u/Reasonable_Ad1500

Club pokes fun at 'Spygate' scandal as massive SNAKE invades training ground

Any idea what the this snake is at the Mariners training ground? Looks bloody terrifying.

thesun.co.uk

▲ 12 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

The Toronto Raptors recent draft history

Number 19 in this series is the Toronto Raptors, the fifth of our teams that made the play-offs, but lost in the first round. Just to reiterate the rules from the previous editions (see links below), I'll start with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

An important point to note is that this is just assessing draft night performances and isn't an overall commentary on how well your current GM/previous GMs put your team together. I've done my best to be fair and, when looking at who a team could have taken instead, I've tried to keep the other options in the relative range of the original pick.

The real standout from doing the Toronto research is the three drafts between 2016 and 2018 when they selected Norm Powell, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby at 46, 27 and 19. Those three (although OG was injured for the playoffs) were key pieces in the 2019 NBA title-winning team, and unbelievable value at those three draft slots. If they miss on one or two of those picks, do they still become champions? It's obviously impossible to say, but it would certainly have been harder. The key piece of the Kawhi Leonard trade was DeMar DeRozen, who was another high-value Raptors draftee (9th in 2009).

Scottie Barnes excepted (their only top-8 pick in the past twelve years), the rest of Toronto's drafting has probably averaged out at 'good' as the stats below show. The picks used on Colin Murray-Boyles and Jamal Shead in the past two drafts have been really good, but others haven't quite worked out. Having said that, their average draft pick position since 2014 of 33.23 is the 6th highest of the 19 reports I've completed thus far. To draft as well as they have done is certainly a big feather in the Toronto front office's cap.

Here are some stats:

- Five drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Raptors.
- Four of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Siakam, Anunoby, Barnes and Powell
- Only three players have averaged double figures during their time with Toronto - Siakam (17.4), Barnes (17.4) and Anunoby (11.8), with Powell (9.9) just missing out.
- 22 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night, rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 20 that actually ended up playing for the Raptors is 2.8 years.
- Those 20 players averaged 147.7 regular season games and 18.3 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 22 picks is 33.23

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
20. Bruno Caboclo - 3.5 years with the Toronto Raptors, 25 games, 1.1 ppg
37. DeAndre Daniels - never made it to the NBA
59. Xavier Thames - traded to Brooklyn on draft night for cash, never made it to the NBA

Caboclo is certainly an interesting way to start the Raptors report. I haven't seen someone play for as long for one team with so little production... he must have been a helluva teammate off the court. There weren't any All-Stars at the backend of the 1st round, but Rodney Hood (23) or Clint Capela (25) would have been more useful additions.

2015
20. Delon Wright - 3.5 years with TR, 172 games, 6.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.3 apg + 28 playoff games, 4.5 rpg, 1.4 rpg, 1.4 apg
46. Norman Powell - drafted by Milwaukee, then traded to Toronto, with the 2017 1st, for Greivis Vasquez
- NP's stats: 5.5 years with TR, 349 games, 9.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.4 apg + 67 playoff games, 7.2 rpg, 2.0 rpg

I don't usually start these little blurbs with the 2nd round pick, but getting Norm Powell at 46, in such an insanely lop-sided trade, was an incredible piece of business by Toronto. Powell became an All-Star this season for the first time, but his 16 minutes/game off the bench during the 2019 championship run was equally important. He was eventually traded to Portland for Gary Trent Jr and a couple of months of Rodney Hood.
Wright was a solid back-up guard, which is probably a little under-valued for the 20th pick. He ended up being part of the trade that brough Marc Gasol north of the border.

2016
9. Jakob Poeltl - 2 years with TR, 136 games, 5.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg + 15 playoff games, 3.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg
27. Pascal Siakam - 7.5 years with TR, 510 games, 17.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.6 apg + 53 playoff games, 15.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.9 apg

As good as Powell at 46 was, getting Pascal Siakam at 27 is unbelievable. 2nd-team All-NBA and 10th in MVP voting in 2020, 3rd-team All-NBA in 2022, two-time All-Star and MIP in 2019, plus he averaged 19/7/3 in the 2019 playoffs as the Raptors won the title. When he was traded to Indiana, the return was three 1st-rounders, including the Ja'Kobe Walter pick.
I've not included the last 3.5 seasons that Poeltl's spent in Toronto, but using the 9th overall pick on him was excessive.
The 1st that was used on him came from the Knicks as part of the Andrea Bargnani trade. Whilst he didn't produce a lot in his first two seasons, he was part of the Kawhi Leonard trade, which turned out OK. They could have taken Domantas Sabonis, who went at 11, but he'd almost certainly have been in the Spurs trade as well.

2017
23. OG Anunoby - 6.5 years with TR, 395 games, 11.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.2 spg + 27 playoff games, 11.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.3 apg

Another superb pick, even though Anunoby missed the 2019 playoffs after getting an appendectomy a couple of weeks before they started. In 2023, he was 2nd-team All-Defence and 7th in DPOY voting and, like Siakam when he left, a decent trade haul came back to the Raptors - RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickly and the 2024 2nd that became Jonathan Mogbo. Toronto's own 1st ended up at 25 and was sent to Orlando at the 2017 deadline for Serge Ibaka, who was another important bench player in the 2019 title run.

2018
No draft selections. Their 1st this year ended up at 29 and was part of the 2017 draft day trade that sent DeMarre Carroll to Brooklyn for Justin Hamilton, who was waived the next day and never played in the NBA again. I'm guessing this was some sort of salary dump because otherwise it makes literally no sense at all.

2019
59. Dewan Hernandez - 1 year with TR, 6 games, 2.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg

Another quiet draft, with their first-rounder this year again ending up at 29 and going to the Spurs as part of the Kawhi trade. They selected Keldon Johnson and let me just check in with our Toronto correspondents as to whether they'd do that deal again.... yep, yep, we're good to keep that on the docket.

2020
29. Malachi Flynn - 3.5 years with TR, 175 games, 5.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 2.0 apg + 6 playoff games,
59. Jalen Harris - 1 year with TR, 13 games, 7.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 1.3 apg

Flynn was a perfectly fine role player and was eventually included in the OG Anunoby deal to the Knicks, but Desmond Bane went at 30 and, my goodness, he'd have been a great fit on this Raptors team.

