2020 nba offseason draft free agency etc

if the rockets got embiid they could switch to a slow pace pretty easily... harden is not a fast paced player. it would be more about deciding which one of them got to hold the ball in the halfcourt for 8 seconds straight.

harden embiid pick n roll wld be unstoppable

embiid would have more open threes from
the top of the key than he could even dream of

Is Embiid actually a good pick and roll player?

i don't see why not

imo itd be worth putting him on a team with playmakers and shooters to find out

apparently this guy is some kind of wolves insider

https://i.postimg.cc/wjmCVSN2/eyk58v2m95t51.jpg

he's the wolf in the logo

sadly james harden got a pick and roll lobotomy 2 years ago

sorry he is a hawks insider actually

I don't think even there's 2 teams seriously fiending for the #1 pick in the worst draft in almost a decade, let alone almost half the league. Paying Anthony Edwards or LaMelo Ball a #1 pick's salary after Corona kills the live gate and salary cap #s for the next ~2 years is something no sane GM is interested in; it's why Minny is so desperate to flip this pick in the first place lol. Doubt a 1 year rental of Oladipo coming off of injury is the most highly coveted prize in the trade market either.

they're not going to get anything in a trade that would be better than them actually identifying 1 good player in this draft and developing him

but obviously they're trying to flip the pick because they think they have a big 2 and want to win now. even if it was a good draft they'd be trying to flip it -- in that case they might actually be successful

the top of this draft just doesn't match up at all w/their roster after they made what seems to be a sincere trade for russell, like there are a bunch of teams would could have picked 1 who would just take lamelo and pray to the gods that he doesn't suck.

if i were them i'd be trying to move down a few picks w/o asking a king's ransom as if there is actually a desirable no 1 pick on the board. but they're doubly handcuffed bcuz the no 1 talents are either bigs or guards and the way their team is constructed no big or guard is going to get the ball enough to develop the way you want a no 1 pick to develop. but if they could trade down a few spots, get a heavily protected pick in a later draft, and draft a player who could more easily develop in a secondary role it wouldn't be the worst idea

cad otm

they're going to end up taking edwards who is the guy i would be really scared about picking no 1

Yea it's quintessential Timberwolves for them to finally win the lottery... in a draft with no generational/superstar talent, and no consensus top player that even really fits particularly well on their roster next to their 2 centerpiece players either. A D'Lo + Melo Ball/Edwards backcourt would be wildly entertaining for probably all the wrong reasons lol. And a big man like Wiseman who's only NBA caliber skill right now is basically being tall and athletic/fast in the open court is not what I'd be looking for to put next to KAT in the frontcourt if I was trying to buck trends and make the league's newest Twin Towers.

J0rdan S. at 7:57 15 Oct 20

they're not going to get anything in a trade that would be better than them actually identifying 1 good player in this draft and developing him

definitely traditional strengths of our franchise

KAT has to learn how to play center, there's no other option. you don't win nba titles in the 2020s w/ two centers on the floor

the draft order is absolutely amazing this year....the cavs, pistons, and knicks are probably 3 of the 4 most talent-poor teams no matter how you slice it and they're picking between 5 and 8.

lamelo ball is french for "the mellow ball"

the draft order is absolutely amazing this year....the cavs, pistons, and knicks are probably 3 of the 4 most talent-poor teams no matter how you slice it and they're picking between 5 and 8.

the east gets easter

I don't think even there's 2 teams seriously fiending for the #1 pick in the worst draft in almost a decade

the problem w this draft class isnt lack of talent. its deep with good role players, but theres no point to having a top pick in that case bc its light on potential superstars. it makes more sense to trade down and try to get a 2021 pick.

i do not understand the draft hype for lamelo at all. he looks to be a less defensively minded version of his brother. i kinda cant believe he's considered a consensus top 3 pick.

the only guy who i think could be something crazy is aleksey pokusevski but man he's a project. probably needs 2 years just to get stronger.

who are the teams that are thinking 'yes we really want lamelo ball'

i agree i t makes no sense

ONLY way he turns out decent is going to a disciplined development factory like miami and sa and he doesnt pass the vibe check

i dont know why wiseman is falling, he seems to be a pretty safe pick. i mean i get why minny would prefer a non-C, but if the warriors keep their pick, they could do worse than have a capable interior defender and lob recipient

i do not understand the draft hype for lamelo at all. he looks to be a less defensively minded version of his brother. i kinda cant believe he's considered a consensus top 3 pick.

