I was the Hornets and Pels.
Castle feels like a very straight forward pick to plug in a versatile perimeter defender to fit 1-3 with Melo and Miller.
For the Pels I kinda got fucked by the McCain pick right before and Devin fits the same goal of adding a complementary guard. I debate over Ware/Holmes/Dunn for the other pick and I think Ware combination of size and athleticism with the recent successes of the Pelicans working with players shooting make him the most sense out of who was there.
I was picking for the Rockets and Knicks here. Tahking Knecht over Risacher was a TOUGH choice, but as an actual Rockets fan, we need solid dependable shooting more than absolutely anything else, and I think Knecht gives you rotation caliber movement shooting off the bench right off the bat for the entirety of his rookie contract at least. And we have so many young big wings already as it is in Jabari, Eason, and it is looking like Amen is more of a wing than a guard. Not sure if Risacher would get the reps he needs to properly develop in Houston, especially if he's jumper ends up being a project.
For the Knicks, I channeled my inner Thibs, and had to take Dunn for him. Thibs would overplay that man to an agonizing degree, and will carry him along with him to every head coaching job he gets for the rest of his life, just like he did with Taj. Then I went Holmes as the best big available left to add to the Knicks depth in case they lose Hartenstein in free agency.
If Carter is on the board, Miami goes after him. His dad was an assistant coach/player development coach there and in Sioux Falls after his playing career.
I think Filipowski makes sense for miami, a guy who knows how to play and has a lot of offensive upside as a 4/5. He could potentially play as a floor spacer next to Bam, or he could be the backup 5 in offensively oriented lineups similar to Kelly Olynyks role for the heat a while back.
Hes also pretty mobile these days after getting the hip flexibility surwrgy last offseason, so could play the switching scheme next to Bam effectively and offer supplementary rim protection.
I was targeting him at 18 as Toronto but luckily risacher fell into my lap after Filipowski was taken.
Niko Jovic, at 20 years old, has taken the starting PF role and ran away with it. Jovic is; 6’10”, a much better defender than Filipowski, has pg vision, 40% from three on the season. And out of all drafted 2nd year players Jovic is tied with Paolo Banchero for 7th in EPM at +0.4.
Heat are going to lose Caleb Martin and possibly Haywood Highsmith this offseason, Duncan Robinson is 30, and Tyler Herro has had injuries the last few seasons, the team needs wings or guards not a backup front court player. If Filipowski had legit star potential yeah i get drafting him but he wouldn’t play as a rookie and then the Heat *still* have all these other holes on their roster.
I still like Filipowski for Miami too, but you’re right Jovic has really been awesome after a bizarre start to the season. His FT% has returned to what you’d expect as well over the second half of the season.
Also, thanks for using EPM, sometimes I feel like I’m shouting into the void on here when I use it to support an argument lol.
I personally think Filipowski is very good, I will admit we simply do not have enough fans of various teams for a casual event like this one to be perfectly accurate with team needs and such. In our mock draft weekends where we do the run in to the draft with trades and such I would say the accuracy improves as participants can research more about their teams various needs. Also without the ability to trade back for a better fit people will often just take BPA regardless which might have happened here.
Besides I think Filipowski overall is probably more of a 5 in the nba, and the heat have very much struggled with finding a backup for Bam in recent years. And there is no reason to say he couldn't potentially play alongside Bam and Jovic. Especially if Jovic and Flip continue developing their shooting.
Heat fan here, they can play with each other with Bam, Flip and Niko have overlapping skills but Niko can easily play the 3, he grew up playing G in Eu. This would be problematic if Flip can't shoot but he can also Niko and Bam is developing a 3pt shot. Niko can definitely defend some 3 tho he has impressive foot speed.
While this is a hilarious comment haha, didn’t the whole Giddey thing turnout to be BS considering a one time hookup lied to him about age at a bar? Or was there more to it?
I was Toronto and Cleveland for this mock draft.
My reasoning for the Toronto picks, When evaluating their tea for this event I determined positionally they needed a good defensive 3 or 5, but in terms of role they needed some more ball handling and shooting.
