Post#88 » by ivysixer2000 » Fri Jun 22, 2018 12:33 pm
Well as I made obvious in the draft thread, I wasn't a fan of taking Mikal, I think he will be a solid role player but anyone saying Zhaire can't dribble...well Mikal can't either and he's 3 years older. Now I don't know why we like guys who can't dribble, but thats another subject, pass the ball around in BB's system I guess.
Now Mikal's handles might be mildly better, but not by much so let's not act like we gave up a guy with Kyrie's handles. I do think we are better this season with Mikal cause he was more plug and play, maybe would've started if Fultz isn't ready. Longer term I do like Zhaire's upside much better and getting the pick was a bonus cause before that trade we thought this would be our last high pick in a long time so it was a game changer in terms of our future of either making the pick ourselves or in trades.
I do wonder about Lonnie, as he is more developed, but who knows about the medical on him as they reported. Now Zhaire is the first real high flyer that will play with Ben other than maybe Holmes who never gets to play, so when he does come in I look for him to make the crowd go nuts as not only does he have a 45' vertical, he also had the 2nd fastest sprint time of all the rookies....so if you wanted someone who can run and finish with Ben (which I did), well here's your guy.
Mikal is more of a finished product, and helps you from day 1. Thats nice to have, but its not what I wanted, we needed some upside and while it will take time to see if Zhaire will develop, he does give us that upside. Now neither one of them can dribble, lets get that clear, and I'm really tired of seeing the non-dribbling crew on the court (they need to be doing drills in their sleep), so saying Zhaire can't dribble is a moot point if your talking about Mikal.
End of the day, I don't think we are a better team right now cause of this draft, which is a little hard to wrap my head around. We lost a player in Mikal who can help us right now for a player who can't help as much in Zhaire, but thats where the pick and potential comes in along with Zhaire being 3 years younger and also being a good defender. This was a BB thing, brought him in twice, so he must see something and trust in the kid's development if he mentions Kawhi (which you would never do with Mikal). The trade was definitely worth it, the potential of Zhaire was worth it, and the only question I have is if Lonnie will end up better cause he can actually dribble.