(The Athletic) Detroit might pass on Cade and take Jalen Green #1?

I still want Cade, but it’s likely not gonna happen, so I moved on

people on here flip flop like a MFer…literally seen dudes be like “Green is my guy” on Monday, but by Tuesday afternoon they’re posting “after watching this video on Mobley, I’m sold” and vice-versa

 

KPJ is very young and less than 12 months ago, he got dumped for peanuts by Cleveland because of his behavior and off-court problems... and now people are talking about rearranging our draft based on him? This would be akin to the 1984 Bulls front office saying, no no no, we can't draft Michael Jordan -- we have Orlando Woolridge scoring 20+ppg. Except Woolridge in 1984 was better than KPJ is today.

 

Absolutely. I think if history has told us anything, if you're picking in the top 3-5 you take the best player available unless the BPA happens to play at a position where you have a bona fide franchise player already in place. Drafting Bagley over Doncic because you have DeAaron Fox was dumb at that time and only looks worse now.

 

I would pick him #1 and think he's the best prospect overall because he's got a high reasonable floor and his reasonable ceiling is still high too, but I don't think he's going to wind up as the best player from this draft. His "expected outcome" is higher than Mobley, Green, Barnes, etc. but I'd bet pretty confidently that at least one of those guys or someone else from this draft winds up being a better player.

I think him justifiably being close to consensus #1 in a pretty good draft is leading people to think he's a Zion, Lebron, Luka, KD, AD, etc level of prospect and he's not that.

 

That last sentence is important in the grand scheme of things because the odds of whoever we draft at #2 succeeding is probably going to be the same as whoever Detroit drafts at #1. There's not a clear delineation on talent/potential like the players you mentioned between Cade and the field. Which is why, in this thread, I've questioned the logic behind trading up one spot (thereby also giving up a pretty good trade chip in the form of that protected Pistons pick) just so we get the pick of the litter when the 1st player drafted could be just as good (or bad) as the 2nd or 3rd player drafted for this specific year. If Cade was head and shoulders better than the field sure, Rafael, do whatever you can to move up. But if the analysis says otherwise, just keep and draft the #2 pick and prepare for #23 and #24.

 

Three or four or five times. Lawd have mercy...

 

You're more than welcome to put me on ignore too. It's not that hard.

 

It wasn't there in the first half of the '80's, when the city was "smaller potatoes." The media loved the Rockets and the Twin Towers, the next dynasty. Then it all blew up.

Sometimes I think the "media" is punishing us for our two championships. We stuffed the Knicks and then followed that by incredibly making it to the Finals against all the odds and laying waste to Shaq and the Magic. Sure, two games were close, but we swept them. All that happened during Jordan's bizarre hiatus. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe no.

 

I'm an idiot and got him confused with someone else (Brendan Haywood). This is why I don't post very much... I'm a certified moron.

 

It's weird to me when people mention Luka as one of those "can't miss" prospects. I think there's some reverse-engineering of what was said during the time.

I was certain he would be the best player of this draft class but at the time Ayton was consensus #1 AFAIK. People had serious doubts if Luka was athletic enough which was obviously dumb as fk.

Just saying tho, AD, Lebron and Zion are actually the only guys on your list that were "can't miss" guys, atleast from what i remember what people said during that time.

 

There were a lot of people, many reputable, who thought Luka was can't miss (myself included, though I'm not including myself as reputable), but you are right that the opinion wasn't completely ubiquitous and there was some concern about athleticism. That was dumb because he's ridiculously skilled and is really good at using his frame to create space and proved both of those things in a legit league with grown men.

KD was assumed to be can't miss for the most part as well with some very small concern about being so skinny. Oden was also considered can't miss, though there should have been more concern about injuries because the red flags were there. And even without that KD still should have gone #1. Watching what he did at Texas there was no way he wasn't going to be a very high level scorer in the NBA.

EDIT: Edited my post a little. Actually going back and thinking on it more, I think opinions varied on Luka. There was a lot of "Luka is one of the best prospects in a very long time, wtf is anyone who thinks otherwise thinking?" and since I agreed with that opinion I'm probably attributing it to more people than really had that. But there were a lot of people who didn't now that I think on it more. Nearly everyone thought KD would be good though. There was only a split as to whether Oden or him should be #1.

 

I’m more leaning on pistons getting green. It’s not a bluff. If Rockets really don’t like Cade, they can slide back.

 

The fact that Green skipped the college stage and the attention it could bring tells me the kid has confidence in himself. He knows he is top 5 and might have the balls to tell Detroit not to take him if he is really liking the idea of him and KPJ as you can see on his Instagram

 

Its funny how none of the Mobley people are talking about the fact that there are no rumors of Detroit being intrigued by him. Only Cade and Green.
That speaks volumes.

 

Cade seemed so stoked to be a potential Piston.

 

It's early. We have a month of workouts and content ahead of us.

 

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/06/25/nba-combine-notebook-post-lottery-cade-cunningham

In addition to Cunningham, league sources expect USC’s Evan Mobley and G League Ignite’s Jalen Green to receive serious consideration from the Pistons’ front office, led by general manager Troy Weaver. The strong sense I’ve gotten is that Detroit will explore all its options before committing one way or another, and that the decision on who to take is far from a done deal.

Weaver is also known as a believer in the value of bigs in the modern NBA, and was widely thought to be bullish on James Wiseman entering last year’s draft. Some around the league think he may ultimately favor Mobley’s versatility and defensive prowess.

 

LOL

Pistons is the organization that drafted Darko.

THAT speaks more volumes.