2018 Pick Watch (Philly, LAL 1 or 6-30, etc)

[nurseryc]

We must go after Jonah Bolden with our second round pick. He is being criminally underrated

[PLO]

We must go after Jonah Bolden with our second round pick. He is being criminally underrated

I think he's going to be long gone by the second round.

[Kobblehead]

We must go after Jonah Bolden with our second round pick. He is being criminally underrated

Aussie Jabari Parker

He's got some exciting physical tools.

[Simmons25]

We must go after Jonah Bolden with our second round pick. He is being criminally underrated

I think he's going to be long gone by the second round.

Not so sure about that..... these guys below are sleeping on him... I hope NBA clubs are too.

DraftExpress has him going #46
NBADraft.net has him at #59
CBSSports has him at #37
SecCounty.com has him #50

We have our picks in the 2nd round at 36,39,46 and 50. There is a chance he might still be there. I just hope he doesn't work out for too many teams that have a 2nd round pick between 25 and 35.

Brett Brown coached when his dad was playing in Australia... needs to get him on the phone and tell him to only work out for us!!

[LordCovington33]

We must go after Jonah Bolden with our second round pick. He is being criminally underrated

I think he's going to be long gone by the second round.

Not so sure about that..... these guys below are sleeping on him... I hope NBA clubs are too.

DraftExpress has him going #46
NBADraft.net has him at #59
CBSSports has him at #37
SecCounty.com has him #50

We have our picks in the 2nd round at 36,39,46 and 50. There is a chance he might still be there. I just hope he doesn't work out for too many teams that have a 2nd round pick between 25 and 35.

Brett Brown coached when his dad was playing in Australia... needs to get him on the phone and tell him to only work out for us!!

What was his dad's name?

[PLO]

I think he's going to be long gone by the second round.

Not so sure about that..... these guys below are sleeping on him... I hope NBA clubs are too.

DraftExpress has him going #46
NBADraft.net has him at #59
CBSSports has him at #37
SecCounty.com has him #50

We have our picks in the 2nd round at 36,39,46 and 50. There is a chance he might still be there. I just hope he doesn't work out for too many teams that have a 2nd round pick between 25 and 35.

Brett Brown coached when his dad was playing in Australia... needs to get him on the phone and tell him to only work out for us!!

What was his dad's name?

Bruce Bolden.

The sons of these American ex-NBL players seem to have an advantage in terms of realising their talent. Exum and Simmons being other examples.

[Simmons25]

Not so sure about that..... these guys below are sleeping on him... I hope NBA clubs are too.

DraftExpress has him going #46
NBADraft.net has him at #59
CBSSports has him at #37
SecCounty.com has him #50

We have our picks in the 2nd round at 36,39,46 and 50. There is a chance he might still be there. I just hope he doesn't work out for too many teams that have a 2nd round pick between 25 and 35.

Brett Brown coached when his dad was playing in Australia... needs to get him on the phone and tell him to only work out for us!!

What was his dad's name?

Bruce Bolden.

The sons of these American ex-NBL players seem to have an advantage in terms of realising their talent. Exum and Simmons being other examples.

I think it says a lot about the success of Australian Institute of Sport and the way they bring these kids through as well. I know the Golden State Warriors a few years back got rid of their sports science department and basically recruited half the Australian Institute of Sport sports science department.

Having fathers that played basketball growing up, means these kids grew up playing basketball too from a young age. They were identified as having talent because of their fathers, and then given specialist professional training at the AIS. Others to graduate from the AIS are Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills, Ben Simmons, Dante Exum, Matthew Dellavedova, Aaron Baynes, Joe Ingles... who are all in the NBA... so it works. Not bad considering there are only between 10 or so given scholarships at the AIS every year.

Most Australian kids unfortunately grow up playing Australian Rules Football rather than basketball (Although that is just starting to turn now) Because the skills and athletic ability of Australian Rules and Basketball are very similar, most of the elite athletes in Australia end up playing Australian Rules. A couple that I know locally like Josh Kennedy who's dad played basketball for Australia and had a choice to make... chose Australian rules and is one of the best players in the league now... but could have played an elite basketball talent.

