NBA Draft Discussion

[Devilsforlife]

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: back in April 2015, nobody would have ever believed both Duke and Kentucky were set to enter 7+ year Final Four droughts. It's eerie how similar the post-2015 resumes have been too. Two devastating Elite 8 losses, a Sweet 16 exit, a second round loss, and a non-tournament disaster each.

Calipari stopped getting the blue chip talent he needed to contend for titles, with many of those players coming to Duke instead, while K has suffered from poor roster construction and a continued decline in coaching acumen. I also think the psychological impact of losing the shot at 40-0 on Cal and the KY program can't be overlooked.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

If Giddey has easy potential to become a good shooter, he's the #6 pick in the draft. But you could say that about basically every non-top-5 player in this draft.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Another guy who seemed like a much better player than Scottie Barnes or Keon Johnson.

 

[childress22]

In this era where we've stopped calling people tweeners, and recognize that good players can be unicorns and can be defined by their skillsets, I'm still not sure what Champagnie does well on the next level, though.

 

[rome8180]

Tweeners definitely still exist. In particular, having the skillset of a traditional center but not having the size to guard the position is an issue. Not much value in playing small ball if you're not getting floor spacing.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

If they don’t move up.

 

[rhfarmer]

I know New Orleans needs pieces, but is the 10th pick worth anything in this year's draft?
I'd use it to get off Adams or Bledsoe.

 

[rome8180]

I wouldn't bother to get off Adams. He's a perfectly fine rotation piece. Of the starters, the only one with a negative net rating is Bledsoe. He needs to be somehow moved for a reliable shooter.

Bledsoe may also be easier to move than Adams. Adams is a better player, but he has two fully guaranteed years whereas Bledsoe has one guaranteed year and one year with only 3.9 million guaranteed. In effect, that makes him an expiring contract.

 

[rome8180]

So many mocks have Jalen Johnson going to Charlotte.

The Johnson-Ball pairing would be disgusting.

 

[childress22]

Obviously they would need to get Lonzo, too.

 

[rome8180]

Yeah, don't want a Lance Armstrong situation.

 

[rome8180]

And after a long practice, they'd probably have a couple sweaty Balls and a stiff Johnson.

 

[surfpenguin]

I recently did a commercial film shoot with Ziaire Williams. He is super smooth and he seems like a pretty cool dude with a good head on his shoulders. He needs to put on weight because he 's so slender and he'll get pushed around a lot.

 

[torontoduke]

That is cool. Listing to him speak, reading his interviews, seems like a fabulous guy.

Definitely needs to work the lower body to improve base strength. I'm confident he'll work himself into a much stronger player.

 

[surfpenguin]

Yea he was a fun guy. We were told before filming that his trainer wanted to limit him to 2-3 dunks, but when we asked Ziaire about dunking he said "I can do it as many times as you want, I'm pretty tall now so it's easy for me."

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

 

[aiw]

I don't know who this is.

 

[rome8180]

That list of guy's above him is a real who's who of NBA players.

Also, Cookie Belcher is just an outstanding name.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

I don't know who this is.

He and Huff were their best players. I don’t think they’ll be NIT bad because their D gives them such a high floor but on paper this is their worst team in a very long time. Torvik has their projected offense ranked 153 and their overall rank at 69. Relative to other years, this is a good year to play them twice, which we do.

 

[rome8180]

Trey Murphy is yet another Durham kid we didn't recruit. Maybe we burned our bridges on Rice transfers with Semi Ojeleye. But he was a 6'9" guy who shot 50/43/93. Seems like the NBA should be a bit higher on him.