Quail Balls on a Draft

[IamQuailman]

Since podcasts are a little hard to schedule right now, Scott and I thought we could take it back a little old school. Quail Balls on a Tray was a staple in this league for years (ok, maybe a bit of a stretch there). But one thing we also did when we both were unemployed and had a lot more time on our hands back in 2014-15 was "re-drafts". With these re-drafts, we would snake it back and forth (get your mind out the gutter....) and use the draft order to pick players based on where they were 4 or 5 years down the line in their career. It was super fun in multiple ways... we got to do the whole nostalgia "AWWWWW LOOK AT THIS DRAFT, SO CUUUUUUUUUTE!" thing while laughing at some of the whiffs and crying over some of the TC demolitions that occurred in the pre-insurance days. Well, before you get your hopes up, this is not one of those articles... BUT we are going to use that snake-to-snake format to do a draft reaction article for this draft, which was deemed one of the deepest in years and saw a lot of big moves happen.

QUAIL BALLS ON A DRAFT: SNAKE TO SNAKE, TIP TO TIP

PICK #1: Bjorn Ironside (formerly known as Stephen Norsworthy)

Reaction: Talk about a no-brainer. Unlike the Julio de la Rosa pick a couple seasons back, this yellow/purple future superstar was a no brainer. He reminds me of a young... VERY YOUNG.. Tracy McGrady. This guy will be the next OP that runs the league when Anthony Davis begins to come down from the heavens to live among the mortals. Seriously, it may take him 8 years to get to that level, which means he'll be like 26 and ready to Frye us all for another 8 years. I hate that this guy came to the East, but hey, at least he isn't in the central (THANK GAWD). The name has been a bit controversial (if you have been following the newly introduced commentary thread), but this pick is a no-brainer. The Raptors became the team to beat for the next decade (starting in like 4 years).

[ballsohard]

# 1 This lined up perfectly for the Raptors who spent a #2 pick on Lannister, a #8 Pick on Porzingis a C, a #3 pick on Bolton a SG and now a #1 pick on Ironside a SF. I cant remember outside getting back to back #1’s has a team collected such a cache (see that Double entendre) of talent solely from the draft. When this team is ready, they’ll be a handful. The real talk is about the naming of the player. Wave, know for his like of fictional names names him Bjorn Ironside who has a fictional like history. He next to the Unicorn, Bolton and Lannister can star in the next terrible Jurassic Park movie that I will happily pay $15 to see.


Pick #2 Grizzlies – Josh Jackson

I thought this draft’s elite talent was about 2 deep and this was a no brainer. It was the right pick. What’s interesting is the Grizzlies seem to have no intention on paying back the tax or putting any effort towards it. While Loco is one of my favorite people, I do think this is problematic for the league. Jackson will be a UFA in 4 years and can tip the scales of the league when he doesn’t pay the tax. What’s more interesting, to me is if Loco will choose to insure him. By not insuring him and taking on the risk of a hit, he can do the ultimate loco shrug to the league and no one wins, just the way Louie likes things.





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[IamQuailman]

#2 Reaction: I agree with that analysis. Josh Jackson has the potential to be the next Paul George of this league, the SF that everyone throughout the entirety of his career. It's almost fitting that as Paul George starts to enter the "twilight" of his career (re: age 31) a replacement comes into the league to eventually take that throne. But as Scott said, there are a lot of question marks surrounding his future and the organization he's with. One can hope that the Grizzlies would want to work their way out of the cap-hell they've gotten into, but honestly, i don't think that will ever be the case, in which the Grizzlies will have legitimately become a farm system for UFA and bad contract dumping ground. But circling back to the selection made, Jackson looks fantastic and just like that this league has gotten to potential future stars at the SF position.

Pick #3: Spurs select Wanderlei Silva (formerly Scott Waters)
Reaction: Eazy had 3 ways he could go with this and none of them were wrong. Silva has all the measurables and tools you would want in a Center. He's got a stamina problem, but honestly, that's not uncommon these days for all these incoming prospects... and with the arrival of the His Breathlessness, Phil Milburn, maybe we are just reading too much into that stamina thing anyway. It is going to take some seasons, but Silva is going to be a rebounding machine, scoring machine, blocking machine. His post defense will need some work, but now that Eazy is out of the tax, he can start putting those points to good, and not evil. Love the pick for him.

