Everything 2024 Draft

[Kagemusha]

Like many others.... you keep mentioning the draft buzzword "BPA".

What exactly IS BPA? Who determines BPA? And how do you even know who BPA is/was until like 2-5 years after the draft?

The whole concept of BPA is flawed. It's a saying without true meaning at the time of the draft... more myth, than reality

Best player available is simply the best player available.
There are many categories that determine that, stats for sure counts as maybe the main one.
See, teams sometimes go to the individual workouts, the interview process, but we know these things can be influenced by a lot of factors.
Some kids just suck at interviews, or perhaps they didn't feel 100% in the workouts.
I would instead measure a kid based on history, on what he did in college or in other leagues.

No one can predict what happens in 2-3 years, the Odens or the Ben Simmons are proof of that.
Pick the best player available, what happens after that is a coin flip.

[Joey]

Yao was all nba basically every season. We don't have anyone on our team that good. You guys just do not remember how good Yao was and pretend he was just a tall guy.

I never compared Edey to Yao, was more just trying to make a point earlier ... buuuuut ...

Yao averaged 13ppg and 8 rebounds, as a rookie.

He only averaged over 10 rebounds per game twice in his career, and even then, just barely.

These aren't really other worldly, insurmountable numbers.

Yao was tall, and skilled for his height, yes. But it was his height that allowed him to do anything at all in this league.

[The Great One]

Maybe he is as a sophomore, maybe not. I'd probably put money on the former, but I could also see getting the 6th-man role due to us wanting a more rugged veteran-defender type in the starting lineup - just as we saw with Herro in Miami.

Bottomline, we're really not that short on shooting guards.

We only have two shooting guards signed for next season: Dick and Agbaji. Dick has struggled shooting the ball unless it's a corner 3. Agbaji has struggled shooting the ball period.

[LJ2]

I'm not fussed over a PF specifically to move Scottie over. Any big F, a 3/4, who can fill a 3+D role would fit great next to Scottie and help with the size (RJ sliding to SG is the key here). But the shooting is crucial if that's the plan. Hard to find anything ready made like that in the draft (OG is such a rarity, and even his shooting was something that popped in his rookie year rather than in college).

I would want Scottie where he is most effective. He has a size advantage guarding against as well as in the post against other SF's. He's at best average in size for a PF. He has less of an advantage guarding against them and he doesn't exactly have a huge speed advantage either. For me, I think preserving him physically tips the scale towards playing s a SF.

[SkywalkerAC]

We only have two shooting guards signed for next season: Dick and Agbaji. Dick has struggled shooting the ball unless it's a corner 3. Agbaji has struggled shooting the ball period.

Plus RJ. Plus Freeman-Liberty. Plus Quickley in a pinch (I know he's not signed yet but he might as well be).

[The Great One]

Plus RJ. Plus Freeman-Liberty. Plus Quickley in a pinch (I know he's not signed yet but he might as well be).

Liberty is a bench warmer. RJ, I think is shooting 38% from 3 as a Raptor? that's not sustainable.

[SkywalkerAC]

Best player available is simply the best player available.
There are many categories that determine that, stats for sure counts as maybe the main one.
See, teams sometimes go to the individual workouts, the interview process, but we know these things can be influenced by a lot of factors.
Some kids just suck at interviews, or perhaps they didn't feel 100% in the workouts.
I would instead measure a kid based on history, on what he did in college or in other leagues.

No one can predict what happens in 2-3 years, the Odens or the Ben Simmons are proof of that.
Pick the best player available, what happens after that is a coin flip.

I think it's better defined by what it isn't - picking for need.

[SkywalkerAC]

Liberty is a bench warmer. RJ, I think is shooting 38% from 3 as a Raptor? that's not sustainable.

Irrelevant. They are both depth at shooting guard.

[Joey]

Liberty is a bench warmer. RJ, I think is shooting 38% from 3 as a Raptor? that's not sustainable.

Why is that not sustainable? Just because you say so?

He's a 35% career 3-point shooter. Not a drastic deviation from the norm.
Not to mention, he shot 40% on more attempts per game over 72 games a couple years back.

[The Great One]

Why is that not sustainable? Just because you say so?

He's a 35% career 3-point shooter. Not a drastic deviation from the norm.
Not to mention, he shot 40% on more attempts per game over 72 games a couple years back.

My bad. Just double checked. He's shooting 42% from 3 as a Raptor. That is not sustainable Joey.

And that's the bottomline, cause The Great one said so.

[Joey]

My bad. Just double checked. He's shooting 42% from 3 as a Raptor. That is not sustainable Joey.

And that's the bottomline, cause The Great one said so.

So what is sustainable? As I said, he's averaged 40% over a 72 game season, on more attempts than he is taking since joining the Raps.

So 40% from 3 is demonstrably sustainable for RJ .. so I don't really see what you are basing that on. Or what relevance that has? You're saying he's not a Shooting Guard because .. he's shooting too well from 3 for us?

[A.I]

27 games is a decent sample size. 42% is high, but all he is doing is taking open catch and shoot 3s.

[DanH]

I would want Scottie where he is most effective. He has a size advantage guarding against as well as in the post against other SF's. He's at best average in size for a PF. He has less of an advantage guarding against them and he doesn't exactly have a huge speed advantage either. For me, I think preserving him physically tips the scale towards playing s a SF.

No matter what you nominally call him, we want to bring in someone who will guard the better of the two opposing Fs, and the opposing team will guard him with whichever F is most capable of doing so. They won't be handing us the matchup we want based on how we fill out the lineup card.

[golden]

People need to re-calibrate on 3P%. League average is almost 37% (36.6). Repeat... average. Everybody in the NBA is shooting the 3 much better these days. So RJ bumping up to 38% from his career average of 35% is not some incredible career leap for a guy that puts in the work. Even then, he'd only be 1% above league average.

[SkywalkerAC]

People need to re-calibrate on 3P%. League average is almost 37% (36.6). Repeat... average. Everybody in the NBA is shooting the 3 much better these days. So RJ bumping up to 38% from his career average of 35% is not some incredible career leap for a guy that puts in the work. Even then, he'd only be 1% above league average.

Still irrelevant for whether RJ can/should play the 2 (where he has a significant advantage bullying defenders around the basket).