2022 NBA Draft Lottery

Griffin: We like the human Murray. He is a good respirator of oxygen, which we also respirate. We do not use nasal prosthesis to capture your toxic environment for later disposal.

What do people think of Malaki Branham?

I think he has more star upside than some of the other shooters in the class, like AJ Griffin and Mathurin. He is in that class as a shooter. He has a mature 3 level scoring which is rare in a player who is so young. He is one of those guys who can get past his defender frequently and it's hard to figure out how he does it---I think he plays with awesome leverage and drives very close to the ground, which is part of it. He can create really good shots in the midrange and gets layups and dunks more than most really good shooters.

Two things I don't like: 1. He isn't as much of a gunner from 3 as you would ideally want, his off-the-dribble shooting is mostly from 2, and he doesn't launch really deep 3s.
2. He doesn't do much in terms of nonscoring parts of his game and is disinterested at best as a defender.

I think out of the guards in this draft, he is up there with Sharpe and Ivy in terms of potential upside. Less physical upside than those guys, but he could be the best shooter in the draft and the handle and athleticism is good enough to weaponize that.

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Originally Posted by Taker597

Can someone tell Griff to stop using the word Human beings... It makes him sound like he's a lizard people.

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lol - just passing it on

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Read your post again, especially your first paragraph. Your reasoning resolves around fans opinion. Like, you realize thats insane, right? No fan, a month before the draft would have thought Patrick Williams would go top 5. Or Haliburton would fall to 12 or Barnes would go ahead of Suggs.

None of those people actually watch these guys. The entirity of their opinion and projection comes from a norm set by the mock drafts they see. Then, once enough of those mock drafts have guys being picked in a new range, magically those fans will start thinking that guy is worth that pick too.

Josh Primo was a "reach" - not because these people actually watch stuff and know what they are talking about. He was a reach because the fans who looked at 100 mock drafts never saw his name in the top 18, so taking him at 12 is a "crazy reach"

Like 3 guys actually watch stuff - the top amongst them being Givony and Schmitz, so if they say that is the buzz, it means way more than a 1000 virgins on a message board pretending to know but really just reciting the mocks they read on the interwebs

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Damn. I guess you're right. Anyone who thinks Daniels isn't going to be anything special is just a virgin pretending to know something but only looks at mock drafts. Can't use my own two eyes to give my own amateur evaluation of a player. What a smooth brain take.

I'm doing the best I can with the approximately 2 hours of free time a week I get to enjoy a hobby. None of us are privy to workouts, interviews, or background research GMs and Scouts have, yet they're wrong on players seemingly as often as fans are.

The fact that I was right last summer when I said NAW wasn't any good despite the hype going into year 3 doesn't make me a prophet. I probably just got lucky.

The fact that I pointed out specific smart and unselfish plays Jose Alvarado made during summer league to help the team win while every other player was trying to make flashy plays to make the roster, and when fans were looking at Trey, Kira, and Herb, doesn't make me a strong talent evaluator. But I still noticed it and mentioned it. (I guess I noticed it by looking at mock drafts?)

A year ago I said if the Pelicans weren't a top 6 seed this year, it would be a disappointing year. To say the least, I was wrong there. But a lot of the variables changed.

I remember that you thought a long playoff run for the Lakers last year would make them more tired and probably give the Pelicans a higher pick this year. Also doesn't mean it was wrong. Though I still think you're wrong on the Lakers being a better team than the Suns during the playoffs last year. You still ignored CP3's injury though constantly mentioning AD's injury.

Shoot, you're even saying the same generic stuff now that I said 10 years ago, so I guess that makes both of us virgins pretending to know something but we really only look at mock drafts:

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you draft the best player, not a position of need.

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https://www.pelicansreport.com/showt...ss-Over-Rivers

And you keep bringing up Lillard, but I'm pretty sure most people here wanted Lillard but saw no realistic way to get him. Even Demps wanted him. However, I can't find anything about you actually wanting him and being willing to give up several years worth of assets to move from 10 to 6 to get him other than just being a Monday morning quarterback about it now.

https://www.pelicansreport.com/showt...nfo-to-twitter

But I'm willing to give my opinion that Mathurin is the best player in the 6-8 range, assuming no surprises in the top 6, which I'm sure are abound to happen. Murray could easily fall to 6-7. I'm not sure right now if I think Mathurin will be better than Murray, but I'm pretty confident in saying he's going to be a good NBA player barring injury. I'm not willing to say the same about Dyson.

Whoa....you are getting way too offended when I didnt even say anything about you. Just saying that you shouldnt judge whether or not a guy is worthy of a pick based off some nerds on a Kings message board. Calm down, buddy. Some of you really need a hug. I was apologizing for a while, but now I am not even saying anything about the poster and people are reacting like I shot their dog. Is there a sensitivity setting on this board we can adjust?

