Post by Muzunga on May 28, 2018 20:41:38 GMT
With a draft track record in 5.0 record that includes Drazen Petrovic, Trevon Duval and RJ Barrett I think we can all agree there is no one more qualified to grade this draft. This is probably the deepest draft we have had so far in 5.0 with potential stars across the board including Dirk, VC, Rashard, PP, Twan and Bibby. So lets take a look at how the first 15 picks of this draft turned out.
1.1 Blazers: Majic a lifelong proponent of the unweighted lotto, literally had the best luck you could have by moving from 15 all the way to 1. He had multiple holes to fill on the wing and in the front court and had his choice of either Vince or Dirk. He couldn't have gone wrong with either as they both look like can't miss prospects and both address a need.
In the end I think Majic made the right choice and took the big, who in 5.0 seem to be the dominating position and Dirk looks like a guy who will average 30 plus sooner rather than later. Good luck, good pick and he gets a grade to reflect it.
Selection: Dirk Nowitzki
Grade: A
1.2 Milwaukie Bucks: Trofie also had a good stroke of luck by moving up significantly to the 2 spot. I thought with Dirk gone this was a no brainer pick and Vince would be going to Wisconsin, in fact my sources tell me the Hornets had already started making Rashard Lewis jerseys and getting the plane ready to pick him and his family up in Houston. But then BOOM Adam Odin read the card and Trofie shocked the world by taking Paul Pierce out of Kansas. Based on his write up and grades I think PP will be a good player who has a long sim career. However, I'm going to give this pick a relatively bad grade because he passed on Vince who looks like he could be the best player in the draft. Trofie made the mistake of drafting for need as opposed to BPA.
Selection: Paul Pierce
Grade: C+
1.3 Charlotte Hornets: After stopping the presses and shipping the Rashard Lewis jerseys to Sudan the Hornets SPRINTED to the podium to take 4.0 Hornet legend Vince Carter. The Hornets had a need at pretty much every position and were thrilled to get arguably the BPA in the draft. Not only do scouts love his ability to score, but his touted athleticism was backed up by being the quickest guy at the combine and one of the strongest as well.
Selection: Vince Carter
Grade: A+
1.4 Cleveland Cavaliers: The cavs had needs all across the board, but especially in the backcourt and they addressed that need by taking Mike Bibby out of Arizona. His write up looks great, but his grades don't quite match that and he doesn't even have good enough handles to start at PG ( which is dumb, but thats for another time) so to take full advantage of Bibby Shaun is going to have to invest in his handles, thus limiting his potential as a scorer and impact player. With Rashard still on the board I have to grade this pick taking that into account.
Selection:Mike Bibby
Grade:C+
1.5 Washington Bullets: Based on write up and potential I believe an argument could be made that Rashard Lewis is the best prospect in this draft ( I dont think he is, but you could argue it and not be an idiot) and somehow he fell all the way to 5 and right in the lap of the Bullets. I was surprised to hear that they were deciding between Rashard and Larry Hughes, but Im not grading the pick on how bad it almost was ( that would have been an F) but just grading what actually happened and the Bullets took what could be the best player in the draft.
Selection: Rashard Lewis
Grade: A+
1.6 Dallas Mavericks: The Mavericks have two absolute superstars in Neon and Reddish, but their depth after those two is absolute dog shit, so Delap couldn't go wrong by picking any position. He took Al Harrington who has a lot of potential and can the second big next to Neon, lets just hope for Delap's sake he develops quickly enough to hit the window with Neon.
Selection: Al Harrington
Grade: B+
1.7 Chicago Bulls: Timpig and I both thought this was a 6 player draft ( Dirk, Vince, Rashard, PP, Bibby and Twan) and when he got the 7th pick he thought he would be just outside of that group, but with Delap taking Al Harrington he was able to take Antwan Jamison who looks like he will be able to score right away and be a reliable player for years in in the Bulls organization.
Selection: Antwan Jamison
Grade: A-
1.8 Seattle Supersonics: The Sonics, the worst team in the league almost had Fecta quality luck by dropping all the way down to 1.8 and missing the chance at the top group. At this point there is about 5 prospects who all feel about the same to me and he took one of those prospects in Larry Hughes. Hughes is young, has good grades and the athleticism to turn into a good player. His jumper his broke and if that doesnt get fixed he will never succeed, but the tools are there.
