2021 NBA Draft Superthread

[joemama]

James Ham @James_HamNBCS
Takeaways from Monte McNair's post draft media - Kings think Davion Mitchell was best player available. They didn't work him out, but did interview him in Chicago. Love his defensive grit and think he's ready to play minutes now. Roster balance will happen in due time.

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/statuses/1420981965608693760

 

[Padrino]

Jason Jones @mr_jasonjones
Monte McNair said Davion Mitchell was the best player available on the board. He believes he can guard four positions and had success in a 3-guard lineup in college, and he thinks Mitchell can defend in the NBA immediately.

How does a 6'1 guy guard four positions?!?
What are you trying to sell us on?
That was truly a ridiculous statement.

Yeeeeaaaaah..... I don't know how much faith I will continue to have in Monte McNair if he sees Davion Mitchell as able to guard four positions. Draft day pressers are always full of hyperbole, but that's just plain silly. Mitchell's, what, 6'0"? 6'1"? He's not guarding 4's in the NBA.

 

[joemama]

https://twitter.com/statuses/1420981965608693760

So . . .
Mitchell 6'1
Coleman 6'2
Steward 6'2

 

[Rain man]

Yeeeeaaaaah..... I don't know how much faith I will continue to have in Monte McNair if he sees Davion Mitchell as able to guard four positions. Draft day pressers are always full of hyperbole, but that's just plain silly. Mitchell's, what, 6'0"? 6'1"? He's not guarding 4's in the NBA.

I’m not defending the statement. That seems like a reach. But Barnes played a lot of 4 for us, and guys his size often play small ball 4. If Mitchell can guard Cunningham, he could probably check a small ball 4 a few possessions. Not ideal, but he probably could.

 

[joemama]

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
Kings GM Monte McNair says trade/free agency are avenues to balance roster.

Free agency will not balance out a glut of guards. That's TWO idiotic things he has said this evening.

 

[Rain man]

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
Kings GM Monte McNair says trade/free agency are avenues to balance roster.

Free agency will not balance out a glut of guards. That's TWO idiotic things he has said this evening.

Man you are just looking for things to dig him on right now. You can absolutely use free agency to balance the roster. You could try to sign a wing and then trade Buddy and/or Wright for future assets. that would balance the roster.

Or you could trade buddy for a wing. Both free agency and trades are options to balance the roster. Not sure how that is “idiotic.”

 

[hrdboild]

Yeeeeaaaaah..... I don't know how much faith I will continue to have in Monte McNair if he sees Davion Mitchell as able to guard four positions. Draft day pressers are always full of hyperbole, but that's just plain silly. Mitchell's, what, 6'0"? 6'1"? He's not guarding 4's in the NBA.

Harrison Barnes is a 4 in the NBA. Kevin Durant is a 4 in the NBA. Paul George is a 4 in the NBA. First overall pick Cade Cunningham might play some 4 in the NBA. I think Mitchell could guard all of those guys one-on-one. If you consider that the modern 4 is basically what we used to call a SF, the modern 5 is what we used to call a PF and the old school center is basically extinct with very few exceptions -- I don't think this statement is as crazy as it appears on the surface. I actually think he would fare better against most of these tall 3/4 types than he would against a very skilled taller guard like Harden who has more shake to go with his size advantage.

 

[hrdboild]

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
Kings GM Monte McNair says trade/free agency are avenues to balance roster.

Free agency will not balance out a glut of guards. That's TWO idiotic things he has said this evening.

First you trade somebody, then you sign somebody else. Basic math says you can't subtract with free agency but I don't think that's what Monte is saying. It's a combination of both. And the draft is really more about maximizing your opportunities not shopping for specific roles on your roster that need filling.

 

[Rain man]

First you trade somebody, then you sign somebody else. Basic math says you can't subtract with free agency but I don't think that's what Monte is saying. It's a combination of both. And the draft is really more about maximizing your opportunities not shopping for specific roles on your roster that need filling.

hah! You and I just posted the same thing on two different posts on both the guarding 4s and balancing the roster. Great minds, apparently.

 

[sactowndog]

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
Kings GM Monte McNair says trade/free agency are avenues to balance roster.

Free agency will not balance out a glut of guards. That's TWO idiotic things he has said this evening.

yeah and trading small for Bigs is really hard. As for free agency we will be lucky to resign Holmes much less sign a starting caliber wing.

It’s becoming a legitimate question of whether McNair get the job because he tells people what they want to hear but in reality he is over his head.
1) he F’d up the Bogi free agency
2) he wasted limited draft capital in a long shot bid to make the play-offs
3) he got played by the Lakers and likely pissed of Buddy
4) he has created a grossly unbalanced roster with no sense of fit.