2021
4. Scottie Barnes - 5 years with TR, 356 games, 17.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.1 bpg + 11 playoff games, 20.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 7.0 apg, 1.1 spg, 1.2 bpg
46. Dalano Banton - 2 years with TR, 95 games, 3.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.4 apg + 4 playoff games
47. David Johnson - 1 year with TR, 2 games

After three understandably quiet drafts with the team in title contention, the Raptors' front office absolutely nailed the Barnes pick. He's been a two-time All-Star, a ROY and he finished 5th in DPOY voting this season. He seemed to take a step up in the playoff series against Cleveland this year, averaging 24.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 1.7 blocks. If he continues that progress into next season, then Toronto have really got something.

2022
33. Christian Koloko - 1.5 years with TR, 58 games, 3.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.0 bpg

Koloko had some decent moments in his rookie season, but blood clots meant he missed his sophomore campaign, and the Raptors waived him in January. Three of the next four players drafted were Jaylin Williams, Max Christie and Jaden Hardy, who would have all been upgrades. Their 1st-rounder this year was sent to San Antonio at the 2022 deadline (with Goran Dragic) for Thad Young, Drew Eubanks and a 2nd. The Spurs took Malaki Branham at 20, and he's probably been the best player in the trade.

2023
13. Gradey Dick - 3 years with TR, 190 games, 9.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.1 apg + 3 playoff games

After a very promising 2nd season where he started 54 games and averaged 14.4 ppg, Dick's numbers dropped off a cliff this season. His ppg dropped to 6.0, his minutes per game went from 29.4 to 14.0 and he only played four minutes in the Cleveland playoff series. If he gets back to his sophomore form, he'll be a big asset to this team. If not, the front office will regret not picking any one of Keyonte George, Jaime Jaquez, Brandon Podziemski, Cam Whitmore or Noah Clowney, who were all chosen between 16 and 21.

2024
19. Ja'Kobe Walter - 2 years with TR, 124 games, 8.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.3 apg + 7 playoff games, 11.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.4 apg, 2.0 spg.
31. Jonathan Mogbo - 2 years with TR, 103 games, 4.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.7 apg + 3 playoff games, 1.3 ppg
45. Jamal Shead - drafted by Sacramento, then traded to Toronto (with Davion Mitchell and the 2025 2nd that became Alijah Martin) for Jalen McDaniels
- JS' stats: 2 years with TR, 157 games, 6.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 4.8 apg + 7 playoff games, 9.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.4 spg.
57. Ulrich Chomche - drafted by Memphis, then traded to Toronto in a four-team trade
- UC's stats: 1 year with TR, 7 games

A busy draft, but a very good one for the Raptors, picking up three solid role players. Shead has been great value at 45, especially considering how well he did starting in place of the injured Immanuel Quickley against Cleveland. Maybe Toronto takes Jaylon Tyson (went at 20) or Yves Missi (21) if they know Shead's going to work out so well, but I don't mind the Walter pick at all.
As mentioned earlier, the Walter pick came from the Siakam trade to Indiana, with Toronto's own first going to San Antonio in the 2023 deadline trade that brought Jakob Poeltl back to the Raptors. It ended up at 8 and was sent to Minnesota, who selected Rob Dillingham.

2025
9. Colin Murray-Boyles - 1 year with TR, 57 games, 8.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.9 apg + 7 playoff games, 14.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.1 bpg.
39. Alijah Martin - 1 year with TR, 23 games, 2.2 ppg

Murray-Boyles had a pretty good regular season, but was outstanding in the Cleveland playoff series and looks a very good prospect. A few months ago, the hindsight pick would have been Cedric Coward or Derik Queen, but I don't think anyone in Toronto would now swap one of those guys for CMB.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: In a couple of years, it might be Scottie Barnes, but currently it's Pascal Siakam.
Best value pick: Definitely Siakam, with honourable mentions for Anunoby, Powell and Shead.
Worst pick/trade: If Dick's slump continues, this will be his to lose, but I'm going for Bruno Caboclo at the moment.
Worst value pick: Poeltl's perfectly decent (and now overpaid), but 9th was too high for him.

Lost in the Play-In
The Golden State Warriors recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Los Angeles Clippers recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Miami Heat recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Charlotte Hornets recent draft history : r/billsimmons

Lost in the 1st Round of the Playoffs
The Portland Trail Blazers recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Phoenix Suns recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Orlando Magic recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Atlanta Hawks recent draft history : r/billsimmons

reddit.com

u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 1 day ago

▲ 25 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

The Atlanta Hawks recent draft history

Number 18 in this series is the Atlanta Hawks, the fourth of our teams that made the play-offs, but lost in the first round. Just to reiterate the rules from the previous editions (see links below), I'll start with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

Like Orlando in the previous edition, there is a ton of positive drafting pedigree for Atlanta. They drafted most of the key players for their 2021 Eastern Conference Finals run and, in Jalen Johnson, they may well have chosen the franchise's next superstar. What's extraordinary is that, of the seven players drafted by the Hawks to have played more than 200 games for the team, three were taken at positions 19 and 20. The others went at 4,5,6 and 12, which shows excellent talent evaluation. The one time they did have a top pick, the 1st overall in 2024, it wasn't in a great draft and Zaccharie Risacher hasn't flourished in the NBA as yet.

Despite all that, Atlanta's figures for their rookie's average regular season's games played and years played are both in the middle of the pack because none of their second round picks in the past twelve years have worked out. Mouhamed Gueye's been solid for the last couple of seasons and that's about it. Their last four 1st-round picks have also been differing degrees of disappointing, but if they nail the 2026 draft, then the Hawks are still going to be set fair for a long time to come.

