Jungle Jack

5 hours ago, Buzzard said:

I did find the hype on Doncic a bit overwhelming. Dirk will be 5th in scoring all time once this season is over. They may as well have been calling him the next Oscar Robertson ( 9th in scoring, 6th in assist ). If Doncic can be as good as Porzingis in his first year; that will be a huge success for him.

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.

14 hours ago, deester11 said:

I think we all have to give Trae a chance but he compared himself to Nash, not Paul or Stephen.  He looked up to Nash..  I'll take that and then some.  The more he's doubted, the more chip on his shoulders I hope he has.  I get more excited about him knowing that he is being doubted.  Is it Summer league yet?

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.

11 hours ago, AHF said:

Other shortish PGs:

Kyle Lowry (2 inches shorter)

Kyrie Irving (1 inch taller)

George Hill (1 inch taller)

Goran Dragic (1 inch taller)

Eric Bledsoe (1 inch shorter)

Kemba Walker (1 inch shorter)

Damian Lillard (1 inch taller)

Russell Westbrook (1 inch taller)

Rajon Rondo (1 inch shorter)

Tony Parker (same)

Jeff Teague (same)

Isaiah Thomas (5 inches shorter)

Last year's lottery picks Fox & Smith (1 inch taller)

 

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?

36 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

It is wrong and would be just as wrong for me to get on a European Football Forum and profess to know more about talent than the people who grew up playing and following the game since they could almost walk.

Until you actually see a player as big as Dominique Wilkins, LeBron James, or Ben Simmons fly across the court, you really have no idea the types of athletes that play basketball over here. Just as I have no idea about the types of great athletes that fly across the soccer field over in Europe,

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.  

10 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

I hope Rayford (who names their child “Rayford” past the 70s?) is good early so he can assume a nickname.  Ray Trey, Trey Trey, Ray Ray, whatever.

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.

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.

Just now, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Damn . .  I ran out of likes.

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

3 minutes ago, Cwell said:

how. Luka would never in a million years be an NBA Superstar. He probably won't even be a legit starter down the line.  Trae can be really good or really bad. I'd take that chance over wasting a top 5 pick on solid at best

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.

10 minutes ago, Plainview1981 said:

Isn't he the player with the hot mom?

Yep.  Very pretty lady.

Can we replace "monster" for "crackhead" on the thread title?

Tanking makes a great deal of sense.  Especially if you are not a franchise in NY or LA where it will either take paying the most (seldom changes things) and or complimentary pieces/coaching that are worthwhile.  Simply, should an actual All NBA player be available at 3, the chances of him wanting to come here at 27 or whenever the post rookie contract ends has traditionally been slim.

Joe might be the best FA we got in at least a decade.

The biggest issue to me is what it does to all these 1st and 2nd year players when losing is to be expected.  Worse, Bud made it at least look like we might be the best 2x win team out there last year and of course met with the Greek's approval to be the Bucks HC.

While I remain optimistic about our new coach, lord only knows what kind of coach he will turn out to be.

16 minutes ago, noble said:

Just heard a rumor coming out, we pick Doncic, Dallas takes Young. We trade Doncic and Baze for Young. If that happens I may throw my computer against the wall.

Delete this rancid thought!  The Young to ATL thing makes a great deal of sense, but I honestly think if we get him it will be moving up and not down.  While Baze's contract is not the best, it is damn sure far from the worst and I don't think we will need to surrender much to move him.

I think the Kings problem with Doncic is not them wanting to take him and more that he really does not want to go there.  As a player with a huge European following, it only stands to reason that his agents, et al, will want him playing in EST.  Add in 12 or however many years of the Kings not even making it into the playoffs as opposed to the Hawks just ending a 10 year playoff run and....

While I have heard a number of players flat out refusing to interview or even share medicals with both Sac and Memphis,  there has not been one report of that happening with us.

4 minutes ago, GThawks3 said:

Well when you go to the playoffs 10 straight years and don’t win a game past the 2nd round something got to change. 

I hope we tank for 2 more years. All comes down to picking the right guys in the draft. 

Weren't we in the ECF?

5 minutes ago, GThawks3 said:

Losing in the first round isn’t winning. Still don’t understand why don’t get that. 

With as many teams that are purposely sucking as there are, I would damn sure want to be competitive as opposed to purposely losing considering what it risks to the players.

I get the whole better to compete for rings than go out in the first round and have a craptastic draft pick.  Regardless, we are deep in the tank and the hope for me now is to dig out ASAP.