2021 NBA Draft Discussion

[DaPelFromHell]

My top 10 based on our needs:

1. Cade Cunningham
2. Jalen Green
3. Jonathan Kuminga
4. Jalen Suggs - have him & Mobley about tied, so I’m going with the guard over the big
5. Evan Mobley
6. Scottie Barnes - would love to see a small ball lineup of Kira, NAW(Ball?), BI, Barnes, & Zion.
7. Moses Moody
8. Keon Johnson
9. Jalen Johnson
10. James Bouknight/Jaden Springer/Josh Giddey/Ziaire Williams - can’t make up my mind on who I like the most/least out of these 4. Corey Kispert is intriguing but some of those Zag players scare me. See Adam Morrison...

[ramsters60]

My top 10 based on our needs:

1. Cade Cunningham
2. Jalen Green
3. Jonathan Kuminga
4. Jalen Suggs - have him & Mobley about tied, so I’m going with the guard over the big
5. Evan Mobley
6. Scottie Barnes - would love to see a small ball lineup of Kira, NAW(Ball?), BI, Barnes, & Zion.
7. Moses Moody
8. Keon Johnson
9. Jalen Johnson
10. James Bouknight/Jaden Springer/Josh Giddey/Ziaire Williams - can’t make up my mind on who I like the most/least out of these 4. Corey Kispert is intriguing but some of those Zag players scare me. See Adam Morrison...

good list... I think the most intriguing players for me (unless we made some kind of unpredictable move up) would be Moody, Bouknight, and Kispert....Moody as my first choice, but it would likely take a move up to get him too....Davion Mitchell is pretty good too....

[Pelicanidae]

Drafting based on need when you have a team that has essentially two locked-in players on it is a fools errand. Draft the best player you can. We need talent, flat out.

Having Mobley below Kuminga and Green is nuts to me. As is Barnes above Moody, and I love Barnes.

[Silverfoxx]

Davion Mitchell pro comp is Wesley Matthews right?

[Silverfoxx]

Drafting based on need when you have a team that has essentially two locked-in players on it is a fools errand. Draft the best player you can. We need talent, flat out.

Having Mobley below Kuminga and Green is nuts to me. As is Barnes above Moody, and I love Barnes.

What do you think of Mooses low scoring in recent play in the tournament? Alot of Mock drafts have him falling and Jalen Johnson rising for some reason

[Taker597]

Drafting based on need when you have a team that has essentially two locked-in players on it is a fools errand. Draft the best player you can. We need talent, flat out.

Having Mobley below Kuminga and Green is nuts to me. As is Barnes above Moody, and I love Barnes.

Below Kum... Yeah, but Green is just the nature of the league. You can argue all you want, but a star guard is your bread winner in the NBA.

[Pelicanidae]

Below Kum... Yeah, but Green is just the nature of the league. You can argue all you want, but a star guard is your bread winner in the NBA.

Yeah, and if I saw Jalen Green as a legitimate top tier star in the NBA then I'd agree, but I don't. Whereas it wouldn't surprise me if Mobley peaked as a top 5 centre in the league.

A top 5 guard > a top 5 big, but a top 5 big > top 25 guard

[Pelicanidae]

What do you think of Mooses low scoring in recent play in the tournament? Alot of Mock drafts have him falling and Jalen Johnson rising for some reason

I'm not that bothered by it, honestly. While obviously it's always better to play well than to not, the reality is that Moody isn't a primary initiator and when things were going badly for other guys (Tate and Notae were both woeful, to be honest) he's always going to struggle. It's not like he was uniformly awful either; the LSU game was really good, for example.

I can understand being a bit disappointed by his overall performance, that's fine, maybe even dropping him slightly depending on where you had him, but it's not massive cause for concern imo

[Brian]

I would think we really need a 3 and D type player. Really high level shooting or an incredible perimeter defender are two areas we can never have enough of.

[As I See It]

I would think we really need a 3 and D type player. Really high level shooting or an incredible perimeter defender are two areas we can never have enough of.

If we had a 5 who could effectively shoot the corner three, opposing defenses couldn't build a wall to effectively impede the path to the basket during crunch time. Think about it should Pelican opponents do everything possible to impede Zion and BI's driving ability late in games or cover Steven Adams? UM, I'm not a rocket scientist, but I know what I'd be doing.

To this end, during the exit interviews this year, aside from the obvious (the need to develop defensively), I would encourage JAX to develop his face up shooting (I think he has it in him). We simply have to spread the court.

[luckyman]

In basketball, with limited roster spots and only 5 players that play at a time, you do need to balance need with best player. You need to try and do both unless you are in a complete rebuild.

Naturally I like complete basketball players, but Kispert is still high on my list. Like Villanova, Gonzaga seems to be good at teaching their players basketball.

Now I think Suggs is the best player in college. Thought that before the season and he's only proven me right. His game will translate to the NBA almost seamless.

As far as Pelicans prospects, so far I like Kispert, Moody, Keon Johnson, and Dosunmu so far.

I am NOT a fan of Scottie Barnes. At all.

[HornetGuru]

Below Kum... Yeah, but Green is just the nature of the league. You can argue all you want, but a star guard is your bread winner in the NBA.

I mean I guess but out of the top 5-10 players in the league let’s not forget lebron, Giannis, Durant, embiid, jokic, etc. but I get what you’re saying

[UNO Gracias]

What is the difference in the Mobley brothers? I know that one is a top 5 pick, but why isn’t the other one thought of as highly?

