I don’t think you watched Bosh at Georgia Tech. There is literally no comparison except their height. Bosh was light years ahead of Mobley offensively. Monkey literally has no offensive arsenal
This is such an overplayed argument. Mobley literally averaged more points than Bosh at GT. Mobley has plenty of “arsenal.” He’s got a mid-game, good handles, nice driving ability, good 3 form, etc.
I agree, and I've agreed with many of your takes I've seen regarding the importance of defense to building a legitimate contender. But I also think you can build a good defense without drafting Mobley with this pick. And if I have to choose between drafting a defensive anchor or my future No. 1 scorer with the No. 2 overall pick, I'm taking the scorer. I look at a team like Utah that gave Rudy Gobert max dollars only to watch from the sideline in the conference finals every year, and that scares me a bit. Maybe that's a bad comparison, because I do think Mobley is a much more skilled offensive player already than Rudy, and despite Rudy being the league's best defensive player, his biggest weakness (switching on guards on the perimeter) is one of Mobley's greatest strengths. Mobley is more built for the modern NBA than a traditional defensive center like Rudy, and there's still a good chance he develops into a legit offensive 20 PPG threat. But still, every year when I watch Utah fail, I always think "Man, they need to dump Rudy and pair Mitchell with a guy who's worth a max contract." But Utah can't. They're too invested in this core. And I worry that drafting Mobley means drafting a really good 18/9/4/2 guy who is just good enough to crack some all-defensive teams and be a No. 3 offensively when they could have had the next Mitchell/Booker/Lillard/Harden, etc. instead. That's why I lean Green.
Nope - You got that wrong. The argument was your ceiling for winning a title depends on the quality of your guards and wings and not big men. Once again - big men can dominate statistically, but ultimately you win titles with elite guards and forwards - NOT bigs. I mean Anthony Davis is one of the most dominant bugs of the era and his teams went literally nowhere with him until he had an elite wing next to him in Lebron. Embid is almost as good and yet his teams have disappointed every year with inconsistent scoring guards/forwards. Jokic won an MVP this year and yet without a high level guard/wing to score around him(since Murray injured) his team got swept. Gobert only gets as far as Mitchell will carry him, Ayton only as far as Booker and CP carry him, and on and on and on. This is common knowledge - I’m actually shocked how many people are still clinging to the idea that an elite big is how you build a title contender when the overwhelming evidence from both title contenders and elite bigs drafted in the last 20yrs is that the wings/guards of today are just more closely related to title success. Screw MVPs and Advanced stats leaders - win titles and no one cares where you finished in PER.
Does no one actually read posts anymore? I literally bolded a sentence that said “big men have difficulty dominating in today’s league” and pointed out that the top two MVP finalists were big men.
My point is we are building a team from scratch - there is no player on the current roster that you build a team around so with the 2nd pick we have the flexibility to start that rebuild and elite scoring wings and guards are the best way to start on that path because Shaq doesn’t win a title with Kobe or Wade, AD never had playoff success without Lebron, Kawhi made Toronto, Lebron and Wade made Bosh, KG never saw it without Pierce and Allen despite being dominant in his day - I mean literally every player in your list saw success only once they had an elite scoring wing/guard around them.
Virtually everything you said can be flipped. Kobe doesn’t win without Shaq/Gasol, Wade doesn’t win without Shaq/Bosh, etc. The fact is the vast majority of great teams in NBA history featured a combination of great guard AND big man play.
Last 20 NBA champions and their best player: 2020 LA Lakers : Lebron (SF) 2019 Toronto Raptors : Kawhi (SF) 2018 Golden State Warriors : Durant (SF) 2017 Golden State Warriors : Durant (SF) 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers : Lebron (SF) 2015 Golden State Warriors : Curry (PG) 2014 San Antonio Spurs : Kawhi (SF) 2013 Miami Heat : Lebron (SF) 2012 Miami heat : Lebron (SF) 2011 Dallas Mavericks : Dirk (PF) 2010 Los Angeles Lakers : Kobe (SG) 2009 Los Angeles Lakers : Kobe (SG) 2008 Boston Celtics : Pierce (SF) 2007 San Antonio Spurs : Duncan (PF) 2006 Miami Heat : Wade (SG) 2005 San Antonio Spurs : Duncan (PF) 2004 Detroit Pistons : Billups (PG) 2003 San Antonio Spurs : Duncan (PF) 2002 Los Angeles Lakers : Kobe (SG) 2001 Los Angeles Lakers : Shaq (C) 2000 Los Angeles Lakers : Shaq (C) So basically you have to go back to Duncan to have the last non-guard type player to be the best player on a finals team.. and even then you can argue that Parker/Ginobli were just as important as Duncan in that 2007 playoff run.
There is an argument to be made about all of the scoring wings that then should be winning but aren't. Lavine can't even get his team to .500. Beal and Wall went nowhere. Booker prior to this season. Fox and Sacramento. Tatum and Brown are both great but not sniffing a title...
To be fair, Lebron and Durant are 2 of the best ever. Jordan winning 6 chips in the 90s doesn't diminish how good the center position was at the time. It would have surprised nobody if the Knicks, Spurs or Magic wone a title or 2.
LOL @ Pierce as best player on Celtics championship team. Best player on Lakers last championship was clearly AD and that was apparent again this past postseason as soon as he went down to injury.
Did these players win championships without great big men? Why are we trying so hard to diminish the value of big men? I'm not all that concerned about who the best player is on the team, I'm more concerned with being the best team in the NBA...and to do that you have to have a great big man, history shows that.
Outside of Davis, which team had a great big man? Banking on Mobley being a great big man seems far riskier than banking on Green. Even Hakeem is picking Green. Green is a rare talent. Mobley doesn't have the shooting touch of Yao, he doesn't have the skills or quickness of Hakeem, he doesn't have the power of Shaq or even Joel, and he certainly isn't the next coming of Anthony Davis. There's no guarantee he will even be a Chris Bosh. There's no guarantee he will be better than Christian Wood. Green has much much higher upside.
Spoiler Is Hakeem a scout? There's no guarantee that Green will be better than JR Smith, this is the NBA draft, there's not guarantee any of these guys will be anything.
All of them aside from the GSW, and that’s only if you discount Green’s role (which I don’t). Siakam, Robinson, Bosh, Shaq, Garnett, etc. There’s no guarantees period. There’s no guarantee that Green’s any better than Collin Sexton.
Ignite had two top 5 picks playing in their lineup with several veterans and no big. Where did that get them…nowhere!!!!!! Fact, KPJ is easily better than “No D” Green (watch the tape of them playing against each other) so Green ain’t coming to save the day and bring us Titles. I have concerns about Mobley as well and am really beginning to believe the Rockets should take a closer look at trading down to get Suggs.
How is Green not the #1 pick then? Or better question, why is Mobley even a top 3 pick? Mobley is obviously an emaciated scrub that is guaranteed to never add another pound with skills that cannot improve or will ever translate to NBA because he never played vs. grown ass men doesn't have a nickname from Filipinos who never calls himself an alpha so will never become an alpha because alphas self identify doesnt love the game and can only play with his brother. Oh yeah, he also has a high ass - the ultimate death knell.
It is funny to me how Green proponents seem to ignore the fact that KPJ looked way better in the G League despite not being that much older than Green.
