Well... the NBA Draft Lottery has happened... and I had a few minutes... so here's a look into my crystal ball at what's going to happen at the draft in a few weeks... and I'm not even going to talk about the lottery process again because I'm sure it's rigged & I don't care... let the drama begin...
1) New
Orleans – Zion Williamson – Forward from Duke
This pick is the easy part of this draft. Zion
Williamson has been an amazing specimen of a player as a freshman at Duke…
despite kind of looking like a bumblebee. Really, it’s impressive. If you did a
silhouette of him and say… Glen “Big Baby” Davis, you’ve got a body type match.
Yet Big Baby was never able to levitate like Zion! He also didn’t have the
repertoire of post moves & pretty spectacular help defense. With all of the
drama this past year with Anthony Davis & New Orleans’ falling out, I’m
REALLY happy to the Big Easy won this lottery with a 6% chance! They deserve
it! They won the pick & hopefully he sticks around for a long, long time as
the face of their franchise… or at least until he decides to go to New York or
something. As for Anthony Davis… more on him later…
2) Memphis
– Ja Morant – Guard from Murray State
With the new lottery pick rules,
Memphis jumped up quite a bit too… and again, I love that they get to pick the
consensus top point guard in Ja Morant to essentially replace franchise icon
Mike Conley jr down the road. I don’t see Memphis (conceivably) trading Mike
Conley (and his contract) away without giving up a bunch in return like draft
picks and such… but he’ll be a great mentor to Ja so that should pay off well.
Ja himself is a great scorer, passer & offensive superstar… but with limited
range at this point. He’s more of a slasher, but is still super young & can
adjust his game to maximize his athletic ability AND outside shot hopefully.
Then again, with a stretch four like Jaren Jackson to work with, it may not be
a huge issue. By the way… Jaren Jackson + Ja Morant = JaJaJaMo?!? Help me out
here, Memphis Marketing!!!
Okay, this is where the draft will
start to get REALLY interesting with regards to Anthony Davis. For those who
don’t know, AD has mentioned that he wants out of New Orleans… and being one of
the greatest players of his generation, he’ll basically get what he wants
simply by voicing it. With that in mind, there are three MAJOR players in
trying to trade for Davis… The Knicks, the LA Lakers & the Boston Celtics.
Needless to say that every other team will try to get this player somehow… but
it’s kind of like when LeBron or Kevin Durant wanted to move… everybody has a
chance… but not everybody has a real chance… and nobody really knows what’s
going on in their heads. The twist is… Davis isn’t a free agent. He’s still
under contract with New Orleans for another year… and they just got the #1
pick. Will he want to stay now? As The Rock would say “IT DOESN’T MATTER”
because he’s basically burnt that bridge I think. Oh well… so here are probably
the best pitches the three major players can offer for AD:
NY Knicks – #3 overall pick, a few
future first round picks (Dallas trade for Porzingis included), a few young
players from past drafts like Dennis Smith jr, Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson
& Frank Ntilikina
LA Lakers – #4 overall pick &
young players on rookie deals like Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball &
Kyle Kuzma
Boston – #14, #20 & #22 in this
year’s draft, a few future picks, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, basically
anybody else they have on contract
Atlanta – Sleeper pick for me as
depending on how New Orleans views this year’s draft… Atlanta has picks #8
& #10 this year, high 2nd rounders, future picks and young guys
on rookie deals like John Collins though they probably want to build around
Trae Young, Collins & AD in this scenario.
So what do I think happens?!? I’m
glad that you asked. The Lakers provide probably the best package of players
& picks above especially with that #4 this year… but there are two things
holding them back. Nobody wants to deal with LeBron, AD & (random max
contract player like Kyrie) joining forces… and New Orleans is in the Western
Conference too so they don’t want to play Davis four times a year unless it’s
in the NBA Finals. So that tilts to New York or Boston… and it just seems that
Boston might be the way to go IF they include Jayson Tatum and a bunch of picks
into the package that they offer. That puts AD into the Eastern Conference (on
an already good team), gives New Orleans a good return & provides for the
future in terms of bench depth as well. The picks at 3 & 4 are much better
than at 14 & 20 including Zion’s teammates at Duke… but again, who really
knows what’s going to happen until it happens? Just my thoughts… AD goes to
Boston, New Orleans gets some security for the future to pair with its young
crew.
