Tank World Order V (Rise of the Phoenix)

[PhilBlackson]

oh 100%, always take BPA.

But say our FO says Flagg vs X player BPA evalution is nearly the same. Is there a player in that top 5 a better fit next to scottie?

In the hypothetical case you are describing then Flagg wouldn't actually be BPA in the eyes of the FO, if they are evaluated as equals.

If he is evaluated by the FO as BPA then they won't pick him over someone they see as clearly inferior just because he fits better with Scottie.

Okay...... let's try my question in a different way.

Say we pick 6 and someone falls to us. Who, from a FIT standpoint next Scottie would be the best person to fall.

I don't think either of Flagg or Bailey fall that far and if that's the case it's just a tough situation lol

Becaaaause most of the best talent remaining will be SGs when ofc that's now arguably a position of strength & makes it extremely tough to justify taking 3 of them in a row lol. If we're talking purely FIT, I'd say VJ or Tre Johnson because they're natural bucket getters and I still think that this team doesn't have true pure bucket on the team although several good scorers (BBQ ofc).

BUT who's the most talented is probably between Harper, Saraf & Traore but all of those guys are gonna take the ball out of both Scottie & IQ's hands more.

The wild card is Malauch. He just needs to show his shooting touch is decent & that he continues to be a good rim protetcor at the college level. For as much as we all love Chomche, he's alot further away than Khaman is. Malauch has also shown more flashes of on ball creation & skill overall. He''s thought to be the best African prospect since Embiid and to be clear I DON'T think even his best flashes are as good as the ones Embiid showed at Kansas BUT there still has been flashes to potentially be a great C. As long as his jumper is enough for teams not to completely sag off of him a la Poeltl lol, I think his potential would be an excellent fit but ofc we're all waiting to see what he looks like against North American competition.

Personally if Coop & Ace are off the table, I'd be most tempted to draft one of VJ (I'm almost certain he'll be some level of star guard), Saraf or Harper (love the bball IQ of both guys and they have a bit more height/length than Nolan) or Malauch (ultimate upside that is arguably as high as anyone's in the draft & as a team renowned for development, we give him the best chance to reach those lofty hopes). Crazy thing is that's literally 6-7 guys from this draft that I could really see completely altering our entire trajectory and why it's so damn crucial that we just throw away this one damn season and be set moving forward.

[Vampirate]

We have a comparable collection of talent to POR, CHA has better, the Jazz are just weird, OKC utterly destroys us, and the Nets just burned everything down, so I'd hope so, but they kill us in picks. Not something I'd hang my hat on too much personally.

OKC doesn't stand out more on the graph just due to SRPs man, they have more FRPs/swaps in 2025 than we have in 25/26/27/28 combined. Thats 4 FRPs + 1 swap in 2025, 3 in 2026, 2 + 1 swap in 2027, and 2 in 2028. The SRPs just push them to the right on the chart, if anything it diminishes how much capital they actually have.

Okay, I just don't think there's anything weird about our position. We recently rebuilt, didn't have a massive haul to jump start it and we are 6th in 1st round picks with a good collection of young talent.

That's because you are looking at it from a perspective like I am complaining about the team. I am saying that the gap on that chart between us and ATL should be BIGGER.

My point was that we aren't in any special situation with a ton of picks, and ATL has a substantially worse war chest than us, yet they look like they are barely behind us.

Let's say we "capture the Flagg". Is he projected as a 3 in this league? If his shooting his legit he could be a really nice fit next to SB.

Could be a 2/3/4 tbh. With a player like that, you don't care, you make it work.

Honestly, keeping Trae both keeps them barely behind us, yet also probably limits their ceiling. Trae as good as he is, is just too flawed as the main piece, though it's not like the Hawks management did him a good service. It's possible Jalen Johnson really turns into something but that's a what if, and we have a bunch of those too lol.

