Who would trade the #1 for the #3 and #12 from Orlando or #3 and 11 from Phili?
I pride myself in staying objective with my teams when analyzing potential deals and having a good understanding of various front offices and their situation.
But I have to say I have no clue what direction Orlando is going to go. They developed patterns, mimiced others. I have no clue.
I believe their decision makers to be smart basketball guys and I think their final product will be very intriguing.
Right now they have a lot of assets listed by probability that they're being a part of their final product:
Oladipo, Harris, Afflalo, Harkless, O'Quinn, Vucevic, Nicholson
In order to have a basketball lineup that comes close to patterns of San Antonio and OKC they need 1 thing the most: DEFENSE and a playmaker.
They have a lot of shooting, hustle and rebounding.
So the 2 no brainer picks for them would be Embiid or Wiggins.
What does Orlando do with Embiid? They'd have to be confident he could defend 4s and create twin towers. But if Embiid is deemed healthy he's gone at #3 unless Exum does some magic. Like black magic(no racialist).
If they go Embiid they have the size and have flexibility with Vucevic, who'll receive a 44-48 offer for 4 years from the Magic this summer or is dealt. If both work together, so be it otherwise you trade Vucevic but you'll only get phone calls from very few teams and if he doesn't outplay his hefty contract by improving his defense or scoring 18-20 a night while pulling down 12 boards they'll get limited value in return.
Playing twin towers would result in possible scenarios:
Oladipo, Afflalo, Harkless, Embiid, Vucevic
2015 PG, Oladipo, Afflalo, Embiid, Vucevic
Oladipo, Afflalo, Harris, Embiid, Vucevic
Oladipo, Afflalo, 2015 wing, Harris, Embiid
2015 PG, Oladipo, Harkless, Harris, Embiid
Oladipo, Afflalo, Harris, 2015 PF, Embiid
Then if you draft Wiggins that basically means you'll need different front court players because their current aren't playing defense like Hennigan wants them to. And that also means that Oladipo is their PG like Reggie Jackson. Secondary ball handler, grind opposite defenders tired. That would also means that one or both or Harkless and Harris are traded. Both want to start and I don't know if they'd be willing to concede their starting spot if Wiggins outplays them year one as a 6th man and they become that guy. My guess is no. And you need to deal with your frontcourt, even though Harris could play stretch 4 with Wiggins together if you have someone like Dwight Howard clogging the paint.
Oladipo, Afflalo, Wiggins, Harris, Monster Center FA/draftee
Oladipo, Afflalo, Wiggins, athletic PF, Vucevic
Oladipo, Wiggins, Harkless, Harris, center beast two way player
Oladipo, Afflalo, Wiggins, new PF, new Center
So there's versatility and very much. Which direction they'll go will probably depend on the offer they get. If Milwaukee selects Embiid and they find the Bucks' troublemaker Sanders to be worth the headache(which I doubt) or even decide that he has developed or it was Milwaukee's fault then they'll gladly rip them off a second time in 2 years and hand them Afflalo or a future first rounder.
That being said if the Jazz end up with the #1 pick I'd consider doing that depending on what's coming back with the #3 together. If I'm the Jazz I want Wiggins, Embiid, Parker, Exum in that order and if we get Parker with that deal then I'd have to make my mind up about the following questions:
Can I hide Parker while having a real defensive combo forward?(The only ones I know are Smove and Unibrow, but neither is coming to Utah)
I mean I'd be comfortable with Taj Gibson guarding Anthony Davis the next years when he's going to be the 2nd best player on the planet and best power forward to ever play the game. Yes I think he's that good and it's a shame what New Orleans management is putting around him. They'll rename into New Orleans Blues after he leaves them in 5 years unless they can repair this situation.
But Gibson and Favors in a front court? Too limited IMO. I'd be comfortable with Favors going against Davis' pick and roll and I'd feel okay long term with Parker understanding defense and making important switches against Davis' backscreen curls.
I don't feel okay with Smove's contract even though he'd give the Jazz the best guy next to Parker whose shooting woes would be eliminated via Parker and who could guard Durant one night, Davis the next, while getting them tired with his back to the basket game.
So I don't really like that option of Parker falling for us when we could have Wiggins or Embiid with #1, no matter who we're getting with #11 or #12.
I really like Exum but he would cause a need to restructure so much of the roster to create a contender that I also don't like this move too much.
I probably prefer Embiid the most for the Jazz team combined with a talented wing defender and if he's sure to fall to #3 I'd take that deal but I'm sceptical that might not be the case depending on lottery results.
