I respect your thinking. Green is no Kobe, but he is a better scorer than Zach Lavine. He needs to bulk up and play defense. His passing needs to get better, but he is a scorer who can pass. Workouts will tell us a lot about these guys. How motivated are they really, to play in the NBA. Suggs might be the dark horse, he appears to be the safest pick. I wouldn't mind him, but I don't have him at number 2. I believe Cade will go at number 1.
Wall and the 2nd pick to Toronto for Pascel and the 4th pick. We get rid of Wall and Toronto gets Jalen Green. We can roll with the best 4th pick available X Woods Pascel Kpj Suggs
This isn’t a bad idea if Stone feels Suggs, Mobley, and Green are all of similar value. Personally Suggs is too questionable of a shooter for me to pass on Green.
Decent scenario I just don't like the fact that Pascal Siakam is 27 years old and owed over $100 million over the next 3 years. I would have to pass on that deal.
Your gonna pay something to get out of Wall’s contract , but you know I don’t like the KPJ and Suggs back court not enough spacing …
Just pay Wall for now, his leadership will still be beneficial to guys like KPJ and Green. You'll be able to unload Wall this trade deadline or next off-season and be able to get a great young talent back.
Lol what is up with unloading Wall? We arent competing anytime soon our biggest draws are 19 yr old KPJ and 2nd pick why the hell would a superstar go here to compete? CWoods only here for 2 more years he has 1 foot out the door. We keep Wall for at least 1 more year and stink it up to maximize our 3 picks in next yrs draft.
Terrible poll. You forgot to add Kade. You make the assumption that Detriot would pick him because its the obvious thing to do. Your knowledge of the NBA is lacking. If you knew about Detriot you would not put it past them to draft some unheard of dude who has no potential. Detroit is a hellhole of an organization, please modify your poll.
Rare also means higher cost (if looking) and trade value (if owning). Down the road if Rockets is looking for a big of this type, I rather not have to give up a premium for it.
This is pretty interesting news if true. It might signal that either the Cavs know Mobley is going second (and they are making room for Green) or could mean nothing relevant to the Rockets too of course. maybe they are just set on drafting Suggs which makes sense if they are sending out Sexton
Chad Ford & John Hollinger: CF: Let’s start with the Pistons. Do you take Cade Cunningham or do you pivot to Evan Mobley? I know they like Jalen Green and were eyeing him as well. I don’t think you’re quite as high on him. Is Cade Cunningham the guy in Detroit? JH: To me, Cade Cunningham is the guy and the best fit. I think he probably has the highest floor of anyone in the draft. Doesn’t necessarily have the highest ceiling and I think that’s one of the things that maybe has Detroit looking at Jalen Green. Does he have a better chance turning into that high level guy that can carry a team by himself? That Jalen Green chatter is real. I do think that will be something Detroit considers. CF: Maybe this is a case you move back one or two spots in the draft. Maybe Cleveland to three and feel confident he might be there, although we’ll talk about the Rockets in a second. How does Cade Cunningham fit with this roster? JH: When you’re rebuilding, fit almost doesn’t matter. Whoever or whatever that team that becomes good 4-5 years down the road is, probably only 2-3 guys will be there by the time you get to that point. … Having Cunningham, Bey, Grant at 2-3-4 is really good. You worry a little bit with the fit with Hayes I guess. Cade is a guy who plays with the ball in his hands and so is Hayes. Hayes needs to shoot better to have any effectiveness off the ball. I think one of the reasons Detroit has a little bit of misgiving about Cade vs. Green and Green’s superior athleticism is that they took Hayes last year, who was kinda this guy who struggles to get by people, more of a skill guy but was athletically maybe not super and Cade is from that same kinda profile. CF: Bey not a great athlete either. JH: I think Cade is still the better pick but there’s a part of me that understands why they’re kicking the tires on Green. CF: There’s a consensus that Cade is the guy and when there’s a consensus, people get touchy talking about the warts. There’s some significant warts in Cade Cunningham. The turnover rate was incredibly high. Not a great athlete. Though he shot the ball incredibly well, that was a surprise for scouts that followed him in high school. Some wonder did he have a great year shooting the ball? Will it regress back to high school or is this part of the game he improved? If there’s something says he probably should have been 5th instead of 1st, will it be he’s not the primary ball handler? JH: I think that’s what it is. Is he a lead distributor or not? I didn’t think the passing was particularly mind blowing. The turnover rate was high. The handle can get loose, especially on his left hand. You could see on switches, even against college bigs, he had trouble getting by people. He’s big enough where he can shoot over the top. You can see a lot of outcomes where he’s like Khris Middleton or Jayson Tatum or someone like that. He’s not this Luka level playmaker. You ask yourself is he actually gonna be the number two guy on a good team rather than number one? Getting a good two is hard so he should be one of the top picks but when you pick number one, you really hope to land on a franchise player. I don’t know if he’s quite that and don’t know if this draft has that. I don’t know if Cade is quite that. CF: Rockets get the number two pick. Major win for them. Assuming Cade is off the board, do they go Mobley, Jalen Green? JH: I would get Mobley. He’s the best player after Cade in this draft. Shades of Chris Bosh or Pau Gasol. Skinny frame, not a great rebounder. Very good putting the ball on the floor and attacking. I think his shot will project. He didn’t shoot a lot of threes at USC because they didn’t need him to do that. NBA caliber defender in terms of being able to move his feet on the perimeter, contest shots, do the things we ask NBA bigs to do now. You wish he did more of the stuff most NBA bigs can do. Not a dominant rebounder. Not a great post up player. Not an amazing shot blocker. He was good but not off the charts. I also like the idea of putting Mobley next to Wood. I think they can play together and cause a lot of problems for opposing teams. That’s a really interesting front court. You can stay big with the benefits of kinda being small and fast. CF: I like Mobley here as well. There is some talk Jalen Green might move into this spot. I don’t think the gap between Cade and Mobley is as big as people think it is. JH: I don’t think it is at all. I went back and forth on my number one spot on my draft board. CF: If Detroit took Mobley one, that wouldn’t bother me at all. He’s bigger. He’s a better athlete than Cade. Defensively, already better. Offensively he’s not but actually shows all the potential to be there. I almost wonder, given the way he plays and his body type, is is possible we’re not projecting Mobley correctly as a big and he’s going to be a super-sized wing at the next level? JH: He almost plays like that offensively. I haven’t thought about that. Play him as like a 3-4 maybe. CF: He can catch at the top of the key. Can create for himself off the dribble. Not an elite three point shooter but the shot projects. A good enough athlete to guard threes. Just an interesting thought in league that’s becoming positionless. To me, this is the pick for Houston. I won’t knock them if they take Green. Let’s go to three. Now we have Cleveland. Mobley seems like the ideal fit if he was on the board. Who do you select for Cleveland assuming Cade/Mobley are off the board? JH: I love Scottie Barnes for Cleveland. Perfect there. 3-4 but can handle the ball some. Not a great shooter. Positionally, they still have the two guards and a bunch of fives. I like his fit. Scottie Barnes is really good and has been undervalued in this process. Good athlete. Great size. Amazing motor on defense. Can put it on the floor, make passes, get to the rim. Shooting isn’t there yet. You think a little bit based on the background that you know he’ll put in the work to try to get that shot to level it needs to get to. That’s the only mark against him. CF: 7’3 wingspan, 6’8, 39.5 vert, 36” standing vert, good athlete, incredible size. I think he’s a point guard. He makes really good decisions with the ball. Much better than Cade Cunningham. Let’s talk about the shooting. We just watched Ben Simmons fall apart because he can’t shoot. How big a deal is it if his jump shot doesn’t come along? JH: It still matters but matters less for a guy who will have the ball in his hands a lot than if he was being asked to space the floor for other people. He’s a chameleon positionally. You can play Barnes at the 5. He has so many ways his career could go to be a good player. The guy I compare him to a little is the guy we had in Memphis, Kyle Anderson. He’s way more athletic version of that. He’s regular-mo instead of slow-mo. CF: If OKC had the 3rd pick, this is who they would have taken. Barnes is in interesting fit in Cleveland. Green is a real possibility. That’s who I have in my mock. If it’s Green, not sure there’s enough basketballs for Sexton and Green but I can see them moving on from Sexton. Cade would also be a nice fit in Cleveland. Toronto moves up to four. I’m assuming Scottie Barnes is your guy. If he’s not there, do you go Jalen Suggs, Jalen Green…? JH: Do you think they have the balls to take my guy? CF: Who’s your guy? JH: Alperen Şengün. CF: Masai does. JH: Raptors do need a center. I’m much higher on this guy than the consensus. He destroyed a good league as an 18-year old.
CF: (Şengün) I’m still on the fence. There’s a ton of projection with this guy. JH: His shot is fine. He just hasn’t been asked to shoot threes. His playmaking is pretty good. Defensive question is definitely a question. He reminds me some of Kevin Love. Can someone like that succeed in today’s NBA and if so, how? Not a true rim protector, feet on the perimeter are not great. He’s 18. Not a finished product. CF: Pretty high compliment when you have Alperen Şengün going ahead of Jalen Green, Jalen Suggs, Jonathan Kuminga. Interesting. I’ve come around on him but not that much. I had the Raptors taking Scottie Barnes. Barnes can be your PG next year. You can put him in the backcourt with FVV. If you’re asking me who I would rather have playing PG, Scottie Barnes or Jalen Suggs, —who Raptors fans think is the obvious selection there—I still take Scottie Barnes. Let’s go to Orlando. Obviously a bit disappointed they fell. You got off the board Mobley, Cunningham, Barnes, Şengün, who do the Magic take? JH: They are at 5 and 8. If Green goes one and you’re Orlando, you have to try and trade up with Houston for 5 and 8 and grab Cade. Cade is the perfect guy for Orlando. They don’t have high skill guys. They need skill so badly. You have to try to trade up. If you can’t do that, I think you probably…Green or Suggs is tough. Probably more Green? I did rate Green higher. We haven’t seen an 18-year old play in the G League for a full year like this. Calibrating what his and Kuminga’s season means is a tough exercise. That’s one thing I wonder about. CF: A lot of scouts said the opposite. They thought the G League was much more apple to apple than college basketball because the level of competition. The known quantities and running NBA sets. The interesting thing about Green was a conversation I had with Brian Shaw. We did a podcast together and the way he described Green’s approach to the game, what was happening in practice, behind the scenes, in coaching, the intelligence, the drive, he starts laying it out there that Green has this rare it factor. There’s something about his approach to the game that Brian Shaw was in love with. He’s gonna come on and talk highly about his players but there was a completely different level way he was talking about Green than when you listen to his breakdown on Kuminga that it was clear who he was going to battle for in a big, big way. I do think the Magic would take him. I think some scouts are disappointed he didn’t measure at the combine. Some feel he might be on the small end. He’s listed at 6’5. Some think that’s not particular accurate. JH: Yeah. Might be 6’4. CF: I really like him here. I had Suggs here because I had Green going higher. I don’t see Detroit doing 5 and 8 for one. The only way to get Cade is if he slides to two. If Detroit is gonna take Green at one, they move back a spot or two and get something else. OKC at 6. If Barnes is there, this is a no brainer. Also have picks 16 and 18. If they package that with 6, does that get you up higher? JH: You have to try. You have so many of these picks. Assemble picks and try to move up each year. How do we get as far up in the draft as possible? Instead of 3 red chips in the 20s, how do we get one blue chip toward the top? CF: Other than Shai, not clear anyone else on this roster is a building block. Assuming they pick at 6, who is your guy? JH: Suggs is the 6th guy on my board. You have Shai. He can play off the ball. Suggs might benefit from playing off the ball. You can probably play them together but feels suboptimal. Probably take Suggs and make that work? See how that works with him and Shai. You’re still so early in this process. CF: I had them taking Kuminga. Suboptimal. Another raw prospect. … Other guy is Şengün. JH: (Şengün) That’d be a good place to end up. CF: Let’s talk Golden State. Bit of a disaster for Minnesota. After the Wiseman experiment, do they go with someone like Davion Mitchell? Someone who comes in right away and plays or is the strategy take the best young player available? JH: I don’t think they’ll be the team picking at 7. I think they’ll try to trade 7, Wiseman and contracts, maybe Looney and someone else, for someone who can help this year. That’s the clear direction. They realize that they reached with Wiseman. Wouldn’t be shocked if they used the pick at 14. I think the pick at 7 is trade bait. CF: What caliber prospect can they get for 7, Wiseman, Looney? JH: Hard part is figuring out who is truly available. You gotta go around a little bit with these teams rebuilding. Random example, I would not trade the 7th pick for Terrence Ross. If McCollum became available, could you do that? This is me speculating…could you get Jerami Grant out of Detroit? CF: Let me throw a crazy one out there. Any scenario where they go after Simmons and play him at the 5? JH: Not sure you can play Green and Simmons at the same time. Too much non-shooting. I don’t think he’s the one. CF: Say they keep the pick… JH: Given their timeline, I’d be tempted to take Corey Kispert. He’d help the most this year. The best prospect there is Franz Wagner. Good player and can be a good starting caliber 3/4 for a long time. Not a star but can come in and play right away. Can play across multiple positions. Good open shooter. He checks a lot of boxes. CF: Let’s talk your reluctance with Davion Mitchell. JH: I think I had him 16. CF: Concerns? JH: Don’t know how good he’ll be offensively. Ball pressure and intensity on the defensive end, you salivate. Undersized. Shooting numbers this year probably an outlier from three. Good straight line driver. Didn’t see high level stuff with the ball. While I saw growth from Mitchell, he’s an older prospect. He’ll be something in the league but not sure he’ll have enough offense to be a true starter. CF: One comp I’ve heard is Kyle Lowry. JH: Lowry, that’s interesting. He developed late as a shooter. Lowry was much more impactful player across the box score. Mitchell doesn’t rebound at all. Doesn’t get a huge number of steals. Lowry was all over the box score even when he couldn’t shoot. That’s an interesting one. CF: I have Mitchell there. John has Wagner there. We got the Magic at 8. Keon Johnson is who I have there. He shattered the NBA combine max vertical jump. That’s insane. I doubt a vertical jump will change your board. What’s the issue with Johnson? JH: I want to see the athleticism in games. He doesn’t get to the rim, doesn’t rebound. He struggles to finish. The functional athleticism in the course of the game is not always there. He’s very good at dribbling into a pull-up. Doesn’t shoot them that well. Can’t shoot a pull-up going left. Getting his feet going to the rim, he struggles getting his steps right. Functional athleticism just isn’t there except when he YouTube’s them on a dunk. You can argue that past the top 8, what the hell? Take a freak athlete and see what happens. … You watch Tennessee, where is it? CF: One of the younger prospects. Late bloomer. Tennessee team that brought him off the bench. Not a one-and-done. Some arguments to be made where all of that fits in. He’ll probably go top-10.
After more extensive research on youtube, I'm leaning Jalen. I know clutchfans is excited for this news.
Capela with a jump shot. Basically 0.8 AD without health issues. I take that over Zach Lavine who is prob Green's best case comparison right now.
Suggs reminds me of Monte Ellis. Jalen Green reminds of Demar Derozan. Mobley reminds me of a taller slower Danny Manning. These are realistic player comparisons, who disagrees?
