Originally Posted by
new city champ
I do but I don't think Lively is seen as a foul machine and his defensive instincts are way ahead of Jax's even though Hayes has been in the league for four years (FWIW the guys at the Game Theory podcast just mocked Lively to the Pels @ 14, though to be fair they said they'd probably trade the pick if they were Griff, which I wouldn't be keen to do). I watched a fair number of Duke games this year during the ACC season and he really showed a lot of growth as a player, something I can't say for Hayes as much as I'd like to.
I'm not sure I agree about your formulation on drafting for need. This is conventional wisdom I realize, but I think Pels are a bit past the just take the best guy and sort the roster later phase. First of all, you never really know who that best player will end up being. Second, if a guy has an easily transportable skill set--shooting, rim protection--I think the rook is often as good a bet as the FA and cheaper too. Of course I'm not passing on a guy near the top of my board to fill a need in the draft, but towards the middle of the round where the tier is pretty jumbled, I'm happy to factor in need in which guy I pick.
The Pels need bench shooting/scoring and rim protection. If they can come out of the draft with either, or preferably both, of those, I'll be happy. I'm just much less enthused for another teenager who you can dream on and always seems to be a year away from being a year away. When the Pels were racked with injuries this year and really needed their depth, I could look at the end of the bench and see three such LOTTERY picks--Jax, Kira and Dyson--who STILL couldn't make it on to the floor. We don't need another project adolescent. We are ready to make a move up now, if we can sort out our injury issues. But we need more outside shooting and interior defense to get there. This draft can help address one or both of those problems.