Betrayer

I like Hendricks a lot as well, and pairing him with Duren would be fun defensively. Still, I have Cam one slot higher just like Vecenie due to what I believe is a higher ceiling. Hendricks is rising up draft boards but I’m not seeing too many that have him over Whitmore. And speaking of combine measurements, Whitmore is a 94th percentile athlete based upon draft measurements since 2000. He’ll also be just 18 on draft night.

Would’ve at least liked to get #4 so we could control our fate on the best of the third tier of guys.

Well, the positivity didn’t work, so imagine this garbage off-season that’s a real possibility: Kevin Ollie is the coach, we draft a Thompson twin, and sign Dillon Brooks on free agency. Someone put me out of my misery.

Just tell me we’re going to draft Whitmore or Hendrix and not Jarace Walker.

Nooooooooooo

Nothing but positives vibes for me tonight. Not usually my thing, but let’s see how this works out. Have my Ben Wallace jersey on and I’m ready for Wemby.

I'm immediately looking for trades if we get #2 and putting feelers out for #3 as well in case Scoot drops past #2. Brooklyn is my first call. Are they going to try to blow it up and rebuild or do they think they'll attract a star to play with their team full of role players? If it's the former, I'm checking to see if they want Scoot, #31, and Bogie (cap relief) for Bridges. It's a long shot, but I'm trying. Orlando is my second call. Give me #6 and #12 in exchange for #2. I'll take Hendrix at #6 and Gradey D or something at #12. It's a great pairing. Duren will take the pounding inside to save Wemby's body. Allows Wemby to be a roaming shot blocker and help defender, which is where he'll thrive rather than trying to hang in the post against the bigger bodies. Duren is also a good passer and a great offensive rebounder. With all the attention on Wemby, Cade, and Ivey he'd really thrive in those roles as well.

Spo coaching tree is a big selling point for me. Also, Heat culture. They've been worse than every team they've played, but damnit, they're just going to play harder and smarter than you are. Bring me some of that in Detroit.

Before I was just underwhelmed, but now I'm disappointed. Quinn is available for interviews but no news that Detroit even tried.

After what I've read about him in the locker room, I don't even understand how he gets an interview.

I'm a bit underwhelmed by all the candidates, including Monty, but you do have to give him an interview if he's interested. Weaver listed, "discipline, development, and defense" as his requirements for the next coach and I just don't see the "discipline" aspect from Monty. He's very much in the Casey mold of a player's coach. I'm also not in love with his strategic X's and O's after watching him choke in the playoffs and leave obvious weaknesses unexploited (Jokic's PnR defense) in route to another really bad playoff exit. Still though, he's certainly a better candidate than Kevin Ollie, so you gotta give him a call.

How many losses is that for Doc after he's been leading a series now? Pretty sure nobody has more. Harden is the ultimate choke artist. Embiid got the pity MVP because of voter fatigue and the media narrative that was built up over the past couple of months. Mark Jackson didn't even put Jokic on his voting ballot - of course he says it was "an oversight". Only one team left I don't want to see win, but the Lakers will do a better job of exploiting Jokic on defense than the Suns did. Still, I'm hoping the Nuggets can pull this one out.

I hope Ben can do it again.

Duren, Wiseman, Bagley, Stew, and Wemby. We don't need Ayton 😄

Looking at the free agent list, he'd actually be one of the better signings. I'd certainly take him over Kuzma, Green, or Barnes. Problem is, he's going to cost you about 27M a year. I wonder what BKN is going to do. Are they going to try to go forward with a capped out middle of the pack team or blow it up and rebuild while they wait for Simmons contract to come off the books? If they want to rebuild, then I'm coming after Bridges. Give them Scoot when we land #2, Bogie (cap space & tank commander), #31, and some salary filler like Bagley. I know it's a dream that'll never happen, but he's the perfect player to slot in with a Cade/Ivey/Duren starting unit.

KCP and Brown have been perfect for that team. Two of my favorite players from Piston teams full of unlikeable players.

Love watching KD crash and burn after forcing his way to the team of his choice even though he was responsible for the trash situation in Brooklyn. Either Monte or Ayton (or both) are gone before next season. Also Denver is so fun to watch. Joker is just masterful and should’ve been MVP again.

Weaver won’t spend his money on free agents. He’ll do some sort of trade for most of that cap space. He seems to dislike free agency and despises restricted free agents.

Not seeing a lot of Chris Quinn love in these coaching interviews. Wondering if he told everyone to bugger off because he's going to get the Heat job eventually. That would at least make me feel better about us not having him in the mix.

I'm GenX, but we were always the latchkey, forgotten generation anyway. It's always Boomers vs Millenials/GenZ these days, like we never existed. I suppose it's a good thing to be left out of all the arguments and finger pointing 😄 But yea, I think if you said "can't jump over a phonebook" to a Gen Z they would look at you with a very confused expression on their face.

Interesting that Reddick is now in the coaching mix for a head coaching job. Has he ever been an assistant or coached at any level? Becky's name gets tossed around a lot on Pistons Reddit, but the name I'm disappointed I haven't heard is Chris Quinn. Then again, Miami is the type of organization to deny access until after the playoffs and maybe the Pistons didn't want to wait until then.

It's something my friends and I used to say about Corliss Williamson when he was a Piston. Maybe it needs to be updated for the next generation but, "can't jump over a cellphone" just seems a bit extreme 😄

Celtics just don't look right. All those people who said, "Look what Mazulla is doing, maybe it's just a good team and Ime wasn't all that" are rethinking that now. He's had some pretty terrible coaching sequences in these playoffs.

Calling someone an athletic Bey is like saying a shooting Hami. You're now talking about a completely different player. Also, Bridges was 20 when drafted and played 2 years in college, compared to 18 for Cam so I expect that he would be more polished. As for defense, he showed the mental lapses of youth, but most analysts project Cam's defense and multi-positional versality on that end to be very good. Also, I don't see how you can say "it's all projection with this guy" and then turn around and say you'd take the twins over him. Those two are the most projection based picks in this entire lottery and it's not even close. If you want to plant your flag on upside and projections because of sheer athleticism, then I can understand (and still disagree) with that take. But Whitmore is far less of a projection pick and it's not even close. He has a solid floor that he displayed against actual competition and they have a resume of pick up games. Again, I only see high end role players after Victor, so I'm not projecting any of these kids as Stars. And yes, at some point you have to take a chance on the twins athleticism and hope they aren't just Hami after the hefty 4+ years of development it's going to take, but for me that's down around pick 7-10, not top 5 where we'll be picking.

The twins are playing against high school age players in a gimmick league that's no different than a pickup game. They're 20 years old to Whitmore's 18, meaning they've had 2 more years of development and still they're not just poor shooters, they're non-shooters. Most of their points come in transition and they need the ball in their hands because it's all about their athleticism against garbage competition. Fun as his dunks can be, I don't need another Hami. I'm taking Whitmore over either twin. He'll still give you some fantastic dunks, but he can also play bully-ball, guard multiple positions, shoot the three, grab boards, and he's shown all of that against solid competition. The Saddiq comparison is terrible. Saddiq can't jump over a phonebook and can't finish at the rim where Whitmore was one of the best finishers in college and is a very good athlete. Better comps I've seen are Miles Bridges, Aaron Gordon, and Anthony Edwards due to the combination of power and athleticism.