Draft Grades and Impressions

[The-Power]

Surprised there isn't a thread yet unless I missed it. So let's go.

– Biggest winners / losers (teams and players)
– Biggest steals / reaches
– Biggest surprises
– Best UDFAs
– Grade your team's performance

[clyde21]

still need to think about this more but early impressions:

- first time I've ever been happy about a Warriors draft in year, wanted Moody at 7, got him at 14, and ended up getting Kuminga as well. two top10 guys on my board

- atlanta getting Jalen Johnson at 20 and Sharife Cooper at 48...two steals...lol @ NBA GMs letting Sharife drop that far...just pure insanity

- Orlando did well w Suggs/Franz

- Spurs with Primo/Wieskamo, love it, even tho most people thought Primo was a huge reach i get that pick and I am big Primo/Wieskamp guy

[PerkinsFor3]

I really like ATL, CHA, HOU and LAC's draft selections.

[CptCrunch]

Winners:

Cavs: got the best player at #3.

Magic: Suggs at #5, Franz #8 are two top 5 players this draft.

Rockets: lost big in taking Green #2, but made up the draft by taking Sengun/Garuba/Christopher at late picks. First time since Yao that Rockets has had high end rookie talent. Though the Josh Christopher pick was quite confusing. Do not really understand why they drafted 2x SG that are basically identical (in style/size) in Green and Christopher.

Losers:

Pistons: didn't take the best player at #1. I made my opinions clear in other threads, Cade is not a top 3 prospect this draft.

Kings: Davion Mitchell is like the most Vivek pick ever. Did you know Davion is only 8 months younger than Fox? Then don't forget they also have Buddy Hield and Tyrese Haliburton who needs minutes. Sometimes, I feel like Vivek doesn't care about age at all.

[Braggins]

I like the Rockets draft. I thought they should have went with Mobley over Green, but I still really like Green and I loved their other picks.

I hated the Hornets draft.

[PerkinsFor3]

I hated the Hornets draft.

Huh?

[ecuhus1981]

I like the Rockets draft. I thought they should have went with Mobley over Green, but I still really like Green and I loved their other picks.

I hated the Hornets draft.

Same, I think that Mobley is a slightly better prospect than Green, but getting both Sengun and Garuba helps mitigate that loss. Overall, Houston did well.

New York made smart trades, Golden State has to feel good about their wing duo, and Charlotte added athletes to surround Lamelo. I don't think anyone botched the draft, but those are my draft day winners.

[Ruzious]

– Biggest winners / losers (teams and players) I'm going with Orlando as the winner. Adding the combo of Suggs and Wagner has a synergistic effect making them an exciting defensive team that can run all day. Usually I love SA's drafts, but Primo made absolutely no sense to me - as far as both value and need. Otoh, getting Weiskamp where they did was a steal.

– Biggest steals / reaches - so many great players chosen in the 2nd round. I think the biggest steal was Atl getting Cooper so low.

– Best UDFAs - Ayayi, Huff, Hauser

– Grade your team's performance. Washington was bland. Kispert is 1 dimensional at 15. They could have grabbed Garuba at 22, but traded down to get Aaron Holiday(?)... and choose Todd too high at 31. They have no PG and there were several they could have traded down for - seems like a missed opportunity. I liked the Huff signing. C

[smooth_as_silk]

I am really curious as to one thing, perhaps Toronto fans can enlighted me.

But why did they take Barnes? Suggs seems like the perfect fit, to me at least,
Suggs
Trent
OG
Siakam
center
6th man FVV

It seems like Barnes at his best will be a player that has to share the position with either OG or Siakam.

Is the team looking to deal siakam or OG?

[Duffman100]

I am really curious as to one thing, perhaps Toronto fans can enlighted me.

But why did they take Barnes? Suggs seems like the perfect fit, to me at least,
Suggs
Trent
OG
Siakam
center
6th man FVV

It seems like Barnes at his best will be a player that has to share the position with either OG or Siakam.

Is the team looking to deal siakam or OG?

I think most of us thought the same way. Suggs seemed to fit like a glove. They must really like the potential of Barnes.

I think they’re going to sell Siakam. And build around OG, Barnes and Trent / Flynn.

[smooth_as_silk]

I am really curious as to one thing, perhaps Toronto fans can enlighted me.

But why did they take Barnes? Suggs seems like the perfect fit, to me at least,
Suggs
Trent
OG
Siakam
center
6th man FVV

It seems like Barnes at his best will be a player that has to share the position with either OG or Siakam.

