NBA Off-Season

Dude better sign that qualifying offer ASAP! If you think Watson is getting a year, Bridges isn’t playing for a while.

 

That is a shit ton of draft picks for Rudy G.

 

Six first-rounders in 24 hours. Trust the process.

 

The T'wolves just traded their entire bench and half their draft capital for the next decade for a 30-year-old center who's never won anything and is due a metric fuckton of money for 4(?) more years. Why can't the Bulls ever come out ahead on an incredibly stupid trade?

 

College players are the ultimate crap shoot. Guy can look like like a stud to be at 19, but never grows his game or matures and is done. Guy can look middling at 19, but some coaching, physically and mentally maturing ( at least basketball maturity) and they are a man playing at near all star quality. Maybe a few players at the top elite, but many are fungible and a number 11 is done before number 44 even gets started.

Now Durant wants to be with Zion.

 

Gotta have something people want that badly. Also, Danny Ainge is uniquely good at fucking over Minnesota.

Minnesota paid a huge price for Gobert - The draft picks could all be good, as only one is Top 5 protected, plus Kessler was a first round pick this year. However, Gobert and Towns are intriguing to pair together, since Towns can play outside. He and Gobert could punish teams enough that they can't just go completely small ball against them. Of course, the big 'if' is whether Towns will play enough defense, regardless of whether he's at the 4 or 5, to ever be a truly elite big man.

Also, the ESPN.com story said that Utah will now build around Mitchell... I kind of wonder if that's true. I like Mitchell, but I think he's a rung lower than Lillard, more of an All-Star / third team NBA type. He'd be in his late 20s, early 30s by the time Utah is seeing a yield from these draft picks. It wouldn't surprise me if he's on the block as well, but for a similar price to Gobert.

 

Good for Karl Anthony Towns. He finally gets what he wants -- the chance to be a mediocre 7 foot shooting guard.

 

The Giants' High-A team checks in.

 

Towns and Gobert are going to squash the mediocre teams like the Kings, OKC, the ....huh everyone is getting better, so maybe the Jazz now, the Magic, the Pistons, etc. But when the playoffs start, if you've got shooters who can create, teams are going to run double screens and those guys are going to give up on the play and its over. They will get drilled (plus KAT does not appear to be that enthusiastic of a defender). Oh yeah, and its not like D'Angelo is fighting over any screens.

 

Warriors getting DiVincenzo is interesting. Not as good D as GPII but a better shooter while still pretty good on D.

 

Everything I'm seeing suggests Utah is building around Mitchell... but I wouldn't.

If I'm Utah I'm on the phone with Brooklyn gauging their interest in Mitchell and trying to get involved with a Suns/Nets deal to get Ayton and some picks. I'm not a big fan of Mitchell's game -- he's a volume shooter and doesn't bring much else to the table -- and he'll be demanding a trade by the all-star break.