Let’s just focus on the draft and related transaction for the last 3 years. The Cs have build a list of young and end of roster players as follows:
Langford
Nesmith
G Williams
Pritchard
Fernando
Brodric Thomas
Sam Hauser
Javonte Green (needlessly traded)
Edwards (signed highest guaranteed deal for 2nd rounder at time – cut)
Fall (FA signing -- cut)
Waters (drafted -- cut)
Parker (FA signing -- cut)
Rights to Yam Mader
Rights to Beragin
Without lifting a finger, the Cs could have:
Thybuille (instead of Langford)
Brandon Clarke (instead of trading the Thybuille pick…. OR any one of Little, Poole, Keldon Johnson, Jerome, Bazley, or Claxton… would be better than Langford to begin with)
G Williams
Cody Martin (or Horton-Tucker, Paschall, Roby, or Mann – all useful players picked after Edwards)
Jalen McDaniels (picked immediately after Waters)
Cole Anthony (or Saddiq Bey, who is really good, or Maxey, who is really good, and a few others…. Instead of Nosmith)
Pritchard
Desmond Bane (dumped his pick for nothing)
Javonte Green (needlessly dumped last year in favor of lousy draft picks we’re embarrassed to trade too quickly)
Max Strus (moved off of a two way deal in favor of Fall and Waters, then cut)
Garrison Matthews (cut in favor of Parker and / or Fernando)
Paul Reed (picked after Mader)
Brandon Boston (or Aaron Wiggins -- picked after Beragin)
Did I miss any? So basically, they got Williams right, and on Pritchard, jury’s still out. The rest? That my friends is the worst long-tail roster management in the NBA over the past 3 years. WHOA is that bad.
so let's break down your great ideas:
Thybuille (instead of Langford)
--> if Thybulle was taken at 14 that would have been an egregious overreach for a player who's ultimate upside is a worse-shooting lite version of Marcus Smart. while I like this kid's defense, his offense is horrific and if Danny picked him in this slot, he should have been fired on the spot. I'll keep Langford who plays terrific D, rebounds, gets his nose dirty on plays AND can ball handle and score.
Brandon Clarke (instead of trading the Thybuille pick…. OR any one of Little, Poole, Keldon Johnson, Jerome, Bazley, or Claxton… would be better than Langford to begin with)
-->see above. keeping Langford. not a bad player to have but he's not a big miss by Danny.
G Williams-->better than the two players above that you're complaining we missed out on.
Cody Martin (or Horton-Tucker, Paschall, Roby, or Mann – all useful players picked after Edwards)
-->Edwards didn't pan out but none of these guys are killing it. they're still in the league so that's a leg up on Edwards
Jalen McDaniels (picked immediately after Waters)
-->not exactly killing it. team needed a PG, waters wasn't devoid of talent but not good enough to get on the roster
Cole Anthony (or
Saddiq Bey, who is really good, or
Maxey, who is really good, and a few others…. Instead of Nesmith)
-->Liked Bey in the draft and looks like a decent player although playing in Detroit may be inflating his number. Anthony looked iffy as a prospect and haven't seen anything to quell those concerns. Maxey looks solid but is another short guard we didn't need. My personal viewpoint on draft picks is to wait until year 3 before evaluating them. We'll see what Nesmith brings to the table next year -- I'm suspecting a high-energy player able to make shots from all over the floor and will be mentioned in the same breath as those other 3 in terms of skill level.
Pritchard -->decent prospect this late in the first round. can shoot. hustles. decent handles but has to work on what to do when he drives the lane and gets shut down.
Desmond Bane (dumped his pick for nothing)
--> this isn't a pick blown by talent evaluation but by poor roster management. Bane looks like a solid player but C's should have either made room on the roster to keep him or used the pick to improve the roster through a trade rather than trade for worse future assets.
Javonte Green (needlessly dumped last year in favor of lousy draft picks we’re embarrassed to trade too quickly)
-->like his energy but he's not getting us to the promised land.
Max Strus (moved off of a two way deal in favor of Fall and Waters, then cut)
-->not losing sleep over him. you shouldn't either.
Garrison Matthews (cut in favor of Parker and / or Fernando)
-->team needed bigs and hoped Parker had something in the tank. not worried about missing this kid when the upside of a revitalized Parker was a worthy risk.
Paul Reed (picked after Mader)
-->Mader pick was purely D&S, not based on BPA. complain about roster management, not talent in terms of this pick.
Brandon Boston (or Aaron Wiggins -- picked after Beragin)
-->same as above -- issue was about D&S ability, not BPA though Begarin looks intriguing.
now, let's look at the bigger picture which you missed. you've listed out 13 players here that according to you should be on the C's roster. that leaves spots for 2 other players. let's assume for the sake of argument that your roster mismanagement and love for draft picks didn't run Jaylen and Jayson out of town for greener pastures, they'd make up your 15 man roster. Pretty bad team and roster management that makes Danny look good. A lot of guys who wouldn't deserve minutes over the likes of Al, Timelord, Smart, Shroder, Richardson. You've got Bey, Bane and Thybulle all fighting for SG minutes if you've gotten rid of everyone you didn't draft OR they're stuck behind the vet players we have on the roster and were wasted picks because we don't need that many SGs OR you've got the typical brigade of posters screaming that their draft binky isn't getting the playing time that they think they deserve.