NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 One last thing about the "greatest prospect in NBA history based on advanced data points" performance last season. Poku in 45 NBA games averaged: 8.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.2 apg, 0.9 bpg on 34% FG | 28% 3FG | 73% FT in 24.2 mpg Poku in 13 NBA G-League games averaged: 7.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.1 bpg on 31% FG | 27% 3FG | 57% FT in 25.2 mpg So Poku scored less, in more minutes, on worse efficiency across the board in the G-League bubble then he did in actual NBA games. This may point to the idea that playing on an NBA team with more structure, better coaching, better spacing, and with better teammates actually helps players play better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texansfan713 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 (edited) 44 minutes ago, NYRaider said: @Kirill @Texansfan713 I'd say Sam Presti has to be one of, if not the most, overrated GM's in the league when it comes to drafting/talent evaluation. The only two impressive, out of the box picks that he made that actually worked out were Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. Durant fell into his lap at #2 after the Blazers took Oden. And Harden fell into his lap #3 after the Grizzles took Thabeet because they had just drafted OJ Mayo the previous year who was coming off of a good rookie season. He then chose to extend Serge Ibaka and gave Harden away for nothing because he thought he was more important to the team. And hasn't hit on any other draft pick since then in like a decade, lol. i'll give him the westbrook pick as the best decision he has made. people going to say picking durant, but durant was the easiest decision a team could make picking 2 in the past decade or 2. Edited July 12, 2021 by Texansfan713 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 2 minutes ago, Texansfan713 said: i'll give him the westbrook pick as the best decision he has made. people going to say picking durant, but durant was the easiest decision a team could make picking 2 in the past decade. And the Westbrook pick was heavily influenced by Troy Weaver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 10 minutes ago, Texansfan713 said: i'll give him the westbrook pick as the best decision he has made. people going to say picking durant, but durant was the easiest decision a team could make picking 2 in the past decade or 2. I warned @Kirill who was plotting on Cunningham and Mobley to preorder his Scottie Barnes jersey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsoxsuck05 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 13 hours ago, NYRaider said: It was over the course of a 13 game sample size in a last minute make shift bubble in Orlando while he was the youngest player in the league and playing with a nagging injury. IIRC he agitated the foot injury during their 3rd game and it clearly bothered him. Through the first 3 games he was balling and everyone that saw him healthy during the scrimmages before the bubble said he was by far the best player on the court. There have been multiple executives, former players, and coaches that have praised his toughness, character, and work ethic. He'll be able to defend 1-4 and I totally disagree that he's a tweener PF. The biggest swing factor for him will be hitting 3's with more consistency. The hype around him is because he came a year early flashed elite level talent in scrimmages and in the bubble games and his physical profile is essentially identical to Kawhi Leonards. Brian Shaw said that he reminds him so much of a young Jaylen Brown coming into the league. We've seen it time and time again, teams pass on guys with elite god given ability for "safer" players, those guys go on to be dudes and the guys with the elite tools become great players. I mean in just recent draft history we've seen it with guys like Jaylen Brown, Pascal Siakam, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Giannis etc. Counterpoint: Sixers trade Mikal Bridges for Ziare Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 5 minutes ago, redsoxsuck05 said: Counterpoint: Sixers trade Mikal Bridges for Ziare Smith How does that relate to Kuminga at all? Smith was an unknown that came out of nowhere and a 6'3" SF/PF. The 76ers also traded up for Fultz, drafted Okafor when they had just taken Embiid the previous year, and took Dario Saric over Zach LaVine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 Looking at CBS top 100 players list before the season makes it hard to be excited for the draft, low key, lol. Of their top 100 list 30 were either former #1 overall picks or top 5 picks and 26 were former lottery picks. In their top 25 players only Kawhi, Giannis, Butler, and Jokic were non-lottery picks. So basically unless you have a top 5 pick or lottery pick, the player you take will probably not be very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 Non-lottery 1st round picks... Top 10 players: Giannis, Kawhi Top 15 players: Butler Top 25-50 players: Siakam, Lowry, Gobert, Jrue Holiday, Vucevic, Nurkic Top 51-70 players: Levert, Bogdan Bogdanovic, John Collins, Tobias Harris, OG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 (edited) So if you're picking outside of the lottery in the 1st round drafting a PG or defensive big probably won't net you a good starter as Lowry and Holiday are the only PG's and Rudy is the only defensive big. If you are going to take a big, looking for one that's already pretty developed offensively is the move, although it's an outlier to hit on one of those guys either as Collins, Vuc, and Nurkic were the only 3. 8/14 of those guys that panned out into good players were 6'6"+ wings with 6'10"+ wingspans. The only non-lottery potential first round picks that fit that mold are Joshua Primo, Brandon Boston Jr, Joe Wieskamp, JT Thor, Trey Murphy, Ziaire Williams, Roko Prkacin, and Greg Brown. Edited July 12, 2021 by NYRaider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 Greg Brown is essentially the same prospect as Jaden McDaniels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsoxsuck05 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 2 hours ago, NYRaider said: How does that relate to Kuminga at all? Smith was an unknown that came out of nowhere and a 6'3" SF/PF. The 76ers also traded up for Fultz, drafted Okafor when they had just taken Embiid the previous year, and took Dario Saric over Zach LaVine. That was the first example that popped into my head of a guy who was viewed as low-upside rotational player being passed over for the sexy upside of a younger player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 7 minutes ago, redsoxsuck05 said: That was the first example that popped into my head of a guy who was viewed as low-upside rotational player being passed over for the sexy upside of a younger player. Bridges was a consensus top 10 prospect while Zhaire rose late in the draft process. And in the case of Bridges he has pretty much panned out as everyone expected he would, a very good 3&D, high end role player. Zhaire not panning out also wasn't purely basketball related. First he broke his foot which caused him to miss a ton of time. Then he had a crazy allergic reaction that almost killed him. He lost 40 pounds and was hospitalized for 6 weeks and ruined his career. He only played in 13 games for the 76ers. The debate between Barnes/Kuminga is much different. Both guys were top recruits that came into the year as projected lottery picks. Barnes is extremely raw offensively and can't shoot either. The only reason people view him as a "safer" pick is because even if his offensive game never develops he projects as a really good defensive player. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 Will a team in the lottery really take Corey Kispert? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sllim Pickens Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Any teams you think looking to move out of the first for the Pistons seconds? I'd like to get back into that top 20-23 range instead of having so many seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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