2018 draft 3.0. #7, #22 - Merged

[Habs72]

Sooo...im a bit confused about this fanbase tbh. Last season Lauri was skipping some games due back spasms and many cried bloody murder and zillion different scenarios that his back cant take it....yet 64% is voting us to take MPJ with all the health baggage he has regarding to his back. Awesome .

[DorO]

Honestly I would draft anyone in top30 instead of Porter and I'm sure many FOs understand Porter's health problems and skip him in top10. I would not want him at 22 either, I'd rather choose sound athlete than already broken one but this forum would risk #7 just like that, quite unbelievable

[Dominator83]

Lots of ELITE athletes are now vegan, from Lewis Hamilton on down. They do it for better health and better performance I think people are realizing that whole foods and not processed foods are much better for you. They help you with digestion significantly and also in retaining nutrients

Are beans included in this? Because atleast for me, they're God awful for digestion. Doesn't matter if they're red , black, or brown. All treat me terribly in the digestion department

[Red Larrivee]

Sooo...im a bit confused about this fanbase tbh. Last season Lauri was skipping some games due back spasms and many cried bloody murder and zillion different scenarios that his back cant take it....yet 64% is voting us to take MPJ with all the health baggage he has regarding to his back. Awesome .

If Markkanen needs significant back surgery, then it would definitely be a concern.

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[JimmyJammer]

Couple of interesting things in this article.
https://theathletic.com/366248/2018/05/23/the-biggest-question-at-the-nba-draft-combine-whats-real-and-whats-fake/

Miles Bridges

Bridges said he’s lost 20 pounds since the season ended and proudly proclaimed that he’s currently 220 pounds. He credited the weight loss to a better diet — he eliminated fast food — rigorous conditioning and drinking gallons of water. During the season, Bridges said he played at 235 to 240 pounds. “I feel great at 220,” Bridges said. “I can move quicker. I’m more explosive … I felt like this is a good weight to play at.”

WCJs Al Horford comparisons continue

Carter Jr. said he’s worked hard to slim down and increase his agility as he prepares to fit into the increasingly position-less NBA game. “Something I’ve been working on is just my lateral quickness so I can guard guards in pick-and-roll actions,” he said. “And on the offensive end, I didn’t get to show it at Duke, but I think I’m pretty versatile in terms of I can bring the ball up the court sometimes. I’m able to shoot it from deep and shoot it at all three levels.” As a kid, Carter Jr. was a fan of LeBron James, he said. “But as I matured,” he added, “I started watching more Al Horford, people in my position.”

I definitely like what I am hearing about Miles Bridges. Losing 20 pounds would make him the most explosive athlete in the draft. He is already a bulldog at attacking the basket and his three-ball is legit. Back in January, he was the kid I was rooting for until guys like Mikal Bridges and Wendell Carter started to emerge.

[Habs72]

Sooo...im a bit confused about this fanbase tbh. Last season Lauri was skipping some games due back spasms and many cried bloody murder and zillion different scenarios that his back cant take it....yet 64% is voting us to take MPJ with all the health baggage he has regarding to his back. Awesome .

If Markkanen needs significant back surgery, then it would definitely be a concern.

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For 64% of voters back surgery seems not to be a concern in MPJ´s case.

[Axolotl]

Sooo...im a bit confused about this fanbase tbh. Last season Lauri was skipping some games due back spasms and many cried bloody murder and zillion different scenarios that his back cant take it....yet 64% is voting us to take MPJ with all the health baggage he has regarding to his back. Awesome .

If Markkanen needs significant back surgery, then it would definitely be a concern.

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For 64% of voters back surgery seems not to be a concern in MPJ´s case.

I've read that option as "if his medicals and workouts are in order". Personally, I'm concerned even if they are.

Porter would be a risky pick - but we are talking about a player who could even be #1 if he didn't have those back problems.

I really wouldn't want to be the decision maker who skips him and he goes on to have a multiple All Star -career - or the one that picks him, and he is out of the league before his rookie contract is up.

