2018 NBA Draft Talk

Quake Griffin · Post #441 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:22 pm

Is anybody comfortable with taking Chandler at 13? Or would you rather find a way (I can't see it) back into the 1st round to pick him up?

esqtvd · Post #442 » by **esqtvd** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:43 pm

MartinToVaught wrote:
Quake Griffin wrote:
MartinToVaught wrote:Keep the picks and draft wings. Golden State isn't losing for the next five years, making win-now trades is pointless.

Agree with this take and I'd be troubled if we had a GM who had a different view of it.

We stand a good chance to lose our 2019 pick too since we are not tanking. Upgrading the roster summer 2019 will consist of free agency and dealing from the roster only.

Our pick next year is top 14 protected. Since Doc and Austin are still here, I think we'll end up keeping it.

Also lottery-protected for 2020. If not conveyed by then, it reverts to a 2nd-rounder in 2021.

We took a playoff shot before the CP/BG window closed and will never really be able to judge it because both Chris and Blake got injured.

Ranma · Post #443 » by **Ranma** » Wed May 16, 2018 10:03 pm

ejftw wrote:Chandler Hutchinson has also withdrawn.

TucsonClip wrote:My guy has a 1st round guarantee, and I'd bet its early 20s. Would love to pick him up.

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Ranma · Post #444 » by **Ranma** » Wed May 16, 2018 10:12 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:Is anybody comfortable with taking Chandler at 13? Or would you rather find a way (I can't see it) back into the 1st round to pick him up?

I admittedly don't like Hutchison as much as a number of you guys and I've watched some tape on him, but he's surprisingly high on David Aldridge's big board for wing prospects in the draft (4th over Kevin Knox) and has also moved up in Yahoo Sports' latest mock draft.

I actually feel uncomfortable at our current draft positions in the late lottery given the question marks surrounding our area and despite having Jerry West advise on the picks, but I wouldn't reach for Chandler Hutchison for either of those picks unless he had some kind of phenomenal workout I haven't heard about. The funny thing is that I like quite a few prospects currently projected in the mid-to-late portion of the first round in Anfernee Simons, Jontay Porter, and Hutchison. Even Hamidou Diallo looks like a great gamble to take in the second round, but his workouts might actually move him up into the first.

connseanery · Post #445 » by **connseanery** » Wed May 16, 2018 10:29 pm

I agree think there are better guards and wings to take than Hutchison. However I'm pretty comfortable with the players that should be around at the 12/13.

I"m assuming these guys will be gone in the Top 8.
Ayton
Doncic
Bagley
JJJ
Bamba
Young
Porter
Mikal Bridges

You'll still have 4 of this next cluster around:
Carter
Sexton
SGA
Miles Bridges
Zhaire Smith
Lonnie Walker
Kevin Knox

There's also the possibility that there will be a late riser like Donovan Mitchell last year that kicked ass in workouts and shot up from an initial 20s projection and into the lottery range. Hopefully there will be someone like that and the Clips will have additional guys to choose from.

Post #446 » by **mkwest** » Thu May 17, 2018 1:54 am

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Clippers' staff combines efforts to examine best NBA prospects for draft

"It's probably just a refresher course when you see them," said Jerry West, the Clippers consultant who was on stage at the NBA's lottery drawing Tuesday.

"To me, it's important to see a kid out of his system and more in an NBA environment and what his adjustments are going to be. Is he going to look lost out there?"

Lawrence Frank, the Clippers president of basketball operations, said they will want to see data about a player's size, wing span, vertical leap, and shuttle-run and lateral-slide times.

"What it does is give you data that you can compare apples to apples and then you can go back to past drafts," Frank said. "So, you have these physical prototype for every position, and as you see with the league, it's getting longer, stronger and more versatile."

The interview process with the players started Wednesday and will continue Thursday. Frank said each team gets 30 minutes to "get to know each player" and that the Clippers will interview the NBA maximum of 20 players over the next few days.

"All throughout the process, you're constantly collecting information on each player," Frank said. "And with each player, you'll have some questions. This is your opportunity in a 30-minute window to try to get right to it."

Brad Turner, LA Times

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Quake Griffin · Post #447 » by **Quake Griffin** » Thu May 17, 2018 2:49 am

mkwest wrote:

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Clippers' staff combines efforts to examine best NBA prospects for draft

"It's probably just a refresher course when you see them," said Jerry West, the Clippers consultant who was on stage at the NBA's lottery drawing Tuesday.

