2020 NBA Draft Thread

[SLCceltic]

In a perfect world DA gladly moves these picks as we have more than enough youth !! That said, if DA does not like the return for these picks he will keep them and add three more rookies ...

lots of youth. Not a lot of good youth beyond Tatum and Brown. It shouldn't be too hard to draft upgrades over the 2019 picks or simply to replace FA losses since we'll be cap strapped

ya man, we are super young ! Even wanamaker is really only year2, Theis is yr 3, Grant Rob and Romeo will all be diff-makers, Grant already is ....Waters Carsen Jevonte TACKO even, are all guys Im not ready to give up on.

That said, a new rookie could easily take one of their spots but then the development cycle starts over. Grant shouldn't count as a Rookie ha with his awareness and bbiq

love this roster but WE NEED SHOOTING !! some killers off the bench to put teams away ... we also need the right Big for insurance with RwIII and to push Theis for Starting spot

All doable in this Draft I think Will be very interesting. I can very easily see DA making all 3 picks and bringing in 3 new guys

[SMTBSI]

What's your organisation's plans for these 2 late picks?

Looking to move up?

Looking to sell them both?

Looking to clear some salary?

This Piston fan wants both picks

Too many possibilities to even say right now. We won't just sell them. Meaning for cash, or to give away small salaries (Kanter, Poirier). Current FO's never done that.

If push comes to shove and we're forced to lose value, we'll do it by reaching for draft-and-stashes, or trading them into the future for somewhat less appealing picks.

But even that can come later. This team has a ton of open questions. Depending on how things go, there may just wind up being three open roster slots. If not, we'll try anything and everything else: trading up, including them in larger trades, etc.

I'm personally an advocate of trading up, though many of our posters here who are more knowledgeable about the draft than I are not.
A Hayward trade is also very possible, which can take a lot of different forms. Those picks may be needed to lubricate that.

So, I would ask of you, what would your strategy for acquiring them be?

[SLCceltic]

Any Stanford fans out there that have watched Tyrell Terry alot ??

He seems perfect for what we do and has plenty of boom potential ... he only weighs 160 ! right now

[bucknersrevenge]

I read his scouting report on Cole Anthony. I thought it was interesting to not just look at the strengths, but the weaknesses. Not to nitpick, but to see if there were any red flags of why he wouldn't work here:

1) Shot selection: He forces too many contested looks instead of looking to pass, which causes bouts with streakiness.

Does this come down to who he is, or the situation he was in? Playing with Tatum/Brown/Kemba/Hayward/Smart, would he feel the need to force shots like he did on that terrible UNC team? You'd think not, though some people are just wired that way.

2) Not a pure playmaker, nor does he naturally make his teammates better. He needs to work on making advanced reads, but even on the simple passes his accuracy is underwhelming.

Through the years, Stevens has never gravitated towards the 10 assist per game type of guy. Just not how he runs his offense. The type of playmaking he seems to prefer is getting into the paint off of the P&R to break the defense down. So the fact that he's not a "pure playmaker" doesn't really seem to be much of a weakness in this system. Weak accuracy on simple passes would be a concern because you do need to be able to do that. But our system gravitates more towards scoring lead guards than playmakers.

3) Defensive versatility: He plays hard and smart, but he’s still undersized and likely to be targeted by opponents on switches or against elite guards.

IT, Kyrie, Kemba... all we've ever had are guards who need to be helped on that end. This weaknees just seems like more of the same and something the system is used to. As long as you play hard, which Cole Anthony does, it works fine for us. Obviously you'd prefer Smart level defenders everywhere but that's not practical and this seems to be a sacrifice we're willing to make in our lead guards.

4) Underwent surgery in 2019 for a partially torn meniscus in his right knee.

Hard to comment on medicals. Gotta have team docs look at the records/examine him and decide if it's a concern. Can't really assess how much of a concern this is or isn't as a fan.



So overall, it seems that all of the knocks on Cole Anthony are the things Stevens' system has historically accepted as weaknesses of its lead guards. The things he struggles with are the things Stevens hasn't historically asked his point guards to do. So in conclusion, the things he CAN'T do don't seem to be dealbreakers for us. So if the things he projects to be able to do he can actually do, I think he'd be a nice fit here.