 

[Padrino]

Harrison Barnes is a 4 in the NBA. Kevin Durant is a 4 in the NBA. Paul George is a 4 in the NBA. First overall pick Cade Cunningham might play some 4 in the NBA. I think Mitchell could guard all of those guys one-on-one. If you consider that the modern 4 is basically what we used to call a SF, the modern 5 is what we used to call a PF and the old school center is basically extinct with very few exceptions -- I don't think this statement is as crazy as it appears on the surface. I actually think he would fare better against most of these tall 3/4 types than he would against a very skilled taller guard like Harden who has more shake to go with his size advantage.

Harrison Barnes is 6'8" and shoots 39% from 3. Paul George is 6'8" and shoots 41% from 3. Kevin Durant is 6'10" and shoots 45% from 3. Davion Mitchell is 6'0", and tenacious though he may be, he is simply not stopping those guys from shooting right over the top of him. It's not happening. If he is forced onto a guy like Paul George via switch, sure, Mitchell will slide and dig and make life hard for him. But he's not spending meaningful time guarding full-sized 3's and 4's in the NBA.

 

[TaxMan]

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
Kings GM Monte McNair says trade/free agency are avenues to balance roster.

Free agency will not balance out a glut of guards. That's TWO idiotic things he has said this evening.

Yeah man, you really got him good there! Caught him in a massive lie! BURN! He is an idiot!!!

 

[Rain man]

yeah and trading small for Bigs is really hard. As for free agency we will be lucky to resign Holmes much less sign a starting caliber wing.

It’s becoming a legitimate question of wether McNair get the job because he tells people what they want to hear but in reality he is over his head.
1) he F’d up the Bogi free agency
2) he wasted limited draft capital in a long shot bid to make the play-offs
3) he got played by the Lakers and likely pissed of Buddy
4) he has created a grossly unbalanced roster with no sense of fit.

#3 is your opinion. I’ve seen no indication he got played. You jumped to that conclusion immediately, and without any facts. The report is that everyone was on board with the trade, and then the Wiz came with a better offer. Sucks, but it happens. I will wait for actual facts suggesting Monte got played before I jump to that conclusion.

#1 and #4 are contrary positions. You are simultaneously pissed that the kings let talent go (Bogi) when in your opinion they should have retained the talent, created a roster imbalance, and then try to clear that imbalance by trading Bogi or Buddy (which has been hard so far). But now you are pissed that we drafted a talent who our FO thought was BPA because it creates an imbalance. So which is it? And you suggest our FO can’t figure out there is an imbalance when they acknowledged it in the presser. You are spreading falsehoods.

#3 is a bit ridiculous. I wanted to tank last year too, but you act like we traded multiple firsts. We traded a few seconds and ended up with two possible rotation guys. What are you hoping to get with all those seconds? Probably rotation guys. We were never gonna draft like 8 second round picks over 3 years.

Seems like you just want to be mad. reading your stuff is a waste. You are the guy in the gym who has one move, and you keep going to it over and over. You don’t like Monte. We get it…

 

[Tetsujin]

yeah and trading small for Bigs is really hard. As for free agency we will be lucky to resign Holmes much less sign a starting caliber wing.

It’s becoming a legitimate question of wether McNair get the job because he tells people what they want to hear but in reality he is over his head.
1) he F’d up the Bogi free agency
2) he wasted limited draft capital in a long shot bid to make the play-offs
3) he got played by the Lakers and likely pissed of Buddy
4) he has created a grossly unbalanced roster with no sense of fit.

Huh?

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Also this draft coverage by ESPN was garbage.

It’s been that way for a long time now. I dislike nearly everything about that org nowadays. They used to be one of the best things around.

I keep hoping someone with deep pockets will build up a competing sports channel. Besides the league channels themselves, that is.

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[NewArena]

The logical one is Fox for Simmons.

Ew

So Simmons can shoot 3 shots a game and brick 10 freethrows each night? Im good

 

[SacTownKid]

Jason Jones @mr_jasonjones
Monte McNair said Davion Mitchell was the best player available on the board. He believes he can guard four positions and had success in a 3-guard lineup in college, and he thinks Mitchell can defend in the NBA immediately.

How does a 6'1 guy guard four positions?!?
What are you trying to sell us on?
That was truly a ridiculous statement.

I really hope they let the guard lineup roll because that's the only shot someone in that guard lineup doesn't plummet value wise. See if it works Monte. Give it a go. If you're going for gimmick, go all the way with it. I watched the presser, Monte is the one with the multi-guard fetish.

Mitchell can guard on the ball at those positions, maybe. The issue is I heard a lot of McNair talking about things that fly in the college game that don't always translate. Like "it worked in college" was his answer.

 

[SacTownKid]

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
Kings GM Monte McNair says trade/free agency are avenues to balance roster.

Free agency will not balance out a glut of guards. That's TWO idiotic things he has said this evening.

