The Draft Day Defense Attorney

As a starting point, let me make one thing clear. I truly enjoy the NBA draft and the echosphere that has developed around it. As a scout who covers grassroots basketball. I have delusions of grandeur that I might even play a small role. However, this column could be a death knell towards that goal.

Why a death knell? Because I’m going to vociferously defend the drafts that the intelligentsia seemed to hate. Why? Not because I’m trying to be contrarian. Simply because I think these teams legitimately did pretty well with the hands they were dealt.

The Brooklahoma City Nets

The first defense is perhaps the easiest. You can probably connect the dots just by looking at the heading. The cliche is apt here. Professional sports is a copycat business. How did the Oklahoma City Thunder just win a championship? Using a mother lode of picks on a certain archetype of player.

Players with positional size who possess playmaking ability. I hate to rain on the Sam Presti love fest. He has the belt, he can talk his stuff. However as a pure talent evaluator, he’s not exactly pitching a perfect game here. For every Jalen Williams and… checks notes… checks notes again… That is actually the only mid first round pick he has hit on. There are just as many (or more) Ousmane Dieng, Aleksej Pokuševski, and depending on your mileage Josh Giddeys who did not pan out (yet)

Am I suggesting to Sam Presti is secretly a bad GM— of course not. I am suggesting the secret sauce isn’t necessarily in the evaluation. It’s more in the sheer volume of picks used. Who had the greatest volume of picks in this years draft? What GM has a pedigree and resume (San Antonio tree) most similar to Presti?

By a wide margin the answers are the Brooklyn Nets and Sean Marks. Why are they getting dumped on for keeping five first round picks? Can an average NBA fan name more than one member of their roster? My son stopped at Cam Johnson, and I’m still not sure he knew which “Cam” he was talking about.

They have gobs of cap room and a nondescript roster. There is enough room for these guys. About Sean Marks. Does anyone remember the total dumpster fire he inherited from Mikhail Prokhorov? For geopolitical reasons I think the league would like you to forget that tenure. He made Mat Ishbia look like Jerry West. Marks and Kenny Atkinson had that team in the playoffs within three years. Is he really going to get dinged at this point for not making it work with the pillars of stability that are Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden? For the record it did work and I think we’ll give him a mulligan on the aftermath.

If we hold that Marks knows what he is doing, let’s get to the picks. Egor Denim is a 6-9 point guard who is outstanding in manipulating ball screens and struggles to shoot. I would encourage you to read that sentence again and give me a comp… I’m going to be waiting a while. The rail thin Shaun Livingston wasn’t this tall or big.

About the shooting part. Demin reportedly shot the ball extremely well at the combine and workouts. Why is this seemingly being scoffed at by the “insiders?” These events are what you exist for. Anyone with cable could watch Demin struggle to shoot at BYU (I sure did) Towards that measure. Is a 19 year old kid from Russia struggling to adapt in Provo Utah under a first year head coach really all that surprising?

Rolling the dice with Moscow Magic Johnson (yeah I went there) is a pretty good gamble at #8. If it doesn’t work, Marks grabbed plenty of insurance. Nolan Traore is a 6-5 French blur who went toe-to-toe with Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper (perhaps you heard of them) in the 2024 Nike Hoops Summit. There is also Ben Saraf, a 6-6 playmaker out of Israel. Lest you believe the refrain “they took the same player five times.” Just because something gets repeated doesn’t make it true. Drake Powell is 3 and D prospect who might be the best overall athlete in the draft.

Alas both I and the Nets saved the best for the last. I live in Michigan. I cover Midwest AAU basketball. From Fishers Indiana with Mac Irvin Fire, to the Ivy League, to Ann Arbor. Danny Wolf has been doubted every step of the way. He continues to just ball out and prove people wrong. Perhaps not a super star, but Ivy Jokic will be fine in the NBA.

I don’t just like what the Nets did in the draft. I love and clearly see the logic of it. While the Eastern conference Thunder might not have their SGA yet (might being the operative word) They will be just fine.

Portland’s Message

This will be shorter and I am not as resolute in my belief of the Blazers vision. Early in the offseason Portland has sent the league a clear message. That being “we think we are good.” The wisdom of the belief you can question. However the alignment of self assessment and execution of vision is a sign of a healthy organization.

How do we know this? They went out and got the “missing piece”. From the Milwaukee Bucks, to the Boston Celtics, and to frankly the United States national team. That is what Jrue Holiday has become. You don’t trade a young expiring contract for a 35 year old with three pricey years left unless you think you are ready. When you look at the numbers they put up in the second half of the season. They might have a case. What if they are wrong though?

