Not necessarily! Pick number is irrelevant from year to year. One year pick 1 would be more valuable than it would be in another year and it directly depends on quality of prospects available at that pick. Pick 8 last year was worth equivalent of 3 first round picks (Bogdanovic was a pick in the 20s in his draft year). In no way does it represent the value for this year.
Last year's draft was not considered to be overly strong and acording to experts there was a clear drop off after top 8 picks. By extension it implied that the talent level between 9 and the rest of the first round is not great and mostly hit and miss. That's why it was deemed to be worth equivalent of 3 first round picks.
It does not represent the value of pick 8 in this draft. If the draft has greater talent quality and greater depth pick 8 will not hold the same value than it did last year. It will be worth less in that case.
Teams absolutely willingly move down to get the player they want and get other assets or shed salary. We traded down last year to havve more picks in the 1st round because we didn't like what was there for us at 8. Mavs traded down to draft Dirk all those years ago. Teams absolutely willingly trade down. No one is holding a gun to their head to do it.
Where I will agree is that in our case with Philly this year, we don't have much control of how it pans out. We have agreed to it well in advance without knowing where picks lie. If you win the lottery or get a pick significantly lower than theirs or a pick after which there is a significant drop off in talent then it is obviously a bad deal.
However, the deal can only be truly judged after the end result of seeing what players picked at each pick turn out like. Cavs picked up Anthony Bennett with pick 1 so they clearly screwed that pick up.
Last year's draft was not considered to be overly strong and acording to experts there was a clear drop off after top 8 picks. By extension it implied that the talent level between 9 and the rest of the first round is not great and mostly hit and miss. That's why it was deemed to be worth equivalent of 3 first round picks.
It does not represent the value of pick 8 in this draft. If the draft has greater talent quality and greater depth pick 8 will not hold the same value than it did last year. It will be worth less in that case.
Teams absolutely willingly move down to get the player they want and get other assets or shed salary. We traded down last year to havve more picks in the 1st round because we didn't like what was there for us at 8. Mavs traded down to draft Dirk all those years ago. Teams absolutely willingly trade down. No one is holding a gun to their head to do it.
Where I will agree is that in our case with Philly this year, we don't have much control of how it pans out. We have agreed to it well in advance without knowing where picks lie. If you win the lottery or get a pick significantly lower than theirs or a pick after which there is a significant drop off in talent then it is obviously a bad deal.
However, the deal can only be truly judged after the end result of seeing what players picked at each pick turn out like. Cavs picked up Anthony Bennett with pick 1 so they clearly screwed that pick up.
