So much for all these fake drafts. To the surprise of everyone outside the Magic’s military room, Orlando took Paolo Banchero no. 1, after weeks and weeks of reports suggesting that Jabari Smith Jr. is the best choice. Many wavy effects erupted from there. Who turned out to be on top? Our NBA team goes through all the biggest players and trackers of the evening with another edition of the winners and losers of the NBA Draft:
Winner: Detroit Pistons
Chris Ryan: One of the joys of the second half of last season in the NBA was watching Cade Cunningham never let the defense speed him up. So what did Detroit do in the 2022 draft? Catch a man who can’t be amused. Eventually, Cade will win several playoff games in Detroit. But Jaden Ivey will put some ass in place and raise the Pistons in every League Pass standings.
Ivy spent last year knitting around the big men of Purdue’s cave trolls, but his game is in line with the modern NBA attack – consider Ja Morant 2.0 or, as KOC described it, “jumbo Darius Garland”. If Ivy’s fall to five (always a thrill, Sacramento!) Was a bit of luck, Memphis’ acquisition of Jail Duren’s rim protector / forehead was a great drawing skill on the part of the Detroit GM Troy Weaver. There has been a lot of talk about a “Deander Eaton contract deal coming up” after the Pistons moved Jeremy Grant to Portland earlier this week, but they may have drafted his next version as they push the Knicks and Hornets away.
Detroit did not finish better than eighth in the 2008 Eastern Conference. Who knows when they will return to the conference debate, but if they do, I bet tonight will have a lot to do with it.
Loser: Kevin Durant
Logan Murdoch: Three years ago, Durant left a dynasty in the Golden State to partner with Kyrie Irving, planning to bring many titles to Brooklyn. But in the last seven months, this agreement has been systematically annulled. Irving’s refusal to vaccinate postponed him for nearly two-thirds of the Nets’ games last season and pushed James Harden out of town. Irving’s absence irritated the Nets’ front office, including general manager Sean Marx, who recently wondered aloud whether Irving was “right” for the organization. Now, amid a stalemate in a new contract, Kyrie is reportedly considering making his way to another team. Which would leave Durant either leading a roster of all-time players and Ben Simmons, an All-Star who hasn’t played a game in a calendar year, or looking for a new team on his own.
It’s hard not to sympathize with Durant. Harden, with whom he is working hard to reconcile after the two stopped talking a few years ago, sees the Nets as an insolvent environment, and Irving, who said he wanted to play Durant at 50, could be days away. from leaving. Durant left the bay to be with his friends, win titles and enjoy a fresh start. Now this vision is on the verge of falling apart.
Jalen Brunson Photo by Melissa Majchrzak / NBAE via Getty Images
Winner: Jalen Brunson
Rob Mahoney: If you can see your way to any eventual winner in the Knicks maze of draft moves – which involve the coming or going of what appear to be 11 different drafts – this will probably be the person to whom New York is desperate to pay this summer. Knicks’ interest in Brunson is detailed and completely predictable, with their latest overtures a few miles less than fine. Among those gestures: Tom Thibodeau added Brunson’s father to the NBA, Rick, to his coaching staff earlier this month. This is not quite at the level of a college program running around on a recruitment violation, given that Brunson has at least worked for Thibodeau’s staff before and has a long-standing relationship with Knicks President Leon Rose. But it is not far.
Now the Knicks have begun the process of clearing the lid space, separating it to make an offer to Brunson. Whether Brunson really has to choose to sign with the Knicks is another question. Yet their very presence on the market – announced with great effort, just to clear Kemba Walker’s salary of $ 9.2 million and the rookie deal of their player, who would be the first, is a huge victory for 25- they The potential for profit of a one-year-old child this summer. Leverage is a game for two; as long as there is even one team with the interest and resources to beat Brunson, the Mavericks will have to start with a convincing offer to keep their free agent and work from there.
This is the first, best chance for Brunson to win money since he was selected in the second round in 2018. Every deal the Knicks made on Thursday night brought him much closer to a nine-digit validation.
