magicblue

Playoff experience > late lottery pick in the 2015 draft

Lol, this isn't sour grapes Trey. I disliked these things about Dwight (constant whining to the refs, deflecting responsibility for losses, throwing teammates under the bus, etc.) long before he left. If Dwight wins two rings in the next three years your point will be made and I will be eating crow I suppose. Don't see that happening though.

I don't either, Hakeem is a better comparison.

That's hardly a defense, and I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to, but regardless Dwight doesn't have the basketball skills or IQ for the game to make up for all his other shortcomings. For example, Lebron seems so add something to his game each season, has a tremendous basketball IQ, and is a student of the game. Dwight, for lack of better terms, is a basketball moron and his game has not evolved one bit in 6 or 7 years. What you see in Dwight's game now, aside from being a less dominant defender, is exactly what he was doing his third and fourth year in the league. Same can't be said about Lebron and I'm no Lebron fan. Oh and then there's the two rings and three straight final appearances.

Good example and very well said. I agree wholeheartedly

Including a bank in, but by then the damage was already done. He bricked 6 in a row with Houston up 10 which allowed Portland back in the game, but him missing FT's didn't allow them to win, at least according to Dwight anyways, because then it would be, you know, his fault.

Howard and leadership do not belong in the same sentence unless the word "lacks" is somewhere in between. The guy doesn't get it and never will, it's just not in his DNA.

So bad they had to pull him until the 2:00 minute mark

Everyone does with the back issue. If he's medically cleared he's got to be given consideration though.

My heavy favorites with our first pick are Wiggins and Exum (I think these are Henny's favs as well). I think Parker is very one dimensional and would rather trade back to take Exum or just select him outright if Wiggins is off the board. If we wind up with Embiid then I like Young with our second pick, assuming we stay in the #12 slot.

LOL!

I'd be happy with Exum/Payne, but if we wind up with Smart we probably "landed" the 6th pick in the draft and that would be a disappointment. Can't wait to see how aggressive Henny is with the 2nd pick and all the young players (or Afflalo) that we could potentially package to move up. I also think Capela is a Henny kind of guy (see Ibaka), so I would not be surprised at all if he rolled the dice with him. I almost blindly trust whatever Hennigan does so I'm trying not to fall in love with any one player at the moment.

Who's Kevin Pelton? Oladipo was certainly the bigger impact player this year and there's as good a chance that Noel injures himself again (I mean the guy is absolutely rail thin) and never fulfills his potential as there is that he does. Those aren't very good odds with the #2 pick in any draft.

We're not. Three teams could jump over the 1,2, & 3 teams which in a worst case scenario would leave us at 6.

So I played the draft lottery on ESPN.com (we picked 2nd-Exum) and noticed it (and other draft sites) already show us at the #12 spot with a .7% chance of winning the lottery from that position. My question is, do we already own that spot and have the opportunity to move up, or would we forfeit the pick and wind up with Denver's #11 pick if we lucked into the top 3? It's a pretty huge difference although statistically still highly improbable.

I agree and will add that as long as we're competing for championships, why would he want to leave (not to mention who knows if LA will even be in a position cap-wise to make a run at him 4 years from now)? No state income tax, beautiful weather, and hopefully a tight bond with the 4-5 players on this team who are about his age hopefully will be part of that decision making process when the time comes. In the meantime, we can't pass on the guy because he's 18 and a Lakers/Kobe fan, that would be insane.

Technically, we still could draft as low as sixth (worst case) but statistically speaking we "should" find our way into the top 5.

Kobe, really? Melo, not in playoffs. So three guys on the top three teams run the NBA. I'll buy that, but again no centers outside of Hibbert who no one is confusing for a generational type center. That's my point.

More importantly there's no reason to overpay for C's these days when there's hardly a single dominant one. Just find a serviceable guy to defend and rebound and be done with it. I'm not nearly as concerned with the Howards, Hibberts, and Gasols of the NBA these days as I am the Pauls, Lillards, and Currys. Guards rule, centers drool

It's true, he is one of the 5-8 best centers in the league...which places him firmly in the top 75-100 players in the league.

F' it, for karmas sake lets win and let the cards fall where they may. Or lose and complete the tank, I'm really open to any outcome. Just let it end!

I think we should draft the best potential bench player available, regardless of position, with our second first rounder so we will have a strategic advantage over 66.7% of teams in the league.

Lol! Why you bringing up old stuff? In case you missed it Murphy and I are now in couples therapy, sharing dreams and candle lit dinners with the TV off in the 'bold draft predictions' thread.

Ha, we finally agree on something!

I hear you. Without making excuses, I do believe that some of Minnesota's issues have to do with the supporting cast and injuries, but your point is well taken. That said, I think Kevin Love would be the perfect stretch 4 to play next to Embiid and open things up for Dipo's and Wiggins (in this imaginary scenario that will never happen).