2021 NBA Draft Thread

[crisby pancakes 126]

21 minutes ago, Soul Bro said:

We better use it and nail it. We can’t waste assets anymore. In 2018, Brunson was picked at 33, Graham at 34 and Mitchell Robinson at 36. Meanwhile, we picked Frazier at 35. Management has to build a better roster.

Talked about our salary for next year in the main season thread but should have probably gone in this thread. Our salary for 10 players will be 120,161,447 next season and we will have to add a lottery pick to that as well. 4th pick will get around 5,890,300 so puts us at 126 million and 4 roster spots still to fill. I think they will have to keep the 2nd round pick just to save on costs. They cant afford the last spots all on vets.

[harley 61]

Moody looks great too. I’d be hoping to get top 7 in the draft. Add Bouknight and Moody on top of top5

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

I really, really like Franz Wagner. Incredible defensive player, super intelligent, can shoot it, great passer. I'd be so happy to get into a position to pick him up with a second first rounder. (Which tbf would need to be a late lottery pick I imagine)

EDIT: Can we turn our 2nd rounder, Aminu, Birch and Fournier into enough draft capital for like the 11th pick? Almost certainly not but I'm going to hope anyway.

 

[fan for too long 2 530]

18 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

I really, really like Franz Wagner. Incredible defensive player, super intelligent, can shoot it, great passer. I'd be so happy to get into a position to pick him up with a second first rounder. (Which tbf would need to be a late lottery pick I imagine)

EDIT: Can we turn our 2nd rounder, Aminu, Birch and Fournier into enough draft capital for like the 11th pick? Almost certainly not but I'm going to hope anyway.

 

You mean the guy who just went 1 for 9 against my Illini. Hahahahaha No Thanks 

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

4 hours ago, fan for too long 2 said:

You mean the guy who just went 1 for 9 against my Illini. Hahahahaha No Thanks 

Right because as we all know one game is indicative of someone's entire career. 

[New Guy 11]

Orlando’s remaining schedule is absolutely brutal. Minnesota being so bad makes no sense at all, given their individual talent level. I wouldn’t be surprised if they start winning enough to get out of the basement...Detroit and Cleveland seem like the two obvious threats for the top pick. OKC has SGA but they’re a weak squad, Kings probably have too much talent to finish with a worse record than Orlando, and the same can be said about the dumpster fire that is Houston.

 

anything outside of the top 5, would be a disappointment in my eyes for Orlando. And Orlando really needs to come away with one of these elite level prospects...and I’m hoping for either Cunningham, Green, or Kuminga. I’ll be pretty livid if Orlando picks 6 again and misses out on the top tier talent there. Things get a little hazy after the top 5 guys. 

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

Rough show from Jalen Green last night. 0-7 from 3, 6TOs and a game low -28. 

Meanwhile Cade had 24 and 7 with 4/8 from 3 against the second best team in college basketball. 

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

Also I have no idea what's going on with Ziaire Williams. At the start of the year he looked genuinely awesome but his stats are atrocious. He still seems to be ranked in the top 10 by a lot of guys but he's a much bigger gamble than I thought he'd be. 

[MagicMoses 23]

1 hour ago, CTMagicUK said:

Rough show from Jalen Green last night. 0-7 from 3, 6TOs and a game low -28. 

Meanwhile Cade had 24 and 7 with 4/8 from 3 against the second best team in college basketball. 

In your opinion what do you think the ceiling is for the consensus top 5?
 

For example I see Cade as a perineal all star, all nba and potential best player on a championship contender.

As someone who seems to know a lot about this draft it would be interesting to hear your opinion for what they have shown so far

[crisby pancakes 126]

12 hours ago, New Guy said:

Orlando’s remaining schedule is absolutely brutal. Minnesota being so bad makes no sense at all, given their individual talent level. I wouldn’t be surprised if they start winning enough to get out of the basement...Detroit and Cleveland seem like the two obvious threats for the top pick. OKC has SGA but they’re a weak squad, Kings probably have too much talent to finish with a worse record than Orlando, and the same can be said about the dumpster fire that is Houston.

 

anything outside of the top 5, would be a disappointment in my eyes for Orlando. And Orlando really needs to come away with one of these elite level prospects...and I’m hoping for either Cunningham, Green, or Kuminga. I’ll be pretty livid if Orlando picks 6 again and misses out on the top tier talent there. Things get a little hazy after the top 5 guys. 

Minnesota will not start winning. They lose their pick if its not top 3. They also have one of the toughest remaining schedules. Cleveland, Sacramento, Detroit and Oklahoma all have favourable schedules. Houston have the toughest remaining schedule and are regularly resting their better players, they most likely end up with a top 2 seeding for the lottery alongside Minnesota with Detroit rounding out the top 3. We could potentially run Detroit close but most likely end up with the 4th or 5th worst record with a slight chance of sneaking into a 3rd seed placing.

