Orlando is going to draft a point guard, they desperately needs a point guard….they are getting a point thru draft or free agency
Damn, no more tweets like… “The Spurs are ecstatic for the chance to select Victor Wembanyama.” “The Hornets are buzzed in on Brandon Miller.” “The Blazers are squarely focused on Scoot Henderson.” “The Rockets are highly enamored with Amen Thompson.” Adrian Wojnarowski won’t tip picks during 2023 NBA Draft Wojnarowski told Ryen Russillo of The Ringer on Thursday that he would not be doing that this time around, and that there was no longer much value in tweeting the picks ahead of the ESPN broadcast. “Going from Yahoo to ESPN and sort of see what the responsibility is on the broadcast, and feeling like I need to be more fully engaged in the show,” Wojnarowski said. “I’m not doing the picks this year. Now that doesn’t mean…yeah the top of the draft if all of a sudden something weird is happening at (picks) two or three, yes.” “But the pick-by-pick, I don’t think it has value anymore for me or for ESPN.” Insiders sharing picks ahead of time has become a part of sports coverage beyond just the NBA, but Wojnarowski said he felt his time would be better served to focus elsewhere. “I created the Twitter account the day of the draft, I think it’s 2009,” he said. “I think it’s just I had all this information that I was getting in real time and I’m like by the time you put it up on the site it’s a vapor. I said hey, Twitter, this is a place for it.” “But I think now for me it’s important to stay on top of the trades and the movement, and be able to do a little more storytelling of what’s going on on the board in real-time at the draft. “Instead of having my head buried trying to get New Orleans pick at 14 that obviously is going to be out momentarily on the show.”
A plan to get better by adding off-ball players while maintaining cap flexibility and essentially punting our cap space to hunt for a superstar in next year's free agency: Draft: Amen Thompson Kris Murray Sign: Jevon Carter Khris Middleton (1 year max, "prove I'm healthy and can still play" deal) Trade for (or sign): Mike Muscala (Kenyon Martin Jr for Muscala + a future draft pick) --- Guards: Amen Thompson (starting but only playing about 25 minutes per game) Jevon Carter Jalen Green Kevin Porter Jr Forwards: Khris Middleton Kris Murray Jabari Smith Jr Tari Eason Centers: Alperen Sengun Mike Muscala
I like Muscala as a third big, and think he’s available for basically nothing, but definitely think we need an actual center sized player on the roster in rotation with Alpi. Lowest hanging fruit to raise our floor. Middleton also has no need to sign a prove-it deal. He can just pick up his $40M player option if he wants and do it in Milwaukee.
Ah, I forgot that he has a player option, my mistake. It's actually kind of tough in this free agent market to find somebody who wouldn't displace Sengun as starting center but meets all of our needs. Brook Lopez is the best bet but he'd obviously want to start, I'd imagine.
Sengun/Poeltl ($18 mil) Jabari/Grant Williams ($15 mil) Tari/Reaves ($25 mil) Green/KPJ Derrick White/Amen
I think the best options are via trade with #20 and or KPJ + Tate and maaaybe a protected Nets ‘24 pick: Capela, Gafford, Robert Williams III. If you can’t do something like that, might as well go with the committee approach and get something like Plumlee and Muscala for cheap. I’m feeling like Brook Lopez is getting more and more likely though. 50M/2 yrs, and maybe a handshake agreement to trade him next summer if he wants something different. That way he gets his money, preserves himself a little by skipping back-to-backs, playing 22 mpg etc., and if he really wants it has an opening to make his way to a contender again at some point.
Anyone have access to Pelton’s big board? Looks like it just came out: https://www.espn.com.sg/nba/insider...-2023-breaking-30-best-prospects?platform=amp
To me that depends on what Brooks you are getting - the one that's a good defender that pesters the other team's best wing and doesn't take 16 shots a game I'll take on a fair market value deal, the one that thinks he's a superstar that should get 20 shots a game, I'll pass on at any price.
To Blazers: Zion Williamson Jalen Green To Pelicans: Anfernee Simons Kenyon Martin Jr #3 pick To Rockets: Jusuf Nurkic Trey Murphy Future #1 from Portland, top 3 protection Future #1 from New Orleans We then use KPJ at SG, Murphy/Jabari at forward, draft best PG at 4. Backup 5 is resolved and starting 3 is resolved. We absorb salary in deal to give Pelicans cap savings adding value for them. I think Murphy, Nurkic, and 2 future 1s is a decent haul for Green/Martin... Our contribution is cap savings for Pelicans but because Simons has to go to Pelicans for salary offset, they have a hole in the backcourt. Can also be reworked with KPJ in Portland and fewer picks coming back. We would also have to take more contracts back. Sharpe added to Houston offsets KPJ to Portland and maybe Portland keeps their pick. Then it's KPJ and Martin for Murphy, Sharpe, and Nurkic.