Nic Naitanui is another one... elite athletic ability. Almost 6ft 8.... is one of the quickest players in the league, amazing hand eye co-ordination and can literally jump over the top of people. Has all the skills to be a basketballer but because Basketball is not the #1 sport in Australia he gets snapped up by Australian Rules football first.

Hopefully though we see more of these sort of talents growing up with basketball over football... especially some of the aboriginal indigenous boys like Naitanui. Absolute freak athletes.

Watch on YouTube

[shawn_hemp]

I used to view Australian Basketball players as of a lesser quality than Europe an especially America, but they have improved dramatically over the past 4-5 years.

It's funny how a guy like Bogut not living up to his #1 pick would seemingly set the reputation of Aussie players back a bit but guys like Patty Mills, Delevadova, Joe Ingles, Steven Adams, Exum, etc have all seemingly found productive and lasting places in the NBA.

Hopefully Simmons isnt the next Bogut, but I think we'll be alright

[Simmons25]

I used to view Australian Basketball players as of a lesser quality than Europe an especially America, but they have improved dramatically over the past 4-5 years.

It's funny how a guy like Bogut not living up to his #1 pick would seemingly set the reputation of Aussie players back a bit but guys like Patty Mills, Delevadova, Joe Ingles, Steven Adams, Exum, etc have all seemingly found productive and lasting places in the NBA.

Hopefully Simmons isnt the next Bogut, but I think we'll be alright

I think you are a bit hard on Bogut. People forget just how good he was prior to the injury. He was a #1 draft pick but the Bucks won the lottery that year having just missed the playoffs so their main go to guys were Michael Redd and Maurice Williams (urgh) who were Curry and Thompson minus the actual shooting ability. Not a lot of offense ran through Bogut the first few years.

When Bogut did end up becoming the main guy he was a 16pts 11rbg 2.5 bpg center. Bogut was selected in the 3rd all NBA team in 2010 along with Duncan and Gasol. Only prime Dwight and Stoudemire were considered better centers at the time.

Also the previous month prior to him breaking that elbow and wrist on the dunk, Bogut had started developing a face up game as well. He had always been a good back to the basket player with a hook shot but he started developing a face up game and was looking like prime Tim Duncan there for about 4 or 5 weeks prior to the injury.

That elbow injury though destroyed his career and he was only like 24 years old. Doctors said it was similar to what they would see in a car accident and was told he may never play again and if he did he would never be able to shoot the same way as his arm can no longer straighten. Injuries rather than talent and ability ended up being his downfall. It was a miracle really he ever came back to do what he did in Golden State. Had to completely change his game to become a screen setter and defender rather than an offensive player... purely because he had no choice.

[LordCovington33]

I used to view Australian Basketball players as of a lesser quality than Europe an especially America, but they have improved dramatically over the past 4-5 years.

It's funny how a guy like Bogut not living up to his #1 pick would seemingly set the reputation of Aussie players back a bit but guys like Patty Mills, Delevadova, Joe Ingles, Steven Adams, Exum, etc have all seemingly found productive and lasting places in the NBA.

Hopefully Simmons isnt the next Bogut, but I think we'll be alright

Simmons was a naturally gifted Aussie Rules player growing up. He wanted to be a midfielder/rover (which is basically a position for small but very fast players), but his coach wanted him to be a ruckman because of his size - tall lanky guys who are not known for being quick. That contributed to his decision to focus on basketball. Any sport he played, he quickly excelled at. The guy is a freak.

BTW, Steve Adams is from New Zealand.

[Chris76]

I used to view Australian Basketball players as of a lesser quality than Europe an especially America, but they have improved dramatically over the past 4-5 years.

It's funny how a guy like Bogut not living up to his #1 pick would seemingly set the reputation of Aussie players back a bit but guys like Patty Mills, Delevadova, Joe Ingles, Steven Adams, Exum, etc have all seemingly found productive and lasting places in the NBA.

