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Ahhhh, not true. Kuzma was a late pick, Ingram was a project from get go & Ball was hype that everyone knew couldn't shoot. I'd take Josh Hart over Ball.
Let's just say that the probable top 4 picks in this draft are better than any of those Lakers were, coming out of college.
Oh no! You got me! How dare I voice concerns while actively having a conversation with people on a specific player that I'm asking about.
I can have concerns about a player without judging a draft or even a player. Especially in Zion's case where my concerns are specifically centered around his height and weight, NOT his abilities. I would not be upset with whoever we draft because as I readily admit, I don't watch college ball.
This is a FAN Board after all and as you should have noticed I have been routinely asking for people's opinions who actually do watch college ball.
See I admit to being a fan. Exactly why are you here other than to talk about how great you are and better than everyone else?
Last edited by Mythrol; 01-29-2019 at 06:49 PM.
Beginning with the 2019 draft, the NBA will change the lottery odds as follows:
1. 140 combinations, 14.0% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick
2. 140 combinations, 14.0% chance
3. 140 combinations, 14.0% chance
4. 125 combinations, 12.5% chance
5. 105 combinations, 10.5% chance
6. 90 combinations, 9.0% chance
7. 75 combinations, 7.5% chance
8. 60 combinations, 6.0% chance
9. 45 combinations, 4.5% chance
10. 30 combinations, 3.0% chance
The new lottery odds is why we should be tanking hard for the rest of the season. If we can catch Atlanta, we would have 35 less combinations than the worse team in the league. If we can stay in 6th, we would have 50 less combinations. Still much better odds than the last lottery system.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_draft_lottery
Under "process" tab. They have a chart with the likelihood as well
Quite Honestly, I dont think anyone on this forum (well almost anyone) thinks he can "GOTCHA" anybody. With all the different color paint he throws on the wall, one of the colors is bound to be correct. Do you remember the "Done DEAL" from inside sources that the HOLIDAY Brothers were a PACKAGE DEAL?
Lol. There's so much to choose from.
Which were the two trades you said you liked on Hoops Habit? Toronto and Denver?
I personally find the Toronto deal pretty weak. A trade centered around Ibaka and rotation players along with the Toronto 1st is a weak haul. I'm personally looking for lottery picks and good young players that are already at least starter level. Maybe I'm also underestimating the Denver trade but I do think it's the better of the two. I'm also inclined to keep him out of the West.
Of course I like the 76ers deal. I'd like the Knicks deal too if they added KP to it.
When it comes to the draft, I'm a little worried that all of the conversation surrounding Zion, RJ, and Morant is a bit misguided. Don't get me wrong, the ping pong balls could always fall our way and we could end up with a top three pick, or we might trade AD to NY for the 2nd pick or something like that, but right now our pick is projected at 10th and will probably end up somewhere between 6th and 10th after all the tanking is done. If we only talk about Zion, RJ, and Morant, then if we end up with the 7th pick then we're sat around with no idea who to draft at that spot.
I like the mentions of Rui Hachimura that I've seen, he's shooting basically 60% from the floor and 44% from three which is very encouraging, he isn't turnover prone and he looks to have a real good head on his shoulders. Unfortunately, he'll be 21 years old by the time he plays his first NBA game. Now, of course that's not terrible, and we shouldn't write anyone off over that, but at the same time is it worth picking someone who is maybe 80% of the player Rui is, but who is close to 2 years younger (Jarrett Culver, for example)?
Basketball.
You know, I have some similar concerns about Zion, but I think something that gets lost in his dunk highlights and all the hype is his temperament. Just from watching the highlights, I get excited at seeing how hyped up and intense his game is but that also made me worry a little that we might be dealing with an arrogant player.
Now that might still be the case, but I've read a bunch of interviews and watched a few too, and he seems like a relatively nice guy. He repeats that he's willing to fill any role, that he doesn't just have to be a scorer but that he's happy to bounce off other players and play more of a passing big role at times, he's always courteous to the reporters, he states multiple times that he understands the holes in his game and is perfectly happy to work on them. He mentioned ''making sure [his] mom doesn't have to work anymore'' as a priority, which is always a great thing to hear from a guy who's still 18 years old.
Obviously his weight does concern me a little, he's around 270lbs and he's only 6'8, but that's kind of like a bulkier Lebron. If we were to get a player that is Lebron minus some passing but + post moves, I'd be very happy. Of course that's asking a LOT, Lebron is arguably the greatest ever, but even 80% of Lebron would be a perennial all-star.
He's got 20 pounds on Lebron's current weight and the dude is a freshman in college. My concern is how much bigger he gets while keeping that same height. I read somewhere that he'd already be the 2nd heaviest player in the current NBA as is. I feel like he's one injury away from losing all that athleticism and then we are left with what?
That's my concern on him. However again, I wouldn't be mad with whoever we draft. Though at this point I'm more interested in Morant.
I do understand that. One thing I would add is that his weight seems to be entirely muscle. He's not fat, or chunky, at all. He's built like a brick wall. Reminds me a lot of young Shaq, when he was on the Magic and was ripped and still weighed a ton.
