesmith's sophomore season was actually as good as it appears on paper because he got hurt before conference play really started and the competition he faced was quite poor out of conference.

I largely agree, though I'd say his shooting isn't his only skill. His real value as a shooter comes from his off-ball movement, which is very good. This makes his shot more dynamic than Haliburton's, who is just a catch-and-shoot guy right now. You can probably use Nesmith in DHOs to create offense right from the start in the way that Miami does with Robinson, but we aren't going to benefit from that in the same way that Miami does. I also don't think he will be a terrible defender, but he doesn't have the tools to be good. I'm wary of guys that get cosmetic offensive box score stats. They always get paid in excess of their contributions. Duncan Robinson looks great now, but let's see what his next contract looks like. I don't know. Maybe Miami is re-writing things a bit with how they used him. Nesmith looks more Hield than Robinson anyway.

[Knightro]

It appears I'm just higher on Haliburton than a lot of you.

I really believe in him as a big point guard prospect. He's not a dynamic shot maker and probably won't become one, but he's a dynamic shot creator and I think there's a lot of value in guys who willingly pass and create easy opportunities for others. I just don't see how he doesn't become a good NBA point guard.

And if I'm wrong about his ability to be an on-ball lead guard, which I certainly could be, it seems like he has enough shooting (and obviously enough passing) to be a high-end secondary playmaker at worst. He just doesn't seem like a guy who takes anything off the table.

I look at what Lonzo did this past year for New Orleans once he overhauled his jump shot and that's what I see as Haliburton's floor. A positive contributor on both sides of the floor playing some 1 and playing some 2.

[Def Swami]

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[Knightro]

Answer: no. It is a 80¢ to the dollar trade, and the Magic is not looking to tank by trading away Bamba.

Considering Bamba played 14 MPG this past year and the player they'd be acquiring for him (Haliburton) would presumably play at least 20 if not 25-28 minutes a night, I'm not really sure where you're going with this.

It would be a win-now move.

Now if you want to argue they're not good enough to make win-now moves, then that's a different conversation. But I don't see many scenarios where Haliburton isn't a bigger contributor to the Magic's success than Bamba is over the next two years.

[Bensational]

Weighing it up, when you consider that the #15 pick could be any one of:

Nesmith, Lewis, Maxey, Pokusevski, Green, Anthony, McDaniels, Ramsey and possibly a slide from someone like Vassel or Terry.

and the #6 pick could be any of those guys, plus possibly Haliburton, Hayes, Avdija, Toppin.

would you rather:

a) #6 (pick your favourite)

b) Bamba + Aminu + #15 (pick your fav from that range)


I like the idea of getting Aminu off the books, but not at the price of dumping Bamba. And I'm still confident there will be a player available at #15 who will actually end up as one of the top 6 players from the draft. Who that is, time will tell.

But, if WeHam are confident they've found a star, but in a draft this unpredictable they're not sure where exactly he'll go. So they pay the price of Bamba to move up and secure that player. If it actually is a star, I take that deal everyday of the week. Now, do I trust WeHam to make that right decision? Not particularly. But I'd be happy for them to take the shot.

If that player is specifically Haliburton... I'd pay the price. Cut Bamba free, let him get a fresh start. I like Haliburton, and if WeHam are that gung-ho on him then I'd be interested to see how it plays out.