The bottom of the East is bleak, and the Hornets have their own headaches (mainly off court stuff)

[Scase]

Okay, I just don't think there's anything weird about our position. We recently rebuilt, didn't have a massive haul to jump start it and we are 6th in 1st round picks with a good collection of young talent.

That's because you are looking at it from a perspective like I am complaining about the team. I am saying that the gap on that chart between us and ATL should be BIGGER.

My point was that we aren't in any special situation with a ton of picks, and ATL has a substantially worse war chest than us, yet they look like they are barely behind us.

Let's say we "capture the Flagg". Is he projected as a 3 in this league? If his shooting his legit he could be a really nice fit next to SB.

Could be a 2/3/4 tbh. With a player like that, you don't care, you make it work.

Honestly, keeping Trae both keeps them barely behind us, yet also probably limits their ceiling. Trae as good as he is, is just too flawed as the main piece, though it's not like the Hawks management did him a good service. It's possible Jalen Johnson really turns into something but that's a what if, and we have a bunch of those too lol.

The bottom of the East is bleak, and the Hornets have their own headaches (mainly off court stuff)

Yeah Trae is very much a floor raiser, which is good for us tbh. If they trade him that doesn't bode well for our lotto chances. Hopefully they pull a Masai, and over evaluate. They can bottom out after we get a top 5 pick lol

[Ell Curry]

I think the only issue is, that this team is not bad enough to stink for a bottom 5 pick. And this team isn't good enough (barring some random Giannis type pick) to be legit with a pick in the 8-12 range.

Hopefully we can just eat **** this year and gun for a top pick, then a late lotto pick isn't bad for 26.[/quote]

Obviously you never root for an injury, but if it was just for this season, any of our 3 best players going down without it being a long-term injury is probably the outcome that raises our odds of building a contender the 2nd highest, with #1 being Scottie proper breaking out, putting it all together and becoming sort of a Westbrook type with slightly better shooting and significantly better defence (by which I mean a consistent triple-double threat, with crunch time probably more about hoping Quickley can be an imitation Lillard type).

The non-injury alternative is probably trading Poeltl and going back to a team without any type of starting center and losing that way. Not sure how we find a center after that, unless the Poeltl trade brings back a young prospect, currently injured starting center or most likely, some draft equity we can use to grab that center.

Hard to see the Wiz and Nets not finishing below us, but then I think we're in a race with the other lottery teams for a top 4 or 5 pick (someone has to lose games in the West and pivot to a tank, along with probably Portland, though they might improve a bit to our range if Scoot can go from terrible to bad and Avdija and improved center depth make them slightly frisky) and it's ping pong balls from there, or nail a pick slightly lower down (probably on a 2 guard it seems like all 2-guards after Flagg).

[Scase]

Obviously you never root for an injury, but if it was just for this season, any of our 3 best players going down without it being a long-term injury is probably the outcome that raises our odds of building a contender the 2nd highest, with #1 being Scottie proper breaking out, putting it all together and becoming sort of a Westbrook type with slightly better shooting and significantly better defence (by which I mean a consistent triple-double threat, with crunch time probably more about hoping Quickley can be an imitation Lillard type).

The non-injury alternative is probably trading Poeltl and going back to a team without any type of starting center and losing that way. Not sure how we find a center after that, unless the Poeltl trade brings back a young prospect, currently injured starting center or most likely, some draft equity we can use to grab that center.

Hard to see the Wiz and Nets not finishing below us, but then I think we're in a race with the other lottery teams for a top 4 or 5 pick (someone has to lose games in the West and pivot to a tank, along with probably Portland, though they might improve a bit to our range if Scoot can go from terrible to bad and Avdija and improved center depth make them slightly frisky) and it's ping pong balls from there, or nail a pick slightly lower down (probably on a 2 guard it seems like all 2-guards after Flagg).

The Wiz and Nets are out of reach, so realistically it's a fight for 3-5 worst. It becomes a bit harder now with Sharpe out 4-6 weeks, but maybe Avdija and Scoot taking a step could change that.