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Griffin: We like the human Murray. He is a good respirator of oxygen, which we also respirate. We do not use nasal prosthesis to capture your toxic environment for later disposal.

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Lmao.

Griff 'Human' Rankings

1. Murray
2. Smith
3. Paolo
4. Chet

Dont know who else he loves, but Murray is the top 'human'

I hope Griff just let Trajon do his job and not pull the "executive decision" card after sipping the smallest taste of success.

Went from a draft we really didn’t care about to one I’d like to have 2 or 3. Smith who I doubt there’s a chance, Sharpe, Maturin, and Daniels somewhere close to our pick(probably have to move up for Sharpe), and Dieng and Eason a little later. I’d love to get 2 or them. Will Hayes and a future pick get us close to getting one of those guys?

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Originally Posted by Taker597

I hope Griff just let Trajon do his job and not pull the "executive decision" card after sipping the smallest taste of success.

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Curious as to why you assume Trajan is a good/better talent evaluator. Not saying he isnt, but what is the evidence he is good....at literally anything?

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Griff 'Human' Rankings

1. Murray
2. Smith
3. Paolo
4. Chet

Dont know who else he loves, but Murray is the top 'human'

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Is Griffin considering any dogs? Just wondering if another being can be on par with Murray in Griffin’s eyes.

Chess, not checkers!

Funny thing is.... A lot of FO people were laughing at all the Griff-isms a few months ago. After seeing what has happened with the culture, they all buy in now. Who the guy is "human wise" will be very important when it comes down to the final decision. Not everything.... I wouldnt say it elevates guys as much as it eliminates guys

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Funny thing is.... A lot of FO people were laughing at all the Griff-isms a few months ago. After seeing what has happened with the culture, they all buy in now. Who the guy is "human wise" will be very important when it comes down to the final decision. Not everything.... I wouldnt say it elevates guys as much as it eliminates guys

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Wow so Mathurin was not in the top 4 humans, surprised.

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Originally Posted by Silverfoxx

Wow so Mathurin was not in the top 4 humans, surprised.

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Mathurin had a roller coaster of an upbringing. I posted a whole bunch of it a few pages back. So, I'm not surprised, because he had some red flags. He struggled being a team player as a kid and overconfident in his ability to a fault.

Went from a draft we really didn’t care about to one I’d like to have 2 or 3. Smith who I doubt there’s a chance, Sharpe, Maturin, and Daniels somewhere close to our pick(probably have to move up for Sharpe), and Dieng and Eason a little later. I’d love to get 2 or them. Will Hayes and a future pick get us close to getting one of those guys?

Crap double post. Sorry

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Griff 'Human' Rankings

1. Murray
2. Smith
3. Paolo
4. Chet

Dont know who else he loves, but Murray is the top 'human'

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@MichaelMcNamara don’t take this question the wrong way, but you’ve been on this board and the board that came before it, through 2 different owners, and 3 different GMs, claiming to have insights into what Pels decision makers are thinking. How is that even possible?!?

I never take anything the wrong way…ask whatever.

As I have said before, you wouldn’t believe how chatty people are. They love to talk and more importantly they love to pick brains of others. This will sound cocky when I say this but Dell, for instance, got my number. Called me. Wanted my two cents on waiving and stretching, on Frank Jackson, on the coaching search. I never emailed or called him.

Won’t reveal how I know other things but with Dell long gone, I can give that as an example. You guys see this business as some super prestigious, secret society thing. In reality, it is a bunch of guys and gals who love to gossip and know they don’t know nothing so they talk to everyone

I hope Dell is doing well!

He is a great man. Made some early mistakes as a GM but who wouldn’t? Also, he had some pressures that didn’t make them fully his decisions

Any way, I think he was Getting much better at his job by the end. Hope he gets another shot

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Griff 'Human' Rankings

1. Murray
2. Smith
3. Paolo
4. Chet

Dont know who else he loves, but Murray is the top 'human'

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Good to see the Griffin isn't in his top 4

His last name is Griffin too. Surely that threw off his human algorithm.

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Griff loves Murray. Top of his board "from a human perspective"

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what article/clip is that from?

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Curious as to why you assume Trajan is a good/better talent evaluator. Not saying he isnt, but what is the evidence he is good....at literally anything?

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Herb and Jose. And his rep around the league suggest he does quite well.

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Griff 'Human' Rankings

1. Murray
2. Smith
3. Paolo
4. Chet

Dont know who else he loves, but Murray is the top 'human'

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Really surprised Mathurin isn't in that top 4. His intelligence, maturity, drive, etc are what make him so intriguing to me, outside of his bball skills.