Selection: Larry Hughes
Grade: B
1.9 San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs are in rebuilding mode after trading Neon for a handful of picks and they had to address almost every position. They decided to address the PG position and took White Chocolate out of Florida. Williams looks like he will be a fine player, but scouts believe he doesnt have the killer instinct to be a great scorer and that limits his upside. For that reason I am not a huge fan of this pick when there were players like Raef Lafraentz still on the board.
Selection: Jason Williams
Grade: C
1.10: Los Angeles Lakers: This is probably the worst pick of the lottery and SPL's newness to 5.0 is showing. Candy Man's write up indicates he will be a good defender who is a high volume black hole on offense with a broken jumper. That screams disaster to me and my grade reflects that.
Selection:Michael Olowokandi
Grade:D
1.11: Denver Nuggets: The new guy Mike lucked into what might be the best PG in the class with Rafer Alston who has the scoring, handles and potential to be a great player. With a need everywhere besides SG he could have gone anywhere, but I love this pick.
Selection: Rafer Alston
Grade:A
1.12: Boston Celtics: In an attempt to get more Tim Pig pennies by getting triple doubles the Celtics took a SG with high upside in Ricky Davis. He has good grades and is good value at this spot.
Selection: Ricky Davis
Grade: B
1.13: Chicago Bulls: Timpig traded back up into the draft and used that selection on an unknown commodity from Europe with interesting grades. He could be good, but Im not a huge fan of trading up to make a selection on a prospect that looks far from a sure thing.
Selection:Sarunas Jasikevicius
Grade: C
1.14 Golden State Warriors: The Warriors took one of the last profile players left in Bonzi Wells. I actually like this pick quite a bit, seems like he will be a good defender who will just need to improve his jumper to be a good player.
Selection: Bonzi Wells
Grade:B+
1.15 Washington Wizards: In 5.0 scoring bigs come at a premium and Raef looks like he could be a solid scoring big from both inside and outside, he doesnt look like he will be a good defender, but thats ok if he puts up 20 plus and I think he easily could. Great pick at 15.
Selection: Raef Lafrentz
Grade: A-
1.1 Blazers: Majic a lifelong proponent of the unweighted lotto, literally had the best luck you could have by moving from 15 all the way to 1. He had multiple holes to fill on the wing and in the front court and had his choice of either Vince or Dirk. He couldn't have gone wrong with either as they both look like can't miss prospects and both address a need.
In the end I think Majic made the right choice and took the big, who in 5.0 seem to be the dominating position and Dirk looks like a guy who will average 30 plus sooner rather than later. Good luck, good pick and he gets a grade to reflect it.
Selection: Dirk Nowitzki
Grade: A
1.2 Milwaukie Bucks: Trofie also had a good stroke of luck by moving up significantly to the 2 spot. I thought with Dirk gone this was a no brainer pick and Vince would be going to Wisconsin, in fact my sources tell me the Hornets had already started making Rashard Lewis jerseys and getting the plane ready to pick him and his family up in Houston. But then BOOM Adam Odin read the card and Trofie shocked the world by taking Paul Pierce out of Kansas. Based on his write up and grades I think PP will be a good player who has a long sim career. However, I'm going to give this pick a relatively bad grade because he passed on Vince who looks like he could be the best player in the draft. Trofie made the mistake of drafting for need as opposed to BPA.
Selection: Paul Pierce
Grade: C+
1.3 Charlotte Hornets: After stopping the presses and shipping the Rashard Lewis jerseys to Sudan the Hornets SPRINTED to the podium to take 4.0 Hornet legend Vince Carter. The Hornets had a need at pretty much every position and were thrilled to get arguably the BPA in the draft. Not only do scouts love his ability to score, but his touted athleticism was backed up by being the quickest guy at the combine and one of the strongest as well.
