Fair enough, but I think Stone is creative and has a lot of chips to play with. I hope he doesn't get too cute, and just uses the pick, but I'm intrigued to see how it plays out. I want Mobley, but I'm intrigued by Green, so I would probably be okay with either.
They will make the round, receive phone calls and probably end up with Mobley. It's the merry go around routine. Anything is possible on Draft night, sure. Would have been interesting to see what Rudy Gay would have done for the Rox.
The greater concern is health, at the end of the day big men are far more susceptible to injuries due to their weight and size. Even if he has the potential to be as good or better than someone like Embiid, the next concern is would he have injury issues like Embiid.
The point is you cant tell which guard is gonna blow up esp just based on their college career. Jalen Green's skillset right now is pretty good but also typical for guys at his age, its not like he has this unique skillset or massive quality that separates him from others. Super athletic 6'5 guard with a jumpshot in progress and not afraid to drive to the rim. We see that every year he could be Kobe or he could be JR Smith. Yeah he can be a "safer" pick but in terms of upside you also cant deny Mobley has higher upside.
Then you really haven't been paying attention to modern NBA offenses. Elite big men don't win rings today. Elite guards do. Why? Because elite big men don't control how much they have the ball. Guards dominate the ball today in heliocentric offensive systems. Embid is a generational big talent. AD is also. And both of them absolutely need a superstar playmaker that is better then them to go all the way.
How come Jokic is still playing while Murray is out with a knee injury? How come Dennis Smith Jr is more injury prone than De Andre Ayton? Its not as simple as big is more injury prone than a guard. It depends on your style of play Embiid is injury prone cuz he is extremely athletic, heavy and dunks a lot. Guess how Green plays? Yeah he jumps high, dunks hard and his legs take a huge pounding everytime he lands. At least Mobley just runs around and is pretty skinny. He isnt jumping up and down every time he gets the ball, switching lanes at mach speed and making short and sudden stops and starts. If Green was this sweet shooting sg then ok you got a point. But with his playstyle you really shouldnt be making the injury argument for green. Dude is always a bad landing from tearing his ACL.
And what was he as a 1A? Barely could lead his team to the playoffs and if he did were near automatic first round exits.
The nba come full circle In due time. my point is you can draft high and build a franchise around a big. They just stopped making cornerstone bigs the last decade. When that happens, this whole “it’s a guards league” notion goes away.
Elite guards dobt own this era, elite forwards do. KD, Kawhi and Lebron have been the best players of the era who won rings and they arent guards. Curry is arguably the exception but he is the best shooter in NBA history which Green isnt. The next gen is prob Giannis, luka, zion and Tatum so again these are forwards not guards. Kobe is the only SG who has owned his era, and even then the rest of the stars were forwards like Dirk, Tmac and TD. How does 6'5 Jalen Green fit into that conversation? Lol. Cade is the elite playmaker in this class not Jalen Green. Cade is 6'8 btw, he aint 6'5.
So what? Before Cp3 and Ayton Booker couldnt even get to the playoffs at least AD led his team to the playoffs.
It should def go away as the NBA has never been a guards league. Apart from Jordan, Kobe, Dwade, Billups and Curry no guard has been the best player of their champ team. It's a dumb statement 5 dudes in like 30 yrs how d hell is it a guard's league?
You are just pointing out outliers though. It's no secret that taller players tend to have more injury problems. The rate seems to sky rocket if they are 7" foot or above. At the end of the day, human beings are not supposed to be this tall and big, so for Mobley to have the lowest odds of injury, he would need to keep a light weight and avoid a high flying play style. If he can develop into Embiid, AD or Jokic type player, then yes he would be extremely valuable and worth the pick (although 2 of those 3 are already displaying perpetual health issues). For me, I personally think guard play is more important, and Green is overall a lower risk. It's also a more natural fit to Wood and KPJ. In addition, Green's performance in the g-league is nothing short of impressive.
I would include Lebron also. He plays as a guard. He's a primary ball handler. What matters is recent trends. We can almost go back an entire decade(San Antonio) where a big man led his team to a ring and those late Spurs teams were balanced with elite guard play and big man play.
Lebron has never been a guard his entire life. So Jokic is a guard now? He is the primary ball handler of Nuggets smh.
Jokic isn't a primary ball handler. You ain't going to dump Jokic the ball to go up the full court during a full court press. Ya he is the best high and low post passing big possibly ever but he isn't a primary ball handler and I doubt he's ever going to win a ring as the best player on his team because again, modern big men can't control how often they get the ball like guards. It's much easier to make elite bigs disappear on offense because it's much easier denying them possessions than guards. And that is the main problem with centering a modern offense around a big. It's much easier to silence your bread and butter. On offense Lebron for all intent and purposes plays as a guard. He brings the ball up. He is the primary ball handler in the high pick and roll. He does everything on offense a primary point guard does.
Have you seen Green play yes or no? You want to use history right? What is the history of high flying players in the league? Do they have long careers or do they turn into injury prone players? Sure big men become injury prone but so do high leapers and dunkers. Thats just a fact at this point. Green isnt a natural fit to KPJ as he doesnt have a reliable 3 pt shot. They both need the ball to be effective how is that a natural fit? Mobley is a defensive big with some range, he is a better fit next to Wood and KPJ who seem to be all offense RN. With his range he can get passes from either of the two and stretch the defense. Lol. Stop being so biased its pretty clear you just got impressed by Green's ignite play your reasoning doesnt make sense.
Three point shooting consistency is hard to determine at age 19. He has a lot of catch and shoot opputuinities and he loves off ball decently. He can definitely become a far more consistent shooter over time.
Most definitely majority of players want to play like a guard. Almost every big has guard skills. You do not have to be a guard.
