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

[nickagneta]

Couple thoughts on 1st round:

I think Portland taking Magic at 6 and Chicago taking Duncan at 12 were the 2 best value picks of the round.

I love the value that the Sixers and Lakers got by trading down just 3 and 5 spots, respectively. Moving their 5th rounders to 3rd rounders for just a few spots drop from their 1st round picks is great stuff.

Clearly, the Kawhi pick is the outlier, but WHAT AN OUTLIER!!! His 2018-19 was awesome.

Other than that, a lot of what I expected.

[Silky]

The kawhi pick was a big surprise to me. The rest is good.

[Moranis]

I don't even know if Kobe is in my top 20 all time, I know he isn't that close to my top 10.  That just strikes me as a bad pick, I think the only potential saving grace is SG is the weakest position in league history so there is some value in reaching for the 2nd best SG.  Again though, I think that is a bad pick.

Kawhi was an absolutely terrible pick.  I don't even think I would have selected him before the 4th round (and maybe not even then).  Even taking the 1 season approach, I just don't see the logic or value in it.  He is at best an average rebounder, he doesn't pass the ball well, he doesn't bring the ball up the court or run an offense.  Obviously a great defender and can score well, but there are much better scorers that are just flat out better all around players even looking at it just 1 year at a time.  And if you use this year, he missed 22 games, that has to factor into an analysis of who he is as a player.   I just absolutely hate that pick.

EDIT: And I'm aware that in this type of draft having a great defender who can score and not do much else may be ok as other players will do that, but it just strikes me as a huge talent downgrade from every one else's 1st pick. 

[action781]

I don't even know if Kobe is in my top 20 all time, I know he isn't that close to my top 10.  That just strikes me as a bad pick, I think the only potential saving grace is SG is the weakest position in league history so there is some value in reaching for the 2nd best SG.  Again though, I think that is a bad pick.

Kawhi was an absolutely terrible pick.  I don't even think I would have selected him before the 4th round (and maybe not even then).  Even taking the 1 season approach, I just don't see the logic or value in it.  He is at best an average rebounder, he doesn't pass the ball well, he doesn't bring the ball up the court or run an offense.  Obviously a great defender and can score well, but there are much better scorers that are just flat out better all around players even looking at it just 1 year at a time.  And if you use this year, he missed 22 games, that has to factor into an analysis of who he is as a player.   I just absolutely hate that pick.

The missed 22 games is a good point on Kawhi, but in a game like this he will have a deep team to absorb those minutes.  He's shown that he can be "the guy" or play a complementary role along other stars.  He's a lockdown defender.  I definitely had him as a second rounder.

[nickagneta]

I don't even know if Kobe is in my top 20 all time, I know he isn't that close to my top 10.  That just strikes me as a bad pick, I think the only potential saving grace is SG is the weakest position in league history so there is some value in reaching for the 2nd best SG.  Again though, I think that is a bad pick.

Kawhi was an absolutely terrible pick.  I don't even think I would have selected him before the 4th round (and maybe not even then).  Even taking the 1 season approach, I just don't see the logic or value in it.  He is at best an average rebounder, he doesn't pass the ball well, he doesn't bring the ball up the court or run an offense.  Obviously a great defender and can score well, but there are much better scorers that are just flat out better all around players even looking at it just 1 year at a time.  And if you use this year, he missed 22 games, that has to factor into an analysis of who he is as a player.   I just absolutely hate that pick.

EDIT: And I'm aware that in this type of draft having a great defender who can score and not do much else may be ok as other players will do that, but it just strikes me as a huge talent downgrade from every one else's 1st pick.

Let's use this as an example of how you don't approach criticizing picks. It are posts like this that cause games like this to dissolve into massive drama.

You want to say a pick is a surprise, an outlier, a reach, too soon or unexpected,
that's good

Saying something is bad or terrible or dumb or absurd, that's not good.

Let's do better than this.

[Who]

I think there is a value in guys who don't need the ball in their hands all of the time. That is something I like about Kawhi. He can get you 25-30 but he does it in a way that doesn't effect negatively anyone else.

He allows everyone else time on the ball to express their own talents and show what they can do. Plus, he has the shooting range to provide floor spacing to give them room to what they want to do.

He is not dribbling the air out of the ball. He is taking bad shots (stealing shots from teammates). He is not a ball stopper (taking too long to decide while defense loads up on him). He is not killing your floor spacing or clogging the lane when of the ball(like my guy Wilt).

He allows everyone around him to operate at their fullest capacity.

......

This may be a negative issue when you surround him with a bunch of role players who are more limited offensively but in a game like this where you are surrounded with the best whoever played - it is an asset.

[Who]

Take my pick Wilt Chamberlain for a moment.

Wilt has problems with a lack of movement off the ball (he is quite stagnant), staying close to the basket and clogging the lane impeding driving opportunities for others and his need to be involved in the offense at all times or nearly all the time.

Even in his best team orientated year in Philly, his passing was good and created a lot for his teammates but he had to have the ball. It had to go through him whether he was the 35-50ppg scoring Wilt or the 15-25ppg 5-8apg Wilt. The ball goes through Wilt.

