Huh, I'd assumed Scoot Henderson to be the consensus number 2 pick, but I guess I was wrong. If Miller goes number 2 and either Portland or some team enamored with Amen Thompson trades up to number 3, Henderson could fall down to the Rockets. Doubt this happens though.
If Miller is indeed the #2 pick (and this could all be a bunch of smoke) it would be because Charlotte landed that pick and they have one of the dumbest front offices in basketball. If I were them I would just pick Scoot as the clear BPA and figure it out later. Hope Henderson somehow does fall to us though.
Kupchak is great at drafting players if you look at his history, but he much prefers older players to younger players both in draft and in trade. He has drafted well often but at the same time has given up on his own picks far too early. His whole drafting record in the first round since 2017: Traded SGA (11) for Miles Bridges (12) >> only serious blunder I'd say Drafted Lamelo (3), Bouknight (11), Mark Williams (15), Kai Jones (19), PJ Washington (12), Malik Monk (11) Josh Hart (30) Kyle Kuzma (27) His style is to get people who have a lot of consistent pre-NBA experience. Then in the NBA, he likes to trade packages of young guys for established vets. Doesn't like risk if you ask me. Selfish and eccentric personalities no problem but he wants to see a good sample of consistently demonstrating production. You can say he stays away from high risk/rewards guys, but the floor of his picks is very high too. He will almost always get you an NBA player wherever in the first round. I'm not sure he will see Scoot's G-League experience as a solid base. I'm not sure he even sees Lamelo as a vet, I bet he sees his team as a too-young team. I don't say this often in drafts, but there's a very good chance that at #2 and #3 we have GM's who are secretly plotting to trade out for veteran players. If we can secure that vet player for them (Siakam? OG? Brown?) PLUS throw in an additional good future pick I think they would give up the pick. Just my hunch.
…talent wise Bridges was turning out to be a very solid two way player. He doesn’t have the scoring power of an SGA but Bridges was a legit NBA player until he lost his damn mind off the court and hopefully learned a VERY necessary lesson. I wouldn’t say on talent evaluation Bridges was a huge miss- character wise definitely it was. I’ve also not been as high on SGA than most though. He’s a fine scorer for sure though.
Miller and Jabari would cannibalize each other’s development imo. Both need to improve as shot creators to reach their respective ceilings. Not enough touches to go around.
not really, they're two completely different players and can absolutely be played at the same time whether its a 4/5 combo or 3/4 combo
Sorry it's not even close. SGA was a top 10 player in the NBA this season. Bridges was a great role player. OKC wouldn't trade SGA for TWO Miles Bridges even if Bridges was perfectly fine off the court. That's definitely a bad trade on Kupchak's part.
They can definitely play together. No doubt. It’s just individual growth that I’d be concerned about.
Oh brother! This is where he declines to workout for them. Welcome to the Houston Rockets, the land of 2nd chances
I don't watch SGA a ton but the last time I watched, he was still a fairly lax defender who was physically overmatched by most players. Again the scoring is definitely nice and is noticed but unless he has renewed focus on defense this season, I wouldn't call him a top 10 player RIGHT NOW any more than I would call Devin Booker or Bradley Beal a top 10 player. All nice scorers and perennial all stars- but those guys don't necessarily raise the floor of their teams significantly and it's also worth noting that for a young player SGA has only played in what 65% of games over the last 4 years? The guy has all the potential in the world and already one of the best scorers in the game but when I think of top 10 guys I think of the guys who make any team an instant playoff team at least and that hasn't happened for Shai to date. But hey - he is definitely way better than Bridges. My point was just that Mitch is a decent talent evaluator because I think before his off court incident, Bridges was likely to be a versatile long time 2 way starter in the league. Did he pick the better player between Bridges and SGA? No...but he clearly has an eye for NBA level talent.
"You have to be aware of your surroundings"?? That's what he learned? Not like, don't run around with other people's guns in public? Be more careful about the company you keep? Don't get involved in potentially violent beefs? Man, between this and the finger guns celebration I don't think this kid learned a damn thing.
don't really see a problem. two different skill sets with two different roles. when you're still in the midst of gathering actual talent, the real talent sorts itself out eventually
