crisby pancakes

Ye old signature king returns. Welcome back!

Honestly, most of the all in one metrics aren't great. PER is probably the worst of the lot these days and RPM isn't the best either but obviously NBA teams have their own custom systems that they keep secret so all we get to look at is the data that's publicly available. I mean you look at the rookie discussions going on where some people say Kessler is better than Banchero. Advanced metrics will show he is but the reality is he isn't. Banchero is the much better player and that's because these advanced metrics don't take context into account. Banchero plays bigger minutes, plays against starters, is the focal point of the team and is also the focal point of the opposing team. Kessler plays less minutes, plays more minutes against non starters, has a lesser role within his team and the opposing team isn't focusing their game plan against him. In short, I would say don't get too hung up over advanced stats, for me, the eye test is always better. We know Banchero is better than Mo Wagner despite advanced analytics saying otherwise. In terms of advanced stats, I prefer EPM personally. https://dunksandthrees.com/epm But that has Franz, WCJ and Mo ranked 1, 2, and 4 out of Magic players so maybe it's something afterall lol. Darko DPM is meant to be pretty good as well https://apanalytics.shinyapps.io/DARKO// I'll admit that one always confuses me slightly. Overall though, when you look at most of the differing advanced metric systems Franz is generally very highly rated across them all and in some pretty good vet company, not bad going for a 2nd year player and definitely a player the organisation will build around. Lets hope we manage to strike gold in the draft this year!

Yep, last few plays he had reverted back to type. Bringing the starters back in was the right decision. Hope we close it out now.

Well this has been a fun game to watch so far.

Dang Cole cant miss atm

Harris deal is not guaranteed for the second year. That is a very good deal, with it being slightly above the MLE it's clear that he deffo had MLE offers. Maintains full flexibility for cap space or trade if need arises. Now wondering if Bambas is the same.

Yeah thats a pretty good core if they do get Ayton.

Seems that the players had no clue either. Jabari looked pretty upset not going 1.

Was expected, news over the last 48 hrs was Sac was in love with Murray

Yep rumour mill atm is Sac is very high on Murray at 4, would mean Ivey would most likely go at 5 to Detroit. Question is if any of the top 3 go outside the consensus and don't pick one of Jabari/Chet/Banch.

Can't figure out how to attach my posts from 2018 but these were my main takes from back then. "Aside from Doncic who I think is by far and away the best player in this years draft." (2018 post) Doncic was clearly the best player by a mile in the 2018 draft, teams messed up by basing it on the fact he played in Europe despite what he was doing at that age was unprecedented in that league. I even said at some other point it was laughable that Ayton was considered better than him as he was clearly so much better than everyone else. Those execs deserve to be gone with it being so clear to average fans like myself just how good Doncic was. Another post of mine from 2018 - "I've had to stop watching the video below as it makes me become irrational and want him at 6 lol" I really felt Doncic and SGA could be very special players pre draft. This draft I dont see anyone that has that potential. And yes, most likely I'll be wrong and one or two will probably end up amazing ( I also didnt see Trae Young being as good as he is in 2018 and talked myself into Bamba when it became likely that he would be available when we picked despite not being remotely interested in him prior to that! so there was still lots I predicted wrong. But right now its getting close to the draft and these top 3 guys in particular are getting overhyped, which is the media and their agents/representatives jobs to do with the draft just around the corner, it's fine and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just clear you really really like Chet. And again, that's fine, for what it's worth I think he's the best player in this draft but he still has a number of clear flaws and issues (just like Banchero and Jabari) and I personally don't think he will be some transending top ten player in this league. So yes, if the FO think Ivey is the best player in this draft, they should absolutely trade down and gain additional assets. If they think Chet, Banch or Jabari are the best then just stay where you are and pick one of them. The beauty of having the number 1 pick is that we get to work out absolutely anyone we want so all I want is the FO to use that information wisely and correctly draft the player that turns out to be the best player of this draft, that's all you can ask for. I hope I'm wrong and we draft a player that completely changes around this clubs fortunes and is amazing. I just don't see that player in this draft right now.

I feel nothing but sadness for this draft when I should be hyped to the max after we finally get a no 1 pick. I don't see a single player that is remotely close to being a top ten player/superstar/gamechanger. I just think this is a really bad draft. Now there will be a few players like there always is that steps up and makes it to an all star game or two and everyone will go how did we not see it but I don't see anything more than that. The only blessing with having the no 1 pick is that we get to look at anyone we want so hopefully that leads to the FO being able to make an informed decision to get the best player out of this draft. Whomever that is ( don't care who as I'm so meh on everyone) I'll support, pray I'm wrong about this draft and hope they become amazing. If they feel that player is further down then I hope they find a way to move down and obtain additional assets. But yeah I'm just feeling very disinterested. Very much a sad panda right now.

Yep, we have a lack of talent all over. You take the best player available and figure out who is worth keeping and who isn't once the fo are ready to stop aiming for lottery picks.

I don't envisage us being any good next season, the team will be super young still. I think the FO will commit to another tank year, that will put it at 3 seasons of tanking and enough assets to decide who they want to keep and who they want to trade for vets to start doing what Cleveland have done, we'll also be able to make a decision on Fultz at the end of next season with his contract for 2023/24 only partially guaranteed. We've seen what happens when you try to take shortcuts on a rebuild already (treadmill 8 seed, thanks Hennigan.) They need to commit fully to this rebuild and look at the 2023/24 season as the one where they look to get back into the playoff mix. As depressing as it sounds we probably have another year of losing a lot. Might finally get a correct season win loss prediction if we lose these last two games though lol.

Sigh, Isaac has had surgery on his hamstring. Yet another setback in this never ending saga.