Very intriguing as to how high Morey can move up in the 1st round while offering one or both of the teams 2nd round picks.
Last year, Minnesota traded the 31st and 36th picks in order to move up to the 24th pick. That's as good a measuring stick as anything. Figure very late 20s. And that's IF they trade up at all. I'm not convinced.
Buddy Hield is the star of this draft, hands down. Whatever team passes on him, whether they are 1, 2 or 3 will have chosen poorly. I'm talking immediate contribution to whatever team he goes to. You just don't pass on talent like his.
Agreed. He's most NBA ready and I think he's going to be a star in this league. I'd trade James Harden to the Celtics for their #3, 16, 23 picks, Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder and a future unprotected first. Take Buddy Hield with that #3 pick and we'll end up with our own top 5 pick next year for sucking but in 2 years we'll have some nice young assets instead of being salty about losing Harden for nothing in free agency.
I too am entreagued by the possibility of getting value for Harden and starting the rebuilding process. It won't happen because Les wants to keep chasing the next shinny object, but that's probably what should happen. Morey has a habit of waiting too long to get value for talent. He did it with jones, pat, parsons, and Dwight. All of them could have been moved sooner and would have netted us great value in return.
And then we will move the next players for new assets and then will trade the assets for new players and ...
That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying, losing them for nothing is foolish. And that's what happened with Parsons (who would have netted us probably two 1st rounders), it's what will happen with Dwight; if we had moved jones before this year we would have gotten good value, now we'll get nothing. Etc...
You would think potential targets for Morey in the first round that possibly may be dangling their first round picks in a trade due to owning higher picks in the top few tiers in this draft might be: #19 Denver #23 Boston #24 Philadelphia #26 Philadelphia #27 Toronto #28 Phoenix I'm sure there's lots of dialogue going on at the moment. The sweet spot may be the Sixers but who knows.
We're going to trade up into the late 1st round and get Denzel Valentine. That's my hot take. Very slim odds of anyone being right, but that's my guess. Teams selecting in the teens will pass on him cause of knee concerns and he'll drop into the 20s where we'll snag him. We need sharp shooters.
We need 6'8" players that can run, jump, play D, and are willing to work on their shooting, ball handling, and bball IQ. Whoever, that is, please add them to the team quickly. Also, let them play, we aren't going to win a championship by the time James's contract is up anyway!!