2025 General Draft Discussion 2

[EmpireFalls]

So as of now the roster is

starters: LaMelo ~ Green ~ Miller ~ Miles ~ Nurkic
bench5: Mann ~ Kon ~ Okogie ~ Grant (IR) ~ Diabate
depth: Micic ~ NSJr ~ McNeeley ~ Salaun

Awful frontcourt. Only one positive defender at positions 1-3. Lacking rim pressure. Good shooting and decent passing.

No exaggeration that is the worst front court in years and years, not just for us but arguably the entire NBA. We’ll obviously make a move this summer for a center but still.

[JDR720]

We need to use the 2nd rounders on an athletic wing defender and one of the centers for sure.

[JustBuzzin]

Ace wins ROTY which will be on the table considering he's going to have the best chance at shot attempts is gonna hurt.

Even the few Kon supporters must admit Ace/Tre both had higher ceilings.

I'm done for tonight hopefully I feel better about this draft tomorrow. I'm out!

[Hornet Mania]

If you want some solace and actually some feel good about tonight’s picks, watch this 5 minute segment from CBS Sports that focuses on the Liam pick but also speaks to the Kon selection. Matt Norlander is raving about these selections, gives the Hornets an A on the night. Says we got two of the most competitive, won’t back down skilled basketball players available. Now I can sleep…

https://youtu.be/baQi48sEhfo?si=IeQZmCAGuWDAEUzA

This was the copium I needed

It does make me feel a lot better about the potential of McNeeley.

[Bassman]

Here is the take on Kon being selected from CBS Sports. Good breakdown and analysis:

https://youtu.be/1_fHiSAuuQ0?si=b5pftwykfA-89Wwb

[GiggitySmalls]

Assuming Fleming gets picked in the first couple selections before were up again, I'd go Reynaud/Kalkbrenner with the at 33/34 and let them dual it out for center.

Reynaud is mobile enough and good enough of a shooter, could also play some 4 too.

Sent from my motorola edge (2021) using RealGM mobile app

Im down with this idea. If we can end up with Fleming and either reynaud or kalkbrenner then we can honestly say we drafted 4 1st round talent players. Thats best case scenario. Which would make the entirety of this draft class good with me.

Sent from my SM-S936U using RealGM mobile app

[fatlever]

Kinda funny that Nick Richards went from the starting center for the Suns to the 3rd string center within a span of five minutes.

[fatlever]

I havent read back through the thread so I'm just making sure nobody here had an aneurysm.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Mark Williams situation. I'm not surprised at the trade and I'm not super disappointed in the value. I'm disappointed that it didn't work out given the enormous potential that he had as a player. I don't know where it all went south between mark and the front office. I don't know if something happened for them to want to trade him in the first place or if they just couldn't see eye to eye after he came back from the trade. I'm not sure we will ever really know what went down.

What is clear is that getting a center and a point guard is now priority whether it's through the draft or free agency or trade.

I also did chuckle a little bit that ace ended up in Utah rather than one of his preferred destinations on the East Coast. He'll have his chance to get up a ton of shots once they pull the plug on the season in December. It's still odd to me that he didn't want to play with the Sixers. I mean he had a chance to join two Hall of Famers and another All Star on an absolutely stacked team that if everything clicked could compete for the finals over the next few years. If he's as good as he thinks he is he would have risen to the top and been a key contributor on that roster. Not to mention that Philadelphia is pretty close to Rutgers. Now he's going out west to Utah, beautiful state, but definitely not where he wanted to be. In the Western Conference where it's going to be damn near impossible to compete for a top four playoff spot in the near future. I mean they've got a good front office in coach going for them I guess. gonna be a lot of empty stats for a while.

[fatlever]

Read on Twitter

[fatlever]

Read on Twitter

[fatlever]

Tonight was probably not a great night for NSJ... And with mann most likely coming back... Minutes will be tough for him next season.

[driveandkick]

I would probably grade the draft a D so far, terrible on all sides to me.

Bad value on Kon, could of moved down.
Bad value on Mark- took on bad money too.
McNeely when you just drafted Kon makes no sense.

Now we will watching Raynaud come off the board before we pick tomorrow to really solidify an F.

