Following Potential 2026 Draftees

[Handlogten's Heros]

Just catching up here. Dallas hasn’t had Davis and he is a big difference maker. They beat Denver on the road with him last night.

Three of our seven wins were by 4 points or less. Flip those and we’re tied for the 3rd worst lottery odds.

My main takeaway so far is if Walker doesn’t go down with injury we might be 10-10 or better right now. His injury likely saved the tank this year.

I think the rotation is hard because Will Hardy sees these guys in practice (Cody and Taylor) and knows they aren’t worthy of minutes and I wonder what type of message that sends to other young guys if they just magically ended up getting more minutes than them. Such as Brice, Collier, Walter, etc.

I’m a firm believer of getting out too early rather than too late. Cody is not an NBA rotation caliber player and I have my doubts about Taylor right now too.

I think if there is one thing to be upset about it might be the front office’s approach to the players on the fringes of the roster. Why even give Will the option to play Svi, Love, Anderson, etc? Mostly Svi at this point but Love has been knocking down shots too.

It’s also tough to be mad when the winning is led by Keyonte/Ace/Lauri who are all key parts of our next good team.

I don’t know… I really hate not cheering for wins. We need to keep our pick this season though.

I’d try to flip Svi/Love/Anderson for an expiring contract we can buy out plus a second or two. Exactly like what we did with Eubanks/Mills for Tucker. That would force Hardy to play worse players.

I do think we end up keeping our pick but we will need to make some adjustments to get there. We have the 10th hardest remaining strength of schedule and the weak teams in the East have multiple games left against each other where someone has to win.

We need to be bad this one last year but I can’t tell you how ready I am for us to get after it and start really winning games and being happy about it next season.

These thoughts are all kind of random and jumbled together I apologize in advance.

Dallas will be good if AD plays. I think if AD is healthy he is moved really quick though. The Denver win was nice but no Gordon, Braun, and Murray left the game with an injury. If Nembhard can stay healthy (he has played roughly half the games) then Dallas may be less tanky. Had we found a way too lose last nigh we would have made up some ground. Either way Dallas is one of 4-5 teams we need to "pass".

 

[KqWIN]

I think without a top 4 pick in this draft this iteration of the rebuild is going to be so mid... likely a retool in 3 years when Lauri may be fading out.

I don't think building from the middle is some death sentence or anything. IMO, The tanking decision is unique and specific to a team's current situation. It just so happens to be that our decision to tank is completely obvious.

But hey, we're not the one's who get the pride of being a high 20's team. That might be worth it to Ryan and his nepos, so maybe we should just shut up.

 

[NAOS_pt2]

In these circumstances, it's hard for me to stomach any DNP/CDs for Henny and CW. I'm not saying they should be inked for 30mpg, but you gotta fling them 15 minutes, even on a bad night. This kind of thing helps us in the long run on multiple fronts.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I don't think building from the middle is some death sentence or anything. IMO, The tanking decision is unique and specific to a team's current situation. It just so happens to be that our decision to tank is completely obvious.

But hey, we're not the one's who get the pride of being a high 20's team. That might be worth it to Ryan and his nepos, so maybe we should just shut up.

I think having no pick this year is kind of the death of being a good playoff team with Lauri... Top 4 would give me hope we could become a title contender with the other stuff we have. Landing in the 5-8 range we may be able to get somewhat lucky and get something that propels us. Coming up empty makes the middle build strategy really rough for a few years - either cash some of the future draft stuff in for a trade or wait for those picks to yield something. A one year nothingburger in the middle of this would be pretty fatal.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Ideally you are pairing Ace and Key? with a high level talent in a similar age range for the long-term success and then coupling that to Lauri and any addition's win now ability for short/medium range success. Walker is a part of both long and short timeline too.

Not that its a two timeline deal... just think no pick this year or a pick that flops is going to hurt all the goals.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Mikel Brown is worth drafting if you're the Jazz, imo. He can be the primary ball handler and move Keyonte into a secondary creator role when they're on the floor together. Physically if he can fill out a bit in a year or two and make the effort, he should be able to guard 1 - 3, a bit similar to Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The main question with him should be what his athleticism looks like at the NBA level--is he going to be able to get by defenders on offense and stay in front on defense? He has star potential if his athleticism is good enough.

I think the Jazz are probably in good shape if they draft top 6. That's the top 4, plus Ament and Brown. If the Jazz slip beyond that, they're looking to hit on someone with upside, but more risk--e.g., Peat, Neo, Tounde, etc.

Adding someone with an athletic profile and physical presence would be a nice complement to Keyonte, Ace and Lauri, who play from the perimeter.

 

[KqWIN]

I think having no pick this year is kind of the death of being a good playoff team with Lauri... Top 4 would give me hope we could become a title contender with the other stuff we have. Landing in the 5-8 range we may be able to get somewhat lucky and get something that propels us. Coming up empty makes the middle build strategy really rough for a few years - either cash some of the future draft stuff in for a trade or wait for those picks to yield something. A one year nothingburger in the middle of this would be pretty fatal.

Idk about that. I think there is so much value to be gained on the margins, I just wouldn't call it death. But I'd also say that a top 4 pick is our best shot at forming a really good team. The real crime in this is the opportunity cost. Like we can bicker all we want about the value of the pick itself and how important it is in the context of team building, but what is it costing us to secure the pick and what is it costing us to further improve our odds?

The cost is playing Cody and TH (and not short leashing other young guys), not running Lauri into the ground, and moving away from our washed up vets. I'd argue that we should be doing these things anyways.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Idk about that. I think there is so much value to be gained on the margins, I just wouldn't call it death. But I'd also say that a top 4 pick is our best shot at forming a really good team. The real crime in this is the opportunity cost. Like we can bicker all we want about the value of the pick itself and how important it is in the context of team building, but what is it costing us to secure the pick and what is it costing us to further improve our odds?

The cost is playing Cody and TH (and not short leashing other young guys), not running Lauri into the ground, and moving away from our washed up vets. I'd argue that we should be doing these things anyways.

I think we can still build a Toronto/Miami cute plucky story type of deal, but joining the real contenders long term requires a great prospect addition imo.

I think the real opportunity cost is not going to make the additions we could to improve us now and in the future. Say Keon Ellis is available and gettable... that would be a real long term win.

I just want us to be fully intentional on the things that matter most... and we are just not that.

 

[underdog]

I think without a top 4 pick in this draft this iteration of the rebuild is going to be so mid... likely a retool in 3 years when Lauri may be fading out.

I'm not as pessimistic because there are other great prospects in this draft, but one of the top 3-4 picks is certainly my goal.

 

[underdog]

Why can't BYU generate some easier looks for AJ? Almost every shot he takes is difficult. Isn't Kevin Young known as a basketball genius?

I think Dybantsa has some fantastic defensive tools, but his defensive awareness keeps him from being an impactful defender.


View: https://youtu.be/1LHajVorCKw?si=CL-3JgPogMWZaTb8

One of the reasons I like Dybantsa is that although he has great tools for iso, he's a team player, willing to share the ball.