Anthony Davis is supposed to be back tonight. That ought to give the Mavs a fighting chance of knocking the Suns back out of the play-in.
Starting tonight with the Celtics, the Suns enter the point in their schedule where things hopefully go south.
we’ve been saying this for a week or so. KD is playing at MVP level. I’m resided to somewhere between pick #12-16.
Due to their 4 game ws the Suns are gonna be outside top 10 for sure. I just hope they are still in the lotto (13/14). KD screwed us with his MVP play smh.
Realistically it doesn't matter too much. I mean being in the lottery does mean there's a chance, but it's so slim. Usually those picks land right where they're slotted in terms of lottery odds. (96.6% at #14.) Damn shame they went on this run. They're still highly likely to suck for the other two picks though.
If the Suns make the play in and play the Clippers, they have a very good chance to win. They have matched up very well against them this year, and are 4-0 against them. This is their best matchup it seems.
The Cavs were on a 4 game losing streak and playing terrible ball when the Suns beat them, the Suns won by 2 points at home vs a Bucks team w no Dame. We have seen the team string together wins on KDs back when they have a lineup change, they play better without Beal it seems, but this can not last. They are down 25 points in the 3rd vs the Celtics without Tatum. KD and Booker are top 5 in the league in minutes and that was before Beal went down, their recent play does not seem sustainable. KD is an amazing player, but if he is able to pull this off on his own at this age, then it will add to his legacy. The good thing is if you watch Mavs games, they are actually trying, and AD came back. Portland also looks too be trying as well.
The top two in this draft are very nice - but this is a very poor draft for the remainder of the lottery. Guys in the 7-12 range in this draft would likely not be in the top 20 of many drafts. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if the Rockets try to trade the Suns pick this year for a future pick.
that’s what I’m hoping. None of these draftees are going to get on the court for the rockets next season, save for those early lotto guys. There’s apparently not much difference between the mid-lotto prospects and the guys that will be taken in the 20’s. If we were able to find a way to punt this pick into 2026, a supposedly much better draft that we don’t have a pick in, that would be amazing. Or even just a future top 10 protected pick. But I suspect most of the teams around the league would be willing move out of this draft for a future pick if they aren’t in the early lotto. So probably not easy to do. I feel like our most realistic chance to trade this pick for significant value is to include it as part of a package for a good player. I look at what Portland did last year packaging the Bub Carrington late lotto pick with a future pick and Brogdon for Deni, who looks like he’s going to be an excellent player on an excellent contract for years to come. That was a draft everyone wanted to trade out of for a future pick. Portland found a way to get value for their late lotto pick. Hopefully we can pull off something similar.
I like the whole top 5 in this draft--which I think is pretty clearly Flagg, Bailey, Harper, Edgecombe, Jakucionis. You're right that the dropoff is fairly steep after that. Still much better than last year, though, where there was nobody that great at the top and nobody who seemed like a good bet afterward, either
