Poeltl & Pascal - The 2016 Draft

[Mindlessness]

Interesting. I'd rather see a backcourt of Murray and CoJo, let DD walk, trade Lowry, sign a PF. But that's just so 2k. I know. For what it's worth, most of the people in Europe think that Bender is even more talented than other Croatian talents - Saric and Hezonja. Naturally, as usual, it's a much bigger risk to draft a guy like that but sometimes it pays off.

Bender with the NYK/DEN pick and Luwawu with our own? I think that sounds like a good draft.

[ceez]

really like Diallo, think he'll be a difference maker early just from his defense. dude is absurdly agile for a big man. little on the shorter side but his wingspan/standing reach more than makes up for it.

[ceez]

reminds me of stoudemire as a rookie, but with defense.

[Scraptor]

It's crazy how the fortunes in the West affect our pick so much. Because New York is out of the playoffs right now we would get the 14th pick. Picks 15-18 go to West teams with same/worse records. But if they were to switch spots with the Wizards we'd get the 19th pick.
http://www.tankathon.com/

[raptors999]

It's crazy how the fortunes in the West affect our pick so much. Because New York is out of the playoffs right now we would get the 14th pick. Picks 15-18 go to West teams with same/worse records. But if they were to switch spots with the Wizards we'd get the 19th pick.
http://www.tankathon.com/

Knicks vs Magic should give a better idea of the Knicks. If they are below the Magic the pick looks good

[SkywalkerAC]

Knicks vs Magic should give a better idea of the Knicks. If they are below the Magic the pick looks good

Success!

[DogeLover1234]

Another name to remember is Alpha Kaba, although he appears to be more of a second rounder. At 6'10, with a 7'4 wingspan he is very athletic and has a good shot. Probably really redundant with Bruno on the roster, I just really like the guy. His season is just starting in Europe. He learned english listening to Drake and he has a +7' wingspan, so he is basically a prefect fit. Plus, his name is Alpha Kaba.

[Cody73]

I wonder if going with a SG would be smart. DD may leave, Ross isn't close.... and is Powell a starting SG?


That means Murray, Jaylen Brown.... & Caris LeVert are guys we should look at with the DEN/NYK pick.

[DanH]

We should draft BPA and ignore position. If it comes down to tie breakeEs I would say PF/SF (whichever Bruno doesn't end up playing) is by far a more needful position.

[Just Is]

We should draft BPA and ignore position. If it comes down to tie breakeEs I would say PF/SF (whichever Bruno doesn't end up playing) is by far a more needful position.

Probably would rank it something like this if it came down to a tie breaker: 1) PF 2) SF 3) SG 4) C 5) PG.

[octothorp]

Probably would rank it something like this if it came down to a tie breaker: 1) PF 2) SF 3) SG 4) C 5) PG.

Yeah, I'm a fan of tier ranking, and need/fit is typically what breaks ties on tiers. I think you also want to include how you want to play the game. If a guy is on par with others but does so using a skillset that doesn't really fit the way that you plan on playing the game, that would drop him to the bottom of the tier.

At this extremely early point, I think that Skal and Simmons are the top tier, the second tier goes down to about #6 and includes Bender and Murray amongst others, and then the third tier goes down to about 11-13 or so. While I'd love for the Knuggets to get up into the 2nd tier, it seems most likely that we'll be drafting in that 3rd tier, which means a choice of guys like Dunn, Ellenson, Poetl, Stone, Diallo, Korkmaz, and Qi (using current draftexpress rankings). If someone from the 2nd tier drops, then you definitely take them, regardless of position.

But of guys in that tier, the question probably is, do you want a guy who has the upside to be an effective starter in a couple years, or are you comfortable with using the current core, free agency, and trades to fill in your starting unit and fill roles off the bench?

It's hard to see Dunn get minutes with this team in the near future, and he's not at the point where he's really going to benefit from a couple years in d-league.
Poetl and Stone both project to me to be more good roleplayers than key starters. But as roleplayers, both are very traditional and it's questionable whether they still have tremendous value in the current NBA. Poetl has the advantage of a lot of chemistry with Delon Wright, so if you still see Wright as part of the long-term composition of this team, Wright and Poetl could be a potent bench combo.
Qi is definitely a major project, and is probably so far down the road from actually playing in the NBA that you don't really need to evaluate him against the current core. You can make that decision entirely on what you think is potential is, and the odds of him achieving it.
Korkmaz seems like he would get lost in the guard logjam on this team, depending on how serious Ujiri is on resigning DeRozan. If Ujiri is considering letting DeRozan walk and going after a PF instead, then a shooting, scoring SG makes some sense. Skillset looks decent, although it sounds like most of his defensive stats come from a little bit of roving on defense, which Casey would likely clamp down on.
Diallo and Ellenson are total opposites in a lot of ways, but both seem like potential fits within this tier. Actually they aren't total opposites, they both are pretty fluid athletes, but clearly they currently excel on opposite ends of the court. For Diallo, the question is whether you think you can play him at PF, or see him as a backup, energy C... a Biyombo type of role, with more coordination and better hands - which is a really solid NBA player. Could be a starting center on a smallball team with the way the trends are going. But on the Raptors? I have a hard time seeing him starting beside JV.
With Ellenson, he's the only guy in this tier where you can say 'yeah, he could be a starter with the current core of this team a year or two down the road.' But he's going to be a liability on defense for a while... how much of a liability is one of the big questions he needs to answer this year, along with shooting consistency. There certainly is some bust potential there, as I think there is with every single guy in this tier.

I'd thus rank the current #3 tier as this, in terms of Raptors ranking: Ellenson, Diallo, Korkmaz, Poetl, Dunn, Stone. Of course, the fortunes of these players are going to change a lot through the season and the Raptors' internal rankings will be different than any published rankings. But that's how I'd evaluate the current tiers.

[tDotted]

Ben Simmons is like James Johnson with a more refined passing game

[MACK11]

Ben Simmons is like James Johnson with a more refined passing game

He's also missing the crazy

[Cody73]

Should we talk about Kyle Wiltjer at all as a later 1st option?

[MACK11]

Should we talk about Kyle Wiltjer at all as a later 1st option?

Absolutely not, he couldn't defend a high schooler. He will get anhiliated in the NBA.