RT: On the 2039 Off-season

[G9.]

On the 2039 Off-season

Who is your favorite player out of the draft?

Donkey: It was Brannen Greene by a mile, and it's not because of a talent stand point, he just brings back so many good memories of the old BSL days. CP3MVP was the commish and I swiped Greene in free agency from CP3 himself, I was the Bulls in that league. Went on to have great success with Brannen, but we never won a ship. In this league he has a nice base though, he could be a sniper.

Chris: Kennedy Meeks because he's the most solid and pro-ready player, and has enough upside to be a star-caliber big in this league.

Henny: Shaquille Johnson looks like a young Hondo with his overall game. Also like Greene a lot

FortsonBass: Yauheni Beliankou is my favorite player even with his meh TC compared to other guys like Shaquille Johnson. I think he will be a great SF in this league and can’t believe the Bulls got him so late. He can be Gentile light.

OG Ebbs: Shaquille Johnson is going to be everyone's answer and I get that but early volume, especially on bad teams is linked to athletics and I'm not sure we will know who the best player is out of this draft for a minute.

2nd Ebbs: Shaq Johnson without a doubt, he has the athletic base to become an all time great, but we will see how the rest of his game develops first. Reminds me of Paul Harris a decade back.

cavsfan: I don't hate Shaq as much as some of the other GMs have indicated. I think he can be good if he's used correctly, however, that doesn't seem to be at PG. But he looks really nice after his first TC. I think Brannen Greene has the chance to be REALLY good, and he should make for a nice SF for the Lakers.

mngopher: I liked Kennedy Meeks at the time of the draft. After TC I think Shaq on OKC looks nice if he still has good pot as does Willie Clayton his 2nd rounder so they had a nice draft in a poor class.

cheddar: Out of the draft my favorite player is Kennedy Meeks. Only because I am a huge UNC fan and Meeks was a beast for the team during his college tenure. Shaq Johnson was a solid player at #1 so if we are looking at it from just the FBB perspective, I would probably say him.

Cloud: Man, I’ve almost never hated a draft more, it was such devastatingly slim pickings, but my favorite prospect was Kendrick Nunn. He had a fantastic collegiate career at Illinois and I figured he’d have the ability to score with volume, and he’s been good in past leagues as well so I kind of thought he had a solid chance to be respectable here again. He had a nice base overall, pretty well-rounded prospect who looks like he’s gonna be able to be a nice scorer who isn’t a slouch on the defensive end either.


Nunn hasn't been too impressive as of yet, but the former Illini star is expected to rise up soon.


yrtb: I really didn't like this draft, and honestly none of them looked particularly great in preseason. Shaq Johnson, Brannen Greene, and Jalen Rose all put up ~20 PPG, but Shaq and Jalen did it on 4+ TOPG, and Greene couldn't even shoot 40% from the field. So I'll actually go with Kendrick Nunn. He only played 12 MPG in pre, but put up good percentages and entered the draft with the 2nd high potential.

AIR: I didn't look too much into the draft, but one player that stood out to me was Kennedy Meeks. He dominated in college for two straight seasons. We know he'll have some sort of volume in this league. In a league where bigs are rare, he's someone who should have gone #1. OKC decided to go a different route which I didn't agree with. Shaq did have a nice TC, but I think Meeks will be more valuable down the line.

tyfreak: My favorite player this draft is Jalen Rose. Has all the makings of being a nice versatile wing who can contribute in multiple ways. I like Kendrick Nunn and Johnson is going to be a stud too.

username: I didn’t have a player I liked a lot but I liked Kendrick nunn the most. He seemed to have the most upside and a great starting build to play PG in a fast outside offense.

Who is your least favorite player that was drafted in the lottery?

Donkey: Foreman fell for another trap and picked a cancer in Jalen Rose, I honestly can't believe the amount of bad picks he's made. I just didn't really like his upside, I think he'll be a starter in this league, but to see BeeJay Anya go right after him is tough to watch. Especially with how valuable big men are in this league, Foreman should've taken a shot at Anya.

Chris: Mert Gizir. He can't shoot or play defense or do much of anything really. This draft was really weak depth-wise.

Henny: I hated Panichi and hate him even more after a disastrous TC

FortsonBass: Jordan Price was a huge reach at 8 and I wonder if he will even be a rotation player in the league. His college stuff didn’t look that good to me and he’s already 22. Rockets should’ve swung for the fences.

OG Ebbs: Beejay Anya, really felt like a whiff. Was a six person draft to me, obviously I benefited from it but I was shocked Yauheni fell to 7.