I do still prefer Kira Lewis because I think the speed is just a can't teach thing that's going to increase the odds his skills translate of getting into the paint and breaking the defense down. But I've always felt Anthony is a good fit here.

Couldn't agree more. Your breakdown here is precisely the reason I'm high on Anthony. Add in that Danny typically keeps his eye on highly ranked high schoolers, and you have a real case for Anthony. He plays with a swag and shot-making ability that Brad tends to love from his ballhandlers. Tyrell Terry fits as a shotmaker as well. Both guys are willing rebounders too. Now I won't let myself consider Killian Hayes who I think checks even more boxes but if he drops, all bets are off.

Anthony isn't a true freshman. He's a year older than his class. His 75% FT% is pedestrian. That, on top of the cons mentioned above. Kira Lewis isn't a true sophomore. He's a year YOUNGER than his class. His upside as a great shooter and PG is high. I keep going back and forth between him and Terry as my #1 PGs.

Whether or not he's a true freshman or not is irrelevant to me. He's still a young talent IMO with a ton of room to grow and he already has a fairly mature offensive repertoire now. Not sure why the 75% FT shooting should scare us away either. If he works hard we will help him improve that number. There's just a lot to like about this kid, especially when you think about the things Brad likes to do with his ballhandlers.

[100proof]

Couldn't agree more. Your breakdown here is precisely the reason I'm high on Anthony. Add in that Danny typically keeps his eye on highly ranked high schoolers, and you have a real case for Anthony. He plays with a swag and shot-making ability that Brad tends to love from his ballhandlers. Tyrell Terry fits as a shotmaker as well. Both guys are willing rebounders too. Now I won't let myself consider Killian Hayes who I think checks even more boxes but if he drops, all bets are off.

Anthony isn't a true freshman. He's a year older than his class. His 75% FT% is pedestrian. That, on top of the cons mentioned above. Kira Lewis isn't a true sophomore. He's a year YOUNGER than his class. His upside as a great shooter and PG is high. I keep going back and forth between him and Terry as my #1 PGs.

Whether or not he's a true freshman or not is irrelevant to me. He's still a young talent IMO with a ton of room to grow and he already has a fairly mature offensive repertoire now. Not sure why the 75% FT shooting should scare us away either. If he works hard we will help him improve that number. There's just a lot to like about this kid, especially when you think about the things Brad likes to do with his ballhandlers.

I Like RJ Hampton, Maledon and Lewis. Would be happy with any of those 3.

Maledon has sneaky tools and alot of potential with his court awareness.
Lewis should be a solid backup PG in the nBA

And Hampton has an elite first step and is elite at getting to the rim. If he can learn to shoot better and pass a little better he can be one of the top players out of the draft.

edit:
The more I think about RJ the more I love the thought of him learning for Kemba about offense and from Smart about defense. Cause he has the potential to take even 80% from each of those two guys in those 2 areas.

Imagine this with Tatum and Brown running on the wings with him.

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[Bleeding Green]

RJ Hampton would be a dream at 14. I thought the was supposed to be a top-5 player going into this season on a lot of mocks. Get as many fast, long as ****, athletic guards and wings and hope some of them develop a jumper. I can't believe how many nice guards and wings are in this draft, and all I see is people talking this draft down, kind of crazy to me.

[neno]

Celtics will be in the tax next year
A pic is an opportunity to acquire talent at a fixed rate
Opportunitys are limited and should not be wasted on small salary dumps porier etc
Trading away a late pic for another year is ok
I'd rather cut bait on porier etc to try out new people
Their usually NBA players still onboard when in 1st rd(not 2000 draft)
One good pic can make one good draft
Russ and Tommy were drafted in the same draft
2 Hofer draft
Is a Hof draft

[djFan71]

^^^ BG, we definitely agree on the guard/wing it up thing.

14; RJ, S Bey, Josh Green
26/30: Bolmaro, Woodard, T Bey. Maybe McDaniels or a Reed/Stewart big.