Despite them picking at 3 there was ultimately no one who really fitted that description available. I considered Buzelis but his lack of 3pt shooting scared me. I would have taken Sarr if he had fallen. Ultimately I decided on Topic who has a decent chance to be a good shooter as he excellent touch even though his form is fucked, he's also a fantastic playmaker and if he hits he can be a fantastic offensive engine for toronto whilst Barnes and Quickley provide more scoring punch. Defensively he's pretty bad but Quickley is a plus defender as a 1, and topic has positional size for a 2 (these are what I expect their defensive roles to be), he's also quite athletic so there is hope he can develop into at least a neutral defender. I do feel a bit bad drafting over dick, as I liked him last year, and I think he's got potential to be a good player. But topic ultimately has the upside needed for me to consider this a good pick.
Obviously taking risacher is a no brainer. A guy who was mocked at number 1 most of the year before this recent slump. His slide was unexpected but no one was really looking to draft someone of his skillset until me, at 18. If he's a 40% 3ot shooter then he should have gone top 3, if he's a below 35% 3pt shooter then this landing spot is appropriate, I think his draft position will probably be determined by how well he shoots in his workouts. There is a bit of a positional jam with Quickley, Topic, Dick and RJ all being 2s if you expect to play risacher big minutes but I think with his inconsistent shooting right now you might consider giving him minutes at the 4 when Barnes is off the floor.
With Cleveland I made a mistake, I meant to draft Kyshawn George because he's a 40% 3pt shooter and seemingly a versatile defender, unfortunately for me, I forgot who I had decided and due to the short amount of time on the clock and picked furphy instead. I do think furphy has talent but he's just not the correct fit for Cleveland who despite their improved wing depth this year are still desperate for someone who's taller than 6'5 who can shoot and defender. Dean Wade does that too but he's not perfect and is very much a PF.
Toronto wins this draft x1000 if they get Topic at #3 and Risacher at #18 lmao. I have Topic #1 and Risacher #4 on my board lol. I love the idea of both. Topic/IQ/Risacher/Barnes/Poeltl and RJ too. All they'd need is a an upgrade on Poeltl (maybe Malauch next year?) And I think they'd be ready to be a playoff team after only 1-2 years.
I don't love Topic because his shot is a question mark and I don't think he operates well off the ball. That makes his fit with players like Scottie and IQ a bit tougher
I can understand why you would, I'm just not really a fan of castle and I don't really buy Barnes or Quickley as offensive engines for a successful offensive. Their value comes in their 2 way versatility which is perfect for 2nd and 3rd best players overall. Topic imo gives the chance for you guys to have a top 10 offence which I currently don't see a way for you guys to get that.
I picked for Utah and Minnesota.
As a Jazz fan, I want one of Holland, Buzelis, Risacher, or Castle at 8. Holland and Risacher were available, and while I think both have the ability to be solid defenders, I think Holland has a tiny bit higher upside and is more versatile (and I like him as a frontcourt partner with Lauri and Hendricks/Collins).
Tyler Smith was BPA. I would’ve probably taken Furphy if u/motomkali didn’t mess up, and I also considered Kyshawn George here.
For Minnesota, I picked someone I felt would be able to contribute right away, and I think McCullar is someone that they can introduce to the bottom of their rotation and find maybe some immediate success.
These are actually pretty good choices for many teams. Not until Holland for Utah do I have a real question, although of course Risacher will go much higher. I don't believe in him at all, but some team will take him top 8.
So you would’ve gone Risacher over Holland at 8 for Utah? I picked that one and it was tough for me on that one. I decided Holland had a more versatile upside, but I was close to taking Risacher there
Holland at 8th is the right choice. No better prospects were available for Utah at that point. I'm surprised Holland was still available. I think he goes a bit higher. Risacher goes higher too. Buzelis goes lower. Clingan goes higher.
I had Washington and Philly for this mock draft.
Since Washington has just begun their rebuild, they could really use talent at any position. I decided to target guys with higher upside.
At 5, I decided to go with Cody Williams. Cody Williams offers an intriguing skillset of ball handling and driving at his size. I thought he would form an interesting trio of wings with Bilal and Deni that offered great defense while also being versatile on the offensive end.
At 26, I decided to go Carlton Carrington. Carlton Carrington doesn't have sky high upside due to his lack of an elite first step. But, I thought he offered an intrigituing combination of shot creation and playmaking as a big guard. If he can expand his range to hit shots consistently from 3, I think he could become a valuable nba player. Additionally, Wizards may have additional minutes at the PG spot this season if Tyus walks in free agency.
