2023 Draft Discussion Part III

[Kevin Willis]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

[BoyzNTheHood]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

Yes. It’s hard enough to get an NBA player from the draft pool, much less a top 3-5 guy on your team.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

Nope. You don't win with the Jamal Crawfords of the world.

[Kevin Willis]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

Yes. It’s hard enough to get an NBA player from the draft pool, much less a top 3-5 guy on your team.

I agree with you. I was looking at his high school games and his games before his injury. There are similarities. Crawford has godly handle and Smith doesn't but they're build is similar, they're shifty, scorers, open up the court, etc. But one thing I noticed was how much better a 3pt shooter he was before getting hurt. He should be able to get his shot back from 3 and he lives in the mid-game, sort of like Crawford. IF he's hitting his 3 players have to respect that and it will open up his mid-game. He become hard to stop and easy for him to create plus he's a better defender than Crawford. Not saying we should draft him but he was supposed to be a leader of a stacked Arkansas squad for a reason. He's definitely an Alpha type. Black is more of a Beta.

[BoyzNTheHood]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

Yes. It’s hard enough to get an NBA player from the draft pool, much less a top 3-5 guy on your team.

I agree with you. I was looking at his high school games and his games before his injury. There are similarities. Crawford has godly handle and Smith doesn't but they're build is similar, they're shifty, scorers, open up the court, etc. But one thing I noticed was how much better a 3pt shooter he was before getting hurt. He should be able to get his shot back from 3 and he lives in the mid-game, sort of like Crawford. IF he's hitting his 3 players have to respect that and it will open up his mid-game. He become hard to stop and easy for him to create plus he's a better defender than Crawford. Not saying we should draft him but he was supposed to be a leader of a stacked Arkansas squad for a reason. He's definitely an Alpha type. Black is more of a Beta.

Exactly. To be fair, I don’t like NSJ, but this is a hypothetical. You win games with quality 6th men. The Warriors did it with Poole, the Kings are doing it with Monk this year. Teams did it with Lou Williams, Monta Ellis, etc. In the worst case scenario, if you draft the next Jamal Crawford you have a valuable trade piece. There are people that would deny that to shoot for a guy with potential. Make it make sense.

[grant101]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

If you're confident he can reach prime Jamal Crawford (with better defense), then absolutely! I'm just not sure he can provide similar levels of rim pressure. I can't figure out if it's a question of ability to do so, or an over reliance on that floater

[Psubs]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

No because I can't recall a team with him making it to a conference finals.

Should be looking for players more like Desmond Bane. Bane is more important to Memphis than Ja Morant. It's like Dejounte Murray is more important to Atlanta and can trade Trae Young.

Glad to see Bane and Tillman doing well. Jaylin Williams shooting 3's is nice too.

[WuTang_CMB]

Need workouts to get going. May16 for lotto.

[Ell Curry]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

No because I can't recall a team with him making it to a conference finals.

Should be looking for players more like Desmond Bane. Bane is more important to Memphis than Ja Morant. It's like Dejounte Murray is more important to Atlanta and can trade Trae Young.

Maybe Whitehead? Same height, he's not a stick thin guy, similar freshman stats. He struggled inside the 3pt line, but he was coming off a serious injury and he was the #2 recruit on 247. Might be a solid 3 and D guy in time?

[Psubs]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

No because I can't recall a team with him making it to a conference finals.

Should be looking for players more like Desmond Bane. Bane is more important to Memphis than Ja Morant. It's like Dejounte Murray is more important to Atlanta and can trade Trae Young.

Maybe Whitehead? Same height, he's not a stick thin guy, similar freshman stats. He struggled inside the 3pt line, but he was coming off a serious injury and he was the #2 recruit on 247. Might be a solid 3 and D guy in time?

As long as the medical staff feels he's able to recover 100% like OG. Don't want on-going injury concerns.

[PhilBlackson]

Go safe with Cason Wallace, or swing for the homerun with Coulibaly. I also like Cissoko, but not as much as these two. If it's none of these 3, then it's whatever.

Don't get wrong, I will NOT be very upset or anything if we were to draft Wallace but "go safe" to me is the exact reason why I wouldn't if it were my choice because imo playing it safe is exactly why this franchise is stuck in the middle of nowhere...

Let's say Cason does hit his potential & becomes another Marcus Smart type of player, does that level of player really do much to move the needle that much long term?!

If we replaced Gary with Smart, sure the team would probably be a BIT better. But they'd probably top out as a 2nd rd team which isn't that much higher than present, so why jump on the treadmill when you already know where it's going (nowhere)?! I don't see the point as much as I think he's going to be one of the best defenders in the league for his position. But for me I say use a LOTTERY pick as the name implies to take a bit of a gamble on higher returns. I'd draft all of George, Cissiko & Bilal (although I'm not as confident as a lot of ppl are because he does seem INCREDIBLY raw when you consider he's 6'6, not 6'9+) before him. Although don't mind JHS, his upside looks too limited for my liking too and is one player I could see us taking that I'd probably be bit disappointed if we drafted. If they take Dick, I'll stop watching the team either until they land a massive fluke trade for a superstar to make up for it or management is fired lol.

