MartyConlonJr wrote:I don't know about all this. Firstly I think by the time they drafted Bam, they already knew Whiteside wasn't it. Bosh had gone down with blood clots and Bam was their BPA. Not sure they saw him as a C or a PF either.
Sure which brings in the question of the money they gave him.
MartyConlonJr wrote:I do not recall Miami wanting to move Dragic instead of Whiteside in trade. I know by the time that trade happened we were all happy to see Whiteside gone.
At the beginning of the night it was reported that the Mavericks were acquiring Goran Dragic as part of a three-team trade with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Miami Heat. A league source then told SportsDay's Brad Townsend that Dallas changed its mind about acquiring Dragic, a mentor of fellow Slovenian Luka Doncic, because it wanted to keep its options open for further moves this summer.
https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2019/07/01/mavericks-pull-out-of-three-team-trade-dallas-no-longer-acquiring-goran-dragic/MartyConlonJr wrote:I thought Precious was drafted with the idea he was a stretch 5 that would play with Bam, yes that never panned out, but Precious was a project pick too.
The issue was Maxey, Bane and Quickly were on the board still. I remember this board favored Maxey as the pick.
MartyConlonJr wrote:You are forgetting that the draft before that Miami went for a shooting guard in Herro, and then traded Bol Bol (a center) for KZ Okpala. If they were searching for a C, they'd have kept Bol Bol.
Oh, I remember that, I'm just mentioning all the assets that have went towards the center position which was locked down after the 2020 run with Bam at center.
MartyConlonJr wrote:Then they drafted Nikola Jovic, but I don't think he was ever touted as a Center, more a tall wing. At 27th pick I think it was just BPA and a player with potential being that young that they could mold in G-League. I think they played him at C in G-League just to diversify. I don't think they were grooming him to be Miami's Center.
Sure but most thought he was still growing and with that growth they tried to turn him into a center vs a big SF or PF, Butler was on the side of not turning him into a Center which he saw done to a similar talent in Chicago named Niko Mirotic, they had him gain weight and took away his advantages as a PF with size by making him slower.
MartyConlonJr wrote:Then they drafted Jaime Jaquez Jr as a SF.
Kel'el Ware is true, and I think they've realised Bam should ideally be a PF with his versatility.
They realized he was a PF after making all-nba teams as a center and being given 2 max contracts as a center? If Bam gets moved to PF his value will drop, the offense will go more of a drop offense taking away some of his and the team's uniqueness to be able to switch on everything if they want to (which they have decided to move away from).
MartyConlonJr wrote:In summary I think Precious and Ware are two attempts to find a stretch big to pair with Bam to use his versatility. They've otherwise focused on wings in the draft with Herro, Jaime and Nikola. Whiteside era was over before Bam IMO, but maybe that is revisionist history. I am more baffled at their lack of focus over the years at getting a PG, which we seem to have never have locked down as a position.
So... 3 wings which makes sense with an aging Jimmy Butler, 2 centers with Bam not even in his prime and now just hitting his prime seems nuts. What is missing out of these 3 picks? A young talented PG? Maybe a real PF vs an older vet like Crowder, Harkless, Tucker (who was the last cheap PF standing in free agency), Strus/Martin and now Jovic who is getting pulled after the 1st half?
I just see a focus on the center position way more than any other position WHILE they have an all-nba talent already there. I really don't get the push for him being PF other than the roster is being pushed towards less care about the defense with the hope of more offense.