"To me, it's important to see a kid out of his system and more in an NBA environment and what his adjustments are going to be. Is he going to look lost out there?"

Lawrence Frank, the Clippers president of basketball operations, said they will want to see data about a player's size, wing span, vertical leap, and shuttle-run and lateral-slide times.

"What it does is give you data that you can compare apples to apples and then you can go back to past drafts," Frank said. "So, you have these physical prototype for every position, and as you see with the league, it's getting longer, stronger and more versatile."

The interview process with the players started Wednesday and will continue Thursday. Frank said each team gets 30 minutes to "get to know each player" and that the Clippers will interview the NBA maximum of 20 players over the next few days.

"All throughout the process, you're constantly collecting information on each player," Frank said. "And with each player, you'll have some questions. This is your opportunity in a 30-minute window to try to get right to it."

Brad Turner, LA Times

Watch on YouTube

I dont mind the crux of his shooting mechanics. Love keeping the guide hand up. Stroke is nice.

I have a trouble with his slow release. Part of that, from watching this video, could be his tendency to catch the ball, rock it into his belly first, then bring it up to shoot. He is 18 and that can be fixed pretty easily. But I also wonder if he'll ever be able to handle the ball and consequently, will he ever be able to pair some of that ball handling and add a scoring element to his game that isn't purely catch and shoot?

I said Danny Green before as a comparable. An SG with long arms, athletic, can shoot but can't create with the dribble.
Wondering if PJ Tucker would be a better comparable.

TucsonClip · Post #448 » by **TucsonClip** » Thu May 17, 2018 3:43 am

Im not sure you can go Hutchinson at 13. There are so many guys who could potentially be available, but I certainly would take a look, as we all know. It will be interesting to see how they handle pre-draft workouts. Normally, that is when guys shut it down, but this is so early, what if a lottery team starts sniffing around? There will likely be a few guys with some high end NBA skills/traits on the board. That is one thing Hutchinson doesnt have, but he would be a great pick for a team in the 20s, IMO.

Forte IV · Post #449 » by **Forte IV** » Thu May 17, 2018 4:04 am

Lonnie Walker measured 6'3 1/2 without shoes 6'10 1/2 wingspan. That's a solid 6'4 (or even 6'5 the way the NBA adds an inch and a half)in shoes the way the NBA adds that inch and half. Pretty good measurements for him.

Clemenza · Post #450 » by **Clemenza** » Thu May 17, 2018 4:25 am

Wondering are we going to buy a 2nd rounder as well?

Forte IV · Post #451 » by **Forte IV** » Thu May 17, 2018 5:12 am

Clemenza wrote:Wondering are we going to buy a 2nd rounder as well?

I think Philly has something crazy like four 2nd rounders or something that I'm sure they would be willing to sell.

Ranma · Post #452 » by **Ranma** » Thu May 17, 2018 6:33 am

mkwest wrote:

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Foster's comparison of Zhaire Smith to Gerald Wallace is a very interesting one. Wallace was one of the most hyped prospects a couple of years leading up to his draft year given his athleticism, motor and physical build, but the longer scouts had a chance to look at him, the more opportunities they had to pick his game apart and he eventually fell to 25th overall in the 2001 NBA Draft. To be fair, he never did develop the ball-handling and consistent outside shooting that teams were hoping to see from him in order to become the superstar talent he potentially could have been.

There was an infamous quote from a long-time scout who called him the best or most explosive athlete since Michael Jordan at a similar age of development, which prompted the hype to begin with. Crash did go on to become an All-Star during a single season, but his all-out play caught up with him resulting in multiple injuries that led to a premature erosion of his game.

The funny thing is that Michael Jordan himself, as owner of the Bobcats, eventually traded Wallace for Joel Pryzbilla, 2 conditional first-round picks in 2011 and 2013, the expiring contracts of Dante Cunningham and Sean Marks as well as cash. The 2011 pick ended up being 19th overall and was used to select our very own Tobias Harris, however, his rights were packaged along with Stephen Jackson and former Clipper Shaun Livingston to Milwaukee in a 3-team trade that netted them another former Clipper in Corey Maggette from the Bucks and the 7th overall pick in the same draft, Bismack Biyombo, from the Kings.

