Originally Posted by
MichaelMcNamara
I wouldnt take Ball at 13. I think he eventually has a decent career, but I think his first team will be massively, massively disappointed.
Skill wise - awesome at some things. But I want my distributors to be hard workers, accountable, willing to sacrifice, dive on the floor, etc. LaMelo is not that. I wouldnt touch him. But I'd take a look when he is 25 or 26 after he has bounced around and been humbled.
Haliburton is a guy who -- if he goes to the right place, he has a Mike Conley like career. Wrong place and he tries to do too much and is inefficient. And I think a team with Zion and Ingram is the right place. I think he would fit awesome with them long term. He wouldnt have to be the primary creator all the time, would have great finishers who run the court, and likely good spacers to hit when he gets teams to collapse.
As for "three first rounders" -- I think if they are all lotto protected or even top 10 protected or even picks in this draft (say we trade Jrue and get 19 in the deal and so its 13, 19, and a future lotto protected 1st)..... those picks are worth giving up if you know a guy can be a core piece with Ingram and Zion. And I believe in those 3 guys and love their fit with Ingram and Zion.
The whole point of getting picks in trades was to have the ability to trade a bunch of them for a core piece. And I believe those 3 guys would be. And where the Pelicans are picking this year and will be picking in future years -- history says you have a very small chance of landing a long term core piece. When you do, yes its awesome and catapaults your franchise forward. But for every Giannis and Bam, there are 12-15 guys who really dont do anything for the team who took them in the 11-30 range