2018 NBA Draft - June 21

[Derek]

I'm pretty convinced that a good portion of NCAA coaches are nothing more than cheerleaders in dress clothes for the majority of the time lol

What exactly are NBA coaches then?

 

[Nathan S]

What exactly are NBA coaches then?

People casually refer to them as cheerleaders but really they're professional dancers.

 

[Derek]

People casually refer to them as cheerleaders but really they're professional dancers.

I'd say babysitters is more accurate

 

[Derek]

7. Cleveland Cavaliers (via Nets)

Michael Porter Jr.
Missouri
Age: 19.7
SF/PF

Height: 6-10 | Weight: 214

With an uncertain future on the horizon due to LeBron James' free agency, the Cavs will need to stockpile as much talent as they can, regardless of their hopes of keeping the King at home.

Porter came into the season with the hope of making a run at being the No. 1 pick in the draft. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to build his case because of a back injury. Porter's size, shot-creation skill and scoring instincts will nevertheless make him a coveted prospect next June. He is a playmaker on both ends of the floor and is just starting to figure out how to put his talent to full use.

 

[Flow85]

So it begins.. Trae Young declared for the draft:

View: https://twitter.com/TheTraeYoung/status/976090922881634305


and we know what Lebron thinks of him:

View: https://twitter.com/ballislife/status/944998039617441793?lang=de


Unfortunately the same thing happenend when he left Miami:

View: https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/482344663115112448


they ended up drafting mediocre Shabazz Napier because the King wanted it. Lets hope that this is not happening again and we draft someone who is able to play a decent role and contribute on defense like Mo Bamba or Jaren Jackson

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

My hope at this stage is that we stay away from Porter.

He reminds me of Austin Daye and Quincy Miller too much at the moment, even without his bad back.

Things can change, but he is a super risky pick.

 

[Nathan S]

So it begins.. Trae Young declared for the draft:

View: https://twitter.com/TheTraeYoung/status/976090922881634305


and we know what Lebron thinks of him:

View: https://twitter.com/ballislife/status/944998039617441793?lang=de


Unfortunately the same thing happenend when he left Miami:

View: https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/482344663115112448


they ended up drafting mediocre Shabazz Napier because the King wanted it. Lets hope that this is not happening again and we draft someone who is able to play a decent role and contribute on defense like Mo Bamba or Jaren Jackson

Why do people always talk about Shabazz Napier as if he was some huge bust? He's a solid 20 mpg roleplayer for a very good Blazers team...what more do you want from a late first rounder?

 

[Derek]

Why do people always talk about Shabazz Napier as if he was some huge bust? He's a solid 20 mpg roleplayer for a very good Blazers team...what more do you want from a late first rounder?

Because this is the first year he hasn't been trash, and LeBron talked him up like a superstar

 

[Nathan S]

Because this is the first year he hasn't been trash, and LeBron talked him up like a superstar

I mean, of course LeBron's going to hype a potential teammate he's excited about, but the reality of the situation is you're not normally going to find an instant-impact player in the late first round, let alone an instant superstar. I'm not saying hand LeBron the reins and let him make the pick for us, but I haven't seen much to suggest that he's a particularly bad talent evaluator either. You could obviously do a lot worse than Napier with the 24th pick in a typical draft.

 

[Derek]

I mean, of course LeBron's going to hype a potential teammate he's excited about, but the reality of the situation is you're not normally going to find an instant-impact player in the late first round, let alone an instant superstar. I'm not saying hand LeBron the reins and let him make the pick for us, but I haven't seen much to suggest that he's a particularly bad talent evaluator either. You could obviously do a lot worse than Napier with the 24th pick in a typical draft.

I was just explaining why people talk poorly about Napier.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the second point because I think LeBron has proven himself to be a pretty poor judge of talent

 

[Flow85]

I mean, of course LeBron's going to hype a potential teammate he's excited about, but the reality of the situation is you're not normally going to find an instant-impact player in the late first round, let alone an instant superstar. I'm not saying hand LeBron the reins and let him make the pick for us, but I haven't seen much to suggest that he's a particularly bad talent evaluator either. You could obviously do a lot worse than Napier with the 24th pick in a typical draft.