The top-12 protection on the 2013 pick pushed the draft rights to that pick into the next year where the now-reborn Hornets in Charlotte ended up trading that pick, the 24th overall in 2014, to Miami in order for the Heat to select Shabazz Napier likely in an attempt to appease LeBron James and convince him not to leave South Beach. For their trouble, the Hornets acquired the 26th and 55th overall picks in that same draft, which were used to respectively select P.J. Hairston and Semaj Christon, and a 2019 second-rounder as well as cash.

As draftniks know, draft picks are only as good as the GM that wields them and Doc Rivers is one of the very few executives who could challenge Michael Jordan in ineptitude when it comes to talent evaluation and acquisition while draft nitwits will argue that the crapshoot nature of the draft makes missing on it a negligible loss.

In any case, if Zhaire Smith can continue to show signs of putting in the work to improve like Kawhi Leonard did after getting drafted, he could be an absolute monster of a player if he follows a similar trajectory as his athleticism would be truly elite if it is comparable to Gerald Wallace's at his peak. Another funny thing is that NBAdraft.net's scouting report on Kawhi Leonard also listed Wallace and yet another former Clipper Luc Richard Mbah a Moute as NBA comparisons.

That's quite a lot of dots to connect and I still have concerns about his height (as a forward), but his athleticism, instincts and age are promising characteristics. After watching the highlights tweeted above and thinking about it some more, I'm growing increasingly comfortable with using one of our lottery picks on Zhaire Smith. I'm even concerned that he'll rise up the draft board into a top-10 selection.

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Ranma · Post #453 » by **Ranma** » Thu May 17, 2018 7:05 am

Forte IV wrote:Lonnie Walker measured 6'3 1/2 without shoes 6'10 1/2 wingspan. That's a solid 6'4 (or even 6'5 the way the NBA adds an inch and a half)in shoes the way the NBA adds that inch and half. Pretty good measurements for him.

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Ranma · Post #454 » by **Ranma** » Thu May 17, 2018 8:16 am

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connseanery · Post #455 » by **connseanery** » Thu May 17, 2018 3:59 pm

http://stats.nba.com/draft/combine-anthro/

All the measurements are out. Bamba, jjj, Wendell carter great height and length for their positions.

Zhaire smith sub 6’3” seems like it would hurt him.

Ranma · Post #456 » by **Ranma** » Thu May 17, 2018 4:00 pm

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Post #457 » by **mkwest** » Thu May 17, 2018 5:56 pm

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2018 NBA draft prospect Lonnie Walker: 'I feel I can be a franchise player'

For people who may not know your game well, what would you say your biggest strengths are?

LW: My biggest strengths are shooting, my athleticism and my defensive ability – being able to guard the one, the two and the three here and there. I think I have a strong overall game.

What are some areas of weakness that you’re working to improve?

LW: My ballhandling is, by far, what I’ve been working on the most. Ballhandling and working on my left hand too; it’s not as strong as my right hand, so we have to get it up there. I want my weaknesses to become strengths, so I’m working on my handles and left hand day in and day out when we’re in the gym.

We talked about your long-term potential, but what role do you see yourself playing in the NBA as a rookie next season?

LW: I’ll definitely be a 3-and-D player in my rookie season, being able to shoot and defend. I think I’ll be able to energize the team, whether that’s defensively with my effort and strong play on that end or on offense with my ability to knock down shots, get to the lane and finish against bigger centers.

Alex Kennedy, HoopsHype

Forte IV · Post #458 » by **Forte IV** » Thu May 17, 2018 6:14 pm

Very surprised Zhaire Smith is only 6'4. Also Michael Porter Jr. being basically 6'11 is also interesting. Colin Sexton shorter than I thought but then again, he was shorter than Trae Young at the lotto. Khyri Thomas basically being 6'4 should help him a lot imo

nickhx2 · Post #459 » by **nickhx2** » Thu May 17, 2018 6:56 pm

really hoping for shai. well, of course mikal bridges but don't think that's happening.

Ranma · Post #460 » by **Ranma** » Thu May 17, 2018 7:36 pm

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What do you predict the Clippers will do on Draft Night? (vote for up to 2 options)