Post#1018 » by doclinkin » Mon May 19, 2025 9:58 pm
Same way I thought last draft was a good draft for guards, this draft is deep in intriguing bigs. There are a lot of frontcourt players who stayed in the draft that I will be happy to land if we take them. If we catch a guy at 6 okay, though they seem to be deep lower down. I still like Malauch, but an inch or so less since his reach is not the 9'8" the rumors suggested. Still long, and less than a handful of players in the dbase have a wider wingspan, but I was boggled by the freak aspect where he had an inch of stretch over Wemby and Gobert. If Dawk and all like him, I'm fine with the selection. If not I know there will be a useful Big lower down who can play with and next to Sarr.
Picking at 6 is an interesting spot. I think there's a decent chance we trade up to 3 or 4 for Ace. His stock is so volatile, the teams that love him love him, but Morey is analytics obsessed and Ace has holes to his game. Philly may be in win-now mode so they may be looking to trade back for a player and lower pick. Naturally what they'd want most is to dump PG13 and I can imagine they'd love a Smart + KMidd deal if Khris picked up his one year option. They could clear their books in one year when they both expired. But we'd be carrying the casket of PG13s contract for a few years. I'd want a haul of picks, not just to jump a few spots this year. Still maybe someone trades into #3 after falling in love with the athleticism and work ethic of Edgecombe (maybe not a great fit with short guards Maxey and McCain). Which would kick Ace down to #4.
At #4 the Hornets have their guy already in the same spot & role. I would not be startled if the blue-bugs selected Maluach as a replacement for the hazardous waste that is apparently in Mark Williams medical chart. But why not take him at 6 if the Wiz were offering a fistful of 2nd rounders to hop up. If Edgecombe is there I bet they'd take him, as an on-ball defender who can pressure the opponents and free up Ball to not care at all on that end. His bounce will look good as a finisher for Melo's creative passing, and he won't need an advanced handle. A good fit. But if he has already been taken I don't doubt they'd pick up a phone call.
For obvious reasons you can see the Jazz taking Kon Knoeppel at #5. He has a complete game, smart off the ball, solid through and through if a step slow on defense. They have so many holes and needs though I don't expect they'd pass up a top talent like Ace. A nice consolation prize for slipping as far as they could. They are deep in picks but Ainge is notorious for hoarding picks in order to land talent then use the talent for big trades. If they could extort a bundle of 2nd rounders from the Wiz as a sweetener for letting us take the kid, Ainge would find a way to make it work.
I can see a few avenues where the Wiz are able to pull that top 3 level talent to the team best suited to help him develop. We can't get to #2 I don't think, there will be too many bidders, too high. But Harper would endanger the tank in ways that I don't think Ace would. I like the look of adding the kid here, where can grow into his game and eventually we phase out Poole for a 2-way wing that has the reach of a power forward and the upside of an all-star.
Then we pick an productive Big lower down, maybe use the #40 to move up and get a guy they really like. I call that a productive draft.