He also said something about fit not being an issue when it comes to the draft or something. We shall see. Well, I mean Kings fans have seen, time and time again in fact. You could always just ask the fans that have seen every way you can blunder away everything Monte. The good thing about this go is at least defense is involved.

 

[SacTownKid]

Harrison Barnes is a 4 in the NBA. Kevin Durant is a 4 in the NBA. Paul George is a 4 in the NBA. First overall pick Cade Cunningham might play some 4 in the NBA. I think Mitchell could guard all of those guys one-on-one. If you consider that the modern 4 is basically what we used to call a SF, the modern 5 is what we used to call a PF and the old school center is basically extinct with very few exceptions -- I don't think this statement is as crazy as it appears on the surface. I actually think he would fare better against most of these tall 3/4 types than he would against a very skilled taller guard like Harden who has more shake to go with his size advantage.

We have to see them give it a shot and I hope they do.

 

[SacTownKid]

Harrison Barnes is 6'8" and shoots 39% from 3. Paul George is 6'8" and shoots 41% from 3. Kevin Durant is 6'10" and shoots 45% from 3. Davion Mitchell is 6'0", and tenacious though he may be, he is simply not stopping those guys from shooting right over the top of him. It's not happening. If he is forced onto a guy like Paul George via switch, sure, Mitchell will slide and dig and make life hard for him. But he's not spending meaningful time guarding full-sized 3's and 4's in the NBA.

Yep, and my issue still isn't even who's guarding the ball. It's who is helping down and being asked to go back out on run outs. The Kings 4 guard lineup didn't work last year with some tenacious defenders themselves because you can't rotate back out and challenge bigger/taller shooters. Davion is total Pat Bev level defensively, but the fit is still questionable. In a vacuum? BPA, I can get with it. But acting like fit doesn't matter when you are position stacking in drafts usually ends up a particular way.

 

[Volblorx8634]

At first I think I was a little annoyed at Mitchell as the pick, more because of his age, height, and I'm not a huge believe in his shooting being a reliable skill, which it'll need to be in the NBA, in my opinion. This is all from what I've read, however, as I haven't watched a ton of tape on him since I didn't think he'd really be an option for us given the wings with good upside that were likely to be available like Moody or Wagner. I'm going to watch some tape and scouting over the weekend before I guess fully forming an opinion on him as a prospect and thus as a pick, not that my opinion is really worth anything.

Nonetheless, McNair knows more about basketball than I do, so I'll happily accept his opinion of the best player available. And I'm all on board with best player available, especially with so much uncertainty on our roster. Between Buddy, Bagley, Holmes, and Barnes, there's a whole lot of pieces that can be moved, and are actively being shopped, to rebalance the roster. The way I look at it is if Mitchell becomes an all star caliber player, then he's the right pick there in my opinion. And if he earns the time, Mitchell should stay on the floor. It was just a season ago when OKC's 3 guard lineup of CP3, SGA, and Schroder had the best plus minus in the league.

Glad Monte went with who he felt was BPA, now I just hope he was right.

 

[SacTownKid]

At first I think I was a little annoyed at Mitchell as the pick, more because of his age, height, and I'm not a huge believe in his shooting being a reliable skill, which it'll need to be in the NBA, in my opinion. This is all from what I've read, however, as I haven't watched a ton of tape on him since I didn't think he'd really be an option for us given the wings with good upside that were likely to be available like Moody or Wagner. I'm going to watch some tape and scouting over the weekend before I guess fully forming an opinion on him as a prospect and thus as a pick, not that my opinion is really worth anything.

Nonetheless, McNair knows more about basketball than I do, so I'll happily accept his opinion of the best player available. And I'm all on board with best player available, especially with so much uncertainty on our roster. Between Buddy, Bagley, Holmes, and Barnes, there's a whole lot of pieces that can be moved, and are actively being shopped, to rebalance the roster. The way I look at it is if Mitchell becomes an all star caliber player, then he's the right pick there in my opinion. And if he earns the time, Mitchell should stay on the floor. It was just a season ago when OKC's 3 guard lineup of CP3, SGA, and Schroder had the best plus minus in the league.

Glad Monte went with who he felt was BPA, now I just hope he was right.

And how's that working for OKC now? I don't doubt that there is an argument that Mitchell may have been the best player available, but no doubt McNair is entering some serious Vlade level territory with that one so we will see how he fares. For all their sakes and ours, hopefully well indeed.

I'm not sold on the idea of running 3-4 guards out there that are even smaller than what they did last year but I hope they give it a shot. They never gave Buddy and Bogdan a real true shot to play together and the same with Ben and Nik before that. If Mitchell gets it done on defense and can shoot, there is no excuse to not try.