I feel like Dillon is slightly better Tate with baggage. I would pass..... think he makes sense for a contender....
**Note: There are no projections for players from Overtime Elite (OTE), including Amen and Ausar Thompson, who both are in the top five of ESPN's top 100 prospects. 1. Victor Wembanyama | Metropolitans 92 | F/C Top 100: No. 1 Stats: No. 4 Consensus: 3.9 WARP 2. Brandon Miller | Alabama | SF Top 100: No. 2 Stats: No. 5 Consensus: 3.5 WARP Miller's season ended on a low note, as he shot 23% on 2s and 16% on 3s in the NCAA tournament. That dropped his projection, but not enough to move him out of the second spot. More broadly, Miller was weirdly ineffective against top nonconference foes, including 0-of-8 shooting in a win at then-No. 1 Houston. At the same time, Miller dominated the SEC, making 60% of his 2s and 38% of his 3s in conference play. 3. Cam Whitmore | Villanova | SF Top 100: No. 6 Stats: No. 1 Consensus: 3.2 WARP Whitmore's lone college season, limited by a preseason thumb injury, has made him a polarizing prospect. Whitmore averaged just 0.7 assists per game, one of the lowest marks on record for an NBA-bound draft pick on the perimeter. Combo forward Nassir Little averaged 0.6 per game in his one-and-done season, while Kelly Oubre Jr. was at 0.8. On the plus side, Whitmore scores the top stats-only projection in large part because of his strong steal rate (2.1 per 40 minutes) and 58% 2-point shooting in a high-volume role. Another key factor is Whitmore won't turn 19 until July, making him the youngest prospect in ESPN's top 10. 4. Taylor Hendricks | UCF | PF Top 100: No. 9 Stats: No. 8 Consensus: 2.7 WARP As NBA teams scour the draft for players with length who can also shoot well enough to keep playoff defenses honest, Hendricks looks like an ideal fit. He made 1.8 3s per game at a 39% clip in his lone season at UCF while blocking 1.7 shots per game. Just three first-round picks in my database have made at least 1.5 3s and blocked at least 1.5 shots in their final college seasons: Santi Aldama, Donte Greene and Keegan Murray. Greene was the only one before Hendricks to do it as a first-year player. 5. Gradey Dick | Kansas | G/F Top 100: No. 10 Stats: No. 9 Consensus: 2.6 WARP 6. Cason Wallace | Kentucky | G Top 100: No. 15 Stats: No. 3 Consensus: 2.6 WARP A slide in the top 100 has caused Wallace to drop from fourth in March. It's possible teams are overthinking Wallace's offensive limitations (including 35% 3-point shooting). He figures as a strong defender with the best projected steal rate of any player in the top 50 and enough size to guard either backcourt position. 7. Dereck Lively II | Duke | C Top 100: No. 13 Stats: No. 10 Consensus: 2.4 WARP 8. Jarace Walker | Houston | PF Top 100: No. 7 Stats: No. 14 Consensus: 2.3 WARP 9. Brandin Podziemski | Santa Clara | G/F Top 100: No. 27 Stats: No. 2 Consensus: 2.3 WARP After playing sparingly as a freshman at Illinois, Podziemski boosted his stats-only projection to second among all players in this year's draft by stuffing the stat sheet at Santa Clara. Podziemski made 44% of his 3s while leading the Broncos in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game. A strong performance at the NBA draft combine helped move Podziemski into first-round territory, pushing his consensus projection into the top 10. 10. Brice Sensabaugh | Ohio State | SF Top 100: No. 22 Stats: No. 7 Consensus: 2.2 WARP As a freshman, Sensabaugh had the nation's fourth-highest usage rate per Sports-Reference.com, trailing only three upperclassmen at mid-major schools (Antoine Davis, Darius McGhee and Jordan Dingle). Given that heavy load, Sensabaugh had impressive efficiency, making 52% of his 2s and 40% of his 3s. How much else Sensabaugh contributes besides scoring is in question, but his potential to get buckets is high. 11. Dariq Whitehead | Duke | SF Top 100: No. 26 Stats: No. 6 Consensus: 2.1 WARP 12. Keyonte George | Baylor | SG Top 100: No. 17 Stats: No. 11 Consensus: 2.1 WARP 13. Scoot Henderson | G League Ignite | PG Top 100: No. 3 Stats: No. 33 Consensus: 2.1 WARP Understanding the disconnect between Henderson's middling stats-only projection and the hype around him as a top-two prospect throughout the season will be one of the most important tasks for the teams picking after the San Antonio Spurs later this month. Henderson's per-game stats (16.