Originally Posted by
Pelicanidae
Yeah, would hate to pick around the #10 or #12 spot and get some scrub like *checks who has been available in the late lottery over the last ten years* Tyrese Maxey, Desmond Bane, Malachi Flynn, Xavier Tillman, Paul Reed, PJ Washington, Matisse Thybulle, Brandon Clarke, Nic Claxton, Talen Horton Tucker, Miles Bridges, Michael Porter Jr, Donte DiVincenzo, Kevin Huerter, Mitchell Robinson, Gary Trent Jr, De'Anthony Melton, Shake Milton, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, John Collins, Jarrett Allen, OG Anunoby, Derrick White, Monte Morris, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Beasley, Pascal Siakam, Dejounte Murray, Ivica Zubac, Myles Turner, Devin Booker, etc.
Why would I do that when I could trade the #10 pick to get Larry Nance, who is worse than a huge portion of those players and is also 28 and so has very little likelihood of improving much further?
Thybulle, Washington, Bane, Tillman, Bridges, Porter J, DiVincenzo, Huerter, Robinson, Mitchell, Bam, Collins, Allen, OG, Sabonis, Siakam, Murray, Zubac, Turner, Beasley, and Booker are all better today than Nance is, and of the guys who aren't better (Flynn, Maxey, Reed, THT, etc) they are basically all at least 3 years younger.
If you have faith in your drafting department, why would you trade a lottery pick for someone who on his best day is not as good as potential, and realistic, 10th pick outcomes? Like, we all know that expecting a guy you pick around there to be Bam or Booker is a bit unrealistic, but it's not unreal to suggest that if you draft well this year, there will be guys who can produce Malik Beasley levels of value for a team within their rookie contract hovering around the 10th pick, and that's already better value than you'd get from Nance in the same time period and is probably cheaper and you'd have their full bird rights at the end as well.