As for the rest, DET/CHA/SAS are very likely to improve on last year. MEM is absolutely not going to be a 20 win team, HOU is looking solid, UTA doesn't seem to be a 20 win team and hasn't been since they began tanking. The west will definitely have bad teams, but they won't be bad enough to be at the bottom of the standings. It's really going to be up to the east and I think we have a shot at it.

A longer term injury or Jak trade is an easy fall to the bottom IMO.

[Brinbe]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[PhilBlackson]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

My favourite (and I’m sure a lot of posters) after Coop or Bailey.

He’s the one SG I couldn’t pass on regardless of our past 2 drafts, he seems all but guaranteed to be a star.

[Chandan]

well, probably none of that "we are suprisingly good" this year unless IQ or RJ absolutely carries.

[Scase]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

My favourite (and I’m sure a lot of posters) after Coop or Bailey.

He’s the one SG I couldn’t pass on regardless of our past 2 drafts, he seems all but guaranteed to be a star.

Unless he falls to 6-8, it's best not to get your hopes up lol.

[NinjaBro]

I'm back in.

"We need to trade Siakam for AJ Griffin before it's too late!" - PhilBlackson

[TheRaptor!]

Who are the top draft pick guys compared to in the NBA?

[Chandan]

I'm back in.

"We need to trade Siakam for AJ Griffin before it's too late!" - PhilBlackson

Acess denied

[Spida888]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

My favourite (and I’m sure a lot of posters) after Coop or Bailey.

He’s the one SG I couldn’t pass on regardless of our past 2 drafts, he seems all but guaranteed to be a star.

Unless he falls to 6-8, it's best not to get your hopes up lol.

Yeah we likely won’t be a bottom 5 team but will have a chance to move up in the lottery. Gotta believe .

[Brinbe]

My favourite (and I’m sure a lot of posters) after Coop or Bailey.

He’s the one SG I couldn’t pass on regardless of our past 2 drafts, he seems all but guaranteed to be a star.

Unless he falls to 6-8, it's best not to get your hopes up lol.

Yeah we likely won’t be a bottom 5 team but will have a chance to move up in the lottery. Gotta believe .

we are def a bottom 5 team. Nets, Wiz, Pistons, Blazers and who else is worse?

[Chandan]

If we get a number 1 pick. Would bailey or cooper be immediately our most valuable player (even above scottie)?

[Scase]

Unless he falls to 6-8, it's best not to get your hopes up lol.

Yeah we likely won’t be a bottom 5 team but will have a chance to move up in the lottery. Gotta believe .

we are def a bottom 5 team. Nets, Wiz, Pistons, Blazers and who else is worse?

I dont think we are far by any stretch, but depending on injury luck/trades, we could see CHI/CHA be worse. But I wouldn't be surprised if we are bottom 5, our depth is nonexistent.

If we get a number 1 pick. Would bailey or cooper be immediately our most valuable player (even above scottie)?

Cooper yes, Bailey, debatable.

[Brinbe]

Yeah we likely won’t be a bottom 5 team but will have a chance to move up in the lottery. Gotta believe .

we are def a bottom 5 team. Nets, Wiz, Pistons, Blazers and who else is worse?

I dont think we are far by any stretch, but depending on injury luck/trades, we could see CHI/CHA be worse. But I wouldn't be surprised if we are bottom 5, our depth is nonexistent.

If we get a number 1 pick. Would bailey or cooper be immediately our most valuable player (even above scottie)?

Cooper yes, Bailey, debatable.

I really think the Hornets will surprise people. They'll be back to what they were before Bridges ruined a year and Melo got hurt. Miller is looking ready to take a leap. The Bulls could go either way but it's not a sure thing that they'll be bad. They have good yaoung players there.

[Scase]

we are def a bottom 5 team. Nets, Wiz, Pistons, Blazers and who else is worse?

I dont think we are far by any stretch, but depending on injury luck/trades, we could see CHI/CHA be worse. But I wouldn't be surprised if we are bottom 5, our depth is nonexistent.