Is the team looking to deal siakam or OG?

I think most of us thought the same way. Suggs seemed to fit like a glove. They must really like the potential of Barnes.

I think they’re going to sell Siakam. And build around OG, Barnes and Trent / Flynn.

That makes alot of sense as well. What about FVV? sell him or keep him in that super 6th man role?

And what do you all think is the market for Siakam? Expirings/picks/youth?
Actually think now that Siakam would be a nice fit here on the Celtics

[ThunderBolt]

I don't have any strong feelings about the specific picks but frustrated at the lack of aggression.

[pad300]

Surprised there isn't a thread yet unless I missed it. So let's go.

– Biggest winners / losers (teams and players)
– Biggest steals / reaches
– Biggest surprises
– Best UDFAs
– Grade your team's performance

Winners - Rockets, Magic (what they got relative to their position)
Reach - Primo
Steal - Sengun
Surprises - Primo
UDFA's - Don't know yet
Team Performance: SAS, Primo (D-) Weiskamp (A)

[toooskies]

I am really curious as to one thing, perhaps Toronto fans can enlighted me.

But why did they take Barnes? Suggs seems like the perfect fit, to me at least,
Suggs
Trent
OG
Siakam
center
6th man FVV

It seems like Barnes at his best will be a player that has to share the position with either OG or Siakam.

Is the team looking to deal siakam or OG?

My guess is they try to retain Lowry and otherwise keep everybody.

[Marcus]

still need to think about this more but early impressions:

- first time I've ever been happy about a Warriors draft in year, wanted Moody at 7, got him at 14, and ended up getting Kuminga as well. two top10 guys on my board

- atlanta getting Jalen Johnson at 20 and Sharife Cooper at 48...two steals...lol @ NBA GMs letting Sharife drop that far...just pure insanity

- Orlando did well w Suggs/Franz

- Spurs with Primo/Wieskamo, love it, even tho most people thought Primo was a huge reach i get that pick and I am big Primo/Wieskamp guy

yeah Atlanta made some moves with potential to have massive payoffs. Dubs cleaned up. don't know much about the Spurs guy but history tells us they find a way to make personnel workout so we shall see.

Personally i like the fit of Bones Hyland into the Jokic carousel if Malone can find him some minutes.

[Brofessor24]

Here are the players that I thought were drafted too high: Josh Giddey, Davion Mitchell (in my mock I had him as a second rounder), Ziaire Williams, Josh Primo (had him as a second rounder), Quentin Grimes (had him as a second rounder), Day'Ron Sharpe (had him as a second rounder), Rokas Jokubaitis, and Herb Jones.

Guys who should not have been drafted: Santi Aldama (the fact that this dude got drafted higher than someone like Isaiah Todd was a goddam joke), Dalano Banton, Marcus Zegarowski, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Balsa Koprivica, RaiQuan Gray, Georgios Kalaitzakis.

Here are the players that should have been drafted higher: Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Corey Kispert, Cameron Thomas, Josh Christopher, Isaiah Todd, JT Thor, Sharife Cooper, Miles McBride, Jared Butler, and Charles Bassey.

Guys who should have been drafted: Justin Champagnie, Vrenz Bleijenbergh, Joel Ayayi, Daishen Nix, EJ Onu, AJ Lawson, Amar Sylla, and Sam Hauser.

[clyde21]

looking at it again the day after

Winners:

- Atlanta: just getting Jalen Johnson at 20 and Sharife Cooper at 48 is just bonkers...Schlenk really does it again and he's been one of the most underrated draft/personnel guys in the league...might be the best one @ this point...Johnson was 7th overall for me and Cooper was 15th overall...just absurd value and NBA teams should be embarrassed they let these guys drop

- Dubs: speaking of letting guys drop...Moody to the Dubs @ 14...my 5th ranked prospect. for once the Warriors capitalize on someone else's mistake in the draft and that a guy that is perfect fit on the team. Kuminga at 7 was just icing on the cake. This is surprising to me because I usually have the Warriors as draft losers.

- Orlando: pretty straight forward...Jalen Suggs @ 5 and Franz Wagner @ 8...two multi-position guys that can play two ways and provide a lot of versatility and playmaking to their group. Suggs can fit in easily with Hampton/Cole in the back court and same with Franz in the front court next to guys like Carter and Isaac...they didn't get cute and took perfect value fits and talent for that team.