― cointelamateur (m bison), Thursday, October 15, 2020 11:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

hes got better feel for the game than lonzo who already has pretty good feel, if he could shoot theyd be talking about him as a future superstar... alas lol

his shot might be more fixable than lonzos tho...

shd say hes got better feel AND skills than lonzo, lamelo is a scorer and a very good passer, hes a baller

lonzo is not good at putting the ball through the basketball ring

playing w the hungry jacks down under

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdN6R1t7lOc

i see it much more with melo than i did with lonzo where it seemed like people were talking themselves into some sort of intangible point guard magic. would be pretty scared to actually take him tho.

cld def end up some sort of flashier michael cater williams but its a bad draft whatre you gonna do

the best player will prob end up some tall serbian taken 22nd

i would simply take the tall serbian earlier

yeah with the lack of a season's worth of film on a lot of these guys i think the actual draft order will look very crazy 4-5 years from now

draft strat
1. identify the tall serbian
2. draft him

LaMelo is nowhere near the prospect Lonzo was. Melo is slightly better at ball handling and attacking/finishing around the rim than Zo... but his glaring athletic deficiencies compared to his brother and his skinnier and somehow even more undeveloped frame completely cancels those positives out when projecting those skills vs. NBA competition. His pure court vision is debatably better (I'd say he's a flashier, not more or less gifted passer than his brother) ... but even if it is, it's a moot point overall because his ability to run an actual professional team's offense is lightyears behind Zo's. Zo went #2 overall in an extremely stacked draft class because he almost singlehandedly turned UCLA from a scrap heap into an NCAA title contender overnight while making scrubs like TJ Leaf look like NBA 1st round picks in the process. And of course there's the fact that he's a ~30% shooter vs NBL defenses... while playing not a single lick of effective defense himself. When his brother shot 55/40 in spite of his weird mechanics and was/is well regarded for his on-ball defense. His shot isn't QUITE as mechanically borked as Zo's was coming into the league... but in practice it's somehow even more inaccurate.

Melo theoretically has the "highest ceiling" in a draft as weak on surefire star talent as this if everything in his development goes perfectly... but the only way he comes anywhere close to that wishfully ideal outcome is if you can guarantee as a franchise that you can completely overhaul his body, his jumpshot mechanics, his decision making and attitude on offense, and his motivation, effort, awareness, IQ... basically everything on defense, on top of all that. There's 10 guys every year that are "A jumpshot away from being a SUPERSTAR!!" like Ben Simmons or a body or mindset transformation from "taking over the league" like Wiggins that go their entire careers without ever making those changes or fixing those weaknesses. Whoever drafts Melo has to fix not one but like 5 of those kind of glaring career make-or-break issues to justify taking him at the spot he's going to come off the board, and the likelihood of any of the teams in the position to draft that high doing so are almost zero.

kevin o'connor's top 50 has 1 tall serbian but he is 7 feet tall and weighs 201 pounds so a slight gust of wind will be taking him down.

lonzo never shouldve gone second, draft guys got it wrong, much like the side of his head he shoots from

otm

his decision making and attitude on offense, and his motivation, effort, awareness, IQ... basically everything on defense, on top of all that. There's 10 guys every year that are "A jumpshot away from being a SUPERSTAR!!" like Ben Simmons or a body or mindset transformation from "taking over the league" like Wiggins that go their entire careers without ever making those changes or fixing those weaknesses. Whoever drafts Melo has to fix not one but like 5 of those kind of glaring career make-or-break issues to justify taking him at the spot he's going to come off the board, and the likelihood of any of the teams in the position to draft that high doing so are almost zero.

― Sabre of Paradise (trevor phillips), Friday, October 16, 2020 10:58 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

wow calm down trevor

also maybe watch some lemelo you might be surprised by what you find

i mean he obvs has basketball IQ and awareness, idk about some of the rest as i do not have the ability to gaze into his soul like some

trevor flame throwing

I respect any and all hate for the Ball clan.

lonzo was overdrafted bcuz the lakers (poorly run franchise which had just hired an ex-broadcaster and an ex-agent to run their front office) got seduced by the hometown superstar angle. i liked de'aaron fox better personally but lonzo still has a chance to be a very useful player. his three point % was above average last year on six threes per game, and he's always going to put up great ast/reb/blk/stl numbers. he can't make two pointers for shit but playing w/ ingram and zion he shouldn't ever be shooting two pointers anyway. it's such a better fit for him. i'm pretty much willing to give him a full pass on everything that happened in LA, between the shit w/ his dad and the make up of that roster to being coached by luke walton. he was set up to fail, now he's set up to succeed.

like his brother, melo's passing ability + size actually gives him a pretty high floor to me. you know he has at least one skill that can translate to winning team basketball, and he's not going to be overwhelmed physically by other guards, and is already good at contesting shots. i don't agree w/ the idea that his shot has to be fixed for him to be a good player. i would say the opposite -- he can still contribute even if his shot sucks. i'm also not sure i buy the thing about his body either, he just needs to get stronger? he's huge for a guard. he's obviously hugely flawed but we know that's true for every player at the top of the draft. i haven't watched the international guys but edwards seems like a classic low efficiency point totaler whose teams will never win anything, and wiseman could maybe give you some good mitchell robinson style minutes but rim running big man is not really the most difficult role to fill nor is it all that valuable ultimately. the biggest issue for all these guys is that they will be going to horrible franchises

I respect any and all hate for the Ball clan.

― Quiet Storm Thorgerson (PBKR), Friday, October 16, 2020 12:21 PM (twenty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the actual basketball player balls seem pretty low key and normal, dad ball on the other hand lol