Trading Back in the Draft

[ardthomp]

I have heard/read/thought about the possibility of the Pacers trading their pick (possible 10th pick) for two later 1st round picks. There are a few possible teams to trade with: Memphis, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City.

With Memphis and Minny having three 1st rounders, they might be the best trade options, but OKC makes the most sense, because they will be looking to add a playmaker to their frontcourt, something they can grab at the 10th pick.

For this scenario, the Pacers trade their 10th pick to OKC for their 21/26 picks (order from Draft Express). OKC might be so inclined to throw in a 2nd rounder as well, because again, they value a playmaker and not more rotational players.

With the players available at the 21st pick, I think Eric Bledsoe does make sense here. He fills an immediate need and his potential is very high. This could be a bit of a stretch here since Bird isn't too high on guys that aren't upperclassmen in college. But, Bledsoe makes the most sense with this pick.

With the 26th pick, there are several options here. Guys like Devin Ebanks, Quincy Pondexter, and Darrington Hobson are all available at this point. Larry Bird has shown that he likes the 4-year college guys, so Pondexter would most likely get the nod.

The rotation could look like this before our second round picks:
PG: Price/Bledsoe/Ford
SG: Rush/Dunleavy/Jones
SF: Granger/Pondexter/Jones
PF: Murphy/Hansbrough/McRoberts
C: Hibbert/Foster/Jones

[Grang33r]

You only draft back into the draft if there is nobody that you are in "love" with. If the Pacers "love" Eric Bledsoe and think he will be a star, you pick him at #10, not wait til #21 for example and give other teams to make trades or someone else to take him. A "reach" in a draft is only a reach until the player proves himself as a star. I do want a second first round pick but i am not sure I want to forfeit that 10th pick, unless theres a handful of players they "like" but not "love". That being said, i still like Xavier Henry with the 10th pick. Getting another first round pick to that would be simply genius IMO.

[ardthomp]

Hadn't really given much thought to Henry at 10. What do you see in his game that you like? I didn't get to see him play much this year.

[Grang33r]

Hadn't really given much thought to Henry at 10. What do you see in his game that you like? I didn't get to see him play much this year.

It's not exactly what i see in his game, because whenever i watched Kansas this past season, i often didn't even see him do much. But i believe he was playing out of position and it was a learning experience. He's a very athletic player. And has a great jump shot, maybe the best jump shot in this draft. Great form. A lot of his weaknesses are stuff that haunted Paul Pierce's drop from the draft.... lack of speed and lack of explosiveness. His defense is above average and his giant wingspan (6-10). He shot very well from the field for a freshman.... 41% from three and like 44% from the field.

The speed is a concern for me though but with the 10th pick, i think everyone we can select will have their doubts. I don't think there is a "sure star" that will be available at that pick, if there was, they'd go a lot sooner. I am, however, not concerned about his lack of dominating at the college level. He was a freshman on the nations best team. A pretty veteran team. His options were limited. They needed to give the ball to the older, more proven guys first.

[PR07]

If I had a pick in the 20's, I'd want Willie Warren or Lawai. I don't think Eric Bledsoe will be there after workouts. Of course, those two might not either.

[Wizop]

can't imagine us having two picks and not using one on Heyward.

[MNPacersfan]

Henry's attitude on the court is an issue for me. Remember Adam Morrison crying a few years ago? I was waiting for a similar breakdown from Henry, except a sad and angry combo breakdown rather than a depressing breakdown. Morrison's is funny in retrospect, Henry's would have been funny right out of the gate. Did anyone else feel like he was barely holding it together out there? Just the facial expressions of torment...

Trading down to get two picks that turned into a raw big (which may be the best thing available at 10 anyway) like Larry Sanders and taking a chance on Jordan Crawford late in the first round would help fortify things. Crawford's game is built for the NBA and he'd be less risk late in the first than Henry at 10. Plus Crawford was a jerk, but it always seemed that he was in emotional control on the court. Also, his teammates and coach were appreciative of his growth emotionally (call it his humbling if you will). Yes, I'm defending Crawford in pre-response to the "Crawford's an a-hole, at least Henry's not an a-hole" response.
If the Pacers can move into the top 3, there's great talent. I don't see any stars after the first 3 picks (Wall, Turner and Favors) at this point.
Cousins has the tools, but emotionally... He's Zach Randolph. 3 trades and 6 years from now the Pacers should consider him.
Wes Johnson can be a very good player, but I don't think that he'll ever be a great player, and I think he's a 1.5 guy - it will take one an a half seasons before the switch flips and he "gets it."

Tough draft right now. Last year had so many polished players, now we're back to rolling the dice on a multi-million dollar investment on a kid that has talent but we have no idea where his game will go. Hopefully Bird can seperate the Millers from the Alfords in this one.

[Scoot McGroot]

So...

what did Jordan Crawford do to be called an "a-hole"? Transfer from IU? I don't hold that against him whatsoever. I'm guessing I missed something huge and will feel like an a-hole myself for not remembering.

[Miller4ever]

He dunked on Lebron, right?

[Scoot McGroot]

BASTARD!

[MNPacersfan]

Apparently Crawford's teammates and coaches at Xavier were not excited to have him at first. He was labeled a disruption and an issue for everyone in the program. That changed as the season wore on.

He did, yes "dunk on" LeBron. I suppose that may have fueled the ego?

Bill Simmons - one example of grapevine Crawford a-hole rumors (Simmons uses "inner a-hole"):
"Back to Crawford. By all accounts, it sounds like he had trouble suppressing his inner a-hole this season. Maybe dunking on LeBron last summer (and the subsequent Internet firestorm) was detrimental to him. But that's a defensible character flaw. And a fixable one. These are young kids. They are easily influenced. They have no experience handling adversity or prosperity. Heck, on my podcast this week, Ohio State's Mark Titus discussed how much Evan Turner changed since his freshman year, when he played with a chip on his shoulder and clashed with teammates and coaches. Now he doesn't. What happened? He got older. He matured. He learned how to deal with other people.

What's the difference between being a fixable head case and an unfixable head case? It's simple, actually. You can't become un-lazy. You can't go from being clueless to having a clue. You can't go from crazy to sane. You can't go from selfish to selfless. You can't go from soft to tough. You can't go from being a knucklehead to being savvy. You can't go from ADD to totally zoned in. You can't go from being a DEFCON 1 hothead to a soothing presence. But you can absolutely mature from "being an a-hole" to "not being an a-hole." Crawford may have had issues earlier in the season, but all we saw in the tournament was heart and swagger. That has to count for something."
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/100326

[ardthomp]

Please don't ever quote Bill Simmon's again. He is as much of an a-hole as Jordan Crawford..or Xavier Henry, perhaps even Phil Jackson!