2025 CelticsBlog Fantasy Draft: '05-'25 Edition

[Who]

Bogut was my fallback to Chandler.

Ditto. Now they are both gone!

Bogut actually did very well in my rankings. He was ahead of both Tyson & Gobert. That surprised me. A bit more offense I guess.

[smokeablount]

Jvalin is currently on the board (no rush) followed by Moranis to close out the round(s)!

See you all tomorrow at 10:15 for rounds 9-10 with Moranis kicking us off likely early, before 9am ET

[snively]

Bogut was my fallback to Chandler.

Ditto. Now they are both gone!

Bogut actually did very well in my rankings. He was ahead of both Tyson & Gobert. That surprised me. A bit more offense I guess.

I had no memory of Bucks Bogut so I was going off the GS version.

[snively]

Still some amazing guys on the board. Very surprised about one guy in particular.

[Who]

Going back to this morning and talking about Joakim Noah. Now that Tyson Chandler has been picked. He was the comparison I wanted to make but I had to wait.

Joakim Noah's advantage on Tyson is his passing but that is only an advantage if utilized. If not, then he is a rim runner like Tyson. However, Tyson is the better rim runner because he is more athletic and can play above the rim. He can finish more types of lob passes and stuff like that.

Tyson also has the advantage on defense. He is taller and longer. He is more disruptive as a shot blocker / rim protector around the basket than Joakim Noah is. Both are quick and highly capable defenders away from the basket.

I would value Tyson ahead of Noah anyway (due to defense) but that gap becomes larger if you are not putting Noah into an offense where he can use his one advantage over Tyson - his high post passing.

Anyway, the purpose / point I was trying to make was that without the high post passing Joakim Noah becomes a rim-runner and there are other guys who are better at that than him. Tyson being the main guy.

[Timdawgg]

Great pick Moranis. Melo was another one shocked that he was still out there. He was next on my list. 

[Who]

After having gone more defensive with their first two bench picks, the Cleveland Cavaliers will select the 10th leading scorer in NBA history, Carmelo Anthony.

I actually thought you were going to pick him at the start of the 5th round. Play LeBron, Luka, Melo, Wemby, Shaq together. Three powerful post up SFs. Most teams have 2 starting guards who cannot effectively any one of those physically powerful SFs.

Great pick. I couldn't wrap my head around why Melo wasn't getting picked earlier.

[Roy H.]

As several GMs know, I gauged the value of Carmelo Anthony several rounds ago.  I was seriously thinking of taking him in the fourth.

Looking at him through the lens of efficiency and usage, he probably hurts a team.  Plus, he doesn't add any defense or passing.  (Counterpoint:  He was great on the Olympic teams).

But man, if I needed one bucket at the end of the game, he'd be in my top-10, I think.  And, I will always believe that the Pistons did both themselves and Carmelo a disservice passing over him.  I truly believe that if he'd been coached in the Pistons system, we'd think of Carmelo as a top-10 SF in league history.  He could have been a lot more than just a lethal scorer.

[Donoghus]

Melo is one of those guys I love but just don't love on my team. 

[Who]

I was thinking about something like 10 different SFs when I picked Iggy early 5th round. Melo was one of them.

I went against the idea because I liked the idea of the offense revolving around the playmaking of guards Nash & Manu along with the interior scoring of Embiid. Embiid will iso some which is fine but I felt Melo & Embiid together would iso too much and take the ball out of Nash's & Manu's hands more than I wanted it to.

That is why I passed on Melo. Oh, and because I picked Iggy I prioritized getting a shooting SF behind him in case his lack of shooting causes me problems at times. So I went with Middleton as the bench SF over Melo too.

That was my thinking.

I expected Melo to be a starter in this fantasy league. I am surprised he fell this far. He is still a load for opponents to deal with. 6-8 230+lbs. Powerful SF.

[snively]

As several GMs know, I gauged the value of Carmelo Anthony several rounds ago.  I was seriously thinking of taking him in the fourth.

Looking at him through the lens of efficiency and usage, he probably hurts a team.  Plus, he doesn't add any defense or passing.  (Counterpoint:  He was great on the Olympic teams).

But man, if I needed one bucket at the end of the game, he'd be in my top-10, I think.  And, I will always believe that the Pistons did both themselves and Carmelo a disservice passing over him.  I truly believe that if he'd been coached in the Pistons system, we'd think of Carmelo as a top-10 SF in league history.  He could have been a lot more than just a lethal scorer.

After I got Butler, I had Granger/Middleton/Brown/Melo as my targets for an alternate 3. It was Melo's conversation on a podcast about when he first showed up to OKC at age 33 that dissuaded me. How shocked he was when they asked him to adjust his game. How hard it was for him to process.  How much he struggled as a result. That he was unable to process the shift as anything like what he did for Team USA.

[Moranis]

All of the advanced metrics, including defensively favor Noah pretty significantly over Chandler in part because Noah was a significantly better steal creator (they are similar shot blockers in their primes). Noah also only took about half his shots at the rim while Chandler took 4 out of 5 from inside 3 feet.  Noah took over 18% of his shots from longer than 16 feet and hit them at about 40% (enough shots and a high enough % to keep teams honest).  Chandler also barely shot the ball having just 1 season of over 7 fga, while Noah averaged 7 2 fga his 9 years in Chicago topping out at 10. They are just different types of players. 

[Roy H.]

As several GMs know, I gauged the value of Carmelo Anthony several rounds ago.  I was seriously thinking of taking him in the fourth.

Looking at him through the lens of efficiency and usage, he probably hurts a team.  Plus, he doesn't add any defense or passing.  (Counterpoint:  He was great on the Olympic teams).

But man, if I needed one bucket at the end of the game, he'd be in my top-10, I think.  And, I will always believe that the Pistons did both themselves and Carmelo a disservice passing over him.  I truly believe that if he'd been coached in the Pistons system, we'd think of Carmelo as a top-10 SF in league history.  He could have been a lot more than just a lethal scorer.

After I got Butler, I had Granger/Middleton/Brown/Melo as my targets for an alternate 3. It was Melo's conversation on a podcast about when he first showed up to OKC at age 33 that dissuaded me. How shocked he was when they asked him to adjust his game. How hard it was for him to process.  How much he struggled as a result. That he was unable to process the shift as anything like what he did for Team USA.

Yeah.  That's similar to another guy who hasn't been drafted yet that came from that same era.  He seemingly was a great fit for a bench role later in his career, and just couldn't do it.

I contrast that to yet another similar(ish) guy, in Vince Carter.  I always assumed Carter's ego was too big to adapt, but he absolutely thrived in a lesser role late in his career.

[Who]

All of the advanced metrics, including defensively favor Noah pretty significantly over Chandler in part because Noah was a significantly better steal creator (they are similar shot blockers in their primes). Noah also only took about half his shots at the rim while Chandler took 4 out of 5 from inside 3 feet. Noah took over 18% of his shots from longer than 16 feet and hit them at about 40% (enough shots and a high enough % to keep teams honest).  Chandler also barely shot the ball having just 1 season of over 7 fga, while Noah averaged 7 2 fga his 9 years in Chicago topping out at 10. They are just different types of players.

An outlier. Every jump shot Joakim Noah takes is a victory for his opponents.

Noah is not a competent jump-shooter.

[smokeablount]

Team Rosters here:

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=109542.msg3317664#msg3317664