That limits my options moving forward with the roster. I have to work around Wilt's limitations. I have to accept his negatives as much as his strengths in figuring out how to build around him.

And ... those negatives do take away from Wilt's positives.

A guy like Kawhi doesn't have those negatives. He doesn't have those limitations on who you put around him which gives you added options in later picks.

That is something I really like about Kawhi as well as something that I was concerned about before (and after!) picking Wilt.

[Silky]

Kobe is absolutely top 10 talent in todays nba.

Easily top 15 alltime.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

I don't even know if Kobe is in my top 20 all time, I know he isn't that close to my top 10.  That just strikes me as a bad pick, I think the only potential saving grace is SG is the weakest position in league history so there is some value in reaching for the 2nd best SG.  Again though, I think that is a bad pick.

Kawhi was an absolutely terrible pick.  I don't even think I would have selected him before the 4th round (and maybe not even then).  Even taking the 1 season approach, I just don't see the logic or value in it.  He is at best an average rebounder, he doesn't pass the ball well, he doesn't bring the ball up the court or run an offense.  Obviously a great defender and can score well, but there are much better scorers that are just flat out better all around players even looking at it just 1 year at a time.  And if you use this year, he missed 22 games, that has to factor into an analysis of who he is as a player.   I just absolutely hate that pick.

EDIT: And I'm aware that in this type of draft having a great defender who can score and not do much else may be ok as other players will do that, but it just strikes me as a huge talent downgrade from every one else's 1st pick.

I feel like I have to defend my guy here a little bit.

1. For the 2018 - 19 season, Kawhi Leonard averaged 7.3 rebounds per game, and he pulled 9 rebounds per in the playoffs.

2. He may not be an elite passer, but he's definitely not a selfish player either. He doesn't hog the ball, nor stop the flow of offense.

3. In 18-19, he averaged 26 points on 49/37/85 splits. During the playoffs, he bumped that to 30 a game on 49/38/88.

Those, on top of it his elite defense, makes him a great foundation for a franchise.

[Roy H.]

After Round 1, it's no surprise that every single team is in good shape, even the teams that reached. 

That said, I really am intrigued to see what the Larry / Magic teams look like.  To me, they'll always be the two saviors of the NBA, and two players that I will always rate as the two guys I'd start a team with.  I probably would have taken Magic #1 overall (after trading down). 

[tazzmaniac]

After Round 1, it's no surprise that every single team is in good shape, even the teams that reached. 

That said, I really am intrigued to see what the Larry / Magic teams look like.  To me, they'll always be the two saviors of the NBA, and two players that I will always rate as the two guys I'd start a team with.  I probably would have taken Magic #1 overall (after trading down).

I agree but in a 3pt happy league I'd go Bird over Magic. 

[Roy H.]

After Round 1, it's no surprise that every single team is in good shape, even the teams that reached. 

That said, I really am intrigued to see what the Larry / Magic teams look like.  To me, they'll always be the two saviors of the NBA, and two players that I will always rate as the two guys I'd start a team with.  I probably would have taken Magic #1 overall (after trading down).

I agree but in a 3pt happy league I'd go Bird over Magic.

I think Magic would have added a better 3PT shot if it was more of a factor in his era.  We saw his shoot 38.4% of 3.5 attempts in 1990, and then 37.9% after taking 4.5 years off due to HIV.

I like Magic because he's a unicorn.  How many 6'9" point guards are there who can run the fastest team in the league, but then switch to center, as well?

[nickagneta]

After Round 1, it's no surprise that every single team is in good shape, even the teams that reached. 

That said, I really am intrigued to see what the Larry / Magic teams look like.  To me, they'll always be the two saviors of the NBA, and two players that I will always rate as the two guys I'd start a team with.  I probably would have taken Magic #1 overall (after trading down).

I think their versatility and proven ability to meld excellently with other great players is what makes them such intriguing players to build with.

In my opinion, out of the players selected so far, only Duncan and Leonard also have that top notch, proven ability to blend with other true greats and make them better players. My guess is, eventually, every team will have at least one or two guys like that on their teams.

[greenrunsdeep41]

I was baffled by the fact that Bill Russell was available.

How can anyone make the argument that he isn’t one of the top ten most valuable players ever? I get different era stuff, but you can’t legitimize that argument objectively. It’s pure craziness to me that Kobe Bryant and Kawhi Leonard were selected before him. Nuts.

Edit - looks like Kobe went 11th

[gouki88]

Quite happy to wake up to having picked LB. He was the guy I wanted the most at #4, and trading down from #1 to get him plus quite a significant bump in from the 5th round to the 3rd round is a big win for me.

Having consecutive picks at the end of the 2nd/start of the 3rd round is also exciting.

Surprised that Kawhi and Kobe were picked, but I can definitely see why. Kobe's peak, although not my favourite style of play, was undoubtedly one of the most unstoppable offensive peaks we've seen. Might have been able to get similar production from a player or two who will be available later, but I get it. Kawhi just went on one of the best playoff runs in recent memory, so can't really fault that.