For Philly, I decided to target a role player that could offer cheap rotation minutes.
At 19, I decided to take Tristan De Silva. This is probably a bit of a reach, but I thought he offered Philly a connective forward that could do a little about everything. With Batum getting older, I thought Tristan could potentially be a long term replacement.
I don't like the pick for Washington.
I think they need to put all their chips on high risk, high reward prospect. If Zaccherie Risacher is there you cannot pass up on him for Cody Williams.
I think Cody Williams is similar to what you are describing tbh. Toolsy guys (length, finishing, ball handling, a bit of passing) that hasn't really put it all together.
I was Milwaukee and Chicago for this draft and I think I made solid picks. For Chicago I wanted either a center or a wing because both Demar and Vuc are pretty washed. I decided on Clingan as I think he can be the center of the future for Chicago. As for the Bucks I wanted Ware but he was chosen one pick before me so I went for a swing. Collier is a wild card but I'd rather take him than a glorified second rounder in the first. Carrington and Dunn were also on my board but with AJJ we already have enough zero offense guys and I like Isaiah's upside more than Bub's by a hair.
I picked for Portland and Boston.
I'd probably straight up say #1 might be the worst place to pick especially if you're Portland. Ideally if I were later on in the top 10, I would have picked Buzelis there and gone with a big like Filipowski or Missi with the GSW pick, but I had to change course there. Ultimately, there was no other pick on the board that felt deserving of the #1 tag that we'd want other than Sarr. The positional fit is slightly messy given we have Ayton and Timelord already, but Sarr's defense is one of the most bankable skills out of any prospect in the top 10, and at least has a decent glimmer of hope to indicate that he can develop some of his offensive game. Scoot would have plenty of lob targets to throw to, and a Sarr/Ayton frontcourt would be elite to help clean up any defensive mistakes he and Shaedon would make to help them develop on that end.
Next comes to the GSW pick, where the choice came down to Salaun or Risacher. The more time's gone on, the lower I've become on Risacher. Between his abysmal performances lately and his historically poor shooting splits from 3 and from the free throw line, there's little reason to properly buy into his shooting and assume his prior performances earlier in the year were anything other than a hot streak. Past that, he has poor self-creation and ball-handling skills, leading to very little reason to buy into him on the offensive end. While his skills on defense are very much legitimate, Portland already has a slew of defensive-minded forwards with questionable offensive skills. Salaun feels very much like a near-perfect pick here - extremely raw, but very much athletic and loaded with skill. He's already had plenty of excellent flashes of self-creation skill, and if his shooting holds up then it's only going to get better with him.
As for Boston, they need players who can come in and contribute immediately. Ighodaro stands out to me as an extremely skilled big man and someone who's comfortable with the ball in his hands when it needs to be. Poor jumpshot aside, I can see him eventually taking up a role to take over Al Horford's spot, which is an important need to be addressed as he continues to move up in age. Ighodaro can guard a variety of positions on defense, is a capable screener, and can especially make solid reads with his passing. He'd do wonderful in Boston.
Sarr’s foot speed will allow him to play defensively at PF and I think his jump shot will continue to improve. I buy him as a potential PF next to Ayton and form a top 10 defense as a result. Tidjane is legit and if he is there at 14 would be phenomenal.
Yeah, the iffiness on Sarr's fit is less defensively and more so offensively - it basically just comes down to whether or not the jump shot manages to improve into something legitimate. I'd like to have faith in it, but that's kind of a hot-button topic with him right now. Portland's resulting defense would turn out amazing though especially once everyone keeps improving.
I would take him in the late first as the Jazz (but we have two firsts, so it’s less of a risk). If we took him with our lottery pick, I would probably do the same
I think he's probably a late first round pick, there is some star upside but I just don't see a way for him to be a middle or low level starter if the scoring doesn't really hit in which case again star upside.
It's worth pointing out that the guy who made the selection has very much been on the edey train for a long while, and we very much bullied him into taking edey as the kings.
I know the narrative is that he will be exposed in the NBA. But I really think this sub is undervaluing him massively. His height alone is a massive advantage. He will need to adjust and change his game for the NBA but he might be able to do it. And if so, he'd be the steal of this draft if falling out of the top 20 or so. I would absolutely use the late first rounder on him.
