re: 2023 Pels NBA Draft Discussion

At 14 there should be a good group of shooter/scorers available, any one of which could significantly upgrade our bench shooting, which is an offseason must. One of Jordan Hawkins, Jett Howard, Grady Dick, Brice Sensabaugh or Kris Murray should be there for us. Keyonte George is in that group as well, but I don't like him. I get small guard, hero ball gunner vibes from him, or Austin Rivers syndrome.

The interesting question is what if an highly rated connector or defender like Cason Wallace or Anthony Black slides down? We have a guy like that in Dyson, but those high-IQ guys might be hard to pass on.

In any case, the Pels absolutely cannot go into next season without addressing their shooting problems. Period. Full stop. Has to happen and we shouldn't be shy about turning over the bottom of the roster to make sure we've got at least two new shooters on the bench.

My man crush though in the current draft class is Trayce Jackson-Davis out of Indiana, a mobile 6'9" big with hops and a 7'+ reach who can also pass and score down on the block. He's not coveted because he's not any kind of three point shooter, but he has a lot of Sabonis in him otherwise. Taking him at 14 is too high, but if Pels could get back into the end of the first, I'd be happy to give up a future asset to get TJD. He projects as exactly the kind of big Willie wants and he and Larry would be pretty interchangeable.

At the end of lotto we should go for a a movement shooter or shot blocker.

Hawkins makes sense. Could also live with a roll of the dice on Lively.

Understand your thinking on this, but part of being a GM is maximizing value.

The best case scenario here is for the Pels to come out of this draft with one of the top shooter/scorers, which is very doable at the end of the lottery, and a switchable, rim-protecting big who can also rebound. Harder to do both.

But if TJD was still there toward the end of the first, which is likely given his shooting limitations, I'd gladly give up a lottery-protected first in '24 or '25 to a team like Indiana that's already made multiple picks in the first round and may want to trade out of a late first in favor of a potential mid-round first next year or the year after.

The analytics guys might kill you for doing it, but if you think TJD would be worth a mid-round first pick on his own in the next two years, I think you do it to get him now. Really just advancing the pick a year on a guy you like--assuming they do.

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best case scenario here is for the Pels to come out of this draft with one of the top shooter/scorers, which is very doable at the end of the lottery, and a switchable, rim-protecting big who can also rebound. Harder to do both.

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I want to consider the concern about lively or nnaji being taken before consensus.
if you have your pnr defender guy available at 14 how does it matter if he would have lasted until memphis picks?
you aren't picking him to trade him. he goes to Birmingham squadron and works on his game.
pretty soon he's taking nances minutes.

and you can't trade down far enough to make the pick map to the Espn big board at 29 because somewhere after 15 someone else says heck yeah.

beings there's only a couple of pnr & rim defenders lively nnaji they will be like DE in the nfl draft. every one wants one.

Not a no, but a HELL no to a pick + JV -> Capela.

He has gone from an above average defender to barely average and only getting worse.

Also who knows what the $$ will be.

Daniel Gafford as a backup I would be down for, esp if we can move on from Nance at some point soon. As much as I like him, he's become too injury prone to be a dependable backup; esp when we have 2 injury prone starters. asking for trouble.

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Interesting. How many Hawks games did you watch this season? I thought Capela was still a high impact rebounder and rim protector.

What would be your plan to address the Center position this offseason?

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To me capela is just the inverse of JV. Better defender, about the same rebounder, and a way worse offensive player. What you gain on the defensive end you lose on the offensive end so to me it ends up being a wash.

I think a player we should take a hard look at is Leonard Miller. While he doesn’t have top end athleticism which may limit his upside he is very quick laterally for his size so I don’t think he will have any issues switching.

Offensively he's shown ability to score in a multitude of ways (PnR, Fast Break, Initiating, Cutting), and had one of, if not the best shooting percentage in the paint in the G League. Can finish with both hands and his range stretches out to the 3 point line.

I think rebounding may be a bit of a concern until he adds strength. Saw him progress a lot throughout the season as he added strength, and has a frame where adding more shouldn’t be a concern.

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To me capela is just the inverse of JV. Better defender, about the same rebounder, and a way worse offensive player.

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Which is something we don’t have on this team. I’m not saying we should get Capela because of the contract, acquisition cost, and injury history, but part of this team’s issue is the overlapping roster, specifically with the bigs.

I know I’m not in the minority on this, but I was beating this drum before the season started that JV, Billy, and Jax are all too redundant. It’s why Nance is such an important piece for us simply because he provides something that no one else on the roster does. We worry so much about having a floor spacing big to play with Zion, but having a rim protector and rebounder at the 5 that can anchor a defense allows us to play Murphy or Ingram at the 4 and still be competent on D. We still need bigs that can stretch the floor with Zion, but that defensive option off the bench is something that would be extremely helpful, especially with how much time Zion has been missing.

We probably would have had to beat the 2/16 million he got from the Knicks, but imagine this team with Isaiah Hartenstein coming off the bench instead of Jax and Billy. There were a lot of times down the stretch that a CJ, BI, Herb, Murphy, Hartenstein lineup would have been more effective than CJ, BI, Herb, Murphy, JV. If we keep JV this off-season, we really need to get a rim protector for the bench that can contribute immediately, I’m not sure we can draft that.

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Here's a good video of Jordan Hawkins analysis and projection in the league.

LINK

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I've tried to talk myself into him and I just can't. I know we need shooting, I know he's probably the best shooter in the draft but I don't think he'll be a positive in any other area in the NBA. He's a poor finisher, poor rebounder, very poor playmaker, and way too light to be a good nba defender. I'd rather keyonte george who can create his own shot or jett howard who is a great shooter and has the size to become a good defender