2022 NBA Draft Thread

[ball junkie 277]

“There has been no public announcement yet on Sharpe’s future, but Kentucky now expects that he’ll ultimately decide to enter and stay in this year’s NBA Draft, a move that would obviously be a big blow to Calipari’s plans for next season,” Roberts wrote.
https://www.aseaofblue.com/platform/amp/2022/4/11/23020622/kentucky-wildcats-basketball-oscar-tshiebwe-news-shaedon-sharpe-rumors-nba

[A Better DJ & Photographer 456]

35 minutes ago, ball junkie said:

“There has been no public announcement yet on Sharpe’s future, but Kentucky now expects that he’ll ultimately decide to enter and stay in this year’s NBA Draft, a move that would obviously be a big blow to Calipari’s plans for next season,” Roberts wrote.
https://www.aseaofblue.com/platform/amp/2022/4/11/23020622/kentucky-wildcats-basketball-oscar-tshiebwe-news-shaedon-sharpe-rumors-nba

I would slightly reach for him at 5 and be smiling!

[O_SteveO 102]

2 hours ago, A Better DJ & Photographer said:

The majority of the sims on Tankathon have us picking 5th and taking Murray. I would be thrilled to have him. I would also be thrilled to get #1 and trade back to get a great pick( and asset(s) instead of Chet the stick.

I realize it’s totally possible, but if we pick 5th again I’m gonna puke

[A Better DJ & Photographer 456]

8 minutes ago, O_SteveO said:

I realize it’s totally possible, but if we pick 5th again I’m gonna puke

The top 7 are all pretty good. I'd take any of them but Chet and be happy.

[jmmagicfan 301]

We currently have three picks in this draft: unknown between 1-6, #32, and #35. I don't see us using/signing all three of these picks; if for no other reason than we are ridiculously young already. We currently have nine guys under contract for next year, (ten if we guarantee M Wagner soon). Of those ten players, only TRoss (31) will be over 26 by the start of the season. We have a couple of guys we need to make a decision on Qualifying Offers if they are to remain Restricted Free Agents (Bamba/Bol). We also need to think about which (if any) of our Unrestricted Free Agents we may want to try and re-sign.

Gary Harris - 28 years old - Free Agent - I think he is worth resigning if we can get him at a decent price ($13-18M per), otherwise maybe help him and us with a sign & trade for assets? Tough defender and his offense was finally coming back after a long time out with injury. We might be able to keep him for closer to the mid-level, but I doubt it.

Robin Lopez - 34 years old - Free Agent - I think he is worth resigning if we can get him for about the same price as this year ($5M). Decent vet who is always ready, comes in and plays hard, and is probably a decent locker-room/practice court guy. If he can help get some of our other bigs as consistent on hook shots, that alone may be worh it. 

Moe Wagner - 25 years old - currently non-guaranteed, but we can retain for about $1.8M next year. To me this is a no-brainer, a young backup big (PF-C) who plays tough, gets under opposing teams skin, can occasionally have a big night, and has contributed to his younger brother's transition to the NBA. I'm not sure why you wouldn't keep him.

Bol Bol - 22 years old - another injury prone string bean. This guy makes Bamba look overweight, and even Chet looks wider. His Qualifying Offer is only about $2.7M, but I'm not sure he's worth that much risk. I think I would have to punt, but for some reason, they kept him when they waived PJ Dozier who I actually thought they might keep. 

Mo Bamba - 24 years old - this to me is the biggest question mark on the summer. Do you make him the Qualifying Offer ($10.1M) to keep his Restricted status, or do you just make him an Unrestricted Free Agent and potentially have him walk away for nothing?  You could potentially still keep him at a lower salary, or help someone else do a sign & trade to get a few assets for him. 