[Habs72]

Couple of interesting things in this article.
https://theathletic.com/366248/2018/05/23/the-biggest-question-at-the-nba-draft-combine-whats-real-and-whats-fake/

Miles Bridges

Bridges said he’s lost 20 pounds since the season ended and proudly proclaimed that he’s currently 220 pounds. He credited the weight loss to a better diet — he eliminated fast food — rigorous conditioning and drinking gallons of water. During the season, Bridges said he played at 235 to 240 pounds. “I feel great at 220,” Bridges said. “I can move quicker. I’m more explosive … I felt like this is a good weight to play at.”

WCJs Al Horford comparisons continue

Carter Jr. said he’s worked hard to slim down and increase his agility as he prepares to fit into the increasingly position-less NBA game. “Something I’ve been working on is just my lateral quickness so I can guard guards in pick-and-roll actions,” he said. “And on the offensive end, I didn’t get to show it at Duke, but I think I’m pretty versatile in terms of I can bring the ball up the court sometimes. I’m able to shoot it from deep and shoot it at all three levels.” As a kid, Carter Jr. was a fan of LeBron James, he said. “But as I matured,” he added, “I started watching more Al Horford, people in my position.”

I definitely like what I am hearing about Miles Bridges. Losing 20 pounds would make him the most explosive athlete in the draft. He is already a bulldog at attacking the basket and his three-ball is legit. Back in January, he was the kid I was rooting for until guys like Mikal Bridges and Wendell Carter started to emerge.

Hmm, i like him but i think he shouldnt be in our range to draft, unless we move down a bit.
Thing is that he didnt put any better numbers in his second year than he did in his first year all across the board and actually his shooting came down a bit with almost the same volume, good thing is though that his FT% got up quite a bit. There are concerns of his shooting other than the spot up shooting, especially off the dribble.
I do like his explosiveness and very high motor and i would take him over the other Bridges at least for sure.

[Dez]

Honestly I would draft anyone in top30 instead of Porter and I'm sure many FOs understand Porter's health problems and skip him in top10. I would not want him at 22 either, I'd rather choose sound athlete than already broken one but this forum would risk #7 just like that, quite unbelievable

Porter isn't broken.

[Indomitable]

I suggest everyone read that article about Porter’s diet. He still was feeling back pain at the end of the season, and it got worse when he played those last few games. It wasn’t rust, it was back pain.

The scary point is that he was feeling significant back pain four months after his surgery. That’s not good. Doesn’t sound like one would call his surgery a complete success by any means. He’s counting on a raw vegan diet to fix the back pain that his surgery did not fix. Ugh.

He doesn't exactly say he still had back pains that would have got worse. What he says is this: Mizzou, towards the end of the season, we would be eating crazy. They would get us quality food at the hotels, but it wasn’t what I was eating, and wasn’t what my body was used to. When I ate that food, I would start to feel some of that back pain. I can tell so much now about how my body is going to react from putting certain things in it.

I obviously wasn’t ready to play yet, because I was eating differently... Now that my back pain has gone away, this entire ordeal is going to further my career and my potential.

How I read this is he didn't have back pains, but he thinks when he ate differently, he felt some. And then when he went back to his normal diet, it went away.

The thought that comes to me is correlation, not causation. Eating didn't bring back the pain, nor did it take it away.

The thing is, he had had back issues for a long time before he had to be operated. That has most likely also moulded his body and his stances, and moving away from those will cause some pains.

I'm by no means saying there is no risk involved with picking Porter, because obviously there is - he is a big man who has had back issues at a very young age. The full and detailed medicals and close observation of workouts are essential to estimating the risk level. If Porter is available at #7, and The Bulls do not draft him, I can only assume that they have deemed the risk too high (or someone they like better has slid down).

Here's the article link again: https://www.gq.com/story/michael-porter-jr-real-life-diet

So the part where he say he started to,feel the back pain is not him saying it. That is a red flag.

