Following Potential Draftees - 2019 (not kidding)
- Thread starter Dr. Jones
- Start date
Jack Strop
Well-Known Member
DL didn't "discover" Gobert. It was the Jazz' international scout. And we're damn lucky Gobert was still there. Read the rumors at the time of the draft. Jazz (i.e. Lindsey) was very high on a certain big but heard he wasn't going to be there. So then Lindsey wasted two picks to trade up for his first bust, Trey Burke. Of course, Burke wasn't nearly as bad as who Dennis really wanted...Olynyk. Had the draft gone the way Dennis wanted, Jazz would have had Olynyk and then best PG prospect on the board at their other pick, which may have been Larken. Yikes!
Yes, kudos to Dennis for having the balls to draft Mitchell. But he doesn't get a free pass for all his busts in every other season. He doesn't get a pass for failing to sign ANY decent FA's year after year. For stripping the team of depth and not replenishing it, which left the cupboard completely bare for making any trades. And he certainly doesn't get credit for blowing SO many assets chasing PG's (five firsts, IIRC), only to now have ZERO competent PG's on the roster. Well, except in the opinion of carolinajazz who is the only one left who still believes in Rubio.
And our PF problem? We could have had Millsap all these years. Instead, the ONLY player we have on the roster for all those losing seasons is Dante. Could have kept Millsap and made the playoffs every year. Could have signed FA's and had trade assets and won 50+ every season. But yes, thanks to the "genius" that is Dennis, the Millers profited immensely as Lindsey fooled all the fas into thinking a rebuild was the proper thing to do. And then only did that half-assed.
I will give credit to Lindsey for hiring Quin, though.
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DL has only really made one, maybe two draft errors.
Trading the #12 pick in 2016 for George Hill was definitely an error. It was an error at the time and it is an error in retrospect. Sure, the season afterward we went to the playoffs. But I would argue that we were well on our way to making it anyway. We were still in the rebuilding phase at the time and trading a lottery pick/cheap scale contract for a one year rental was silly. I said it way back when the trade went down...If you don't like a player in the 2016 class trade the pick for a future pick(s).
The Dante Exum pick is looking like a possible error too.
Other than that DL has done a solid job. People can complain about not drafting Giannis, Booker, etc but fact is EVERY GM has misses like that. The deeper into a draft you go the more of a crapshoot it becomes. We can call Dante a possible mistake because he was drafted at 5. But later "misses"... eh. I can't get on him about that. Also, I personally dislike the approach that they've taken toward second round picks but I understand the approach. I'm not gonna bash him over that.
Trading the #12 pick in 2016 for George Hill was definitely an error. It was an error at the time and it is an error in retrospect. Sure, the season afterward we went to the playoffs. But I would argue that we were well on our way to making it anyway. We were still in the rebuilding phase at the time and trading a lottery pick/cheap scale contract for a one year rental was silly. I said it way back when the trade went down...If you don't like a player in the 2016 class trade the pick for a future pick(s).
The Dante Exum pick is looking like a possible error too.
Other than that DL has done a solid job. People can complain about not drafting Giannis, Booker, etc but fact is EVERY GM has misses like that. The deeper into a draft you go the more of a crapshoot it becomes. We can call Dante a possible mistake because he was drafted at 5. But later "misses"... eh. I can't get on him about that. Also, I personally dislike the approach that they've taken toward second round picks but I understand the approach. I'm not gonna bash him over that.
Keefe
Well-Known Member
Now’s not the time bro. Give it a rest.
Don’t disagree.. I’d take him around 45.. just found it interesting with all the mocks.
Jazz4ever
Well-Known Member
And Ingles? Royce? These guys have performed like first round picks or high level free agents. Overpaying free agents is a sure way to get on a long treadmill. DL has setup Zanik nicely with the ability to add a max free agent to a 50 win team. How many 50 win teams can say that??
I can totally see why the Jazz would be tempted by Okpala. I've posted that here several times. He has some upside, just not big-time upside. It's just a lot safer than hoping Dort learns to shoot.
Nic Claxton is kind of interesting. He's a unique player. He seems like more of a backup to me though, because he's not ready to be a 5, and he's not quite skilled enough to really play at the 4 at a high level. He's very raw.