2025 General Draft Discussion 2

[JustBuzzin]

Draft Ace and figure out the rest later. We not even sure if Miller will return the same player after wrist surgery. We need to cover ourselves in case it takes him some time to fully recover.

Draft Ace and trade Bridges for a real pf would be my priority on draft night.

[Bassman]

This trade was brought up on HP and I only bring it up cause it would make some sense

#4 (Ace)
Mark Williams

To BKN for:
Claxton
#8
Two future firsts

I feel like I could talk myself into a deal like that

I’d want Claxton, the 8, 19 and 27, cause it takes more players going out to make the trade work.

[driveandkick]

I guess if the team makes that trade it’s a gamble against Mark Williams long term health.

I think I’d probably say no because I think there is a drop off after the Kon/Ace/Tre/VJ tier. Just settle in and take your favorite one out of whoever is available.

I just don’t think this team really needs more picks right now. If they do something like this to me it would feel like they’ve fallen in love with Jakucionis or Maluach and this is how they justify drafting one of them.

[Braggins]

sam v think we should move up to 3 to secure vj
he had suggesed 4, 33 and taking on drummonds deal.

I don’t think I’d have any issues doing that if the team is truly that high on VJ.

Agree. It would be hard for me to justify giving up too much to go up one spot, but I could live with #33 and taking back Drummond if thats what it took.

[fatlever]

Read on Twitter

um... ok. interesting.

[fatlever]

Read on Twitter

calling wiz bluff.
what would you want from wiz for 4/ace?

[wilson115]

Looongshot but would they be willing to ship out Bilal?

[MasterIchiro]

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calling wiz bluff.
what would you want from wiz for 4/ace?

Nothing on their roster covers the gap between Ace and prospect at 6.

I don't know exactly how we got here, but Ace is the 3rd best prospect in the draft. I think the Sixers should be asking this same question, but there are no players on the Wizards who add wins to the Sixers.

If Ace falls to 4, you take him and run, you don't hold him ransom for a flip.

Hornets just can't afford to dilute talent like this.

I suspect we are hoping Ace falls so we can keep him for ourselves.

Sixers are hoping for a team with better players on its roster trade up for Ace (Pelicans, Nets).

[KembaWalker]

We should take heed of the times teams have wanted to trade into our pick to nab a certain guy, realize about how well that that gone for us and just take the guy ourselves. Or we could just go full Frank again where teams are dying to move up into our spot for Ace and we just take Kon anyway lol

[MasterIchiro]

We should take heed of the times teams have wanted to trade into our pick to nab a certain guy, realize about how well that that gone for us and just take the guy ourselves. Or we could just go full Frank again where teams are dying to move up into our spot for Ace and we just take Kon anyway lol

It's a sweeping generalization.

We stayed put and took our guy LaMelo 3 when a rumored 8-9 teams pursued him, including Chicago at 4.

We heard rumors teams coveting Brandon Miller tried to trade up for him yet we denied them. Blazers with Dame on the way out possibly made overtures for 2 because they really needed Scoot.

So we held firm to Miller 2 and Melo 3 and it worked out. Why not 4? Hope Ace falls, but I don't think so. We would not be trading down if Ace is there, one would hope. And there is recent precedent in the high lottery supporting my optimism.

[Snidely FC]

Exhibit A: Shai Gilgeous Alexander

[Braggins]

Staying put, moving up, or moving back, can all be viable options in the right scenario. It just depends on the situation.

The Hornets got burned when they moved back a spot and took Miles, but the Celtics looked like genius when they moved back and took Tatum instead of staying put when the consensus at their pick was Fultz. On the flip side the Clippers looked like geniuses for moving up for SGA and the 76ers looked like fools for moving up to take Fultz.

Staying put is generally the safest option, but turning down a bunch of picks and then taking Frank over Booker/Turner was a disaster.

The key is to be competent/smart. If the front office is making poor assessments of the prospects they are going to fail no matter what their draft strategy is.

[MasterIchiro]

Staying put, moving up, or moving back, can all be viable options in the right scenario. It just depends on the situation.

The Hornets got burned when they moved back a spot and took Miles, but the Celtics looked like genius when they moved back and took Tatum instead of staying put when the consensus at their pick was Fultz. On the flip side the Clippers looked like geniuses for moving up for SGA and the 76ers looked like fools for moving up to take Fultz.

Staying put is generally the safest option, but turning down a bunch of picks and then taking Frank over Booker/Turner was a disaster.

The key is to be competent/smart. If the front office is making poor assessments of the prospects they are going to fail no matter what their draft strategy is.

You can't lump in Cho with these other front offices. He was an MBA. These other front offices had spirited debates that split their scouting departments.

Cho literally had one draft out of 7 that didn't bust. Kemba/Biz draft still featured a bust lottery pick though.

