Minny & Cavs 2025 picks watch thread

[Handlogten's Heros]

People keep saying these things but the league refuses to agree. Sexton has been on the trading block for most of his career, and Ainge is the only one who ever pulled the trigger... because he needed an entertaining tank commander.

Ainge hasn't moved him because Ainge wants value lol. We don't have all that information, but you can go ahead and look and his career numbers in Cleveland and Utah and see how much better he has gotten. He is quite far from the tank commander lol. He is by far our best guard in on/off splits. Key/Collier/JC are the real tank commanders.

 

[latin jazz]

Damn, Shai is an assassin.

It must be so fun to be an OKC fan right now. To be this good and then have a chest of good picks coming your way

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Thank goodness Wolves finally lost a close game

 

[The Jazz Wonderbra]

OKC draft picks have been really good. That makes all the difference.

Chet
Jayson Williams
Jalen Williams
Cason Wallace
Dillon Jones
Isaiah Joe
Dort
Ajay Mitchell even having a plus year made the top 10 rookies ladder this week.

Lots of athleticism, shooting, two way players, and successful draft picks on that list.

Getting Shai was their best move. Hitting on 2 top picks was their next best move.

But their moves around the periphery have been so solid.

 

[The Jazz Wonderbra]

Right now neither trade is looking good with the unprotected picks. Jazz was hoping Mitchell would bolt to Miami or NY. Cav pick this year is like a 2nd round pick unless the Jazz get lucky and find a needle in a haystack. We did get Marko but right now DM for Marko is in favor of Cleveland especially since Marko is struggling this year and DM is having a great year.

It was time to get rid of Rudy, he is aging and has shown no improvement offensively. Kessler and Rudy are closer to an equal deal, but Kessler still struggles. He is younger. I think he can develop some offensive skills if he works at it. This year pick has a chance to be mid-teens to lower lottery if Wolves miss the playoffs. Conley is older too which helps too.

No one thought the 2025 picks would be that great. Edward's and Gobert were guaranteed to be in minny. Mitchell was guaranteed to be in the Land.

We have picks from both for 6 more years. LOTS of things will change by 2031.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

OKC draft picks have been really good. That makes all the difference.

Chet
Jayson Williams
Jalen Williams
Cason Wallace
Dillon Jones
Isaiah Joe
Dort
Ajay Mitchell even having a plus year made the top 10 rookies ladder this week.

Lots of athleticism, shooting, two way players, and successful draft picks on that list.

Getting Shai was their best move. Hitting on 2 top picks was their next best move.

But their moves around the periphery have been so solid.

Jayson Williams is 56 years old...

 

[idiot]

OKC draft picks have been really good. That makes all the difference.

Chet
Jayson Williams
Jalen Williams
Cason Wallace
Dillon Jones
Isaiah Joe
Dort
Ajay Mitchell even having a plus year made the top 10 rookies ladder this week.

Lots of athleticism, shooting, two way players, and successful draft picks on that list.

Getting Shai was their best move. Hitting on 2 top picks was their next best move.

But their moves around the periphery have been so solid.

Agree with your larger point. Thunder's moves around the periphery have been great.

But I'm trying to figure out which two top picks they hit on? Chet is one. Are you saying Giddey is the second?

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Thunder have drafted fine, but they nailed the important picks. Their record isn't flawless though. They've also invested in players like Joe/Wiggins/Dort/Kenrich who went from undrafted/late picks to good role players (like Utah is doing with Juzang)

Poku was awful. Dieing has been awful. Jaylen Williams (the center) isn't good. Cason Wallace is having a bad second year. Too early to call their picks this year.

They are a great team though so it's easier to fit players into roles they can succeed in. That's because of SGA/Williams/Chet.

 

[HadAnEffectHere]

No one thought the 2025 picks would be that great. Edward's and Gobert were guaranteed to be in minny. Mitchell was guaranteed to be in the Land.

We have picks from both for 6 more years. LOTS of things will change by 2031.

... No?

The only upcoming picks after this year are

2027 Cavs pick
2027 Wolves pick
Protected 2027 Lakers pick
2029 Cavs pick
Protected 2029 Wolves pick

As well as unlikely swaps in 2026 and 2028.

There's basically only three high upside picks left after trading away the whole team so hopefully one of those is good...