Here are some stats:

- Seven drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Hawks.
- Six of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Trae Young, Johnson, John Collins, Kevin Huerter, DeAndre Hunter and Onyeka Okongwu
- Nine players have averaged double figures during their time with Atlanta (joint highest so far, with Memphis) - Young (25,2), Collins (15.8), Hunter (14.8), Johnson (14.2), Huerter (11.4), Taurean Prince (11.4), Cam Reddish (11.1), Risacher (11.1) and Okongwu (10.7)
- 33 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night, rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 24 that actually ended up playing for the Hawks is 2.8 years.
- Those 24 players averaged 140.2 regular season games and 13.9 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 30 picks is 30.21

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
15. Adreian Payne - 0.5 years with the Atlanta Hawks, 3 games, 1.7 ppg, 1.3 rpg
43. Edy Tavares - 1 year with AH, 12 games, 2.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg
48. Lamar Patterson - drafted by Milwaukee, then traded to Atlanta for a 2015 2nd
- LP's stats: 1.5 years with AH, 40 games, 2.3 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 1.1 apg

It wasn't a great draft once you got out of the top seven, but this is a whole lot of nothing to get us started. Tavares and Patterson both played overseas before arriving in Atlanta in the summer of 2015, but Payne was already gone by then, traded to Minnesota for the 2018 1st that became Kevin Huerter. So, all's well that ends well.

2015
15. Kelly Oubre Jr - traded to Washington on draft night as part of a three-team deal that brought in Tim Hardaway Jr for two seasons and three future 2nds
50. Marcus Eriksson - never made it to the NBA
59. Dimitrios Agravanis - never made it to the NBA

OK, well this is literally actually nothing. Oubre certainly didn't have the same production as Hardaway did in those first two seasons, plus the Hawks made the 2016 and 2017 playoffs, so they almost certainly do the trade again. Hardaway also finished 10th in 6MOY voting in his second season before heading back to the Knicks.

2016
12. Taurean Prince - selected by Utah, then traded on draft night to Atlanta
- TP's stats: 3 years with AH, 196 games, 11.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.0 apg + 6 playoff games, 11.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.3 apg
21. DeAndre' Bembry - 4 years with AH, 189 games, 6.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.9 apg
44. Isaia Cordinier - never made it to the NBA
54. Kay Felder - traded to Cleveland on draft night for $2.4m

OK, now this is something we can work with. The trade that brought in Prince sent Jeff Teague to Indiana and George Hill to Utah, which seemed to work out well for all parties at the time. Prince was then also the main part of the 2019 draft day trade with Brooklyn that brought in the 1st round pick used on Nickeil Alexander-Walker. And Allen Crabbe, who was less useful. Bembry was fine, but Pascal Siakam (went at 27) and Dejounte Murray (29) were still on the board and had significantly better NBA careers.

2017
19. John Collins - 6 years with AH, 364 games, 15.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.5 apg + 29 playoff games, 12.6 ppg, 7,1 rpg
41. Tyler Dorsey - 1.5 years with AH, 83 games, 6.0 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.2 apg
60. Alpha Kaba - never made it to the NBA

Collins was an excellent selection at this draft spot, and probably Atlanta's best selection since Jeff Teague in 2009. He was eventually traded to Utah for never-to-play-again Rudy Gay and a 2026 2nd, basically as a salary dump you would assume. The 41st pick could have gone better, however, with Thomas Bryant, Isaiah Hartenstein and Dillon Brooks all going amongst the next four spots.

2018
3. Luka Doncic - traded on draft night to Dallas for Trae Young, who'd been selected 5th, and the 2019 1st that became Cam Reddish.
- TY's stats: 7.5 years with AH, 493 games, 25.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 9.8 apg, 1.0 spg + 27 playoff games, 26.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 9.0 apg, 1.2 spg
19. Kevin Huerter - 4 years with AH, 274 games, 11.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.2 apg + 23 playoff games, 10.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.0 apg
30. Omari Spellman - 1 year with AH, 46 games, 5.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.0 apg
34. Devonte' Graham - traded to Charlotte on draft night for two future 2nds

Young obviously has his faults, one of which being that he wasn't as good as Luka Doncic, but he's been a tremendous basketball player - one 3rd-Team All-NBA, four-time All-Star and the best player on the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals team. I'm guessing Atlanta in hindsight doesn't do that trade, but the fact it's a discussion is more than something. And they got CJ McCollum for him when he was traded to Washington.
Huerter was a great pick and another key part of that 2021 team. He was eventually traded to Sacramento for the 2025 1st that Atlanta flipped to New Orleans for their unprotected 2026 1st. The Pelicans selected Derik Queen. Jalen Brunson went three picks after Spellman, but bearing in mind they traded away Graham, they'd almost certainly have done the same with Brunson too.

2019
8. Jaxson Hayes
35. Marcos Luzada - both were traded to New Orleans on draft night, with Nickeil Alexander-Walker (who'd been picked 17th by Brooklyn, then traded to the Hawks) and two future 2nds for DeAndre Hunter, who'd been selected 4th (by the Lakers for the Anthony Davis trade), Solomon Hill, Jordan Bone, who'd been picked 57th, and a future 2nd.
- DH's stats: 5.5 years with AH, 300 games, 14.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.5 apg + 16 playoff games, 16.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg
10. Cam Reddish - 2.5 years with AH, 118 games, 11.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.1 spg + 4 playoff games, 12.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.5 spg
34. Bruno Fernando - drafted by Philadelphia, then traded to Atlanta for Bone and two future 2nds.
- BF's stats: 2 years with AH, 89 games, 3.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg + 6 playoff games, 1.0 ppg

Not gonna lie, this was a tough section to unpick, so apologies for any mistakes. I think I've got everything though. Hunter was a really good selection and another key piece of the 2021 ECF squad. You'd almost certainly take his first five years over those combined for Alexander-Walker and Hayes. Reddish's best years were in Atlanta, but he never quite fit into the team. He was eventually traded to the Knicks for Solomon Hill and a 2022 1st, which didn't convey. The next three choices after Reddish - Cam Johnson, PJ Washington and Tyler Herro. Triple oof.

2020
6. Onyeka Okongwu - 6 years with AH, 381 games, 10.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.1 bpg + 35 playoff games, 5.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg
50. Skylar Mays - 2 years with AH, 61 games, 3.3 ppg, 1.0 rpg + 9 playoff games, 1.1 ppg

That's four top notch drafts in a row for the Hawks, and thankfully a more boring one than 2019. Okongwu's average ppg has increased every season of his career thus far, hitting 15.2 ppg this year, and there's no obvious better choice in that PF/C spot later in the draft. In a notoriously wonky year, Atlanta nailed their most important pick.

2021
20. Jalen Johnson - 5 years with AH, 256 games, 14.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.0 spg + 14 playoff games, 10.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.8 apg
48. Sharife Cooper - 1 year with AH, 13 games, 0.5 ppg

OK, make that five excellent draft classes on the bounce and Johnson might be the best of Atlanta's selections. He's certainly the best value pick for the Hawks in this period and became a very deserving All-Star for the first time this season, averaging 22.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 7.9 apg, which is unbelievable from someone who only played 129 minutes in total during his rookie year.

