Jungle Jack

Very well said. That said, the early reports on our new coach and staff are quite encouraging and that makes a profound difference along with opportunity in regards to player development. I like I would hope all of us want Trae to set the league aflame. Ditto for Huerter and Spellman. Of all the things about the Philly model I can stomach it is having multiple first rounders. Especially in our recent draft such that there was nothing really approximating a consensus first overall.

For sure. Especially as Luka is not crazy tall like Porzingis. That said, he well might be significantly more durable as seldom few 7 footers don't deal with foot issues and many others.

Certainly seems plausible that Porter could be in play. If we were willing to trade Doncic, who according to hype will be beyond the greatest Euro ever and well might be the true heir to LBJ/MJ, why wouldn't Denver trade him?

Holy crap. While Ayton was whom I was jonesing for us to get, I still would have been darn happy to have Doncic. A fella who is 6'8 and can pass like that seems a much safer choice. Even Schlenk seemingly was quite enamored of Luka as his comments yesterday underscored. It can be argued that his comments are hedging his bets for the future, but.... While I have faith that Young will be a good player, the idea of moving from 3 for a top 5 protected 2019 pick is a tough pill to swallow. Especially as even Miami's pick is utterly unprotected and Doncic remains thought by many to be the best prospect period. I have a nauseous feeling that our Draft soothsayer will likewise be right about JJJ. Maybe that will allow us to move on from the Marvin trauma.

I truly do agree and likewise said as much. What I don't get is the inverse of concerns as though it is a fait accompli that he will a star so soon. Furthermore, while I have few doubts about what he can provide offensively, his defense concerns me and likewise the level of expectations for a 19 YO. Especially one that while certainly on the radar last year, I doubt many projected him to go top 5 and would think more would guess he would be at Oklahoma for an additional year.

Props and excellent Photoshop-Fu.

Good points all. That said, in terms of what brought about the comment is the comparisons and Schlenk's latest comments to Cunningham where he compared Trae to Paul, seems to be that Trae will be Steph or CP. Poor bastard. There are not many on the list above that I would not be stoked to see him approximate. Hard not to sympathize about Isaiah as his decision to continue playing for the C's cost him stupid money and underscored how transient players truly are. Also, especially when discussing shorter players, just how devastating injuries truly are as the margin for error is so small.

Having serious concerns about a 6 footer in the NBA seems prudent when the best case scenario bandied about are generational prospects ala Paul, Curry (slightly taller), and Nash. Worst, even the all mighty Warriors went down to the wire with Houston and had Paul not been injured, lord only knows. And there all the switching brought serious questions about Steph. While Durant gets mad grief for going to GS, I don't know many who believe the Warriors would have won the WCF without him.

I am cautiously optimistic that Dennis and his advisors might be realizing that to salvage his repuation (and future contracts) in the NBA he might need a bit of a reboot. How many 24 year old PG's with a legitimate amount of playoff experience and who has seen quite the investment by the prior admin seemingly become untradable short of career threatening injury? While it seems quite likely and even probable that we could trade Dennis for Deng or pick your fave albatross contract, but holy crap would this be absurd. I am not entirely sure what happened in respect to Dennis saying what he did to the German media. That is was this narrative driven by his agents or was this simply a 24 year old that was despondent that his HC was gone and that the team that had only known relative success became the worst team in the East?

Great post. That thought was all I could think about when watching the highlight package immediately after Luka was drafted. While I know intellectually that Doncic played legitimate competition that comprised of a number of NBA draft picks, without him having the additional 3-4 inches that Porzingis (more 7 inches there) and Dirk have when factoring in not having elite athleticism.

I would be ok with giving Jahlil a shot which is something he really never had during the shiteshow that was his 76ers tenure. He is still only 22. Kinda strange how Philly making it to the Eastern Semifinals has seemingly validated all manner of wasted lottery pick (Okafor, Carter-Williams, Efrid, and possibly Fultz. While Embiid is quite entertaining and better still funny, his injury concerns remain as does Simmons reticence to seemingly shoot the ball. My goodness if Simmons develops his shot....