- Spurs: yes the Spurs...Primo is one of the most underrated guys in this class...only question is how long was a team willing to wait for him to develop being so young and raw but looks like the Spurs made the long term play on him...you can make argument they could've traded down and got him but sometimes u just gotta pull the trigger. Joe Wieskamp @ 41 was a beautiful pick and the prototypical Spurs player.

Losers:

- OKC: not that they got bad players, but largely disappointing given the volume of picks they had...couldn't get a deal done to trade up and instead actually ended up trading down instead of taking guys like Sengun or Garuba who would've been good fits on that team. Giddey is good but wouldn't been my first choice @ 6 and Tre Mann is meh.

- Wizards: not a total bust because Isaiah Jackson should be decent but it's more about the opp cost with them...they passed up on both Sengun and Garuba...and Kispert @ 15 is a little too rich for "just" a shooter like Kispert...I get it, shooting is king in today's NBA but felt like they could've had that with a guy like Murphy at that spot who can offer more overall to the team long term.

- Kings: Kings went full KANGZ with this one again...after they killed it last year with Haliburton...taking Mitchell 9th overall especially over some of the guys that were available was just a huge reach...essentially the opposite of what happened with Hali last year...also from a fit standpoint I don't understand it, not sure what the plan is for him to play with Fox/Hali, don't see the fit there unless they stagger, and if that's your plan then why take the guy this high when much better fits were still on the board?

- Nets: draft all over the place, way too many players and could've easily packaged some picks to move up a couple of times to get guys that fit more easily around their stars. Cam Thomas is fine @ 27 but over Jaden Springer is a no go for me.

- Raptors: it's tough to call Raps losers because of their track record they have earned the benefit of the doubt but in the second round they had TWO opportunities to take Sharife Cooper and instead took Banton and Johnson and Cooper ended up going immediately after. i think there's a strong chance this could look terrible a few years down the line. Barnes over Suggs too is questionable but I understand it on some level so it's not a huge deal.


other thoughts....


Hornets killed it in the 2nd round with JT Thor/Scottie Lewis but I hate their first two picks (Bouknight/Jones) so i left them off both lists.

Clips gotta A STEAL in BJ at 51...in the right environment he'll pop off down the line and people will be wtfing themselves per usual

don't really understand what the Pacers are doing...Duarte is a decent player but is a win now guy essentially...why take a guy like that if you are trying to trade Myles Turner away? don't see the logic or roadmap for this team right now.

Cavs got the best player pound for pound in the draft @ 3 and that's all they did and needed to do.

Motor Cade might be one of the GOAT nicknames already.

Rockets got a lot of good players but not sure of the fit...Green's gonna be a stud but why take Christopher when you also have KPJ on the roster? i'd probably look to move KPJ pretty soon and just let Green/JC develop with Alpy.

Jazz with Jared Butler at 40...killed it...boggles my mind how Mitchell was 9th and Butler is 40th...but NBA GMs gonna NBA Gm

[SeattleJazzFan]

yeah, as a jazz fan, i'm biased as hell, but i think many on this board would agree, getting a player of Jared Butler's caliber at #40 is nuts. yes, there is a reason he slipped that far, but it's barely a risk that late in the draft, and i have to think the knee and the heart are mostly non issues and doctors acting out of an abundance of caution.

[Ruzious]

Jazz with Jared Butler at 40...killed it...boggles my mind how Mitchell was 9th and Butler is 40th...but NBA GMs gonna NBA Gm

I hadn't thought about that, but yeah - I'd bet on Butler having a better year than Mitchell.

[SeattleJazzFan]

Jazz with Jared Butler at 40...killed it...boggles my mind how Mitchell was 9th and Butler is 40th...but NBA GMs gonna NBA Gm

I hadn't thought about that, but yeah - I'd bet on Butler having a better year than Mitchell.

the issue butler is going to have is PT. Quinn was reluctant to ever give his rookies a chance to play last year at the jazz are loaded at the guard spots with DM, Conley, Clarkson, Forrest (yeah, forrest ahead of butler sounds nuts, but Snyder loves him) and Oni who is another guard Quinn likes.

Davion will be plugged in immediately as the third guard in that rotation with Haliburton and Fox - assuming they move Hield.

If Butler gets 20 mpg assuming everybody stays mostly healthy, it will be shocking. My optimistic hope is at least 15 minutes a game with some first half minutes and second half minutes with games still in doubt.