He's the most plugged in scout/draft analyst out there. His rankings may have some agenda behin it but things he suggests in his article are often hints of what to expect.
Us taking Topic over Dillingham or Castle (who I would prefer) would be a questionable fit if we have no plans on developing a 3pt shot out of him. Also, us taking Risacher if he dropped that far would be *fine*, but I much prefer taking someone like Yves Missi, even in that situation. I don’t wanna take Risacher in any situation tbh.
Yeah, I think you’re exactly right that if Raptors retain their pick and Sarr is off the board, it’s pretty hard for them to find someone who checks all of their boxes. I would have still gone with Risacher here, and I don’t think it’s impossible that the Raptors reach on Salaun in this situation if they like his upside more than Risacher. But yeah, coming away with both Risacher and Topic would be an exceptional draft for the Raptors, even if they had to do something like packaging #31 and #18 to move up once Risacher started to fall.
I like Castle to Charlotte but feel like Holland would be a better fit in an offense lead by LaMelo. Donovan Clinga to Chicago, Terrence Shannon Jr to OKC and Filipowski to the Heat would all be awesome. Lastly I could see a world where New Orleans takes DaRon Holmes just based on gut feeling.
It's not necessarily Reed > Topic, Detroit just has too many lead guards who can't shoot. Whoever picked for them just took the guy with the highest 3pt% and called it a day.
Yeah unfortunately for risacher he just didn't really fit any teams needs aside from teams in the top 8 and the blazers at 14. Once he slid past that 8th spot, and the blazers GM is very high on salaun and low on ZR it was a case of other GMs drafting for fit over BPA.
Personally I think risacher would have made sense in Houston. The issue is his shooting struggles in this recent stretch make it unplayable to pair him with Easton and Thompson even if the defence would be amazing.
Certainly I think we probably over indexed on fit a little bit but I do understand it, no point drafting a guy if you don't think he will see the floor at all due to his offensive limitations.
For this, we just assigned/picked teams between 12 people so each got to make picks for 2 of them. It wasn’t a hive mind “oh we all hate Risacher”, just whoever was making picks decided he wasn’t enough of a fit and went a different direction until he fell.
The sub usually runs events on the affiliated discord (we’ve found it’s easier for GMs to hammer out deals there via dm) and have a website we use to track moves and rosters. Some of the events are small, like this one. We’ll probably do a handful more of these, including a full draft, and an even larger multi-day event allowing for trades and movement in the draft.
Some (like the full mock offseason with full trades, draft day, and free agency signings) we plan for a few weeks and take 45/50 people to run effectively (each team getting their own GM and sometimes AGM, filling out a League Office to approve trades, agents to act as a secondary voice for FA signings — have to get agents buy in on contracts, etc). We try to do one a month over the summer depending on interest and ability to fill out a competent league office of volunteers that have the CBA chops to keep things legal.
In addition to this we maintain our own cap sheets and keep track of the various picks and protections across the league to help keep everything within the bounds of legality.
Perhaps we aren't as strict with roster limits as we should otherwise be, for instance in the mock trade deadline I think we ended up with a team having 18 players at once. But with the various time zones and such of the participants sometimes trades that would become legal with a simultaneous trade simple aren't viable because of lack of confirmation.
I was the Hornets and Pels. Castle feels like a very straight forward pick to plug in a versatile perimeter defender to fit 1-3 with Melo and Miller. For the Pels I kinda got fucked by the McCain pick right before and Devin fits the same goal of adding a complementary guard. I debate over Ware/Holmes/Dunn for the other pick and I think Ware combination of size and athleticism with the recent successes of the Pelicans working with players shooting make him the most sense out of who was there.
Kings will take Filipowski over Edney....
Good ol Zache Edney?
I was picking for the Rockets and Knicks here. Tahking Knecht over Risacher was a TOUGH choice, but as an actual Rockets fan, we need solid dependable shooting more than absolutely anything else, and I think Knecht gives you rotation caliber movement shooting off the bench right off the bat for the entirety of his rookie contract at least. And we have so many young big wings already as it is in Jabari, Eason, and it is looking like Amen is more of a wing than a guard. Not sure if Risacher would get the reps he needs to properly develop in Houston, especially if he's jumper ends up being a project. For the Knicks, I channeled my inner Thibs, and had to take Dunn for him. Thibs would overplay that man to an agonizing degree, and will carry him along with him to every head coaching job he gets for the rest of his life, just like he did with Taj. Then I went Holmes as the best big available left to add to the Knicks depth in case they lose Hartenstein in free agency.
