Who do you want at #16?

[Sixth Man]

I'd be thrilled to get Sabonis or Valentine at 16. 

[slamtheking]

Trade down for 4 and 13
4 murray
13 skai
16 valentine
23 maker
With 31 ston e or jones
Shooting and length

There is a good chance the Suns crave Bender, especially seeing they already have Booker, Bledsoe and Knight (so don't really need Dunn, Heild, or Murray).. TP.

if we could swing that deal with Phx (maybe cough up a couple of the late seconds if needed) I wouldn't be upset with that haul at all.  the 2 things that would concern me:
1. I think Valentine is likely gone by 16 so probably have to flip the Valentine and Skal picks.  To play safe, may have to also trade up from 16 to have as close to a guarantee that both are available at those 2 slots.
2. even if those are the only 5 picks we make (because we've traded the other 3) that's 5 players that will need a slot on the roster next year.  5 rookies is a lot to carry and that means unloading Turner, Sully, Zeller, JJ and Amir which is half our rotation.  It'd be a major step back next year unless some of the players under contract were moved instead (Young, Hunter, Mickey or maybe Rozier or AB)

[crimson_stallion]

I'd try to combined the Mavs and Celtics pick to move up and grab either one of the following:

* Labissiere
* Poeltl
* Ellenson
* Sabonis

Failing that I would be fairly happy taking a shot on Beasley, Chriss or Korkmaz.

[chilidawg]

I think one of Skal, Davis or Chriss ends up dropping.  I'd hope for an athletic big man at this pick.  If not maybe Korky or Luwawu.   Pretty good upside picks all of them.

All those guys have good upside, but I'd worry about Skal or Chriss on this team. Seem like guys that need to got to a non-playoff team in order to get minutes + develop. We haven't had a ton of success developing guys in Maine the last few years.

Mickey seemed like he developed pretty well in his minutes in Maine.  I think guys develop better in a winning atmosphere than being spoon fed minutes on a losing team.  Caveat being that different guys respond differently.

Looking at the mocks it looks like trying to move up into the 12-13 range would be a real benefit.  By 16 all those guys I was looking at could be gone.

[crimson_stallion]

I think one of Skal, Davis or Chriss ends up dropping.  I'd hope for an athletic big man at this pick.  If not maybe Korky or Luwawu.   Pretty good upside picks all of them.

All those guys have good upside, but I'd worry about Skal or Chriss on this team. Seem like guys that need to got to a non-playoff team in order to get minutes + develop. We haven't had a ton of success developing guys in Maine the last few years.

Mickey seemed like he developed pretty well in his minutes in Maine.  I think guys develop better in a winning atmosphere than being spoon fed minutes on a losing team.  Caveat being that different guys respond differently.

Looking at the mocks it looks like trying to move up into the 12-13 range would be a real benefit.  By 16 all those guys I was looking at could be gone.

I agree - I would definitely like to move up into the top 12-14 if we can.  If we can move into the top 10, then all the better.

It would be nice to get two lottery picks.  Firstly it gets us two quality prospects on long-term rookie contracts.  Secondly it avoids putting all the eggs in one basket, which is always good (so you can avoid Greg Oden / Brandon Roy / Joel Embiid / Andrew Bynum type scenarios)

[loco_91]

I think one of Skal, Davis or Chriss ends up dropping.  I'd hope for an athletic big man at this pick.  If not maybe Korky or Luwawu.   Pretty good upside picks all of them.

All those guys have good upside, but I'd worry about Skal or Chriss on this team. Seem like guys that need to got to a non-playoff team in order to get minutes + develop. We haven't had a ton of success developing guys in Maine the last few years.

Mickey seemed like he developed pretty well in his minutes in Maine.  I think guys develop better in a winning atmosphere than being spoon fed minutes on a losing team.  Caveat being that different guys respond differently.

Looking at the mocks it looks like trying to move up into the 12-13 range would be a real benefit.  By 16 all those guys I was looking at could be gone.

I'm not sure. I think 15mpg on a good team can be as valuable as 30mpg on a bad team, but 2mpg on a good team isn't really what you need if you're a guy like Skal who has so much to learn. He needs to get out on the court, make his mistakes, learn from them. Preferably in a situation where your error matters, i.e. not in garbage time and not on the 76ers. Problem with the D league is a lot of guys don't play defense, so they don't always make you pay for mistakes on offense, and when you miss a rotation on defense it's like "whatever".