[hugepatsfan]

Celtics will be in the tax next year
A pic is an opportunity to acquire talent at a fixed rate
Opportunitys are limited and should not be wasted on small salary dumps porier etc
Trading away a late pic for another year is ok
I'd rather cut bait on porier etc to try out new people
Their usually NBA players still onboard when in 1st rd(not 2000 draft)
One good pic can make one good draft
Russ and Tommy were drafted in the same draft
2 Hofer draft
Is a Hof draft

I agree that if we're over the tax anyway there's no need to use picks to dump salary. It'd be a waste to save relatively marginal cost at the expense of tools to add young talent. But if it's part of an all out blitz to get below the tax then it makes sense to consider because keeping all the top of the roster talent should be priority over late picks. If they gotta be sacrificed to make those numbers work, so be it.

[100proof]

RJ Hampton would be a dream at 14. I thought the was supposed to be a top-5 player going into this season on a lot of mocks. Get as many fast, long as ****, athletic guards and wings and hope some of them develop a jumper. I can't believe how many nice guards and wings are in this draft, and all I see is people talking this draft down, kind of crazy to me.

ESPN
Ringer
Athletic
SI
Yahoo
Bleacher
Netscouts
Tankathon
CBS
SB NAtion

all have RJ outside the top 14

https://www.nba.com/article/2020/08/20/2020-consensus-mock-draft

I didnt think he would be available at all at pick 14 until recently. Its a no brainer, imo, if he is there, grab him.

He can break down defenses in the NBA now. He has an elite skill that can translate on day 1.

[BostonCouchGM]

RJ Hampton would be a dream at 14. I thought the was supposed to be a top-5 player going into this season on a lot of mocks. Get as many fast, long as ****, athletic guards and wings and hope some of them develop a jumper. I can't believe how many nice guards and wings are in this draft, and all I see is people talking this draft down, kind of crazy to me.

ESPN
Ringer
Athletic
SI
Yahoo
Bleacher
Netscouts
Tankathon
CBS
SB NAtion

all have RJ outside the top 14

https://www.nba.com/article/2020/08/20/2020-consensus-mock-draft

I didnt think he would be available at all at pick 14 until recently. Its a no brainer, imo, if he is there, grab him.

He can break down defenses in the NBA now. He has an elite skill that can translate on day 1.

what this tells you more than anything, is that these publications are really clueless. People should know this by now yet they keep mentioning what these people say and what their mocks are. These people are even worse than the terrible G.M.s and scouts on NBA teams. I can't think of another profession where guys who are routinely way off get to keep their jobs and even get promoted. It's baffling. It really isn't this hard. The league now allows carries, travels, push offs, and moving screens. Guys who shouldn't be good are superstars because of it. A guy who doesn't need any of these things like Hampton will feast in today's game should he be drafted by a competent G.M. for a team with a head coach who empowers him. He has Wall like speed, Westbrook like Burst and he's a better passer by far than either of them. He should be considered a top 5 talent. If he falls to #14 we should be doing backflips. But even if he did, Danny likely will take someone much worse. It's his M.O.

[sully00]

RJ Hampton would be a dream at 14. I thought the was supposed to be a top-5 player going into this season on a lot of mocks. Get as many fast, long as ****, athletic guards and wings and hope some of them develop a jumper. I can't believe how many nice guards and wings are in this draft, and all I see is people talking this draft down, kind of crazy to me.

Scouts were very unimpressed with his play in NBL especially compared with Ball who was pretty terrific. There are a lot of talented guards in this draft and while not eye popping star talent there seems to be a lot of NBA ready role players. I think teams that are retooling feel the need to start to acquire the Taj Gibson/Daniel Theis versatile big man and this maybe what is overvalued in the draft.

In the end if you under performed in Australia compared with guys who liked stars in a shortened NCAA season your probably headed to the back half of the first round. Much like with Langford last season Boston is in a great position to see the talent past the performance and roll the dice. Depending on what types of workouts teams are going to put together I think organizations are going to lean hard on their scouting depts in this draft.

[BostonCouchGM]

RJ Hampton would be a dream at 14. I thought the was supposed to be a top-5 player going into this season on a lot of mocks. Get as many fast, long as ****, athletic guards and wings and hope some of them develop a jumper. I can't believe how many nice guards and wings are in this draft, and all I see is people talking this draft down, kind of crazy to me.

