. |
I was only half joking when I said Draymond lol
Salary is big and he obviously cannot score to save his life but he's still a very good defender (even if he's not at his peak anymore) and a very good passer who has a history of winning and (I cannot emphasise how much our team needs this) seems to actually care about winning basketball games.
Basketball.
Seriously. Imagine an actual "culture guy" here, willing to teach the youngings how to play organized ball (on both ends). Really don't want to see Frank & Lonzo back next year playing 30 minutes jacking up shots like they're in a And-1 mixtape. Also why I again advocate for CP.
Yeah, I absolutely understand the arguments against someone like Draymond: he's clearly not as good now as he was a few years ago and there's still something like 4yrs/$100m left on his deal which is hard to swallow when you know that he's not going to give you much as a scorer or spacer. Then you have to question how effective his elite skills would be without all-time shooters like Curry and Klay around him. There are huge question marks, which is why I'm not actively pushing hard for him or anything.
But yeah this team needs a vocal leader who can really just heat everything up. The whole locker room bar maybe Redick runs cold right now.
Honestly I don't know how good it would be but a lineup featuring Zion and Dray at the 4 and the 5 would be for sure interesting, lol. Could definitely see synergy between them on defense, and maybe even offense if things click right. He could probably take over Lonzo's role on offense pretty well, tbh.
Might as well just draft Tillman who will give you that type of skillset versus getting a short term over the hill overpaid loud mouth that won’t be happy here.
One thing I'd like to hear from other people: what's your draft philosophy?
So when you're going in to evaluate a prospect, you've got a couple of games loaded up, what are you looking for? What's your checklist, or your bingo card that you're taking off, or your general guidelines?
Build complimentary pieces around Zion. I don’t care about the best talent. I want to use every resource to make sure we put together the very best roster for the kid. At the end of the day whether we succeed or fail, I want to say that we did everything in our power to give him the best possible chance to win as the guy.
If that means 4 spacers on the court, then so be it.
With 3 picks in the top 42 we should be able to get some decent pieces from this draft if we keep them. I think we can swing for the fences at 13 with someone like Poku and then possibly move up with those 3 2nd round picks to get a more safe pick late in the 1st. At least that’s what I hope cause I don’t see how we could keep 4 guys from this draft, but the ability to stash some guys late would be ideal like the Brazilian we got this past year. I still wish we would of swung for the fences by taking Bol Bol there though.
An elite 3 point shooter would be my top want for this team and it looks like Poku can shoot it from deep
Last edited by DaPelFromHell; 08-21-2020 at 08:31 AM.
What's exciting about Poku as a shooter is that he was actually a good shooter this year (at least by percentage), has improved basically every year, and also demonstrates surprising efficiency on pull-ups (can't remember the exact number but it's something like 37% I think?)
So while he isn't actually Lillard or anything right now, there's a lot of reason to buy the upside.
Might as well explain my own just while I'm bored and have nothing to do.
When I go into evaluating any player, I have 6 major criteria that I'm looking for, plus a sort of 7th bonus criteria. This applies to all players of all positions, and I don't consider body type or anything too heavily at this initial point. The 6 things I'm looking for are skills or attributes that I want the players to show: it doesn't have to be fully developed, although of course I appreciate if it is, but there has to be at least the indication that the skill might be there.
The Six Criteria (Plus a 7th bonus one)
1) Self creation off the dribble
2) Shooting
3) Passing/playmaking for others
4) Finishing at the basket
5) Team defense
6) One on one defense
Bonus number 7 that impacts all of those things: feel for the game
For me, in order to be someone that I would draft anywhere, even in the second round, you have to be able to display at least 2 of these traits. Just one isn't good enough. To be first round, I really want 3 of them. To be a top ten pick, 4, and to be an elite prospect, 5.
Now, it's also true that you can have these skills at different levels, and I do take that into account. For example, if you only have 4 skills but you have one of them at truly elite, world's greatest level, then you might well qualify as an elite prospect even if you're technically a skill short.
