CHA | NOP | POR

[tester551]

Throwing this one out there to see how bad everyone reacts to it...

CHA
#4 + #34 + Nurk + Smith => #7 + #11 + Simons
Hornets get Simons who would be a lot of fun next to Ball & Miller. They also get to move down a bit and pick up Malauach (at 7) and a second lotto talent.

NOP
#7 + #24 + Murphy => #4 + Nurk + Smith
Pels pay the price to move up and get their guy at 4 (Bailey?). For their trouble, they get a playable C while they work to find a more permanent solution.

POR
#11 + Simons => #24 + #34 + Murphy
Blazers get Murphy, who is big and can space the floor. Running Camara + Deni + Murphy + Clingan could be a lot of fun...

[b33nine]

Probably too good for Portland, but I'd jump on board for that deal.

[psman2]

I got Murphy worth close to pick 4 already alone. So I have NOP declining on this overpayment. Swap a top 10 protected future 1st or something like that instead of Murphy.

[Texas Chuck]

I can't imagine Murphy goes for pick 11 plus you get a rebate. That feels incredibly optimistic for the Blazers portion of this.

[Godaddycurse]

Wouldnt even trade murphy alone for 4 if i was NOP. He's a keeper.

If this was all he cost lots of team above portland in the lotto will outbid them

[GoBobs]

I would do it all day for Charlotte and I don't even need Simons, just give me 7 + 11 and I am in.

[Myth]

I would do it all day for Charlotte and I don't even need Simons, just give me 7 + 11 and I am in.

So are you suggesting Simons goes to Pelicans instead of Hornets players?

[Jon1798]

We wouldn’t trade Murphy alone for that

[Case2012]

We're talking about Trey Murphey right? You can get someone better at 11 than him on a rookie deal. I don't think he's that good anyways, basically a borderline starter. I think CMB, Coward, Bryant, Wolf, WCJ, Fears, Clifford and maybe Demin could be as good or better and you'd have control for 8 years minimum.

Keep him, Portland passes.

[cucad8]

We're talking about Trey Murphey right? You can get someone better at 11 than him on a rookie deal. I don't think he's that good anyways, basically a borderline starter. I think CMB, Coward, Bryant, Wolf, WCJ, Fears, Clifford and maybe Demin could be as good or better and you'd have control for 8 years minimum.

Keep him, Portland passes.

I think either you just don't know who Trey Murphy is or...I dunno actually. Only option. What a terrible take.

[Case2012]

We're talking about Trey Murphey right? You can get someone better at 11 than him on a rookie deal. I don't think he's that good anyways, basically a borderline starter. I think CMB, Coward, Bryant, Wolf, WCJ, Fears, Clifford and maybe Demin could be as good or better and you'd have control for 8 years minimum.

Keep him, Portland passes.

I think either you just don't know who Trey Murphy is or...I dunno actually. Only option. What a terrible take.

Ok, I was clearly wrong about him. I'm not sure of who i was thinking of, but yeah he's legit. I do think you could get a player as good at 11 though and control them on the cheap for 4 years.

[Mrakar]

Lol in this draft there is almost no difference between pick #4 and pick #7 since when you look at the boards players from 4-8 are shuffled all around depending on website/expert doing the draft boards(and since all bailey news came out he is also in that group now, so you can say 3 to 8). Pelicans have to give up Murphy and #24, and on top of that take bad contract in return? no chance, this is worth #2 pick...i wouldnt even consider this for #3, let alone 4.
If you said #7 and #24 for 4 i would maybe consider it, but i dont even see a point there since every gut that drops to #7 could have been taken at 4.

[yosemiteben]

For what they're getting, cut out POR and get Murphy to the Hornets.

[Myth]

Lol in this draft there is almost no difference between pick #4 and pick #7 since when you look at the boards players from 4-8 are shuffled all around depending on website/expert doing the draft boards(and since all bailey news came out he is also in that group now, so you can say 3 to 8). Pelicans have to give up Murphy and #24, and on top of that take bad contract in return? no chance, this is worth #2 pick...i wouldnt even consider this for #3, let alone 4.
If you said #7 and #24 for 4 i would maybe consider it, but i dont even see a point there since every gut that drops to #7 could have been taken at 4.

I disagree with this. Mocks may not be able to tell, but a team would definitely prefer their pick of the guys rather than hoping for who is left. There is a reason that after workouts teams picked who they picked. Yes they could be wrong, but there is certainly value in being #4 instead of #7. My mind is going to 2023 where people said similar things about picks 2 and 3, then picks 4-7. I’m pretty sure Hornets are happy they got to pick Miller over Scoot, and the Rockets got to pick Amen over his field.