 

[The_Jamal]

At first I think I was a little annoyed at Mitchell as the pick, more because of his age, height, and I'm not a huge believe in his shooting being a reliable skill, which it'll need to be in the NBA, in my opinion. This is all from what I've read, however, as I haven't watched a ton of tape on him since I didn't think he'd really be an option for us given the wings with good upside that were likely to be available like Moody or Wagner. I'm going to watch some tape and scouting over the weekend before I guess fully forming an opinion on him as a prospect and thus as a pick, not that my opinion is really worth anything.

Nonetheless, McNair knows more about basketball than I do, so I'll happily accept his opinion of the best player available. And I'm all on board with best player available, especially with so much uncertainty on our roster. Between Buddy, Bagley, Holmes, and Barnes, there's a whole lot of pieces that can be moved, and are actively being shopped, to rebalance the roster. The way I look at it is if Mitchell becomes an all star caliber player, then he's the right pick there in my opinion. And if he earns the time, Mitchell should stay on the floor. It was just a season ago when OKC's 3 guard lineup of CP3, SGA, and Schroder had the best plus minus in the league.

Glad Monte went with who he felt was BPA, now I just hope he was right.

Yeah at the end of the day, this is what matters. Everyone moans and complains when we draft for "fit", but when a GM actually drafts who he thinks is BPA "Well, not that BPA, MY BPA!!".

Up to him now to balance the roster and maximize Fox-Hali-Mitchell. Lot of work to do this off-season.

 

[Volblorx8634]

And how's that working for OKC now? I don't doubt that there is an argument that Mitchell may have been the best player available, but no doubt McNair is entering some serious Vlade level territory with that one so we will see how he fares. For all their sakes and ours, hopefully well indeed.

I'm not sold on the idea of running 3-4 guards out there that are even smaller than what they did last year but I hope they give it a shot. They never gave Buddy and Bogdan a real true shot to play together and the same with Ben and Nik before that. If Mitchell gets it done on defense and can shoot, there is no excuse to not try.

I'm sure it'd still be going great for them if they weren't building a draft pick collection. They were 5th in the west and took the Rockets to 7 games, so I'd say it worked out decently well for them. Obviously, not that I have anything resembling those expectations.

I'm not necessarily sold on running 3-4 guards out there either, but there's three months before the season starts and that would be happening, and at this point I would be shocked if we don't move Buddy before then. At that point, splitting 96 guard minutes between Fox, Haliburton, and Mitchell as the three guard rotation is absolutely doable. Sure, guys like Wright and Davis might be the odd ones out, but it doesn't bother me if they're not part of the future core of the team. And if we do run all three (Fox, Tyrese, Mitchell) together, I'm not going to pretend that there's no concerns but if Mitchell earns that time, there's no excuse not to try like you said.

 

[The_Jamal]

He also said something about fit not being an issue when it comes to the draft or something. We shall see. Well, I mean Kings fans have seen, time and time again in fact. You could always just ask the fans that have seen every way you can blunder away everything Monte. The good thing about this go is at least defense is involved.

Process Sixers right? Drafted Embiid after taking Noel at 6 and Okafor at 3. And at that point, those guys still weren't classified as busts yet. McNair went to the same GM school that Hinkie did.

 

[Dongoodboy]

Process Sixers right? Drafted Embiid after taking Noel at 6 and Okafor at 3. And at that point, those guys still weren't classified as busts yet. McNair went to the same GM school that Hinkie did.

I think he and Hinkie are both under Morey. Funny thing is Morey went to 76er afterwards.

 

[midtowner]

Now that I think about it - my favorite Kings teams did have Bobby Jackson coming off the bench - even though the Kings already had Mike Bibby.

Between Mitchell, Wright and Terrance Davis - we might be giving other teams the business for a full 48 next year (at least on the perimeter). Hopefully Fox and Haliburton also play inspired D.

 

[kb02]

Yeah at the end of the day, this is what matters. Everyone moans and complains when we draft for "fit", but when a GM actually drafts who he thinks is BPA "Well, not that BPA, MY BPA!!".

Up to him now to balance the roster and maximize Fox-Hali-Mitchell. Lot of work to do this off-season.

My BPA was Bouknight, but I’m totally cool with Mitchell, because he was the team’s BPA. Have always liked him. Going to be a tone setter leading that second unit. Bobby J, Pat Bev type.

Kings get the best on the ball guard in the draft and a jumbo, athletic defensive big. Just need a jumbo defending wing in FA or trade and the roster is balanced. Maybe already have that on the roster with Woodard or Harkless if they re-sign him. That, in hindsight, was their plan—defense. Though really wish Jones would’ve made it to 39.

 

[kb02]

Now that I think about it - my favorite Kings teams did have Bobby Jackson coming off the bench - even though the Kings already had Mike Bibby.

Between Mitchell, Wright and Terrance Davis - we might be giving other teams the business for a full 48 next year (at least on the perimeter). Hopefully Fox and Haliburton also play inspired D.

Best part, no Buddy.