TheNorthCydeRises

We still have Dedmon, as of now. So he's the center.

LOL . . that too.

Incredible that Cleveland may get Michael Porter Jr.

LOL. Young will be alright. We just have to hope that Luka or JJJ isn't instant stars. If they are, no one should say a negative word to you ever again.

LOL @ everybody jumping off the deep end. 3 weeks from now, people will be saying that Trae Young will not only win Rooke of the Year, but will be 3rd team All-NBA, after he lights up Summer League. I got no problem with the pick. You go with the guy who could be the biggest star, not the safest player. Now, if only we can get our hands on Michael Porter Jr somehow . . .

I'm not mad at the Trae pick. If his talent translates to the next level, he'll be an instant hit in ATL. This also makes the rest of the draft a little more interesting, seeing that with Trae in the mix, Dennis may be squarely on the block ( although I wouldn't just give him away, if I didn't have to ). I would have no problem with Dennis and Trae at the point for a season.

It's definitely in play. Question now is . . what do the Bulls value? Young talent or proven players?

Supes rumor is in play now. Do the Bulls value the #7 pick, or do they want more solid players and extra talent?

You knew it was coming.

Bagley #2 . . . here we go.

Maria Taylor is a goddess. Just give the entire network to her.

I agree with this. The picks at 19 and 30 are going to be decent starters at best. Trade both of them to move up to #12, if he's sitting there.

Damn . . . Luka's mama is kinda fine.

I'm not as extreme as KB about "the tank", but what he says about tanking is more of the norm, and what everybody else wants to believe is more of the outlier. For every "Philadelphia", you have an "Orlando", "Sacramento", and "Phoenix". And even with Philly, they need to prove that they can do it again, for "the Process" to truly be a success. It is so important that we hit on that potential Hall of Fame talent in this draft. They don't need to get cute and try to acquire multiple picks, especially if both of those picks are 5 and lower. Just go out and get the person who they think can be a franchise piece for the next 7 - 9 years. As far as free agency goes, there are always lottery type players who didn't live up to expectations in their first 4 years, that tend to blossom as they reach their prime. Those are the types of players that the Hawks need to target in free agency, not the mega stars.

That's not true at all. A 48 win season at least gives you something to cheer about. I find in incredible that a fan base that has never won anything, all of a sudden has a "Championship or bust" mentality.

Luka Doncic = Joe Johnson Ya'll cool with that?

If it makes you happy, they just compared Luka Doncic to Joe Johnson. Almost the exact same measurements to a young JJ

Thabo was hurt though. They were actually decent when he first went out in January. ( 27 - 20 ). When he came back though, he wasn't right. Then he got hurt again.

I've seen this before somewhere . . . http://www.nbadraft.net/players/stephen-curry

The power of celebrity. Actually, it's the Rihanna effect. All of those kids dissing Nike, Under Armor and Adidas, to roll with Puma because, it's different. I saw this with Bagley and Ayton talking about Puma. Bagley just talks like a superstar talent. He needs to be a Hawk. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2781677-br-kicks-exclusive-deandre-ayton-and-marvin-bagley-iii-talk-signing-with-puma

His stats and efficiency indicate that he shouldn't be a role player. Maybe not a "go-to" player, but definitely not a "role player". If teams are better without Dwight, why did most of the teams he was on, go into tank mode almost immediately after he left? They cut out the "cancer", and still died of pneumonia, because that's what was really making them sick. Ya'll can have the last words about Dwight. It'll be interesting to see his effect on a young Brooklyn team. Will the improve, but still not make the playoffs? Or will they be a worse team?

I don't disagree with you often, but the numbers speak for themselves 20th in NBA efficiency https://stats.nba.com/leaders/?Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular Season&StatCategory=EFF 33rd in ESPN's rating http://www.espn.com/nba/seasonleaders/_/league/nba 2nd on the Hornets in "Simple Rating" behind Kemba http://www.82games.com/1718/1718CHA.HTM But once again, the narrative is that what Dwight gives a team doesn't contribute to winning. He plays his role exactly right, but others around him tend to suck. Baze did 2 seasons ago. Batum did last season with Charlotte. All Dwight did, was put up 16 pts - 12 rebs - 1.6 blocks . . . and people still act like he was a scrub that contributed little toward winning. At some point, people have to give the guy a fair shake. He's not the superstar he was, or maybe think he is in his mind. But he's still a very productive player for his role.

The narrative is funny on Dwight. He gets blasted for not being the superstar caliber player that he was 8 years ago, despite still being a top 50 player by just about every advanced metric used to measure players. As JayBird notes, the narrative is that the stats ( which is PER ) have no intrinsic value to winning . . . despite those exact stats being used to justify the value of every other player in this league. Could it possibly be that Dwight was playing with below average talent, despite Dwight doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing? That was the case in Atlanta. He was brought here, not to be a star player, but to be a guy who could serve as a defensive deterrent and dominate on the boards. The same goes for Charlotte, in which he arguably had a better year there, than he had here. Yet, his teammates supposedly hated him in Charlotte? Honestly, teammates hating you doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be a losing squad. People didn't like Kobe either, and his teams were successful. Dwight is not Kobe . . . but he isn't Mike Muscala either. I don't necessarily like the guy's personality. But he does exactly what he's supposed to do.

At least you see what is happening. 4 of the last 5 teams have done those "sloppy rebuilds" and I'm including us.