3) NY
Knicks – R.J. Barrett – Guard from Duke
In consolation, New York still gets
a pretty darn good player in Zion’s college teammate RJ Barrett. He’s a lot
like Kyrie Irving in his own right… and with the Knicks able to sign two
max-level contracts for anybody from Kevin Durant to Kyrie Irving to Jimmy
Butler to Kawhi Leonard to Klay Thompson to Rudy Gay (tell me you couldn’t see
the Knicks dropping that kind of money on him). However, what if I were to
propose this? They draft RJ to run the point… and are able to sign Kevin Durant
& Jimmy Butler THEN… also get DeMarcus Cousins on a low-low contract since
he’s been injured the past few years? Those four newcomers… plus the guys
mentioned before like Kevin Knox, Frank Nkitilina, Dennis Smith & Mitchell
Robinson… now we might be talking, right? Yup, that’s why it’s not going to
happen… sorry, New York… but you’ve got RJ now.
4) LA
Lakers – Jarrett Culver – Guard from Texas Tech
I really like the idea of Jarett
with the Lakers. He’s a decent two-guard with great size, athleticism & all
that stuff… but he’ll be joining a team with a lot of those including LeBron
James. Could the Lakers make some moves with this #4 pick? Of course! It might
actually be in their best interest with a win-now situation & I think they
had cap space for a max-level contract too, right? That’s why they’re trying to
get AD with this #4 and some of their dearth of young middling talent, and that
very well may happen… and sign somebody like Kawhi (though he seems to like
Toronto, he’s from LA). Who knows? But if they pick, then I see Culver as a
good fit. He’ll have to work on his three-ball though. The Lakers could really
use that & may even trade down. Oooh… do you think the Hawks might call
about giving them the 8th & 10th pick for somebody
they really like at #4?!?
5) Cleveland
– De’Andre Hunter – Forward from Virginia
The Cavaliers need a lot… but I really like Hunter as
their swingman because he’s an incredible defender AND can shoot when defenses
collapse on point guard Collin Sexton or Kevin Love in the post or something.
He would have been a lottery pick last year, and this year kept him about the
same only a year older… but I really like his game. He’s got the potential for
a Kawhi Leonard mold kind of style, but it’ll take a LOT of hard work. He’s
like 20 though… his best years are ahead of him.
6) Phoenix
– Darius Garland – Guard from Vanderbilt
Now, I really see this as a possibility for New
Orleans to pick up the 6th pick in the draft in exchange for Jrue
Holiday to go full youth rebuild mode… as the Suns REALLY need a point guard…
but I think they’ll also see this young’un as a better (and more cost
effective) prospect for the future and their SUPER young team than Jrue. He had
limited time in his freshman year due to some injuries but was able to show
that he’s a scorer & facilitator and the Suns could use plenty of both
talents.
7) Chicago
– Coby White – Guard from North Carolina
The Bulls also need a point guard to help out Kris
Dunn, so again, New Orleans may come calling with Jrue (which would actually be
a nice fit now that I think about it) but if they end up keeping the pick then
Coby White is a great point guard in the Ty Lawson mold… but with a little more
size at 6-4. I’d be curious to see if he blossoms in the NBA game and becomes
one of those point guards that average 15 points & 15 assists a game like
John Stockton used to do. He’ll need a few more shooters around him for that
but the Bulls have a few bright young stars on the verge.
8) New
Orleans (AD trade with Atlanta) – Cam Reddish – Guard/Forward from Duke
SURPRISE, MUFUKAS!!! Remember when I said New Orleans
was going to trade with Boston?!? PSYCH!!! They’ve officially changed their
minds and are going full youth rebuild since a few other draftees are still on
the board. Let’s say the deal includes the 8th & 10th
picks, their 1st round pick in 2020 (or Cavs top 10 protected, or
their 2022 pick, or all of them forever?), John Collins, Dewayne Dedmon, and
whoever else they must to get the job done… and then Anthony Davis is in
Atlanta!!! YAY!!! What could possibly (Dwight Howard) go wrong?!? New Orleans
on the other hand, they still get those future picks a la Boston… but now can
also use the 8th pick on Zion’s college buddy Cam Reddish to play
the two or three… and maybe even the four in today’s NBA if Zion wasn’t already
there too. Reddish has really slid since earlier in the year when he was
considered a 2nd or 3rd overall pick… but hey, if he’s
still around at 8, that phone may be ringing in Atlanta… that’s all I’m saying.
