Ell Curry wrote:Tortiglioni wrote:Luwawu is not a top 10 pick, and at best duplicates what we already have with Powell, Ross and Bruno. Another prospect being overhyped based on highlight videos against scrubs. Not BPA and doesn't even fill a need = no thanks.
Could argue he'd be the 3 of the future and that we need one sooner rather than later with Carroll's injury issues meaning he might be injured or better suited to guarding 4s if his mobility is at all reduced. Luwawu has a 7' wingspan and seems to be a good 3pt shooter. Say he gets picked and is an okay bench player as a rookie and starts by the end of year 2:
Lowry-DeRozan-Luwawu-Carroll-JV
Joseph-Ross-Powell-Patterson-Biyombo
Wright-Bruno
looks a balanced, small ball team with tons of shooting and decent trade flexibility if Wright surpasses Joseph or Bruno is something.
Obviously if he's not that good then whatever, but I do think he fits the team just fine. Anyone bigger than Powell/Ross that can play D, move their feet and hit 3s does, really. We're about to need to guard Paul George or Tobias Harris for a series and in theory he profiles as a good fit for that role.
Sorry noodles, Skal is NOT the pick. Even Thon is a better long term lottery ticket type of pick.
As for Luwawu, he does have a lot of hand/body size/reach/speed kind of potential, but as a shooter there are many that are better in this draft. If he can give you 75% of what Carrol can in his first season, and 85% in his second, then hell yes, he is a decent pick. You would have the good option of saving $14M to $25Mish by trading away Carroll before his contract expires. That said, we have nobody ready to be our starting PF replacement, and we aren't drafting a starting PF either, but we sure as hell need to get one into our system to be next season's backup PF to 2Pat and then pray he is good enough to make the leap to starter the following season - or else we will have to resign 2Pat as our 2017/2018 starter (and trade him later). Plus, we need starters who can pass the ball. The future is made for teams like Golden State and the Spurs who can make 6 crisp passes to find/create the wide open man for the easy wide open shot. We need to become one of those teams. Right now, we aren't even close to that. Watch the Toronto/Atlanta game tonight, then switch over and watch how the game is supposed to be played when GS/SA takes place.
Sure, DD might have added an assist or two per game this year and Kyle ... well, remember two seasons ago when Kyle was getting 7.4 assists per game? He is already down to 6.4 this season. And at his age, ... well I just hope he ages better than Jameer Nelson. Jameer was great, all-star consideration year after year - until he hit 30 years old. Then his game just fell off a cliff. And Jameer, like Kyle, didn't have a size advantage, a speed advantage, his game was based on brains and touch. Knowing where he needed to be on the court in every instance, and beautiful touch passing and shooting. But the body breaks down. The mind breaks down. You wake up one day and realize that the young punks are blowing by you and blocking all of your shots. Well guess what kids. Kyle is 30 now. If Masai is smart, he probably doesn't max him after he has turned 31. We need to start looking for his replacement NOW.
We need to take a PF for sure, and a player who can play PG or SG would be an ideal pick up. Those are our immediate needs.
I've now witnessed a two game sample where Wright has shown flashes of being a passing PG who can also score and defend. A very small sample size. I truly hope that Casey plays him a ton these last few games. We may need to decide to pick a PG or an SF to go along with a PF this draft. A larger sample size could really help with that choice.