2022
16. AJ Griffin - 2 years with AH, 92 games, 7.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg
44. Ryan Rollins - traded to Golden State on draft night for Tyrese Martin, who'd been picked 51st, and cash
- TM's stats: 1 year with AH, 16 games, 1.3 ppg

Atlanta's first poor draft since 2015, with Griffin retiring from basketball altogether in September 2024 to pursue a full-time Christian ministry. The hindsight options this year were plentiful, with Tari Eason, Jake LaRavia, Christian Braun and Walker Kessler all going across the next six picks. Giving away Rollins wasn't a great decision either, bearing in mind he averaged 17.3 ppg this season for an admittedly awful Milwaukee team.

2023
15. Kobe Bufkin - 2 years with AH, 27 games, 5.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.6 apg
39. Mouhamed Gueye - selected 39th by Charlotte, then traded to Atlanta (via Boston) for cash
- MG's stats: 3 years with AH, 116 games, 4.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg + 6 playoff games, 1.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg
46. Seth Lundy - 1 year with AH, 9 games, 1.6 ppg

A pretty weak draft class was rescued by Gueye, who's been a perfectly good role player for the Hawks over the last two years. Great value too at that draft position. Being traded away for cash two years after being picked 15th in the draft doesn't seem ideal for anyone, but that's what happened to Bufkin. As with Griffin, the list of better options is long, with Keyonte George, Jaime Jaquez, Brandon Podziemski, Cam Whitmore and Noah Clowney going between 16 and 21.

2024
1st. Zaccharie Risacher - 2 years with AH, 142 games, 11.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.2 apg + 3 playoff games, 3.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg.
43. Nikola Durisic - drafted by Miami, then traded to Atlanta in a three-team trade that sent AJ Griffin to Houston. Not made it to the NBA as yet.

The Hawks were 10th in the 2024 lottery, with just a 3.0% chance of getting the 1st overall selection. They now probably wish they'd saved their luck for a better draft class, or at the very least, they'd use it on a do-over and take Stephon Castle or Alex Sarr. Risacher finished 2nd in ROY voting, but fell away to such an extent this season, that he only played 23 total minutes in the recent six-game playoff series against the Knicks. Atlanta fans will be hoping that's just a blip and he can become a decent asset again next season.

2025
13. Derik Queen - traded to New Orleans on draft night for Asa Newell, who'd been picked 23rd, and the famously unprotected 2026 1st
- AN"s stats: 1 year with AH, 44 games, 5.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg + 2 playoff games
22. Drake Powell - traded to Brooklyn (with Terance Mann) in a three-team trade that brought in Kristaps Porzingis and a 2026 2nd from Boston.

Ultimately, the success of this draft class will depend on who the Hawks pick with that 2026 1st - which ended up at 8 - and how he turns out. However, they'd have liked more from Newell, who featured in the Knicks series even less than Risacher did. Nique Clifford, who was picked 24th, had a solid season in Sacramento, whilst Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf (26 and 27 respectively) impressed at times for Brooklyn. It's early days though, so hopefully he can kick on like Jalen Johnson did.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: In a couple of years, it might be Jalen Johnson, but currently it's Trae Young.
Best value pick: Definitely Johnson
Worst pick/trade: As good as Trae Young is, you'd rather have Luka. especially when you didn't fully capitalise on the 2019 1st
Worst value pick: I'm not sure this is Risacher just yet, so I'm going for Kobe Bufkin.

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u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 4 days ago

▲ 0 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

The Orlando Magic recent draft history

Number 17 in this series is the Orlando Magic, the third of our teams that made the play-offs, but lost in the first round. Just to reiterate the rules from the previous editions (see links below), I'll start with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

If you're just looking at the raw stats, Orlando's front office has a great drafting history since 2014. Their ten draftees with 200+ games for the Magic and their overall average draftee tenure (3.6 years) are both the highest I've come across so far, whilst their average regular season games played (197.2) is second only to Miami. Of course, this longevity and production is massively helped by having had nine top-10 picks in the last twelve drafts (the highest so far) and an average draft position of 24.63 (second again to the Heat).

While draft picks like Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs have helped Orlando to three straight playoff appearances, there are numerous others from earlier in this period - Mario Hezonja, Mo Bamba, even Jonathan Isaac (injuries) and Aaron Gordon (wasn't a top banana) - that haven't lived up to their potential or draft position. It's also worth noting that the Magic very rarely get any return from their 2nd-round picks, which needs to be addressed now they won't be selecting as high in the draft for the foreseeable future.

Here are some stats:

- An extraordinary ten drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Magic.
- Seven of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Banchero, Suggs, Wagner, Gordon, Cole Anthony, Isaac and Bamba
- Six players have averaged double figures during their time with Orlando - Banchero (22.3), Wagner (19.2), Gordon (12.9), Suggs (12.6), Anthony (12.5) and Elfrid Payton (11.1)
- 30 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 20 that actually ended up playing for the Magic is 3.6 years.
- Those 20 players averaged 197.2 regular season games and 9.0 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 30 picks is 24.63

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
4. Aaron Gordon - 6.5 years with the Orlando Magic, 428 games, 12.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.5 apg + 5 playoff games, 15.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.2 spg
12. Dario Saric - traded to Philadelphia on draft night (with a 2018 1st and a 2015 2nd) for Elfrid Payton, who'd been selected 10th
- EP's stats: 3.5 years with OM, 281 games, 11.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 6.4 apg, 1.4 spg
56. Devyn Marble - selected by Denver, then traded on draft night with Evan Fournier for Arron Afflalo.
- DM's stats: 2 years with OM, 44 games, 2.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg

Really good start to this report for Orlando. Gordon was the correct pick looking at the top half of the draft, and played well for the Magic, but didn't really find his right role until he was traded to Denver. The front office would probably do the Payton trade again, although he didn't quite work out in Orlando. He finished 4th in ROY voting, and was the best point guard available with the 10th pick, but was eventually traded to Phoenix for a 2018 2nd.