9) Washington
– Jaxson Hayes – Center from Texas
The current centers on the Wizards roster are Dwight
Howard, Thomas Bryant & Ian Mahinmi. John Wall may miss most to all of next
year with his Achilles injury & who knows if he’ll return as productive as
before (history says probably not). Bradley Beal is currently paired with guys
like Jabari Parker, Jeff Green & Trevor Ariza for major minutes. Sadly,
they need a LOT and with Wall’s super-max titanium deal… they’re kind of buried
for a while. HOWEVER!!! I really like the game that Jaxson Hayes bring. He’s
big, tough, basically a DeAndre Jordan kind of player… and that can go far in
the right system. Am I saying run the post offense through him? Absolutely not…
at least until he can prove it in practice… but with the right parts around him
in today’s three-jacking NBA, he can play clean up with the best of them
already. I could also see the Wizards doing something with picking Bol Bol here
since they picked his father 34 years earlier to start his amazing career… but
his game’s not a good fit for them right now. All the Wizards have are
three-jackers. They need some roughnecks.
10) New
Orleans (AD trade with Atlanta) – Bol Bol – Center from Oregon
Okay… so I’m going to paint you a picture of what the
Pelicans team would look like in my world. A starting lineup with Jrue Holiday
at the point guard (or one of the young guys mentioned earlier in a proposed
trade), Cam Reddish at the two-guard, Zion Williamson as the swingman/LeBron
spot, John Collins at power forward, and Bol Bol as the ultimate STREEEEEEETCH
FIVE!!! This guy is ridiculously tall, long and thin… just like his amazing
father Manute Bol… but he’s been raised in basketball whereas his father was
kind of given a basketball at an age older than Bol is now… and he still set
records. Bol has been groomed to be tall, block shots, and pop out for
three-pointers with incredible accuracy. Are there ways to reduce that
effectiveness in the NBA? Of course!!! The guy weighs like 200 pounds soaking
wet and can be pushed around… and might be frail… but who’s going to block him
on the three-point line?!? Especially when you have somebody getting manhandled
by Zion on the block, or Jrue just blew past somebody, or the bench squad of
Dewayne Dedmon, Julius Randle, E’Twaun Moore, Cheick Diallo, Frank Jackson,
Solomon Hill, Stanley Johnson and whoever else you can get from exchanging some
of those guys or including them in packages… this is an EXCITING team to mess
around with!!! May not be playoff bound immediately… but don’t tell me they’re
like a year away from competing in the right circumstances.
11) Minnesota
– Romeo Langford – Guard from Indiana
Romeo was high on everybody’s draft board before the
season started, like top 5 pick. Unfortunately his season wasn’t as great as
many had hoped… but he’s still young, 6-6, athletic, and that’s all you really
need to be a lottery pick in today’s NBA, right? He may end up being the steal
of the draft in Minnesota alongside Karl Anthony-Towns & Andrew Wiggins. I
think he originally was supposed to be a super sized point guard so that may
still be the goal… or he’s a decent sized swingman… but he needs to grow a bit.
Luckily… like most people in this draft… he’s 19 years old.
12) Charlotte
– Nassir Little – Guard/Forward from North Carolina
Nassir was also supposed to be a top 5 pick too… 9
years old… 6-6… athletic… scorer… slasher… sound familiar? Apparently playing
on a UNC team with a lot of junior & senior former All-American leadership
led to him getting lost in the lineup a bit… but he could definitely thrive in
the right tutelage in the pros. He has the raw talent… and why not stay in
North Carolina in a franchise that may be looking for a newer, taller Kemba
Walker?
13) Miami
– Keldon Johnson – Guard from Kentucky
Miami needs a lot… and I really liked Keldon
Johnson’s game… it’s a poor man’s Klay Thompson but again… he’s 19. He has
range in his shot & size in his game. They could do a lot worse.
