2020 NBA Draft Thread

[bucknersrevenge]

Oh, and neither of them are close to having the impact Theis has.

And that should be no surprise to approximately ZERO people. He came into the league at 26, not 19. He's 28 now and before 2 years ago, he was cutting his teeth for the previous 7 years professionally with the German Bundesliga where he has previously won the DPOY over there. Whether it's Horford, or Amir Johnson, or Brandon Bass, Tyler Zeller, or even Vitor Faverani, Stevens prefers veteran bigs over rookie bigs because the bigs in his system have a TON of responsibility. And again, bigs adjust to the NBA slower.

Recent exceptions to the rule, he drafted a High IQ older kid in Olynyk who could both shoot and pass, a defensive savant in TimeLord who is probably still 2 years away from being anything resembling a starter, and an absolute flyer on one of the largest humans in history. That's it.

I agree with you, but you are just re-affirming my point. There's no sense in trading up for a player that'll take 5-6 years to adapt to the NBA game enough to be a positive starter on a playoff team. By that time, he'll even be no longer in his rookie contract. Bigs are really really cheap right now.

I'm not even sure it's worth wasting a top-5 pick on Wiseman even if you land one, let alone trying to move up.
The only centers that have had playoff impact and were drafted in the top-10 the last 10 years (going back to 2010) are Embiid and Davis. The jury is still out on Towns I guess, and even on JJJr.

But aside from that, nothing really stands. If you include all the lottery picks then you have Bam, Sabonis and Myles, and none of the three play at all like Wiseman. I'm not saying he is not a lottery pick, but I'm not touching him in the top-5 unless necessary.

What I'm saying is that centers are not worth top-5 picks right now, specially with Wiseman's game. Unless you are freak of nature on offense like Towns or Porz, or you can stretch the floor AND PLAY DEFENSE, no thanks. I'll take my center from Free Agency.

And it was totally my intent to affirm your point for all of the reasons you stated and the ones I did as well.

[big-shot-ROB]

So I think the top priorities for the Celtics to fix for next year are:
- Bench scoring/shooting
- Playmaking (not necessarily a PG)
- A tall&strong bench 4*

Some players that fix those necessities (though no way I would add 3 rookies more):

Bench scoring
- Aaron Nesmith:
Far from being this super-freaky 3&D guys he is getting hyped to be, the guy can really shoot. C&s, out of floppy plays, on the move, a little off the bounce. Not much more, I don't think he can put too much the ball in the floor or attack the rim to much at the next level nor he is the defender you'll hear everyone argue during draft night.

- Shaddiq Bey:
45% 3pt shooting on 5.5 3PA, 76% from the line. Nothing more.

- Nico Mannion:
Can put the ball on the floor, he has some surprisingly lowkey athletic ability (a really quick first step), great decision making and could acquire orchestrator abilities. Nice scoring package for a spurk off the bench.


Playmaking
- Tre Jones:
If we come out of the draft with just him, I'll be more than pleased. I don't know if he'll ever really have any kind of reliable outside shot, but he can orchestrate a team offense and defense 1st game. High character and leader, great passer and decison maker, great playmaker on defense: makes defensive plays happen.
This will sound weird but I'd compare him with Ish Smith. Every time I see Ish play, he plays within his role, makes things happens, barely makes errors.

- Arturs Zagars / Carlos Alocén:
Two young and stash candidates from here the ACB (one plays for Joventut, the other for Zaragoza but next year Madrid). Both could orchestrate an NBA offense in the future (4 years minimum, both too young to put % on this "could) (just like most European-grown PGs: Rubio, Chacho, Teodosic, Parker). Though Alocen has more long-term potential as a shooter and scorer. That's why he should definitely be a first round pick and Zagars is barely getting 2nd round looks.

Tall&strong bench 4
Unfortunately, there are no such players in this draft. Most of the 6'8-6'9 guys are either to skinny like Tatum while being worst defenders and not being able to shoot (Paul Reed,Sylla, McDaniels), short centers (Isaiah Stewart) or are just raw (Achiuwa, I don't think he should declare).
Only two possible 2nd round options are the aforementioned Killian Tillie and my diamond in the rough for the Cs:

- Reggie Perry:
6'9/6'10, 250 lbs, huge shoulders and upper body, decent stock numbers(1.2 blocks, 0.8 steals -> though I don't think he can't defend any 4s out in the perimeter), 17 PPG, 10 RPG (gets on the offensive glass), 32% from 3 on 2.5 3PA (up 4% from last years while doubling the attempts). Negatives: he is quite heat-headed (smart will like him) and turn the ball over a lot: 2.9 to's.