Regardless, our chance of a top 6 pick (which is what you want in this draft) is very good.

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

2 minutes ago, MagicMoses said:

In your opinion what do you think the ceiling is for the consensus top 5?
 

For example I see Cade as a perineal all star, all nba and potential best player on a championship contender.

As someone who seems to know a lot about this draft it would be interesting to hear your opinion for what they have shown so far

I only watch a bit and read stuff, I'm by no means an expert but I'll try my best to answer.

Their ceilings are all really high. That's why this class is so hyped. Whether or not they achieve those ceilings is another thing entirely. So the consensus top 5 seems to be:

Cade

Mobley

Kuminga

Green

Suggs

I think Cade is the most sure thing but I wouldn't say he has the highest ceiling because he doesn't have the elite athleticism but I think his upside is still perennial all-star big guard/wing initiator. It's just whether he can be an efficient high volume scorer in a league where he can't just overpower everyone who guards him to put him into that kind of "championship calibre" bracket. He's already shown he's a great shot maker though which is massive.

Mobley I think has DPOY potential. He's 7 feet tall and I've seen him force guards to pick the ball up with his lateral quickness. It's his lack of strength and high center of gravity that could hold him back, he doesn't get a lot of rebounds for a guy his size because of that. And obviously whether or not he gets his 3 point jumper down will go into deciding his offensive ceiling because he's not got a tonne of ways to score right now that will translate to the NBA. I've also seen people suggest he sometimes looks like he's coasting which is not always something you want to hear but I can't speak to that much really. 

Kuminga I guess the hope is he's like a do it all two way wing who explodes to the rim on offense and can also play defense with his length and athleticism. The decision making and the jumpshot seem like the biggest swing factors to me though I haven't seen as much of him and his statistical profile isn't great. 

Green I've seen compared to Zach Lavine which I guess makes sense as they're both 2 guards with explosive athleticism. Green could be a really big time scorer in the NBA in my opinion but he needs to improve his decision making, shot selection and defense to really be a star. With guys like Green I always think there's a fine line between being a perennial All Star scorer and one of those JR Smith style gunners and it usually comes down to efficiency and being able to make plays for others.

Suggs is an explosive guard and he's playing on the best team in college basketball. He's got a streaky jumper and Im not sure he's as good a ball handler as you'd like him to be but he's fun to watch, makes the right plays, plays defense. He might end up being more of a second star on a great team at his ceiling though. 

[MagicMoses 23]

10 minutes ago, CTMagicUK said:

I only watch a bit and read stuff, I'm by no means an expert but I'll try my best to answer.

Their ceilings are all really high. That's why this class is so hyped. Whether or not they achieve those ceilings is another thing entirely. So the consensus top 5 seems to be:

Cade

Mobley

Kuminga

Green

Suggs

I think Cade is the most sure thing but I wouldn't say he has the highest ceiling because he doesn't have the elite athleticism but I think his upside is still perennial all-star big guard/wing initiator. It's just whether he can be an efficient high volume scorer in a league where he can't just overpower everyone who guards him to put him into that kind of "championship calibre" bracket. He's already shown he's a great shot maker though which is massive.

Mobley I think has DPOY potential. He's 7 feet tall and I've seen him force guards to pick the ball up with his lateral quickness. It's his lack of strength and high center of gravity that could hold him back, he doesn't get a lot of rebounds for a guy his size because of that. And obviously whether or not he gets his 3 point jumper down will go into deciding his offensive ceiling because he's not got a tonne of ways to score right now that will translate to the NBA. I've also seen people suggest he sometimes looks like he's coasting which is not always something you want to hear but I can't speak to that much really. 

Kuminga I guess the hope is he's like a do it all two way wing who explodes to the rim on offense and can also play defense with his length and athleticism. The decision making and the jumpshot seem like the biggest swing factors to me though I haven't seen as much of him and his statistical profile isn't great. 

Green I've seen compared to Zach Lavine which I guess makes sense as they're both 2 guards with explosive athleticism. Green could be a really big time scorer in the NBA in my opinion but he needs to improve his decision making, shot selection and defense to really be a star. With guys like Green I always think there's a fine line between being a perennial All Star scorer and one of those JR Smith style gunners and it usually comes down to efficiency and being able to make plays for others.

Suggs is an explosive guard and he's playing on the best team in college basketball. He's got a streaky jumper and Im not sure he's as good a ball handler as you'd like him to be but he's fun to watch, makes the right plays, plays defense. He might end up being more of a second star on a great team at his ceiling though. 

Thanks for taking the time to answer that. It does seem like those five are the top 5 but based on the needs of the Magic only 3 of those make sense for us to draft (Cade, Green, Kuminga). Fingers crossed for a top 3 pick to guarantee it.