I saw many posts debating if we should rebuild and find a superstar through draft. I want to have an imaginary experiment: Let's go back to June 2012 at the NBA draft. There's one more prospect - Harden - on the draft board(He's only 22 years old at that time, so he's eligible). I think most of us would pick Harden or Anthony Davis if we had the #1/#2 overall pick. Our recent transactions are essentially equivalent to Lowry(Toronto pick), Martin, Lee(charlotte 2nd rounder), #12 pick, Hill(dallas pick) for the #1/#2 overall pick of 2012 draft. In reality no team would accept our pakage for #1/#2 pick. Cons: Of course we have to pay max money on Harden and we paid price as above. Pros: 1)We essentially landed a 'imaginary' #1/#2 pick which was unobtainable through trade in reality and usually takes multiple seasons of tanking(many teams tank for a decade without landing that high a pick). 2)We used that pick on a prospect with 0 bust potential(actually a proven allstar level player with final/olympics experience). We are extremely lucky to have Morey in charge IMO.
That is interesting seeing as MKG went #2 and Beal went...4? I think Harden would have obviously went ahead of them. Although some might have still taken Davis and his potential over Harden.
for what it's worth, there was a pre-draft rumor that the Bobcats offered #2 for Harden. so there it is.
Beal went third, Waiters went fourth. And I would have taken Davis over Harden, but Harden definitely would have been #2.
Nobody would have taken that for the #1 or #2 pick (since A Davis might have still gone first) because the top drafting teams were bad teams needing the high potential the top picks promise. If a contender had one of the top picks, as sometimes happens, they might have taken that package.
Beal is projected to be Eric Gordon at his best, but Harden is already at that level and growing at 22 years old. Some may take Davis over Harden, but the #1 picks can't garantee you an allstar(Harden now) or superstar(Harden likely in the future).
I think probably at least 25 of the 30 teams take Davis ahead of Harden at the #1 pick, but Harden definitely would have been the #2 pick. And, I think the same can be said that the package that netted Harden would not have netted the #2 pick this past draft. Ultimately, this trade was 100% completely about money from OKC's side, and the Rockets, due to their flexibility, were the beneficiaries. I really don't understand how there can be so many detractors of this trade. Harden makes this team young AND competitive. Now we are merely one step away instead of 3 or 4 from being true contenders, while still keeping a lot of our flexibility still in tact. I have a feeling the second Royce White and/or D-Mo flashes any true upside in regular season games, the trade winds are going to start blowing again.
Anthony Davis only goes ahead of Harden b/c talented big men are at a ridiculous premium. It's why guys like Darko still have NBA jobs and why Oden went before Durant.
Right, Detroit was an exception and unfortunately they misfired. I updated my post to #1 or #2 pick, and the logic behind should still hold true.
Am I the only one who sees Kenyon Martin all over again when they look at Anthony Davis? Admittedly, I haven't watched much of him, but the hype about the two was about the same. I would definitely take Harden ahead of Anthony Davis.
was Kenyon Martin even a consensus pick in that horrific draft? it's been a long time, but i don't think he was.
Yeah, he was. The occasional oddball (like me )wanted Stromile Swift more. But people were all raving about Kenyon's defense. I just don't trust a "franchise player" who is bringing shot blocking as his claim to fame when he's too small to play center. Somebody prove me wrong about Davis. I don't want to have an opinion based on so little.
Guess what happened when the rockets drafted a slightly undersized center with great skills? Hakeem Olajuwon.
I thought people felt he had KG potential as a ridiculous athlete with DPOY potential and can guard multiple positions. I'm not a fan of college basketball so I've never seen him play. But I think that was what the hype was about. And in today's NBA, you can get away with playing a PF at center anyway.
If Harden was in last draft, I'll take him over Davis as #1 pick. On average you need to tank 10 years to realistically hit(not only have the high picks, but HIT it. Think about how many years of tanking before teams drafting Love, Griffin...). I'm excited.
