Everything Draft 2021

[golden]

Oh yeah for sure. But cases like that, Kobe's upside was superstar and he was only 13th because he was a highschool pick and it was a stacked draft. And even with that he was worth prime Divac, which says a lot about Kobe's value.

We aren't talking about pieces with anywhere near that level of upside. Talking about trading Siakam for a raw player with the potential to be head and shoulders better than him would be a pretty different scenario imho, the significant upside tips the scales.

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C’mon, SR. Nobody (except Jerry West) knew Kobe had superstar upside at the time of the trade. That’s 100% hindsight. Even if there was no Hornets trade, Kobe went 13th overall. 12 teams passed. Nobody saw a superstar in Kobe back then. What if Masai, Bobby &Tolzman are prescient like Jerry West and see a superstar at pick #7? I mean they did try really hard to get Giannis at 15. George Hill for Kawhi draft rights was similar. It’s a huge bet on your scouting and development team and we’ve got some of the best in the business, no?

[S.R.]

C’mon, SR. Nobody (except Jerry West) knew Kobe had superstar upside at the time of the trade. That’s 100% hindsight. Even if there was no Hornets trade, Kobe went 13th overall. 12 teams passed. Nobody saw a superstar in Kobe back then.

Naw man, "he's the next Jordan" etc https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ed-nba-history

The reasons all those teams passed was the era. It was extremely rare for a guy to skip college and they were wary. Kobe was the first guard to ever do it. He was 17 for his pre-draft workouts. A bunch of GMs played it safe and drafted college guys. A lot of NBA front offices are still risk averse. That's how we got Kawhi. Was he only as good as DeRozan? Did no one else see his potential? Risk drives GMs away like nothing else.

Kobe's high school resume was nuts. He was national player of the year. The best of the best NCAA colleges all wanted him. The NBA was scared of a 17 year old. That's all it was.

Kobe ended up being the youngest NBA player ever. Was really unprecedented at the time.
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[GOLDBLUM]

What if Masai, Bobby &Tolzman are prescient like Jerry West and see a superstar at pick #7? I mean they did try really hard to get Giannis at 15. George Hill for Kawhi draft rights was similar. It’s a huge bet on your scouting and development team and we’ve got some of the best in the business, no?

Yeah, that's the wild card here. ... "There's a clear top four." "You don't trade down." "This is easy, keep it simple."

But we are talking about this scouting staff. This development staff.



Someone posted that graph the other day but it's really worth looking at again.

Every other organization is out there playing checkers while Masai & co are playing chess on the ceiling.



Who... Knows... What they could be plotting.

[TrueTorontoFan]

I assume it's how many posts you have... although we are close and I have a few bars on you.

that's why I'm confuseddd.

[TrueTorontoFan]

There are just too many reasons to be optimistic about this team returning to relevance next season:
- They're going to be playing from home which is huge.
- Flynn and Harris entering their sophomore years which equals improved depth.
- GTJ likely signs and I'm pretty excited to see what he does after a full training camp. It took him less than half a season to notch a 44 pt game and a buzzer beating game winner. This is like seeing a player in their third season when they start hitting their stride. Just like adding another lottery pick.
- Speaking of lottery picks, we might be getting legit alpha tied to this team for the next 4 years...on a rookie scale contract to boot!
- A full season of at the very least, Birch starting at C
- Potential Lowry sign and trade to either of the LA teams with? Serge or Montrezz coming back? Can't see Raps wanting more young players than what they already have so there has got to be a vet C coming back right? Without a low post scoring threat last season teams were dialed I on FVV and Pascal. Shouldn't be the case next season.
- 2 SRP's as well. It would be such a Raps thing to do to draft another useful player so we can all say I can't believe we got a stud for Matt Thomas.
- Siakam losing a summer of working on his game to rehab kind of sucks but if he returns to a more suitable role/expectation and a more we'll rounded roster he can be free wreak havoc because teams can't focus on defending him anymore.
- OG even if doesn't take a big leap will be a better version of himself which is near DPOY levels.
- FVV will be more efficient with better, more natural scorers around him plus the low post option to keep defenses from cheating.

