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     Saarang Pilla Bewarse Username: Saarang Post Number: 527 Registered: 04-2015 Posted From: 97.126.40.189 Rating: N/A |
Jonathan Tjarks on the best second round picks in this draft: A lot of second-rounders are drafted onto teams without any open roster spots, and many never get the opportunity to show what they can do before heading overseas. The second round is not a meritocracy. Players are often selected based off relationships teams have with their agents, as well as their willingness to be stashed in Europe rather than report to training camp. However, every year there’s always a few who end up making a big splash in the league. Isaiah Thomas, taken with the last pick in 2011, is the patron saint of players overlooked on draft night, and every guy taken after pick 30 this year is trying to be the next Malcolm Brogdon or Patrick McCaw. The odds of making it at the next level as a second-rounder are long, but someone will beat them. The team that hits on a second-round pick will reap tremendous value from getting a good young player on such a dirt-cheap contract. The Bucks will be paying Brogdon only $1.5 million in 2019, and they will have the right to match any contract he receives in restricted free agency the following season. There’s no downside to swinging and missing on guys in this range, which is why selling picks, rather than just trading them for future seconds, is a classic example of penny-wise and pound-foolish thinking. Jordan Bell, Warriors The Bulls ought to be ashamed of themselves for selling this pick. Not only are they beginning a complete rebuild following the decision to trade Jimmy Butler, but they let the reigning NBA champions add an interesting prospect for nothing more than cash. No team in the league needs young talent more than Chicago does at this point, and no team needs it less than Golden State. Even though the Warriors gave the Bulls $3.5 million, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer in this transaction. The Bulls had better hope Bell, the 38th pick, doesn’t pan out, because they will look bad in a few years if he does. After Chris Boucher tore his ACL in the Pac-12 tournament, Bell turned himself into the NCAA version of Draymond Green, almost single-handedly carrying Oregon to the Final Four. He switched screens and locked up smaller players on the perimeter, controlled the lane as an interior defender, dominated the glass, and picked apart opposing defenses from the high post. The only thing he didn’t do well was box out, and it ended up costing Oregon a chance to play in the national title game. Nevertheless, Bell’s combination of athleticism and high basketball IQ makes him a perfect fit for the way Golden State plays. The main concern about Bell is that he’s slender (6-foot-8 and 225 pounds) and he’s not a good shooter, so his best chance to succeed at the next level is in a relatively narrow role as a small-ball 5 who comes off the bench for a perimeter-oriented team. However, the Warriors are currently filling that role with James Michael McAdoo, who hasn’t given much indication that he knows how to play basketball despite the countless opportunities Steve Kerr has given him. Don’t be surprised if Bell is playing important minutes in next season’s playoffs. He’s exactly the type of switchable big man that teams need to beat the Warriors, and now he’ll be playing for them. Bulls fans aren’t the only ones who should be mad at their front office. |