Slim Charless wrote:AtheJ415 wrote:Slim Charless wrote:
This obsession that he has with bringing up Luka is hilarious too. With absolutely no proof he just goes and declares that Jones would take JJJ is funny. This is despite the fact the Jones loves to take kids with multiple years of experience and who are smart. That's EXACTLY what Luka's rep was coming out. Everything Jones has shown us leads to him taking Luka with no hesitation.
He's salty his guy didn't get taken and is spamming the board with complaints. There's a number of mocks that had Smith being taken in 13-16 range. We have no proof that he'd still be there if we traded down to 18 or wherever. Boston and other teams needed a big.
Plus, he played PF in college, the constant comments about how the kid's a C are funny when they're followed immediately by complaints about how weak his base and thin his legs are. He's a 4, besides with Ayton there we hopefully have an anchor for our defense and this kid can do things that he excells at like blindside blocks.
The proof is obvious. James Jones likes to go against the grain and has repeatedly stated the criteria he looks for in a draft pick. He has also followed that same criteria in FA signings. Luka fits only 1 of the 3 criteria, and the 2 he didn't fit were ones he was terrible at. If Jones wanted Luka and Sarver knew he was going to replace McD with him as rumored, then we'd have Luka.
Please provide ANY proof in Jones's history as our GM that in an absolutely loaded draft, he would go for the youngest player at the top with a low defensive ceiling and huge shooting question marks, and who was considered by many / most to be the 1st or 2nd best player in the draft.
Luka fills at least 2 if not all of the criteria Jones loves:
He's smart.
He can shoot
He had at the time more experience than anyone else as he's been playing pro for YEARS before that draft.
Where do you get JJJ of players is wild. Wasn't he the youngest player in that class? He was barely over 18 I thought. Luka was better in every way except defense even back then.
Back to the point though. Smith has never-to my knowledge played C in his life. He's been a 4 this whole time and all of a sudden he's a C now-but he has a weak base and isn't very strong? That makes no sense. He's a
more athletic Toppin with less scoring ability but better defensive capabilities.
Luka was nowhere near considered a good shooter coming out, and he's always and still is regarded as a terrible defender, so he checks 1 of the 3 boxes Jones claims to look for. You're also separating out intelligence and passing into 2 separate areas which is not how Jones has ever described it. High IQ is typically a synonym for good passer. You could say offensive and defensive awareness too but that's included in a good defender or all around offensive player to begin with. If you wnated to go that route, fine, but then he checks only 2/5 boxes b/c defensive awareness would have to be its own.
Jones knew he was going to be the GM, as did Sarver. If he wanted Luka, we'd have Luka right now. Also, at no point in Jones's entire GM history has he ever targeted a guy in the draft who was even considered a below average playmaker at his position.
Mikal Bridges (biggest weakness is dribbling), Cam (non-playmaker), Jevon Carter (complete non-playmaking PG), and Jalen Smith (averages more turnovers than assists). Even Oubre and Dillon Brooks. He has shown no propensity to value a playmaking, non-shooting, non-defender forward. He very clearly values playmaking at the 1 with Book and everyone else being a 3 and D guy. That's been the makeup of every lineup he has tried to add.
Also the bold is not true, and the reason he's seen as a 5 is because if a player struggles to stay in front of players in college, and has the size to move up, he typically does. NBA quickness is a different animal. Ayton was a 4 in college. Do you see Ayton as a 4 in the NBA? No. Smith is seen as a 5 for valid reasons. If he improves his quickness could he play the 4? Sure. For this pick to be justifiable he has to be able to play it because to spend the 10th pick on a backup center to your current center would be GM malpractice. Point being, it's not out of the question Smith might be able to play the 4 in the NBA, but to act like it's not a valid question as to whether he can stay in front of NBA players at that position would be wrong.