Originally Posted by
Pelicanidae
I think it's why I'm not nearly as high on Kuminga as other people, as one example, and why I tend to like Franz Wagner more than a few other people. I just think someone like Franz has a skillset that, while he will improve as he works on other things, will allow him to play NBA minutes without just being terrible quite quickly; stuff like team defense and high on-court awareness does that.
Don't get me wrong, I am very much in favour of drafting for potential and upside if there's someone there you think could really be special. I was in favour of drafting Jax over Bitadze for example, even though Bitadze had shown more pre-NBA, because I think Jax has very special upside.
But if you have to pick between two players and one is good at basketball already with some room to grow and the other would have to have several miracles happen in order to produce impact, why draft the second? Draft Bane, draft Tillman, draft Malachi Flynn, it'll do your team some good.
This year, I think Jared Butler is going to be one of those ''how did he fall so far, he's just good'' fallers. Probably the best handle in the draft, has shown real growth as a shooter, okay enough team defender to not be detrimental. Wouldn't take him in the lottery but he could easily be top 20, and he's probably going to go 35th or something.