2015
5. Mario Hezonja - 3 years with OM, 219 games, 6.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.3 apg
51. Tyler Harvey - never made it to the NBA

This was a pretty weird draft all told with no All-Stars being drafted from the 5th to the 12th picks. Then Devin Booker went to Phoenix at 13 and made twelve teams look daft. Myles Turner, who was drafted 11th, would have been a better option than 'Not so Super' Mario as well, so not a roaring success for the Magic.

2016
11. Domantas Sabonis - traded to OKC on draft night with Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova for 56 games of Serge Ibaka
41. Stephen Zimmerman - 1 year with OM, 19 games, 1.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg
47. Jake Layman - traded to Portland on draft night for a 2019 2nd and $1.2m

The Oladipo / Sabonis trade for Ibaka didn't look great at the time, and looks horrendous in hindsight. Not only was Sabonis a very good asset on his own, but Oklahoma City used him and Oladipo to get Paul George from Indiana. You may have heard that the Thunder then used George to get future MVP and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. If Orlando just sit in their hands, do they get George and then, by proxy, SGA? It's certainly possible. When Ibaka was traded to Toronto, it was for Terrence Ross, who wasn't bad in Orlando, and a 2017 1st. Which the Magic ending up getting virtually nothing for.

2017
6. Jonathan Isaac - 9 years with OM, 328 games, 6.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.2 bpg + 17 playoff games, 5.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg
25. Anzejs Pasecniks - traded to the 76ers on draft night for a 2020 1st and a 2020 2nd
33. Wesley Iwundu -3 years with OM, 182 games, 4.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.0 apg + 10 playoff games, 4.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg
35. Ivan Rabb - traded to Memphis on draft night for a 2019 2nd

This is one of those selections that gets dinged purely because of injuries as Isaac's clearly a good player, especially on the defensive side of the ball. However, missing two whole seasons and only playing 11 games in the next is incredibly unfortunate. Especially when Lauri Markkanan was taken at 7, then Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo were taken at 13 and 14.
The fallout from the previous year's draft trade continues here with the 1st from the Ibaka trade being used on Anzejs Pasecniks. The 2020 1st secured from Philly they then secured for him was then sent back to the 76ers at the 2019 deadline as part of the Markelle Fultz deal. And who did Philadelphia select with that 1st after he fell to them at 21? Tyrese Maxey. An absolute shambles all round.

2018
6. Mo Bamba - 4.5 years with OM, 266 games, 7.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.4 bpg
35. Melvin Frazier - 2 years with OM, 29 games, 1.9 ppg + 3 playoff games, 1.7 ppg, 1.3 rpg
41. Jarred Vanderbilt - traded to Denver on draft night for Justin Jackson, who was taken 43rd, and a 2019 2nd. Jackson never made it to the NBA

Bamba was another pick that felt a bit wonky at the time, and so it proved. SGA went at 11 with Mikal and Miles Bridges going either side of him. If you were dead set on a big, then Wendell Carter went with the next selection to Chicago. Bamba was eventually sent to the Lakers in a four-team trade that brought in Pat Beverley and a future 2nd. Giving away Vanderbilt, who's been a valuable role player in recent seasons for Minnesota and the Lakers, for nothing isn't ideal either.

2019
16. Chuma Okeke - 5 years with OM, 189 games, 6.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.5 apg + 2 playoff games, 3.0 ppg
46. Talen Horton-Tucker - traded to the Lakers on draft night a 2020 2nd and $2.2m.

Okeke wasn't as good as Isaac, but was another Magic pick hammered by injury, missing his rookie year with a knee injury sustained in that year's NCAA tournament. At 16, he was probably worth a flyer, but unfortunately it didn't work out and Okeke only played nine more NBA games after leaving Orlando. For the second year in a row, the Magic also gave away a decent 2nd-round role player for some magic beans.

2020
15. Cole Anthony - 5 years with OM, 320 games, 12.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.8 apg, + 12 playoff games, 3.9 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.3 apg

Orlando's best pick since Gordon, although he dropped further down the rotation as better players arrived at Orlando in the next few drafts. Anthony was then traded to Memphis, along with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and four 1sts, as part of the Desmond Bane trade. However, the hindsight pick was Tyrese Maxey, who we mentioned earlier.

2021
5. Jalen Suggs - 5 years with OM, 268 games, 12.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.4 spg + 14 playoff games, 12.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.6 spg
8. Franz Wagner - 5 years with OM, 325 games, 19.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.0 spg + 16 playoff games, 20.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.4 spg
33. Jason Preston - traded to the Clippers on draft night for a 2026 2nd and cash

Two great 1st-round picks here for Orlando, with Suggs being chosen for the 2nd-team All-Defence in 2024 and Wagner finishing 5th in ROY voting and averaging 24.2 ppg in 2024-25. Both have struggled with injuries at times in their careers, so Magic fans will be hoping both get back to full fitness for next season. The 1st used on Wagner came from Chicago as part of the Nikola Vucevic trade at the 2021 deadline - a trade Orlando would do again every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

2022
1st. Paolo Banchero - 4 years with OM, 270 games, 22.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 4.8 apg + 19 playoff games, 27.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.1 spg
32. Caleb Houston - 3 years with OM, 168 games, 4.1 ppg, 1.5 rpg + 8 playoff games, 1.1 ppg

Another draft class that was a massive positive for the Magic. The debate will continue as to whether Banchero or Chet Holmgren should have gone 1st, but in my opinion, both teams got the player they needed, so no harm done. While the latter sat out his rookie year through injury, Paolo won ROY and then became an All-Star in his second season. Also worth noting, and it's a small sample size of course, but his playoff stats so far have been extraordinary. Houston wasn't too shabby either for a pick at the start of the 2nd round.

2023
6. Anthony Black - 3 years with OM, 211 games, 9.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.1 spg + 14 playoff games, 7.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.4 spg
11. Jett Howard - 3 years with OM, 133 games, 4.5 ppg, 1.2 rpg + 4 playoff games, 2.8 ppg
36. Andre Jackson - traded to Milwaukee on draft night for a 2030 2nd and cash

Certainly during his rookie year, Black didn't look like a 6th overall pick, but he really went up a level this season, averaging 15.0 ppg and looking like a solid starter for the future. Howard was the 2nd 1st-round pick from the Vucevic trade and certainly hasn't worked out as well as Franz. He's totaled just 17 minutes across the Magic's last three playoff runs. Dereck Lively was taken by Dallas with the next selection, whilst Keyonte George, who was chosen at 16 by Utah, would also have been a significant upgrade.

