Hooper
Well-known member
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1 - Clippers - Victor Wembenyema
Grade: C
Soft. This happens in every one of these drafts too. Top pick is some high pot guy who needs a couple of years. Could have had the best player in the league, but instead you choose to maybe have the best player in the league in like 5 years. He could be anything, he could even be a boat.
2 - Pacers - Nikola Jokic
Grade: A+
Best player on the file. Young enough to build around. I mean it's just the obvious pick. Not much to add.
3 - Trailblazers - Giannis Antetokoumnpo
Grade: B
I get it, just not where I would have gone. You can easily win a ring with Giannis as your best player but I just think there were a couple of other guys who look better to me. TOs are tough. Not a disaster though. Still a good pick
4 - Lakers - Anthony Edwards
Grade: C+
Shocked me. Thought for sure I'd have to deal with Player being in my division with fuckin Embiid. Ant is still nasty but he isn't at a position of priority and he isn't like a top 5-10 guy quite yet. He will be one day. Player's guys always improve. But still, think there are other guys on the board and one who is even way better than Ant and the same age basically.
5 - Hawks - Joel Embiid
Grade: A-
Great pick. Embiid is disgusting. Bigs outside of the top couple of them are scarce too, so you just have a huge advantage over most of the league. At worst I think you got the second best player available here but you can make the case that Embiid is better because of what he offers you outside of scoring. Lucky that he fell
6 - Cavaliers - Luka Doncic
Grade: C
Just didn't like this one. Everyone knows Donkey hates Luka and he does what he can to stifle him. Last iteration Luka hit the double 100 pot boost so he still made it work, but you got a guy who is gonna do 4.5 TOs and is only a B+ B scorer with average pot. I'm sure you can make it work around him since he lead the league in assists, I just don't think this iteration of Luka is gonna be a top TOP guy.
7 - Grizzlies - Jayson Tatum
Grade: B
I mean I get it. Tatum is 25 and under control for a few years. Once Lebron, KD, Kawhi, and Jimmy are out of the league, you have the best SF in the league for a solid 5-8 year run. Still not quite where I would have gone but you have a long term top tier scoring option. Solid.
8 - Bulls - Karl-Anthony Towns
B+
CLB was trying to change his pick after the fact so you already know he's not getting an A here. KAT however is a dominant scorer and one of the last remaining elite bigs. At an age where you can choose to take a longer term approach or still go all in. Top 10 guy in the league, elite in a lot of areas. But do think there was one or two better options out there.
9 - Raptors - Anthony Davis
Grade: B+
Same grade a KAT for a lot of the same reasons. AD is a fuckin monster. Getting him at 9 is sweet. He has no weaknesses and he's only 30 so you can put a nice couple year run before you have to look to move on.
10 - Mavericks - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Grade: C+
It's hard to evaluate the PG market in an era where 4 TOs is gonna be about average. SGA is obviously good and he's only 25 so you have him for awhile, but I think picking in these spots I would like to grab someone with an elite skill somewhere, and SGA is just really good in a lot of spots. Not a bad pick but we'll see if you can win a ring with him as your best player. I don't really see it.
11 - Rockets - Ja Morant
Grade: C-
I'm just not sure about this one. Ja is super high on TOs and he doesn't even really have the efficiency or scoring volume to offset it. Only C+ defense too. As I said that I'm not sure if SGA gets it done as the first option, same goes for Ja.
12 - Spurs - Paolo Banchero
Grade: A+
Paolo is the goat and a close personal friend (tweeted back at me a couple of times, not to brag). Nothing bad to say about my pal. Josh Popavich gonna have him like Paolo Duncan in a few years,
13 - Hornets - Chet Holmgren
Grade: C+
Weird player. Similar to Wemby in a lot of ways without the pot. Low D rating but insane blocks. He's fun and I get that if you feel like you can't contend out of the gate with other mid career players, and you don't want to risk it all on older guys with a 1-2 year window, you kinda have to make some sacrifices. But generally speaking with how lot pot was across the league, I don't agree with that philosophy. Chet would have been my choice if that was the route I wanted to go, however.
14 - Wizards - Devin Booker
Grade: A-
Booker was an excellent pick and I'm surprised he lasted this long. Just an unreal offensive player who is also able to hold his own on defense and he is still super young. Long term building block who also allows you to win now. Dope.
15 - Bucks - Scoot Henderson
Grade: C-
I really just don't see it unfortunately. Even long term I just don't really believe Scoot is gonna get to where he needs to be. Would not have been on my radar at all at this point in the draft.
16 - Suns - Zion Williamson
Grade: A+
We all pretty much agree this was the best pick of the draft. You get a 23 year old who lead the league in PPG and FG%. I mean think about that. He's 23 and he might be the best player in the league and he got picked at 16? Fuck were you guys doing 1-15?