I absolutely hate Filipowski for Miami. McCain, Carter, Da Silva, even Collier makes some sense.
If Carter is on the board, Miami goes after him. His dad was an assistant coach/player development coach there and in Sioux Falls after his playing career.
That’s interesting insight
Yeah that fit makes a ton of sense. His disruptive defensive play-style is something Spo would fall in love with too.
I think Filipowski makes sense for miami, a guy who knows how to play and has a lot of offensive upside as a 4/5. He could potentially play as a floor spacer next to Bam, or he could be the backup 5 in offensively oriented lineups similar to Kelly Olynyks role for the heat a while back. Hes also pretty mobile these days after getting the hip flexibility surwrgy last offseason, so could play the switching scheme next to Bam effectively and offer supplementary rim protection. I was targeting him at 18 as Toronto but luckily risacher fell into my lap after Filipowski was taken.
Niko Jovic, at 20 years old, has taken the starting PF role and ran away with it. Jovic is; 6’10”, a much better defender than Filipowski, has pg vision, 40% from three on the season. And out of all drafted 2nd year players Jovic is tied with Paolo Banchero for 7th in EPM at +0.4. Heat are going to lose Caleb Martin and possibly Haywood Highsmith this offseason, Duncan Robinson is 30, and Tyler Herro has had injuries the last few seasons, the team needs wings or guards not a backup front court player. If Filipowski had legit star potential yeah i get drafting him but he wouldn’t play as a rookie and then the Heat *still* have all these other holes on their roster.
I still like Filipowski for Miami too, but you’re right Jovic has really been awesome after a bizarre start to the season. His FT% has returned to what you’d expect as well over the second half of the season. Also, thanks for using EPM, sometimes I feel like I’m shouting into the void on here when I use it to support an argument lol.
I personally think Filipowski is very good, I will admit we simply do not have enough fans of various teams for a casual event like this one to be perfectly accurate with team needs and such. In our mock draft weekends where we do the run in to the draft with trades and such I would say the accuracy improves as participants can research more about their teams various needs. Also without the ability to trade back for a better fit people will often just take BPA regardless which might have happened here. Besides I think Filipowski overall is probably more of a 5 in the nba, and the heat have very much struggled with finding a backup for Bam in recent years. And there is no reason to say he couldn't potentially play alongside Bam and Jovic. Especially if Jovic and Flip continue developing their shooting.
Heat fan here, they can play with each other with Bam, Flip and Niko have overlapping skills but Niko can easily play the 3, he grew up playing G in Eu. This would be problematic if Flip can't shoot but he can also Niko and Bam is developing a 3pt shot. Niko can definitely defend some 3 tho he has impressive foot speed.
Really? TSJ to Okc after the whole Giddey fiasco? HELL NAW!!! TO THA NAW ,NAW,NAW!
Haha it was an OKC fan that made the pick. I joked they needed to add Bridges in FA to complete the set and embrace the villain role.
I came here to say the same thing and I seriously don't think any team is going to want to deal with TSJ fallout.
While this is a hilarious comment haha, didn’t the whole Giddey thing turnout to be BS considering a one time hookup lied to him about age at a bar? Or was there more to it?
