I was about to make another thread but this one is better WHEN DO YOU START THE TANK? Looking at our competition Potential Tankers - (wins) Pelicans (23) - 1 game back of playin Spurs (22) Kings (22) - 2 games back of playing Pacers (19) OKC (18) Rockets (15) Magic (13) Pistons (12) Rocket River
Until Sengun acquires a consistent 3ball he will not start for Silas unfortunately. Silas 5 out offense requires that the 5 be a scoring threat from perimeter. All 5 players need to be 3 level scorers. As for Chet or Jabari, neither will play the 5. At least not in near future. Would be glad to move Wood for true value, but it will not happen before next season trade deadline imo.
With the way Detroit is playing, it'll take a miracle for us to get to that "worst record" spot. The problem with a brutal schedule at the end of the year is many of those teams are good, and I don't know how many of those teams will be resting their best/better players for a playoff run. They could still be in the thick of a race, though, so no telling what that's going to be like.
Not necessary to be worst. Bottom 3 have the same odds for top pick overall. Trust Silas in this at least.
It depends upon the question of what you want and how you like your answer. The worst record is the best in all situations since there is no probability of it being worse in the event of any draft outcome. If you go into the draft saying "I only want the highest probability of getting a top-3 pick", then yes, any of the 3-worst records would do. But then you realize the probability of getting a top-3 pick is only 40% with any of those 3 positions, it's the other 60% and their distribution that starts getting scarier. Hypothetically, if you rank the top-5 prospects as Holmgren, Smith, Banchero, Ivey, Sharpe (or AJ Griffin or Johnny Davis if you guys want) : With the worst record, you're safe -- you'll get one of those 5 players. With the 2nd-worst record, there is a 20% chance you won't get one of those 5 players. With the 3rd-worst record, there is a 33% chance you won't get one of those 5 players. With the 4th-worst record, there is a 45% chance you won't get one of those 5 players. So yes, the worst-3 records have the same shot at getting a top-3 pick, but the you realize that it only means they all have a 60% chance NOT getting a top-3 pick, you realize how the NBA has distributed the odds for fairness. Hell, even the 4th-worst record has 37% of getting a top-3 pick, so not really that much worse than one of the 3-worst teams. It all depends on what you want, how you ask your question, and how you want the answer phrased. Or as @danoman just said get the worst record if you want a guaranteed top-5 pick. *edited for an error cuz I can't add*
Honestly, I think you can play Wood long with either of those guys (Chet / Jabari) as they are going to give you what Wood won't as a big man defensively and Wood is played as a wing instead of a big. You just can't play Wood with someone who doesn't check both boxes - shooter and rim defender.
At what point should we see a significant shift in our approach to this season? There's not a ton of games left. We deserve 30 mins of Sengun on a nightly basis. Gup deserves to have more burn. It'd also be nice to see Garuba and Nix at some point.
https://theathletic.com/3127230/202...top-5-questions-abound-with-this-years-class/ Spoiler […] This class has fewer sure things at this point who have both a proven combination of production and will likely enter the 2022 draft. Think of last year when someone like Cam Thomas from LSU, the fourth-leading scorer in the country, went 27th overall. For all of his flaws, he was still at the very least a proven commodity as a scorer. Quentin Grimes was the AAC Player of the Year. Usman Garuba had debuted for the Spanish National Team already. Guys such Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Herb Jones, Ayo Dosunmu, Jared Butler and Miles McBride — all of whom I had first-round grades on — all fell to the top-10 picks in the second round after having been recognized multiple times by their respective conferences as all-league players despite having real, translatable skill sets that work at the next level. The year before had Tyrese Maxey, Desmond Bane, Immanuel Quickley, Payton Pritchard and Udoka Azubuike — all really productive, good college players for their age — get into the 20s. I just don’t know that such depth will be there this year. At the very least, it hasn’t yet emerged for scouts in that portion of the class. This college basketball season has been dominated by big men, and there just isn’t that kind of appetite for selecting bigs in the draft. Because fewer upperclassmen have emerged as interesting NBA prospects, this is potentially shaping up to be the year of the “pre-draft,” a concept where teams try to persuade players to come out a year before they’re realistically ready and at the highest point of their stock in order to get a higher-upside swing value-wise on their pick — hoping to get a discount on a valuable player. For instance, a few teams tried to persuade Jaden Ivey and Bennedict Mathurin to enter the 2021 draft with promises of taking them in the late first round. Both declined, and now some of those teams won’t get a chance to select them because neither will get out of the lottery. I’d classify a large portion of the players listed below as “pre-draft” candidates, and I mention as such when discussing that I don’t think many of these guys are ready. A few other notes. I tried my best to realistically project who will declare and who won’t, but we obviously have nothing in the way of answers yet. In that vein, if you don’t see a player here, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I think said player is bad. Rather, I may have just decided not to push said underclassman through to the draft. As mentioned above, this class has a lot of them. UCLA’s Peyton Watson, Memphis’ Josh Minott, Michigan State’s Max Christie, Purdue center Zach