Lots to be excited about!

I think you get a first round pick back that is a later pick in the future perhaps.. serge.... just had back surgery

[Puffer]

no doubt about it.. random question do you know why my bar is not filled up loool

You have four bars and 2,622 posts. Golden, by comparison, has ten bars and 16,704 posts.

[planetmars]

no doubt about it.. random question do you know why my bar is not filled up loool

The bars are based on likes basically. The more likes you get on your posts the higher the bar goes up. It's a reputation score built into the forum.

[slaw]

C’mon, SR. Nobody (except Jerry West) knew Kobe had superstar upside at the time of the trade. That’s 100% hindsight. Even if there was no Hornets trade, Kobe went 13th overall. 12 teams passed. Nobody saw a superstar in Kobe back then. What if Masai, Bobby &Tolzman are prescient like Jerry West and see a superstar at pick #7? I mean they did try really hard to get Giannis at 15. George Hill for Kawhi draft rights was similar. It’s a huge bet on your scouting and development team and we’ve got some of the best in the business, no?

Kobe is a bad example. Tellem threatened the Nets and the Hornets, and probably other teams, that Kobe wouldn't play for them. There's long been suggestions that Tellem was behind 'convincing' Divac to go to Charlotte though he objected for weeks (without that trade Kobe is stuck in Charlotte). The Nets wanted Bryant but he made clear he wouldn't play for them cause his dad hated the organization. I'd have to find the article but there were stories about Tellem phoning NBA owners and GMs and telling them Kobe would be in LA no matter what so don't even think about drafting him. Kobe also missed workouts and other things in the lead up to the draft to help tank his draft stock cuase the Lakers wanted him outside the lottery to depress his first contract (they wanted to spend the money on Shaq).

[saints91]

I think we’re getting off the draft topic a bit here... should we bring it back?

[The Great One]

What if the Raptors completely go off the board with their pick? what if they draft Kuminga 4th overall or I don't know Keon Johnson or Barnes. What would your reaction be?

[The Claw Reborn]

no doubt about it.. random question do you know why my bar is not filled up loool

Random answer to your Random Question: Comes with a membership to the ‘ole boys club lol. You dont have to be a forum deviant. Just 👍

[LJ2]

What if the Raptors completely go off the board with their pick? what if they draft Kuminga 4th overall or I don't know Keon Johnson or Barnes. What would your reaction be?

My reaction would be the same as if they pick one of the guys we think are the consensus top 4, that they made their decision based on a lot more knowledge of the player and assessment than what we have access to.

[DanH]

What if the Raptors completely go off the board with their pick? what if they draft Kuminga 4th overall or I don't know Keon Johnson or Barnes. What would your reaction be?

Personally I'd be disappointed (mostly that they didn't find a way to trade down if that was their intent), but as ever, I trust Masai and Bobby.

[planetmars]

So I have some preferred early targets for the second round..

1. Neemias Queta (C)
2. Quentin Grimes (SG/SF)
3. Isaiah Todd (PF)
4. JT Thor (PF)
5. Luka Garza (C)

Of course if we get Mobley then I'd probably go a different direction here lol

[golden]

Nah.. he'd still get the max. The bubble was weird. If it was a thing then Gobert wouldn't have gotten paid the way he did either.

Gobert had already proven that he could do the role Utah would be paying him for, e.g. anchor a defense. Pascal raised doubts that he could anchor an offense. And that didn't start in the bubble either. After his hot start, he was up and down and significantly less efficient with higher usage. That's a clear sign of his offensive repertoire getting exposed through game-planning. All the GMs saw him meltdown on the big stage. Which teams with cap space do you think would have given Pascal a max deal?