2019 Historical Draft Thread(TIME TO REVEAL THE WINNER!!!)

[nickagneta]

Dang...Kawhi in Round 1???

Sorry, my friend, I think that a massive reach.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

Kawhi is a nice pick. I thought he might be overlooked early as a current player and be a high value pick in the 2nd round. But he is good here too. Sets a foundation for your team on both ends of the court to be a high functioning unit.

Kawhi is fantastic but top 8 all time at his peak? I just can’t buy it at this point.

[action781]

At the end of it all, it all boils down to two things.

1. Do you have a player that can get you a bucket when you needed it.
2. Do you have a player that can stop the opposing team's best player.

And we here at the MoTown Pistons could not think of a better selection to start our squad and compete for the prestigious Historical Draft Title. He checks both of those categories, and he is an excellent teammate on top of that.

For the 8th pick, we, the MoTown Pistons, are delighted to select Kawhi Leonard.

Woo, that appears to be a reach, I was thinking about him mid round 2.  But it's not that crazy.  You've got a guy who can credibly defend Lebron and likely some other SFs.  You also might get some recency favor going your way. 

Edit:  I think there was at least one other no-brainer guy I would have taken over Kawhi though when I compare these guys to eachother.

[Who]

Kawhi is a nice pick. I thought he might be overlooked early as a current player and be a high value pick in the 2nd round. But he is good here too. Sets a foundation for your team on both ends of the court to be a high functioning unit.

Kawhi is fantastic but top 8 all time at his peak? I just can’t buy it at this point.

This game is based on modern rules ...

So top 8 all time peak? I don't think so.

But do all of the top peaks from the past fit as well into the modern rules? Do they bring the same value today as they brought in the past or does their value drop a bit?

Kawhi did his thing in today's game. You know what he can do in today's rules setting. He had a phenomenal playoff run this year that puts him in some rare company.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Dang...Kawhi in Round 1???

Sorry, my friend, I think that a massive reach.

I'm okay with that.

At the end of the day, I needed a guy who can score, and do so efficiently, and who can stop the best player on the court, as long as he's not a big. There isn't really anyone else available that I can think of that has that two-way level of play, along with the size, length and athleticism. 

As Who said, he sets up a foundation of elite defending, and I get his scoring, which has been underrated to this day. With me missing out on Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, I cannot ask for a better foundational player.

[Silky]

With their first of 2 first round picks.

1(9) the San Antonio Spurs select a man who in his prime was an unstoppable force on both ends of the floor.

A man who is his prime could spread the floor, had a 40" vertical, averaged 26, 13, 3.5assists, 4blocks and 2 steals.

A multiple all nba defensive 1st
A multiple all nba 1st team

The man that made other men look foolish trying to defend him

The Dream



Hakeem Olajuwon

[Who]

You've got a guy who can credibly defend Lebron and likely some other SFs.

Just made me think of this ...

There were 3 guys who terrified me in terms of being able to defend against them when thinking of them as opponents. Jordan, LeBron and Shaq. Those 3 guys dominated my thoughts.


These three guys not just skilled but so overwhelming physically and athletically dominant. They put such a strain on your defense. So difficult to handle them and avoid your team defense collapsing around them without a top defender available to check them.

[Celts Fan 508]

Dang...Kawhi in Round 1???

Sorry, my friend, I think that a massive reach.

I'm okay with that.

At the end of the day, I needed a guy who can score, and do so efficiently, and who can stop the best player on the court, as long as he's not a big. There isn't really anyone else available that I can think of that has that two-way level of play, along with the size, length and athleticism. 

As Who said, he sets up a foundation of elite defending, and I get his scoring, which has been underrated to this day. With me missing out on Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, I cannot ask for a better foundational player.

You have sound reasoning but I was shocked at the pick, as long as you like it that is all that really matters.

[greenrunsdeep41]

Bill Russell

[action781]

One thing I like about Kawhi is that in a draft like this you can get so many league MVP seasons throughout the first 3 rounds of dominating performances and its hard to know how they'll all fit together.  Kawhi is a guy that can adapt to several different roles.  He could even end up being the "#2" on your team if you get a guy in the next round who had some insane crazy season.  And Kawhi could still be your closer.  He's a cool guy to build around.

[Who]

I was thinking of drafting Hakeem at 5 so I was watching a youtube video of his game from 1993 playoffs. His quickness is just unbelievable.

You know about his quickness ... it is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of him ... but you forget just how truly incredibly it was.

That defensive quickness in closing down space and providing help defense. What a defender. And then used that same quickness to destroy people in the post on offense. Amazing player.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

I never thought I’d see the day where Bill Russell is the 5th center off the board in an all time draft done by Celtics fans

[nickagneta]

I think getting a guy like Wilt or Shaq means you need to have a great passing PG. Should be interesting to see who Who and GF take as a player that needs to feed the beast inside.

Why do you think that?

Neither guy played with great PGs. So they were not dependent on them for service. Or is it about involving your teammates? Making sure the offense is not too Shaq/Wilt centric?

I ask ... because I actually thought the opposite. That a great PG was less valuable because I didn't want the ball in his hands all the time.

I think it because Wilt wouldn't be bringing up the ball up and because there will be a lot of great mouths to feed. To effectively get the matchups where Wilt will be able to use his physical attributes to take advantage of his matchup, he will need a great passer to get him the ball in areas he can succeed. It doesn't have to be a PG, but someone to feed Wilt is imperative. Wilt will not have the unreal physical advantage in this game that he had in real life. Getting in his spots or taking advantage of lesser athletes on a regular basis won't happen here, IMO, for Wilt.

[GreenFaith1819]

Bill Russell

I debated between him and Shaq....GREAT pick. He will be fun to build around.

[GreenFaith1819]

With their first of 2 first round picks.

1(9) the San Antonio Spurs select a man who in his prime was an unstoppable force on both ends of the floor.

A man who is his prime could spread the floor, had a 40" vertical, averaged 26, 13, 3.5assists, 4blocks and 2 steals.

A multiple all nba defensive 1st
A multiple all nba 1st team

The man that made other men look foolish trying to defend him

The Dream



Hakeem Olajuwon

He - along with Russell - were my other picks. I considered Wilt as well. You'll have fun building around Dream.