2025 General Draft Discussion 2

[EmpireFalls]

I totally agree with the mantra that we should not stay at 4. Either move up for Harper (I’d prefer not to give away our pick, but could be convinced to give away our ‘27 first, I think Harper is that good), or, if VJ isn’t there at 4, trade down and recoup extra value.

There’s not enough separation between the likes of Kon/Tre/Ace for me to feel like we HAVE to get one of them at 4. Are any of those guys clearly better prospects than Castle or Sheppard? I don’t think so.

[fatlever]

4 + 2027 hornet top 5 protected then. Hornet as an organization can't be trading unprotected picks. That's suicide for an unknown.

[MasterIchiro]

Spurs fans are adamant they'd only surrender Harper if it's for Giannis.

Harper and Wembanyama are close in age.

I think these proposals just generate false hope.

We fell short of Wemby, Castle, now Harper in the lottery drawing.

I accept it.

[EmpireFalls]

It’s basically VJ or trade the #4 pick for me.

[Bassman]

Sadly I agree that Harper hope is useless based upon the amount of picks we’d have to give up, which I don’t see Peterson doing. Better to go for the best overall player who has skills and intelligence, plus great feel for the game. Like Fats said, a guy who CAN PLAY and KNOWS BASKETBALL. If 4, prefer VJ or Kon but would still consider Ace if available (just because his potential is so high. Tre maybe but his gaps are concerning…get him in a trade back if he’s a real target.

Beyond these, not that interested in Maluach but worried Jeff is (maybe part of a plan to trade Mark during the draft, after they grab the big Dukie). Intrigued by Jaku, Fears due to their possible upside, but represents another reach.

Get one of VJ, Ace, Kon or Tre. Trade our seconds to get back into round 1 and get Fleming or a quality center like Raynaud or Kalkbrenner.

[Diop]

Why would the Spurs break the deal over Hornets offering the Mavs pick top-2 protected instead of a Hornets unprotected pick? The value is close enough that it could be covered with alternative compensation.

agreed, i say use that one.

[Diop]

Spurs fans are adamant they'd only surrender Harper if it's for Giannis.

Harper and Wembanyama are close in age.

I think these proposals just generate false hope.

We fell short of Wemby, Castle, now Harper in the lottery drawing.

I accept it.

Maybe Milwaukee might like the future picks over Harper. lets keep that slim hope alive!!

[MasterIchiro]

Spurs fans are adamant they'd only surrender Harper if it's for Giannis.

Harper and Wembanyama are close in age.

I think these proposals just generate false hope.

We fell short of Wemby, Castle, now Harper in the lottery drawing.

I accept it.

Maybe Milwaukee might like the future picks over Harper. lets keep that slim hope alive!!

Bucks are gonna insist on a replacement for Giannis as franchise player.

Hope must die.

[Diop]

Spurs fans are adamant they'd only surrender Harper if it's for Giannis.

Harper and Wembanyama are close in age.

I think these proposals just generate false hope.

We fell short of Wemby, Castle, now Harper in the lottery drawing.

I accept it.

Maybe Milwaukee might like the future picks over Harper. lets keep that slim hope alive!!

Bucks are gonna insist on a replacement for Giannis as franchise player.

Hope must die.

not after they receive the photo's i made up of Harper with the owners daughter snorting cocaine off her breasts,

[MasterIchiro]

Maybe Milwaukee might like the future picks over Harper. lets keep that slim hope alive!!

Bucks are gonna insist on a replacement for Giannis as franchise player.

Hope must die.

not after they receive the photo's i made up of Harper with the owners daughter snorting cocaine off her breasts,

You'd just make Harper eligible to become President someday.

[GiggitySmalls]

At this point, I want this to be over with. I want VJ, but I'll be cool if we don't draft Maluach. Then we burn down the arena. A team with Tiddy and Maluach is hard to pass off to fans as progress, vision, and DNA in back-to-back drafts.

[LofJ]

Reading more about Tre Johnson's intangibles and his personality it's hard to not like him. I worry that he will be a 1 way player, but he has a professional attitude. He's going to make it in the league, I'm confident of that.

[Chapelchilla]

That isn't getting it done, imo it would need to be 4 + Hornets unprotected 2027 first for #2.

Seems too rich. Maybe like top 8 protected.

have to be at least top 2 protected, you know as soon as we trade an unprotected pick the NBA will let us win the lottery.

Especially if it helps build out the Spurs further.
Top 3 protected is reasonable.

[Chapelchilla]

It’s basically VJ or trade the #4 pick for me.

Agreed

[JDR720]

My preference may be to trade down. Feels like there are about 6 guys in our range that are pretty much on the same level.

[fatlever]

This year has been so weirdly quiet when it comes to hearing about workouts, not just with our team but pretty much any team. I think in general teams like the Hornets are becoming much more tight-lipped about who they work out and what happened in those workouts. Maybe I just haven't been dialed into what's happening with other prospects out of our range, but I really can't remember hearing anything about someone looking good or bad in a particular workout in the past 2 weeks.

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[yosemiteben]

Random thought but I've increasingly become skeptical of the concept of "smokescreens" or teams leaking reports through social media to mislead about their intentions. I just cannot imagine that teams who are routinely in contact with agents and other front offices are actually learning anything from random twitter posts.

[JustBuzzin]

My mind is made up Ace or Fears.

If not trade the pick.

[MasterIchiro]

Yeah, 2 drafts ago some anonymous Hornets fan claimed to see Scoot working out in the old practice area inside the arena, was peeking through the glass from the sidewalk that wraps around the court that opens to public view like a fish bowl. He said DSJ was guarding Scoot.

He obviously failed that test if the rumor is true.

Miles refused to work out for Charlotte.

This draft is volatile. Nobody can assign order to the selections. I kind of like this all unpredictable. I think this will be a fun, memorable draft night like the one where we traded SGA.

[driveandkick]

I totally agree with the mantra that we should not stay at 4. Either move up for Harper (I’d prefer not to give away our pick, but could be convinced to give away our ‘27 first, I think Harper is that good), or, if VJ isn’t there at 4, trade down and recoup extra value.

There’s not enough separation between the likes of Kon/Tre/Ace for me to feel like we HAVE to get one of them at 4. Are any of those guys clearly better prospects than Castle or Sheppard? I don’t think so.

My issue with saying “we should not stay at 4” is that it implies we should make a move just to make one. I’d love Dylan Harper, but it’s clear the Spurs would only move off that choice for a ridiculous package. Honestly probably one one that’s headlined by a real star. They have the core of their team and don’t need some treasure chest of picks to fall back on. Moving up to #2 seems completely unrealistic to me.

So then what? Now I definitely agree. If the draft goes Flagg-Harper-VJ like it seems to be trending currently, and Kon is our guy at 4 it would be lovely to move back some. Maybe New Orleans wants Ace, and we can fall back to 7 or whatever and still get Kon. But what if we can’t? That ESPN article today says the Jazz like Kon. If we feel convicted in him, more so than the tier of guys like Ace/Tre/Fears we shouldn’t gamble and risk out on losing him. It can’t matter how we on Real GM rank these players. It’s up to the people who run the team to land on whoever they feel like is the best player with that pick, and sliding down some for a few extra seconds and jeopardizing losing out on that player would just be awful business.