2023 NBA Draft Thread

JMAC3 · Post #1221 » by **JMAC3** » Wed May 17, 2023 4:45 pm

At least Wemby ended up in the West.

Post #1222 » by **fatlever** » Wed May 17, 2023 5:07 pm

Some dude on Twitter claiming to be in Alabama Insider says he has knowledge that we are drafting Miller lol. Source seems about his reliable as my mom, but whatever.

I do agree that Miller screams a Mitch and MJ type pick. Mitch loves those long types. He drafted a very similar player in Brandon Ingram when he was in la. We all know that MJ only watches a handful of college games each year. MJ probably watched Miller drop 40 on a team back in February and is convinced he's the next Paul George or something.

And Cliff seems desperate for shooting. Then again, Cliff was the only adult in the room screaming for Donovan Mitchell and Scoot does have a bit of Donovan feel to his game.

I'm still convinced that scoot is an almost perfect back court partner for lamelo. Scoot gets to be the point of attack Defender, both of them take turns initiating the offense. Melo has taken over 500 catch and shoot threes in the past 2 years at 41%. I love teams that have multiple players that can initiate the offense, I'm pick and roll, continuously beat their man off the triple and get into the paint to wreak havoc. Just got to surround these two with some better shooters.

What we don't know is how lamelo feels about us drafting a point guard. It is certainly possible that he has expressed his disdain for moving off ball for anyone. If that's the case, then it would certainly push the pick away from scoot towards Miller or one of the Thompson Twins.

Don't think for a second it Mitch isn't there thinking about how many second Rounders he can accumulate by moving back a couple of picks in the draft lol.

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SWedd523 · Post #1223 » by **SWedd523** » Wed May 17, 2023 5:46 pm

KEMBAtheMETEOR wrote:
LofJ wrote:
JMAC3 wrote:
Siakam has 1 year left on his deal, no way is he worth a top 5 pick.

Yep, going to be funny seeing this entire board trying to get us to trade LaMelo and/or the #2 pick all summer for a bunch of garbage because we're the Hornets.

the trade board is unreadable today

My two favourite ideas so far:

1. Lamelo & Hayward to Orlando for Isaac, 6th & 11 picks, two future picks (minimal protections?)

Magic could start Lamelo-Suggs-Franz-Paolo-WCJ and still have enough capspace and/or expirings (Hayward, Harris) to add a shooter.
Hornets rebuild around Scoot, Ausar/Whitmore and Williams, guess they also bring Bridges back, possibly Washington too.

2. Lamelo to Utah for Olynyk, 9th pick, Agbaji and a couple of tasty future picks

Ainge missed on this lottery, so he goes on the competetive route with Lamelo-Lauri-Kessler and lets other teams bring in the future bounty for the Jazz.

Yall are saying you don't like these offers?

Post #1224 » by **yosemiteben** » Wed May 17, 2023 5:58 pm

My early, uninformed opinion is I'm more worried about Miller than Scoot. Miller looks like a C&S and maybe transition pull up guy, but shaky handle + not great athleticism + not great defense has me worried that he's just a shooter specialist, and that's not dynamic enough of a skillset.

I get the concern about Scoot's shooting, but his skillset + his athleticism makes me think he has more to offer.

Very early verdict, not planning on sticking to those conclusions.

amcoolio · Post #1225 » by **amcoolio** » Wed May 17, 2023 6:13 pm

If you told me we were getting Brandon Ingram out of Miller, I still would take Scoot

There is something about Miller that gives me empty calories feel. How much different is he than PJ Washington now? Ability to playmake?

JMAC3 · Post #1226 » by **JMAC3** » Wed May 17, 2023 6:28 pm

Watch on YouTube

This is 100% a highlight video, so of course he will look awesome.
My challenge to you is watch the video and see how is he scoring.
Example: PnR, Iso, Dribble Handoff, Run off down screen/pindown.
Alabama ran a pro style system that put Miller in these situations a ton.

Personally, it is not hard to see him turn into the big scoring/facilitating wing that teams covet these days.

I agree Melo is great off the ball, but my counter would be Miller can play with the ball in his hands as well.

vexco · Post #1227 » by **vexco** » Wed May 17, 2023 6:36 pm

JMAC3 wrote:

Watch on YouTube

This is 100% a highlight video, so of course he will look awesome.
My challenge to you is watch the video and see how is he scoring.
Example: PnR, Iso, Dribble Handoff, Run off down screen/pindown.
Alabama ran a pro style system that put Miller in these situations a ton.

Personally, it is not hard to see him turn into the big scoring/facilitating wing that teams covet these days.

I agree Melo is great off the ball, but my counter would be Miller can play with the ball in his hands as well.

He's an intense kid, basically the opposite of Bouknight. He almost always looks engaged.

KingCat · Post #1228 » by **KingCat** » Wed May 17, 2023 6:41 pm

Honestly it is really hard to judge these wing players based on their college careers. Tatum and Wagner didn't look particularly better than Culver or Josh Jackson during their college runs but have clearly had opposite trajectories as pros.