[Bassman]

So everything depends upon what the Hornets really want. Assuming VJ is gone, do they REALLY WANT Ace, or do they REALLY WANT either Kon or Tre, or perhaps Fears if recent reports are to be believed? If it’s one of the latter, the Wiz would need to deal us Saddiq Bey, the 6 and 19 for the 4 and 34. To make the trade work we deal Nick Smith Jr and either Moore or Jeffries. With Ace they won’t need Bey, and he could be a great dynamic addition to the Hornets either starting or off the bench. He’s also from Charlotte. Hornets draft one of those guards at 6 and go hunting for a center from a good crop at 19.

Now I’d love to demand Sarr but there’s no way they’re giving him up in any trade combination of Mark Williams and accompanying players. If they would listen, trade machine says we could offer Mark, Nick Smith Jr and Moore for Sarr and the pick swap. That may also require us to fork over an extra first or so….not convinced it would be worth that. But Sarr showed some real growth in the back half of the season.

[MasterIchiro]

So everything depends upon what the Hornets really want. Assuming VJ is gone, do they REALLY WANT Ace, or do they REALLY WANT either Kon or Tre, or perhaps Fears if recent reports are to be believed? If it’s one of the latter, the Wiz would need to deal us Saddiq Bey, the 6 and 19 for the 4 and 34. To make the trade work we deal Nick Smith Jr and either Moore or Jeffries. With Ace they won’t need Bey, and he could be a great dynamic addition to the Hornets either starting or off the bench. He’s also from Charlotte. Hornets draft one of those guards at 6 and go hunting for a center from a good crop at 19.

Now I’d love to demand Sarr but there’s no way they’re giving him up in any trade combination of Mark Williams and accompanying players. If they would listen, trade machine says we could offer Mark, Nick Smith Jr and Moore for Sarr and the pick swap. That may also require us to fork over an extra first or so….not convinced it would be worth that. But Sarr showed some real growth in the back half of the season.

Why would we not assume Ace is gone 3? He's a more talented prospect than VJ. It is not close.

[Bassman]

So everything depends upon what the Hornets really want. Assuming VJ is gone, do they REALLY WANT Ace, or do they REALLY WANT either Kon or Tre, or perhaps Fears if recent reports are to be believed? If it’s one of the latter, the Wiz would need to deal us Saddiq Bey, the 6 and 19 for the 4 and 34. To make the trade work we deal Nick Smith Jr and either Moore or Jeffries. With Ace they won’t need Bey, and he could be a great dynamic addition to the Hornets either starting or off the bench. He’s also from Charlotte. Hornets draft one of those guards at 6 and go hunting for a center from a good crop at 19.

Now I’d love to demand Sarr but there’s no way they’re giving him up in any trade combination of Mark Williams and accompanying players. If they would listen, trade machine says we could offer Mark, Nick Smith Jr and Moore for Sarr and the pick swap. That may also require us to fork over an extra first or so….not convinced it would be worth that. But Sarr showed some real growth in the back half of the season.

Why would we not assume Ace is gone 3? He's a more talented prospect than VJ. It is not close.

The trade back was only based on that assumption. I have no idea if Sixers take VJ, or take Ace, or trade out the pick. If VJ is available at 4 my presumption is the Hornets take him and ignore trade downs.

[JustBuzzin]

Draft Ace

He's the best prospect, if teams want him make a legit offer. If not keep him and move on.

This is not hard for the Hornets. Please don't screw this up.

[JustBuzzin]

Never let a rookie determine his future. The kid loves basketball he will be fine in Charlotte. We can always pursue trades down the line.

[vorbis]

I will just fall back on an NFL draft aphorism and say it doesn't matter where you draft them, it matters how they play. just get the right player and everything else will just be noise.

[MasterIchiro]

So everything depends upon what the Hornets really want. Assuming VJ is gone, do they REALLY WANT Ace, or do they REALLY WANT either Kon or Tre, or perhaps Fears if recent reports are to be believed? If it’s one of the latter, the Wiz would need to deal us Saddiq Bey, the 6 and 19 for the 4 and 34. To make the trade work we deal Nick Smith Jr and either Moore or Jeffries. With Ace they won’t need Bey, and he could be a great dynamic addition to the Hornets either starting or off the bench. He’s also from Charlotte. Hornets draft one of those guards at 6 and go hunting for a center from a good crop at 19.

Now I’d love to demand Sarr but there’s no way they’re giving him up in any trade combination of Mark Williams and accompanying players. If they would listen, trade machine says we could offer Mark, Nick Smith Jr and Moore for Sarr and the pick swap. That may also require us to fork over an extra first or so….not convinced it would be worth that. But Sarr showed some real growth in the back half of the season.

Why would we not assume Ace is gone 3? He's a more talented prospect than VJ. It is not close.

The trade back was only based on that assumption. I have no idea if Sixers take VJ, or take Ace, or trade out the pick. If VJ is available at 4 my presumption is the Hornets take him and ignore trade downs.

I just feel our time is better spent assuming Sixers trade Bailey or keep him, and go from there.

I know the auto-reply is, "Take VJ" but that's just one possibility of many that we may discuss. But there's been zero conversation.

What if Bailey is off the board and we don't love VJ? Don't say Kon. We can't fall for the Kon job.