Blazers lose both coin flips

[Wizard Mentor]

2 of the best bigs in the playoffs, Jokic and Giannis, were not taken with top draft picks.

There are gems outside of the top picks in every draft, you just have to dig for them.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. For years, GMs and fans were high on short, strong power forwards because of Charles Barkley. Very few of these guys were even decent nba players. Giannis's brother is almost identical to him, but he's widely considered the worst player in the nba. Jokic-type players tend to be terrible.

What I'm trying to say is that you can't predict corner cases like Barkley, Giannis, and Jokic. Chasing them is a really bad idea. However, giving up too early on your 2nd rounders is probably also a bad idea.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

This place would come unhinged If Cronin took a player that had this kind of report out.

If Cronin takes Robbie Avila with a second-round pick, I think many in here would be quite excited.

 

[Ed O]

I don't understand that chart at all. All I know is that there is a certain type of player that teams feel they have to take with a high pick and it's a high risk player. Meanwhile "boring" but great players like Draymond Green and Jalen Brunson slip in the draft because they (supposedly) haven't got "upside".

You're not giving yourself enough credit.

The chart is saying that when you are selected earlier (with the first pick all the way to the left and the last pick being all the way to the right), players tend to be better (with the first overall pick being the most valuable and set at 100% and each of the other picks being worth less than that with an overall downward trend although some spots have turned out better than ones before them). If you look at any given couple of players, you can come to the conclusion that draft spot doesn't matter (LaRue Martin at #1 was wayyyyy less valuable than thousands of guys picked at a lower spot in their drafts) but that is just the nature of variance.

Anyone who is certain we will get a better player because we have a higher pick, or certain that a guy in the second round is going to be less valuable... that's just wrong. But as percentages go those are strong positions to take.

 

[kjironman1]

If Cronin takes Robbie Avila with a second-round pick, I think many in here would be quite excited.

Meh? I doubt that. Now if they pick him and he becomes an MVP caliber player they will be excited yes.