I will be devastated if we fall to 4 in the lottery

[Coolbreeze44]

If the worry about ending up at 4 is because of the talent falloff, okay. But if it's because "we need a center and they are going 1-2", that's silly.

When you pick #1 to #4, you are wanting to get that transcendental player that is going to be a star in 3 years (reference Davis in NO this year) and a pivotal player for 10 years. Which means: get the best darn player available and don't worry about position. If that's Mudiay, who just turned 19 and is 6 years younger than Ricky, so be it. If it's Russell or Winslow or Porzingis or one of the big guys, so be it. Just get the best player available at where ever we end up and add to our talent base... then things will work out over the next 3 years.

As such, IMO this thread should only be talking about who are the best four players, not worrying about positional needs. At least, until May 19th.

Agree with everything you say here Pete. Fortunately it appears the big guys are the BPA's. If for some reason they prove not to be, we better not take them. If Mudiay grades above the bigs, we better take him. Same with Russell and Winslow.

[MikkeMan]

If we did take Porzingis, that would be the straw that breaks the camel's back. B-u-s-t.

Cam, I would also like to why you think that Porzingis would be bust. His stats in Eurocup and ACB which is toughest league in Europe are extremely promising for 19 year old.

I have understood that you like Bojan Dubljevic quite much. Bojan is already 23 years old and his this season ACB stats are actually worse than what Porzingis has produced.

Porzingis 21.7 min, 10.8 pts, 4.8 rbs, 0.4 Asts 0.8 Stls, 1.0 Blks, 1.2 Tos .474 FG% .329 3P% .784 FT%
Dubljevic 19.0 min, 9.5 pts, 4.4 rbs, 1.0 Asts 0.6 Stls, 0.2 Blks, 1.6 Tos .421 FG% .277 3P% .760 FT%

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The key with a guy like Porzi is a) can he put on more weight?, and b) does his rebounding and paint defense improve as a result?

Those are unanswerable questions, but the fact he doesn't even turn 20 until this summer suggests that he can continue to fill out if his frame can add more weight.

It's hard to fathom us drafting him though given our surplus of PFs, including Bjelica, who at that point would almost have to be traded since there is little chance Flip can unload Payne or AB.

I'm beginning to think Flip will have tunnel vision in this draft and draft a Center no matter what. If Okafor and Towns are gone, they'll simply draft Willie Cauley Stein and hope like hell guys like Rubio, Wiggins, LaVine, and Shabazz continue to improve.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The key with a guy like Porzi is a) can he put on more weight?, and b) does his rebounding and paint defense improve as a result?

Those are unanswerable questions, but the fact he doesn't even turn 20 until this summer suggests that he can continue to fill out if his frame can add more weight.

It's hard to fathom us drafting him though given our surplus of PFs, including Bjelica, who at that point would almost have to be traded since there is little chance Flip can unload Payne or AB.

I'm beginning to think Flip will have tunnel vision in this draft and draft a Center no matter what. If Okafor and Towns are gone, they'll simply draft Willie Cauley Stein and hope like hell guys like Rubio, Wiggins, LaVine, and Shabazz continue to improve.

WCS isn't a bad pick at all when you think about what we can throw out for 20 minutes a night defensively with Ricky/Wiggins/KG/WCS. Teach Dieng how to play a similar style to KG and he could be a long-term fit next to WCS moving forward as well. He's not as good defensively as KG, but he has that midrange jumper and is a good passer out of the high post. Or Payne may improve a lot and be a 3 point threat while being an active defender next to WCS, but we know we'd have a strong defensive lineup for 20 minutes a night this year while giving our young guys a chance to improve before we have to fully commit to them.

[AbeVigodaLive]

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WCS isn't a bad pick at all when you think about what we can throw out for 20 minutes a night defensively with Ricky/Wiggins/KG/WCS. Teach Dieng how to play a similar style to KG and he could be a long-term fit next to WCS moving forward as well. He's not as good defensively as KG, but he has that midrange jumper and is a good passer out of the high post. Or Payne may improve a lot and be a 3 point threat while being an active defender next to WCS, but we know we'd have a strong defensive lineup for 20 minutes a night this year while giving our young guys a chance to improve before we have to fully commit to them.

20 minutes per night on one end of the court for 50 - 68 games doesn't seem like enough.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

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WCS isn't a bad pick at all when you think about what we can throw out for 20 minutes a night defensively with Ricky/Wiggins/KG/WCS. Teach Dieng how to play a similar style to KG and he could be a long-term fit next to WCS moving forward as well. He's not as good defensively as KG, but he has that midrange jumper and is a good passer out of the high post. Or Payne may improve a lot and be a 3 point threat while being an active defender next to WCS, but we know we'd have a strong defensive lineup for 20 minutes a night this year while giving our young guys a chance to improve before we have to fully commit to them.

20 minutes per night on one end of the court for 50 - 68 games doesn't seem like enough.

That's just the known good fit. We have no idea what WCS will bring offensively with a PG like Ricky dishing him the ball on the PnR and the defense as a whole will be better with him on the court no matter who he is playing with. We have a lot of unknowns at the 4 so he could be a plus player with everyone he plays with or he may only get adequate help for 20 minutes a night. We don't know, but he'd be a rock solid start for fixing our team's massive defensive problems. We may have to sacrifice spacing and play him with Pek, but at least in that scenario we should have an offensive rebounding edge to make up some of it. The important part is his defense is game changing so we just have to find the right offensive counterparts to make it a solid duo in the frontcourt.

[bleedspeed]

Are people thinking WCS in the top 4?

[Coolbreeze44]

Are people thinking WCS in the top 4?

I don't know where that's coming from. Maybe if we traded down, but we're not going to take him inside the top 4.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Are people thinking WCS in the top 4?

I don't know where that's coming from. Maybe if we traded down, but we're not going to take him inside the top 4.

It came from Q thinking Flip might go C no matter what which would put WCS in the top 4 since he's the third best C on the board. Nobody on here thinks he's top 4, but if Flip does pick that way WCS isn't a terrible stretch to take given his potential defensive impact on a horrible defensive team.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Right, I'm not really an advocate for this strategy; I'm just predicting that Flip goes Center all the way and if trade-up/trade-down options don't really materialize, he'll just take WCS straight-up (assuming Towns and Okafor are off the board and can't be traded up for) and be done with it.