Edey and Michigan forward Moussa Diabate are among the many I decided not to pull into this class at this point given their performances this year. Ohio State guard Malaki Branham is another player I think fits this regard and is someone I think NBA teams should be trying to persuade to enter. Scouts are super interested in all of those guys, but to be honest, I’m not sure there is a great case for many in the back half of the first round of this mock to go through with declaring, so I tried to use some level of discretion. Additionally, to get out ahead of a question that inevitably comes in the comments every single time: Emoni Bates is not eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft by virtue of being born in 2004. He does not meet the age requirement for draft-eligible players. The Shaedon Sharpe question: For now, I’m continuing to keep Sharpe off this mock, mostly out of respect for what continues to be his and Kentucky’s public comments. Sharpe’s mother told us at The Athletic the current plan is for him to go to Kentucky next year. John Calipari continues to say they expect him at Kentucky next year after having announced that he wouldn’t play this season, although that language has softened a bit. I’m cognizant of the fact that most guys projected as top-10 picks ultimately enter the draft, and that is what Sharpe assuredly would be. If he were to enter, I would have him at No. 5 on my board for reasons I broke down in the story I wrote with our Kyle Tucker earlier this year. His entrance would significantly help a lottery in desperate need of more upside. If and when information on Sharpe changes, he’ll jump onto the board and I will immediately update the mock. Until then, I will pass on including him. The draft order is based on league-wide rankings as of Feb. 14. Team needs are not accounted for within this mock. The next will include those, in all likelihood. There are 58 picks in the 2022 NBA Draft: The Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks have forfeited second-round picks this year due to free-agency tomfoolery and shenanigans. In the Heat’s case, in a convoluted manner, they essentially forfeit the would-be 52nd pick they would have received from Philadelphia (while Cleveland makes the pick it previously had acquired from Miami). In Milwaukee’s case, it would currently be the 54th pick. 1. Detroit Pistons — Chet Holmgren | 7-1 center | 19 years old, freshman | Gonzaga 2. Orlando Magic — Jabari Smith Jr. | 6-10 forward | 18 years old | Auburn 3. Houston Rockets — Jaden Ivey | 6-4 guard | 20 years old | Purdue Jaden Ivey is the most electrifying man in college basketball entertainment this season, a one-man fast break waiting to happen with explosive speed who is constantly attacking downhill. Even in Purdue’s big-man, post-up offense, Ivey is still the guy who stirs the drink. He found that next gear in his game around mid-January and hasn’t turned it off since. He’s averaging 20 points, 4.5 rebounds and three assists since Jan. 17 and has seemingly made a ton of big plays late in games. Scouts are enamored with Ivey’s athleticism and ability to make things happen on the court, believing that it’ll play up even further once he gets out of Purdue’s drag-it-out half-court offense that always has a man waiting at the rim as a help defender on his drives due to the presence of Edey and Trevion Williams. Ivey does have some work to do in terms of skill. There will be an adjustment period for him operating out of ball screens in the NBA in terms of making the reads and attacking. Defensively, he could stand to improve at the point of attack and out of ball screens. His feel for scoring versus distributing is something that continues to need calibration, and his jumper could stand to just be a touch more consistent. But all of this is fixable. What isn’t fixable are Ivey’s immense tools at the lead guard spot, where he’ll immediately enter the NBA as one of its best athletes. These guys get drafted very high, and he’s one of four guys I would say still have a genuine case to go No. 1 overall (not accounting for Sharpe). 4. Oklahoma City Thunder — Paolo Banchero | 6-10 forward | 19 years old, freshman | Duke 5. Indiana Pacers — A.J. Griffin | 6-6 forward | 18 years old | Duke 16. Houston Rockets (via BKN) — MarJon Beauchamp | 6-6 wing | 21 years old | G League Ignite MarJon Beauchamp is another one of those guys about whom scouts will say something along the lines of, “We’d love to take him near the end of the first round.” Beauchamp has legit wing size, length and athleticism and plays with a very professional demeanor that has impressed scouts. His attitude is strong, and he plays defense consistently. His effort level on the offensive glass and as a cutter is terrific. There’s very rarely a moment where he doesn’t seem totally engaged, and scouts love his story of continued improvement. He’s put in a lot of work over the last year since he was at Yakima Valley College in Washington. But, he also has made just 27 percent of his 3-point shots and doesn’t really have a ton of ballhandling ability. Teams wonder to an extent what they’ll be able to do with him offensively. But he’s averaged 15.4 points per game largely doing dirty work type stuff in the G League, so the hope is he can translate that and hard-working defense to the NBA while he works through his skill level. 18. Denver Nuggets — Walker Kessler | 7-1 center | 20 years old | Auburn
I don't know if he can do that against NBA players who are much bigger, stronger, and more athletic. I'm a bit skeptical.
With 25 games left, it would be very foolish for the Rockets to try to win games. If the Rockets win more than 5 - 6 games the rest of the way, you have to seriously wonder what this front office is thinking. You just sacrificed the entire season being really really bad but have a great chance at a top 5-6 pick with a high chance at a top 3 pick. Why blow that and win some meaningless games and get an 8th pick?
