How’d your team do???

 lakers, they bought into the second round and drafted a guy im not familiar with from iowa state, talen horton-tucker. I dont think anyone anticipates much from second rounders normally but lakers have so many open roster spots this guy might get a chance to play. He seems like an interesting prospect, well rounded on both ends of the court and still just 18 years old as one of youngest in the draft. But he doesnt seem to have a clear roll right now. Hes a 6-4 235 forward who is a subpar shooter although his form looks solid. My guess is hell be a non factor this year but he has enough skills and upside seems like a worhtwhile risk. 

 13th Pick: Tyler Herro is my favorite prospect from Kentucky this year and Thank God the Heat draft him. We have a lot of options this year with that pick. KPJ, Keldon, Sekou, Nassir, NAW, Romeo among others but Tyler is certainly on that list. He can shoot from anywhere whether off the catch or off the dribble. My biggest concern with him is his wingspan but his aggresiveness more than makes up for it. We could have had someone else but hey this one’s worth it. He plays like Booker almost but with more drive on the defensive side of the ball.

Trade: 32nd pick: KZ Okpala was someone I didn’t expect the Heat would draft. Love this pick also as he’s a 6’8 wing who can drive and shoot when necessary. Heat needed bigger wings and Pat Riley solved that with this pick.

Verdict: Heat drafted well as I wanted them to draft wings 6’6" and over and they did it with guys like Herro and Okpala. This could have been great if they did not trade Bol Bol for a bag of chips.

 I don’t follow a particular team but a few thoughts – 

Atlanta ended up with Hunter, Reddish and Fernando. They are all really good roster fits and I think Fernando will have a good career for a 2nd rounder. 

Phoenix was really worrying me but I thought they made some smart moves to recover. Saric and Baynes can both play roles on winning teams. Johnson and Jerome can both flat out shoot it, so putting them with Booker makes them very dangerous and gives Ayton plenty of space to play in. Jalen Lecque is just a bonus. Definitely worth the chance. Probably could’ve got more than cash for Warren but this gives Josh Jackson more minutes on the floor and less getting his child high. 

Minnesota gave away Saric to get Culver when they needed a point guard. They just took Okogie last year. If someone can explain this to me that’d be great. 

 I don’t get Garland to the Cavs either. They should’ve taken Culver. They can’t be planning to play Garland and Sexton, surely… 

I’m happy with Nassir Little for Portland. If he can develop a reliable J then he will really help this team. He has a ton of talent.

I thought giving up 8, 17, and 35 for 4 was ridiculous – especially to get Hunter who I think we can all agree doesn’t appear to have the most upside. Like I said before, he better be damn near Kawhi for that kind of value.

I thought Reddish at 10 was a great pick and Fernando at 34 was a great pick as well. Two guys I believe can become very good players.

Others I thought did well:

• Cavs for having the balls and taking best player available in their eyes with Garland. I like Windler and Porter Jr as well.
• Heat getting Herro and great value for Okpala.
• Pelicans for the absurd value they got from Atlanta
• Blazers for grabbing Little – serious steal
• Boston for drafting three talented players in Langford, Williams, and Edwards
• Spurs get Samanic and Johnson for great value 
• Nuggets get Bol

 Don’t mind the players in Langford, Williams, Edwards, and Waters. Yet you trade Baynes for more cap space, weakening an already thin front court and draft 3 guards in a very deep front court draft. So how they use their cap space has to be part of their draft grade. Like if that trade helps you get Randle it will be brilliant. If you get a lesser player not so much.

It will be interesting to watch and see how NAW does compared to Langford, how Clarke does compared to Williams and how bigs like Bruno and Gafford do compared to Edwards.

 Hawks. Absolutely love it. Great draft and fits. Schlenk is a got dam G.

 LOVED what they did! Will be very exciting to watch next year. 

Garland was the BPA. Cavs made the mistake of drafting Waiters over Lillard because of fit, I respect them not making the same mistake twice. 

Windler is an assassin. 43% from deep on 7 attempts a game. He also improved % wise year over year from Fresh-Senior year. 

Porter Jr. – May be a top 10 talent. Beilein is a fantastic coach for young guys. I hope this fella keeps his head on straight and buys in. 

 Well… Cheema Okeke. I’m down… I liked watching him in the Tourney, he was killing it until his ACL injury. Sounds like we’re confident he’ll make a full recovery.