Take someone like Zion at Duke. He showed self creation off the dribble, the ability to pass and playmake for others, truly cosmically elite finishing at the rim, 1v1 defensive instincts, and had really good feel that showed up in team defense moments. He also showed signs of maybe being a better shooter than Duke truly demonstrated: that's 5 of the 7 criteria, with flashes of the other two (Shooting and team defense). That's why he's an elite prospect.
If you examine someone from this year's draft who is often considered to be going highly, like LaMelo, what you find is that he has truly elite passing/playmaking, and has shown signs that he might be able to self-create off the dribble (good handle) and be a decent team defender. There's also some people who hope he'll be a good shooter in time. On the other hand, he's a disgustingly awful 1v1 defender, can't finish at the rim whatsoever, and those team defensive instincts are only flashes: nothing sustained. So that's 3 or maybe 4 of the 7 attributes for LaMelo: that's arguably a top ten pick, because of how elite the passing skill is, and the fact that this is a weak draft, but he's not a truly elite prospect.
That's my general mindset. Then, I take a look at how I think the body type plays into things, height, athleticism, and speculate about certain skills translating to the NBA.
Last edited by Pelicanidae; 08-21-2020 at 02:25 PM.
# 5 and # 6 are non-negotiable in my eyes. Everything (especially offense in this age of basketball) starts on the defensive end of the court. I also place a premium on locker room demeanor (fit). The last thing I'd want to do is introduce a cancer into my young, impressionable team.
Nah, I think you can get away with not being, for example, a good 1v1 defender if you're elite enough in other areas. Steph Curry is a great example of this. All time shooter, self.creator off the dribble, good finisher, etc; sub par one on one defensive guard, but nobody would deny his overall impact.
And the reason I don't talk about stuff like locker room fit and mentality is that frankly, we don't get that information very often as fans. For GMs that's something to consider because they can talk to coaches and players, but we can't, so I try not to assume stuff.
Nah. if you are constantly taking the ball out of the net defensively, it doesn't matter what your offensive numbers look like. The Pelicans were 4th in points scored this year. How are we doing in the playoffs? Good defense trumps good offense every day of the week with few exceptions.
Sure, but if you have a player who fits 4 or 5 of those criteria, the odds are that they're going to be valuable enough to offset any 1v1 defensive losses.
Curry was one example, Lillard is another. Doncic is another. Harden is another.
These are guys who are not super talented 1v1 defenders, but who are valuable enough as creators, shooters, etc, to make up for that. They are top ten players who cannot guard individually at a high level, especially across multiple positions. They take weaker or secondary assignments, and have teams the defend around them.
If you have a prospect who you think is going to be a talented shooter, playmaker, creator, etc, then as long as they're at least decent at team defense you can forgive deficiencies in their individual defense.
Similarly, if a player is an incredible playmaker and creator with huge defensive ability, you can forgive a lack of shooting to some extent despite the fact that the league needs spacing more than ever.
You assume there are players on this team who CAN play defense. Name ANYONE not named Jrue Holiday on this team who you can trust with a 'primary assignment'. I proffer that the second best defender on this team is Kenny 'Hustle', a player with a dubious future in a Pelican uni.
If three or four of your criteria is enough, Jah would be a starter on this team.
You don't draft for the team you have right now. That's absurd. You even say it yourself: Kenny Hustle's future is dubious here, and that's true for half the roster.
Moore, Frank, Favors, Jah, Kenrich, these are all names on this roster that could be gone in free agency this year. Then you have the possibility of trading other players like Lonzo or even Jrue or Redick. This team could look completely different in 12 or 18 months.
If you go into the draft trying to find fit for a team that needs completely restructuring anyway, you're going to make a mistake. It's important to remember that this team isn't going to be a contender next year, or maybe even the year after that: you're designing this team to win chips in 3+ years time. Don't make long term choices (that is, don't draft players who you will have some contractual control on for 7 years) based on short term fit.
Edit: I also want to note that Jah only has 2 of the traits I prioritise. He can create for himself off the dribble and he can finish at the basket. He's a poor defender both individually and as a team guy, he can't shoot, and he's a really poor passer.
There are currently 8 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 8 guests)