17 - Timberwolves - Jimmy Butler
Grade: A
Don't think there were any super young guys left worth trying to win a championship with as your best player, so it's time to pivot to the elderly guys who are ready to dominate for 2-3 years then hang it up. Jimmy is another guy who has an argument for best player on the file. He isn't quite there for me personally but as far as best SF he's certainly in the mix, and he's gonna give you a cool 28 PPG plus with everything else you need from your star. I like it.
18 - Thunder - Tyrese Haliburton
Grade: B-
Idk if I believe in the philosophy of a guy with scoring numbers as low as Hali being able to carry your team, but he's one of the only PGs who isn't gonna be a huge turnover problem and he's a nice efficient scorer who gets steals. So I think even without scoring he wins you a lot of battles in other places that make him a bit more efficient than the numbers might lead on. Either way, not a bad pick, just curious to see how you surround him to optimize him and get to the promiseland
19 - Nuggets - LaMelo Ball
Grade: D+
Air is my guy but I just don't like this at all. Melo's scoring leaves so much to be desired and he's gonna be on a max for 6 years. Average TOs but he doesn't have the defense either. I think you have to tank and build around Melo as an ancillary guy. Which is not what I want from my first rounder.
20 - Jazz - Steph Curry
Grade: B
So Steph is nasty but Swaggy was talking about using him at PG which I think is gonna be a disaster. In a vacuum I would give the pick a B+or A- if you're willing to go extremely all in and try to win the first ring before he retires, but since he can't run PG I think it makes it a bit tougher to squeeze the value out of Steph you're gonna need.
21 - Warriors - Kawhi Leonard
Grade: A
If you thought I was gonna give myself a lower grade or be humble you were sorely mistaken. Looking at the draft after, if I were to go back in time and re-pick, I would take Kawhi again. He's 32 so I get him for at least 3 years, and he should be a dominant 2 way guy for his lifetime in the league. Wish he was a stud PG or C but still, he's very good and should be just on the fringe of good enough to be the best player on a title team if the right pieces are around him.
22 - Heat - Trae Young
Grade: B-
Trae is a weird one. He's 25 and is always gonna fill it up but the turnovers might be insurmountable. Rest of the league is in the same spot though so it's possible we circle back to this one down the line and say the Heat got a top 10 guy at 22 and he was only 25 years old. We'll see.
23 - 76ers - Domantas Sabonis
Grade: B-
For whatever reason, 27 year old Sabonis still has pot. If he was 1 or 2 good TCs he could really pop going into his late 20s and early 30s. Right now though the efficiency isn't quite there so I'm not convinced he's gonna automatically be a super impact guy.
24 - Celtics - Donovan Mitchell
Grade: B+
Donnie is filthy. It's weird reckoning with SGs putting up PG TO numbers in this league but Donnie has crazy looking letter grades and is an efficient volume scorer. Could work out super well for GB in the long term
25 - Knicks - Jamal Murray
Grade: B
Murray is nice as hell but he isn't quite where I would like my lead scorer to be. Still though, so many of the top players are going to age out of the league soon and Jamal will be prime to be one of the top guards in the league for quite awhile.
26 - Pistons- Kevin Durant
Grade: A-
Lowkey I kinda think LeBron in R2 is more valuable than KD in round 1. Either way though the Pistons get 2 of the top like, 8 players? And they are primed to make a title run right out of the gate. Easy favorites. The pick rating is increased by having a vision. I know I didn't consider that with every other pick but with Durant and LeBron it just would totally make the pick an F if Curry were to go like, Brandon Miller in round 2 for example (cough cough)
27 - Kings - De’Aaron Fox
Grade: C+
Ty gets his boy, which I respect. He's young and pretty flexible so you have the chance to build around him for awhile. Just not sure if he's bringing any truly elite skills or if he'll ever hit the threshold I keep mentioning of "best player on a title team"
28 - Magic- Kyrie Irving
Grade: A-
Kyrie should be sick. Such a wildly efficient scorer and still put up numbers at SG next to Luka. It looks like with 2.5 TOs at SG Kyrie should be at the 4TO or more mark at PG like the rest of the league, but if he happens to be like 3.5-3.8 then this is a major home run pick, because he's gonna put up mega scoring numbers as the first option.
29 - Nets- Jaren Jackson Jr
Grade: B
We only got 1 test sim of JJJ and he came in second in the league in blocks with A defense. At the very least, you have such an ideal complimentary guy as a hyper elite, if not the best big man defender on the file. It's at the point where if you want to pick on the younger side, you have little chance of getting a lead scorer to carry a title team - so I don't hate getting the lead defender and possible elite #2 guy instead.