Cannady, Brazdeikis, Schofield all strike me as end of bench or 2-Way players, but I might want those two, 2-way contracts for my draft picks.  I think if we wind up with a top-3 pick in the lottery, we don't make the QO to either Bol or Bamba; but if we get pick 4-6, we might try to retain Bamba. I think Bol is gone, unless they have seen a lot that they like on the rehab/practive court. I don't think we make QO to both in any scenario. 

So, with the nine under contract, guaranteeing Moe Wagner, re-signing Harris and Lopez, and signing our top-6 pick puts us at 13 players under contract; which leaves two "full" roster spots and two "2-way" spots to fill, and leaves us about 5-7M under the cap. We could potentially sign another vet in that space, and then use the mid-level exception of $10.26M for the final roster spot, and use the 2-ways for either or both of our 2nd round picks. I'm just not sure who we could get here for those amounts. Most of the guys available for the 5-7M slot might be more inclined to take a vet-minimum to sign with a contender. I think it's going to be a busy summer for the Front Office. 

[O_SteveO 102]

18 hours ago, A Better DJ & Photographer said:

The top 7 are all pretty good. I'd take any of them but Chet and be happy.

That’s the impression I’ve gotten. I just want us to get whoever the FO likes best. 

[CTMagicUK 1,480]

I'm pretty out on Shaedon Sharpe. Just find it hard to rank a guy who's never played a second of college basketball. Jaden Hardy, Caleb Houstan, PBJ, those were all guys mocked lotto before a season of play in college or the G League. Without knowing how Sharpe looks in college he's too much of a gamble for me in the top 6.

[ball junkie 277]

1 hour ago, CTMagicUK said:

I'm pretty out on Shaedon Sharpe. Just find it hard to rank a guy who's never played a second of college basketball. Jaden Hardy, Caleb Houstan, PBJ, those were all guys mocked lotto before a season of play in college or the G League. Without knowing how Sharpe looks in college he's too much of a gamble for me in the top 6.

Been wondering where you were and waiting for you to chime in …been reading your draft thoughts for like 10 years and have respect for them …if you listened to the Sam Veccine interview he said Sharpe has star potential …if my memory serves we didn’t have any college tapes on Dwight Howard either …would you bring Sharpe in for a workout ? …Do you agree that a wing scorer/shooter is what we need ? Thanks CTMagicUk

[jmmagicfan 301]

2 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

I'm pretty out on Shaedon Sharpe. Just find it hard to rank a guy who's never played a second of college basketball. Jaden Hardy, Caleb Houstan, PBJ, those were all guys mocked lotto before a season of play in college or the G League. Without knowing how Sharpe looks in college he's too much of a gamble for me in the top 6.

 

20 minutes ago, ball junkie said:

Been wondering where you were and waiting for you to chime in …been reading your draft thoughts for like 10 years and have respect for them …if you listened to the Sam Veccine interview he said Sharpe has star potential …if my memory serves we didn’t have any college tapes on Dwight Howard either …would you bring Sharpe in for a workout ? …Do you agree that a wing scorer/shooter is what we need ? Thanks CTMagicUk

I agree it is very difficult to rank a guy who hasn’t played a game beyond the high school level. Sharpe has some other things to work with, but you definitely have to bring him in and work him out, preferably with and against other players. Remember we traded back for Hardaway based on workouts, and Shaq’s word.

[hootie249 293]

 

[ball junkie 277]

Who are Sharpe's NBA comps? Who is his ceiling at the next level, and who is his floor in terms of comparisons?

There are a handful of different players who come to mind when projecting Sharpe to the next level, which is always a good sign for the prospect's NBA outlook. From strictly a physical sense, Sharpe -- who stands 6-foot-6, 200 pounds with a 7-0 wingspan -- compares most favorably to former Wildcat Hamidou Diallo, who also enrolled at Kentucky a semester early before ultimately returning for a second year and going No. 45 in the 2018 draft. In terms of body control and leaping ability, Diallo is up there with some of the NBA's elite, and Sharpe belongs in that category, as his ability to change speeds, explode to the rim and finish highlight dunks acrobatically off one or two feet is among the best in this draft class.

