2022-2023 Draft Thread

[ball junkie 277]

35 minutes ago, A Better DJ & Photographer said:

This is why we don't play Bol at center 

 

So DJ what does that say about Holmgren if we’d drafted him ? …he’s 35 lbs lighter than Victor 

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

1 hour ago, A Better DJ & Photographer said:

This is why we don't play Bol at center 

 

Wemby is the best defensive prospect in recent memory but sure, go off based on 1 (one) highlight. Bol is 4 years older than him, lighter than him, and has half the defensive instincts. 

"BuT hOw wIlL hE GuArd EmBiId aNd JoKic????"

Name a teenager on the planet who could guard either of those two guys? Better yet, literally name an NBA player who can guard Jokic at all? Dudes averaging a triple double on absurd efficiency it doesn't matter who guards him. 

[A Better DJ & Photographer 455]

2 hours ago, ball junkie said:

So DJ what does that say about Holmgren if we’d drafted him ? …he’s 35 lbs lighter than Victor 

Thank GOD we didn't. He does not have an NBA body and never will. He will probably be injured more than he plays. That being said, stick boy will be great when he can play! 0--->---------<

[Soul Bro 1,418]

After watching multiple full games/prospects over the last couple of months, here are my thoughts on the upcoming draft:

- Brandon Miller is an incredible basketball talent. Early on he was criticized for his lack of creation and finishing ability, but that’s been put to rest. He looks a lot like a young Paul George. My guess is he’ll be top three, if not top two, even with the off the court mess.

- Smith Jr. has finally started to show why he was arguably the top NCAA prospect prior to his injuries. He’s incredible with his handle (reminds me of Kelle), would have a lot more assists if his bigs could shoot, and has a killer shot and floater. I’m very high on him.

- Black (and his ugly shot) is a guy I’d pass on.

- Wallace is a guy I like but don’t necessarily love. Solid but not dazzling.

- I’m still trying to figure out my thoughts on George, Whitmore, and others.

Edit: One more note. DIck and Howard are both great shooters. However, I’m not sure either will be able to stay in front of their guys in the pros. Guys like Whitmore are far superior athletes to them.

[Jason Funderburker 111]

I find this both incredibly tone deaf but simultaneously hilarious

[JJZFL 618]

On 2/23/2023 at 1:48 AM, CTMagicUK said:

Ah the old "look how good I am at basketball, please forget I was just involved in a murder" game. 

I can’t imagine we would draft him under any circumstances.  

[Jay Magic 1,233]

11 hours ago, JJZFL said:

I can’t imagine we would draft him under any circumstances.  

I would 

[jmmagicfan 299]

23 hours ago, JJZFL said:

I can’t imagine we would draft him under any circumstances.  

 

11 hours ago, Jay Magic said:

I would 

I would be in complete shock if we draft Miller. I think the DeVos family would have some serious input against that. They’ve been pretty hands off since the whole Martin issues from the last rebuild; but I’m thinking that would get them pretty upset, and might prompt front office change(s).

In fact, if Miller continues to rise in the rankings, and we get the third pick in the draft, I think we will listen to trade options. I could see a smaller version of the Hardaway deal, with us trading down a few places for a different player and some future assets.

[hootie249 293]

This is the NBA, if our picks moves up he would easily be in contention for our pick. Heck if we get number 1 he might be the pick.

Mark it down now but i do not want Victor. If we did the impossible again like we did in the 90's trade that pick for the biggest haul in the history of sports. Guys with that build never last.

It would be either Scoot or Miller for me at number 1 or trade down.

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

People don't want to draft the most hyped prospect in years (for good reason) but would draft a guy implicated in a murder... Go figure. 

FWIW it doesn't matter what you think, if we get #1 we're taking Wemby. He's a WeltHam wet dream and the risk/reward is off the charts in terms of exec job stability if you don't take him. 

[hootie249 293]

Yeah i'm not an internet warrior. I think it's despicable if he really stupidly brought his friend a gun to kill somebody. 

What i am saying is we will probably never fully understand what happened and if we do i will change my mind. This is how the business of sports happens. If the guy is really good and never gets charged for a crime he will be in the NBA and be really good. No opinion will change that. Yet i respect your opinion and yes i think high character is a thing. If you don't want players on your favorite team that have question marks, especially something as horrendous as this i get it. 