[Taker597]

I mean I guess but out of the top 5-10 players in the league let’s not forget lebron, Giannis, Durant, embiid, jokic, etc. but I get what you’re saying

Also, we are taking about people making decisions with their livihood on the line. It just seems like defense has become more and more afterthought in the drafting process. If you look like a guy that can score 20 pts a season... You basically a top 5 lock. Garland getting drafted so high simply on shooting is wild.

I ********** and moaning wanting to get less scorers and more well round utility players that can score consistently and well.

[HornetGuru]

Also, we are taking about people making decisions with their livihood on the line. It just seems like defense has become more and more afterthought in the drafting process. If you look like a guy that can score 20 pts a season... You basically a top 5 lock. Garland getting drafted so high simply on shooting is wild.

I ********** and moaning wanting to get less scorers and more well round utility players that can score consistently and well.

I can agree with this, you need 2 way players to win championships, people like Kobe, Duncan, lebron, wade, Giannis, butler, etc.

[Pelicanidae]

What is the difference in the Mobley brothers? I know that one is a top 5 pick, but why isn’t the other one thought of as highly?

Evan is quite simply just far better at basketball.

I know that if you look purely at box score stats there are a few things that might make you think otherwise (Isaiah shot 44% from 3 this year! on small volume, sure, but he did!) but Evan's actual processing, feel, and fluidity both as a mover and a ball-handler are so much higher level.

Evan (this year, age 19): 28.5/15.3/4.1/1.4/5.2 per 100. 62% from 2pt range, 67% from the FT line. 0.561 FTr, +13.8 BPM, 29.3 PER,
Isaiah (this year, age 21): 20.4/15.4/3.4/0.9/2.4 per 100. 46.8% from 2pt range, 53.3% from the FT line. 0.44 FTr, +6.3 BPM, 18.3 PER

Obviously those stats aren't the be all and end all of anything, but the story they tell is pretty accurate in this case. Evan is just much better despite being younger: better finisher, better passing craft, better decision maker, more mobile defensive prospect with quicker processing and recognition.

That doesn't mean Isaiah is horrible or anything, he has good shotmaker potential and he's a good size and has some transition handling equity, but combine Evan's age with his advantages and it's fairly clear to me. I'd take Isaiah in the 2nd, somewhere.

[HornetGuru]

Drafting based on need when you have a team that has essentially two locked-in players on it is a fools errand. Draft the best player you can. We need talent, flat out.

Having Mobley below Kuminga and Green is nuts to me. As is Barnes above Moody, and I love Barnes.

1. Cade
2. Mobley
3. Green
4. Kuminga
5. Suggs
6. Moody
7. Barnes

[Pelicanidae]

1. Cade
2. Mobley
3. Green
4. Kuminga
5. Suggs
6. Moody
7. Barnes

I think I probably have Springer, Kai Jones, and potentially even Corey Kispert above Barnes, honestly. I love so many aspects of his game but I see him struggling hard in most NBA contexts and outside of outlier shooting development it's hard to really see him as someone who can create any form of offense to maximise on his passing.

[ramsters60]

the longer I have to think about it, Kispert seems to make more and more sense to me....

[Pelicanidae]

the longer I have to think about it, Kispert seems to make more and more sense to me....

I feel like Kispert is one of those guys who I find it nearly impossible to see becoming a superstar (hence him being locked out of the top 5 completely) but who I also see as being almost certainly a really really good NBA player. Sort of guy who is guaranteed a 10 year career producing high value as a roleplayer. Not just your generic roleplayer that you can pick up for the min any given year either, I mean like a star roleplayer, if that makes sense - prime Covington style value.

[hornetzplaya]

I feel like Kispert is one of those guys who I find it nearly impossible to see becoming a superstar (hence him being locked out of the top 5 completely) but who I also see as being almost certainly a really really good NBA player. Sort of guy who is guaranteed a 10 year career producing high value as a roleplayer. Not just your generic roleplayer that you can pick up for the min any given year either, I mean like a star roleplayer, if that makes sense - prime Covington style value.

I concur. He definitely has the IQ, Shot, and ability to be a great nba player. I've been high on him for a while. However I can see us take the best athlete in the draft. I'd love a high IQ player over just raw athleticism.

[fullcourtpress]

I was about to add Kispert to the discussion before reading the last few posts on him. I agree. Every teams needs a young kyle korver/ peja stoyackovich/ .......... kispert has to be just as good a them ...... and that oworth a top pick for us

[Eman5805]

Scottie Barnes is dominating my thought processes. Sometimes he doesn’t look like a 6’9” player and he’s got really good speed. He’s literally a player we don’t have. Similar physically to Patrick Williams. But just not the outside shot yet.

If only we had a guy who can fix that.

[Pelicanidae]

Scottie Barnes is dominating my thought processes. Sometimes he doesn’t look like a 6’9” player and he’s got really good speed. He’s literally a player we don’t have. Similar physically to Patrick Williams. But just not the outside shot yet.

If only we had a guy who can fix that.

The problem with Scottie isn't that he's just got a bad outside shot, it's also that he can't jump and can't finish at the rim either which is a huge issue for a guy of his size. He has negative touch.

I love so many aspects of his game, so I still have him lottery, but he will need more than just a few tweaks on the shot to be a viable offensive player. The defense is good, the passing for his size is elite, the rebounding and IQ is good, but he's just excruciatingly bad at putting the ball in the hoop regardless of where he is on the floor.

[Eman5805]

You basically just described Kawhi Leonard or Draymond Green. Which means he's probably just the kind of player who needs to go to an already really good team so he isn't forced to do things he's not ready to do.