Saberestar wrote:On another interview he said exactly those five players too and that he wants them to interact with the prospects to see the chemistry and fit.
Yes. He has also said that Devin wants to be part of the process and Ryan sees that as a good thing and wants prospects to hang out with his core. If Ulis (PG), Devin (SG), TJ (SF), Marquese (PF) and Bender (?) are your guys, who fits? One of them would have to be moved to the bench. I have expressed my thoughts on this a bit - I don't think grabbing another PG works, because Ulis has earned the time - whomever we draft would probably be worse than Ulis for at least a year or two, and you couldn't play Fox or DSJ
next to Ulis... it just doesn't work. (Plus, FWIW, I'd take Duval over this year's PG crop, based on what little I've seen). You take Tatum and you're telling TJ he's destined for the bench - right when you're trying to extend him. You're also telling Dragan that he has to play center, despite the fact that it's pretty clear (to me, at least) that he is not a center.
In terms of fit, a lot of that analysis hinges upon Dragan. I think that you could have him supplant TJ in the starting line-up in time without ruffling any feathers, in large part because it's not so utterly predictable than TJ would be benched, as it would be with Tatum, but also because Dragan is multipositional and can play alongside any or all of these guys, and furthermore because Dragan could be used as a super sixth for several years, if that's the best path forward.
If you're going guard, I think you need someone who can play next to either Devin or Ulis. Devin can play small ball 3 or big ball 1, so a shooting guard is not out of the realm of possibility, IMO. If you got a 2/3, that could work also. But a 3/4 would not, because those spots are so completely covered that any time taken by a draftee would be time taken from a core guy. A center would work, since none of our core players imagines himself to be a center.
One problem here is that anyone you draft at 4, everyone will expect to be a starter one day - most importantly, the draftee himself. Certain guys it'll be easier to put on the bench for a while, but others (Jackson, Tatum, DSJ) I don't think could be. So it's delicate.
This thought process, in my mind eliminates pure SFs (Tatum), tweener forwards (Isaac) and pure PGs (Fox, DSJ). Of the top 10 guys, that leaves just
Monk, Collins and Ntilikina. But then, Ryan also said that the area where we needed the most improvement was defense. Monk is not a defensive force, but he is also what we wished BK would be - a shooter who works primarily off the ball. Collins has those impressive BP40 numbers, and Ntilikina has those elite defensive tools.
If this comes down to getting Booker's blessing, one way for him to make sure no one feels threatened is to draft a guy who plays primarily his position, since there's no question that Booker is our centerpiece. Monk is also the only one of those three whose range covers our draft slot. It's not as emotionally compelling an argument as **** the Lakers (w/Fox), but I think it is the more complete one. So... how about Monk?
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