2020 NBA Draft Thread: Bulls pick 4th!

[PaKii94]

Uhhh who's the Giannis in this draft

Pokusevski.

Unfortunately, he may also be the Tskitishvili of this draft.

I don't see it with him. He looks like a nice roleplayer to have but I don't see game warping attributes

[Chi town]

Going to be funny when AK evaluates our roster in September and ships somebody out with our pick to win us some games. After all the back n forth for months we wouldn't even have a player from this draft...

Would be so 2020

[cjbulls]

I'd rather draft an effective player, even if he'll never be an all-star, than draft a guy who might be a bust. Shai GA has been a huge asset for OKC, and I see Halliburton as a similar type player.

So you’d rather draft SGA than Giannis?

Look I get that it’s all a balance of floor vs. ceiling, but balancing those two can change depending on your roster. The Bulls still don’t have a star. If you added a role player right now it would help them win some games but they aren’t winning a championship, possibly even a first round playoff series.

And to be fair, SGA was considered more of a high upside player than a role player at his draft. A better example would be Mikal Bridges or Doug McDermott.

Someone else compared Hali to George Hill and that is not a bad comp. Would you be happy with that?

Uhhh who's the Giannis in this draft

I was just responding to the bolded. If you only pick the highest floor player every time you are highly unlikely to win a championship.

[Leslie Forman]

Uhhh who's the Giannis in this draft

Pokusevski.

Unfortunately, he may also be the Tskitishvili of this draft.

I don't see it with him. He looks like a nice roleplayer to have but I don't see game warping attributes

It's not like everyone thought Giannis was gonna be this. They weren't even spelling his name right.

I mean if you really wanna just be silly stupid with a way out there ceiling prediction, you could say Pokusevski is gonna be Towns but with defense.

[cjbulls]

I'd rather draft an effective player, even if he'll never be an all-star, than draft a guy who might be a bust. Shai GA has been a huge asset for OKC, and I see Halliburton as a similar type player.

So you’d rather draft SGA than Giannis?

Look I get that it’s all a balance of floor vs. ceiling, but balancing those two can change depending on your roster. The Bulls still don’t have a star. If you added a role player right now it would help them win some games but they aren’t winning a championship, possibly even a first round playoff series.

And to be fair, SGA was considered more of a high upside player than a role player at his draft. A better example would be Mikal Bridges or Doug McDermott.

Someone else compared Hali to George Hill and that is not a bad comp. Would you be happy with that?

Calling SGA a known high upside prospect is revisionist history at it's finest. He went 11th in his draft.

I have no idea why you think sophomore Haliburton (who showed huge growth between his fresh - soph years) is comparable to college seniors.

How is that revisionist history? Kevin Knox was a high ceiling guy in the same draft. Mikal and Miles Bridges were high floor guys. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Of course anyone can turn into a star. Jimmy Butler was not a high ceiling guy but is fantastic. But you have to balance the likely outcomes. Halliburton doesn’t seem to have the shot or playing style of a star. Projects as a good combo guard but can’t take over a game. No shame in that.

[cjbulls]

Uhhh who's the Giannis in this draft

Pokusevski.

Unfortunately, he may also be the Tskitishvili of this draft.

I finally pulled up a video of him last night and it looked like he was literally playing against junior varsity boys. I know he’s young but watching the video totally threw me off. Good luck to the scouts evaluating him that have to make the call in the draft room.

[TheSuzerain]

So you’d rather draft SGA than Giannis?

Look I get that it’s all a balance of floor vs. ceiling, but balancing those two can change depending on your roster. The Bulls still don’t have a star. If you added a role player right now it would help them win some games but they aren’t winning a championship, possibly even a first round playoff series.

And to be fair, SGA was considered more of a high upside player than a role player at his draft. A better example would be Mikal Bridges or Doug McDermott.

Someone else compared Hali to George Hill and that is not a bad comp. Would you be happy with that?

Calling SGA a known high upside prospect is revisionist history at it's finest. He went 11th in his draft.

I have no idea why you think sophomore Haliburton (who showed huge growth between his fresh - soph years) is comparable to college seniors.

How is that revisionist history? Kevin Knox was a high ceiling guy in the same draft. Mikal and Miles Bridges were high floor guys. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Of course anyone can turn into a star. Jimmy Butler was not a high ceiling guy but is fantastic. But you have to balance the likely outcomes. Halliburton doesn’t seem to have the shot or playing style of a star. Projects as a good combo guard but can’t take over a game. No shame in that.

Kevin Knox wasn't high ceiling though. He was just bad.

What traits give someone ceiling?

[cjbulls]

Calling SGA a known high upside prospect is revisionist history at it's finest. He went 11th in his draft.

I have no idea why you think sophomore Haliburton (who showed huge growth between his fresh - soph years) is comparable to college seniors.

How is that revisionist history? Kevin Knox was a high ceiling guy in the same draft. Mikal and Miles Bridges were high floor guys. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Of course anyone can turn into a star. Jimmy Butler was not a high ceiling guy but is fantastic. But you have to balance the likely outcomes. Halliburton doesn’t seem to have the shot or playing style of a star. Projects as a good combo guard but can’t take over a game. No shame in that.

Kevin Knox wasn't high ceiling though. He was just bad.

What traits give someone ceiling?

He went 8 or 9 or whatever, no one relevant thought he was bad.

Athleticism, length, scoring ability and instincts are the big ones that come to mind.

[PaKii94]

So you’d rather draft SGA than Giannis?

Look I get that it’s all a balance of floor vs. ceiling, but balancing those two can change depending on your roster. The Bulls still don’t have a star. If you added a role player right now it would help them win some games but they aren’t winning a championship, possibly even a first round playoff series.

And to be fair, SGA was considered more of a high upside player than a role player at his draft. A better example would be Mikal Bridges or Doug McDermott.

Someone else compared Hali to George Hill and that is not a bad comp. Would you be happy with that?

Uhhh who's the Giannis in this draft

I was just responding to the bolded. If you only pick the highest floor player every time you are highly unlikely to win a championship.

Yeah it's true but there aren't any high ceiling guys to gamble on. The ones that people perceive have a high ceiling all have very obvious bust flaws.

[PaKii94]

Pokusevski.

Unfortunately, he may also be the Tskitishvili of this draft.

I don't see it with him. He looks like a nice roleplayer to have but I don't see game warping attributes

It's not like everyone thought Giannis was gonna be this. They weren't even spelling his name right.

I mean if you really wanna just be silly stupid with a way out there ceiling prediction, you could say Pokusevski is gonna be Towns but with defense.

Giannis was a skinny PG who hit a growth spurt. He was always relatively quick for his size. The key thing with him was he had a frame to put on muscle and retain his agility. With poku I don't see the same with his frame. Even if he does get strong I don't see him getting faster.
However he doesn't have a frame to bang with the big boys regardless of how much muscle he puts on (kinda like Lauri)

Towns is a completely different archetype

[JohnnyTapwater]

If you want Obi, how can you not prefer Okongwu?

Similarly dominant offensively in the paint at the NCAA level. Maybe not as explosive athletically, but still pretty solid there.

And defensively it's no contest.

Huge factor, and probably why people may want Obi over Okongwu.

[StunnerKO]

No thanks on Derrick Williams

[jump]

How is that revisionist history? Kevin Knox was a high ceiling guy in the same draft. Mikal and Miles Bridges were high floor guys. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Of course anyone can turn into a star. Jimmy Butler was not a high ceiling guy but is fantastic. But you have to balance the likely outcomes. Halliburton doesn’t seem to have the shot or playing style of a star. Projects as a good combo guard but can’t take over a game. No shame in that.

Kevin Knox wasn't high ceiling though. He was just bad.

What traits give someone ceiling?

He went 8 or 9 or whatever, no one relevant thought he was bad.

Athleticism, length, scoring ability and instincts are the big ones that come to mind.