 

[idiot]

Thunder are 19-3 since Chet went down with his injury. On their team, during this run, they are using no players drafted better than #10.

Maybe it's time to stop regarding OKC as a tanking success story.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Thunder are 19-3 since Chet went down with his injury. On their team, during this run, they are using no players drafted better than #10.

Maybe it's time to stop regarding OKC as a tanking success story.

?

 

[idiot]

?

Not quite sure what you're not getting.

- Most people, I think, esp. around these parts, think that OKC is turning into NBA championship material largely because they committed to tanking.
- While Chet is great and increases the Thunder's ceiling, it appears that OKC is a true contender whether he plays or not or not.
- Since Chet is OKC's only big-time reward currently on the roster from finishing with a terrible record (depending on how you regard Caruso, I guess), it can be argued that OKC's success is not due to tanking. Chet is super, but it's easy enough to imagine the Thunder winning a championship even if Chet's not available.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Not quite sure what you're not getting.

- Most people, I think, esp. around these parts, think that OKC is turning into NBA championship material largely because they committed to tanking.
- While Chet is great and increases the Thunder's ceiling, it appears that OKC is a true contender whether he plays or not or not.
- Since Chet is OKC's only big-time reward currently on the roster from finishing with a terrible record (depending on how you regard Caruso, I guess), it can be argued that OKC's success is not due to tanking. Chet is super, but it's easy enough to imagine the Thunder winning a championship even if Chet's not available.

SGA is a bonafide MVP candidate. The supporting cast defends well and JDub is a pretty good 2nd guy, but it's mostly the SGA show right now. Your point is taken though. That team is well built with tough, defensive dudes who play hard and make enough shots. Hartenstein was also a good pickup. SGA, JDub and Cason Wallace were all drafted in the 10-12 range. Dort was a UDFA.

If the Jazz, as currently constituted, had this version of SGA on their team, the Jazz would probably be a top 3 team in the West.

 

[jazznik]

Ainge hasn't moved him because Ainge wants value lol.

What value does a tiny, defensively compromised SG have? The 6'0" barefoot SG who makes almost 20 million? There are no other players like him in the NBA and for a good reason.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Not quite sure what you're not getting.

- Most people, I think, esp. around these parts, think that OKC is turning into NBA championship material largely because they committed to tanking.
- While Chet is great and increases the Thunder's ceiling, it appears that OKC is a true contender whether he plays or not or not.
- Since Chet is OKC's only big-time reward currently on the roster from finishing with a terrible record (depending on how you regard Caruso, I guess), it can be argued that OKC's success is not due to tanking. Chet is super, but it's easy enough to imagine the Thunder winning a championship even if Chet's not available.

They got SGA in a tank move....

 

[idiot]

They got SGA in a tank move....

You're using "tank" somewhat broadly (and probably correctly) here.

You're not using it in the sense that so many Jazz fans are using it in these days:
- "Ainge/Hardy/Sexton/Lauri/Collins/etc. are preventing us from tanking correctly"
- "If we fail to get a top-five pick, this season will be wasted and we'll never have a chance to win a championship"

 

[The Jazz Wonderbra]

We got Lauri in a similar tanking trade as OKC got SGA. SGA > Lauri. But they also picked up...

Chet > Kessler
Jalen > all of the jazz picks

Other role players are pretty decent hits compared to ours. We didn't leverage the next 2 drafts after we dropped off like they did. And here we are.

 

[idiot]

We got Lauri in a similar tanking trade as OKC got SGA. SGA > Lauri. But they also picked up...

Chet > Kessler
Jalen > all of the jazz picks

Other role players are pretty decent hits compared to ours. We didn't leverage the next 2 drafts after we dropped off like they did. And here we are.

Whether they leveraged their drafts after dropping off or not isn't the issue I'm getting at, though they've done great at that.

I'm getting at the issue of whether one (pretty dominant version, around here) of "tanking" (making sure to lose as much as possible) is directly responsible for getting the Thunder into championship contention. Looking at the evidence available now, I think the answer is no: they likely would still be there whether or not they drafted Chet & Giddey (the only two fruits of finishing with a poor record).

 

[kabenac]

Thank you for taking care of business, Boston, and beating the ******** Timberwolves.

 

[homeytennis]

TWolves and the Spurs are now tied.