The reason I'm trying not to be too down on Miller is that I am admittedly horrid at judging these kind of players. I would have bet money that Franz would be a scrub.

SWedd523 · Post #1229 » by **SWedd523** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:09 pm

All I know is that whichever we take, he will be bad and the other will be a perennial all star.

This is the (Lolnets) Way

Post #1230 » by **JDR720** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:37 pm

The Mitch tweet earlier makes me think they'll take Miller or another SF.

We're about to pass on Scoot because we have Terry Rozier on the team.

Post #1231 » by **yosemiteben** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:39 pm

I guess drafting Melo did nothing to help with the doom and gloomers.

Post #1232 » by **fatlever** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:44 pm

SWedd523 wrote:All I know is that whichever we take, he will be bad and the other will be a perennial all star.

This is the (Lolnets) Way

This is the truest statement spoken in the last 24 hours. Don't get caught up on who we take, it will be the wrong one. In hindsight it will be obvious to everyone. And everyone will say oh my God I can't believe the Hornets passed on blank in order to draft blank.

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Post #1233 » by **fatlever** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:45 pm

yosemiteben wrote:I guess drafting Melo did nothing to help with the doom and gloomers.

We all know if Mitch was picking 2nd he would have picked Wiseman. You know it in your heart.

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cornchip · Post #1234 » by **cornchip** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:46 pm

I kind of have the opposite reaction. I think at #2, it looks like we'll get another really good player whether it's Miller or Scoot.

Right now, I'd lean Scoot fit concerns aside.

SWedd523 · Post #1235 » by **SWedd523** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:47 pm

or because they've seen that the Melo Terry pairing doesn't work and don't want to continue down that path with a guy who is a worse shooter

Post #1236 » by **fatlever** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:48 pm

I've seen a lot of people projecting Miller as a starting shooting guard in our lineup. Is that actually feasible given his skills? I worry that dude won't be able to beat any quality Defenders off the dribble.

If he is projected to be a small forward then it really doesn't make sense to resign both miles and pj. You can't draft Miller to bring him off the bench. You can't resign miles or PJ to huge deals to bring them off the bench.

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Post #1237 » by **fatlever** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:51 pm

SWedd523 wrote:or because they've seen that the Melo Terry pairing doesn't work and don't want to continue down that path with a guy who is a worse shooter

That pairing doesn't work cuz neither player can stay in front of their guy. I mean Terry could but he seems to give less s**** about defense than lamelo does these days. I guess if you are drafting scoot to pair with Melo, the hope is that he's much closer to dsj or Cody in terms of his defensive intensity.

Also, Terry is a massive ball stopper who uses all kinds of crafty slow motion moves to get into the paint. He's not particularly good at setting up teammates. With scoot you have someone who should be able to get to the rim at will playing with a lot of speed and generally will make much better decisions with the ball. What you give up is obviously the outside shooting. But there's nothing in his form that looks like that can't be improved over time.

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Goodecharlotte · Post #1238 » by **Goodecharlotte** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:52 pm

It's Scoot for me, I think he would be a really good back court partner with Melo and could improve defensively. I'm pretty sure he could improve his 3pt shot Melo's outside shot wasn't very good either but year on year he has got better.

One thing we may have to deal with as well is when Melo's contract is up, if he wants to move on because say he's sick of losing then we could possibly have his replacement in Scoot.

If we did draft Scoot who would people pick with our late first rounder? I wouldn't mind Ricky Council with one of our 2nd's.

So come on Mitch don't screw this one up and trade down for a late 1st and multiple 2nd's.

amcoolio · Post #1239 » by **amcoolio** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:58 pm

fatlever wrote:I've seen a lot of people projecting Miller as a starting shooting guard in our lineup. Is that actually feasible given his skills? I worry that dude won't be able to beat any quality Defenders off the dribble.

If he is projected to be a small forward then it really doesn't make sense to resign both miles and pj. You can't draft Miller to bring him off the bench. You can't resign miles or PJ to huge deals to bring them off the bench.

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That is exactly what they do, because they think they are deep. The only chance our #2 pick starts is if they trade Rozier, but I'm not convinced they trade him because they really do think they are a playoff team that keeps getting bad luck. That is why it I find it so hard to care or get excited about this draft. I mean even if we won Victor, could you see this team bringing him off the bench to start his career? Because I could.

SWedd523 · Post #1240 » by **SWedd523** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:59 pm

fatlever wrote:I've seen a lot of people projecting Miller as a starting shooting guard in our lineup. Is that actually feasible given his skills? I worry that dude won't be able to beat any quality Defenders off the dribble.

If he is projected to be a small forward then it really doesn't make sense to resign both miles and pj. You can't draft Miller to bring him off the bench. You can't resign miles or PJ to huge deals to bring them off the bench.

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I view Miller as a PJ replacement/re-roll