What did we learn from pre-season?

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
oldmangrouch said:
Phooey. Do you think the SA front office considers the draft a random event? When they were lucky enough to have high picks they went for Robinson and Duncan - not someone like Oden. When they plucked players from Europe, they got Parker and Gino - not Claver, Batum, Rudy, etc.
Click to expand...

Minor quibble, but SAS wanted Batum with the 26th pick. That's why POR traded up from 27th to 25th to get him.

BNM
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Kuzma is a poor man's Carmelo. That's a steal where he was taken, but I'd rather have Jordan Bell.
Click to expand...

You see I said we should draft Jordan Bell. And I got slammed down for it n here. One person even said, because Jordan didn't box out on one play against North Carolina, he wasn't worth the risk?! So I didn't even mention Dillon Brooks, who would have been a great wing for us.
 
ripcityboy said:
You see I said we should draft Jordan Bell. And I got slammed down for it n here. One person even said, because Jordan didn't box out on one play against North Carolina, he wasn't worth the risk?! So I didn't even mention Dillon Brooks, who would have been a great wing for us.
Click to expand...

Dillon Brooks is gonna be gooooooood.
 
HCP said:
I’m sorry sir, but that is EXACTLY what it is.
Click to expand...
oldmangrouch said:
Phooey. Do you think the SA front office considers the draft a random event? When they were lucky enough to have high picks they went for Robinson and Duncan - not someone like Oden. When they plucked players from Europe, they got Parker and Gino - not Claver, Batum, Rudy, etc.
Click to expand...
To @HCP 's point I do think that there is some luck involved with both what year you are drafting in because of the players available that year and also what players are picked ahead of you. For example, if the Spurs would've got the #1 pick in 96 or 98 instead of 97 they would have ended up with Iverson/Camby or Olowakandi/Bibby and wouldn't likely have ever won a title. If the ping pong balls (or was it still a frozen envelope back then) bounce differently in 97 they would've gotten Van Horn, Billups, Daniels, or Battle once again completely changing history. Also, if Indiana doesn't trade them the 15th pick for George Hill or if Kawhi gets chosen before 15 then they don't win their most recent one either. The Spurs had plenty of draft misses thrown in there.

A player being drafted could also change once he makes the NBA now that he's made it, or get injured, or develop an alcohol problem, whatever. There is a bit of luck involved otherwise a guy like Jimmy Butler wouldn't be picked 30th. The 2017 draft was pretty loaded compared to some of the previous years as well so it was a good draft to have multiple picks in, at least theoretically. The situation also plays a huge role. Dillon Brooks got to play a ton last year because of all the injuries on Memphis. What would we be saying about him if he barely played on this team last year and then had a bad preseason? It would probably be similar to what we are saying about Swanigan. The same thing could be said about Mitchell if he was picked over Collins. He certainly wouldn't have had the same success he had in Utah based on the fact he wouldn't have gotten the same minutes.

As far as actually choosing good players though that is a skill. I like @tester551's poker analogy. You can make all the right moves and get your money in the pot with a high chance of winning and still someone could pull a two outer on the river or something. No one is perfect and makes the right decisions 100% of the time. I wish we could know what Olshey was really thinking at the time of the Swanigan pick (which I was fine with at the time, although I was kind of hoping for Semi Ojeleye myself). Since Swanigan was from Purdue and Paul George hadn't been traded yet maybe there was some posturing that Indiana was interested in Swanigan and that avenue wasn't completely closed off yet. Maybe he just simply thought Swanigan was going to be good. It has only been a year and he's only 7 months older that Collins. I'm not trying to start that debate again, I just find it weird that he is completely written off at 21 which used to be unheard for bigs. I know, I know he's unathletic.

I'll tell you what though, hitting on a later pick can really change the fate of a franchise though.
 
Labinot41 said:
I have learned that CJ is still a Ballhog, Nurkic improved, Swanigan shouldn't be on an nba court, Stauskas better than i expected, Collins up and down, Meyers still sucks but has good Moment on Offense, Stotts better Timeout Management, Evan turnover still a horrible Player and layman much better than i expected
Click to expand...
Evan Turnover. Nice.
 
Hard to pick an area we don't suck at. Good thing it's just preseason, amirite????

It's looking like we should've traded Gary when we had the chance. And it's looking like Elleby was drafted right where he deserved. A very poor man's Evan Turner.
 
I think the consensus around here is that we learned that Harry Giles is the best player on the team, that we will play at the same defensive level all regular season as we did with less than a dozen days on the court as a team, and we will obviously struggle just to make the playoffs... or we learned next to nothing because the preseason rarely tells you anything and it tells you even less this year with the abbreviated training camp.
 
I hope it's unfounded but one concern I do have at this point (based more on what I've heard said than what I've seen) is that it sounds like this team wants to have an elite starting perimeter defense. I think selling out with our forwards to try and have what is unattainable with our two starting guards would hurt our interior defense and rebounding... leaving us as an even worse defense than we have been in the past. Maybe I'm way off and these adjustments will not take away from our interior presence on D and will make us much better on the perimeter. Here's to hoping.
 
Well obviously the team is struggling due to a multitude of issues this preseason. 1st off, they look rusty, especially on offense. After that 1st game everything has been off. Nurk looks to be in shape, but looks like he hasn't shot the basketball at all. He finally hit a hook last night that looked like himself. This won't be popular but, we're too small at PF when Covington is in that position. Millsap made him look bad. He's too small IMO. I suggest starting Melo at PF, and return Robert to his more natural SF spot. At least Melo has size, and he's a WAYYYYY better rebounder than either RoCo, or Jones Jr. The Nuggets are good, but they shot other worldly in the series. I mean, even their bench didn't miss open looks. I feel like the Blazers will hit their groove with shooting. CJ finally hit shots after playing what i feel was his worst half of basketball i've ever seen. Hoody needs minutes. I think a second unit of Hoody, Jones Jr., CJ, Gary, and Enes will have plenty of fire power. No need to jump off the cliff, but these last 3 games were awful. The defense will get better with time and chemistry with the additions, but we need to come out of the gate scoring, and right now, Melo in the starting lineup achieves that.
 
tykendo said:
This won't be popular but, we're too small at PF when Covington is in that position. Millsap made him look bad. He's too small IMO.
Click to expand...
Funny that he was playing CENTER for the Rockets. But yes: he's no smaller than Aminu, but Aminu was a surprisingly awesome rebounder. But you haven't lost me yet.

tykendo said:
I suggest starting Melo at PF, and return Robert to his more natural SF spot.
Click to expand...
...and you completely lost me.
 
In my view it's going to take a month and a half before we develop the chemistry to win consistently...my 2 cents...hopefully we turn it around quicker than that but this is essentially a new team and a new system. What is familiar with returning guys won't work....right now even our stars are on page one. The offense is going to slip until the defense is solid...defense is a priority and they'll lose a bit figuring it out.
 
What I learned from this 2018 thread is that the forum was pretty much right that Curry was going to be good and that Swanigan would always suck. They were mixed on their opinions of Staukas, so only half of them were right. That we are still debating two years later whether Nurk should shoot three point shots might tell us something. Maybe he should focus on getting really good finishing around the basket and making short midrange shots.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top