NBA Draft Recap: Winners and Losers
SteemSports Presenter: Scott Frank, @scottybuckets
SteemSports Editor: Nolan Jacobson, @theprophet0, STEEM Witness & PeerPlays Witness.
It was a wild night in the NBA. This draft was filled with ups and downs and some real questionable moves. Once the night was over, there was a total of 16 freshmen drafted and the Chicago Bulls Super Star ended up in another area code. I will tell you which teams won the night and which teams completely blew it.
Winners
Hands down, the Minnesota Timberwolves had the best night. They added a top 15 player in the NBA, Jimmy Butler, who is 27 years old and in his prime. Team him up with rising stars Karl Towns and Andre Wiggins and that is one hell of a foundation. This also puts Jimmy Butler back together with his head coach, Tom Thibodeau. The Minnesota Timberwolves are loaded and I can't wait to watch them play. Look out Western Conference!
The Boston Celtics drafted Jason Tatum with the 3rd overall pick. I had Tatum at number 1 on my draft board. The Celtics landed a great shooter and great scorer and their fans should be happy today.
Finally, the Sacramento Kings had a great draft night! They landed 3 potential starters in the first round. De’Andre Fox from Kentucky has super star talent and he got better and better last year as the season and March Madness progressed. The Kings then traded the number 10 pick to the Portland Trailblazers for their 15th and 20th picks. The Kings drafted Justin Jackson out of North Carolina, who is going to be a deadly scorer and long defender, at 15 and Harry Jiles at 20. Jiles has a huge upside but suffered from an injury plagued time at Duke.
The Atlanta Hawks got a phenomenal player in John Collins from Wake Forest. Collins was number 2 on my board as he is going to be a double-double machine in the NBA. He averaged 19 points and 9 rebounds in the ACC. With Atlanta losing Howard and most likely losing Milsap, they could not afford to blow this pick. And they NAILED it with Collins.
My final winner of the night is the Detroit Pistons. They drafted the best shooting guard in the draft with Luke Kennard. Kennard was sensational at Duke and will be a great fit in the motor city. I see him becoming the team leader and will have a wonderful and long NBA career. Nice work Detroit.
Losers
I am going to disagree with a lot of NBA GMs and blowhards on ESPN. Markelle Fultz is going to be a bust. He put up good numbers on a horrible Washington team and played in a conference with little defense. The Philadelphia 76ers will be back in the lottery again next year. BOOK IT.
The Chicago Bulls also had a devastating night. Although I really like Kris Dunn’s chances to become a great guard, I'm not sure what Zach Lavine does, other than dunk. Plus he is coming off an ACL Tear. But, when the trade was announced, I thought that it was a great deal for both teams….until the number 7 pick was announced as Lauri Markkanen out of Arizona. Are you kidding me?! They gave up a star player at the start of his prime for an unproven Dunn, a dunk contest winner, and a slow, tall, skinny bum with no upside? Whoever pulled the trigger on this, either John Paxson or Gar Foreman, needs to be thrown into the Chicago River. This sets the Bulls back to one of the worst teams in the history of the NBA. Have fun D Wade, next year! What a dumpster fire.
The Lakers also had a terrible night. I saw Lonzo Ball play in person several times last year. Although I think he is a good passer, he played on a loaded UCLA team that coach Alford had running and gunning. Ball was surrounded by 2 of the best shooters in college basketball last year, Bryce Alford and TJ Leaf. It made Ball’s job look easy. He has one of the ugliest jump shots I have ever seen and with the lack of talent on the Lakers, it's going to be a long year in L.A. Not to mention the public pressure that his dumb-ass dad puts on him.
And lastly, the New York Knicks continued their embarrassing and pathetic front office moves by Phil Jackson. They drafted the French basketball player, Frank Ntilikina. He has looked good as he has played in Europe but the level of talent he was playing against just doesn't hold up in comparison to the NBA. Carmelo Anthony is a lazy joke, Derrick Rose needs to retire, and Joakim Noah will be in a wheelchair by the All Star break. Good luck winning 20 games New York.
The Cleveland Cavs, Washington Wizards, and New Orleans Pelicans had no first round picks. Another fun and crazy NBA draft is in the books. Let me know who you thought won or lost the night. Cheers!
Minesota Timbervolwes are the biggest gainers,i think!
Yes because theyve got jimmy buttler..nice catch..
All we do is win win win!!!!
I personally feel Lonzo Ball is going to be a great player
Lonzo is going to be a superstar. Magic drafted him for a reason.
Agree with this. Lonzo is the real deal
I know I'm out on an island here with my view. I was at Iowa when Steve Alford coached and I know his system well. The kind of fast paced, no defensive and talented shooters that UCLA played with made Ball look great no doubt. But when teams slow down the Lakers, he will suffer greatly. Thank you all for reading and commenting! I love the banter!
Amazing insight. I'd have to agree with everything you said except the Fultz thing. Good young core, just need some good vets that can still play and discipline the young guys, and I'd say they have the potential to sneak in to the 7 or 8 spot next season!
Another add I'd like to say is the my squad, the Raptors! OG Anunoby is going to be great for us, especially with his defensive versatility. I believe his shot can and will get better - good enough for defenders and schemes to at least respect his shot! Also good for any situation, whether our team is going to tank with the potential loss of Lowry, a good development player for the G-League, or even get spot minutes in the rotation for in-game development. Overall, I like the guy, and hope his ACL tear won't affect his athleticism in the future.
Thanks for sharing @steemsports. Really like your basketball/NBA coverage!
I did catch OG play at IU this year. Wish he woulda stuck around another year. But still a ton of upside.
Looking at some of his highlights, you would think he's already quite built for the NBA physically speaking. Pretty good defensive IQ; offensively is where he's still very raw, but still manageable given he's only about to turn 20 next month. Looking forward to his development this season. Heard his a big gym rat, so I think he'll be confident with his shot in no time. Has big upside indeed!
Big winner : NYK . We got a few steals. A whole back court and combo forward.
They say it a year ago..they say they are a superteam..lol..
hey man. keep hope alive. That's the only way us Knicks fans survive
Their franchise player wants to move out..what the..
Huh. This is less of a recap and more of an opinion piece.
Agree with the Jimmy Butler trade. The Wolves made out like bandits. Oh man but the Lakers as losers. Say it AINT so...that's my team. I like Lonzo man. He was great in high school, he was great in college and that team may have seemed loaded but it may be because they were getting the ball in great spots. We shall see. It's always fun to watch these guys!
Hello..eric gordon of houston??thanks.
hahaha no it is the much less richer version from Vegas. I actually used to own the domain name ericgordon.net and when Gordon was a Rookie for the Clippers I was trying to sell it to him for a Million Dollars...as the .com was taken by some voice over guy. for some reason his team never returned my message. I would have taken $995k =/
Time will tell Eric! Thank you for your always great insight!
This looks interesting, followed.