Justin Jaudon

I'd rather not have either one, honestly. Can't run an offense if you can't shoot FT or 3's. And Payton's also a terrible defender who is always out of position on team D and doesn't fight through screens. I haven't seen enough of Lonzo to say if he's similar, but I doubt he's as bad defensively as Payton. But, yes, Payton seems to be better offensively, in terms of shooting %.

Yes, he's also bad at defense.

Payton sucked at defense, too.

I get why people like Ball. But I don't want another terrible FT shooting PG who can't shoot a jumper either. Too easy to take everything away from him in the half court. He doesn't shoot well enough from three to warrant a close guarding position. He won't attack because he's afraid of going to the line. I'm sure his defense and passing are nice, but PGs like him ruin your spacing. We don't have the elite iso scorers or top-level PnR game to make up for his deficiencies.

More importantly, good PGs play hard. I think you misunderstand people if you think they don't like Payton because he didn't develop fast enough, wasn't 'plug and play,' or whatever. People dislike Payton as a player because 4 years into his career, he still didn't fight through screens or focus enough to be where he was supposed to be on Defense. People dislike Payton in the context of the narrative of this rebuild because he was clearly a major reason the FO traded Oladipo. People dislike Payton because after 4 years, 3.5 of Orlando betting on his development, it's pretty clear he's exactly what I said he'd be 50 games into year 2: a flawed, inconsistent player in accuracy, effort, and focus, whose going to make some playoff team a really solid backup one day. He's not a starter on a good team. He has too many flaws for that, and flaws that are exacerbated by low energy.

His assist % is terrible. His TO % is terrible. What makes you think he could possibly be a PG?

1. To eliminate the soft cap you'd have to stop guaranteeing contracts. 2. I actually think letting high-schoolers in could help with tanking. My reasoning is this: it must affect the math of tanking to have top level talent with less tape against quality opponents. Look how often guys are one or two coming out of high school but fall off. Shabazz Muhammad comes to mind. He might have been a top 5 pick, even with added scrutiny from pre-draft stuff, without seeing him at UCLA. It will add a lot of bust potential players, which might make tanking less of a safe bet. Of course, it could just make teams tank even longer. Hard to say. 3. The NBA needs to leave transactions alone more than they already do. I actually think it hurts teams the controls the NBA already puts on draft trading. Those GMs for Boston and Atlanta worked really hard to get those picks, and they deserve them. 4. I don't know what the new lottery will do. It may encourage more teams to tank; I just don't know.

I like Bamba fine. But what the hell would be the problem with Wendell Carter Jr.?

Would anyone here do Fultz for Simmons and a top 5 protected first? Just throwing things out there.

If it means we get Tyreke, would it be worth it to do something like Vuc for Dwight Powell or Meyers Leonard? We won't have any real money until 2020 anyway because of Evan and Biz.

I was just thinking that. If we COULD get Tyreke... That's just too perfect.

Early understanding after some research and such (and tell me if I'm way off): If he can put on some weight over the next few seasons, I see him in a Myles Turner mold offensively. A guy who's solid from a lot of places on the floor, but doesn't dominate anywhere. Defensively, I could see him in the AD range, honestly, if he can defend on the perimeter at all. If not, more Rudy Gobert, I guess. That's, um, a ridiculous couple of comparisons. Am I way off on his defensive potential?

It's funny how my evaluation of Bamba has mirrored Aaron from '14. I looked at Aaron's stats, watched him at Arizona, and assumed he was just a dunker and defensive stopper. Then we picked him, I actually researched him, and I realized he could handle a bit, pass a bit, and even possibly develop a solid jumper. Same thing happened this year. I looked at the stats. Finishes well, blocks a lot of shots...okay I don't really want Clint Capela. Now that we've drafted him I see the areas he can grow. What I guess we need to know now is can he be a worker. I heard somewhere (don't remember where) that Bamba may have commitment issues, like WCS. Gordon has improved so much offensively because he works his ass off by all accounts. Is Bamba going to be that guy?

Doesn't seem to foul much on D either. That's a good indicator of upside considering how effective he was on D.

Starting to like this Bamba kid more. Like Gordon back in the day, I didn't like my first glance at him, so I didn't research as much as I should have. I thought we were looking at a Clint Capela type, or maybe a better shot-blocking WCS without the lateral footwork. Not a bad pick at 6, but I didn't understand the hype. Watching some videos, he seems to have really good touch around the basket. If he develops some post moves... hmm.

So, with Bamba, how is his perimeter D? My worry with him is he looks fast running the floor but not quick side-to-side. I could be wrong. Will he have to come out if teams small-ball us at the end of games?

Okay, so... We got Bamba. I haven't been as high on him as everyone else. I need to do some more research, now. How much of an offense can this guy have? And don't tell me he's shooting 3s in the gym; so was WCS. I guess I'm just hoping this guy isn't another Thon Maker or Lucas Nogueira. He wasn't unproductive offensively as a rookie. I need to do more research, really. We'll see how excited I am after spending some more time on that.

? Are you 10 years old?

Riverview FLA, in the theater, the previes starting in 15 minutes

I wouldn't either. I just know that a lot of people aren't as high on him as I am (or, well, they're a lot higher on JJJ and Bamba than I am).

That makes sense. 4 is a reach for Carter, maybe, to some people; but he works for Memphis.

Real thought: Who the hell is Memphis getting if Doncic goes 3 (which is probably going to happen, one way or another)? Bamba and JJJ have basically already said they don't want to play there. Could they go Trae and ***** this whole Doncic trade up?

Vuc/Bazemore money works. Is Vuc more valuable to Atlanta than Matthews? They would pay less money than they would for Matthews. Interesting...

Trading Dipo is not going to be easy to get over (as far as sports bungles go, anyway). I know it isn't for me, anyway. We had him. We had our All-Star. Damnit, man! Stop bringing down the board!

We can beat that, right? Damnit, Matthews is expiring! #6, Evan, and OKC pick? I don't think that's too much. Can Vuc/Bazemore work?