If we get a number 1 pick. Would bailey or cooper be immediately our most valuable player (even above scottie)?

Cooper yes, Bailey, debatable.

I really think the Hornets will surprise people. They'll be back to what they were before Bridges ruined a year and Melo got hurt. Miller is looking ready to take a leap. The Bulls could go either way but it's not a sure thing that they'll be bad. They have good yaoung players there.

I think the Hornets are absolutely more talented than us, the injuries are the only thing keeping me from saying they will do better than us this year. The Bulls are weird, if Lavine and Lonzo are healthy, I can see them doing better, but if Lavine gets healthy and they trade him, then that's a bit of a weirder situation

[MessiahUjiri]

Unless he falls to 6-8, it's best not to get your hopes up lol.

Yeah we likely won’t be a bottom 5 team but will have a chance to move up in the lottery. Gotta believe .

we are def a bottom 5 team. Nets, Wiz, Pistons, Blazers and who else is worse?

I put our tank ceiling as #5.

The bottom tiers are as follows:

Nets and Wiz (bottom dwellers)
Blazers (pathetic) and Bulls (likely a big tank)
——Raptors———
Jazz (untradeable Lauri + youth improvement)
Hornets and Pistons


I’d be ok with the #5 pick, just hoping to stay with the top 5-6.

[PhilBlackson]

I would be happy af if we stayed top 5/6...that's good enough to end up with one of Coop, Ace, VJ, Harper, Malauch or Traore.

I'm 100% confident if we ended up with any of those guys that we would become contenders long term.

Obviously not every guy is gonna be a superstar but I'm confident if we develop them, they'd at least become an all-star caliber player which would obviously completely alter the trajectory of the franchise BUT I'm not nearly as optimisitc about being top 5 as some of you guys are.

WAS is THE worst team followed by POR and BKN BUUUUT I think all of us, CHA*, CHI, ATL and Utah are allroughly in the same tier (and I sure as hell DON'T wish any bad luck on Vic but obv that could quickly tune Spurs season too). But really the only team I think COUL be a slight notchabve the rest would be the Hornets IF Lamelo is healthy and that's a major IF.

Ya'll realize Lonzo isn't the only Ball brother that's missed MAJOR time the last 2 season right?? LaMelo played in only 34 and 22 games over the last 2 years and with Lonzo coming back after almost 3 YEARS, I don't think the Ball family's health deserves the benefit of the doubt, sorry.

The other 3 are just as middling as our team. CHI just lost arguably their best player in DeRozan AND best defender -- now Giddey & LaVine will defend the perimeter with Vuc getting caught in switches....that defence could end up being comically bad lol. ATL just lost Dejounte, Bogi isn't quite as good and now they've also lost Bogi's ADDITIONAL production off the bench by moving him to the starting lineup. There's already been rumblings about potentially trading Trae and that roster is still pretty mid. Would you consider Trae/JJ to be a wash with IQ/Scottie?! But who's better than RJ or Yak?! Personally I think our remaining roster is a slight notch ahead and IQ & RJ are aren't rookies, they want to compete to prove they can win now.

Utah has long been rumoured to be shopping all their vets (ie/ traded Olynk to us, let THT walk etc besides trading DM & Rudy for a bunch of picks) and it's known Ainge wants to accumulate talent over the next 2 drafts. So idk where this confidence is coming from that we finish bottom 5, it's a POSSIBILITY, I don't think it's likely that at least one, if not more of ATL, CHI, CHA or Utah finishes below us....and I'm leaving the Spurs alone because I'm giving Vic the benefit of the doubt but personally I don't think old player coach CP3 & just another guy HBarnes is changing life drastically in San Antonio. I expect some improvement but it's all just really about how special will Vic be next season AND will Pops allow him to unleash or keep him on a leash as he's traditionally done with all his stars?!

All I'm saying it's FAR from inevitability that we're in the top 5 and personally I'm betting we're at best top 7 unless we have any issues with health and/or trade Yak.