[OHCeltic]

Valentine or Bentil

[nebist]

This would only make sense if we don't take a guard with the Nets pick, but I'm high on Malik Beasley as a player that looks like he's going to be a good player in the league.  He's got a lot of the athleticism and hops people like in Jaylen Brown, but he's also a strong shooter (not on the Murray/Hield level but was very productive and efficient).  I'd be happy with him at 16 or 23 depending on what else we do.

[crimson_stallion]

This would only make sense if we don't take a guard with the Nets pick, but I'm high on Malik Beasley as a player that looks like he's going to be a good player in the league.  He's got a lot of the athleticism and hops people like in Jaylen Brown, but he's also a strong shooter (not on the Murray/Hield level but was very productive and efficient).  I'd be happy with him at 16 or 23 depending on what else we do.

Likewise.

I think he could be a real surprise package, and even if he doesn't surprise he should (at the very least) carve out a solid career as an athletic, hard working kid who can shoot, rebound and get points in transition.

[ssspence]

Not sure, but I bet you Ainge takes one of Maker or Zizic before 23 passes.

[crimson_stallion]

Not sure, but I bet you Ainge takes one of Maker or Zizic before 23 passes.

My preference would be Zubac.  He could be a nice draft and stash, seems to have some nice potential.

[wiley]

Not sure, but I bet you Ainge takes one of Maker or Zizic before 23 passes.

My preference would be Zubac.  He could be a nice draft and stash, seems to have some nice potential.

Zubac is reported to be coming over so not stashable. 

[wiley]

Taurean Prince
6'8' with 7' wingspan SF that can SHOOT from three and also get to the hole.
His game takes a while to appreciate, but he's the kind of guy that is a more skilled Jae Crower but has a similar attitude whilst having a fantastic IQ.

 Looks pretty good at #16 unless someone that should have gone top 10 somehow drops.
Prince looks like the kind of guy who can come in and contribute right away but also improve even after 4 years in school.

I believe Prince will be a lock down NBA defender that can basically guard PG through small ball C. Versatile defensive ability is so important to Brad and Danny.

I'm with you on this guy.  Even more so if we needed Crowder to attain Cousins or some excellent big man.  But regardless he looks like great value.  If Korkmaz slipped to 16 I might balk and take Korkmaz...but doubt FK will drop that far. 

[mmmmm]

Thon Maker.  That's it.

This

Maker will probably be there in the 2nd round. Most teams don't like gambling on guys who aren't good at basketball, even though they do sometimes learn.

I'm curious, but why do you keep saying he "isn't good at basketball"?  On what are you basing that assertion?   Have you seen him play recently?  Did you scout any of his AI Prep games this season?  Or have you found video that is recent of him in games?   Have you seen him at one of his workouts?

The last, most comprehensive video I've seen of him is the City League Hoops video from the Nike Hoop Summit last year -- it at least is a lot more comprehensive and objective than the rather abbreviated and slanted one DraftExpress put together for the same event.   He certainly looked like he at least was decent at basketball in the CLH vid.  But even that is, of course, 9 month old data.   I expect he has changed somewhat since then, since most young players do.  But all I've found more recently are the random tweeted snippets of him in workouts.   No actual footage of him playing in real games.

His stats for this last season give the appearance that he was at least fairly dominant in his AI prep season, for whatever that is worth.

I'm asking legitimately.  I'm not going to assert that Maker is 'great at basketball' until I've seen more recent evidence.   But I don't see how one could assert flatly that he isn't any good without more recent evidence.

My take is that I'll leave it up to Danny and his staff to vet whether he is worth taking at any given pick that we have.   They will undoubtedly have access to a lot more information and will have the benefit of seeing him in a real workout.  However, I suspect that, given his physicals, if he has even one decent workout with any team, he will not make it past the middle of the first round.

If we don't take Bender with pick #3, I certainly hope Danny gives a lot of thought to picking either Skal or Maker or another long, 7 footer who can shoot and that has defensive potential with one of our other picks.   I'm sick of us being so much shorter than the other teams!

[crimson_stallion]

Not sure, but I bet you Ainge takes one of Maker or Zizic before 23 passes.

My preference would be Zubac.  He could be a nice draft and stash, seems to have some nice potential.

Zubac is reported to be coming over so not stashable.

Even better!