Selection: Vince Carter
Grade: A+
1.4 Cleveland Cavaliers: The cavs had needs all across the board, but especially in the backcourt and they addressed that need by taking Mike Bibby out of Arizona. His write up looks great, but his grades don't quite match that and he doesn't even have good enough handles to start at PG ( which is dumb, but thats for another time) so to take full advantage of Bibby Shaun is going to have to invest in his handles, thus limiting his potential as a scorer and impact player. With Rashard still on the board I have to grade this pick taking that into account.
Selection:Mike Bibby
Grade:C+
1.5 Washington Bullets: Based on write up and potential I believe an argument could be made that Rashard Lewis is the best prospect in this draft ( I dont think he is, but you could argue it and not be an idiot) and somehow he fell all the way to 5 and right in the lap of the Bullets. I was surprised to hear that they were deciding between Rashard and Larry Hughes, but Im not grading the pick on how bad it almost was ( that would have been an F) but just grading what actually happened and the Bullets took what could be the best player in the draft.
Selection: Rashard Lewis
Grade: A+
1.6 Dallas Mavericks: The Mavericks have two absolute superstars in Neon and Reddish, but their depth after those two is absolute dog shit, so Delap couldn't go wrong by picking any position. He took Al Harrington who has a lot of potential and can the second big next to Neon, lets just hope for Delap's sake he develops quickly enough to hit the window with Neon.
Selection: Al Harrington
Grade: B+
1.7 Chicago Bulls: Timpig and I both thought this was a 6 player draft ( Dirk, Vince, Rashard, PP, Bibby and Twan) and when he got the 7th pick he thought he would be just outside of that group, but with Delap taking Al Harrington he was able to take Antwan Jamison who looks like he will be able to score right away and be a reliable player for years in in the Bulls organization.
Selection: Antwan Jamison
Grade: A-
1.8 Seattle Supersonics: The Sonics, the worst team in the league almost had Fecta quality luck by dropping all the way down to 1.8 and missing the chance at the top group. At this point there is about 5 prospects who all feel about the same to me and he took one of those prospects in Larry Hughes. Hughes is young, has good grades and the athleticism to turn into a good player. His jumper his broke and if that doesnt get fixed he will never succeed, but the tools are there.
Selection: Larry Hughes
Grade: B
1.9 San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs are in rebuilding mode after trading Neon for a handful of picks and they had to address almost every position. They decided to address the PG position and took White Chocolate out of Florida. Williams looks like he will be a fine player, but scouts believe he doesnt have the killer instinct to be a great scorer and that limits his upside. For that reason I am not a huge fan of this pick when there were players like Raef Lafraentz still on the board.
Selection: Jason Williams
Grade: C
1.10: Los Angeles Lakers: This is probably the worst pick of the lottery and SPL's newness to 5.0 is showing. Candy Man's write up indicates he will be a good defender who is a high volume black hole on offense with a broken jumper. That screams disaster to me and my grade reflects that.
Selection:Michael Olowokandi
Grade:D
1.11: Denver Nuggets: The new guy Mike lucked into what might be the best PG in the class with Rafer Alston who has the scoring, handles and potential to be a great player. With a need everywhere besides SG he could have gone anywhere, but I love this pick.
Selection: Rafer Alston
Grade:A
1.12: Boston Celtics: In an attempt to get more Tim Pig pennies by getting triple doubles the Celtics took a SG with high upside in Ricky Davis. He has good grades and is good value at this spot.
Selection: Ricky Davis
Grade: B
1.13: Chicago Bulls: Timpig traded back up into the draft and used that selection on an unknown commodity from Europe with interesting grades. He could be good, but Im not a huge fan of trading up to make a selection on a prospect that looks far from a sure thing.
Selection:Sarunas Jasikevicius
Grade: C
1.14 Golden State Warriors: The Warriors took one of the last profile players left in Bonzi Wells. I actually like this pick quite a bit, seems like he will be a good defender who will just need to improve his jumper to be a good player.
Selection: Bonzi Wells
Grade:B+
1.15 Washington Wizards: In 5.0 scoring bigs come at a premium and Raef looks like he could be a solid scoring big from both inside and outside, he doesnt look like he will be a good defender, but thats ok if he puts up 20 plus and I think he easily could. Great pick at 15.
Selection: Raef Lafrentz
Grade: A-