Grade: C
Soft. This happens in every one of these drafts too. Top pick is some high pot guy who needs a couple of years. Could have had the best player in the league, but instead you choose to maybe have the best player in the league in like 5 years. He could be anything, he could even be a boat.
2 - Pacers - Nikola Jokic
Grade: A+
Best player on the file. Young enough to build around. I mean it's just the obvious pick. Not much to add.
3 - Trailblazers - Giannis Antetokoumnpo
Grade: B
I get it, just not where I would have gone. You can easily win a ring with Giannis as your best player but I just think there were a couple of other guys who look better to me. TOs are tough. Not a disaster though. Still a good pick
4 - Lakers - Anthony Edwards
Grade: C+
Shocked me. Thought for sure I'd have to deal with Player being in my division with fuckin Embiid. Ant is still nasty but he isn't at a position of priority and he isn't like a top 5-10 guy quite yet. He will be one day. Player's guys always improve. But still, think there are other guys on the board and one who is even way better than Ant and the same age basically.
5 - Hawks - Joel Embiid
Grade: A-
Great pick. Embiid is disgusting. Bigs outside of the top couple of them are scarce too, so you just have a huge advantage over most of the league. At worst I think you got the second best player available here but you can make the case that Embiid is better because of what he offers you outside of scoring. Lucky that he fell
6 - Cavaliers - Luka Doncic
Grade: C
Just didn't like this one. Everyone knows Donkey hates Luka and he does what he can to stifle him. Last iteration Luka hit the double 100 pot boost so he still made it work, but you got a guy who is gonna do 4.5 TOs and is only a B+ B scorer with average pot. I'm sure you can make it work around him since he lead the league in assists, I just don't think this iteration of Luka is gonna be a top TOP guy.
7 - Grizzlies - Jayson Tatum
Grade: B
I mean I get it. Tatum is 25 and under control for a few years. Once Lebron, KD, Kawhi, and Jimmy are out of the league, you have the best SF in the league for a solid 5-8 year run. Still not quite where I would have gone but you have a long term top tier scoring option. Solid.
8 - Bulls - Karl-Anthony Towns
B+
CLB was trying to change his pick after the fact so you already know he's not getting an A here. KAT however is a dominant scorer and one of the last remaining elite bigs. At an age where you can choose to take a longer term approach or still go all in. Top 10 guy in the league, elite in a lot of areas. But do think there was one or two better options out there.
9 - Raptors - Anthony Davis
Grade: B+
Same grade a KAT for a lot of the same reasons. AD is a fuckin monster. Getting him at 9 is sweet. He has no weaknesses and he's only 30 so you can put a nice couple year run before you have to look to move on.
10 - Mavericks - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Grade: C+
It's hard to evaluate the PG market in an era where 4 TOs is gonna be about average. SGA is obviously good and he's only 25 so you have him for awhile, but I think picking in these spots I would like to grab someone with an elite skill somewhere, and SGA is just really good in a lot of spots. Not a bad pick but we'll see if you can win a ring with him as your best player. I don't really see it.
11 - Rockets - Ja Morant
Grade: C-
I'm just not sure about this one. Ja is super high on TOs and he doesn't even really have the efficiency or scoring volume to offset it. Only C+ defense too. As I said that I'm not sure if SGA gets it done as the first option, same goes for Ja.
12 - Spurs - Paolo Banchero
Grade: A+
Paolo is the goat and a close personal friend (tweeted back at me a couple of times, not to brag). Nothing bad to say about my pal. Josh Popavich gonna have him like Paolo Duncan in a few years,
13 - Hornets - Chet Holmgren
Grade: C+
Weird player. Similar to Wemby in a lot of ways without the pot. Low D rating but insane blocks. He's fun and I get that if you feel like you can't contend out of the gate with other mid career players, and you don't want to risk it all on older guys with a 1-2 year window, you kinda have to make some sacrifices. But generally speaking with how lot pot was across the league, I don't agree with that philosophy. Chet would have been my choice if that was the route I wanted to go, however.
14 - Wizards - Devin Booker
Grade: A-
Booker was an excellent pick and I'm surprised he lasted this long. Just an unreal offensive player who is also able to hold his own on defense and he is still super young. Long term building block who also allows you to win now. Dope.
15 - Bucks - Scoot Henderson
Grade: C-
I really just don't see it unfortunately. Even long term I just don't really believe Scoot is gonna get to where he needs to be. Would not have been on my radar at all at this point in the draft.
16 - Suns - Zion Williamson
Grade: A+
We all pretty much agree this was the best pick of the draft. You get a 23 year old who lead the league in PPG and FG%. I mean think about that. He's 23 and he might be the best player in the league and he got picked at 16? Fuck were you guys doing 1-15?
