Thee Idiotic Minivan K
Well-Known Member
In your opinion. And maybe for some teams but we have plenty of assets and young players. We don’t need to give Lauri to jump to 3. Lmao
2023 NBA Draft Megathread
- Thread starter Ferguson_Mellochill
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In your opinion. And maybe for some teams but we have plenty of assets and young players. We don’t need to give Lauri to jump to 3. Lmao
I don't think GG is confident enough to say KD is a comp for him. He's been pretty humble in interviews and saying that he expects to start in the G-league. He might say that he watches Paul George or that he watches Tatum, but I don't think he's actually ballsy enough to compare himself to them yet.
If people are telling Brandon Miller that he's the next Paul George, it wouldn't surprise me if he'd say something that bold. Maybe that's why there was some rumor that Miller didn't interview well.
It could also be someone completely out of left field, like a Maxwell Lewis or something. Hendricks maybe? Someone who thinks they're a long wing and clutch shooter.
If you had been paying attention you would know that there is nothing we have besides Lauri that the Blazers would be willing to trade the 3rd pick for.
I think you're too smart answer to the question from @framer (what would we need to have done to get those extra losses?) in any way that really nails you down. So I'm guessing you're content to throw out vague answers like this that don't directly say, but can easily be interpreted to mean, that the Jazz's record exceeded their quality of play this year; that if the Jazz weren't such try-hards, we'd have finished with a (worse) record more befitting the actual quality of our team.
Here's why I don't agree with this implication (again, it may not be your implication, but you're certainly not discouraging it). Here's why I think the Jazz got what they deserved for the type of team they had:
- Jazz had 27 games within 5 points, winning 13 and losing 14. To nail down 6th draft position (pre-lottery, or tie for 5th) they would have had to go 9-18 in these games (which is pretty hard to do).
- According to B-Ref's pythagorean calculation, the Jazz already lost two more games than they should have this year. So your argument is that we could have easily done a -6 on actual vs. pythagorean wins? Only one team this year had a discrepancy of 6 or more (and none in the minus column). As much as the Jazz were terrible under Snyder for actual vs. pythagorean wins, I don't know if they were ever a -6.
- As far as actual team quality: all the teams that finished with better draft choices than us were actually worse teams, in terms of total net (own vs. opponent) points. Wizards were 22 points worse (I guess a little shaving could have gotten us to their level, although Cleaning the Glass's non-garbage-time stats show the gap to be considerably wider), but Magic were 133 points worse and Pacers were 184 points worse.
To get us to a record that would have ensured the 6th or 5th best pre-lottery odds would have meant some combination of: a) even more shenanigans than we already did; b) much earlier trades to get rid of decent players; c) being extremely unlucky (or fortunate draft-wise) with the wins vs. quality of play ratio. (For me, I don't care if you want to say that we should have done either a or b more; I just want us to recognize that we got what we deserved draft-wise for the quality of team we were. We were neither lucky nor unlucky.)
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Thee Idiotic Minivan K
Well-Known Member
Oh stop it!!
It's true...ask anyone. It's been widely reported that the Blazers are looking to trade the 3rd pick for a really good win now player to pair with Dame. The Blazers have absolutely no interest in trading it for picks or young talent.
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Yeah, I'd definitely say the Jazz got more than they deserved. They undeniably made conscious decisions that artificially deflated the team record. It's not quite the same thing, but complaining about the Jazz only tanking to 9 is kinda like complaining about not winning enough when you're trying to win. The Jazz were not the only team trying to lose on purpose. Just as there are teams in a better position to win, there were teams in a better position to lose. By virtue of having Lauri Markannen (among others) the Jazz were not able to be one of the worst teams in the league. The reason why we were in the 9 spot is not because the Jazz tried to win and were anti tank.
To echo your last point, it would have to take even more purposeful actions to lose on purpose to get even higher. Now I think the Jazz could have been quicker to execute on b)....but realistically speaking the Jazz did not have higher odds because they had Lauri Markannen. If you wanted a higher pick and that is what's most important, he is the man standing in the way. While it's easy to feel envious of a team with a higher draft position, having Lauri Markannen is also a position to be envied. He is the man most responsible for the Jazz not being higher in the draft, but I am very happy with the tradeoff he's given us.
With a third team, more is possible. I think there is something to the idea of looping in Cleveland by compensating them some of their draft assets and them sending Jarrett Allen.
Jarrett Allen isn’t moving the needle for them. He is not worth as much as you think.
I’m not saying that is all it would take. But Portland is going to want players and need a good center. Lauri is probably all you need to send, Allen would be the centerpiece to more.
I understand and like the thought process… just with a different player than Allen. I just don’t see them trading the 3rd pick to upgrade from Nurkic to Allen while getting a couple firsts. Doesn’t seem like enough to me.