2020 nba offseason draft free agency etc

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

big baller brand

site is still up, shoes now priced at medium baller levels

i keep hoping they put everything on clearance because i would love a BBB shirt for $10

Just chuckling to myself at Lamar's claim that he was a better player than Jordan after averaging under 3 ppg in college. Guy was positively Trumpian.

he said he cld beat him in one on one lmao

rise of lavar and rise of trump happening simultaneously was def not an accident

i meant not a coincidence.... but also not an accident

lavar ball is donald trump

iirc

one is the other

wonder how long itll take before lonzo realizes he has millions of dollars and can make his own better decisions

― lag∞n, Thursday, May 18, 2017 12:12 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

About two years.

he was set up to fail, now he's set up to succeed.

not so sure, he's on a worse franchise who just fired their coach

as ive said before lonzo will continue to be pretty good in a ricky rubio sort of way and there will be people who think he's bad forever

pelicans are run by a legit GM now and will def get a better coach, and is on a team w/ two all stars. it's a great situation for him.

he also has to stay healthy

right now i’m not sure lonzo is a starter. as part of this conversation i checked his offensive stats earlier and they are worse than i thought.

lonzo vs rubio (first 3 seasons)
https://stathead.com/tiny/ggXJF

and full rubio career
https://stathead.com/tiny/rrwD5

lonzo shooting 48% on FTs lmao he will never be good if he's scared to drive

1.2 FTA per game

Ricky's beautiful eyes don't show up on a star sheet 🥰

nice eyes, and he can also make a free throw.

oh lol i didnt know about the free throw thing geez

he doesn't need to shoot twos or free throws! you're looking at the wrong percentage

I disagree with jord’s contention that Lonzo was over drafted, they bet on his freshman shooting not being a fluke and it turned out to be a fluke. He’s an amazing talent otherwise. I think he figures it out and makes an all star team.

Lamelo to me is a ton of red flags, he also can’t shoot, he has low effort doesn’t play defense. He’s just taller.

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

Bob Myers' favorite combo

he doesn't need to shoot twos or free throws! you're looking at the wrong percentage

― J0rdan S., Friday, October 16, 2020 7:54 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah this is true if he's the 2nd guy off the bench

i dunno, i thought he looked pretty good shooting catch and shoot threes last year. when zion gets fully integrated they’re gonna have two very high usage offensive players, all lonzo needs to be able to do is pass, make open threes, and play defense. he has 2 of 3 down

my problem i think is that lonzo's type of player is not good in halfcourt offense as a ballhandler. he's not a serious pick and roll threat if he can't shoot off the dribble or drive to the basket so i don't see him running an offense that gets zion and ingram good shots. he's a rotation player, but if your main skills are spotting up and guard defense and as a bonus you can really pass in transition i'm not sure how amazing that is. maybe zion is so dominant as a roll man that it doesn't matter.

yeah also that 3pt% is prob not that real