Nuntius wrote:Tom White wrote:Nuntius wrote:I don't see how that's a win. At #13 in a deep draft, you try to get someone at the level of Sabonis with $3 million, not someone at the level of Doug with $3 million.
Who do you suggest the Pacers should have taken instead?
Moses Moody was the obvious pick if you wanted to go for an NBA-ready guy who projects as an elite-role player that could maybe become something more in the future.
Keon Johnson was a possibility if you wanted an explosive athlete with a great defensive presence and a very high motor that could develop into a two-way player. Granted, Keon Johnson is very raw offensively but his defense alone can earn him a rotational spot.
Jalen Johnson was another possibility if you wanted another great athlete with defensive and playmaking potential. There were some character concerns with him, though, (fair or not) so I understand why teams shied away and he fell.
Alperen Sengun was a player who was much more productive than Duarte was last year, despite the fact that he was playing against grown men in a professional league as an 18 year old. He won the MVP in that league, by the way. Meanwhile, Duarte only managed to post good numbers as a 24 year old playing against 19 and 20 year olds. When it comes to production, it is straight-out silly that Sengun was picked after Duarte. Even if Sengun wasn't 5 years younger, he should have gone higher due to production alone. Now, I didn't want us to pick Sengun due to positional reasons but if the argument is production then, yeah, he was much better than Duarte.
Usman Garuba was an option if you wanted a Forward/Center with a ton of defensive versatility and top-notch defensive instincts and awareness. His offense is a work in progress but he has the athletic profile to be a rim runner and PnR roll man, at the very least.
Tre Mann, Josh Christopher and Cameron Thomas were all options if you wanted a scoring guard.
Jaden Springer, Ayo Dosunmu, Miles McBride and Jared Butler were all options if you wanted a defensive guard.
Joe Wieskamp was an option if you wanted a pure shooter.
Trey Murphy III was another option if you wanted a 3&D guy.
JT Thor was another option if you wanted a very versatile defender with great length and athletic tools that can also shoot the 3.
Sharife Cooper was an option if you wanted a very good passer that can also score but is undersized.
Obviously, I'm not saying that all of them should be picked ahead of Duarte. That's mostly the case for the ones that had more than one sentence dedicated to them and not for the ones bunched up together in a single sentence. And yes, not all of them will work out. Some will work out great, while others will fail. That happens every year, after all. But I still see more potential in the ones I mentioned than I see in Duarte.
FWIW, I totally agree with you. This was a terrible pick under the circumstances. And now I see we've signed Torrey Craig. It's like we are collecting #8 and #9 rotational guys. Torrey will be perfect for sucking up minutes you could allocate to Duarte and Brissett