Scouts were very unimpressed with his play in NBL especially compared with Ball who was pretty terrific. There are a lot of talented guards in this draft and while not eye popping star talent there seems to be a lot of NBA ready role players. I think teams that are retooling feel the need to start to acquire the Taj Gibson/Daniel Theis versatile big man and this maybe what is overvalued in the draft.

In the end if you under performed in Australia compared with guys who liked stars in a shortened NCAA season your probably headed to the back half of the first round. Much like with Langford last season Boston is in a great position to see the talent past the performance and roll the dice. Depending on what types of workouts teams are going to put together I think organizations are going to lean hard on their scouting depts in this draft.

same "scouts" that get it wrong every draft. These scouts were impressed with Ball's 25% from three, 37% FG and awful defense apparently. He was an inefficient, high usage chucker treated differently because he's a box office draw. NBL players and coaches resent these one and done Americans circumventing the NCAA system. They mostly let these guys languish on 2nd units despite them being more talented than anyone in the league unless they're stars like Ball of course. Thankfully with G-League changes this trend will die a deserving death. Nobody is going to go to there ever again.

[Bleeding Green]

Scouts told mainstream fans that Luka was at his ceiling and two teams even believed it lmao. If they can do it again for Hampton, that'd be great.

[Squigglepuffin]

only seen him play once, but Obi Toppin could be a late lottery steal. i imagine he improves his stock such that he is gone when we pick, but another legit stretch 4 with real athleticism. a bit of a shaky defender, but lots of potential.

Toppin is Derrick Williams 2.0. He's dominating because he's older than most ppl he's playing against. He has very bad lateral movement. Isn't quick enough to play the 3, not strong enough to play the 4. He should only be even considered in the 20's.

He won't be a very good NBA player.

[BostonCouchGM]

Scouts told mainstream fans that Luka was at his ceiling and two teams even believed it lmao. If they can do it again for Hampton, that'd be great.

In their defense, he had been playing pro basketball for 4 years and he was close to being fully developed. That's usually the length of time it takes NBA players to develop into what they're mostly going to be. The difference in the NBA is their first year as a pro, like Tatum, can't begin until they're 19 y/o.
And Luka really hasn't improved since being drafted. He came into the league about as polished as his athleticism and physical traits could allow. He probably could get in better shape which would improve his defense somewhat but what you saw then, is what you're getting now. He's still the same 31% from three shooter he's always been even going back to the Euroleague. He's actually a worse FT shooter compared to then. His turnovers are way up, among the league leaders in fact. He's still a terrible defender like always.

Fan's fascination with counting stats fools them into thinking these players improve but all that really increases is usage. With that comes more FG attempts and chances with the ball in their hands. It's very seldom that top prospects have such raw games that they can improve dramatically over the course of a few years. Mostly it's guys improving their handles like Jaylen, strength like Tatum, or conditioning like Jokic. Luka has increased his counting numbers because he hunts rebounds (aided by his team letting him get all the uncontested rebounds) and assists for triple doubles. He is wise enough to know that in today's world, people laughably equate that with skill when in actuality it's more about usage and the league catering to offense.

[Bleeding Green]

So the only improvement between a rookie and a developed player is more FGA. But also they improve their skills like handle, strength, conditioning, shot, etc? Luka is like a top-5 player in the NBA right now by almost any metric. Compared to his rookie season he shoots it better, turns it over less, his passes are resulting more assists at a higher rate, the Mavs just posted the highest offensive rating in NBA history with Luka Doncic posting a 36.8% usage rate (i.e. he is by far the main contributor to the offense). He scores more, scores more efficiently, has a higher usage rate, rebounds it more often. What are you looking at that he hasn't improved?

[sully00]

RJ Hampton would be a dream at 14. I thought the was supposed to be a top-5 player going into this season on a lot of mocks. Get as many fast, long as ****, athletic guards and wings and hope some of them develop a jumper. I can't believe how many nice guards and wings are in this draft, and all I see is people talking this draft down, kind of crazy to me.

Scouts were very unimpressed with his play in NBL especially compared with Ball who was pretty terrific. There are a lot of talented guards in this draft and while not eye popping star talent there seems to be a lot of NBA ready role players. I think teams that are retooling feel the need to start to acquire the Taj Gibson/Daniel Theis versatile big man and this maybe what is overvalued in the draft.

In the end if you under performed in Australia compared with guys who liked stars in a shortened NCAA season your probably headed to the back half of the first round. Much like with Langford last season Boston is in a great position to see the talent past the performance and roll the dice. Depending on what types of workouts teams are going to put together I think organizations are going to lean hard on their scouting depts in this draft.

same "scouts" that get it wrong every draft. These scouts were impressed with Ball's 25% from three, 37% FG and awful defense apparently. He was an inefficient, high usage chucker treated differently because he's a box office draw. NBL players and coaches resent these one and done Americans circumventing the NCAA system. They mostly let these guys languish on 2nd units despite them being more talented than anyone in the league unless they're stars like Ball of course. Thankfully with G-League changes this trend will die a deserving death. Nobody is going to go to there ever again.

No they don't. Scouts were the ones that questioned Fultz, when the media consensus said he was a super star in the making. There were scouts who questioned Russell and Okafor and everyone thought they were nuts. Scouts don't get to make the picks what they can tell a team that is invaluable a the top of the draft is you saw this guy and this guy at 19 how does this guy compare. If they are below or above that bar it should influence a GM. Now just because player A is more advanced at 19 doesn't mean he will be the better player at 23. Guys and some guys peak at 18-19 years old and never get any better. Shabazz Muhammad is the perfect example best player in the country coming out of HS and has a damn good if not great year UCLA and the scouts said that he wasn't really going to get any better. Drops to 14 in the draft and never got any better than he was at UCLA.

NCAA scouts are also different than NBA scouts. The games are different the arc of development is different. Now the really hard thing is introducing international players who don't produce statistically at the same rate. Factoring how those guys will translate and where they rank overall nevermind how they fit into a team's roster make up and scheme.

[a-French-Fan]

Scouts told mainstream fans that Luka was at his ceiling and two teams even believed it lmao. If they can do it again for Hampton, that'd be great.

In their defense, he had been playing pro basketball for 4 years and he was close to being fully developed. That's usually the length of time it takes NBA players to develop into what they're mostly going to be. The difference in the NBA is their first year as a pro, like Tatum, can't begin until they're 19 y/o.
And Luka really hasn't improved since being drafted. He came into the league about as polished as his athleticism and physical traits could allow. He probably could get in better shape which would improve his defense somewhat but what you saw then, is what you're getting now. He's still the same 31% from three shooter he's always been even going back to the Euroleague. He's actually a worse FT shooter compared to then. His turnovers are way up, among the league leaders in fact. He's still a terrible defender like always.

Fan's fascination with counting stats fools them into thinking these players improve but all that really increases is usage. With that comes more FG attempts and chances with the ball in their hands. It's very seldom that top prospects have such raw games that they can improve dramatically over the course of a few years. Mostly it's guys improving their handles like Jaylen, strength like Tatum, or conditioning like Jokic. Luka has increased his counting numbers because he hunts rebounds (aided by his team letting him get all the uncontested rebounds) and assists for triple doubles. He is wise enough to know that in today's world, people laughably equate that with skill when in actuality it's more about usage and the league catering to offense.

In the other hand about Doncic, do not forget that Euroleague is absolutely not a league for young players. No one care about developping players, good teams struggling for title, weak teams struggling to stay into euroleague, other teams struggling to reach Play-offs. Doncic was the exception because he is a genius that you may see once by generation.

[threrf23]

In the other hand about Doncic, do not forget that Euroleague is absolutely not a league for young players. No one care about developping players, good teams struggling for title, weak teams struggling to stay into euroleague, other teams struggling to reach Play-offs. Doncic was the exception because he is a genius that you may see once by generation.

Don't take BostonCouchGM seriously. He's obsessed with convincing us that Luka is the league's worst defender, and a crappy shooter who is only considered a star b/c he pads his stats by going out of his way to hunt rebounds. Many of us, at least several of us, knew Luka was an outlier before he was drafted, and the rest of us know now.