[ballsohard]

Ballsohard: Boy oh boy what a world. Doug and I agree on 2 things. The 3 pick started the draft for me because that’s when teams had to make decisions on direction. When you look at Silva you See A inside B JPS A FT A OREB B DREB and A BLK. What’s not to like?Well the first thing is his size/ quickness combo. He’s slow of a PF and small for a C, but not small enough for it to be a big detriment. His Sta is low but I’m really not a big believer in STA anyway after the Milburn experiment. I think it’s the right choice for his team. Was Ayton better right now? Without a doubt, but the Spurs are in a position where they can really be patient on a guy who may have the higher ceiling. I think it was the right pick for them.

Pick #4 DeAndre Ayton 76ers

I’ll give you some in depth analysis on what I was thinking. First, I moved up to the pick because I saw a drop off after 5. I had a guy in Sexton I wasn’t in love with but had value. With the pick, Eazy and I talked about moving around for it, but I frankly would have been happy with Silva, Ayton or Young. There was a point where I had Young queued up and was about to press post. I then remembered the division I was in: KAT, Pedroza, Jokic, and eventually Porzingis. Then I remembered the conference I was in: Desantis, AD, McNary and maybe Monroe. In factored in that I would rather have a win now guy than a project and the pick was clear: DeAndre Ayton. He brings an inside presence you can’t ignore, and he’s a load on the defensive end. His flaw is his foul rating, but ive carried this cross before and Ayton playing 28 MPG wont wreck my season. Will he be the best guy in the draft? I doubt it, but he has a real chance at ROY.



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[IamQuailman]

#4 Reaction: I'll talk more on the trade in a few picks, but let's focus on this pick and the team that picked him. Ayton will undoubtedly be a beast. I tried hard to move up because I thought he would be a perfect successor to Kanter for whenever the day came that I moved on. There's a lot to like, but the most important thing is that this guy can contribute NOW. Balls will have the tough decision of picking his "big 3" for insurance sakes, but i think Whittaker gets the boot because Ayton is the total package for a big man. The already potent 76ers just got another weapon. They aren't going anywhere for a long time.

Pick #5: Magic select Trae Young (formerly Dylan Scrotum or something like that)
Reaction: The Magic just needed talent, and as we all can see with this draft, the drop-off was around #7 (whether that is 6 to 7 or 7 to 8, I'll leave that up to the audience to interpret on their own). There were 3 interesting prospects that could have easily gone #5, but Trae Young made the most sense if the Magic intended to bring Desean Hawkins back in RFA. With Young, they have a guy who has a skill set very similar to Damien Lillard, except a better passer. Andy, a shrewd point and pick collector, will sure enough build of enough cash to invest in Young, and I think Young will come out this draft years down the line when Scott and I aren't doing re-drafts as one of the bests in this class.

[ballsohard]

Reaction: Really Andy got the only PG in this class and i think he’s a good one. He is kind of the ting to the yang thats is Rubio in that he can pass but offense is his Forte and not defense. Which brings up the issue with Young, like his RL counterpart hes not a great defender which means you need to invest at least 25 points into him to make him adequate. The bigger take is the Magic rebuild strategy. Including this draft he has 8 picks, but only his seem like sure things to net any type of players. You never know though, a team can lose a star or suffer an injury and one of those late picks could become a franchise savior.


Pick #6 Pacers- Truman Wrenn

The Dedmon deal really panned out for the PAcers. The pick is a no lose situation for the and was essentially between Wrenn and Brookins. I frankly think he made the wrong pick between the two, but they’re so close i dont think it’ll hurt the ‘Chise. Wrenn is a solid offensive guy with good size who will put up numbers but is an average defender and athlete. The Pacers are in a bit of an odd situation with their team. They have a bunch of throw togethers and can’t really do much unless they get their pick back. We all have to wonder when they will officially move on from the Deron era and do a end to end rebuild.


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[IamQuailman]

#6 Reaction: Truman Wrenn is essentially Desean Hawkins with a slightly higher ceiling for his jump shot. He's slightly above average athletically, will be able to score inside and out, and may generate some turnovers on defense. I think he's going to be a great 3rd banana down the line... but the problem is that the Pacers have 3 other 3rd bananas in Embiid, Middleton, and Vucevic. Harris is a 2nd banana, and I guess Vucevic could qualify as that too. I really thought that they would have made a move to swap spots with the Magic to get Young, a PG they haven't really have since Deron's departure years back. Pauly is in an interesting spot with his team, and I think we aren't done with moves for the Pacers. They need to address the guard position(s), and can easily turn this around into another push for the playoffs by acquiring just one point guard.

