2023 CS Historic Draft Thread - Results in OP!

[theswitch]

Moncrief was my plan B if Who went with Penny at #4. I love his versatility, ability to fit in anywhere. I would've loved him and Penny but that's obviously not happening...although there are still a few combo type guards that would work similarly well!

I tried to talk myself into him at #1 for a long time but decided he didn't have enough "oomph" to warrant that pick. In the mid-to-late first where you can pair him with another top 12-15 player in the draft...it's a nice pick.

[gouki88]

After much agonising, here goes.

With the 8th pick of the 1st round, the Orlando Magic select...



Chris Webber!

The prototype for modern big men to follow. Athletic, could shoot and handle, great at rebounding, good defensively.

[Kernewek]

You are a bad person and you should feel bad for stealing my pick.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

After much agonising, here goes.

With the 8th pick of the 1st round, the Orlando Magic select...



Chris Webber!

The prototype for modern big men to follow. Athletic, could shoot and handle, great at rebounding, good defensively.

Great pick, love CWebb

[gouki88]

You are a bad person and you should feel bad for stealing my pick.

Blame my (insert clever name here) model!

[Kernewek]

You are a bad person and you should feel bad for stealing my pick.

Blame my (insert clever name here) model!

[theswitch]

I don't know why but I struggled with C-Webb. My gut says that he's everything you described and would be the perfect center in this league if you wanted to play that way -- you can build a heck of a fun team that way! Finally make him the center he never wanted to be, like Garnett had to do at some point and AD is doing now. But that was in the 90s! There is no Shaq in this league. There's no Hakeem. The scariest guys are Dwight and Zo, and you can find some situational help for that. Or you can just do the power forward thing.

But then...my brain kept seeing whacky efficiency, inconsistent shooting. KG in 07-08 shot 48% from 16-24. Webber in his best years was 42%-ish, sometimes worse. But then overall even in his best year he was sub 50%. Needed 23 shots to get 27 points. And that was with a high post center who gave him opportunities. Something just didn't sit with me so I wrote him off.

Maybe that's why I like the high flying center idea so much. Or maybe I'm just overthinking it. Talent-wise, he's a top 2-3 guy in this draft.

[Who]

After much agonising, here goes.

With the 8th pick of the 1st round, the Orlando Magic select...

Chris Webber!

The prototype for modern big men to follow. Athletic, could shoot and handle, great at rebounding, good defensively.

I thought Webber was one of the best players to build a team around.  His passing; his ability to make the game easier for players around him thus making them better. Then add in his all-round game at PF with shooting, low post play, rebounding, some defense.

And he can play the PF or C so you can pair him with literally any other big man in the competition. Play big and use bully ball. Play small and use spacing. He can do it all.

[Moranis]

The Nets take the man that should have been Finals MVP in 2010 and pick up the multi-positional Spainard Pau Gasol. 

[gouki88]

I don't know why but I struggled with C-Webb. My gut says that he's everything you described and would be the perfect center in this league if you wanted to play that way -- you can build a heck of a fun team that way! Finally make him the center he never wanted to be, like Garnett had to do at some point and AD is doing now. But that was in the 90s! There is no Shaq in this league. There's no Hakeem. The scariest guys are Dwight and Zo, and you can find some situational help for that. Or you can just do the power forward thing.

But then...my brain kept seeing whacky efficiency, inconsistent shooting. KG in 07-08 shot 48% from 16-24. Webber in his best years was 42%-ish, sometimes worse. But then overall even in his best year he was sub 50%. Needed 23 shots to get 27 points. And that was with a high post center who gave him opportunities. Something just didn't sit with me so I wrote him off.

Maybe that's why I like the high flying center idea so much. Or maybe I'm just overthinking it. Talent-wise, he's a top 2-3 guy in this draft.

I struggled with it too. Love the talent he possessed, but there are some odd bits.

However, I think I settled on him due to the talent, as well as the flexibility his seasons give me. His Sacramento seasons were obviously quite awesome, once his FT shooting was fixed, but that 96-97 season was great too. I think a lot will depend on how I build around him too.

[gouki88]

After much agonising, here goes.

With the 8th pick of the 1st round, the Orlando Magic select...

Chris Webber!

The prototype for modern big men to follow. Athletic, could shoot and handle, great at rebounding, good defensively.

I thought Webber was one of the best players to build a team around.  His passing; his ability to make the game easier for players around him thus making them better. Then add in his all-round game at PF with shooting, low post play, rebounding, some defense.

And he can play the PF or C so you can pair him with literally any other big man in the competition. Play big and use bully ball. Play small and use spacing. He can do it all.

The ability to scale his game up or down with other good talent is what intrigued me. His passing as a big sets him apart from most others (besides a couple!). No idea whether I'll go big or small though

[gouki88]

The Nets take the man that should have been Finals MVP in 2010 and pick up the multi-positional Spainard Pau Gasol.

This wasn't who I had you picking! Gasol is great. I think the most intriguing part about him is the different seasons available. His 3 top seasons were (IMO) all for different teams, being Memphis, LA & Chicago.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

The Nets take the man that should have been Finals MVP in 2010 and pick up the multi-positional Spainard Pau Gasol.

I still have nightmares of those finals, great pick. Pau is another guy, like Webber, who you can run at the 4 or 5 and can fit many different styles.

[Who]

The Nets take the man that should have been Finals MVP in 2010 and pick up the multi-positional Spainard Pau Gasol.

This is the other guy alongside C-Webb. All the same things.

I thought Webber was one of the best players to build a team around.  His passing; his ability to make the game easier for players around him thus making them better. Then add in his all-round game at PF with shooting, low post play, rebounding, some defense.

And he can play the PF or C so you can pair him with literally any other big man in the competition. Play big and use bully ball. Play small and use spacing. He can do it all.

I ended up rating Pau slightly ahead of Webber because Pau was more efficient with his scoring. Mostly due to better decision making with his shot selection. Webber always had an itchy trigger finger. Pau did not shoot as often and took better shots when he did shoot. He showed better judgement.

I love both these guys to build a team around. I had Pau in a recent draft so I did not consider him here. I had thought of Webber but I would've tried something similar as I did with Pau in the draft so nothing new to try and I've never been a big Webber guy anyway.

Reasons being scoring efficiency, shot selection, inconsistent defensive effort during hs career although in fairness the defense is less of an issue in this single year format. So I decided I probably wouldn't enjoy building a team around Webber as much as I would other players even though he was fantastic to build around.

So

Pau > Webber

was my final verdict for the top PF in the league. Both top 2 and very close to one another in ability. Slight edge Pau. 

I have both rated as strong centers as well. I have them 5th and 6th here although I am still debating them against my 3rd and 4th guys so they are in that 3-6 range at center if a team wants to go small.

But I have them #1 and #2 at PF.

[theswitch]

I was living in a fantasy land where Pau would slip under the radar until the next round because he’s not always a #1 scoring guy. He’s a great foundation.