#4 in 2019 draft. Where do you stand now?

Most fans were in pain earlier in the year as Jaxson and NAW didn't look so hot and weren't getting playing time. We've seen some good progress however. Where do you stand on the trade at this point (I didn't include Didi because we haven't seen too much)?

I make the same trade and I go PJ Washington and Brandon Clarke. I am not gonna lie and say I thought Herro would show flashes. But I loved PJ at the time and really like his fit next to Zion. Clarke I would have taken because I would have been strongly considering him at 8 and at 17, you just gotta take a guy who is that high on your board even if it isnt a position need.

Hayes and NAW are improving but I would almsot never spend a top 10 pick on a center, unless he had the ability to be a true difference maker who could both start and finish games. And I think NAW is fine, but again with guards there are so many solid guards that I only want to spend draft resources on ones who could be special. I would use the draft to load up on multi positional wings and bigs because those are rarely available on the market.

But the biggest thing I would do different that summer is not use the cap space from this trade to go get Favors and JJ. I'd take on Iggy's deal and get another pick and go for cheaper vet options to be my leaders while building up my war chest

PS - Dont forget we also got the two Cleveland 2nds from this trade. Likely to be 35 or 36 this year and probably in the same range next year

I wanted Hunter at the time but I also really liked Garland, they started separating themselves from Culver and Barrett for me by the time the draft came around as 3rd and 4th best players in the draft. So naturally, I wasn't too happy with the trade down even though we got good value. Value we've squandered a tad.

I liked the NAW pick a lot at the time, but would have rather had Brandon Clarke. NAW still has his moments but has disappointed compared to my high hopes for him. I didn't like the Hayes pick, but he's turning the corner defensively a lot faster than I would have thought which has been a nice surprise. I hope both have a good year 3.

Hunter has had a few good games but the sample size is smaller than I would like. I guess the smart money would be on Garland, although our defense would somehow be even worse.

My take today is the same as it was the night we made the trade.

Moving #4 for #8 and #17 is a really good move and it maximises the value of that pick if the guy you want is likely to still be there at #8. That's what we did and it was the right value play.

I also think that Jax was a fair pick at #8, because I think his ceiling is a very very impactful player, but that was assuming Brandon Clarke was gone because in my view he was a top 5 pick in that class. NAW surprised me at #17 and there would have been other players I would have preferred at the time, and my mind hasn't been changed on that since: I still think NAW has the potential to be a solid NBA player but at 17 that year you still had Matisse Thybulle, Brandon Clarke, and Grant Williams on the board and I would have taken one of them over him.

Therefore, to me, I'm still fine with it. It was the right thing to do from a process perspective, and I think the picks were fine given the information that we had at the time though I can see an argument that other players might have been better in the short term given how Jax is a longer term project.

As for what we could have done if we kept the pick, I stay okay with it. At the time we just needed to acquire talent, so zoning in on one specific player archetype for someone like Hunter would have been the wrong move; you don't tailor the edges of the roster before trying to lock up major talent, and that's what the Jax pick was: an upside pick.

The real debate is about Garland. I remember at the time being very very sceptical of him because of the miniscule sample size in college due to injury, and while I saw where other people were coming from with regards to his shooting upside I just hadn't seen enough to justify the top 5 pick in my mind at the time. Since then, he's proven a lot of my scepticism to be correct with regards to handle and defense and so on, but he has improved significantly as a passer. So, again, I feel like it was justifiable to pass on him at the time even if I also understand the people who would have wanted to grab him.

I wasn't against it then and I'm not against it now. Clarke is so far proving what many thought...a steady player with not a lot of headroom on his ceiling. He'll be 25 in September.

His box stats have actually regressed a little this year while NAW and Jax have taken jumps in year 2. I think NAW can be a very solid starting guard in this league.

I like Hunter but I still think we made the right move. NAW only needs more game time, I think he has all the tools to be a great contributor albeit maybe not a starter. But I can see him being our 'instant offense' off the bench guard.

Jax is harder to pick but there are some flashes. I think his shooting stroke is there but needs another year or two before we will see the corner 3 ball Jaxson Hayes I know he can be. His defense is getting better and he seems to be holding verticality a lot better the second half of the year and getting less fouls called on him. I still believe in Jax.

So I voted NAW & Jax here. I'm happy with both players even if they aren't stars. They both seem like they'll be in the league 10 years, the question mark really is how close to his ceiling will Jax reach.

2019 was considered a 3 player draft. Moving from 4 to 8 wasn't seen as much of a drop off at all and getting other assets (#17, taking Solomon Hill's contract, 35th pick, 2020 top 10 protected pick) was certainly a plus.

Hayes was considered a high chance of an All Star but also a high chance of a bust. Funny how even before he was drafted, people said it would take 2 years to see him ready for the NBA. A year in people were calling him a bust. A year and a half in he's starting to look decent.

Other than that I think people were outspoken about several players to get at or around 17. Herro, who obviously went a few picks before 17. Clarke was another. I'm ok with NAW. Clarke might have had a harder time finding a role on this team at his position. Though I definitely see the point of taking the best player available, regardless of position. I think through this point, NAW has been solid and even recently found a good lineup with him where everyone knows their role perfectly it seems. Hopefully he continues to get better.

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Originally Posted by bradael

2019 was considered a 3 player draft. Moving from 4 to 8 wasn't seen as much of a drop off at all and getting other assets (#17, taking Solomon Hill's contract, 35th pick, 2020 top 10 protected pick) was certainly a plus.

Hayes was considered a high chance of an All Star but also a high chance of a bust. Funny how even before he was drafted, people said it would take 2 years to see him ready for the NBA. A year in people were calling him a bust. A year and a half in he's starting to look decent.

Other than that I think people were outspoken about several players to get at or around 17. Herro, who obviously went a few picks before 17. Clarke was another. I'm ok with NAW. Clarke might have had a harder time finding a role on this team at his position. Though I definitely see the point of taking the best player available, regardless of position. I think through this point, NAW has been solid and even recently found a good lineup with him where everyone knows their role perfectly it seems. Hopefully he continues to get better.

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As a side note, Herro has had a pretty rough sophomore year.

Rookie: 39% from 3, 87% from the line, -1.6 BPM, 55.0%TS, 0.050 WS/48
Sophomore: 34% from 3, 80% from the line, -1.9 BPM, 52%TS, 0.040 WS/48

and the defense has been far worse, and it wasn't great to start with. Awful year for him.