I think this makes sense. If they go with Bender at 3 I think you'd see someone ready to contribute like Valentine at 16. If they go Murray/Hield/Dunn, I think it would make sense to go with a high upside guy like Skal, Maker, Davis or Luwawu at 16. Then draft and stash your hearts out through the rest of the field. I think Young is gone unless he has a great training camp and summer league.
Dollar for dollar, 31 is the highest value pick in the draft. First round talent at second round prices.
Ainge offered a King's Ransom for the pick that became Kaminsky, but his target was Justice Winslow.
Want to sell me on Jaylen Brown? As of now, he's the one guy I'd be upset to land with that first pick. I get that he has great size and athleticism, he certainly has defensive potential, and he does get to the line at a high rate, but his shot needs a complete overhaul and his terrible assist/turnover ratio, high foul rate and low steal% are red flags for his court awareness. From what I've seen he doesn't really have the ability to create for himself in the half court. If he's getting minutes, I just can't see him being anything other than a significant detriment on a decent team for the next couple of years.
I also don't want him at #3 but I don't want Anyone at #3, at 6-9 or so I think is a good gamble as I think there only 3 players capable of developing into superstars and the other two won't be available (who have their own issues - lack of motivation and lack of bulk).
But if there's no trading partner and we stay at 3, at that point it doesn't matter if you'd rather take him 6 through 9.
I'm getting there...
He's not hiring an agent.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-a-top-prospect-is-bucking-the-system-181542611.html
I'm with you on Prince- he looks like a 3 and D NBA player to me right now- and I love Murray's upside too. I watched a bunch of Furkan Korkmaz this morning and he can do pretty much everything offensively that I'd want a SG to do and he's one of the youngest players to declare. Good size for the position and he looks like one of the best shooters in the draft, though there's a minor hitch in his release that slow it down a bit. He's explosive yet smooth, with a really good first step, a good ball-handler and savvy passer. Runs the pick and roll well, and he looks very impressive moving without the ball and spotting up off of screens for a guy that young. He's got some Devin Booker in his game- though far weaker, but significantly more athletic. He'll need to put on 20 pounds of muscle before he can even think of defending anyone in the NBA, but his offense looks really advanced. Like Bender, he's a very young guy barely getting minutes on a top team in second-tier pro league. Any idea how the U18/U19 competition stacks up compared to the NCAA?
Great post! I've been wondering lately if we could generalize about some of Danny's draft day tendencies. In addition to chubby shooters and freshman slippers, he seems to target athletic PGs, tough combo guards, skinny wing shooters, bigs with bad bodies, and in the second round in particular, tweener forwards who have a 4's game in a 3's body.
Ahh, but we already have prospects who include a athletic PG, a tough combo guard, a skinny wing shooter and a 2nd round 4 in a 3 body (Mickey = Gomes 2.0 good call I hadn't thought of that one). But, this offseason we probably lose a big with a bad body who is chubby & likes to shoot & was a freshman slipper (sullinger). So, that's clearly a need with one of those 16, 23 or 31 picks (Diamond Stone - book it, lock of the century).
He's been my target in the 1st round all winter and now with his latest surgery plus inability to workout for teams he'd be an ideal early 2nd round flyer on a 2+2 team option deal. I have no doubt about his game being better suited for the NBA......the foot is the question mark with him.
Sorry to pick on you, because I've seen a lot of people make essentially the same point, but why do you think a team that finished 28th in 3-point shooting % is all set for guards?
If you lose Turner and Sullinger, forwards, you have addition by subtraction, especially when it comes to percentage of 3pters made.
The team has a pretty solid guard rotation but needs an upgrade at either the point or the wing and that upgrade needs to be able to shoot. I think a player like Batum would fit really well here. He can be a small ball 3 or a regular 2. He can shoot and he plays very good defense. He deserves to be paid and he might not want to be a 6th man, but he's exactly what we need if we're not going to trade for an elite wing.
The easiest upgrade for the C's this summer is to find someone to play Evan Turner's minutes who doesn't suck. And while Turner is listed as a forward, I'd wager he played at least as many minutes at the two guard spots as he did at the 3. Besides, in the modern NBA it probably makes more sense to think about your lineup as three perimeter guys and two bigs rather than as a traditional GGFFC lineup -- and in that way of thinking, Turner is a perimeter guy, not a big.
Good stuff. I hope Danny loads up with a couple of these guys. One at 23 and another at 31 would be ideal.