2nd Ebbs: Beejay Anya, great name, questionable base. He has a solid first TC but I thought there were other names still available the Pacers could of done more with.

cavsfan: A lot of choices here, but I don't really see why Mert went in the top 13. He just doesn't look that great, and his only discernible skill at the moment is his shooting. Everything else about him looks pretty meh to me. Maybe he will follow the McCoy route and have a big TC next season ;-)

mngopher: I didn't really get the Mert Gizer pick and it doesn't look like TC helped much.

cheddar: I think relative for where he went and what was traded, Brannen Greene was the most surprising pick. Talent wise, he could easily be argued. But to move a pick 3 + 12 to move up one spot, I was surprised. He's going to be a solid player, I just wasn't sure he was worth the jump considering it cost another lotto selection.


"Former Jayhawk Brannan Greene arrested on marijuana charge."

Cloud: Yeah, so, there were 3 guys I didn’t really like being picked in the lottery, the 2 guys the Grizzlies picked, Seth Allen and Nicholas King, were legitimately not even on my board. Like I didn’t have them anywhere on my list, now they look decent after TC so good for them, but on draft night I thought that was super out of left field. The other player I didn’t think was a great pick was Jordan Price. He just didn’t really pop in any way for me. He’s been good in past leagues though so there is that but eh, idk, would’ve tried to bank on Barry’s scoring or Mert’s potential at that pick.

yrtb: Damn now I'm going to have to look at a bunch of rosters, because the draft was pretty garbage from 8 to 13. Mert Gizir (drafted 13 by the Nuggets) looks like an undrafted player with C B- C- C C ratings, but I'm not going to go with him given that he had the highest potential in the draft. So I'll go with Jordan Price, drafted at 8. He didn't really improve in training camp, and with low draft day potential and ugly percentages during limited playing time in preseason, I don't expect much from him.

AIR: Don't love Brannen Greene going #2. Again, thought Meeks would have been the better pick here. Curry hasn't been lucky with his recent lotto selections in JP and what's looking like another meh pick in Greene. Meeks by himself on that Lakers team, we'd see him put up some monster numbers and he could have flipped him for more picks down the line. Don't see many people lining up at the door for Greene.

tyfreak: I don't care much for Mert Gizir on the Grizzlies.

username: I didn’t pay any attention but I thought Brennan greeene went high, he must have good scouts cuz his handles look p bad which won’t translate into any volume. Hopefully I’m wrong tho so curry may bring the lakers back to glory

Which Free Agency contract do you think was the best?

Donkey: I think it obviously was Colton Iverson from a value standpoint. It's hard to believe he signed a two year minimum when there are teams dying for big men. And you have guys like Tiny Gallon making $18.3M a year on average.

Chris: Latavious Williams. Nets needed a big to replace Gary Trent and Latavious' all-around game is as good as it gets for that deal.

Henny: I will say Salley was a really good get for Sonics at under $10 mil per. He is a decent Big and on a very team friendly deal

FortsonBass: Marko Koljevic for 5 years at around $3.8M a year is a steal. He has sneaky potential to have a late bloomer TC and at the worst that’s starter level wing for that cheap. YRTB always does a terrific job.

OG Ebbs: Gentile. Generic but IDC. He's one of the elite cornerstone pieces in the league and if he walked Celtics were fucked.

2nd Ebbs: Johnny Berk in Denver. He's an incredibly solid guy who can play 1-3 and is now on a long term team friendly deal. Maybe he will end up back home in New York.


2nd Ebbs literally picked this guy because ... Canada.

cavsfan: Gotta be Salley. He jumped out of nowhere last season to become a premier rim-protecting big. I know personally, I had thrown him my MLE, but Mahaney signed before he did. Absolute steal of a contract that he's on right now. A little bit older, but he should still be good for the next few seasons.

mngopher: Gentile lol. It was kinda hard to choose as there are a decent amount of solid middle range contracts for bigs (Salley/Waldow/Latavious for example) but I will just highlight those guys and say Suns did a good job of getting similar production type bigs on lower cap hit with Waldow/Biruta.

cheddar: I was a fan of the Oberto deal by the Heat. He is a solid player and will perform well for the team. I thought he would garner over 20M a year on the open market based off his past production and a key cog in the Sonics success over the recent past. I like the short term nature of Pinero's deal at 3 years, so that was a solid move as well.

