2020 Official Draft Thread

[All Eyes On Me 1,236]

Give me Devin Vassell and I’m a happy Magic fan

[CTMagicUK 1,526]

7 hours ago, Mauro Pedrosa said:

No idea what Pokusevski will become. I thought Rudy Gobert was going to be a bust. Similar body types so it could go anywhere

My whole thing with him is I'd rather spin the wheel of chance on Poku being a 7 footer who can handle, pass and shoot off movement (a quite frankly absurd combination of skills for a 7 footer) than pick someone safe like Saddiq Bey or Aaron Nesmith who are probably just rotational wing players.

If we're going to build from mediocrity you've got to find ways to get massive team improvement from middling situations. Look at the Raptors, they missed on Bruno Caboclo but at least they tried to hit a home run. And if you keep swinging you're going to hit one like a Siakam.

Same with Denver, they consistently swing on high upside guys like Emmanuel Mudiay, Bol Bol and MPJ. 

I don't think we will draft Poku but I'd be over the moon if we did. He might never be an NBA player but there's a non zero chance that he's a legitimate game breaker also and that's worth punting on at 15. He can bust and it'd still be a worthwhile pick in my opinion. 

(The counterpoint here would be that you can draft a safe draft pick who plays well as a rookie, retains his value and then take high upside swings with trades instead but I just think those trade opportunities are so much more rare)

[MagicMoses 23]

12 hours ago, Mauro Pedrosa said:

No idea what Pokusevski will become. I thought Rudy Gobert was going to be a bust. Similar body types so it could go anywhere

I quite like the idea of him and at #15 and I think at that range it’s worth a punt

[Jason Funderburker 117]

Personally I’d rather draft someone who will at some point in their career actually contribute to the team, but that’s just me

[Soul Bro 1,455]

13 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

My whole thing with him is I'd rather spin the wheel of chance on Poku being a 7 footer who can handle, pass and shoot off movement (a quite frankly absurd combination of skills for a 7 footer) than pick someone safe like Saddiq Bey or Aaron Nesmith who are probably just rotational wing players.

If we're going to build from mediocrity you've got to find ways to get massive team improvement from middling situations. Look at the Raptors, they missed on Bruno Caboclo but at least they tried to hit a home run. And if you keep swinging you're going to hit one like a Siakam.

Same with Denver, they consistently swing on high upside guys like Emmanuel Mudiay, Bol Bol and MPJ. 

I don't think we will draft Poku but I'd be over the moon if we did. He might never be an NBA player but there's a non zero chance that he's a legitimate game breaker also and that's worth punting on at 15. He can bust and it'd still be a worthwhile pick in my opinion. 

(The counterpoint here would be that you can draft a safe draft pick who plays well as a rookie, retains his value and then take high upside swings with trades instead but I just think those trade opportunities are so much more rare)

Many said the same thing about Herro last year. I’m ready to actually have guys who can shoot the rock.

[CTMagicUK 1,526]

37 minutes ago, Soul Bro said:

Many said the same thing about Herro last year. I’m ready to actually have guys who can shoot the rock.

Many said what about Herro last year? 

[Jason Funderburker 117]

2 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

Many said what about Herro last year? 

Rotational wing player

[TheNameIsOrlando 310]

3 hours ago, Jason Funderburker said:

Rotational wing player

Is that not what he is though?

[Soul Bro 1,455]

52 minutes ago, TheNameIsOrlando said:

Is that not what he is though?

Outside of Issac, Herro arguably looks better than any player on our roster in terms of upside. At some point, we need to start drafting players with actual skills and not just measurements.

[Soul Bro 1,455]

6 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

Many said what about Herro last year? 

Undersized white dude who can only shoot and is destined to be a rotational bench guy. Meanwhile, we draft guys like Bamba who have the “high ceiling” or “all-star potential” and watch them fizzle. I’ve been in your camp for a long time only to see us pass up guys like SGA, etc. If we are to become truly relevant, we have got to improve our player evaluation and development like the Heat.

[TheNameIsOrlando 310]

2 hours ago, Soul Bro said:

Outside of Issac, Herro arguably looks better than any player on our roster in terms of upside. At some point, we need to start drafting players with actual skills and not just measurements.

I agree. I just don't agree that Herro is more than a rotational wing player. That's exactly what he looks like. 

[CTMagicUK 1,526]

4 hours ago, Soul Bro said:

Outside of Issac, Herro arguably looks better than any player on our roster in terms of upside. At some point, we need to start drafting players with actual skills and not just measurements.

The prospects I'm talking about have skills. I could understand your reticence if I was out here advocating for a guy with no jumper who couldn't pass or handle the ball but I'm not. (In fact it's precisely because he can do all of those things and also has the mobility of a wing but is the size of a 7 footer that I think he's got a chance to be a star) And to be clear Bamba has skills also. He's a good 3 point shooter for a 7 footer and he's a great rim protector. Whether you believe Bamba is a bust or not I don't understand why you wouldn't think that combination of skill is worth betting on? 

4 hours ago, Soul Bro said:

Undersized white dude who can only shoot and is destined to be a rotational bench guy. Meanwhile, we draft guys like Bamba who have the “high ceiling” or “all-star potential” and watch them fizzle. I’ve been in your camp for a long time only to see us pass up guys like SGA, etc. If we are to become truly relevant, we have got to improve our player evaluation and development like the Heat.

On Tyler Herro. I really don't think anything has happened to suggest he's going to be a star. He was probably the worst player in the NBA finals and wouldn't have played nearly as much if Dragic had been healthy. He had a couple big playoff games, but Bobbie Gibson once scored 31 points as a rookie in the ECF and he didn't go on to stardom. The NBA has seen a bunch of guys who were labeled as a future star off a few games or a good rookie year and never got there. Brandon Knights rookie year is incredibly similar to Herro's stat wise. 

I really don't think SGA is the dunk you think it is there. SGA was an incredibly high upside prospect in my opinion considering his length, handle and finishing ability. He was never to my knowledge labeled as "probably just a rotation player". And 4 other teams passed on him after us also. 

We're also talking about the same front office who drafted Chuma Okeke an incredibly skilled player. 

I think people on this sub look at our drafting over the whole rebuild rather than just Weltman and Hammond who don't have nearly a large enough sample size to judge from considering one of their draft picks was great, one is a third year player who's shown flashes but has had interruptions (although I guess that's not a commonly held opinion) and one hasn't played yet.