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Are team doctors going to get a look at these potential picks this year? As young as this guy is, he may grow some more vertically and I have some concerns about the durability of guys that are overly tall.
We already have a project big man from Europe who‘s young and highly skilled, yet extremely raw.
Are team doctors going to get a look at these potential picks this year? As young as this guy is, he may grow some more vertically and I have some concerns about the durability of guys that are overly tall.
That's not true. Porzingis went where projected and it was obvious with the way the game was trending that the 76ers should have taken him over Okafor.
Samanic shouldn't necessarily prevent the selection of Pokusevski, but at the same time it's one thing to swing for the fences with this archetype/project once and when you have two 1sts, but to go back to back, only star potential would make it worthwhile. Otherwise, just select from the cadre of high floor wings projected to be available.
Yeah, plus he has no position defensively. He probably needs to be a four on offense/five on defense, but he'd need to put on 30 pounds just to graduate to light weight.
Nice conversation on Poku here: https://forums.realgm.com/boards/vie...4863&start=220
I think this is a legit concern, but he was named to the All Defensive first team in his league this season, so at least he has that mindset. And if he's playing the same position(s) as Bertans or Giannis (in theory) maybe 20 lbs is plenty. It seems he's getting many of the same critiques as Bol Bol did, and although there's nothing certain there yet, it does look like that pick is working out pretty good.
Bertans and Antetokounmpo are big wings aka nominal fours. Pokusevski is a big.
Bol was drafted 44th, not 11th. It's all relative.
I get that the seemingly high floor wings aren't sexy for an 11th pick, but you can't have too many useful wings in this league. Keep stockpiling, sort it out later and you can fill other holes by utilizing one or some of them.
Really don't want him, and definitely don't agree with the logic of swinging for the fences because the draft is "bad". Even if the average good player in bad drafts are like Waiters, Schroeder or THJ, those players have actual value, especially on their rookie deals. Each of those players also netted first-rounders in subsequent trades, so it's not even just an on-court thing.
Drafts are not dice rolls. Players don't succeed or fail by chance. No personnel exec should be looking at guys like Pokusevski thinking "Well there's a 10-percent chance he becomes a star, and that's worth more than a 90-percent chance this guy becomes a role-player" or whatever. The development staff needs to say, "Yes, we believe we can make a development plan to get him to these levels at these times." If they start talking about a priori odds and , get rid of them. Value analysis is for uninvolved people like us ST folk, not for anyone with any control over the direction of the team. Draft the guy if you think he WILL be a star, not because there's a small chance and no one else is an obvious star or whatever.
The goal of those guys should be to win, especially given that Pop is going to retire soon, and they will no longer have the luxury of dozing in a tenured management system. Very few people around the team should think they have to luxury to play the long game when it comes to drafting raw players.
Bol Bol was mocked as a top 10 pick before his injury which was the main reason he dropped so far.
Agree there is risk like any team you have to judge the risk vs reward.
Not to mention that being more developed doesn't necessarily mean having a lower ceiling. For all the obsession with projecting Giannis on every tall and skinny Euro who can dribble, Kawhi's leap was also unprecedented, and he was considered to be a high-floor, meh-ceiling guy. Paul George and Jimmy Butler are other examples. You have Giannis and KP as far as the "unicorn" guys, and honestly KP can't hold the jocks of anyone else in this conversation. If the dude was never a Knick, he'd've never made an All-Star game, even though he's played really well at times. He was a good pick at 3 and would've been fantastic at 11, but he provided a very real amount of value to the Knicks to where other players might've still be outperforming him in terms of career production to date.
I would be happy with this dude at 11. Bust potential of course but he has some eye-popping assets already at 18.
i have watched vids of him and im sure that he wouldnt physically survive in a usa college. However im impressed of his skills.
Yeah, actually looking at B-Ball Ref. Kristaps ranks 8 and 11 in terms of WS/48 and win-shares, respectively, among his draft class. He's being mostly outdone by guys considered to have a way lower ceiling. I'd say in terms of prospects, only KAT and Turner are close to him in potential. It's possible KP moves up the leaderboards as time goes on (though guys like Booker may jump him instead), but at this point, he's not even a Knick anymore. His value to them is never going to change (though you can argue that the picks they got for him matter, but that leads to a bunch of rabbit holes).
Even when a guy puts it together, it doesn't instantly makes him a franchise guy that's worth all the opportunity cost. There's been only one Giannis. Teams should only try so hard to find the next one.
Good point. White's ceiling looks to be somewhere between solid starter and star and he was a 23 year old 29th pick. Even if he ultimately settles in as a low end to solid starter, that's still outstanding value at that spot.
Some of these wings projected to go around 11, I could see being low end to solid starters, which is good value, especially in a draft lacking at the high end. I feel there's a better chance they hit that ceiling than Pokusevski, who could easily not pan out altogether.
I don think anyone saw Luka as a unicorn. He was much more like an American player, an enticing package of physical attributes, 6’10” 38” vertical, coupled with some raw talent. Poku is much more like Kristaps than Luka. You can’t just draft a player, thinking that might be your unicorn, and wait for their full development cycle to see. If you have another shot, you take it, especially in a crap draft like this one. What if you trade down, and miss him? What if you grab him, and both he AND Luka blow up? Having your big man positions manned for a decade or longer wouldn’t be the worst thing ever.
Besides, we’ve already made a safe pick since Luka: Keldon.
Something maybe worth considering with Pokusevski as well as any other 'project' player ...
As of now there's lots of speculation that there won't even be a G-League this year. This could make it harder to develop projects, though certainly Denver seems to have developed young players fine without a g-league team iirc.
I suppose that might also be a setback for Samanic.
The lack of mass should be a non-issue, tbh. Pretty much every man in the history of the World is a skinny at age 18 and starts to bulk up as soon as he hits 20. Specially freakishly tall guys like these. There's no way this guy doesn't put up an acceptable amount of muscle mass, in the upcoming years, with the help of professional athletes diets and drugs.
I gotta admit, the idea of the Spurs drafting this guy it's starting to sound more and more entacing each day. Pat Williams and this guy are my new 1a and 1b.
My guess is that by New Years, there will be a vaccine, so they’ll probably have an abbreviated season.
If the Spurs draft this guy, they probably stash him, so the G-league thing would be another non-issue.
It would depend on a few things, like if the Spurs give him a promise at 11, that would be a good place and draft position for him. He’d go much higher next year, I think, but there’s the ol’ injury risk.
If the Spurs draft and stash Pokusevski, he'll spend a year playing with Nikola Milutinov-- also a Spurs draft pick & also from Serbia-- on the Olympiacos team.
Last edited by R. DeMurre; 08-24-2020 at 12:21 AM.
Speaking of Nikola if for some strange reason some teams offers mad money for Poodle do you let him go and sign Nikola?
Oops, I was wrong-- looks like he is leaving his Greek team and signing with CSKA Moscow: https://www.eurohoops.net/en/eurolea...n-21-contract/
No. He was drafted right before the rules changes that made traditional centers obsolete. Poodle can at least switch out and hold his own on D.
Same agent as Luka they would probably play the same position too.
Luka’s probably a 3/4 with his handle and athleticism, while Poku will likely develop into a 4/5.
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