Of course it is not easy to find instant-impact players in the late rounds, but especially in that draft, look who was avaible after him:

25. Clint Capela
30. Kyle Anderson
38. Spencer Dinwiddie
41. Nikola Jokic
46. Jordan Clarkson

Yes, fingerpointing is easy afterwards, I justed to make the point that we should not let Lebron picking for us just to make him happy. Even more if he maybe leaves afterwards and we end up with Trae Young as a cornerstone to build upon if we could have got the likes of Bamba, JJJR etc..

 

[Nathan S]

Of course it is not easy to find instant-impact players in the late rounds, but especially in that draft, look who was avaible after him:

25. Clint Capela
30. Kyle Anderson
38. Spencer Dinwiddie
41. Nikola Jokic
46. Jordan Clarkson

Yes, fingerpointing is easy afterwards, I justed to make the point that we should not let Lebron picking for us just to make him happy. Even more if he maybe leaves afterwards and we end up with Trae Young as a cornerstone to build upon if we could have got the likes of Bamba, JJJR etc..

I'm just saying it's a very different situation here...it's not like the Heat had a top-5 pick and they let LeBron choose and he picked a bust. They had a late first rounder and he picked a pretty decent late first rounder. Jokic, Capela, or Anderson would've been better, Dinwiddie and Clarkson are pretty similar, and then you have a bunch of other guys who are much worse. Again, not saying LeBron is a draft genius or anything, but I have no reason to believe he's worse than Gilbert or any of the other key FO guys.

 

[cavsfever]

C'mon man, get real. LEBRON IS NOT A SCOUT. The reason Lebron liked Shabazz Napier coming out is that UConn won the NCAA tournament that year so Lebron saw him play in a high-pressure game. Clint Capela and Nikola Jokic spent the year playing in the Euroleagues and I'm sure Lebron never saw a minute of their play or even knew their names. Taking random tweets from Lebron about some dude he just saw score 22 points winning the NCAA championship game as the equivalent of considered scouting judgement is just silly. Nobody on the Cavs, very much including Lebron, is going to think it's a good idea for Lebron to spend a few hours watching the Final Four and make our draft pick for us.

And BTW, as Nathan says, Lebron's snap judgement wasn't so terrible -- Napier has stuck in the NBA which means he was an above average 24th pick.

 

[Nathan S]

Just noticed thestepien.com has a player projection tool: https://www.thestepien.com/player-distribution-tool/


Some superstar (+5 or greater impact per 100) probabilities for top prospects:

Wendell Carter - 18.1%
Zhaire Smith - 14.4%
Trae Young - 13.3%
Jaren Jackson - 12.7%
Jontay Porter - 9.4%
DeAndre Ayton - 9.3%
Marvin Bagley - 9.2%
Mohammed Bamba - 0.73%

And star (+3.5 or greater impact per 100) probabilities:

Wendell Carter - 49.2%
Zhaire Smith - 40.1%
Jaren Jackson - 36.1%
Jontay Porter - 32.5%
Trae Young - 32.3%
Marvin Bagley - 25.7%
DeAndre Ayton - 24.0%
Mohammed Bamba - 8.6%


It's more conservative than my model, but still very bullish on Carter, Jackson, and Jontay (I have all three with >50% chance of becoming stars by this criteria). About in line with my model on Smith, Young, and Bamba. More optimistic than my model on Bagley and Ayton, though it still has them pretty solidly out of the top 5.

EDIT: somewhat tangentially, was reading an article on there that listed Derek Fisher as a possible comparison for Jevon Carter. Thought that was on the money.

 

[RchfldCavRaised]

Watched the Trae Young interview on First Take this morning and ermmmm... he needs PR coaching pretty badly. I followed his interview about as well as Kyrie. Granted there were alot of nerves for a 19 yr old kid as opposed to Kyrie being a 25 yr old man and stammering and waxing poetic with a microphone, but it was bad.


I heard a player comp this morning on Sirius radio that I did NOT think of but now that its been made, I came into the office and it was scary how similar the stats are... Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abdoul-Rauf. Wow. It's scary how eerily similar both in size/stature and game.