*(when Tatum is to weak and G. Williams to short: e.g. vs MEM with JJJr and Valanciunas, assuming we are playing Theis)

[Homerclease]

So I think the top priorities for the Celtics to fix for next year are:
- Bench scoring/shooting
- Playmaking (not necessarily a PG)
- A tall&strong bench 4*

Some players that fix those necessities (though no way I would add 3 rookies more):

Bench scoring
- Aaron Nesmith:
Far from being this super-freaky 3&D guys he is getting hyped to be, the guy can really shoot. C&s, out of floppy plays, on the move, a little off the bounce. Not much more, I don't think he can put too much the ball in the floor or attack the rim to much at the next level nor he is the defender you'll hear everyone argue during draft night.

- Shaddiq Bey:
45% 3pt shooting on 5.5 3PA, 76% from the line. Nothing more.

- Nico Mannion:
Can put the ball on the floor, he has some surprisingly lowkey athletic ability (a really quick first step), great decision making and could acquire orchestrator abilities. Nice scoring package for a spurk off the bench.


Playmaking
- Tre Jones:
If we come out of the draft with just him, I'll be more than pleased. I don't know if he'll ever really have any kind of reliable outside shot, but he can orchestrate a team offense and defense 1st game. High character and leader, great passer and decison maker, great playmaker on defense: makes defensive plays happen.
This will sound weird but I'd compare him with Ish Smith. Every time I see Ish play, he plays within his role, makes things happens, barely makes errors.

- Arturs Zagars / Carlos Alocén:
Two young and stash candidates from here the ACB (one plays for Joventut, the other for Zaragoza but next year Madrid). Both could orchestrate an NBA offense in the future (4 years minimum, both too young to put % on this "could) (just like most European-grown PGs: Rubio, Chacho, Teodosic, Parker). Though Alocen has more long-term potential as a shooter and scorer. That's why he should definitely be a first round pick and Zagars is barely getting 2nd round looks.

Tall&strong bench 4
Unfortunately, there are no such players in this draft. Most of the 6'8-6'9 guys are either to skinny like Tatum while being worst defenders and not being able to shoot (Paul Reed,Sylla, McDaniels), short centers (Isaiah Stewart) or are just raw (Achiuwa, I don't think he should declare).
Only two possible 2nd round options are the aforementioned Killian Tillie and my diamond in the rough for the Cs:

- Reggie Perry:
6'9, 250 lbs, huge shoulders and upper body, decent stock numbers(1.2 blocks, 0.8 steals), 17 PPG, 10 RPG (gets on the offensive glass), 32% from 3 on 2.5 3PA (up 4% from last years while doubling the attempts). Negatives: he is quite heat-headed (smart will like him) and turn the ball over a lot: 2.9 to's.


*(when Tatum is to weak and G. Williams to short: e.g. vs MEM with JJJr and Valanciunas, assuming we are playing Theis)

I tend to agree with a lot of this. It’s a deep PG draft so I think it’s paramount to come away with at least one of them. Mannion is a guy I’ve mentioned before as well that I’d like, I’d package all three picks + to move up for Haliburton if we could find a team to bite though.

Jalen Smith is a guy that fits the bill for the 4 you are looking for. He’s pushing 6’10”, shot 35% from deep and is a pretty good shotblocker too. I also like Zeke Nnaji but he’s gonna take some time to fill out.

Bey or Vassell would be a great get as I think this team could really use a 3 point specialist off the bench

[big-shot-ROB]

And, not draft related, but give me some Juancho Hernangomez this FA if possible money wise!!

[Parliament10]

[100proof]

stated it numerous times already, but,

Maledon or Hampton at 17

tyler Bey, Saddic bey or Aaron Nesmith at 26

Jahmius Ramsay at 30.

[bucknersrevenge]

Recent ESPN mock has us @15 now. Is that true?

[Parliament10]

Recent ESPN mock has us @15 now. Is that true?