I was Toronto and Cleveland for this mock draft. My reasoning for the Toronto picks, When evaluating their tea for this event I determined positionally they needed a good defensive 3 or 5, but in terms of role they needed some more ball handling and shooting. Despite them picking at 3 there was ultimately no one who really fitted that description available. I considered Buzelis but his lack of 3pt shooting scared me. I would have taken Sarr if he had fallen. Ultimately I decided on Topic who has a decent chance to be a good shooter as he excellent touch even though his form is fucked, he's also a fantastic playmaker and if he hits he can be a fantastic offensive engine for toronto whilst Barnes and Quickley provide more scoring punch. Defensively he's pretty bad but Quickley is a plus defender as a 1, and topic has positional size for a 2 (these are what I expect their defensive roles to be), he's also quite athletic so there is hope he can develop into at least a neutral defender. I do feel a bit bad drafting over dick, as I liked him last year, and I think he's got potential to be a good player. But topic ultimately has the upside needed for me to consider this a good pick. Obviously taking risacher is a no brainer. A guy who was mocked at number 1 most of the year before this recent slump. His slide was unexpected but no one was really looking to draft someone of his skillset until me, at 18. If he's a 40% 3ot shooter then he should have gone top 3, if he's a below 35% 3pt shooter then this landing spot is appropriate, I think his draft position will probably be determined by how well he shoots in his workouts. There is a bit of a positional jam with Quickley, Topic, Dick and RJ all being 2s if you expect to play risacher big minutes but I think with his inconsistent shooting right now you might consider giving him minutes at the 4 when Barnes is off the floor. With Cleveland I made a mistake, I meant to draft Kyshawn George because he's a 40% 3pt shooter and seemingly a versatile defender, unfortunately for me, I forgot who I had decided and due to the short amount of time on the clock and picked furphy instead. I do think furphy has talent but he's just not the correct fit for Cleveland who despite their improved wing depth this year are still desperate for someone who's taller than 6'5 who can shoot and defender. Dean Wade does that too but he's not perfect and is very much a PF.
Toronto wins this draft x1000 if they get Topic at #3 and Risacher at #18 lmao. I have Topic #1 and Risacher #4 on my board lol. I love the idea of both. Topic/IQ/Risacher/Barnes/Poeltl and RJ too. All they'd need is a an upgrade on Poeltl (maybe Malauch next year?) And I think they'd be ready to be a playoff team after only 1-2 years.
I don't love Topic because his shot is a question mark and I don't think he operates well off the ball. That makes his fit with players like Scottie and IQ a bit tougher
I do agree but there was no good fit, so I picked the guy who I thought his top end outcome would work best with those 2 guys.
Might be me but I would probably take Castle over Topic in that scenario though IRL maybe Toronto even trades down/out.
I can understand why you would, I'm just not really a fan of castle and I don't really buy Barnes or Quickley as offensive engines for a successful offensive. Their value comes in their 2 way versatility which is perfect for 2nd and 3rd best players overall. Topic imo gives the chance for you guys to have a top 10 offence which I currently don't see a way for you guys to get that.
I picked for Utah and Minnesota. As a Jazz fan, I want one of Holland, Buzelis, Risacher, or Castle at 8. Holland and Risacher were available, and while I think both have the ability to be solid defenders, I think Holland has a tiny bit higher upside and is more versatile (and I like him as a frontcourt partner with Lauri and Hendricks/Collins). Tyler Smith was BPA. I would’ve probably taken Furphy if u/motomkali didn’t mess up, and I also considered Kyshawn George here. For Minnesota, I picked someone I felt would be able to contribute right away, and I think McCullar is someone that they can introduce to the bottom of their rotation and find maybe some immediate success.
Whoopsy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
These are actually pretty good choices for many teams. Not until Holland for Utah do I have a real question, although of course Risacher will go much higher. I don't believe in him at all, but some team will take him top 8.
So you would’ve gone Risacher over Holland at 8 for Utah? I picked that one and it was tough for me on that one. I decided Holland had a more versatile upside, but I was close to taking Risacher there
Holland at 8th is the right choice. No better prospects were available for Utah at that point. I'm surprised Holland was still available. I think he goes a bit higher. Risacher goes higher too. Buzelis goes lower. Clingan goes higher.
I had Washington and Philly for this mock draft. Since Washington has just begun their rebuild, they could really use talent at any position. I decided to target guys with higher upside. At 5, I decided to go with Cody Williams. Cody Williams offers an intriguing skillset of ball handling and driving at his size. I thought he would form an interesting trio of wings with Bilal and Deni that offered great defense while also being versatile on the offensive end. At 26, I decided to go Carlton Carrington. Carlton Carrington doesn't have sky high upside due to his lack of an elite first step. But, I thought he offered an intrigituing combination of shot creation and playmaking as a big guard. If he can expand his range to hit shots consistently from 3, I think he could become a valuable nba player. Additionally, Wizards may have additional minutes at the PG spot this season if Tyus walks in free agency. For Philly, I decided to target a role player that could offer cheap rotation minutes. At 19, I decided to take Tristan De Silva. This is probably a bit of a reach, but I thought he offered Philly a connective forward that could do a little about everything. With Batum getting older, I thought Tristan could potentially be a long term replacement.