Loser: G League Ignite
Jonathan Turks: G League Ignite had two players taken in the first round (Dyson Daniels and MarJon Beauchamp), but the bigger story about the NBA’s player development program was that Jaden Hardy was eliminated from the first round. Hardy was not. A total of 2 rookies in the 2021 class and was widely expected to be the top five pick before the season, but turned out to be the last player in the green room. Players with his pedigree are essentially locks to be first-round players. Hardy, who was taken by Mavericks to №. 37, is the first two best employees to enter the second round after Josh McRoberts in 2007.
Hardy, a 6-foot-4 combo guard, averaged 18.4 points per game against Ignite this season, but was ineffective off the field (37.3 percent), struggled as a passer (3.5 assists at 3.6 rpm) and failed to offer much protection. The question is to what extent these fights can be waged against him, given that he played against much older and more experienced players in the G league. The obvious comparison for Hardy is Shaedon Sharpe, another first-place winger who was №. 1 rookie in class 2022. He enrolled in Kentucky this season, but did not play and was taken to №. 7 in general.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder in the draft, and sometimes the presence of less film can turn a player into a man of mystery, rather than a perspective over-analyzed by NBA scouts. The reason for this is that there is more competition for recruits than when the Ignite program was launched two years ago. They are no longer the only place where recruits can get paid before the NBA. There’s the Overtime Elite (which could have multiple top 10 picks next season), as well as NIL-level NCAA deals that could go for millions of dollars. All of these programs will use what happened to Hardy vs. Ignite.
Dyson Daniels Photo by Sarah Steer / Getty Images
Winner: New Orleans Pelicans
J. Kyle Mann: For a team that ranked 36-46, he finished ninth in the West and then slipped under the sliding steel door as a secret agent, New Orleans’ choice of number. 8 in the draft felt like the icing on the cake – NOLA didn’t need much, especially with Zion Williamson’s potential (hypothetical / speculative / possible) return to the horizon. But it still turned out to be a fantastic fit for Dyson Daniels.
Daniels, who spent a season with G League Ignite, is a steady, sliding, probing, connecting playmaker of great size (almost 6 feet-8) and an efficient, unpretentious game that should quickly complement Brandon Ingram-like CJ McCollum. and Zion. Although he is not exactly an elite playmaker, he is a quality person who makes decisions in the middle of the floor with a low touch time – just the kind of lubrication that this disorder needs. Dyson has some shooting problems, mainly in his lower body, but (as is one of my favorite things to talk about) he will now get the chance to work with someone who has had fantastic success in forming players, who suffer from similar problems: the mystical and magical Fred Vinson.
EJ Liddell of Ohio at 41 is also a solid value; 6-7 the striker can become a key figure for smaller teams. Of course, we assume a lot here; all hopes for the team next season are a springboard from a first-round racing series against a Phoenix team that is ultimately unstable. But the season of Pels positivity continues, at least in my opinion.
Loser: Deandre Ayton
Seerat Sohi: If you want to feel the effect of a whiplash, watch the off-season through the eyes of Deandre Ayton’s accountant. After the Pistons unloaded Jeremy Grant at the Trail Blazers on Wednesday, Athletic’s James L. Edwards III announced that the Pistons are expected to pursue Ayton with $ 43 million to play with. The path between Ayton and the fat list of bids seemed clearer when Detroit removed Jaden Ivy, Purdue’s explosive guard, with a fifth choice – likely to remove Jalen Brunson from their wish list for a free agency. And then the Knicks, also aimed at Brunson, cleared the space. More good news for Ayton, right?
Well, Kemba Walker’s contract was taken over by … The Pistons, who got the Hornets’ first-round pick through the Knicks and used it to draft Jalen Duren, an athletic rim protector. San Antonio, another potential destination for Ayton’s free agency, has chosen Jeremy Sochan, a versatile two-way big who can eat the central minutes he has to fill. Meanwhile, Suns owner Robert Sarver’s pockets have not deepened.
For a player like Ayton, who strives to be a maximum player, leverage and market conditions are important. The money is already dry in the league this off-season, and two teams that could help start a bidding war could enter the free agency, less desperate for its services.
Winner: Philadelphia 76ers
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