I am surprised no one is talking about this element. Since March 25th of this year, the Portland Trail Blazers are officially for sale. If I’m a recently extended Joe Cronin and Chauncey Billups. Why not push all your chips into the center of the table? You’re going to get paid, but you might be out of job in less than a year.

The sale front also brings another issue that’s been thorny to talk about. You want to boost the value of your franchise and possibly save your job? You could give your new boss a chart showing how you have broadened the fanbase by …oh I don’t know… maybe a BILLION fans. I’m not suggesting that Portand took Hansen Yang simply because he is from China. He is skilled, north of seven feet, and played well at the combine, that helps. But if you are from a small Northwestern market and you are looking to be sold. The Ichiro model isn’t a bad one to emulate.

I don’t like it as much as what Brooklyn did. Once again though I see the logic. Don’t forget they could have just shocked the world at #11. Getting a future 1st round pick to move down five spots is a shrewd move as well.

Speaking a moving around the daft board. I’ve saved the best for last…

the Dumars Double Down

Yep, I’m going for it. I’m going to defend what is seemingly universally panned. There is no way around what the Pelicans were last season, 21-61 is really bad. That being said, we are getting ready to write three hall passes for Eastern Conference championship contenders (Boston, Indiana, and Milwaukee) after losing their stars to torn Achilles. Should New Orleans be given that same privilege?

Before you say no. The Milwaukee Bucks went 49-33 in the 2023-2024 season. Do you know who else did? You guessed it, your New Orleans Pelicans. I think some would be surprised by their 42-40 mark the previous year before in what is generally considered a tougher Western Conference.

Getting 31 and 30 games respectively from Dejounte Murray (torn Achilles) and Zion Williamson sounds like grounds for a do over to me. If you eliminated last year from the equation. Should a team with a two year .555 winning percentage be trading away an unprotected first round pick? In a vacuum probably not.

Let’s do this exercise though. If you said the Milwaukee Bucks had a chance to add a lottery pick to their roster for the price of one unprotected first round pick. Would they consider it? With the Giannis clock ticking. They would do it in a second. They have essentially already done it more than once. They were not excoriated for it. They were applauded and ultimately rewarded.

I believe Joe Dumars is viewing it through this lens. If he thought this was a total rebuild, Willie Green would be out as head coach. Zion Williamson wouldn’t be representing the Pelicans at the Draft Lottery. They are clearly trying to build around Zion and give him as much help as possible. The injury and character concerns are jarring. However building around what was once considered a generationally talented #1 overall pick isn’t necessarily crazy town. Especially when he is presently considered a distressed asset.

About that help. Once again Midwestern AAU guy here. I have covered Jeremiah Fears since his freshman year. There are positional size concerns. I’ll guarantee this though. He’s going to get buckets. That might be all the Pelicans need from him at this point.

The Pelicans didn’t give up that controversial pick for Fears though. Simply put Derik Queen is a ball player. I can’t help but remember sitting under the basket in LaPorte Indiana for a contest between Montverde and Sunrise Christian Academies. To this day one of the best high school games I have witnessed in person. It featured Matas Buzelis (Sunrise) and Copper Flagg among many others. Where did Montverde go when it needed a bucket late? It wasn’t Cooper Flagg.

I’ve watched Queen win an AAU national championship with Team Thrill on the Under Armour Circuit. If you say that’s just high school and AAU. Maryland’s first Sweet 16 in nearly decade doesn’t happen without Queen. It might not always look pretty. But Queen produces and wins big. It’s simply all he has ever done on a basketball court. I had Washington taking him at #6.

It is a STEEP price though. Final thought exercise. Do you think Joe Dumars waited until pick #13 to whip that package out. I highly doubt it. Logic dictates that pick was offered and available for five different teams between picks 8-12. It appears it was turned down by teams to take household names like Cedric Coward and Noa Essengue. Why would Portland turn it down to move back #16 and take the aforementioned Hansen Yang? He probably would have been there at #23 as well. Perhaps that 2028 Orlando 1st meant more to them than a pick from potentially playoff bound New Orleans. Don’t forget, that is all the Pelicans need to do to make this debate a moot point. They don’t need to win a championship or even a playoff series. Just stay out of the ping pong balls. That’s not as high of a bar as it seems.

Athletes , entertainers, and even politicians seem to be universally lauded for betting on themselves. Perhaps someone with Joe Dumars’ resume (warts and all) should be afforded the same luxury.