Estimated, if the season were to end short.
But Tankathon has us at 17, at present.

[bucknersrevenge]

I was thinking; there's even an argument for taking Pokusevski @17. With 3 picks in the 1st round and a number of financial commitments to be made this next offseason, they may not want to pay a salary for that draft slot if they can afford it. They really can fill out their roster with lower level FA signings if need be and what they have. Danny loves to get European bigs because they play how Brad likes (Faverani, Theis, Yabusele, Poirier). Sure Pokusevski is 2 years away from being 2 years away but he plays professionally overseas against good comp. This franchise takes pride in their international scouting for better or for worse. Stash him for 2 years. His body needs to mature...alot. He needs another 20 to 30 lbs on him inevitably. But there are some fundamentals there to work with.

As for 26 and 30, maybe see who drops. Maybe make a trade up if we REALLY like someone. Or even trade out for a draft pick next year if someone likes someone. I think the later you get into this draft, the more you'd rather have 2nd round picks with the option of non-guaranteed deals that the NBA helps subsidize than paying the 30th pick guaranteed money.

[Parliament10]

I was thinking; there's even an argument for taking Pokusevski @17. With 3 picks in the 1st round and a number of financial commitments to be made this next offseason, they may not want to pay a salary for that draft slot if they can afford it. They really can fill out their roster with lower level FA signings if need be and what they have. Danny loves to get European bigs because they play how Brad likes (Faverani, Theis, Yabusele, Poirier). Sure Pokusevski is 2 years away from being 2 years away but he plays professionally overseas against good comp. This franchise takes pride in their international scouting for better or for worse. Stash him for 2 years. His body needs to mature...alot. He needs another 20 to 30 lbs on him inevitably. But there are some fundamentals there to work with.

As for 26 and 30, maybe see who drops. Maybe make a trade up if we REALLY like someone. Or even trade out for a draft pick next year if someone likes someone. I think the later you get into this draft, the more you'd rather have 2nd round picks with the option of non-guaranteed deals that the NBA helps subsidize than paying the 30th pick guaranteed money.

I like the idea of Trading out, into future Drafts. And/or also into the 2nd round.
Curiously, we may have a glut at Center, past this year.

Theis, Kanter and R. Williams, are a pretty good 3-Headed Center.
And we still have Poirier & Tacko waiting in the wings.

[bucknersrevenge]

I was thinking; there's even an argument for taking Pokusevski @17. With 3 picks in the 1st round and a number of financial commitments to be made this next offseason, they may not want to pay a salary for that draft slot if they can afford it. They really can fill out their roster with lower level FA signings if need be and what they have. Danny loves to get European bigs because they play how Brad likes (Faverani, Theis, Yabusele, Poirier). Sure Pokusevski is 2 years away from being 2 years away but he plays professionally overseas against good comp. This franchise takes pride in their international scouting for better or for worse. Stash him for 2 years. His body needs to mature...alot. He needs another 20 to 30 lbs on him inevitably. But there are some fundamentals there to work with.

As for 26 and 30, maybe see who drops. Maybe make a trade up if we REALLY like someone. Or even trade out for a draft pick next year if someone likes someone. I think the later you get into this draft, the more you'd rather have 2nd round picks with the option of non-guaranteed deals that the NBA helps subsidize than paying the 30th pick guaranteed money.

I like the idea of Trading out, into future Drafts. And/or also into the 2nd round.
Curiously, we may have a glut at Center, past this year.

Theis, Kanter and R. Williams, are a pretty good 3-Headed Center.
And we still have Poirier & Tacko waiting in the wings.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I love to consume draft material like anyone. I went to the draft in Brooklyn when we drafted Marcus back in 2014. I was at the Garden draft party 3 years later when we drafted Jaylen. There's an excitement to it. That said, we've now evolved as a roster to the point where there's not a lot of room for a draftee to break in and have an impact in his first year. Brad will play through the whole roster 1-12 during the course of an 82 game regular season and try to steal minutes for his core guys wherever he can. But we've had our top 7 (starting 5 + Smart and Kanter) together for a total of 8 games out of 64. If you consider that top 7 in the playoffs, you have room for 1, possibly 2 other guys to get some minutes. That's it. Think about it. And you have Wanamaker, Rob Williams, Semi, Grant, Romeo, Tremont, Tacko, Javante, etc. Just one or 2 out of that mix really gets a chance to be an impact.