Cant get past the fact he seems like a 3/4, and we already have Isaac and Gordon as 3/4’s. Maybe that’s the plan, having switchable long guys that can do well on anyone on the perimeter except the quickest guards and not get killed switching onto a big down low. Or maybe this is some anticipation we may trade Gordon before his contract is up…

Really feel like we could have traded back and got a second round pick and still got this guy. Maybe packaged our 2 second rounders then for someone who fell we really liked, instead of selling our second rounder to the lakers for a worse pick next year and some cash for the DeVos family…

Overall, confusion despite thinking our pick could be a good one eventually. I wanted NAW. Now were picking up undrafted guys for summer league and haven’t gotten Aubrey Dawkins yet? His just sitting in Orlando already…

 The Sixers draft was down right disgutsingly bad. The trades they made were pointless. Cash considerations for an owner worth 3.7 billion dollars. The team is worth 4 times what he bought it for just a few years ago.

Elton Brand is another Duke GM that is going to screw it up in Philly. They needed to add as many cheap players as possible with only having a handfull of players under contract. They are going to likely go way over the cap resigning their players so all the help they could have gotten in the 2nd round would have been great. 

First off they trade up for Thybulle when there was a 90% chance he was going to be there at 24. I don’t hate him as a player since he is a defensive stud but this team needs shooting with Embiid and Simmons.

They give away 33 to Boston to move up a few spots. Then Boston takes Edwards who would have been a great fit off the bench. Apparently they learned nothing about trading picks to Danny Ainge and taking a guard from Washington that can’t shoot!!

Then they trade out of 34 which was Bruno Fernando. He would have been a great backup center and Embiid insurance policy. That was perhaps there biggest need but instead flipped that for 57 and two future secound round picks. 

Then they trade 42nd pick and Jonothan Simmons away for cash to save a million dollars. That move makes no sense at all. 

They took Shayok who at least can shoot but seems like a Korkmaz clone who they didn’t want to keep.

Finally with their last pick they took Jordan Bone who was perhaps the most athletic PG in the draft…..but of course they traded him to Detroit for once again nothing! 

I give them a D- and that is being generous. They had so much oppurtunity to add quality players that could help now and down the road. Instead of drafting 3 or 4 players who could help fill out the roster they got 1 that can’t shoot. All for some future 2nd rounders and some cash. I am not pleased at all.

BRING BACK HINKIE!!!!!

Well my team is the Raptors, and they didn’t do a whole lot. Hernandez sounds like a decent energy big but I was hoping for a high upside wing pick like Dort or King. But it’s pick #58, can’t hope for much.

Some notes on some other teams that stood out for me (good or bad);

Pelicans: I really like what they did with their youth movement. Zion and Hayes are a very athletic combo and I like the lob city comparison with Ball at point. NAW will be a solid 6th man next year and for the future (if they keep Holiday).

Cavaliers: The Garland pick isn’t the best fit for a team who has Sexton, but I am more impressed with their two late 1st rounders Windler and Porter Jr. Windler is a sniper which is good for a team who lacks shooting and has a bunch of point guards. Porter Jr. is a high upside pick for a rebuilding team with a lack of talent on the wing.

Hawks: Bolstering their wing positions with Hunter and Reddish should form a solid young rotation with Huerter on the wing. The 2nd round pick of Fernando looks like a steal as he could be that defensive anchor next to Collins. All 3 of those picks could help out their crappy defense.

Suns: Trading Warren for nothing is bad. Getting Saric is good. Drafting Johnson looks bad. Drafting Jerome and signing Lecque looks good. 

Hornets: Not a fan of the Washington pick as they don’t need any more forwards and I don’t think he has the upside to push them into the playoffs and keep Kemba happy. This team is horrible if Kemba leaves.

Pistons: For a team that lacks wing players and shooters, they did not help themselves in the draft. Doumbouya is raw, not much of a shooter and sounds more like a 4 than a 3. Sirvydis isn’t helping this year either. For a team that should be pushing for a playoff spot and doesn’t have much cap space, I figured they would draft more for win-now and need than they did. 

Magic: Okeke could be good but he is coming off an injury and sounds like he could have been had later in the draft. Also, how many 3/4 combos can you have on 1 team? At least Okeke can shoot.

Blazers and Clippers: both got guys who dropped a bit and have high upsides. Both players fit team needs as a wing for Portland and a big man for Clippers. Depending on who the Clippers sign in the offseason, Kabengele could get a lot of burn this year.

Wiz – I wanted Reddish but Rui is the safer. Grabbing admiral in the 2nd wasnt bad.

Spurs – i think they were locked in on Luka, took him to be safe, and grabbed the best talent that fell to them. Typical spurs draft which is ok with me. 

Did the Spurs do it again? Most mocks had Keldon Johnson going around 15 spots higher. I wasn’t knocked out by what I saw of him, but honestly, most one-and-done guys from Kentucky are at least as good as advertised and often better.

As for Samanic all I know is what I’ve read today. Unless they trade Bertans I imagine he’ll stay in Europe for now.