Deleterious

Those asking why the Holland hate and the Ausar love. Neither can shoot a lick, so that is a tie. But Thompson does a ton of things that help teams. Already a good, borderline elite defender. Not just on ball defense, great off ball as well. Always in passing lanes disrupting. Pretty good passer for his position. Great rebounder for his position. 6.4 rebounds in 25 minutes is really good, especially since he spent most of his time at SF. Has a pretty high BBIQ. Holland is basically the complete opposite of all that. Really low BBIQ, poor decision maker. More turnovers than assists, doesn't create for others particularly well. Not a great handle (Thompson needs work here too). He has the physical tools to be a good defender, but so far he is really bad. Bad draft you get bad players and I don't think they passed on anyone great. It definitely is not a good pick, and you could easily have picked him later in the draft. But it was probably never going to be anyone that good at 5 anyway.

Lakers win the draft. Great value getting Knecht there. Perfect team for him.

Bare minimum, make the trade and take Holland 9. WTF.

That is a brutal pick.

You win

Holy **** they are idiots.

Bummer. At least Detroit knows ahead of the draft so the can take a big if they want.

Sounds like Portland is also tossing in a 2029 first. Still, Avidja really started to play well last year.

Not saying I completely disagree. But Boston has Tatum who they picked with a Sacramento pick and Brown who they picked with a Brooklyn pick. It takes a little luck for sure.

Killian Hayes was just cut from the France Olympic team

What is the going rate for a center that has 3 feet range and plays some of the worst defense in the league?

Something to consider on the Bridges trade. That Knicks team is good and young. The Knicks can afford to be in luxury tax hell more than anyone outside of maybe the Lakers. Most of those picks were the Knicks own picks. So if they stay good for the next 5-6 years you are looking at picking 25-30 every year. Brooklyn really needs NYK to implode after a few years and those unprotected picks in 29 and 31 become a lot more valuable.

Leaders don't have to tell people they are leaders.

Least exciting Pistons draft ever. Which means the guy they pick probably ends up being an 18 time All Star or some crazy thing like that.

Good news. Reports of the Hawk Tuah girl losing her job appear to be false. We can all rest easy.

It would depend on my directions from Gores. Playoffs ASAP I probably go sign Claxton and Bridges. Ivey - I keep Ivey unless someone approaches me with a sweetheart of a deal. I saw a lot of things his first year that I liked. Plus his value will be really low after last year, so bad time to move him. Duren - Bare minimum he has to be a backup. Preferably traded. Ausar - I love this kid. Definitely keeping him and seeing what Vinson can do with him. So you are: Cade/Need a backup Ivey/Grimes/Sassar Bridges/Thompson Fontecchio/Stewart Claxton/Stewart/Duren No clue on the draft. Nobody really sticks out to me. No strong opinions on the coach. But I do think it will end up being Boreggo from NO. If Cade continues his growth and Ivey bounces back, that team could be looking at a playin situation. I mean everything would have to fall just right with injuries, but its possible. If Gores gives me a 5 year rebuild window, I shop Cade. If someone offers a package with two 2025 picks in it, take it. They won't be unprotected, but its a deep draft so that is OK. Tank for another top 5 pick which should net you a star type player. I look to trade everyone else at this point. Possibly keep Thompson.

One point about Fontecchio. He came into the league as a free agent. That means we do not have his full Bird rights, we have his Early Bird rights. That means we are limited on how far over the cap we can go with him. We can offer him 175% of last years salary or the average NBA salary, whichever is greater. He made just over $3M last year and the avg salary is $9.6M so he will be offered that. So anything over $9.6 will have to be cap space. So whatever he signs for minus $9.6M and whatever is left will have to be raw cap space.

I didn't know his agent got a job writing for RealGM.

Nobody is comparing him to Wemby. But even he had stretches last year where he looked bad. French League playoffs were not great, he was pushed around by some guy a foot shorter than him. I have watched a ton of Flagg and he is legit. Great on defense, elite shot blocker, elite (for his size) lateral quickness, should have no issues switching onto guards, and great help side defender instincts. He won't be great on offense but he wont just be a useless lob threat either. He should be able to hit a three and some mid-range. People say he has a post game, but I never saw him use it much mostly because he never needed too. Average handle and might struggle to create for himself a bit unless he improves that. I assume you mean Dylan Harper when talking about the Rutgers guys. Ace Bailey looked like garbage in that McDonalds game too. I think he shot 20% in that game. My money is on Bailey being the #1 pick. His size, athleticism, and explosiveness are pretty amazing. Think Jaden Ivey level of first step, but 6'9". My buddy is a big draft nerd and he said Harper is the better player today, with Flagg and Bailey having more potential. But you won't complain at all if you end up with Harper. He actually said there are two more guys he really likes. Some kid named Edgecombe playing at Baylor next year. And some French PG that I can't remember his name. Plus, we will have other guys rise during the college year and toss in some more international players. Plus, any of the five I mentioned can drop. Ron Holland was the #1 pick this time last year.