2024
18. Tristan da Silva - 2 years with OM, 151 games, 8.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.6 apg + 9 playoff games, 3.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg.
47. Antonio Reeves - traded to New Orleans on draft night for two future 2nds

Another draft where Orlando came out with good value from their class. Da Silva's been a decent pick-up at that draft spot, with not too many better hindsight options, unless you're a big fan of Jaylon Tyson (went at 20 to Cleveland) or Yves Missi (to New Orleans at 21). His ppg improved from 7.2 to 9.9 this season, so similar progress in 2027 will be very welcome.

2025
25. Jase Richardson - 1 year with OM, 54 games, 4.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.1 apg + 1 playoff game, 6.0 ppg
46. Amari Williams
57. Max Shulga - these two were traded on draft night to Boston (with two future 2nds) for Noah Penda, who'd been selected 32nd.
- NP"s stats: 1 year with OM, 59 games, 3.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.2 apg + 1 playoff game

Richardson had a disappointing first year, but several Orlando rookies have taken a leap in year 2, so hopefully he'll do the same. If not, then the next three draftees - Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf and Hugo Gonzalez - will be looked on with more regret. Penda was also taken two positions ahead of Ryan Kalkbrenner, which doesn't look great at the moment.
The 1st used on Richardson was actually the sole 1st received from Denver in the Aaron Gordon trade. Orlando's own 2025 1st went to Memphis in the Desmond Bane trade, where it landed at 16. The Grizzlies traded up to 11 with Portland and selected Cedric Coward.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: Paolo Banchero pretty comfortably
Best value pick: Franz Wagner at 8
Worst pick/trade: It's the Sabonis/Oladipo for Ibaka trade. And it will probably still will be if I revise this post in ten years' time.
Worst value pick: Mario Hezonja at 5 started poorly and has aged even worse

Lost in the 1st Round of the Playoffs
The Portland Trail Blazers recent draft history : r/billsimmons
https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/comments/1tcwaur/the_phoenix_suns_recent_draft_history/

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u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 6 days ago

▲ 9 r/billsimmons

The Phoenix Suns recent draft history

Number 16 in this series is the Phoenix Suns, the second of our teams that made the play-offs, but lost in the first round. Just to reiterate the rules from the previous editions (see links below), I'll start with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

Reviewing Phoenix's draft history over the last twelve years and it's definitely been at the 'peaks and troughs' side of the experience. On the upside, between 2015 and 2019, they drafted the majority of the key players from their 2021 Finals team, with Devin Booker being the shining star. Getting eleven years of service, plus those stats, accolades and personality, from a 13th pick is about as good a value selection as you can find.

However, with ten top-15 picks in the past 12 years (including Mikal Bridges, who they traded up for from 16), you do wonder how much more they might have achieved. Selecting DeAndre Ayton over Luka Doncic (or Jaren Jackson Jr if you need to get a big) was a massive error in hindsight, and at the time, whilst Dragan Bender, Josh Jackson and Jalen Smith didn't work out. After four years chasing a title and waiving on the draft, their last two classes have seen the Suns go for volume and depth with their selections. Hopefully they've found a gem or two to supplement their veteran talent.

Here are some stats:

- Five drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Suns.
- Four of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Booker, Ayton, Bridges and TJ Warren.
- Six players have averaged double figures during their time with Phoenix - Booker (24.6), Ayton (16.7), Warren (14.4), Josh Jackson (12.3), Bridges (12.2) and Cam Johnson (10.7)
- 28 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 21 that actually ended up playing for the Suns is 2.5 years.
- Those 21 players averaged 149.7 regular season games and 20.8 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 28 picks is 27.50

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
14. TJ Warren - 5 years with the Phoenix Suns, 261 games, 14.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.1 apg
18. Tyler Ennis - 0.5 years with PS, 8 games, 2.8 ppg, 1.8 apg
27. Bogdan Bogdanovic - didn't come to the NBA initially, his rights were traded to Sacramento at the 2016 draft
50. Alec Brown - waived before the season started, never made it to the NBA

Warren was a really good selection and was eventually traded to Indiana (with KZ Okpala) for cash, which I'm guessing was a salary dump, plus I guess Devin Booker made him expendable for the Suns. Unfortunately, his career was never the same after a bad foot injury at the start of the 20-21 season. Ennis never lived up to his draft spot and was sent to Milwaukee (with Miles Plumlee) in a three-team trade for Brandon Knight. Bogdanovic would have been a superb addition, especially considering that Sacramento trade didn't really work out for Phoenix.

2015
13. Devin Booker - 11 years with PS, 737 games, 24.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 5.3 apg + 51 playoff games, 27.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg. 5.2 apg
44. Andrew Harrison - traded to Memphis on draft night for one season of Jon Leuer

About as good a pick as you can get at this draft slot. Booker's been a 1st- and 3rd-team All-NBA on one occasion each, finished 4th in MVP voting in 2022 and is a five-time All-Star. He was the best player on the 2021 Finals team and also pretty durable too, never playing less than 53 games in a season. An A+ selection, no further notes at all.

2016
4. Dragan Bender - 3 years with PS, 171 games, 5.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.2 apg
13. Georgios Papagiannis
28. Skal Labissiere - these two were drafted, then traded (with the rights to Bogdanovic and a 2020 2nd) to Sacramento for Marquese Chriss, who'd been picked 8th.
- MC's stats: 2 years with PS, 154 games, 8.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg
34. Tyler Ulis - 2 years with PS, 132 games, 7.6 ppg, 4.1 apg, 1.7 rpg

Bender looked like a bust almost immediately and only played 16 more NBA games after being released by the Suns. They got the two best years of any of the rookies in the 1st-round trade, with Chriss finishing 7th in ROY voting, before he was sent to Houston with the aforementioned Brandon Knight for rookie 2nd-rounder De'Anthony Melton and Ryan Anderson. If they'd just selected Jamal Murray (went at 7) and/or Domantas Sabonis (went 11th), they'd have been a lot better off.