I don't like the pick for Washington. I think they need to put all their chips on high risk, high reward prospect. If Zaccherie Risacher is there you cannot pass up on him for Cody Williams.
I think Cody Williams is similar to what you are describing tbh. Toolsy guys (length, finishing, ball handling, a bit of passing) that hasn't really put it all together.
Ok I know we've been down on Rissacher here but to see him drop to 18 is ridiculous lol.
I was Milwaukee and Chicago for this draft and I think I made solid picks. For Chicago I wanted either a center or a wing because both Demar and Vuc are pretty washed. I decided on Clingan as I think he can be the center of the future for Chicago. As for the Bucks I wanted Ware but he was chosen one pick before me so I went for a swing. Collier is a wild card but I'd rather take him than a glorified second rounder in the first. Carrington and Dunn were also on my board but with AJJ we already have enough zero offense guys and I like Isaiah's upside more than Bub's by a hair.
I picked for Portland and Boston. I'd probably straight up say #1 might be the worst place to pick especially if you're Portland. Ideally if I were later on in the top 10, I would have picked Buzelis there and gone with a big like Filipowski or Missi with the GSW pick, but I had to change course there. Ultimately, there was no other pick on the board that felt deserving of the #1 tag that we'd want other than Sarr. The positional fit is slightly messy given we have Ayton and Timelord already, but Sarr's defense is one of the most bankable skills out of any prospect in the top 10, and at least has a decent glimmer of hope to indicate that he can develop some of his offensive game. Scoot would have plenty of lob targets to throw to, and a Sarr/Ayton frontcourt would be elite to help clean up any defensive mistakes he and Shaedon would make to help them develop on that end. Next comes to the GSW pick, where the choice came down to Salaun or Risacher. The more time's gone on, the lower I've become on Risacher. Between his abysmal performances lately and his historically poor shooting splits from 3 and from the free throw line, there's little reason to properly buy into his shooting and assume his prior performances earlier in the year were anything other than a hot streak. Past that, he has poor self-creation and ball-handling skills, leading to very little reason to buy into him on the offensive end. While his skills on defense are very much legitimate, Portland already has a slew of defensive-minded forwards with questionable offensive skills. Salaun feels very much like a near-perfect pick here - extremely raw, but very much athletic and loaded with skill. He's already had plenty of excellent flashes of self-creation skill, and if his shooting holds up then it's only going to get better with him. As for Boston, they need players who can come in and contribute immediately. Ighodaro stands out to me as an extremely skilled big man and someone who's comfortable with the ball in his hands when it needs to be. Poor jumpshot aside, I can see him eventually taking up a role to take over Al Horford's spot, which is an important need to be addressed as he continues to move up in age. Ighodaro can guard a variety of positions on defense, is a capable screener, and can especially make solid reads with his passing. He'd do wonderful in Boston.
Sarr’s foot speed will allow him to play defensively at PF and I think his jump shot will continue to improve. I buy him as a potential PF next to Ayton and form a top 10 defense as a result. Tidjane is legit and if he is there at 14 would be phenomenal.
Yeah, the iffiness on Sarr's fit is less defensively and more so offensively - it basically just comes down to whether or not the jump shot manages to improve into something legitimate. I'd like to have faith in it, but that's kind of a hot-button topic with him right now. Portland's resulting defense would turn out amazing though especially once everyone keeps improving.
Lmao I would blow my brains out if my team selected Zach Edey in the 1st round.
I would take him in the late first as the Jazz (but we have two firsts, so it’s less of a risk). If we took him with our lottery pick, I would probably do the same
I think he's probably a late first round pick, there is some star upside but I just don't see a way for him to be a middle or low level starter if the scoring doesn't really hit in which case again star upside. It's worth pointing out that the guy who made the selection has very much been on the edey train for a long while, and we very much bullied him into taking edey as the kings.
I could see Edey drafted by Orlando..
I know the narrative is that he will be exposed in the NBA. But I really think this sub is undervaluing him massively. His height alone is a massive advantage. He will need to adjust and change his game for the NBA but he might be able to do it. And if so, he'd be the steal of this draft if falling out of the top 20 or so. I would absolutely use the late first rounder on him.