[Jojothewhale]

We as fans do this every year where we assume all team’s tiers match consensus. Most of them don’t except at the very top. It’s more than fine if your personal board does because you watched them and decided that. But if we’re just parroting talking points, it’s a misunderstanding of how drafting works in major sports.

[HornetJail]

swap Murphy for Herb Jones and I actually think you have something here

but in that scenario I'm just taking 4 for 7 + Herb and leaving out Portland. then I'd expand it further to include CJ for our other expirings and something

[Mrakar]

Lol in this draft there is almost no difference between pick #4 and pick #7 since when you look at the boards players from 4-8 are shuffled all around depending on website/expert doing the draft boards(and since all bailey news came out he is also in that group now, so you can say 3 to 8). Pelicans have to give up Murphy and #24, and on top of that take bad contract in return? no chance, this is worth #2 pick...i wouldnt even consider this for #3, let alone 4.
If you said #7 and #24 for 4 i would maybe consider it, but i dont even see a point there since every gut that drops to #7 could have been taken at 4.

I disagree with this. Mocks may not be able to tell, but a team would definitely prefer their pick of the guys rather than hoping for who is left. There is a reason that after workouts teams picked who they picked. Yes they could be wrong, but there is certainly value in being #4 instead of #7. My mind is going to 2023 where people said similar things about picks 2 and 3, then picks 4-7. I’m pretty sure Hornets are happy they got to pick Miller over Scoot, and the Rockets got to pick Amen over his field.

Amen was #4 in 95% of the mock drafts before the draft. Usually when i listen to team specific podcasts, hosts(fans) are pretty sure who they want at certain pick. I listened to Pelicans podcast couple days ago they did mock draft and they had Bailey at 5 or 6 and Edgcombe at 8, and 3 guys in the podcast disagreed about pretty much every top 10 pick, and thats happening across the NBA media this year. Johnson, Bailey, Edgcombe, Fears, Knueppel, im fine with whoever of them drops to 7 over moving up, especially with such high price. I would actually rather trade down and get Demin and someone else with later pick.

[Myth]

Lol in this draft there is almost no difference between pick #4 and pick #7 since when you look at the boards players from 4-8 are shuffled all around depending on website/expert doing the draft boards(and since all bailey news came out he is also in that group now, so you can say 3 to 8). Pelicans have to give up Murphy and #24, and on top of that take bad contract in return? no chance, this is worth #2 pick...i wouldnt even consider this for #3, let alone 4.
If you said #7 and #24 for 4 i would maybe consider it, but i dont even see a point there since every gut that drops to #7 could have been taken at 4.

I disagree with this. Mocks may not be able to tell, but a team would definitely prefer their pick of the guys rather than hoping for who is left. There is a reason that after workouts teams picked who they picked. Yes they could be wrong, but there is certainly value in being #4 instead of #7. My mind is going to 2023 where people said similar things about picks 2 and 3, then picks 4-7. I’m pretty sure Hornets are happy they got to pick Miller over Scoot, and the Rockets got to pick Amen over his field.

Amen was #4 in 95% of the mock drafts before the draft. Usually when i listen to team specific podcasts, hosts(fans) are pretty sure who they want at certain pick. I listened to Pelicans podcast couple days ago they did mock draft and they had Bailey at 5 or 6 and Edgcombe at 8, and 3 guys in the podcast disagreed about pretty much every top 10 pick, and thats happening across the NBA media this year. Johnson, Bailey, Edgcombe, Fears, Knueppel, im fine with whoever of them drops to 7 over moving up, especially with such high price. I would actually rather trade down and get Demin and someone else with later pick.

So, you believe when 95% of mocks have Amen as #4, but when VJ is #3 or #4 in 95% of mocks, a single Pelicans podcast that veers significantly from the other mocks, suddenly the 95% of mocks don’t matter to you?

[Mrakar]

I disagree with this. Mocks may not be able to tell, but a team would definitely prefer their pick of the guys rather than hoping for who is left. There is a reason that after workouts teams picked who they picked. Yes they could be wrong, but there is certainly value in being #4 instead of #7. My mind is going to 2023 where people said similar things about picks 2 and 3, then picks 4-7. I’m pretty sure Hornets are happy they got to pick Miller over Scoot, and the Rockets got to pick Amen over his field.

Amen was #4 in 95% of the mock drafts before the draft. Usually when i listen to team specific podcasts, hosts(fans) are pretty sure who they want at certain pick. I listened to Pelicans podcast couple days ago they did mock draft and they had Bailey at 5 or 6 and Edgcombe at 8, and 3 guys in the podcast disagreed about pretty much every top 10 pick, and thats happening across the NBA media this year. Johnson, Bailey, Edgcombe, Fears, Knueppel, im fine with whoever of them drops to 7 over moving up, especially with such high price. I would actually rather trade down and get Demin and someone else with later pick.