But this franchise has to find a way to infuse more TALENT into it somehow & this is a major opportunity, I would not play safe.

[Thaddy]

Go safe with Cason Wallace, or swing for the homerun with Coulibaly. I also like Cissoko, but not as much as these two. If it's none of these 3, then it's whatever.

Don't get wrong, I will NOT be very upset or anything if we were to draft Wallace but "go safe" to me is the exact reason why I wouldn't if it were my choice because imo playing it safe is exactly why this franchise is stuck in the middle of nowhere...

Let's say Cason does hit his potential & becomes another Marcus Smart type of player, does that level of player really do much to move the needle that much long term?!

If we replaced Gary with Smart, sure the team would probably be a BIT better. But they'd probably top out as a 2nd rd team which isn't that much higher than present, so why jump on the treadmill when you already know where it's going (nowhere)?! I don't see the point as much as I think he's going to be one of the best defenders in the league for his position. But for me I say use a LOTTERY pick as the name implies to take a bit of a gamble on higher returns. I'd draft all of George, Cissiko & Bilal (although I'm not as confident as a lot of ppl are because he does seem INCREDIBLY raw when you consider he's 6'6, not 6'9+) before him. Although don't mind JHS, his upside looks too limited for my liking too and is one player I could see us taking that I'd probably be bit disappointed if we drafted. If they take Dick, I'll stop watching the team either until they land a massive fluke trade for a superstar to make up for it or management is fired lol.

But this franchise has to find a way to infuse more TALENT into it somehow & this is a major opportunity, I would not play safe.

Wallace is the safest choice for us to make. He has an obvious position in our line up and looks more than capable of fulfilling it right away.

[Tortiglioni]

Bruno Coulibaly it is.

[Kevin Willis]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

If you're confident he can reach prime Jamal Crawford (with better defense), then absolutely! I'm just not sure he can provide similar levels of rim pressure. I can't figure out if it's a question of ability to do so, or an over reliance on that floater

I don't think he can provide the same rim pressure but he could be better at the 3. He loves his floater too much right now.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

https://www.tankathon.com/players/compare?players=kobe-bufkin--jordan-poole

[Kevin Willis]

IF Nick Smith Jr. can become a similar type of player to a Jamal Crqwford - do you take him?

No because I can't recall a team with him making it to a conference finals.

Should be looking for players more like Desmond Bane. Bane is more important to Memphis than Ja Morant. It's like Dejounte Murray is more important to Atlanta and can trade Trae Young.

Maybe Whitehead? Same height, he's not a stick thin guy, similar freshman stats. He struggled inside the 3pt line, but he was coming off a serious injury and he was the #2 recruit on 247. Might be a solid 3 and D guy in time?

This year I'm having trouble 3 type of guys:

1. Guys who were impacted by injury (Smith Jr, Whitehead)
2. Guys who played in weaker leagues conferences (Thompson Twins)
3. Guys who played on stacked teams (Duke, Arkansas, Kansas, etc.)

It happens every year but this year it's harder to slot them. What do you do with Whitehead for example. Same with NSJr. Even Gradey and Hawkins, I think Gradey on Connecticut would be a beast. Hawkins on Kansas might have a hard time contributing but what if you swap Lively with the Connecticut center? Would he dominate like Dick would? I completely ignore the Thompson twins because their stats mean almost nothing. Plus internationals playing in weaker leagues - it's an interesting draft year.

[Mark_83]

Hypothetical:

Orlando wants to bring Florida boy Scottie Barnes home. They're offering picks 6 and 11 this year. Do you take it?

[Yallbecrazy]

Hypothetical:

Orlando wants to bring Florida boy Scottie Barnes home. They're offering picks 6 and 11 this year. Do you take it?

Lol no.

There's a way less than 50% any one individual player outside the top 1 end up as good as Scottie.

[BoyzNTheHood]

Hypothetical:

Orlando wants to bring Florida boy Scottie Barnes home. They're offering picks 6 and 11 this year. Do you take it?

The only reason this is even a question being asked is because the presence of the Spiciest choker is stunting Barnes development. Otherwise guys like Wagner and Mobley aren’t in the same stratosphere as Scottie. Trade Siakam before his value drops any further and build around Scottie.

[Brinbe]

Watch on YouTube

has us taking JHS and Bufkin going 18th... i would hate that, ngl.

let's hope kobe is even on the organisation's radar.