OAKLEY_2 wrote:ForeverTFC wrote:
He's probably the best draft guy in the media right now. He's not going to go against consensus a lot but he understands how teams evaluate prospects, what to look for, and he's really deep. Better than Givony, Woo and KOC imo in terms of his depth and breadth.
With that said, he's not going to really bring anything controversial or unique to the table - those that do end up getting hired by teams. Thorpe is probably the best at this if you're looking for it; he could easily be doing this in the league but chooses not to and instead runs his own player development business working with the guys going in the draft and in the league on skill development. He's not as deep on every guy in the draft but has a much better feel for player potential. Some examples:
- In '21, he had Mobley 1 and Scottie 2
- In '22, he had a lottery grade on Jalen Williams while most had him right outside the lottery and had him as the steal of the draft
- In '23, he was not as high on Scoot as others and said he could turn out to be Eric Bledsoe
On Scottie, Vecenie had him a tier too low. By his definition, Scottie should be a tier 2. Wemby is a tier 1 prospect for example. But to his defense, people were split on Scottie. I remember Russillo and KOC being surprised when we picked Scottie but they liked him a lot more than Veccenie did and I think KOC had him 5 on his big board. Russillo said on the live draft pod that Scottie is special but that he just can't shoot and that "there are many in the league who believe that he will never be able to shoot".
In Vecenie's latest mock 4.0 he has Raptors dealing Poetl, 19 and 31 for 9 and Luke Kennard. Then he has Raptors taking Salaun ahead of Cody Williams at 9. Now what makes things interesting is it reverse ratchets the so-called Poetl trade "mistake". Raptors in the end get their lotto pick this year and most certainly next year. They lose one spot in the draft on paper. The Paskal trade ends up netting after thought throw ins Kira Lewis, and Jason Nwora (who may well serves us as roster spot in another rebuild and crash season). The later Paskal first turned into Olynyk and Agbaji. and still one future first remains. So the Siakam trade sees the later 2024 produce two veteran players. The higher 19 goes in with Poetl to get the lotto #9 and shooter Luke Kennard. The conditional and ultimately conveyed number 31 Detroit pick came from the OG deal stirring the entire pot and making all these assets related to one another. Take a deep breath.
What is left of the Siakam trade. Olynyk, Agbaji from the late Pacer's first, I guess Kennard for 19, whatever Brown fetches and a future Pacers first. What is left of the OG trade, IQ and RJ as 31 will not fill a roster spot rather it merges with Poetl for number 9 and theorized Tijane Salaun.
In:
1. Kelly Olynyk, 2. Ochai Agbaji, 3. Luke Kennard, 4. Brown (or trade return), 5. IQ, 6. RJ, 7. Tijane Salaun (or Cody Williams if Salaun is picked before), 8. future Pacers first.
Out:
1. Siakam - A two-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection, he won an NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.
2. OG Anunoby - Won an NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019 and led the league in steals while being named to his first NBA All-Defensive Team in 2023.
3. Jakob Poetl - Won the Pete Newell Big Man Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award in college.
4. Otto Porter jr, - Besides being washed up with injuries he was NBA champion (2022), Consensus first-team All-American (2013),Big East Player of the Year (2013), First-team All-Big East (2013). After being traded to the Jazz announced his retirement from basketball.
Masai has to trade up.
