The Official NBA 2016 Offseason Thread

[BillyNYC]

Attending the draft live, 15 years after attending my first/only other one.

Here's hoping the 2016 class far bypasses 2001 (the Kwame Brown draft).

Rocking a Knicks Sprewell jersey because...why not?

[nol]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

From a million miles away and with very little NBA knowledge it seems to me that Buddy is not getting nearly the love he deserves - at very least you are getting a coachable hard worker with incredible range and accuracy from 3, who is a passable defender with good size and wing span for the position, and possibly the safest pick in the draft to boot.

I think Minnesota would be an incredible fit for him and would be a brilliant compliment to their existing roster.

Now let's hear a certain poster tell me why I'm a moron

Well the main thing I'd add is that a college upperclassman (especially when you throw out the players like Tim Duncan and Joakim Noah who played well enough earlier in their careers to be very high draft picks and just decided to come back because they liked college; Buddy looked into declaring last year and was not a guaranteed first-rounder) is no a 'safer' a pick than a freshman, international player, high school player or anyone else. For every young player who flames out for 'immaturity/not ready' reasons, there's roughly an equal number of 22-year-olds who just turn out to be not talented enough.

If you were to actually read, I said Buddy is fine enough for Minnesota at 5 if Bender's taken, but that's more due to the Timberwolves being much more ready for a playoff run than the average team with a top-5 pick due to their massive coaching upgrade and the progression one would expect Towns and Wiggins to make, them already being set at three positions Buddy does not play, the Wolves desperately needing more shooting, and there not appearing to be some obvious talent who's going to make them pay for passing. There are probably trades that make more sense from a pure 'value' standpoint (i.e. I don't think Hield is so much better than Malik Beasley or Timothe Luwawu that I wouldn't trade down from 5 for relatively little) but in actuality I'd probably just do the simple/lazier thing and take Buddy.

Originally Posted by BillyNYC

Here's hoping the 2016 class far bypasses 2001 (the Kwame Brown draft).

I kinda miss those days when the draft was so much more goofy and unpredictable. For example, Kris Dunn seems good but is most likely to contribute at a George Hill level where he's a good two-way player who isn't an All-Star, and that doesn't seem very good for the top 5 when there will be a few point guards next year who will be better players. Don't know specifically which ones, but there are a group of 6 or so right now and by the end of the college season some of them will have stood out enough from the others to eliminate some of the guesswork. You want to talk about a way to eliminate the advantages of losing and securing a top pick, try making teams work a little harder to figure out whether some 17-year-old is the real deal.

[wustin]

Talking to people who are convinced Buddy can play point guard in the NBA is like smashing my head against a brick wall.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by wustin

Pacers looking pretty strong. Looks like they have their smallball lineup assembled. If they can't ship Ellis anywhere he should come off the bench as the 6th man.

I've always rated Thaddeus Young, and I'm glad he found his way onto a team that figures to be decent. Myles Turner/Thaddeus Young/Paul George is a pretty darn dynamic frontcourt.

[murrayyyyy]

Jesus, did the Celtics take Bird. Sure is taking a long time.

[nol]

Wow, Jaylen Brown. Probably not gonna be trading that pick.

[Atocep]

The only thing Jaylen Brown does well right now is be an athlete.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The only thing Jaylen Brown does well right now is be an athlete.

His hands can't be worse than Smart's, are they?

[Zinto]

I like the Celtics strategy of getting all the guys who can't shoot.

[murrayyyyy]

so 4 has to be Chriss now?

[Groundhog]

Yeah, don't really like that pick for Boston, unless they are making it for someone else.

[murrayyyyy]

Wolves have a tough choice here. Take Dunn and say adios to Rubio?

[nol]

Brown shot pretty well in high school and his shot selection is more of an issue than his jumper. Playing defense and being an athlete tend to go pretty well together. Boston probably thought Bender overlaps a little with Olynyk and it doesn't seem like Ainge is a big fan of drafting Europeans.

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

Wolves have a tough choice here. Take Dunn and say adios to Rubio?

I'd take Dunn and see if Philadelphia offers a dumb trade for him.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by nol

I'd take Dunn and see if Philadelphia offers a dumb trade for him.

You have to take Dunn. You can find a shooter in free agency. Not sure there are that many PGs out there.

[wustin]

Didn't expect Dunn to drop down to 5th.

Dunn was at the top of Thibbs' draft board.

[Groundhog]

I don't know if Dunn is better than Rubio... Hopefully he's more durable, at least.

[nol]

Wow, the Wolves turned down Jimmy Butler for LaVine and Dunn.


btw: nbaassets.com is a really neat resource. Some team missing a point guard is gonna get a good one for cheap in Rubio. Put it this way, I'd certainly been fine with giving up Robin Lopez for Rubio.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by nol

Wow, the Wolves turned down Jimmy Butler for LaVine and Dunn.

