Saw a much better wing prospect than Lavarias combo forward.
Lavarias more complete offense, Braun not significant behind offense, and more complete game.
Braun can jump out of gym, but a t-Rex, 6’7 with 6’6.5 wingspan
Not Uber athletic and long, but LaRavia showed better agility than I expected at combine to go with NBA skills
Highlights, but good performance against quality competition and players, blocking mark Williams and outplay Eason
Still IMO would be a huge reach at 13/15, but IMO a couple years ago a couple months b4 draft no way Cam Jonson pick at 11
I think he’s low 20s but he’s shimmying down fast from what was high 30s at the end of the season. Having watched every game, he’s more than the sum of his stats this year as he was largely overshadowed by Alondes (and for valid reasons).
I would think it’s a stretch to get him at 15 but I would not be disappointed if we did. I love his all-around game and ability to do a bit of everything including guard pretty much 1-4. He said here he models his game after Gordon but to me, he’s a lot better, the same draft age, significantly more Gordon’s build today than at draft age, and … well here’s the numbers.
G
MP
FG
FGA
FG%
2P
2PA
2P%
3P
3PA
3P%
FT
FTA
FT%
ORB
DRB
TRB
AST
STL
BLK
TOV
PF
37
33.5
4.7
10.1
0.464
3.4
5.8
0.592
1.3
4.3
0.294
4.8
5.8
0.829
1.9
6.3
8.2
1.7
1.1
0.8
2.3
2.1
33
34.2
5.0
9.0
0.559
4.2
6.8
0.616
0.8
2.2
0.384
3.7
4.8
0.777
2.1
4.5
6.6
3.7
1.7
1
2.7
2.8
Top row is Gordon’s final year at Butler which garnered him 9th pick overall in a decent draft and college → broken ankle Gordon was a fantastic get by UTA. Bottom row is Jake’s one year at Wake with a whole new cast around him and a veritable college star beside him in Alondes who had a much higher usage rate.
Again, I am not super rah rah about him in the teens but I watch every Wake Forest game and I had a good feeling about Collins being underrated and I think Jake might be equally so (with very different games). It’s a reach at 15 but it’s not a huge reach there.
For those determined to trade both the picks, what player are you targeting? Who are the players you think are realistically available and worth those two picks plus whatever else it’s going to take to get them? I’m just curious.
I have no problem trading one of them.
I also have NO problem using both of them and patiently waiting for them to pay off. Regardless if they play immediately. No matter what, everyone can’t play and somebody has to fill out the roster and sit on that bench. Might as well be someone young, talented with upside waiting in the wings for an opportunity who isn’t costing us a fortune and might someday contribute and replace the other guys we can’t afford to all keep.
If I’m trading both picks, I want something major!
Think in both S&T cases, as an OTC team, we need outgoing trade fill that we don’t have (or nothing that would be useful to those trade partners). On Ayton, the BYC issue affects us pretty negatively. It would be very different if we were taking these S&Ts into space.
For Ayton, you will have to max him to have a real shot which puts his incoming salary at 30m. His outgoing match can only be 125% of his QO with PHX which puts it at 20.5m outgoing. We’re upside down about 10m in cap but more importantly, what in 20.5m are we sending back? Terry won’t fit there so that would require more fudging and they don’t have the bodies or disposable contracts to make that work I don’t think (but why would they want to?).
For Bamba, it’s looks more manageable. I believe they would be operating as an over the cap team with their litany of cap-holds, one of which is Bamba’s 22m. We wouldn’t be offering him a max contract anyway but I assume he’s wanting more than 125% of his current 10m QO. If he’s happy with 12.5m x 4, then great. But same question, what are we sending back as salary fill? Logically we sent them KOJ if that’s the contract money we can settle on (and I am no KOJ fan so that’s fine) but we have zero wing depth if the next move is moving Gordon. But eeesh if ORL wants to add KOJ to their collective hive; he’s not exactly a sharer of the ball and that’s a lot of young mouths to feed on that team.
The only pushback is that the money and machinations don’t easily work.
I continue to feel the practical way to do a Bamba deal is if ORL renounces him (which they may) and we sign him as a FA to the MLE. On Ayton, I don’t see how you make that work unless we’re S&Ting Miles to them and I do not want to do that.
I very well might be wrong and YMMV and all that stuff but this stuff all seems like threading needles with frayed thread while drunk and not able to find your glasses.
If we do make that move it clearly defines our timeline and gets the biggest salary of our books one year early. Not a fan of the move but I can absolutely see the rationale behind it.
To answer the “what do you expect to get back by trading the picks” question:
I don’t just want to trade them for a non difference making player for the sake of trading
My thought process is 100% what does the year of contract renewal for melo look like. If it is basically this roster + two mediocre role playing year two guys I truly think he will extend them immediately start the trade talk.
If it is a struggling 5 seed in the east with say Myles Turner (complete example) at center, same thing.
I 100% think that what happens this summer determines whether melo is a hornet through the rest of the decade or for about two years.
What if, we convince Lakers to take Rozier and Hayward for LeBron. We will get our salary dump, Lakers get two decent players, and we don’t extend LeBron. Maybe, we will get some valuable playoff experience with LeBron.
Ok, tin-foil hat off.
Please don’t rip a hole in me, I said tin-foil hat.
I think there are a lot of good players in the top 20 who can help the Hornets. At the top I like Banchero the best; don’t trust Chet. Think Smith will be meh.
So not being high in this draft doesn’t concern me. I like Williams, Agbaji, Sochan, Eason, Daniels, Branham, Duren; not necessarily in that order.
With that kind of size, talent and toughness available, I’m not keen on trading a pick or trading up (unless it’s way up for Banchero), but the Hornets are gonna do what they do. Pretty sure they won’t consult with me first. Every year I hope they’ll call, but they never do.
I locked in paying close attention to Mark Williams midway thru the season and I’ve been sold on him for a while. I felt like he probably played his way out of our range during the tournament but the mocks haven’t reflected that for the most part. His combine measurements were crazy and by the time workouts are done, I’m afraid more teams are going to appreciate his value.
