Draft Day 1, The Good, the Bad, and the Huh?

[louc1970]

First round complete. Who did the best so far?

[jayjaysee]

Atlanta by a big margin to me.

Lucking into Flagg and Harper is great, but SAS got Carter which feels really nice.

I like what Washington did but feels minor.

[gswhoops]

The Good

Atlanta - LOVE how they've played the draft so far. Filled their biggest need with the Porzingis trade, and picked up a pick with huge upside to move down from 13 to 23 and grab Newell, who they might have taken at 13 anyway. I don't love Newell as a prospect but he's got tools to gamble on and he's a local kid who should be well situated to contribute a little soon while developing the rest of his game.

Washington - lot of sadness on draft night when they ended up with the #6 pick in a five-man draft. But when Charlotte took Kon at #4, they had Tre Johnson fall into their laps and didn't overthink it. Got good value for trading down a few spots and still (I assume) got the guy they wanted in Will Riley, who gives them another high-upside wing option.

Miami - Getting Jakucionis at 20 is a coup. Probably my #1 pick so far for a guy who's likely to outplay his draft position, and soon. He also fits nicely with Herro in the backcourt as a big PG.

The Bad

New Orleans - Fears is a pretty boom or bust prospect, but I can see the logic there. The trade up and selection of Queen though...I can't rationalize that. Giving up a "best of" unprotected pick between two teams that might be lottery-bound is a huge price and it's hard to think of a PF/C pairing that makes less sense than Zion and Queen. The net effect is that they've staked their future on three guys who need the ball in their hands, want to attack the basket, present spacing issues on offense, and are subpar defenders. I don't see how this works unless they're planning on moving on from Zion soon, but in that case giving up an unprotected 1st next year is even more egregious.

The Huh?

Portland - the value to move down from 11 to 16 was good, but Yang was probably the single most "WTF?!?" pick of the first round. I don't see how he and Clingan can operate together, and I find it hard to believe that they didn't have 16 players more highly rated on their board than Yang.

Phoenix - Maluach at 10 is great, but then turning around and trading 2 (admittedly not great) firsts for Mark Williams to stand in his way? This feels like spending significant resources they don't have on a luxury while stunting Maluach's development.

Sacramento - In a vacuum, they got good value both with the trade (a low-upside future 1st for #24) and the pick (Clifford, who I wouldn't have batted an eye if he went top-20). But they appear to be emulating the Phoenix model of building a roster comprised entirely of shooting guards and centers, which seems misguided. Have to give this move an "incomplete" until we see what the rest of the offseason has in store.

[165bows]

Atlanta by a big margin to me.

Lucking into Flagg and Harper is great, but SAS got Carter which feels really nice.

I like what Washington did but feels minor.

Agree with all of that. Also like how Memphis better or worse makes their moves to get where they want.

[Mamba4Goat]

I would like to nominate Brooklyn for the bad or wtf column. Reaching for 4 out of 5 picks, getting a similar skill set with all of them, and keeping every pick was an odd choice.

[Texas Chuck]

..

Heads up I merged these threads. Both seem to be roughly the same idea. Going to edit the title to yours as I think its more complete.

[eminence]

Would probably put Utah into the good camp.

Don't think there were any homerun moves, but picked up the falling high potential guy with Ace and then moved up a bit at a reasonable price to secure a guy they liked in the mid 1st with Clayton.

Jazzfans already going nuts with Bailey though - saw a McGrady with defensive upside comp :-/

Why do we set ourselves up to be hurt so?

[165bows]

Idk if I love the idea of giving up more future firsts (don’t even know where they got those) but I don’t think two young centers get in each other’s way at this point.

4800 minutes of C in a season and there aren’t many C these days that play more than 2-2500 minutes, only the top guys really. Def not an injury prone guy and an inexperienced rookie.

[daoneandonly]

Agree a fair amount with GSW

Atlanta won here, well managed and such sensible deals that help now and in the future. Their fans should be happy

Washington - not a fan of the city, but they did good yesterday. Tre was the BPA, and IMO the 3rd best prospect in the draft.

San Antonio - once again with their hands out get 2 solid players

WTH: Portland and Brooklyn, like what in the world? The draft picks are just puzzling.

SLight disappointment - Dallas for not trading AD and going full force with planting the Flag timeline

[gswhoops]

Would probably put Utah into the good camp.

Don't think there were any homerun moves, but picked up the falling high potential guy with Ace and then moved up a bit at a reasonable price to secure a guy they liked in the mid 1st with Clayton.

Jazzfans already going nuts with Bailey though - saw a McGrady with defensive upside comp :-/

Why do we set ourselves up to be hurt so?

Ace at 5 was a good "don't overthink it" move. I'm not a Clayton guy but also not going to quibble about giving up a couple 2nd round picks to get a guy you want.

[eminence]

Idk if I love the idea of giving up more future firsts (don’t even know where they got those) but I don’t think two young centers get in each other’s way at this point.

4800 minutes of C in a season and there aren’t many C these days that play more than 2-2500 minutes, only the top guys really. Def not an injury prone guy and an inexperienced rookie.

So ya know, only 3936 C minutes in a regular season.

[gswhoops]

Agree a fair amount with GSW

Atlanta won here, well managed and such sensible deals that help now and in the future. Their fans should be happy

Washington - not a fan of the city, but they did good yesterday. Tre was the BPA, and IMO the 3rd best prospect in the draft.