So, you believe when 95% of mocks have Amen as #4, but when VJ is #3 or #4 in 95% of mocks, a single Pelicans podcast that veers significantly from the other mocks, suddenly the 95% of mocks don’t matter to you?

The Ringer:
3. Johnson 4. Bailey 5. Edgecombe 6. Queen 7. Knueppel 8. Fears
NBADraftnet
3. Edgecombe 4. Knueppel 5. Johnson 6. Fears 7. Bailey 8. Demin
Espn:
3. Bailey 4. Edgecombe 5. Fears 6. Johnson 7. Maluach 8. Knueppel
NBA.com
3. Edgecombe 4. Bailey 5. Johnson 6. Knueppel 7. Fears 8. Maluach
Tankathon
3. Edgecombe 4. Knueppel 5. Bailey 6.Johnson 7. Fears 8. Jakucionis
Yahoo:
3. Bailey 4. Knueppel 5. Edgecombe 6. Johnson 7. Maluach 8. Fears
Bleacher:
3. Edgecombe 4.Maluach 5. Fears 6. Bailey 7. Johnson 8. Essenque

and so on....
With all the Bailey news, Edgecombe is probably gone at 3 but only in these couple mock drafts u have
VJ from 3 to 5
Bailey from 3 to 7
Knueppel from 4 to not top 8
Johnson from 3 to 7
Fears from 5 to 8
Maluach from 4 to not top 8
.... why is someone moving up in this draft then? Especially with that high of a price. Moving down is move to go at 4 and i understand it for Hornets but i dont understand why would someone pay high price for that.

[Myth]

Amen was #4 in 95% of the mock drafts before the draft. Usually when i listen to team specific podcasts, hosts(fans) are pretty sure who they want at certain pick. I listened to Pelicans podcast couple days ago they did mock draft and they had Bailey at 5 or 6 and Edgcombe at 8, and 3 guys in the podcast disagreed about pretty much every top 10 pick, and thats happening across the NBA media this year. Johnson, Bailey, Edgcombe, Fears, Knueppel, im fine with whoever of them drops to 7 over moving up, especially with such high price. I would actually rather trade down and get Demin and someone else with later pick.

So, you believe when 95% of mocks have Amen as #4, but when VJ is #3 or #4 in 95% of mocks, a single Pelicans podcast that veers significantly from the other mocks, suddenly the 95% of mocks don’t matter to you?

The Ringer:
3. Johnson 4. Bailey 5. Edgecombe 6. Queen 7. Knueppel 8. Fears
NBADraftnet
3. Edgecombe 4. Knueppel 5. Johnson 6. Fears 7. Bailey 8. Demin
Espn:
3. Bailey 4. Edgecombe 5. Fears 6. Johnson 7. Maluach 8. Knueppel
NBA.com
3. Edgecombe 4. Bailey 5. Johnson 6. Knueppel 7. Fears 8. Maluach
Tankathon
3. Edgecombe 4. Knueppel 5. Bailey 6.Johnson 7. Fears 8. Jakucionis
Yahoo:
3. Bailey 4. Knueppel 5. Edgecombe 6. Johnson 7. Maluach 8. Fears
Bleacher:
3. Edgecombe 4.Maluach 5. Fears 6. Bailey 7. Johnson 8. Essenque

and so on....
With all the Bailey news, Edgecombe is probably gone at 3 but only in these couple mock drafts u have
VJ from 3 to 5
Bailey from 3 to 7
Knueppel from 4 to not top 8
Johnson from 3 to 7
Fears from 5 to 8
Maluach from 4 to not top 8
.... why is someone moving up in this draft then? Especially with that high of a price. Moving down is move to go at 4 and i understand it for Hornets but i dont understand why would someone pay high price for that.

And via NBA.com’s mock survey (all the remainders that you didn’t list):
The Athletic has VJ at 3
Netscouts at 3
CBS (Gary Parish) VJ at 4
CBS (Kyle Boone) VJ at 4
SB Nation VJ at 4
USA Today/FTW VJ at 4

VJ has nearly the same consensus as Amen did. It makes me really curious what Pelicans podcast had him at 8. Was this a trusted podcast with sources or one of those fan made podcasts?

Tankathon is probably my favorite Mock site. Their Big Board has tiers. They list Tier 1 as Flagg. Tier 2 as Harper, Edgecomb, Bailey. Then “The rest.” I personally would put Harper tier 2 and then Edgecomb and Bailey in tier 3, then the rest. Yes, it is possible one slips (Bailey seems more likely to at this point), but there is certainly some good reasons to hold the 4th pick in a decent category above pick 7.