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NBA Continued - Conference, Finals, and Beyond


Relic

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IIRC Beasley was first on some draft boards - no? In any case, other players did become stars and Miami could have taken them instead, so they have no-one to blame for their failure in that draft except themselves. Either they should have chosen someone else, or they should have done a better job of developing Beasley (eg. kept him off the weed :P).

I'm not quite sure how you would propose the NBA could fix the fact that there aren't very many transcendent talents in any given draft class. That's beyond their control, and it doesn't matter what system you have, you're always going to have some teams get the future superstar and others miss out. At the end of the day it comes down to talent evaluation and development more than the draft itself - your front office has to pick out the right player and put him in a position to succeed. That's why some teams escape the quagmire at the bottom of the standings quickly (Oklahoma City, for example) and others languish there for years despite multiple high draft picks (paging the Sacramento Kings). One was managed well, the other poorly, and look where they've ended up.

At the end of the day, the parity issues of the NBA are mostly caused by disparities in management ability and the scarcity of superstars. I'm no advocate for the current system (IMO there are several major improvements they could make that would fix some of the broken incentives it creates), but placing the majority of the blame on the draft process itself seems foolish.

ST

Well the NBA can't be completely fixed, it's just a sport where one player can make a world of difference. But it CAN start by having a halfway decent draft.

And as for the Beasely comment, Beasely was mostly seen a #1 type talent, but with some issues, Rose was seen as the real sure fire thing.

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I really hope the Cavs don't draft Joel Embiid. He looks like a nice player but to me, he seems to frail to be a sure thing and Wiggins and Parker both feel a bigger need. I want Wiggins because he has a bit more of an all around game. I can't believe we're in position to get one of these top guys though. Wow.

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Sucks to be Detroit, I guess. They no longer get to keep their pick because Cleveland winning the lottery drops them from 8th to 9th (and their pick was only top-8 protected).

ST

That does suck but this really is a deep draft and there's gonna be a future all star available at number nine. You can bet the bank on that.
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Not saying that i disagree, but the logo says different

The logo is wrong here. ;)

And the Heat don't play defense anymore, it is known.

No matter who we draft with this first pick, it's not gonna matter at all if we can't get a very good head coach to develop these players. Mike Brown wouldn't have been the guy, but we never should have had him on the team anyways. I'd push for George Karl.

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Now, how will the Cavs fuck this one up? If they hadn't tried to be cute last year, they could have taken Nerlens Noel and shelved him for the year (at one point this season his value was higher than Bennett despite never playing). That would have allowed them to safely pass on Embiid.

A nucleus of Kyrie, NN, and Wiggins or Parker is something to build around and arguably enough to lure free agents. Instead, they took the biggest bust ever and will be losing Irving (toe and all) in just another year.

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Now, how will the Cavs fuck this one up? If they hadn't tried to be cute last year, they could have taken Nerlens Noel and shelved him for the year (at one point this season his value was higher than Bennett despite never playing). That would have allowed them to safely pass on Embiid.

A nucleus of Kyrie, NN, and Wiggins or Parker is something to build around and arguably enough to lure free agents. Instead, they took the biggest bust ever and will be losing Irving (toe and all) in just another year.

Or just the higher percentage play in a terrible draft with Oladipo. Bennett was the one top 5 pick based on scouting report I didn't want the Wizards to take (though they may have whiffed just as bad on Porter).

Anyway it's nuts that the Cavs won the top pick overall for the 3rd time in 4 years. Even more nuts if you go back to when they took Lebron in 2003. They've won 4 of the 6 lotteries they've been in since then. (Every other year they made the playoffs so weren't in the lottery). That is insane luck. The odds on that are basically astronomical. Moreover getting the #1 pick in the Lebron and Wiggins drafts would've been every other franchise's dream and they got both. I'm a little surprised now there wasn't some loophole to let them win the 2007 Oden/Durant lottery despite making the finals that year.

The NBA is doing everything in its power to get Cleveland a championship. Don't they know the sports Gods will not allow this?

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Well Orlando got back to back #1 picks and turned them into Shaq and Penny (and whatever else they got in that trade for Webber) and then later got it again for Dwight Howard.

Not quite as good as Cleveland right now, but based on how they used those picks; it's astronomically better.

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Well Orlando got back to back #1 picks and turned them into Shaq and Penny (and whatever else they got in that trade for Webber) and then later got it again for Dwight Howard.

Not quite as good as Cleveland right now, but based on how they used those picks; it's astronomically better.

Same number of titles though. :P

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Just saw Simmons' column on which lottery team most deserved to win the top pick based on "karma". Naturally he had Cleveland last.

This bit also made me laugh:


I can’t decide what makes them more ineligible for karma — would you go with “two no. 1 overall picks and two other top-four picks just in the past three years, but they batted 25 percent,” or would you go with “rehired the same shaky coach they already fired, gave him a five-year deal, then fired him again after Year 1”?

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That Stevenson range though

Had to leave right after that shot, amazing! Even better was how it was set up by Lance's epic flop a few minutes prior. That was the worst flop I've ever seen in basketball. Ever.

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I think you have to take Wiggins if you're Cleveland. The rest of the guys have a lot of flaws.



Embiid is a big injury risk, and also needs all kinds of work on the offensive end. He's miles away from being a dominant two way player.




Parker is an undersized PF that's not an elite athlete. You've already drafted two busts at that position in the past 3 years. Time to stop.




Exum is a complete unknown.


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That does suck but this really is a deep draft and there's gonna be a future all star available at number nine. You can bet the bank on that.

What I meant was, they don't get to keep their pick - it gets conveyed to Charlotte. They would have kept it if Cleveland hadn't moved up.

ST

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