I just, how do you know this? Did Jeff hit you up and tell you what offers we had? How do you know Utah wouldn’t have taken him fifth (there was multiple reporting that said they were high on him)

[yosemiteben]

Trading Mark for this package doesn't make any sense.

It seems to me to make a ton of sense and folks just don't like where it points - Mark has major injury issues, LAL was correct to reject the trade, we weren't willing to bet on him overcoming those issues ourselves, and we moved him for whatever value we could because we didn't believe his value would go up before the deadline next year.

It also makes sense if the Hornets front office is bad at talent evaluation and don't like Mark as a player.

I actually don't think that makes sense. Even if they don't like him as a player, if they trusted he'd at least stay healthy it's obvious that there is market interest in him and it would make sense to extend him, show him being healthy, and then trade him for better value. To me this trade shows they think that's not worth gambling on.

Honestly I was worried that he was on such a substantial load management when he came back post-ASB, but I hoped it was just them trying to make sure he was healthy over the summer. In light if this trade, it seems pretty telling that they don't trust him to stay healthy without substantial load management.

[MasterIchiro]

Tonight was probably not a great night for NSJ... And with mann most likely coming back... Minutes will be tough for him next season.

Longterm, true.

But with Josh Green out, he will get minutes and rope.

[driveandkick]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=xpgkpbdmCQHLrpIYBMrHOw

I know a lot of you think this is more or less meaningless or irrelevant when considering potential flaws these players may have. But I legitimately, truly think this matters

[KingCat]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=xpgkpbdmCQHLrpIYBMrHOw

I know a lot of you think this is more or less meaningless or irrelevant when considering potential flaws these players may have. But I legitimately, truly think this matters

Ah yes. Brings me back to 2012 when we picked up another famed culture changer in MKG.

If I recall, he led us to years of success and prosperity.

[countryboi]

Drafting culture over talent is not a winning strategy unless you have excellent coaching, and even then its capped.

[Bassman]

I wake this morning, with not much quality sleep, and reassess all that transpired. Here are my morning musings FWIW:

1. I suspect Kon was the primary target for Jeffie and Charles…at least 1B to VJ’s 1A. We will likely never know what was truly offered as trade back. But one analyst said no team was convinced CLT would take Ace or Fears, so any offers were likely weak. I’m sure Jeffie was afraid Utah would take Kon if he moved down to 6 or 8 (same claim he had regarding taking Tiddy so high).

2. This group really didn’t want Mark…both many months ago and even after he returned and played decently. Why? Maybe it was fit. Maybe they felt he didn’t do everything throughout his injury rehab to get stronger. Maybe they felt he was weak. As of now, and likely even after the second round, we have no center of consequence. Thats a bad place to be.

3. Prior to the draft, many of us discussed wanting players who REALLY knew how to play, and brought very defined skills that you could bank on. I know I’m tired of LONG term development hopium projects. For better or worse, Kon and Liam certainly fit the former. I do believe both guys will help this team score points, move the ball, set screens and generally play high IQ. They really ARE intense competitors. With their weaker defensive postures, will all the other things matter enough to offset? We shall see.

4. We desperately need bigs. Our front line sucks. Hornets need to find a way to trade up for pick 31. Raynaud is a better player than Kalkbrenner and has room to grow. I fear he and Fleming will be gone with both picks just ahead of us.

[Snidely FC]

thoughts:

2nd year in a row we were royally screwed by the lottery

I get building culture, and value aside I like Kon and LIam as players, and see their value added re:culture, but don't get the fit at all with existing roster features Lamelo and Miles. Are they planning to trade Lamelo and MIles for less wonky personalities?

I assume they watched the playoffs this year but maybe didn't get the memo on Athleticism

[KingCat]

Drafting culture over talent is not a winning strategy unless you have excellent coaching, and even then its capped.

When the Heat started to get their "culture" moniker, they did it despite having buffoons like Waiters and Whiteside on the team.

They pulled it off cause coach Spo demands respect and he knows what the hell he is doing. That doesn't sound like our coach SmiLee at all.

Kon isn't changing the culture unless he and his 12 bros kidnap Melo and force him to lift everyday, babysit Miles while taking him to therapy, and then all stack up in a trench coat so they can be our starting center.