Hopefully Simmons isnt the next Bogut, but I think we'll be alright

Simmons was a naturally gifted Aussie Rules player growing up. He wanted to be a midfielder/rover (which is basically a position for small but very fast players), but his coach wanted him to be a ruckman because of his size - tall lanky guys who are not known for being quick. That contributed to his decision to focus on basketball. Any sport he played, he quickly excelled at. The guy is a freak.

BTW, Steve Adams is from New Zealand.

Good post. People will be surprised with Simmons' quickness for his size. I like how he passes well with both hands in transition. He should be a great playmaker. Probably, he will average more than 7 assists a game.

[Eyeamok]

It seems like this thread is about to die a horrible death.

[tsmith]

We waited so long to see this LA pick convey, and it now seems our biggest rivals will instead reap its reward.

[the_process]

It seems like this thread is about to die a horrible death.

We waited so long to see this LA pick convey, and it now seems our biggest rivals will instead reap its reward.

Read on Twitter

[MCoster]

So with Bodner's protections, it's still (most likely) in our best interest for the Lakers to be complete crap next year.

If they're awful, we could get either #1 or the Kings 2019 1st. Lot of potential there but some risk if the Kings turn things around in two years.

If they're good, then all we get is a 6th or worse pick in 2018. Not as much potential here.

[the_process]

So with Bodner's protections, it's still (most likely) in our best interest for the Lakers to be complete crap next year.

If they're awful, we could get either #1 or the Kings 2019 1st. Lot of potential there but some risk if the Kings turn things around in two years.

If they're good, then all we get is a 6th or worse pick in 2018. Not as much potential here.

It's actually better if the Lakers finish 6th or 7th next year. Sacto will have two years to build, and by then, could leave Ainge with just something like a 13th pick for his troubles. Which would be amazing.

[CoreyGallagher]

So with Bodner's protections, it's still (most likely) in our best interest for the Lakers to be complete crap next year.

If they're awful, we could get either #1 or the Kings 2019 1st. Lot of potential there but some risk if the Kings turn things around in two years.

If they're good, then all we get is a 6th or worse pick in 2018. Not as much potential here.

I know it's natural to, but realistically we shouldn't care about the optics of the trade anymore. Our best interest is for the Lakers to win the lottery so that we get the top pick, that's what I'm going to hope happens even if there's considerably more likelihood it makes this trade seem worse if it's 2-5.

I think the Kings in two years will be better than the Lakers this year so I want the pick to push to Sac, personally. I really like the Skal and WCS front court pairing, if they can get Fox/Ball/Jackson to pair with Hield and whoever with the 10th pick, I feel like they'd have something.

[kriss73]

So with Bodner's protections, it's still (most likely) in our best interest for the Lakers to be complete crap next year.

If they're awful, we could get either #1 or the Kings 2019 1st. Lot of potential there but some risk if the Kings turn things around in two years.

If they're good, then all we get is a 6th or worse pick in 2018. Not as much potential here.

I know it's natural to, but realistically we shouldn't care about the optics of the trade anymore. Our best interest is for the Lakers to win the lottery so that we get the top pick, that's what I'm going to hope happens even if there's a considerable likelihood it makes this trade seem worse.

I think the Kings in two years will be better than the Lakers this year so I want the pick to push to Sac, personally. I really like the Skal and WCS front court pairing, if they can get Fox/Ball/Jackson to pair with Hield and whoever with the 10th pick, I feel like they'd have something.

Agree. Then they have the 2018 draft and tons of cap space.
The major threat to their grow is Vivek.
Otherwise they are on an interesting pattern with a lot of upside.

[BoomBap]

So next year we have the No.1 Pick (LAL) and our pick in the 14-20 range. Who do we pick?

[Ericb5]

I think that the Kings are likely to still be very bad in 2 years so we very likely gave up either a top 5 pick next year, or at least a top 10 pick the following year.

That's a lot of value, but it was a bold move for a guy that he wanted. I'm on board with it even though I would have preferred to stay at 3 and keep the draft assets.

Excited about having Fultz though for sure given how he fits with our team.


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