As a player, Sharpe, whom I first saw when he was a virtual unknown at the 2019 BioSteel All-Canadian Boys Futures game in 2019, is a prototypical scoring off guard who can create his own shot out of a variety of different dribble moves. On the high end, think a less powerful Anthony Edwards. Like Edwards, Sharpe already has step-backs, pull-backs and hesitation pull-ups in his bag, along with the type of quickness to put pressure on the rim and finish with unique body control and explosion. He's instant offense when he gets it going, showing the capacity to knock down the type of difficult pull-ups you see from NBA All-Stars.

Like a young Edwards, Sharpe also lets defenses off the hook too often by settling for contested jump shots, not always using his physical gifts to put pressure on the rim. Although he has a different body type, Jalen Green is another dynamic scorer who comes to mind when projecting Sharpe, who shoots it better than both Edwards and Green. While not the same style of player, Sharpe's demeanor is a little more Andrew Wiggins-like, as he's quiet on the floor and, like a young Wiggins, has stretches where you don't feel his impact quite as much as his talent and tools suggest. He's more than capable defensively, and I did see some competitiveness in him during my first evaluation almost three years ago, yet Sharpe's defensive effort, toughness and engagement tend to fluctuate.

In terms of his floor, think smooth wing scorers and shot-makers such as Terrence Ross, Jeremy Lamb or J.R. Smith. Sharpe is way more advanced than Ross -- who came off the bench for the University of Washington as a freshman -- at the same stage, but he brings a similar level of physical ability and provides instant offense similar to Smith. The question for Sharpe will be whether he'll evolve into a true franchise cornerstone and All-Star by not only scoring but adding value defensively and making his teammates better. Or will he settle into more of a bench bucket-getting role as a microwave scorer who can't be the primary focus on a nightly basis? The answer to that question will ultimately revolve around Sharpe's work habits, capacity to address his weaknesses and the situation he's drafted into. -- Mike Schmitz
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/33287880/why-kentucky-shaedon-sharpe-difficult-case-nba-scouts-compares-more-2022-nba-draft-mystery-guys

His ceiling is Anthony Edwards …His floor is Terrance Ross …not bad 

[jmmagicfan 301]

As we go into this draft, we should definitely remember that our ultimate goal is to win a championship. Having said that, as bad as we have been the last 10 years, let's try to remember and put things in perspective. There are 11 teams in the league that have never won even one championship, and 6 of those have never even made the finals. We have, twice. I'm not saying rest on our laurels, there haven't been many for the last 10+ years, but we have gotten as far as the Pacers, Nets, Suns, and Jazz, all of whom have been in the league 15-22 years longer than we have. 

https://basketballnoise.com/how-many-nba-teams-have-not-won-a-nba-championship/#:~:text=There are 11 active NBA,Nuggets Magic and the Timberwolves.

 

Team	First Year in NBA	Best Finish In History
Indiana Pacers	1967	NBA Finals Runner Up
Brooklyn Nets	1967	NBA Finals Runner Up
Denver Nuggets	1967	Western Conference Finals Runner Up
Phoenix Suns	1968	NBA FInals Runner Up
Utah Jazz	1974	NBA FInals Runner Up
LA Clippers	1984	Playoffs
Charlotte Hornets	1988	Playoffs
Minnesota Timberwolves	1989	Western Conference Finals Runner Up
Orlando Magic	1989	NBA Finals Runner Up
Memphis Grizzlies	1995	Playoffs
New Orleans Pelicans	2002*	Playoffs

*Originally The Hornets, changed name to Pelicans in 2013 when Hornets returned to Charlotte

(I might personally have reversed the Hornets and Pelicans - I know that technically the team history was "returned" to Charlotte, but please; for continuity's sake, the staff, players, et al weren't returned. The Hornets were really a whole new team at that point.)