So far...

[Groundhog]

Surely Pelicans go Buddy.

[murrayyyyy]

Pelicans take Murray? Need depth at both guards just because they get injured every week.

[wustin]

Pelicans take Buddy

[Groundhog]

I like the Buddy pick. Pelicans need pretty much everything, but he should at least give them fairly consistent scoring outside, and hopefully manages to make it through a half dozen games a year without getting injured.

[nol]

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

So far...

Well I'd guess based on the fact that the trade wasn't immediately accepted without checking to see if John Paxson was drunk that Thibs really, really likes Dunn and is gonna move on from Rubio.

Denver goes with Jamal Murray. I think Gary Harris is a pretty underrated player for them, and that seems like a lot of young guards to be playing at once. Wouldn't be suprised if it gets traded to the 76ers because the Nuggets have been pretty smart lately.

[Groundhog]

Dunn is a decent prospect and all, but team Butler up with the core they already have (even minus LaVine, who is a bit of a 'punt-returner' as far as hit or miss goes in games) and it seems like a pretty darn good team to me already.

[murrayyyyy]

So if Murray goes to Denver, what the hell do the kings do?

[nol]

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

So if Murray goes to Denver, what the hell do the kings do?

Sacramento's own Marquese Chriss. Why not? They'll be a 30-ish win team from Cousins alone and need to hit on some big gambles to be any better than that.

[Groundhog]

Probably something like draft Skal.

[cartman]

The TWolves are to drafting point guards as the Lions are to drafting wide receivers.

[wustin]

Sounds like Thibbs is trying to play hardball with Chicago to get back Butler.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Probably something like draft Skal.

or panic and take Korkmaz

[nol]

Originally Posted by wustin

Sounds like Thibbs is trying to play hardball with Chicago to get back Butler.

I'd don't think it gets much more hardball than that offer unless the Wolves think Dunn is the next John Wall or something.

[wustin]

Originally Posted by nol

I'd don't think it gets much more hardball than that offer unless the Wolves think Dunn is the next John Wall or something.

Marc Stein on Twitter: "ESPN sources say Minnesota continues to try to engage Chicago on talks built around Kris Dunn to try to import Jimmy Butler to the Wolves"

[Groundhog]

Is Bender going to Sacramento?

[nol]

Originally Posted by wustin

Marc Stein on Twitter: "ESPN sources say Minnesota continues to try to engage Chicago on talks built around Kris Dunn to try to import Jimmy Butler to the Wolves"

What I meant was that they already have to give up just Dunn and a dunk contest champion for Butler. Maybe if they can just give up Dunn and a future first-rounder it would be even more of a rip-off.

[murrayyyyy]

So does anyone think he stays?

[Groundhog]

I was about to say 'ballsy move by Vlade to land a Croatian......' and then find out they actually traded for a Serbian.... so the Kings did still find a way to, well, be the Kings.

[Groundhog]

I'd take Sabonis over Poeltl.

[murrayyyyy]

What PF leaves Phoenix? Don't they have 7?

[Groundhog]

Phoenix following the Sixers model.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I'd take Sabonis over Poeltl.

Same here but if you lose DeRozan you could take Beasley.

[nol]

OMG Thon Maker at 10. Feel like Wade Baldwin would have been an excellent fit there. Even if Maker is his listed age, he played at the Hoop Summit last year and got dominated by Skal and a bunch of other freshmen who didn't go on to have good seasons and spent the last year playing high school basketball in Canada.

[Groundhog]

I'm proud as an Aussie and all, but Hey-zeus, Thon Maker at 10? Wow. I actually expected him to slide down to late 1st/early 2nd.

[Groundhog]

The Greek Freak and Thon Maker on the break is going to look like a herd of Giraffe stampeding.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by nol

OMG Thon Maker at 10. Feel like Wade Baldwin would have been an excellent fit there.

Stop it... I'd seen him 2nd round to the Bucks. Is the goal for everyone to be taller than their coach by a foot?

[wustin]

They drafted a 24 year old

[Groundhog]

I don't think he's actually 24, but probably closer to it than he is to 19.

[Groundhog]

Came to Australia as refugee 14 years ago, so I'd imagine it's more a question of whether he was 5 when he arrived or like 6/7 by our counting.

[murrayyyyy]

Ibaka traded?

[nol]

Chicago must be trying to completely tear down if they're even involving Butler in trade talks.

I don't think Phoenix even had any PFs on their roster before the draft, plus ideally Chriss is supposed to be able to play some 3 and Bender some 5.

Psst, don't know what the Mavericks have to offer but Rubio would be very interesting for them when paired with Dirk.

[murrayyyyy]

Orlando will send Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and rights to Sabonis to the Thunder for Ibaka?