re: From an Outsiders Perspective

yeah I think it was going to be Burke too
so demps can't draft and his trades/signings haven't worked out
not sure what else needs to be said

yes injuries and yes bad luck
yes there is a way out
still, not a good job this far

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Holiday is a decent player but there are a ton of really good point guards in the NBA and I'm not sure he's even in the top 10-12

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You're judging him as a PG, but if you have Tyreke, the offense has to run through Tyreke. Like I said, look at Holiday as the Pel's Klay Thompson, not the guy trying to replace CP3.

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My whole point is with those guys even if they were years away there is still a chance that they could be studs

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Like cgrand said, this has been a lively debate for years. It really comes down to fast build vs. slow build and there's only one person who's opinion mattered in that debate. The Pels have an owner that probably will be dead within 5-10 years and wants to see the team he had just dropped $300+ million on win.

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If Noel and Davis could play together that would be a near impossible team to score on in the paint.

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If you want to 2nd guess moves the real one we want back is 2012 #10. Trade the 2013 1st to move up to 8 and pick Drummond. That's one that would have been hard to pull the trigger on especially since Demps' MO has been to trade uncertainty for certainty, but in hind sight it'd set you up to be a dominant team and prevent you from doing some of the asset burning moves Demps has made to accelerate the timeline.

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All of those guys(Noel

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That will be the biggest miss for Demps, regardless of whether he was going to pick Burke or not. He had a decade long front court partner for Davis in his lap, instead he spent 2 lottery picks for a good, not great, pg who has had unforeseen, and possibly permanent, injury problems.

Pressure from Benson may have forced his hand in terms of speed rebuild. That's his right, but it doesn't make it any less stupid.

I don't think Noel is a huge loss. I think giving Rolo away for redundancy was the bigger issue. That's where his trades went from two steps forward, one step back to one step forward, two steps back.

At this point, I won't say Noel is a step down from Asik, and both cost a 1st.

I wanted McLemore that draft and figured we'd have this awesome future backcourt with Rivers and him. When he fell, i thought it was meant to be. Then they traded the pick away. McLemore and Rivers both aren't that great. So probably best it didn't go my way..

Noel is better than Asik. Full. Stop.

Noel is also on a rookie contract. Even if you believe they are roughly equal on the court, a first for 4/$14 v a first for 1/$8, then 4/~$46 is not the same thing.

The thing is, all of this analysis is hindsight (nothing wrong with that, really). You also have to consider context at the time with new ownership. I mean, it wasn't like the choice was Noel vs. Asik during that draft. I was not upset with passing on Noel, really. And, who knows, by the end of this season it may all work out with Gentry's style of play.

Being an NBA Center usually takes a few years too for most players that aren't Superstars. I remember wanting to cut Leonard after his 2nd season but knew he just needed time. I still wanted to cut him he was so bad offensively and out of position ALL THE TIME defensively. Then, suddendly, he's hitting 3s, rebounding and contesting shots. I think once Noel puts on some more weight and experience under his belt, his ceiling is Tyson Chandler/Marcus Camby.

The Pels suffered from wanting to go from 1st overall selection to contending in the West in a matter of a season. They skipped the whole rebuild process and became buyers on the market when their team wasn't ready.

Yeah. The general idea doesn't bother me, but at some point you have to try to win. Stockpiling assets can't last forever.

That they are 3 years in with 2 young, good bigs, and don't have an NBA level pg is a joke.

Voulagaris tweeted something like this and is 100% right: they had Ish and let him go. That is an indictment of player development and whatever their plan is.