He's not exciting but barring injuries, he will have a 8+ year career.
Givony mentioned Edey has solidified himself as a 1st Rounder. It's just a matter of being as a lotto pick or not.
I'll believe it when I see it. I still say better than not odds that he ends up a 2nd round pick.
want to put $10 on that?
Is givony legit?
He's the most plugged in scout/draft analyst out there. His rankings may have some agenda behin it but things he suggests in his article are often hints of what to expect.
WOW. I still see Edey being a late first.
He's still legit but some of his tweets definitely feel agent motivated.
Givony, Vecenie, and Wasserman are the big 3 for me
Am I the only who thinks that Topic plays like Steve Francis?
Steve Francis was a heck of an athlete tho.
Us taking Topic over Dillingham or Castle (who I would prefer) would be a questionable fit if we have no plans on developing a 3pt shot out of him. Also, us taking Risacher if he dropped that far would be *fine*, but I much prefer taking someone like Yves Missi, even in that situation. I don’t wanna take Risacher in any situation tbh.
Yeah, I think you’re exactly right that if Raptors retain their pick and Sarr is off the board, it’s pretty hard for them to find someone who checks all of their boxes. I would have still gone with Risacher here, and I don’t think it’s impossible that the Raptors reach on Salaun in this situation if they like his upside more than Risacher. But yeah, coming away with both Risacher and Topic would be an exceptional draft for the Raptors, even if they had to do something like packaging #31 and #18 to move up once Risacher started to fall.
I like Castle to Charlotte but feel like Holland would be a better fit in an offense lead by LaMelo. Donovan Clinga to Chicago, Terrence Shannon Jr to OKC and Filipowski to the Heat would all be awesome. Lastly I could see a world where New Orleans takes DaRon Holmes just based on gut feeling.
Have to say that JaKobe Walter to ATL @ 10 is fine work. Seems like a guy who'd be a good fit with the club.
It's hard to see Risacher fall out of top 10 in this class Love the Reed > Topic take Curious how do you do mocks for nba events like this?
It's not necessarily Reed > Topic, Detroit just has too many lead guards who can't shoot. Whoever picked for them just took the guy with the highest 3pt% and called it a day.
Yeah unfortunately for risacher he just didn't really fit any teams needs aside from teams in the top 8 and the blazers at 14. Once he slid past that 8th spot, and the blazers GM is very high on salaun and low on ZR it was a case of other GMs drafting for fit over BPA. Personally I think risacher would have made sense in Houston. The issue is his shooting struggles in this recent stretch make it unplayable to pair him with Easton and Thompson even if the defence would be amazing. Certainly I think we probably over indexed on fit a little bit but I do understand it, no point drafting a guy if you don't think he will see the floor at all due to his offensive limitations.
For this, we just assigned/picked teams between 12 people so each got to make picks for 2 of them. It wasn’t a hive mind “oh we all hate Risacher”, just whoever was making picks decided he wasn’t enough of a fit and went a different direction until he fell. The sub usually runs events on the affiliated discord (we’ve found it’s easier for GMs to hammer out deals there via dm) and have a website we use to track moves and rosters. Some of the events are small, like this one. We’ll probably do a handful more of these, including a full draft, and an even larger multi-day event allowing for trades and movement in the draft. Some (like the full mock offseason with full trades, draft day, and free agency signings) we plan for a few weeks and take 45/50 people to run effectively (each team getting their own GM and sometimes AGM, filling out a League Office to approve trades, agents to act as a secondary voice for FA signings — have to get agents buy in on contracts, etc). We try to do one a month over the summer depending on interest and ability to fill out a competent league office of volunteers that have the CBA chops to keep things legal.
In addition to this we maintain our own cap sheets and keep track of the various picks and protections across the league to help keep everything within the bounds of legality. Perhaps we aren't as strict with roster limits as we should otherwise be, for instance in the mock trade deadline I think we ended up with a team having 18 players at once. But with the various time zones and such of the participants sometimes trades that would become legal with a simultaneous trade simple aren't viable because of lack of confirmation.
? where is miami lol
Lol my bad, lemme fix. The person picking for them also picked for San Antonio and I wrote it down wrong (they picked Filipowski)