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game in regular-season play) looked good enough, but they masked a .510 true shooting percentage as compared to a league average of .581. The improved 3-point shooting that Henderson showcased in a pair of exhibitions against Wembanyama and Metropolitans 92 was nowhere to be found as he shot 28% in regular-season play. It's possible that Henderson was merely limited by injury and hampered by questionable floor spacing (Ignite was dead last in 3s during the regular season). Players like Henderson have tended to beat their stats-only projections. Still, Henderson's play is worth a deep dive from teams considering using a top-three pick on him. 14. Anthony Black | Arkansas | G Top 100: No. 8 Stats: No. 18 Consensus: 2.0 WARP 15. Jett Howard | Michigan | SG Top 100: No. 19 Stats: No. 12 Consensus: 2.0 WARP
16. Leonard Miller | G League Ignite | F Top 100: No. 23 Stats: No. 13 Consensus: 1.8 WARP 17. Jordan Hawkins | UConn | SG Top 100: No. 16 Stats: No. 16 Consensus: 1.7 WARP 18. Nick Smith Jr. | Arkansas | G Top 100: No. 14 Stats: No. 19 Consensus: 1.7 WARP 19. Colby Jones | Xavier | SG Top 100: 28 Stats: No. 15 Consensus: 1.5 WARP 20. Noah Clowney | Alabama | F/C Top 100: No. 21 Stats: No. 26 Consensus: 1.3 WARP Don't let Clowney's 49% field-goal percentage trick you. He's a high-percentage finisher (67% on 2s) who was forced to take nearly as many 3s (which he shot at a 28% clip) as 2s playing power forward at Alabama alongside Charles Bediako. NBA floor spacing should help Clowney's efficiency. At the same time, he'll have a better chance of succeeding offensively if he can protect the rim well enough to hold up as a center on defense. 21. Kris Murray | Iowa | F Top 100: No. 25 Stats: No. 25 Consensus: 1.2 WARP Playing nearly the same role in which his twin brother Keegan starred before being drafted No. 4 overall last June, Kris more than doubled his scoring average to 20.2 PPG. Kris doesn't project as quite as good a shooter as his brother (35% on 3s, 70% on free throws for his career as compared to 37% and 75%). He also didn't provide as much impact as a shot-blocker. Still, given Keegan was an All-Rookie first-team pick, there's plenty of room for Kris to be a useful NBA player in his own right. 22. Jordan Walsh | Arkansas | F Top 100: No. 39 Stats: No. 17 Consensus: 1.2 WARP 23. Kobe Bufkin | Michigan | G Top 100: No. 18 Stats: No. 32 Consensus: 1.2 WARP 24. Marcus Sasser | Houston | G Top 100: No. 37 Stats: No. 20 Consensus: 1.2 WARP 25. Terquavion Smith | NC State | PG Top 100: No. 41 Stats: No. 21 Consensus: 1.0 WARP 26. Jaime Jaquez Jr. | UCLA | F/G Top 100: No. 30 Stats: No. 28 Consensus: 1.0 WARP 27. Bilal Coulibaly | Metropolitans 92 | F/G Top 100: No. 11 Stats: No. 49 Consensus: 1.0 WARP 28. Julian Phillips | Tennessee | SF Top 100: No. 34 Stats: No. 30 Consensus: 0.9 WARP 29. Jalen Slawson | Furman | SF Top 100: No. 72 Stats: No. 22 Consensus: 0.8 WARP 30. Jaylen Clark | UCLA | G/F Top 100: No. 53 Stats: No. 26 Consensus: 0.8 WARP
this is starting a project, which includes tanking for 3 years, drafting/collecting young talent, developing talent, hiring new coaching staff, finishing phase I of the project and blowing it all up right before starting phase II. WTH?!?!?!
you're hilarious. that is not a "decent haul" You're absolutely intent on trading Jalen Green. Enjoy watching for years to come on the Rockets sir!