San Antonio - once again with their hands out get 2 solid players

WTH: Portland and Brooklyn, like what in the world? The draft picks are just puzzling.

SLight disappointment - Dallas for not trading AD and going full force with planting the Flag timeline

Washington and SA both did great in letting the board fall to them and making smart choices.

[daoneandonly]

Agree a fair amount with GSW

Atlanta won here, well managed and such sensible deals that help now and in the future. Their fans should be happy

Washington - not a fan of the city, but they did good yesterday. Tre was the BPA, and IMO the 3rd best prospect in the draft.

San Antonio - once again with their hands out get 2 solid players

WTH: Portland and Brooklyn, like what in the world? The draft picks are just puzzling.

SLight disappointment - Dallas for not trading AD and going full force with planting the Flag timeline

Washington and SA both did great in letting the board fall to them and making smart choices.

Agreed. I just hate how SA was gifted the #2 afetr being handed Wemby 2 years prior. Yes, I understand the look of a Mavs fan complaining about this after getting Flagg, but we lost Luka, they didn't lose a thing. Even the Fox trade they gave up nada.

[gswhoops]

I would like to nominate Brooklyn for the bad or wtf column. Reaching for 4 out of 5 picks, getting a similar skill set with all of them, and keeping every pick was an odd choice.

Other than Demin (who wasn't going to be there at 19), I don't think any of their picks were reaches, really. I actually quite like the value they got with their picks, particularly Traore at 19 and Wolf at 27.

[165bows]

Idk if I love the idea of giving up more future firsts (don’t even know where they got those) but I don’t think two young centers get in each other’s way at this point.

4800 minutes of C in a season and there aren’t many C these days that play more than 2-2500 minutes, only the top guys really. Def not an injury prone guy and an inexperienced rookie.

So ya know, only 3936 C minutes in a regular season.

Cool doesn’t change the point tho

[giberish]

I generally agree with the consensus on these (the NO trade-up was a fire able offense)

I actually kind of like what Phoenix did though. At #10 they went for long-term upside with Maulach. They also understood that he's a young, somewhat projecty player who is marginal for even backup minutes as a rookie (on non-rebuilding team). Even for his 2nd or 3rd year he'd have to significantly overachieve to be ready for more than backup minutes. So they went out to get a starting center (Richards is marginal backup quality, useful as insurance this year) that fits with their payroll budget (not easy). They gave up a package with the value of around a #21-24 pick to get Williams, which certainly feels reasonable.

I hate their plan to run Green as a starting PG but adding two centers yesterday made sense.

[oldncreaky]

I'm kinda "meh" about TOR picking CMB because he just seems to be a pale version of Scottie and Mogbo, but I'm really glad they didn't grab Maluach -- I have concerns about his hands, and that's a problem that almost never gets better

I really like Tre Johnson to Washington. According to scouting reports, his only major shortcoming is strength -- and that is one thing that most young players reliably improve on in their first couple of years in the league.

And Dumars . . . I'm just speechless. I'm just so glad he's no longer running DET

[SkyHook]

Would probably put Utah into the good camp.

Don't think there were any homerun moves, but picked up the falling high potential guy with Ace and then moved up a bit at a reasonable price to secure a guy they liked in the mid 1st with Clayton.

Jazzfans already going nuts with Bailey though - saw a McGrady with defensive upside comp :-/

Why do we set ourselves up to be hurt so?

I will happily eat crow if I'm wrong, but in my eyes the Jazz just drafted Josh Jackson and Jimmer Fredette.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I'm not a fan of this draft for Utah at all.

Read on Twitter

No one had a worse day than New Orleans. Outside of Dallas drafting Flagg, no one had a better day than Atlanta. Miami got the steal of the draft.

[Magic_Johnny12]

Would probably put Utah into the good camp.

Don't think there were any homerun moves, but picked up the falling high potential guy with Ace and then moved up a bit at a reasonable price to secure a guy they liked in the mid 1st with Clayton.

Jazzfans already going nuts with Bailey though - saw a McGrady with defensive upside comp :-/

Why do we set ourselves up to be hurt so?

I will happily eat crow if I'm wrong, but in my eyes the Jazz just drafted Josh Jackson and Jimmer Fredette.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I'm not a fan of this draft for Utah at all.

Read on Twitter

No one had a worse day than New Orleans. Outside of Dallas drafting Flagg, no one had a better day than Atlanta. Miami got the steal of the draft.

Ehh. Because one drops considerably doesn’t automatically make them a “steal”. There is legitimate reason(s) why he dropped.

Similar to Whitmore.

[gswhoops]

I generally agree with the consensus on these (the NO trade-up was a fire able offense)

I actually kind of like what Phoenix did though. At #10 they went for long-term upside with Maulach. They also understood that he's a young, somewhat projecty player who is marginal for even backup minutes as a rookie (on non-rebuilding team). Even for his 2nd or 3rd year he'd have to significantly overachieve to be ready for more than backup minutes. So they went out to get a starting center (Richards is marginal backup quality, useful as insurance this year) that fits with their payroll budget (not easy). They gave up a package with the value of around a #21-24 pick to get Williams, which certainly feels reasonable.

I hate their plan to run Green as a starting PG but adding two centers yesterday made sense.

Re: Phoenix, if you squint the plan kinda makes sense if you're still trying to push for the playoffs this year. But (like you say) there were plenty of guys on the board who would have been better "win now" picks than Maluach.

They seem to be stuck between "win now" and "build for the future" without really committing to either, which is a recipe for disaster.