RealGM

Found it interesting to revisit at this point.

Here's a reminder of how it went.


2016 NBA Draft

1 - Philadelphia: Ben Simmons
2 - L.A. Lakers: Brandon Ingram
3 - Boston: Jaylen Brown
4 - Phoenix: Dragan Bender
5 - Minnesota: Kris Dunn
6 - New Orleans: Buddy Hield
7 - Denver: Jamal Murray
8 - Phoenix (via Sacramento): Marquese Chriss
9 - Toronto: Jakob Poeltl
10 - Milwaukee: Thon Maker
11 - Oklahoma City (via Orlando): Domantas Sabonis
12 - Atlanta: Taurean Prince
13 - Sacramento (via Phoenix): Georgios Papagiannis
14 - Chicago: Denzel Valentine
15 - Denver: Juancho Hernangómez
16 - Boston: Guerschon Yabusele
17 - Memphis: Wade Baldwin
18 - Detroit: Henry Ellenson
19 - Denver: Malik Beasley
20 - Brooklyn: Caris LeVert
21 - Atlanta: DeAndre Bembry
22 - Sacramento (via Charlotte): Malachi Richardson
23 - Boston: Ante Zizic
24 - Philadelphia: Timothe Luwawu-Cabarot
25 - L.A. Clippers: Brice Johnson
26 - Philadelphia: Furkan Korkmaz
27 - Toronto: Pascal Siakam
28 - Sacramento (via Phoenix): Skal Labissiere
29 - San Antonio: Dejounte Murray
30 - Golden State: Damian Jones

Notable players in bold. Also Malcom Brogdon at #36

What are your picks today knowing what we know in 2024?

Man, that is one bad draft, Ben Simmons played practically 4 seasons and looks like he's done and he still goes lottery in redraft...

1. Jaylen Brown
2. Domantas Sabonis
3. Pascal Siakam
4. Jamal Murray
5. Brandon Ingram
6. Dejounte Murray
7. Malcom Brogdon
8. akob Poeltl
9. Buddy Hield
10. Caris LeVert
11. Taurean Prince
12. Malik Beasley
13. Ben Simmons

Ben Simmons is a tough one.... early on 3 time all-star, rookie of the year, multiple all-defensive teams... but seemingly out of the league early.

If you knew then what you know now, you could still easily take him top 5 and then trade him as a young stud still with upside before the wheels fell off.

Also undrafted in 2016 Alex Caruso is an NBA champion and good starter and Fred VanVleet turned himself into an all-star as well so those two almost certainly go top 15 or 16 in a redraft.

Suns had two lottery picks and ended with a once in a lifetime duo of Bender&Chriss

bstein14 wrote:Ben Simmons is a tough one.... early on 3 time all-star, rookie of the year, multiple all-defensive teams... but seemingly out of the league early.

If you knew then what you know now, you could still easily take him top 5 and then trade him as a young stud still with upside before the wheels fell off.

Also undrafted in 2016 Alex Caruso is an NBA champion and good starter and Fred VanVleet turned himself into an all-star as well so those two almost certainly go top 15 or 16 in a redraft.

Also in a re-draft does his back still fail him and he still declines? Does he get a competent coach who will help develop rather than coddle him / ignore his flaws early on? What about a star teammate who takes responsibility rather than scapegoats him?

So many variables... The biggest if the back, if his back was always destined to fail them his career would always have gone as it has gone...

Brown probably loses 1-on-1 polls vs. Ingram and Murray 2 years ago. Also about a toss-up vs. Sabonis and Siakam I'd say.

Now I'd say he's topped everyone. Hard worker for sure but team culture helped a lot.

God damn melo trade

If you watched that draft, there were three different tables of commentators telling you that every team made a really good pick because their kid could really shoot, had a great final year in college or really shined in Europe for a very good team and every team should be better because their draft pick should be a contributor.

This year those same know it alls will be just as wrong.

That Dragan Bender pick is really paying dividends.

There's a universe somewhere where Suns picked Sabonis and then had an excuse to pass on Ayton . Resulting in a lineup that has Booker, Luka, Sabonis and Bridges.

Man do I remember having a draft crush on Sabonis, Murray and..... Denzel valentine. Can't win em all I guess.

Mavrelous wrote:Man, that is one bad draft, Ben Simmons played practically 4 seasons and looks like he's done and he still goes lottery in redraft...

1. Jaylen Brown
2. Domantas Sabonis
3. Pascal Siakam
4. Jamal Murray
5. Brandon Ingram
6. Dejounte Murray
7. Malcom Brogdon
8. Jakob Poeltl
9. Buddy Hield
10. Caris LeVert
11. Taurean Prince
12. Malik Beasley
13. Ben Simmons

You named several allstar and All-nba players, it's far from a bad draft. There's no superstar but many drafts don't have a superstar. How many drafts produced 5 all-nba players (plus Dejounte and Jamal)?

