FNG wrote:While not totally ignoring the idea that Culver could turn things around, I think we would all agree that Rosas had a swing and a miss on that pick. But although the jury is still out on his other draft picks and free agent pickups, isn't there some indication that he deserves at least a B, and may even be moving toward an A?
Edwards: It now looks like he will be the top scoring rookie this year, and he is showing potential as a passer. His defense needs a lot of work, but his on-ball defense shows promise. Plus, he is an exciting player to watch.
Nowell: Somehow Rosas got the Pac 10 player of the year in the second round. Nowell started slowly (except for being outstanding in G League), but is now starting to look at least like a high-scoring option off the bench. Major steal in the second round.
Reid: Outstanding post game and scorer. Great free agent pick-up
McDaniels: Has surprised many of us with his maturity, poise, and defensive mobility. Looks like another steal to me as a late 1st rounder.
J-Mac: Runs an offense very well and surprisingly productive scorer. Underrated defender. Another terrific free agent pick-up.
We can argue about his trades...a lot of differing opinions here. But if the trends continue, he may have carved out a reputation as a very good drafter. Another reason why losing a first round pick really hurts, and why we can't afford to give up any more picks.
FNG wrote:While not totally ignoring the idea that Culver could turn things around, I think we would all agree that Rosas had a swing and a miss on that pick. But although the jury is still out on his other draft picks and free agent pickups, isn't there some indication that he deserves at least a B, and may even be moving toward an A?
Edwards: It now looks like he will be the top scoring rookie this year, and he is showing potential as a passer. His defense needs a lot of work, but his on-ball defense shows promise. Plus, he is an exciting player to watch.
Nowell: Somehow Rosas got the Pac 10 player of the year in the second round. Nowell started slowly (except for being outstanding in G League), but is now starting to look at least like a high-scoring option off the bench. Major steal in the second round.
Reid: Outstanding post game and scorer. Great free agent pick-up
McDaniels: Has surprised many of us with his maturity, poise, and defensive mobility. Looks like another steal to me as a late 1st rounder.
J-Mac: Runs an offense very well and surprisingly productive scorer. Underrated defender. Another terrific free agent pick-up.
We can argue about his trades...a lot of differing opinions here. But if the trends continue, he may have carved out a reputation as a very good drafter. Another reason why losing a first round pick really hurts, and why we can't afford to give up any more picks.
Giving up an asset (PF) to take a guy unworthy of a rookie extension at #6 lowers that grade significantly. That was an F move... and that should disqualify any talk of an A grade.
As for Edwards... yes. Promising. But Rosas had the #1 pick. So he would be expected to take the best player in the draft, right? And 2/3 of the way through season 1... it doesn't look like that happened. Could have been worse... could have been better.
By the way, he doesn't play huge minutes, but has anybody seen how well Saric is playing in Phoenix?
19 mpg
11.4 ppg
4.2 reb
49/39/90 splits
Meanwhile... Hernangomez (with worse defense):
16 mpg
6.0 ppg
4.3 reb
41/32/65 splits
Saric makes $2M more.
You make a good point about Saric and Juancho. I will say that at least Rosas was right about Saric in that he was not a starting level player so he moved him. So that part was correct. What he did afterwards has been poor. Juancho did put up a nice stat line last year after he was acquired. Somewhat surprisingly Juancho also is winning the rebound rate...but that's it. Lol
Getting Vanderbilt to the roster that seems to be a guy that can be a rotation guy at PF helps. Meanwhile Nowell might be a guy that turns into a good player to make up for Culver not being able to shoot. It's still bad that Rosas moved up to pick Culver but if you can actually find good/worthwhile players to make up for mistakes that's something we haven't seen much around this franchise. The bar is pretty low...
FNG wrote:While not totally ignoring the idea that Culver could turn things around, I think we would all agree that Rosas had a swing and a miss on that pick. But although the jury is still out on his other draft picks and free agent pickups, isn't there some indication that he deserves at least a B, and may even be moving toward an A?
Edwards: It now looks like he will be the top scoring rookie this year, and he is showing potential as a passer. His defense needs a lot of work, but his on-ball defense shows promise. Plus, he is an exciting player to watch.
Nowell: Somehow Rosas got the Pac 10 player of the year in the second round. Nowell started slowly (except for being outstanding in G League), but is now starting to look at least like a high-scoring option off the bench. Major steal in the second round.
Reid: Outstanding post game and scorer. Great free agent pick-up
McDaniels: Has surprised many of us with his maturity, poise, and defensive mobility. Looks like another steal to me as a late 1st rounder.
J-Mac: Runs an offense very well and surprisingly productive scorer. Underrated defender. Another terrific free agent pick-up.
We can argue about his trades...a lot of differing opinions here. But if the trends continue, he may have carved out a reputation as a very good drafter. Another reason why losing a first round pick really hurts, and why we can't afford to give up any more picks.
We have 9 wins
Can't argue with that. But my point is not that Rosas has been a good POBO, but rather that all of his draft picks and free agent signings other than Culver are looking quite good right now. I don't blame Rosas' drafting for the 9-30 record, but he's still a culprit. In order of negative impact on our record, I rank the factors as:
1) Covid/injuries
2) Rosas's trades
3) Coaching
All three have trashed this season. If I were to name drafting as a negative factor, I guess that since even though I think Rosas picked the right guy at #1, Ant's poor defense and inefficient scoring this season have been big contributors to our shitty record too. Overall though, I've been impressed with the diamonds he has pulled out of the rough.