There's no rookie coming in where we would draft that's gonna leapfrog any of the kids in front of them. So why sell out for this draft unless you really, really LOVE a kid. Other than that, tell how much better the kids available at 17 are from the ones available around 35?? I think our roster is pretty stacked.

[snowman]

As always I think we should take BPA, but try and snag an athletic big that can shoot, or a 3 pt shooter at wing that can work their way into the rotation within the next 2 seasons. Our starters are set IMO, but we need bench shooting and scoring. Langford is going to help with that, but we need more. We have more point guards then can fit on the roster, so I don't think we need more. We have bigs, but out side of Theis, there are questions still on both Williams, Kanter and Fall.

I would love to see:
Aaron Nesmith, Seddiq Bey, Paul Reed with the 1st's and Danile Oturu with the 2nd round.

[SuperDeluxe]

Teams join to push NBA to move draft date back

As information gathering on draft-eligible prospects remains limited during the coronavirus pandemic, many NBA teams are united in hopes of encouraging the league office to push the date of the draft from June 25 to no sooner than Aug. 1, sources told ESPN.

Multiple top team executives expressed to ESPN their belief that shifting the draft date would give organizations more time to salvage the essential elements of the pre-draft process, possibly allowing for in-person workouts, interviews and medical evaluations of prospects that current social distancing and shelter-in-place guidelines make impossible.

For now, the NBA remains on commissioner Adam Silver's timeline of May 1 as the earliest that decisions on the remaining league calendar will start to be made, sources said.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29021183/teams-join-push-nba-move-draft-date-back

[Parliament10]

Teams join to push NBA to move draft date back

As information gathering on draft-eligible prospects remains limited during the coronavirus pandemic, many NBA teams are united in hopes of encouraging the league office to push the date of the draft from June 25 to no sooner than Aug. 1, sources told ESPN.

Multiple top team executives expressed to ESPN their belief that shifting the draft date would give organizations more time to salvage the essential elements of the pre-draft process, possibly allowing for in-person workouts, interviews and medical evaluations of prospects that current social distancing and shelter-in-place guidelines make impossible.

For now, the NBA remains on commissioner Adam Silver's timeline of May 1 as the earliest that decisions on the remaining league calendar will start to be made, sources said.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29021183/teams-join-push-nba-move-draft-date-back

I think that they should Push the NBA Draft back to September, or even October.
Starting the 2020-21 Season on Christmas Day.

[Parliament10]

For this, I'd be down to give them all the 2020 picks.

[bucknersrevenge]

For this, I'd be down to give them all the 2020 picks.

Never happening. Neither side would go for this. But it is interesting.

[Homerclease]

For this, I'd be down to give them all the 2020 picks.

Never happening. Neither side would go for this. But it is interesting.

No chance. Theis gives you 75% of what Gobert does at 1/8th the cost. Gobert is an overhyped role player that vanishes in the playoffs. His contract alone is a non starter

[FlatearthZorro]

For this, I'd be down to give them all the 2020 picks.

Never happening. Neither side would go for this. But it is interesting.

No chance. Theis gives you 75% of what Gobert does at 1/8th the cost. Gobert is an overhyped role player that vanishes in the playoffs. His contract alone is a non starter

Pretty much. Gobert is great at defense, but his clogs the paint on offense, too and virtually has no offensive game to add to his whatever 20-25 mils a year salary. He's just in the wrong era.

[Bleeding Green]

For this, I'd be down to give them all the 2020 picks.

Never happening. Neither side would go for this. But it is interesting.

No chance. Theis gives you 75% of what Gobert does at 1/8th the cost. Gobert is an overhyped role player that vanishes in the playoffs. His contract alone is a non starter

Gobert is set to be eligible for a 250 million dollar contract lmao; love the guy's game but yeah he's got some serious flaws in his game. I know his eventual contract will be a lot less, but we're still talking 150+ million to retain him most likely.

[neno]

stated it numerous times already, but,

Maledon or Hampton at 17

tyler Bey, Saddic bey or Aaron Nesmith at 26

Jahmius Ramsay at 30.

Draft room likened him to a Marcus Smart+
If he's even close absof*****lutely