Are we really using bowling champion Andrew Bynum as an example here? And in a trade where the Lakers WERE able to get something for nothing, undercutting your whole example? How do you think the Sixers feel carrying Andrew Bynum on their roster? Cheated? Conned? Stupid? Regretful? Pick a word. This is how it is with the vast majority of headcase players. It's just wasted resources and false hope, especially when the D-League is overflowing with players who could put up at least 10 points in starter's minutes, and would kill for the opportunity to play for any NBA team at all.
Cases like Beasley, Bynum and Royce White probably have a lot of folks rethinking their draft / trade strategies and moving towards giving "mental state" more relevance. There will always be a club that is desperate that will take a chance. White in our case wasnt a critical move to make or break us if things went bad. Philly on the other hand let a very good player go. The best on their roster probably. So the stakes were high for them to succeed and the tally so far is dismal. Phoenix wasnt going to be great anyway so I can kinda see them throwing the dice on Beasley.
exactly. no where have i said they are worth it now, but before everything happen, they were worth the gamble!
From memory Jerryd Bayliss (sp?) was also considered at #2 instead of Beasley. Riley was intent on not drafting him. Kevin Love was deemed overweight and not capable of what he has become. Hindsight is a wonderful thing
It's really just about opportunity cost. It's one thing to take a flyer on White with the 16th pick than to take Beasley with the #2 pick. One's downside is missing out on a Tyler Zeller type player. The other's downside is missing out on a franchise player.
I still maintain that it's better to let other teams do the top tier drafting if at all possible, and bear all the risk. Maybe they get a star, maybe they get a Beasley. Then you wait for a moment of weakness and poach their better young talents away. Strictly speaking in an armchair GM sense, it would be better to trade assets for top 3 picks who play at an all-star level than it would be to draft your own and then cross your fingers. But that all assumes a lot, like those young talents would even be available in the first place, and quite often they're not.
I was thinking, it's okay to make mistakes as long as you acknowledge them and learn from th- Wade dumb.
I'm almost on board with the reasoning that okay, Beasley looked great in college, experts agreed he would be a good, and so dumber executives than even Pat Riley took a gamble on him and lost. You know, these things happen. But to say that it was "a good pick" in this day and age, with the benefit of hindsight, is just dumb. It clearly wasn't good. In no way was it good.