While the pic is swell, is it just me or is it somewhat ironic to speak of her "obsessive dog parenting" in a shot that the dog is hardly in the frame? Kinda a humblebrag.

If memory serves it is a faux aristocratic homage to being the third after his grandfather and father to play PG in college. While Rayford might be a tough handle, Ray Young would have gotten the job done and I cannot think of many other athletes with that name as I type this.

The reference to Wiggins and Bennett was in respect to them being from North of the 49th (Canada) is it not? I am more scared about the fella from UNC being the highest pick from UNC since Marvin.

While hard not to see the glass half empty when talking about any of the Atlanta franchises, considering we are only now entering the second year in a purposeful goal of literally trotting out a team with the implicit goal of losing in the name of draft picks. Collins seems primed to make the second year leap forward and Prince's future seems quite bright so there's that. Baze should he remain is a nice player. Trae would need to play at a ROY and perhaps All Star level to get them into the 7th or 8th seed. That said, I am not sure whether or not a paper cut might cause Collins, Prince, and or Young to be placed on the injured list for the rest of the season.

Considering how long Travis spent there, I am not sure not sure the comparison works. While I know he dines on the Draymond pick, I am not positive about his involvement in the rest of their roster. The NBA like all leagues is a copycat league and I suppose if we are going to build a team in ones image, better it be a dynasty like the Warriors than the somewhat aberrant Pistons.

So does that make our 19th pick a "token" white guy? I cannot honestly believe so many think race was the issue. I also am not entirely sure how much marketing drove the decision at 5 as had we stayed at 3 we would have had a huge number of Europeans that would be following us. In addition, every day after grade would have been through the roof. Ultimately, I reckon Schlenk/Ressler were sold on Trae. While many of us are not too excited this morning, I damn sure am not looking at bloody letter grades about players that even at 1 have roughly under a 20% shot of even being an All Star.

Ultimately I am agnostic about Young and if Sacramento had taken Doncic I would be far more positive about what happened in respect to trading down. It should be pretty entertaining to watch Trae and his shooting percentage should go up owing to his usage being expected to be way down. Regardless, he had one of the best freshmen seasons ever and to do that at PG is astonishing. Moreover, at the end of the day we took on no onerous contracts last night and still added another first for 2019. Dennis has moved way past being a known unknown and by most statistical analysis is pretty much a league average PG. That said, the talent is there and he is still only 24. Moreover, at the end of the day we took on no onerous contracts last night and still added another first for 2019. More than anything, I just hope we do not take on an albatross of a contract to get rid of him. Doubly so for Kent.

True. That said, most of the high scorers tend to be upperclassmen whose ceiling is considered low. A frosh who averaged that many points and dimes while still keeping eligibility for a Pygmy basketball team?

How are we not moving up seeing as Porter is free falling? If he is there at 12, I hope to God that we work out something with the Clips for their 2nd of their back to backs. If nothing else, it would greatly assuage how craptastic this whole thing feels right now.

And that was before the trade was announced! Trying to stay positive, but....

Watching his highlight reel that was shown immediately after the pick does make one question just that. Even Ayton who I utterly wanted the most has a quite low chance of being an All Star according to analysts.

Ha! He does have a bit of Acie to him. While I have been resigned to us ending up with Young for some time, I damn sure did not think it would be at the cost of Doncic. What Trae did last year was truly staggering. His TO's are beyond concerning, but he is right that in the NBA it will be more difficult to gameplan him the way teams did OK as the year went on. Still too short (about 2 inches shorter than Steph) and I wonder how he will be received by some Atlanta fans being kinda a rich kid already and how polarizing he is.

Anyone watching NBA TV? They are literally laughing about why the Hawks would take Young at 5. Even for the biggest Trae fan, it is exceedingly unlikely anyone else would have taken him at 5.

Damn. There goes JJJ (not that it wasn't well telegraphed) and now we have a 5"8 PG.