2017
4. Josh Jackson - 2 years with PS, 156 games, 12.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.9 apg
32. Davon Reed - 1 year with PS, 21 games, 3.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg
54. Alec Peters - 1 year with PS, 20 games, 4.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg

This is the second year in a row that the Suns ended up with the 4th pick, and it didn't really work out again. Jackson was a better player than Bender, but he wasn't De'Aaron Fox (selected 5th) or Lauri Markkanen (7th). Nor was he Bam Adebayo or Donovan Mitchell, who were also still on the board. Jackson ended up being dealt to Memphis, with Melton, for Kyle Korver and Jevon Carter.

2018
1st: DeAndre Ayton - 5 years with PS, 303 games, 16.7 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 1.6 apg + 45 playoff games, 15.9 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 1.3 apg
16. Zhaire Smith - drafted by Phoenix, then traded to Philadelphia on draft night for Mikal Bridges, who'd been selected 10th, and a 2021 1st
- MB's stats: 4.5 years with PS, 365 games, 12.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.3 spg + 35 playoff games, 11.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.0 spg
31. Elie Okobo - 2 years with PS, 108 games, 4.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 2.2 apg
59. George King - 1 year with PS, 1 game

This is the draft that really kick-started the run to the 2021 Finals, so the Suns' front office deserves a ton of credit for that, especially trading up to get Bridges. As I recall, everyone figured Phoenix would pick Ayton as a) he was the best big in the draft (he turned out not to be, JJJ was), b) they already had Booker and c) he went to Arizona, but there was still a decent consensus (that didn't include Sacramento apparently) that Luka Doncic was the best player in the draft. Could they have traded down and still got Ayton, plus some extra stuff? Overall Ayton was still a good player, but not a no 1 pick-level guy and was eventually traded to Portland as part of the three-team Damian Lillard - Jrue Holiday trade.

2019
6. Jarrett Culver - drafted by Phoenix, then traded to Minnesota on draft night for Cam Johnson, who'd been selected 11th, and Dario Saric
- CJ's stats: 3.5 years with PS, 200 games, 10.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.4 apg + 34 playoff games, 9.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.1 apg
24. Ty Jerome - initially drafted by the 76ers, he was then sent to Boston, who traded him to Phoenix (with Aron Baynes) for the 2020 1st that eventually became Desmond Bane.
- TJ's stats: 1 year with PS, 31 games, 3.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 1.4 apg
32. KZ Okpala - drafted by Phoenix, then sent to Miami in the three-team TJ Warren trade.

Another great first-round deal, this time trading down to get Cam Johnson, who finished 3rd in 6MOY voting in 2022, and was then a key part (as was Mikal Bridges) of the Kevin Durant trade at the following deadline. I'd completely forgotten that Jerome was on the Suns, and he would have been a really nice piece to hang onto, but Ty ended up going to Oklahoma City as part of the following year's trade for Chris Paul.

2020
10. Jalen Smith - 1.5 years with PS, 56 games, 4.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg + 6 playoff games

A selection that didn't work out for the Suns, with Smith being traded to Indiana six months after the Finals (with a future 2nd) for Torrey Craig. Smith's averaged almost 10 ppg in subsequent seasons with Indiana and Chicago, so I guess he just didn't fit Phoenix's contender window, and they decided they needed more of a veteran presence. There also weren't many quality bigs left available, with Isaiah Stewart the next to go at 16. In hindsight, you draft back to get him or maybe Saddiq Bey.

2021
29. Day'Ron Sharpe - drafted by Phoenix, then traded to Brooklyn (with Jevon Carter) for Landry Shamet.

Maybe another trade that plays into the 'we need veterans to win a title, not rookies' narrative, and the Suns did get two decent years out of Shamet. Santi Aldama went 30th, and some good players went at the start of the 2nd round - Herb Jones went at 35, Miles McBride at 36, Ayo Dosunmu at 38 - but you can see the Suns' logic here.

2022
No draft selections. Their 1st-rounder this year went to Oklahoma City from the Chris Paul trade. It ended up at 30, with OKC trading it to Denver, who selected Peyton Watson.

2023
52. Toumani Camara - traded on draft night to Portland in the three-team Ayton / Damian Lillard / Jrue Holiday trade,

I appreciate 52nd picks are more often than not irrelevant, but did Phoenix need to chuck this in to really make the trade work? Bearing in mind the Suns ended up with Grayson Allen, Jusuf Nurkic and Nassir Little from this trade, they probably should have just kept Camara, who's turned into a very good player in Portland, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Incidentally, their 1st-rounder this year went to Brooklyn as part of the Durant trade. It ended up at 21, with the Nets selecting Noah Clowney.

2024
22. DaRon Holmes - traded to Denver on draft night for Ryan Dunn (selected 28th), Kevin MCullar Jr (selected 56th) and two future 2nds. McCullar was then flipped to the Knicks for Osa Ighodaro (selected 40th) and a 2028 2nd
- RD's stats: 2 years with PS, 144 games, 6.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.1 apg + 4 playoff games
- OI's stats: 2 years with PS, 143 games, 5.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.8 apg + 4 playoff games, 7.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 4.0 apg

Could Phoenix have just taken Kyshawn George before he was picked at 24? Sure, but turning Holmes into two very decent looking role players has been a very smart piece of business by the Suns, especially when you consider that Holmes unfortunately missed the 24-25 season after tearing his Achilles. Ighodaro could prove to be a really good selection, especially if he continues to play at the level he did during the recent OKC playoff series.

2025
29. Liam McNeeley - traded on draft night to Charlotte (with Vasilije Micic and a 2029 1st) for Mark Williams and a 2029 2nd
52. Alex Toohey - traded on draft night to Golden State in the seven-team Durant for Brooks/Green deal, which included Khaman Maluach (picked 10th by Houston), Rasheer Fleming (picked 31st by Minnesota) and Koby Brea (picked 41st by Golden State) coming to the Suns
- KM's stats: 1 year with PS, 46 games, 3.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg + 4 playoff games, 2.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg
- RF's stats: 1 year with PS, 55 games, 4.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg + 4 playoff games, 2.3 ppg
- KB's stats: 1 year with PS, 12 games, 3.8 ppg

