I've pointed out that no one here would have taken Troy Brown, but I haven't said what my draft strategy would have been. It was a little complicated. I'll try to be brief.
1. I would have contacted the agents of all the guys I liked best who might not be drafted & told them that if their guy went undrafted I wanted him for SL (or in some cases for SL & camp). The agents should call immediately & I would give their guy a nice cash bonus for him giving me first choice. I would have reminded the agents that I was starting a new G League team from scratch & would love to have their guy on that team if nothing better. Out of those who in fact did go undrafted, my list would have included Rawle Alkins, Gary Clark, Brandon McCoy, Malik Newman, Bonzie Colson & Kenrich Williams. I would have signed 3 or more them. How many depends on how the rest of my draft strategy went.
2. If I could make no other deals (see below), & given how the draft actually went, my picks would have been Zhaire Smith & Keita Bates-Diop. & I'd be happy.
3. If Smith was already gone, & given the various problem reports on Williams, I'd have rolled the dice on a lower pick -- I'd have tried to send my #15 & #44 to the Sixers for all the rest of their picks (26, 38, 39, 56 & 60). That would either work or come close (evidence being the deals they actually did make: they traded #s 56 & 60 for #54 & #38 for 2 future R2 picks).
Assuming that deal could be done I would have gotten lucky & taken Robert Williams #26. Had he not been there, I'd have taken Okobo (or else maybe Wagner). @ # 38 I take Khyri Smith. @ #39 it would have been Jarred Vanderbilt or De'Anthony Melton (I don't know which -- probably would have flipped a coin). At #56 I would either have taken Ray Spalding, followed by either Alkins or McCoy w/ #60, or else I'd have done what Philly did which is trade those 2 picks for #54 & taken Shake Milton (I'd have been thinking of how E'Twaun Moore, a similar guy, turned out).
In that case, instead of Smith & Bates-Diop, it's Williams (or Okobo if he's not there), Thomas, Vanderbilt or Melton, & Spalding or Milton -- plus signing some of the undrafteds listed above.
I assume the reason for all this is obvious: I want to fill out the back of my bench with young players, seed my G League team w/ guys I think have promise, & of course get my 2-Way guys as well. IOW, I want 6 or more assets, & as it turns out I'm able to get them -- including a tremendous prospect IMO in Zhaire Smith or (if he's gone) a very talented but somewhat chance-y big in Robert Williams.
4. But, wait, there's more!
Since the draft, realizing that Ernie was going to trade Gortat immediately for anything he could get, I see that I could have tried to work out a more extensive draft-day deal with Philly in which they got Gortat & I took Bayless (whom they want to dump).
I don't like Bayless & I have no idea how Philly views Gortat. But, they do need a backup Center, & he would give them a convenient way to kick the can down the road for a year. Bayless too is expiring, & I'd rather pay his salary ($7.5m) than Rivers. Plus it actually does get us out of the luxury tax i think. Might not have worked. Worth trying.
There you have it. PIF's draft 2018. Seem realistic to you?
Yup, Ernie's pattern is very clear over the years when it comes to how he uses draft assets, in this draft he took the youngest players possible with both picks and he is looking to see which vets he can get to plug-into the roster this summer, this is what he does continuously.
