I can see Dallas grabbing him, imagine Luka linking up with him in pick and rolls?
OKC - they could use another athletic wing.
NO not so much.
I can see TOR taking him.
Not to mention another team jumping in with a trade.
2023 NBA Draft Megathread
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OKC - they could use another athletic wing.
NO not so much.
I can see TOR taking him.
Not to mention another team jumping in with a trade.
FWIW I would prefer we didn't take GG at all. If he somehow falls to 28 and we took him there, then I would be excited on the upside. If we took him with 16 I wouldn't be excited, but trust that the front office knows what they are doing. If we took him with 9 I would be very unhappy.
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I think we should find a way to trade up for Whitmore. I think he ends up going 4th or 5th in the draft so its going to be hard (assuming we don't move up). If he somehow slides a little further maybe it gets easier to move up... Just think he is being slept on and should have a pretty smooth development path. Definitely has some rough edges to smooth out but he can play as a 3 and D guy who cuts and drives off of closeouts early in his career and take on more from there. Hes so athletic and powerful and there is some skill there.
Hopefully he continues to get slept on but I think as the draft approaches he will leap frog Amen and some others.
Hopefully he continues to get slept on but I think as the draft approaches he will leap frog Amen and some others.
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GG would want Luka setting picks for him though.
One piece of info we're all missing on are the interviews. How does GG interview? What's his willingness to play defense? What's his view on team concept?
Anyone has more info on those kind of stuff?
Anyone has more info on those kind of stuff?
What do you think it would take to move up to #5?
I guess we probably need to wait until the lottery. I think the Blazers are going to be looking to move that pick, but I'm not sure if we have the kind of vet they would be interested in (besides Lauri).
Dallas is the last team that would take him of that group IMO.
Toronto makes a lot of sense, especially if they trey to do a Utah esque blowup by trading their top guys and building around Barnes.
New Orleans makes a lot of sense too because they are one of those teams that are pretty stacked with prospects and picks they can afford to swing on high upside.
OKC always a threat to take a high upside guy, but at the same time they are a very young team who is trying to turn the corner, so they might not want a project like GG
I think Atlanta would not take him as they already have a good amount of wing prospects and they aren't as pick heavy as New Orleans so maybe less likely to swing.
Rafael Barlowe mentioned he talked to him and he asked GG why he thought ESPN has him at 28 and he said because he had bad body language and did dumb stuff on social media. So he's at least self aware.
Yeah OKC and TOR are very likely. I can see both of them snatching GG right in front of us ala @Coach Ellis grabbing Shaq/Duncan/Olajuwon in the All Time Draft.. lol ..
That's VERY interesting.
Also considering he could still be in highschool right now right?
That bodes very well actually.
As an aside I'm also an Arsenal fan, they had 1 guy William Saliba who when they first got him was very young and immature, clashed with the coach, asked for a trade, etc. They sent him to the French league for like 3 years, and he came back a much more mature man. He's now one of the best center back in World soccer and is a major part of the reason Arsenal is leading the Premier League.
If anyone can get the best out of GG in the NBA I believe it's Hardy.
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I think you could move up and trade with either Portland or the Wiz. It would most likely be multiple picks (Say #9 and 2025 Cavs pick). Would allow them to split the asset to use it to acquire a vet and still draft someone they like at #9. I could see salary relief via Nurkic's contract being slightly appealing (if they can parlay it into another player). I could see Ochai having some value since he is further along but still young and cheap.
It's not a great match but we have enough value to make it work... so long as they can make a second deal. For Portland they can continue to split the baby... "hey Dame we drafted a guy we liked and we also got the pick we can move for a vet" type of sell job.
Maybe, but there are a lot of prospects worth taking in these ranges.
I think anyone who is making bold claims about knowing who will be available where is mostly full of **** (which may be a case to draft GG at 9 if you really like him and think he has top 5 potential). The draft is going to be very hard to predict after the top 8 and I wouldn't be shocked if something wild happens in the top 8 as well
I don't think GG is that immature. It's probably been overblown. I think he just made a dumb college choice. Barlowe mentioned there aren't any red flags on GG as far as background/personality. It's just a being young thing.
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I would love it if GG was taken in between picks 10 and 15... means a guy like Hawkins, Keyonte George, or Bufkin are available.
GG and Nick Smith are the two guys I'd love to see go in that range.. please someone else remove them from the board.
GG Jackson is someone I've been low on all season but I will probably rise him back up when we get closer to the draft. I would be surprised if he's available for the Jazz's last pick
No way he's on the board at #28. I think it's 50/50 he's there at #16.
I'm still harking back to Ainge's decision to trade the Fultz pick (consensus #1) to grab Tatum..
Somehow I think his preference is size..
Also his decision to grab Dunn and trial THT at the point is a curious one. As if he doesn't view the PG position traditionally (small, quick, ...).
Also at BOS - their PG right now is Smart? - Again - Size.
Reading the tea leaves I think guys like Keyonte, Wallace are less likely to be picked in this draft.
Here's a question, how badly can you suck at one of those 3 levels if you still want to be considered a 3 level scorer? One of the reasons he was so bad is because his mid range game was off the charts horrendous. When those step back middys go in it looks nice, but if they're going in a 28% does that really qualify him as a mid range scorer? I can not stress this enough, he was awful at the things that people think give him "high potential".
He can be ok in a pick and pop, spot, cut and finish around the basket role.....maybe mix in a little shot creation like Tobias or Marcus Morris. But if the center of his game is "getting buckets" he will probably never get on the floor.
Below is Markkanen's shot chart this season. (https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/markkanen-2023-shot-chart)
Viewing this from the Ainge's perspective I don't think they'll worry too much about GG's Mid range woe... it's a nice to have but not a necessity as to what we intend to run.
Stats don't matter all that much when you play your Freshman year at 17/18 years old on one of the worst P5 teams. It's more about how easily he is able to create the looks.