A take I fully expect to get flamed for but I still take Simmons #1 and hope that in a parallel universe he can figure out whatever his limiting factors are. Still one of the more naturally talented #1 picks in recent years, and there's no major opportunity cost with everyone else in this draft seemingly topping out as a generic all-star at best

Being a Laker fan, I'm still more peed at Magic choosing Ball over Tatum In 2017
http://www.espn.com/nbadraft/results/rounds/_/year/2017/round/1

bstein14 wrote:Ben Simmons is a tough one.... early on 3 time all-star, rookie of the year, multiple all-defensive teams... but seemingly out of the league early.

If you knew then what you know now, you could still easily take him top 5 and then trade him as a young stud still with upside before the wheels fell off.

Also undrafted in 2016 Alex Caruso is an NBA champion and good starter and Fred VanVleet turned himself into an all-star as well so those two almost certainly go top 15 or 16 in a redraft.

Yep, Ben simmons had a wild career. Obvious choice to be the #1 pick, then missed what would have been his entire first season. He then becomes a legit star. People can say what they want, but he was awesome his rookie season. He carried the Sixers to the 3 seed with Embiid being out for big stretches. Simmons played 81 games giving them 16/8/8 on 54% shooting. and was just an all around great floor general. Then he was an All Star caliber player for another 3 years.

Then he just quit. Yes his defenders will defend him with injuries, but there is a big component of him just not wanting to play anymore as he demonstrated in Philly. He may be done. Wild career.

Since I am a Celtics fan, I will only look at it from their perspective. With everything else being the same I take:

At 3: I still take Jaylen Brown
At 16: I take Pascal Siakam
At 23: I take Malcom Brogdon

And I still make the trade to take Tatum the next season.

Saints14 wrote:A take I fully expect to get flamed for but I still take Simmons #1 and hope that in a parallel universe he can figure out whatever his limiting factors are. Still one of the more naturally talented #1 picks in recent years, and there's no major opportunity cost with everyone else in this draft seemingly topping out as a generic all-star at best

Peak Simmons might still be the best of the group. I am no Simmons fan for how he has acted, but people really forget how good he was from 17-21. Obviously you can't take him #1 knowing what we know now, but his upside and him at his best is the top of that draft.

Wow, that draft sucks. With all of the negativity going around the 2024 draft, I can't think it'll be THIS bad.

snowman wrote:Since I am a Celtics fan, I will only look at it from their perspective. With everything else being the same I take:

At 3: I still take Jaylen Brown
At 16: I take Pascal Siakam
At 23: I take Malcom Brogdon

And I still make the trade to take Tatum the next season.

Yes but who are you taking at 31, 35, 45, 51 and 58?

What a year to have that many picks lol.

That said they probably still got above average value out of the whole shebang by landing Brown at three and getting nothing from all the rest.

Saints14 wrote:A take I fully expect to get flamed for but I still take Simmons #1 and hope that in a parallel universe he can figure out whatever his limiting factors are. Still one of the more naturally talented #1 picks in recent years, and there's no major opportunity cost with everyone else in this draft seemingly topping out as a generic all-star at best

The problem with this is that in this hypothetical scenario, he’s still being drafted by Philly who has the #1 pick. A terrible, dysfunctional organization with bad development personnel.

I find Draft-based analysis of player careers to be really informative.

I'll say I make a distinction between Best-in-Draft and Re-Draft conversations. Re-Drafting to me is about what I think the organization would do now given everything they currently know.

Also, important not to forget the Undrafted. Fred VanVleet was eligible for the 2016 draft and became an all-star despite no one choosing him.

My take at the moment:

1 - Philadelphia: Pascal Siakam I think he's been the best player from this draft. He's also Cameroonian like Embiid and I think would have made a tight partnership there.

2 - L.A. Lakers -Brandon Ingram I mean, they got AD from Ingram, and Ingram's been an all-star. Think they happily do this again.

3 - Boston: Jaylen Brown A steal back then, and a steal now.

4 - Phoenix: Domantas Sabonis Should go even higher based on how good he's been.

5 - Minnesota: Fred VanVleet KAT & the Wolves could really have used a tough point guard.

6 - New Orleans: Buddy Hield Oddly, I have NO taking Buddy again despite the fact they traded him almost immediately. AD & Jrue need shooting around them.

7 - Denver: Jamal Murray Nuggets happily take Murray again. A bit surprised he fell this far for me.

8 - Phoenix: Dejounte Murray Seems the clear BPA at this point, and I think could play a more defense-oriented role next to Booker & Sabonis.

9 - Toronto: Jakob Poeltl Drafted him and then re-acquired him in real life. Seems like they like him.

10 - Milwaukee: Malcolm Brogdon Drafted him before and frankly probably would have kept him if they hadn't prematurely Bledsoe'd.

That leaves out two main guys who were on my mind:

Ben Simmons - Definitely not a given that he missed my 10. I think he might have ended up in a much more healthy space if he hadn't seen himself as a superstar, and being drafted a bit lower might have kept that attitude from happening. I considered him him as high as #5 because the fit with KAT might be nice.

Ivica Zubac - Really solid big. Could see an argument for him at #4 over Sabonis if you want a more traditional big. Could also see favoring him over Poeltl.

EDIT:

Considering Alex Caruso, who I didn't think of, but I love. I don't think he gets in the top 10 here realistically, but I do think he'd get picked in the lottery.