I just stand on what i said in that i watch the game, he could easily be the best player in this draft. I have watched the college and NBA game forever. There is no guarantee that Victor and Scoot will be the best of this class. Victor is a complete one of a kind player. He is not even Chet from last year, everyone knows this. Scoot has serious skills and if you put me to it, yeah he probably balls out.

Miller is a wing with take over the game kind of skill.  He is not a guard like scoot or center who is probably not a center like Victor. If Miller was not involved in this scandal, if i had to put money on who becomes the best player i would bet that money on Miller. 

I'm just talking hypotheticals. 

 

[jmmagicfan 299]

On 2/27/2023 at 7:54 AM, hootie249 said:

This is the NBA, if our picks moves up he would easily be in contention for our pick. Heck if we get number 1 he might be the pick.

Mark it down now but i do not want Victor. If we did the impossible again like we did in the 90's trade that pick for the biggest haul in the history of sports. Guys with that build never last.

It would be either Scoot or Miller for me at number 1 or trade down.

I don't honestly believe that there is a single GM in this league that would not take Victor Wembanyama as the first pick. Now, would a Philadelphia or a Minnesota look to trade down and collect additional assets? Maybe, but no one is picking someone else unless he gets seriously injured between now and the draft. Even then, it might have to be a "potential" career-ending injury to move the needle. 

On 2/27/2023 at 8:36 AM, CTMagicUK said:

People don't want to draft the most hyped prospect in years (for good reason) but would draft a guy implicated in a murder... Go figure. 

FWIW it doesn't matter what you think, if we get #1 we're taking Wemby. He's a WeltHam wet dream and the risk/reward is off the charts in terms of exec job stability if you don't take him. 

This!!^^

23 hours ago, hootie249 said:

Yeah i'm not an internet warrior. I think it's despicable if he really stupidly brought his friend a gun to kill somebody. 

What i am saying is we will probably never fully understand what happened and if we do i will change my mind. This is how the business of sports happens. If the guy is really good and never gets charged for a crime he will be in the NBA and be really good. No opinion will change that. Yet i respect your opinion and yes i think high character is a thing. If you don't want players on your favorite team that have question marks, especially something as horrendous as this i get it. 

I just stand on what i said in that i watch the game, he could easily be the best player in this draft. I have watched the college and NBA game forever. There is no guarantee that Victor and Scoot will be the best of this class. Victor is a complete one of a kind player. He is not even Chet from last year, everyone knows this. Scoot has serious skills and if you put me to it, yeah he probably balls out.

Miller is a wing with take over the game kind of skill.  He is not a guard like scoot or center who is probably not a center like Victor. If Miller was not involved in this scandal, if i had to put money on who becomes the best player i would bet that money on Miller. 

I'm just talking hypotheticals. 

 

His whole defense seems to be that he didn't know it would be used to shoot someone, and that he never touched the gun. Regardless of whether you believe it or not (the police do seem to, as he has not been charged with anything), the fact that he knew it was in the car when he went to pick up two friends who he knew had been drinking shows a woeful lack of judgement at the very least. For me that is a knock on both his character, and worse, his judgement. Does he have the potential to be the best (or even second-best) player from this draft? That is possible. Would I want to take that chance? It would take a lot of background investigation, in-person interviews, and a ton of convincing before I made that pick - but I do trust that WeltHam would do the same. Even then, I might do a trade-down for a (slightly) lower pick and some additional assets. 

I do look at the level of competition that draft picks are playing against, and that is part of what makes the draft so difficult to project. Someone playing against France's top professional league (Wembanyama) vs. playing against G-League (Scoot), vs. playing against NCAA Div 1 (Miller) vs. playing against a mixed bag (Thompsons) vs. playing against Australian pros (Rupert). How do you rate the talent they are playing against, and how have previous players from those systems fared when they reach the NBA? I do think that Miller might be the best college player right now, though I'm excited to see Nick Smith, Jr. now that he is off the injured list and playing again. I really wish the Thompson twins had opted for the G-League instead, as I just can't give as much weight to their quality of opponents, so I might be a little lower on them than they deserve, but it's hard to tell since there is no history with prior draft picks.