17 - Timberwolves - Jimmy Butler
Grade: A
Don't think there were any super young guys left worth trying to win a championship with as your best player, so it's time to pivot to the elderly guys who are ready to dominate for 2-3 years then hang it up. Jimmy is another guy who has an argument for best player on the file. He isn't quite there for me personally but as far as best SF he's certainly in the mix, and he's gonna give you a cool 28 PPG plus with everything else you need from your star. I like it.
18 - Thunder - Tyrese Haliburton
Grade: B-
Idk if I believe in the philosophy of a guy with scoring numbers as low as Hali being able to carry your team, but he's one of the only PGs who isn't gonna be a huge turnover problem and he's a nice efficient scorer who gets steals. So I think even without scoring he wins you a lot of battles in other places that make him a bit more efficient than the numbers might lead on. Either way, not a bad pick, just curious to see how you surround him to optimize him and get to the promiseland
19 - Nuggets - LaMelo Ball
Grade: D+
Air is my guy but I just don't like this at all. Melo's scoring leaves so much to be desired and he's gonna be on a max for 6 years. Average TOs but he doesn't have the defense either. I think you have to tank and build around Melo as an ancillary guy. Which is not what I want from my first rounder.
20 - Jazz - Steph Curry
Grade: B
So Steph is nasty but Swaggy was talking about using him at PG which I think is gonna be a disaster. In a vacuum I would give the pick a B+or A- if you're willing to go extremely all in and try to win the first ring before he retires, but since he can't run PG I think it makes it a bit tougher to squeeze the value out of Steph you're gonna need.
21 - Warriors - Kawhi Leonard
Grade: A
If you thought I was gonna give myself a lower grade or be humble you were sorely mistaken. Looking at the draft after, if I were to go back in time and re-pick, I would take Kawhi again. He's 32 so I get him for at least 3 years, and he should be a dominant 2 way guy for his lifetime in the league. Wish he was a stud PG or C but still, he's very good and should be just on the fringe of good enough to be the best player on a title team if the right pieces are around him.
22 - Heat - Trae Young
Grade: B-
Trae is a weird one. He's 25 and is always gonna fill it up but the turnovers might be insurmountable. Rest of the league is in the same spot though so it's possible we circle back to this one down the line and say the Heat got a top 10 guy at 22 and he was only 25 years old. We'll see.
23 - 76ers - Domantas Sabonis
Grade: B-
For whatever reason, 27 year old Sabonis still has pot. If he was 1 or 2 good TCs he could really pop going into his late 20s and early 30s. Right now though the efficiency isn't quite there so I'm not convinced he's gonna automatically be a super impact guy.
24 - Celtics - Donovan Mitchell
Grade: B+
Donnie is filthy. It's weird reckoning with SGs putting up PG TO numbers in this league but Donnie has crazy looking letter grades and is an efficient volume scorer. Could work out super well for GB in the long term
25 - Knicks - Jamal Murray
Grade: B
Murray is nice as hell but he isn't quite where I would like my lead scorer to be. Still though, so many of the top players are going to age out of the league soon and Jamal will be prime to be one of the top guards in the league for quite awhile.
26 - Pistons- Kevin Durant
Grade: A-
Lowkey I kinda think LeBron in R2 is more valuable than KD in round 1. Either way though the Pistons get 2 of the top like, 8 players? And they are primed to make a title run right out of the gate. Easy favorites. The pick rating is increased by having a vision. I know I didn't consider that with every other pick but with Durant and LeBron it just would totally make the pick an F if Curry were to go like, Brandon Miller in round 2 for example (cough cough)
27 - Kings - De’Aaron Fox
Grade: C+
Ty gets his boy, which I respect. He's young and pretty flexible so you have the chance to build around him for awhile. Just not sure if he's bringing any truly elite skills or if he'll ever hit the threshold I keep mentioning of "best player on a title team"
28 - Magic- Kyrie Irving
Grade: A-
Kyrie should be sick. Such a wildly efficient scorer and still put up numbers at SG next to Luka. It looks like with 2.5 TOs at SG Kyrie should be at the 4TO or more mark at PG like the rest of the league, but if he happens to be like 3.5-3.8 then this is a major home run pick, because he's gonna put up mega scoring numbers as the first option.
29 - Nets- Jaren Jackson Jr
Grade: B
We only got 1 test sim of JJJ and he came in second in the league in blocks with A defense. At the very least, you have such an ideal complimentary guy as a hyper elite, if not the best big man defender on the file. It's at the point where if you want to pick on the younger side, you have little chance of getting a lead scorer to carry a title team - so I don't hate getting the lead defender and possible elite #2 guy instead.
