Minnesota Sports Forum

What would you do with the 5th pick?

While I have a feeling Bender may have the highest ceiling of all the options listed, I don't know if he will be there at 5...and I also have some concerns about his floor. And after a rookie season where he averaged 13-3 and shot 40% on decent 3-point volume after the all-star break, it seems like Russell has a high floor (and I believe a fairly high ceiling). I'll take a guy who was picked after only KAT last year over the 5th pick any day.

LST -- You make a great case or swapping #5 for Russell. But I just can't help thinking that there's something seriously wrong with Russell if the Lakers are willing to trade him for nothing more than our #5 pick or even our #5 pick and Payne. In other words, it's precisely because of the strong argument for Russell that I'm suspicious of his availability for nothing more than the 5th pick.

Yeah, I understand your concern, Lip. And there have been moments during his college and rookie year that I found Russell to be a little quirky. I think I'm relying a lot on KAT's endorsement of Russell in getting comfortable with his character. And I'm perhaps giving more weight to the NBA no-snitching code than others in explaining why the Lakers would give up a 2nd pick for a 5th pick after just one season. But I acknowledge that there is some risk in making this trade.

I'll admit that I don't have much basis for what I'm about to say, but I've become a pretty good judge of character over my years in coaching. When I see Russell I see a punk. I'm really not surprised the Lakers are giving serious thought to moving this guy already. As I've said before, let's not be philanthropic to the Lakers in their rise from the ashes.

longstrangetrip wrote:Yeah, I understand your concern, Lip. And there have been moments during his college and rookie year that I found Russell to be a little quirky. I think I'm relying a lot on KAT's endorsement of Russell in getting comfortable with his character. And I'm perhaps giving more weight to the NBA no-snitching code than others in explaining why the Lakers would give up a 2nd pick for a 5th pick after just one season. But I acknowledge that there is some risk in making this trade.

This kind of reminds me of the Mark Aguirre trade the Pistons made during the bad boys run. Mark had a trouble in the past but Penny and Shaq stuck up for him, so magenment brought him for Dahntley. So I'm with you LST if KAT is going to be the man then I'm going to respect his opinion on the guy.

I haven't voted yet but here is how I look at it.

Best pure value

1. Okafor despite his flaws the dude is a beast. Imagine a better version of Kanter next to Towns. Yikes. I was reading an article that Chad Ford said the Sixers are finding out that they may not be able to get a top 5 pick for either Okafor or Noel. I don't believe Chad Ford's analysis but I am more likely to take his reporting more seriously. I still think Okafor can be very valuable for just the #5 pick. Ironically after what happened last year you have to worry about off the court stuff with him a little too.

2. Russell assuming he isn't some serious problem off the court. He was #2 last year in a loaded draft and had a decent season in a terrible situation.

3. #5 most uncertain both in terms of who you get and what they will become but also the cheapest and you have control of them another year. You hope you get a guy without any baggage and with nice upside. It really depends for me who is available at #5 before I would pull the trigger on any of these deals. I think both Okafor and Russell may have more talent than anyone that would be there but there are some concerns about both guys going forward. We keep saying all these possible guys at #5 have flaws. So do Russell and Okafor but their strengths are pretty good.

I voted Okafor, but it is done in pencil.

monsterpile wrote:I haven't voted yet but here is how I look at it.

Best pure value

1. Okafor despite his flaws the dude is a beast. Imagine a better version of Kanter next to Towns. Yikes. I was reading an article that Chad Ford said the Sixers are finding out that they may not be able to get a top 5 pick for either Okafor or Noel. I don't believe Chad Ford's analysis but I am more likely to take his reporting more seriously. I still think Okafor can be very valuable for just the #5 pick. Ironically after what happened last year you have to worry about off the court stuff with him a little too.

2. Russell assuming he isn't some serious problem off the court. He was #2 last year in a loaded draft and had a decent season in a terrible situation.

3. #5 most uncertain both in terms of who you get and what they will become but also the cheapest and you have control of them another year. You hope you get a guy without any baggage and with nice upside. It really depends for me who is available at #5 before I would pull the trigger on any of these deals. I think both Okafor and Russell may have more talent than anyone that would be there but there are some concerns about both guys going forward. We keep saying all these possible guys at #5 have flaws. So do Russell and Okafor but their strengths are pretty good.

I think the Noel value was always blown out of proportion. He still has many questions, hasn't shown a lot of improvement, and is about to get paid soon in an inflated market. A top 5, or even top 10, pick for that isn't a great business move. Okafor and Russell on the other hand, do carry top 5 value in this draft even with their off-court stuff. They showed they can play in the league, are 20 years old, and you still have 3 years to evaluate/improve them before you need to decide to pay them.

For our team, I voted BPA. If i had to trade, I would trade for Okafor over Russell right now, as there would be absolutely no answer defensively for Okafor/KAT. Imagine a younger Pek with more range offensively and a Love who plays far better defense. That duo would be frightening. We've talked about needing a bruiser/paint clogger on Defense, and Okafor can definitely provide that.

TheFuture wrote:

monsterpile wrote:I haven't voted yet but here is how I look at it.

Best pure value

1. Okafor despite his flaws the dude is a beast. Imagine a better version of Kanter next to Towns. Yikes. I was reading an article that Chad Ford said the Sixers are finding out that they may not be able to get a top 5 pick for either Okafor or Noel. I don't believe Chad Ford's analysis but I am more likely to take his reporting more seriously. I still think Okafor can be very valuable for just the #5 pick. Ironically after what happened last year you have to worry about off the court stuff with him a little too.

2. Russell assuming he isn't some serious problem off the court. He was #2 last year in a loaded draft and had a decent season in a terrible situation.

3. #5 most uncertain both in terms of who you get and what they will become but also the cheapest and you have control of them another year. You hope you get a guy without any baggage and with nice upside. It really depends for me who is available at #5 before I would pull the trigger on any of these deals. I think both Okafor and Russell may have more talent than anyone that would be there but there are some concerns about both guys going forward. We keep saying all these possible guys at #5 have flaws. So do Russell and Okafor but their strengths are pretty good.

I think the Noel value was always blown out of proportion. He still has many questions, hasn't shown a lot of improvement, and is about to get paid soon in an inflated market. A top 5, or even top 10, pick for that isn't a great business move. Okafor and Russell on the other hand, do carry top 5 value in this draft even with their off-court stuff. They showed they can play in the league, are 20 years old, and you still have 3 years to evaluate/improve them before you need to decide to pay them.

For our team, I voted BPA. If i had to trade, I would trade for Okafor over Russell right now, as there would be absolutely no answer defensively for Okafor/KAT. Imagine a younger Pek with more range offensively and a Love who plays far better defense. That duo would be frightening. We've talked about needing a bruiser/paint clogger on Defense, and Okafor can definitely provide that.

It's a tough spot for the Sixers and teams know they can't just keep all of those guys so for the Sixers to get value they need some teams to bid against each other and I don't get that's heating up anytime soon. It may not help that there are so many intriguing PF/C types in this draft. Heck this forum has a whole poll thread for that. :)