Cloud: I may be biased but I thought the John Salley deal I was able to land and ultimately flip for a future pick was pretty awesome. Less than MLE for a 28 year old premier shot-blocker is almost unheard of. I’m betting what happened was very few people ever paid attention to Charlotte last year so they didn’t know that Salley had emerged as an elite rim protector and they just saw him in FA and thought meh yeah maybe I’d take him Day 2 on a minimum or something, there’s really no other way to explain how that ended up happening. I also thought Colton Iverson was a great value deal for Miami, as was the deal they got Oberto back on. Again, I could be biased because I drafted Iverson and Oberto was my guy here in Seattle but I loved those deals for the Heat.

yrtb: Latavious Williams to the Nets for $64,500,000 over 4 years. There were other signings that are more valuable, like the Celtics resigning Gentile and arguably the Heat resigning Oberto, but the Nets get extra props for picking up a starting caliber big in free agency from another team without overpaying. $16M/yr for a B+ rebounder who isn't a liability on offense or defense is a steal.

AIR: I would toot my own horn and go with Brad Waldow. He's going to be a 20/10 big making 14M starting this year. Last season, we had Tiny Gallon doing the same at double the price so at a value standpoint, the Waldow contract will be great for me. From another team, I'll go with John Salley. A little under a MLE to start, Salley is a great shot blocker all of a sudden who won't be an issue to teams with not much cap space. The asking price is a first round pick so teams who need big men, he’s your guy.

tyfreak: Latavious for 64M and Salley for 33M.

username: John Salley baby. Biased because I traded for him, but I was surprised to see his production from the previous season and was happy to get him on a small contract.

Which Free Agency contract do you think was the worst?

Donkey: That idiot vegan spreading his legs and giving everything for Jerry Lucas was mind blowing. I can't believe someone was actually willing to pay a maximum salary for a defensive big, is that where we are at in this league? And people have to realize, it's still very much so a buyer's market out there. Top talent, even in the front court, is not going for fair value. There are so many options, even for bigs, to trade for, there is no need to be giving out ludicrous contracts like that.

Chris: Jerry Lucas. No way he's worth anything near $35M/year for his level of production.

Henny: Without a doubt Jerry Lucas , he is not good let alone $30 mil + per year good-- a waste of money and easily the leagues worst contract now

FortsonBass: Jerry Lucas by a mile. $30M+ a year for 4 years? Good luck trading him without attaching a first or two.

OG Ebbs: I feel like that Lucas deal is ugly. Good call on whoever mentioned Cat doing the same thing with Wiseman.

2nd Ebbs: In a vacuum it was Aire. But since it was a S&T I get it a little more.

cavsfan: Super obvious, but Jerry Lucas . I just have no idea why he was given the money that he was. He is an elite rebounder in a league that is starving for rebounding, but his contract is just so ugly. If the Thunder are trying to move him they would likely need to attach assets just to get off of that deal, so in essence it's hustling backwards.

mngopher: Jerry Lucas . This was just a massive overpay and it seems like he is having trouble even just being unloaded.

cheddar: Jerry Lucas stand out to me. I mean I get it, rebounding bigs are more rare at this point for sure. He is a youngerish guy and hit the open market. But 131.4M over 4 years is quite a bit for a guy who doesn't really specialize in any aspect. A guy like Oberto went way cheaper at 75M over 4 years and is going to give you similar production, if not better. Also, you have to throw Aire in the discussion. He blocks very well, but that is about it. Gueye also deserves recognition in this aspect. Maybe he grows into that contract, but as of right now he isn't worth it.

Cloud: Oh man for me it’s not even close it’s Preston Purifoy, I couldn’t believe that one. The only saving grace is that it’s a declining deal but yeah I absolutely hate that contract. The Bulls even passed on a Pinero trade because they didn’t want to risk losing Purifoy as a waiveback so that makes it even tougher from my perspective. Everyone else is obviously going to say Jerry Lucas and I agree that deal sucks shit as well but he at least brings nightly double doubles to the floor.

yrtb: Jerry Lucas to the Thunder for $131,411,010 over 4 years. I disagree with the RINGZ ERNEY argument. Just because you've won a couple of rings doesn't mean that your moves are free from criticism. I get that B+ B+ defense/boards for a 27 year old are enticing, but both the Hawks and Pacers have been vocal that Lucas is overrated given his ratings. And 8/10 on 42% from the field in preseason doesn't do anything to dispel those rumors. I'd argue that Lucas might have the worst contract in the league.

AIR: Easily Jerry Lucas . Guys his caliber aren't worth the max. Sure he'll rebound and defend, but you can find guys like that much cheaper (like John Salley). Think we'll see the James Wiseman treatment again as OKC won't want his contract, but no one will want to trade for a large contract big like Lucas.

tyfreak: Jerry Lucas by far. Could have offered roughly 10M less based on what other bigs went for this year.

username: idk I’m pretty sure some ballsack player got paid good though. ​