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2023 NBA Draft Megathread

When you believe the draft is the deepest generationally, no GM would want an average pick next year or any other future pick. It is not comparable.
 
Would be fun to go back to the beginning of this thread and see how often Bilal is mentioned in the first 100 pages or so and where he is being mocked to be picked.

No one thought he was going to be part of the '23 draft class until a couple months ago. He was somewhat on the radar for '24.
 
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almost made it.

Actually, let's talk about this. If you did a re-draft of the 2010 draft, Hassan Whiteside would go in the top 7 or top 8. He acted like a child during his pre-draft process and ended up getting picked in the 2nd round. Teams really hate having to babysit or wait around on guys who aren't ready to act like a professional.

Look what just happened to Cam Whitmore last night. That wasn't just because of his medicals. That was because Cam was a zero in his interviews--no energy, no enthusiasm, no pulse. You really think Cam Whitmore wouldn't go top 5 in a re-draft a few years from now?

I still think GG is going to be fine. He hasn't played in any actual games since he was considered a lottery-range prospect at the end of the college season. When it's said and done, I still think he's likely to be ranked in the top 10 of this draft class, and possibly better than that. He came off as a kid in his interviews, and that's because he is a kid. Whoever encouraged him to jump up a draft class did him a disservice. He'd otherwise be a top-5 prospect in next year's class.
 
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I'm still not seeing anything definitive on Whitmore that makes me feel good about passing on him twice.

I'm finding myself agreeing with this. Jazz may regret not drafting Whitmore at #9, or at least #16, though the decision to pass on Whitmore took place before draft night.

I guess the Jazz just added up the risk factors and decided that they are risk-averse. To me, I'd say the Jazz are in the luxurious position where they can take some risks. But who knows, maybe Taylor Hendricks' game will flourish, or the Jazz will find another way to bring in star talent.
 

This is what’s driving me kinda nuts. The Jazz were kinda singularly the most flagrant in their passing on Whitmore since they did it twice (and later than the Magic).

Listened to Vecenie on Russillo today and they were both just dumbfounded and called out the Jazz specifically. I’m pretty much back to just… how the **** did we do that? P3 says Whitmore is the most like Anthony Edwards in their database and if he gets a shoulder on someone driving then it’s done.

We can sit here and say he’s comatose in an interview or maybe he has a leg with question marks or he did a bad job in workouts, but when he takes the floor he competes and is on another level as a specimen.

Keyonte and Hendricks better be ****ing awesome cuz there is very much a chance that Whitmore makes 10-15 teams look like fools.
 
I thought that some NBA teams would be scared off by the Thompsons and Bilal being somewhat of a mystery. I was dead wrong on that. The Thompsons seem like wonderful young men... I bet that helped any worries dissipate.

You kind of have to draft players with this kind of game-changing potential even if it turns out to be a fiery trainwreck. The game is so dominated by dynamic wings, that even if their game has limitations in one way or another it's worth taking them. Anthony Black is another example.
 
This is what’s driving me kinda nuts. The Jazz were kinda singularly the most flagrant in their passing on Whitmore since they did it twice (and later than the Magic).

Listened to Vecenie on Russillo today and they were both just dumbfounded and called out the Jazz specifically. I’m pretty much back to just… how the **** did we do that? P3 says Whitmore is the most like Anthony Edwards in their database and if he gets a shoulder on someone driving then it’s done.

We can sit here and say he’s comatose in an interview or maybe he has a leg with question marks or he did a bad job in workouts, but when he takes the floor he competes and is on another level as a specimen.

Keyonte and Hendricks better be ****ing awesome cuz there is very much a chance that Whitmore makes 10-15 teams look like fools.
I struggle with this too. He's a guy that a week or so ago I would've been thrilled to trade up for. Pains me to pass twice.
 
Like, I was so in the moment of the draft I moved on from the Cam thing. But now that the dust has settled I’m feeling queasy.

Like… he fell from as high as 4 to 20 because he didn’t play fake basketball well and isn’t engaged in an interview? I now have to actively hope he busts just to justify the draft last night.

I hate this feeling.
 
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