DCasey91 wrote:Yay we agreed on something!
I actually think if the Cavs wanted to take a flyer on a swing franchise potential player it would be Noel or Mcelmore gulp.
Regardless of the way things panned out Giannis was never in conversation for number one and ten onwards was his barometer and even then it was risky at the time. Sure you could say the same for Bennett, but Noel really did have legitimate number one pick discussion and Mcelmore had an excellent freshman season (not quite Moody comp more on ball creation than that). It was just the exposure they had.
It then becomes malpractice to put up a risky move like that. For example say a bigger more athletic Sengun comes from a legit league and was never in number one pick type convo. It’d be more like Sengun in 2nd div/not 1st that played really well at the meetup pre draft. So you can easily attest it to form or flash in the pan play.
I still wouldn’t take a Giannis type at one (extremely rare to find let alone develop one anyway) with that type of exposure. Now if it was from a legit comp and more playing time with suitable peers on talent than yes for sure. Still highly risky imo
I think there’s 2 guys who have the upside to be superstar players in that draft based on specs (not numbers).
-Giannis or Bennett
But you got to have the balls of steel to pick Giannis. Benett is the safer choice between the two.
But everything considered, this is why Oladipo was the right choice for me in that draft. He was balanced between upside, numbers and risk.
But its such an interesting mental model that influenced Ujiri’s future thought process. I believe he’s trying to not miss out on the next Giannis. So he thinks this type of archetype should be valued. And he’s been getting successful hit rates with it..
Yes he flopped on Bruno Cabuclo.
Lucas Noguiera showed some flashes but flopped.
Hit on Siakam
Hit on OG
Hit on Boucher
Likely hit on Barnes
Sure you say, “but he didnt draft them with a top pick.”
I think when he decided to choose Barnes over Suggs, there could be a sign that he may have the guts to pick some guy of this archetype as a top pick over the typical archetype for number pick (a balanced one). This is case to case though as I dont see he’d be picking Barnes over Jalen Green.
There’s never been a time in history when we look back and say that the people who were censoring free speech were the good guys.