There's a lot to unpick here. Firstly, I'm never against giving yourself as many draft selections as possible, so kudos to the Phoenix front office, but none of the three players selected from the Durant deal have looked great so far. It's early days of course, and Fleming has been fine, but Maluach really hasn't compared well to Cedric Coward, Derik Queen or even Carter Bryant, who went at 11, 13 and 14 respectively. Hindsight's always 20/20, but Phoenix could have also just taken Ryan Kalkbrenner at 31 to save them sending two 1sts to the Hornets for Mark Williams. Charlotte then took Kalkbrenner at 34 and he's been great for them.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: Booker in a landslide
Best value pick: Booker in an even bigger landslide
Worst pick/trade: It might end up being Khaman Maluach, but at the moment it's Dragan Bender
Worst value pick: Bender in a landslide

Lost in the 1st Round of the Playoffs
The Portland Trail Blazers recent draft history : r/billsimmons

reddit.com

u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 8 days ago

▲ 5 r/billsimmons

The Portland Trail Blazers recent draft history

Number 15 in this series is the Portland Trail Blazers, the first of our teams that made the play-offs, but lost in the first round. Just to reiterate the rules from the previous editions (see links below), I'll start with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

When you look at both Portland's draft data and the players they've selected, you very much get a 'good, but not great' vibe. They haven't had too many stinkers, but, bearing in mind they've had four top-10 picks in our window, there aren't any huge wins either. Their one top-five pick - Scoot Henderson - has been, well, good, but not great. Hopefully, him, Shaedon Sharpe and Donovan Clingan will continue to trend upwards and build on this year's playoff berth.

However, they've generally got solid production from their draft classes. Their 3.0 years of average rookie draftee tenure is tied for second (behind Miami's 3.5), whilst their 153.7 regular season games played is third, behind the Heat and Chicago. The Blazers have also found some value later in the draft, but they've also been let down with some bad trades and missing on prospects. They'd love to have the 16th pick in 2020 back, whilst the first-round trade last year with Memphis has had a very rocky start.

Here are some stats:

- Two drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Blazers.
- Both of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Anfernee Simons and Sharpe
- Four players have averaged double figures during their time with Portland - Sharpe (15.7), Simons (15.0), Henderson (13.5) and Gary Trent (10.2).
- 21 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 16 that actually ended up playing for the Blazers is 3.0 years.
- Those 16 players averaged 153.7 regular season games and 7.1 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 21 picks is 30.14

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
No draft selections. Their 1st-rounder this year went to Charlotte at the 2011 deadline for Gerald Wallace. On draft night, the 24th pick was then sent to Miami, who ended up with Shabazz Napier.

2015
23. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson - traded on draft night to Brooklyn (with Steve Blake) for Pat Connaughton, who'd been selected 41st, and Mason Plumlee
- PC's stats: 3 years with Portland, 155 games, 3.7 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.1 apg + 13 playoff games, 2.4 ppg
54. Dani Diez - drafted by Utah, then traded to Portland on draft night for cash. Never made it to the NBA

On a purely rookie-to-rookie basis, this trade was a net negative for the Blazers, with Hollis-Jefferson averaging 9.9 ppg in four seasons with the Nets. Connaughton only found regular minutes in his third season with Portland before leaving for Milwaukee as a free agent, where he was an important bench player on their 2021 title team.

2016
47. Jake Layman - drafted by Orlando, then traded for a 2019 2nd and $1.2m
- JL's stats: 3 years with PT, 141 games, 4.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg + 9 playoff games, 1.9 ppg

Layman was a pretty good selection at the draft position, although not really a needle mover. Their 1st round pick this year had been sent to Denver at the 2015 deadline for Arron Afflalo. It ended up at 19, with the Nuggets taking Malik Beasley.

2017
15. Justin Jackson
20. Harry Giles - both were sent to Sacramento on draft night for Zach Collins, who'd been picked 10th.
- ZC's stats: 4 years with PT, 154 games, 5.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg + 20 playoff games, 6.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.2 bpg
26. Caleb Swanigan - 2 years with PT (in two spells), 65 games, 2.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg + 1 playoff game, 3.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg

Collins was a useful player, who only played 11 games in his last two Portland seasons due to injury, so this one could have worked out a lot better than it did. What would have worked out even better is drafting one of Donovan Mitchell or Bam Adebayo, who were still available. The choice of Swanigan was as big of a miss, with three of the next four draftees being Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White and Josh Hart.

2018
24. Anfernee Simons - 7 years with PT, 389 games, 15.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.3 apg + 15 playoff games, 4.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.0 apg
37. Gary Trent - drafted by Sacramento, then traded on draft night for two future 2nds and cash
- GT's stats: 2.5 years with PT, 117 games, 10.2 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.1 apg + 5 playoff games, 9.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg

Great drafting by the Blazers' front office. Simons was a superb pick at that draft spot, especially bearing in mind he only averaged 7.1 minutes a game in 22 appearances as a rookie. He really developed into an outstanding scorer and three-point shooter. Trading him for Jrue Holiday worked out as well, with the former Celtic providing a veteran presence for this season's surprise playoff run. Trent was also a great value pick-up and then was a key part of the trade with Toronto for Norm Powell.

2019
25. Nassir Little - 4 years with PT, 192 games, 6.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg + 3 playoff games, 1.7 ppg

Little was OK value at that draft position and was eventually sent to Phoenix in' the three-team Dame Lillard / Deandre Ayton / Jrue Holiday trade. Jordan Poole (went at 28), Keldon Johnson (29) and Nic Claxton (31) are the three 'hindsight's 20/20' choices

2020
16. Isaiah Stewart - traded to Houston (with Trevor Ariza and a 2021 1st) for 18 months of Robert Covington
46. CJ Elleby - 2 years with PT, 88 games, 4.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.1 apg + 2 playoff games

Stewart's turned into a valuable player in Detroit, getting 6MOY votes this season, but that trade is pretty bad. I guess they wanted a better version of Ariza and didn't see one in the draft, but that's far too high a price to pay. Saddiq Bey and Tyrese Maxey were still sitting there if they'd decided to keep the pick.

2021
43. Greg Brown - drafted by New Orleans, then traded for a 2026 2nd and cash
- GB's stats: 1.5 years with PT, 64 games, 4.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg

The third year in a row that Portland haven't got much at all from their draft capital, which admittedly has all been at the lower end of the draft. Their first round pick this year was the second from the Covington / Ariza trade, which ended up at 23, with the Rockets taking Usman Garuba.

2022
7. Shaedon Sharpe - 4 years with PT, 234 games, 15.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.2 apg + 5 playoff games, 7.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg
36. