Post#29 » by HotelVitale » Sat Jun 6, 2020 4:08 am
I wanted to shout out my man Negrodamus from the Sixers draft threads. Lived up to his name a bunch of time by coming out hard for players that, in retrospect, we all should've seen coming. His signature is 'these picks would be perfect for us, but we'll inevitably end up taking whichever overrated schlub the draft websites have higher than them.' Those threads are all locked because they're dated to those particular drafts, but here are a couple examples. (If he were only our GM those years, sigh.)
In 2017 he spent weeks pitching Donovan Mitchell as a top pick and possibility for the Sixers at #5 with posts like this:
"I mean, if you objectively look at it, he's a better at almost everything than Ball except for passing and three point shooting (however I like Mitchell's potential as a shooter in the NBA much more since he's got a form shooting coaches can work with). He's a more versatile offensive player than Monk, by a lot. He is on the same tier defensively (some might argue Mitchell is better) than Fox and he can also get his shot wherever he wants on the court, and, you know, actually make it. He's infinity times better at defense than Fultz and Smith. On top of that, he's in the same echelon of athlete as all of them, vertically and laterally. So, when we're talking about potential and swinging for the fences, I'm not sure where an explosive, two way scoring sophomore guard falls in that category."
The year after he beat the drum for the Sixers taking SGA at #10 for months and months:
"I've really been struggling to keep SGA (low). His tourney season (SEC/NCAA) might be the best during that stretch of any guard. 6 games: 20ppg (52% FG, 54% 2FG, 42% 3FG), 8 FTA per game (84% FT), 6 apg, 6 rpg, 2 spg, 2.5 topg. Efficient with volume. The funny thing is, if you do the last 10 games, it's arguably more efficient in the scoring department. He was just dominating people."
"Not to be the SGA propaganda machine, but he's the reason this team made a complete turn around...Along with him being determined to be great and having the stats + ideal height/length makes him pretty can't miss to me"
In '17 there were a couple of us who were very vocal about how Fultz was overrated, but he was the only one who kept repeating that Tatum was the real star:
"I'm still a bit confused as to how Tatum isn't even in the discussion for #1 or even #2. I don't think I've wavered off him as the best player since midway through conference play. 2 way player with size, agility to defend multiple positions, and a foul drawing scorer with textbook jumper."
"His size and skill makes me think he's the best prospect in the draft. He's been great off ball and in ISO situations ever since Duke has been honed in. The idea that he's just a ball dominant scorer is really a fallacy now. He's actually very much playing within their system and thriving. I think people see the "ISO KILLER" headline for that DX video and assume he's a ball hog."
"BTW, Tatum is the best player in this draft. He's scoring at will right now. Carry on."
"Mock drafts have Celtics taking Tatum. They're going to end up with possibly the best player in the draft and he fits their system. Good for them, I guess."