He is heavy though, and that is a risk. One thing I would add, however, is that Lebron's listed weight has always been wrong. He was listed as 250 from like, 2005-2010, and his weight went up and down during that period. I would not have been surprised at all if he topped out at 275 during that time period, at all. That's within 10lbs of Zion right now.
Just to throw a quick disclaimer in here, free throw percentage is a significantly better predictor of shooting ability in the NBA than college 3P%. So if someone is shooting like 40% from 3 in college but is only shooting 60% from the line, they're probably not gonna be able to hit anywhere near 60% in the pros.
Also, on topic, I love Zion Williamson more than my unborn first child.
That's kind of my worry with all of the big three in this draft.
Morant shoots 33% from 3 and 79% from the FT line. Tankathon predicts his NBA three point percentage to sit around 35%. That's not terrible but it's not great.
Barrett shoots 32% from 3 and 69% from the FT line. Tankathon predicts his NBA three point percentage to sit around 35% as well.
Zion shoots 29% from 3 and 67% from the FT line. They predict his NBA three point to sit around 32%.
None of them are good shooters. None of them have broken shots or anything, so they could easily develop, but they're the kind of guys who would take a lot of effort for us to draft (Knicks trade maybe, or else consolidating multiple picks into moving up) and an inability to shoot, especially from the guard position with Morant, is a real issue in today's NBA.
I was hoping someone would throw up Morant's FT%. I know basically nothing about him but from what I've heard he sounds intriguing. I've watched a ton of Duke though (I hopped on the JJ Reddick and Sheldon Williams bandwagon as a kid and never got off) and Barrett's jumper doesn't really concern me. It's a little slow and his elbow kinda ********** to the left, but it's fairly easily fixable. Zion's shot is just trash but I honestly don't even care. You don't draft him for his jumpshot, you draft him because he's one of the most unique prospects we've ever seen. But the third Duke guy that a bunch of people seem to be overlooking is Cam Reddish, who I would kill to get with a pick from 7-10. His shot is amazing, he's long and athletic, and clearly is willing to fill a role for a few years.
I've looked at Reddish a little, but I don't really have much confidence in him. He's currently predicted to go 4th to the Bulls, and I can't really figure out why. He's shooting 34% from the floor and only 31% from three, hes' averaging more turnovers than assists, his PER is pretty poor, and he's not particularly young or raw either. You watch more Duke though than I do (unquestionably, since I don't follow college basketball) so maybe you can explain what it is about him that you like?
Edit: as a side note, you're right. I'm not too worried about Zion having no real three point shot: Giannis doesn't either, and if he could be Giannis then I think we'd all settle for that haha
Honestly kind of hype on Bol Bol. If we take the Celtics trade we'd obviously demand the Clippers pick, which is currently set to go 18th. Bol Bol is currently predicted to be picked 14th. If he slides a little, I'd love to pick him up at 18th. He's 7'2 with a 7'6 wingspan, which is pretty good. Obviously his dad was 7'6 and was famous for being rail-thin, but Bol Bol is 4 inches shorter and weighs 30lbs more than his dad did, and he could easily put on another 20lbs or so without it changing his physique too much.
He's a solid rebounder, a really good shotblocker, and with a record of shooting 52% from behind the arc and 76% from the FT line, his ability to function as a stretch looks pretty promising, and he's only 19. I wouldn't pick him top 5 or anything, but if we end up with the 18th pick from LAC then I think he'd be a pretty fun choice. Signing a 7'2 guy always draws attention too.
If there's something this whole AD situation does it at least has us interested in college players. Been awhile since that was a thing. I got some names to go look up now.
This is my real hope. Obviously it would have been nice if everything clicked for us, we had no real major injuries, and we were happily rolling along to the 4th seed with AD ready to sign an extension and Jrue balling out and Randle looking forward to resigning.
But that's not happening, and we all know it. So for me, we should be willing to say ''alright, this AD era was fun in some ways, but it just hasn't worked. Instead of picking among the weeds for whatever other teams are willing to trade, maybe a Blake Griffin, maybe a Marc Gasol/Mike Conley, we should just look to the new crowd and re-build on young talent with cheap deals'.
For me, that's why I want us to lose some more games. Not because I enjoy losing, of course I don't, but if we lose a ton of games over the next few months our first round pick could be as high as 5th or 6th. If we win a bunch, it could be as low as 14th or 15th. Don't get me wrong, 14th pick still isn't the end of the world, but come on, wouldn't you rather have 6th than 14th?
Yeah exactly! That's why I wouldn't take him with a top pick, he didn't play a ton of games in college (10, I think?) and there's a ton of risks associated with players of that size anyway, but he really does have a lot of skill.
I watched a ton of his highlights recently, looked at his box scores, his stats, etc etc, and his biggest weakenesses seem to be that he turns the ball over a lot, and can't really move anyone else in the post right now.
But he has a solid handle for a guy of his size, his post moves are legitimately well developed, his shot looks really good from deep, his defense is good even out onto the perimeter, he's a shotblocker extraordinaire, he moves well off the ball, and (brace yourselves Pelicans fans) he boxes out!!!!
If we get the Boston trade and end up with picks around 14th-18th, or if we trade Niko and end up getting a mid first rounder from that, I would love love love Bol Bol at that spot in the draft.
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