Barnes feels to me he could be Draymond Green like -- a player who impacts winning but is not the centerpiece of a contender. I will say, I have been increasingly impressed with some of the passing and decision making of Green. I'm curious to see how he physically develops and what that means for his rebounding. He seems to stay on the periphery on the defensive glass, but when he sticks his nose in his athleticism plays. It's kind of like on offense - he goes through periods of shying away from contact, but he also has the ability to go get certain caroms that others just can't.
I noticed this too about the rebounds. When he wants them, he can go get them, but he likes other guys to secure them so he can leak out in transition. That’s why he’s always sprinting the floor. I tend to lean towards that’s what the coaches have asked him to do because he’s so fast and such a threat in transition.
I agree on Barnes, he just has a high aptitude and doesn't strike me as a guy that has to get 20 shots to impact winning. As for Green, his court vision is better than what he showed in the G-League. He has shown some flashes of above average court spatial recognition. The question is how much of his issues passing and rebounding are due to him being a little timid and still gaining confidence and feeling out the game. It is possible that he will have a jump next year or the year after where he starts getting 6 rebounds and 6-7 assists as he becomes more aggressive. A lot of high talent young players that join the NBA at an early age "force it", they take too many chances, too many poor shots. Green has proven to be the opposite. He has been very conservative, with his activity increasing with more confidence and familiarity.
Mobley has been amazing. It's hard to not take him 2nd. He could very well have a tim Duncan style career, where he is consistently amazing and under the radar and under respected because he has no flash to his game. That being said, Greens improvement in the 2nd half of the season has been spectacular. His growth and development, when compared to other rookies, is unmatched. He did start out so much worse than others, so there is that. But overlooking rapid development because a shitty start is ignoring your eyes and the work being put in. Knowing what I know now, after watching an all time great every game for nearly a decade in Harden. Is that the best players learn to improve and get better every single year. It's that constant improvement and work ethic we don't see, that gets rewarded with being one of the best in the league. To me, green is showing that level of optimism with regards to future projection for me. Pair that with my understanding of the league being perimeter driven. I'm going Green.
It would’ve been Mobley a month ago. Cunningham’s average athleticism concerns me long term. The only question with Mobley is can he develop a reliable jumper. Everything else seems pretty settled. If he doesn’t, he’s basically Bam. If he does, he’s a two way player…a defensive Swiss Army knife and offensive fulcrum. Hard to pass on that. Green will eventually be a decent defender. I don’t think he’s going to struggle with lateral mobility on the perimeter like Harden did, and he seems to have the will to improve. Offensively, man…he’s got all the tools. Like a more athletic Booker. He’s so unlike Harden, yet also an elite scorer…a little difficult for me to reconcile that after the last decade. Im torn between Green and Mobley. Very different players, but I think somewhat equal in potential impact. Green probably has a higher ceiling, and Mobley a higher floor. I’m good either way.
The question for me is whether I would prefer Mobley/Ivey or Green/Chet or Jabari or Paolo. I think I go Mobley/Ivey but a lot of that is due to the fact I view Ivey as less risky of a prospect than Chet or Paolo for sure. I definitely prefer KPJ/Ivey/Mobley to the alternative given Ivey's chance to be a point guard.
If we had the #1 pick, the only 2 players I'd consider over Green are Cade and Mobley. Before the draft I wanted Green over Mobley because I thought the future Green's greatest strength would be an elite bucket getter. I saw Green as the guy who carries you when your team is down 3-2 in the playoffs and you need 10 points in the last 2 minutes. I also thought he could be an elite scorer without being a blackhole. This skill is the skill I find the most attractive because every champion team needs a guy to get you over the top. Team defense is easier to build up with the right personnel (coaching and players) than finding THE go to guy down the stretch I saw Mobley as a guy who a team could anchor their defense on. I saw Mobley as the leader of the top defense in the league with decent offensive upside. Defensive anchors are the second most important skill to me because no poor defensive team wins championships. I thought his perimeter defense was oversold in college. I saw Cade as a can't miss prospect. Starter on a upper tier playoff team. Cade is going to be an excellent player in this league and carry teams to playoffs I've only watched 4 or 5 Cavs & Pistons games each, so I'm no expert on Cades and Mobleys games so dont rip me for these novice opinions. But, from that small sample size Mobley proved me wrong on his perimeter defense and shown more than "a decent" offensive upside. I'm still not sure if Mobley will be a "give me the ball and i'll win this game for you" kind of leader or not. It's really my only negative thing about Mobleys upside. Cade is about what I expected, but after having Harden on our team and seeing how far he took us, I'm burnt out on the style of basketball centered around a ball dominant player. Before the draft I was 60/40 Green/Mobley and now I'm more 50/50 Green/Mobley. Mobley has a higher floor and higher ceiling as an NBA player, but I still question if he'll carry a team on offense when they need him the most, which is what I value the most in the NBA. If a player can do that and be a great defensive player then of course I'd go for that. Id go: Green Mobley Cade
I was Green over Mobley pre-draft still not sure if Mobley will ever be that #1 option here’s the ball go get us buckets Green could be the Devin Booker type handling all the scoring and doing some playmaking…we still need our CP3 and Ayton…the Ayton can come in this upcoming draft, and then we need to search desperately for a real PG and stop trotting out someone who’s pretending to be one because we have nobody better
For your poll you have to take out Cade as we have the #2 pick. If we had the #1 pick? I probably would have taken Cade. For the #2 pick, going into the draft I was 60/40 Green over Mobley. I would have been happy with either. I loved both. My reasons for favoring Green is the upside of being an alpha scorer / tip of the spear type player. A player that can win games late. Plus the intangibles of high competitive spirit and high motor. Those traits mean Green is LIKELY to hit his projected ceiling. Nothing I have seen so far really changes my calculus. The only thing I have seen is Green started off slow but the ceiling and everything else is still there in front of him. Mobley's skillset translates and it is visible right now so it pops.And looks great! But if he ends up like Bam Adebayo (3rd wheel star on a great team) I still have Green over him.
Be careful; you might need to find more than just one comparison to satisfy a certain pocket of posters on here. I provided almost 10 but that wasn't enough
Something like that, a statement that is factually true at one point may not be true at a different point. It's 11:43 now, but in a minute it won't be... but the statement is still true when it was said
Great point. If we are only talking about the players I’m still taking Mobley, even though Green’s improvement has made the pick a lot easier to swallow, so to speak. But if we are factoring in next years pick as well, picking Green was almost like a buy one get one free deal. It may not have been the correct pick but we may have backed ourselves into a better overall situation. Mobley is not better than Green + Chet/Jabari
This thread scared me at first. I was afraid it would be toxic the moment I saw it. Either full of blind homerism or insufferable stanning over other players who still have their own warts as well, but the discussion has been good and posts have been well thought out. Good job guys!!!
I wouldn't have used the 2nd pick on Wagner but he's a good young player. Definitely has potential on both ends of the floor. If a redraft was to occur he'd be right there behind the top four of Cade, Green, Mobley and Barnes, probably a few spots higher (5? 6?) than where he was originally drafted at 8.
I also noticed that when Jalen sees Wood or another big near the ball he would let them grab the rebound even if it was bouncing towards him. C Wood doesn't like it when other people takes his rebounds ... but that's a different topic so I'll leave it at that