[JohnnyTapwater]

I want killers. Who wants to take your heart? It's cool to have skill, but if you won't pull the trigger point blank range, then that's the type of softness that'll keep you from super stardom.

If Lauri Markkenen becomes a killer, we are in for a treat. I hope he has it in him.

So far, I see Doncic, Young, and Sexton as killers.

Maaaaybe Ayton & Porter.

[GimmeDat]

I'm no doctor, I'm sure the teams will be diligent in evaluating his physical health now and outlook wise, but I do know that back surgery is nothing to mess with.

[TheHrvReport]

Teams passed on Embiid for his injury concerns before, the same will happen with MPJ if it's actually an issue. Given the Bulls ordeal with D. Rose and having their future lie in the hands of a torn ACL Zach Lavine, I highly doubt Bulls will take Porter Jr if his back is actually an issue, so chill out.

[Red Larrivee]

I'm no doctor, I'm sure the teams will be diligent in evaluating his physical health now and outlook wise, but I do know that back surgery is nothing to mess with.

Are there examples of players who had significant back surgery and went on to have long careers with minimal injury concern?

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[GimmeDat]

I'm no doctor, I'm sure the teams will be diligent in evaluating his physical health now and outlook wise, but I do know that back surgery is nothing to mess with.

Are there examples of players who had significant back surgery and went on to have long careers with minimal injury concern?

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Would imagine it would be slim, but don't have a clue. Would imagine it would also be a pretty small sample.

[GimmeDat]

Watched more Heurter.. even more sold now. He's being completely underrated as an athlete, great passer, off-ball mover, defender, etc., and of course, an absolutely killer release. Would not surprise me if he went lottery.

[Axolotl]

I'm no doctor, I'm sure the teams will be diligent in evaluating his physical health now and outlook wise, but I do know that back surgery is nothing to mess with.

Are there examples of players who had significant back surgery and went on to have long careers with minimal injury concern

Here's a study on NBA players with lumbar discectomy: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4702156/

In short:

By the second postoperative season, players are able to return to the level of play in terms of games played per season and PER, as the control cohort and career longevity is not significantly affected.

[_txchilibowl_]

Teams passed on Embiid for his injury concerns before, the same will happen with MPJ if it's actually an issue. Given the Bulls ordeal with D. Rose and having their future lie in the hands of a torn ACL Zach Lavine, I highly doubt Bulls will take Porter Jr if his back is actually an issue, so chill out.

Considering I'd love to have Joel Embiid on this team I'm not sure this comp helps your case....

[Truebiscuit]

Rumblings out there that Pax and friends have been hot for MPJ since they decided to flip Butler for a youth movement. If he's there for us to pick at #7, I'd be shocked if MPJ wasn't a Chicago Bull.

Link.?

I heard it on local radio and on Comcast Sports Net Chicago, I don't know if there's a clip I can provide you but if I come across it again I'll message it to you / put it in this thread.

It was during a conversation about the state of the Bulls and one of the beat writers said how once the franchise decided to move on from Jimmy Butler and start this youth movement, one of the kids they really were hoping to land was MPJ. Paxson in another interview was asked about the kid, I believe Danny Parkins asked him to draft MPJ and you could hear the excitement in Paxson's voice when he was describing what a talented kid he was (of course, this alone means nothing but combining that with what one of the beat writers was saying it starts to add up a little bit).

[Red8911]

Sooo...im a bit confused about this fanbase tbh. Last season Lauri was skipping some games due back spasms and many cried bloody murder and zillion different scenarios that his back cant take it....yet 64% is voting us to take MPJ with all the health baggage he has regarding to his back. Awesome .

Atleast lauri would have a new friend to talk about back issues lol. I do agree though too much risk with MPJ, back problems are serious especially for a professional player who has to handle a very long season. Then you have the people who are absolutely confident that he will be a star in the league so who knows. I just hope that whatever decision they make works out cause I’m sick of losing.