I always thought Knox's instincts were trash. He had the body, but was soft as sh*t. No killer instinct. No intensity. He should have gone at the bottom of the first round.

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

If you want Obi, how can you not prefer Okongwu?

Similarly dominant offensively in the paint at the NCAA level. Maybe not as explosive athletically, but still pretty solid there.

And defensively it's no contest.

We've got excellent defensive centers and wings. We can afford Toppin's defensive liabilities with his considerable offensive upside.

[drosereturn]

If you want Obi, how can you not prefer Okongwu?

Similarly dominant offensively in the paint at the NCAA level. Maybe not as explosive athletically, but still pretty solid there.

And defensively it's no contest.

We've got excellent defensive centers and wings. We can afford Toppin's defensive liabilities with his considerable offensive upside.

Obi and Okongwu are all similar talents. It really depends on who is the best talent and whether Lauri or Carter gets move bc one needs to go.

[drosereturn]

Uhhh who's the Giannis in this draft

Pokusevski.

Unfortunately, he may also be the Tskitishvili of this draft.

I don't see it with him. He looks like a nice roleplayer to have but I don't see game warping attributes

Poku is the giannis of the draft. And no one really wanted giannis at the time either. I wanted him bc I was merely intrigued by his hands and wingspan.

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

Haven't seen this brought up at all but anyone know the deal with Killian Hayes's bundesliga contract? He has 2 years left so does that mean we're going to have to wait 2 years for this guy?

Also, (slightly off topic) highly recommend watching scouting vids on mute with anime soundtracks in the background for additional epicness:

Watch on YouTube

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

If you want Obi, how can you not prefer Okongwu?

Similarly dominant offensively in the paint at the NCAA level. Maybe not as explosive athletically, but still pretty solid there.

And defensively it's no contest.

We've got excellent defensive centers and wings. We can afford Toppin's defensive liabilities with his considerable offensive upside.

Obi and Okongwu are all similar talents. It really depends on who is the best talent and whether Lauri or Carter gets move bc one needs to go.

I disagree with this entire post.

They're not similar talents at all. Obi's got a confident 3 pointer. Okongwu took 4 all year.

And we don't need to move anyone to fit him in except maybe Thaddeus.

[kodo]

Some interesting trivia about "weak" draft classes.
https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/some-say-2020-nba-draft-class-weak-history-shows-plenty-talent-can-be-had

Consider this: every draft class since 2000 (excluding this year's because it's too early) has had at least two All-Stars. In the 18 drafts from 2000 to 2018, all but one class has had three or more All-Stars. Fourteen of those 18 drafts have produced at least four. And nine of them - so, half - had at least five All-Stars.

The 2013 draft, which infamously had Anthony Bennett go first overall, only had three All-Stars but still produced Victor Oladipo, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert. Giannis Antetokounmpo is an MVP and Gobert a defensive player of the year.

The one outlier class in terms of All-Stars is 2014, which only had two of them: Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. But that class was arguably fairly deep top-to-bottom.

In fact, in every single draft from 1969 to 2017 - 49 years - a future All-Star was on the board at No. 9.

[MrFortune3]

Some interesting trivia about "weak" draft classes.
https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/some-say-2020-nba-draft-class-weak-history-shows-plenty-talent-can-be-had

Consider this: every draft class since 2000 (excluding this year's because it's too early) has had at least two All-Stars. In the 18 drafts from 2000 to 2018, all but one class has had three or more All-Stars. Fourteen of those 18 drafts have produced at least four. And nine of them - so, half - had at least five All-Stars.

The 2013 draft, which infamously had Anthony Bennett go first overall, only had three All-Stars but still produced Victor Oladipo, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert. Giannis Antetokounmpo is an MVP and Gobert a defensive player of the year.

The one outlier class in terms of All-Stars is 2014, which only had two of them: Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. But that class was arguably fairly deep top-to-bottom.

In fact, in every single draft from 1969 to 2017 - 49 years - a future All-Star was on the board at No. 9.

Every time someone claims the class is weak, the best teams find a way to mine talent and develop them.