Pick #7 - Thunder select Lino Brookins.
Reaction: After Jabari Parker's devastating leg break years back and letting some big time talent walk for nothing, the Thunder are just in asset collection mode right now. Jabari is actively being shopped, and honestly there isn't much else there after that. In theory, I like the move of trading back and getting 2 assets for 1. That said, I think the drop off in this draft is between 6 and 7, despite the color ratings. If Wrenn falls here to #7, I think it's a huge win for the franchise, as that is a guy who has some good upside and could grow into the face (until the next lotto pick arrives). However, Lino Brookins fell, and don't get me wrong, Lino is awesome looking... but he is going to need a lot of time and investment (points). He's very raw, and while his defense looks above average on the perimeter, his offense leaves a lot to be desired. His best attributes are his height and athleticism. But the Thunder need the points to put into this guy, and with their current rate of activity and winning, it'll be hard to get more than 20pts in a season... that's not enough to really make much of a difference for Lino. That said, TC works in mysterious ways, and maybe Lino will get #tcblessed like Jospeh Kight or someone of that ilk. Personally, I think I would've stayed at #4 and taken Ayton, who looks like he can be a bonafide star.

[ballsohard]

Reaction: When you’re starting a rebuild you have to look at a few things. 1. Does my pick have a chance to be a franchise changer almost alone. If yes then you pick, if no you have to start worrying about balancing asset accumulation as well as getting guys that will fit your vision. I think that’s what MIR did here. Ayton would have instantly been ROY with him but im not sure he has the top level talent that guys like Ironside and Jackson have. So he traded down and got a Blue potential wing in Sexton and Brookins. Brookins was the best case scenario at 7. He brings scoring, defense and elite athleticism to the table and ,to address the elephant in the room, he doesn’t bring wins in the next 3-4 seasons. MIR is probably in for about a 3 year rebuild before he can start thinking playoffs. His future for the wing is solid and can now focus on just selecting the best player that comes to him. With Brookins Quickness Str and JMP it wont matter if that best player is 1-5.

Pick #8 Lakers Auto Pick: Hyman Low

Reaction: Well if this went on name basis alone, I’d grade their draft an A. And it’s really hard to tar and feather a team without a GM so I’ll talk about fit. The Lakers are a hot mess right now. Due to their ill advised trade of #1 overall they have talent all over the place but no real alpha on this team. While I do think they got “value” I think most would admit, the chance to get a guy the franchise can center (no pun intended) around (again) would have been nice. LeCroix was a solid pick for them is is really coming into his own. With McKorm and Briseno up top, they essentially drafted a backup on a rookie deal. I liked Oxford a bit more if we were going to look for a big.



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[IamQuailman]

#8 Reaction: heh heh... Hyman.

Pick #9 - Bobcats select Ivica Zubac [formerly Dennis Vowell]
Reaction: If Darth goes 10 0 0 10 0 5 on this guy in TC, I think Zubac can easily be a contributor now on a team that is going to be pushing to make the playoffs (or at least make the pick owned by the Magic not a top lotto pick). Zubac, McClanahan, and Milburn, potential alone, look like players that are a good foundation for what Chad is doing in Charlotte. The tax bill is his biggest concern and moving Klay Thompson to another team is probably his 2nd biggest concern. Who am I kidding? I think the biggest concern in Chad's mind right now is raising pitchforks about Cruise Control Blazers. That said, Zubac is a very interesting player that checks all the boxes for a big man in this league. He's a little shorter than you would like at center, but I think his quickness makes up for that a little bit. If he can keep this squad together, it could be a nice front court for years to come.

[ballsohard]

#9 Reaction I think now that we’re at this point in the draft this all comes down to strategy. We have to look at Zubac and how he fits in the Bobcats scheme. The Bobcats are balls deep in the tax without their pick and he’s an O/G which means hes got a long way before he deserves minutes on a winning team. I think Zubac is a trade chip as a big of the future for someone ready to blow it up. I think we’ll see the Bobcats shop him hard to pick up some points and win now talent to stick it to the Magic for not sending their pick pack.


Pick #10 Clippers Select Bill Garcia

#10 Reaction: What a mess of a team the Clippers have. Not to beat a dead horse, but the eventual MVP and 10 points for a 28 year old PG after investing in Kemba who’s 31 himself, to pair with Durant pre trade has left this franchise’s future very muddy. I really don’t love the pick, but theres some good things about Garcia. He will be able to get his own shot and he’s a near elite athlete. he’s really not band at anything and those 10 points traded away could be really useful right now. If the Clippers GM wants Garcia to be a part of the future he’s going to have to invest heavily.


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[IamQuailman]

#10 Reaction: Honestly Bill Garcia is the beginning of a fall off into a mass of flawed role players in a sea of yellow/green potentials. Garcia is an under-sized wing, who has some elite athleticism (outside of stamina). His skillset is almost better suited for a power forward, but if GM Clipsrback wants to invest in that PRD, this guy could be a pretty decent defensive wing player for them. I would probably look to transition him into a shooting guard though.

Pick #11 - Indiana Pacers select Craig Strong.
Reaction: Craig Strong is one of two players that I would have taken at the #10 spot if the Clippers pick had not been simmed. Strong has the potential to be an elite inside game scorer. Not to mention, he has good court vision and can see the passing lanes well for a big. An underrated plus of his skill set is that he's a consistently good FT shooter for a guy his size. Now the negatives... he's putrid on the defensive glass, and wouldn't be able to defend against an STD if you quintuple wrapped him in goat-skin condoms. Even if Pauly decided to invest in potential, it's a tough decision on whether I go PSD or DRB to start... and at that point you are talking at least 3 potential trainings... and possibly handfuls of seasons before he reaches them. Is it worth it?

[ballsohard]

#11 Reaction: I like this Pick a lot for the Pacers. He’s a skilled guy who can pass rebound and shot block. the thing about him to me is, the Pacers are a hodgepodge of talent now. After this year when they own their own picks again, they can invest into Strong and he can be an extremely skilled guy. One thing i do find Funny is despite his last name, hes weaker than weakbrook.

Pick #12: Miami Heat : Jason Peterson

Peterson is an undersized 2 but hes a 3 and D guy who can get to the line a bit. With swan already on the roster, the pick is a little questionable, but Swan is straight trash. I think autopick got this right.


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[IamQuailman]

#12 Reaction: I actually really like Jason Peterson. He's got some athleticism to his game, although he struggles at getting to the basket on his own. At this point, he's more of a shooter who has shown flashes of greatness on defense. It will take some time I feel before that greatness translates to the NBA-level. Logpmess is starting to accrue some really good talent on his wings. I'm curious to see which of the players he will invest in and try to improve through his off-season training programs.

Pick 13: San Antonio Spurs select Jeff Bower.
Reaction: Jeff Bower reminds me a lot of Jimmy Butler before the VanMemphis GM let him die in training camp. This player is an athletic freak. 100 JMP rated players don't grow on trees, and when you find one, you pick them and RUN. The Spurs have to be thrilled that Bower fell to him at #13. Another positive to Bower's game is the defense he plays. He could truly turn into legit scoring threat and nightmare on the defensive side of the ball. He's going to take time to develop, but when he does, the Spurs will have a really good guard on his hands.

[ballsohard]

#13 Reaction
The Spurs are building continuity on their team. Let’s look at their young guys: Aug, Tua, Bower, Aguilar, and Silva. What do they all have in common? Their jump shots. It looks like the Spurs are building a Jump shooting team. I like the pick and i think he will be a solid backup or 5th starter when this team matures.


Pick #14: The Celtics Select: Robert Oxford
I like Oxford. He’s the smaller worse version of Ayton. The Celtics have accumulated a lot of talent but we’ve yet to see results. I think this needs to be a piece they use to make a big play to win now. Ullis, De La Rosa, Brown, KAT, Vaccaro and Oxford are all under 24. There has to be a point where the Celts make a swing for a win now guy.




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[IamQuailman]

#14 Reaction: Oxford is a talented oaf. But I agree with you, Balls. At some point GM Conroy needs to cash these chips in for a big name. Perhaps he will fall in LOVE with some superstar on the trade market and make a move. With the current squad, I don't think Oxford will see playing time for at least a few seasons (if that). Just too much talent with promise in front of him.

AND THAT WRAPS UP OUR LOTTO REACTION ARTICLE! I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED!!

[ballsohard]

Both Quail and Balls (me) can claim 5 points towards their media total. both have 20 remaining