Wrote this up for the Reddit thread. These are by winners and losers for the first round.
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Winners:
Utah taking Ace Bailey despite him not wanting to go there was the correct move. Years ago Sacramento passed on Luka Dončić because he didn?t want to go over there and took Marvin Bagley. Danny Ainge does not care for feelings and got one of the most talented players in the draft at 5. As a Celtics fan, it was great watching DA all the league for decades and now Utah can see what happens when a GM puts his team first and second before anything else.
San Antonio wouldn?t have changed their picks if they could. Dylan Harper is such a prize at number two then it?s really unclear if you would even pick Flagg over him in a vacuum. Apparently they were trying to trade up for Carter Bryant before they realize they would be able to get him a 14. I?m going to choose to believe that story and if it?s true, it shows solid conviction of their draft process.
Portland is zagging when everyone else is zigging. I really respect Mike Schmidt and it?s very clear that he feels he identified a completely overlooked prospect, traded out of the weakest part of this draft (11-14 Range), and have the convictions to take him as a future compliment to Donovan Clingin. To be clear I also like what Memphis did to lock up Cedric Coward, but I?m just very impressed with how Portland is choosing to rebuild in the present instead of being obsessed with a future that often never comes for small to mid market teams.
Losers:
Philadelphia had the third pick and the two player draft which was not their fault but passing up on Ace Bailey was a fearful move. I am not sold on VJ Edgecombe and at the very least Bailey would have been a more valuable successor to Paul George than Edgecombe is to Tyrese Maxey. They are a team that?s been burned too many times over the last decade that they drafted scared last night.
People who tried to bury Egor Deminpre draft (Sam Vecine). Egor had an extremely impressive start to BYU season looking like the type of player that could run an offense as a 6?9 forward. He went through a slump midseason and many draft experts at him in the 20s. Egor then regained his form for the end of the season, but people like Sam Vecine proudly kept their evaluation. I never wavered and taking Egor was a top 10 pick at this time it looked like at least one NBA FO agreed.
Toronto and Colin Murray Boyles are stuck with each other. CMB or his agent walk backed his all time horrible draft reaction this morning, but I don?t buy it. Everyone thought Toronto was going to take the African prospect and CMB was imagining life in Phoenix when he was surprised to hear his name and gave a petulant if genuine reaction. Similar to Utah, Toronto made the right pick, but that viral reaction brought them right back to where they were a decade ago with a reputation for a place where American players don?t want to live.
Topic: 2025 NBA Draft Thread (Read 8500 times)