keevsnick1 wrote:First round picks get stashed all the time.
I could be wrong, but I don't believe it's happened since like 2016..
Also, just because the highest drafted player last year to get a 2-way contract was 41st pick, doesn't mean you can't draft someone at like 38 or 35 and give them a 2-way.
I could be wrong, but any 2nd round pick can get a 2-way but 1st rounders all get a guaranteed contract (unless they're stashed).
And it's not like there is any significant difference between picking a guy at 40 or 41 anyways.
IMO, most years the entire 20-50 range is pretty fluid, with not a ton of separation between those players..
Every draft has guys in the lottery who are busts (Langford, Papagiannis, Johnny Davis, etc.), every draft has guys in the late 1st round who are busts (Poku, Tre Mann, Kai Jones, Patrick Baldwin Jr, Udoka Azuibuke, Usman Garuba, etc.) and others in the late 1st round who hit (Derrick White, Bane, Jimmy Butler, Jaden Mcdaniels).
Every draft has guys in the early 2nd round who hit (Andrew Nembhard, Hartenstein, Daniel Gafford< Nix Claxton) and others in the early 2nd round who miss (Joe Wieskamp, Carsen Edwards, Jared Butler, Bruno Fernando, Isiah Todd, KZ Okpala)..each draft has mid 2nd round guys who hit (Jokic, GG Jackson, Vince Williams, Dillon Brooks, Deanthony Melton) and others that miss (Madar, Begarin, Ryan Rollins, Greg Brown, Sharife Cooper).
Every draft has guys in the late 2nd round who hit (Paul Reed, Ginobili, Monte Morris) and late 2nd round guys who miss (JD Davison, Tyrese Martin).
There's lots of UDFA hits (Strus, Hauser, Duncan Robinson, Austin Reaves, TJ McConnell, Caleb Martin, Fred VanVleet, Naz Reid, etc.) but there's even more misses (Vincent Valderio-Bodon, Gabe Brown, Jules Bernard, Justin Champagnie, Donovan Williams, Trevion Williams, Taylor Funk, etc.)
There's hits and misses all over the draft. The key is to scout well and develop players well. Of course, the later in the draft, the lower the odds are of the pick "hitting". Sure, you have higher odds of drafting a good player at 32 rather than 42 (or at 30, rather than 36) but it generally it seems like having a pick a few spots higher (that late in the draft) doesn't make *that* much of a difference in terms of talent for it to be worth the cost of drafting that much higher (especially for contending teams) which is why teams (especially contenders) often look to trade back, acquiring additional assets/picks along the way, which can be used as trade bait later down the line.
And again, most drafts the 20-50 range, there isn't a whole lot of separation between those players anyways.
All of this stuff makes covering/discussing the draft a lot of fun