14) Boston
– Sekou Doumbouya – Forward from France
Since Boston lost out on Anthony Davis (in my world),
they can focus back on trying to resign Kyrie Irving or Terry Rozier or whoever
they want… and they still have a dearth of draft picks to play with. I could
absolutely see Sekou going a lot higher too, especially since he’s a tall
gangly foreign mystery man in the mold of Giannis Antekoumpo & Pascal
Siakim who took MAJOR steps this year… but at worst, he’s a raw 18 year old
who’s already 6-9 or so & probably still growing in every direction. He
won’t need to be a starter for Boston immediately, so he can grow organically,
learn the game, and by year three… he might be the next Giannis, but in
Beantown! Why not?!? Who needs Anthony Davis anyway?!?
15) Detroit
– Carsen Edwards – Guard/Forward from Purdue
I really like Carsen’s game. I did last year too. I
could see him as a Draymond Green kind of player. Obviously for that he’ll have
to get a little stronger & excel at defense… but he’s had some incredible
games in college & can hit those three pointers as well as slash &
pass… just a great all-around ball player, but often times in the NBA system,
you have to have a NICHE or EXCEL at one or two things in the top percentile
rather than be top 20% in everything. Regardless, he’s hard working, can pop
the three, and can hopefully help spread out the floor for Andre Drummond &
Blake Griffin there in Detroit.
16) Orlando
– Kevin Porter jr – Guard from USC
I’ll admit that I don’t know much about him other
than if he’s half as good as his father was… he’ll be around for a long time.
Orlando could use some good guards & he’s probably the best one left with
regards to scoring so I say they pick him.
17) Brooklyn
– Rui Hachimura – Forward from Gonzaga
A decent compliment to Jarrett Allen in the
frontcourt, was originally supposed to be a lottery pick until the tournament
started and I guess he kinda played in the background… but he’s another great
all-around player who may need to excel in a few traits to stick around a
while. I’m also really hoping that he represents the Asian community well in
the sport. I’m not putting that kind of pressure on him though… at worst he
could be a decent role player like fellow Gonzaga alums Kelly Olynyk & Zach
Collins… or those Lopez twins.
18) Indiana
– PJ Washington – Forward from Kentucky
He’s one of those tweener position players in the
pros… but he can step out and hit the three, so potentially a stretch four if
he can put some beef on himself too. Might be a good way to help out the team
in Indiana to spread the floor for Myles Turner & others.
19) San
Antonio – Grant Williams – Forward from Tennessee
You know what time it is?!? Steve’s annual “STEAL OF
THE DRAFT BY THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS” time!!! I’ve claimed this just about every
year since DeJuan Blair when it’s a player I’ve actually heard of (and to some
incredible success with the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Dejounte Murray, Derek
White, etc) but I really like Grant Williams game. He’s like Montrezl Harrell
where he’s tough, physical, has a shooter’s touch, and just puts in the work…
so I really hope that the Spurs end up with him to help in the frontcourt. I
don’t like the idea of a rebuilding team under Coach Pop.
20) Boston
– Matisse Thybulle – Guard from Washington
He’s a 6-5 guard who has a specialty for defense… I
think he was breaking records for steals AND blocks in Washington… and I can always
use one of those on my team… and I’m sure that Brad Stevens agrees. He could
step right in for guys like Marcus Smart and/or Terry Rozier and/or Kyrie
Irving if they’re all lost or dealt. He’s not a huge threat yet… but I’m sure
with focus in the pros & practice he can become a GREAT 3&D player for
a team that could use him.
21) Oklahoma
City – Brandon Clarke – Center from Gonzaga
A big guy who can take some weight off Steven Adams’
shoulders in grabbing boards to put it back on the offensive boards and at the
very least… six extra fouls with some decent defense & post moves that
worked in college. There’s reportedly not a huge upside… but then again what
really matters is the kind of work that a player can put in… and OKC may be a
good fit for this guy.
22) Boston
– Goga Bitadze – Center from Republic of Georgia
I know nothing about this guy other than he’s the
latest Eastern European big guy who could set the world on fire in a few years
(Jokic, Nurkic, Vucevic, Nowitzki) or be out of the league in two years (like
everybody else). I think a team like Boston could really help to develop him
though (alongside Sekou & Thybulle in my world, remember?) in being the
super young bench mob to go with their starters… but only time & who
resigns will tell the true story for the Celtics.
Basically from here, I’m only guessing like everybody else…
so yeah, just a few thoughts. Enjoy!
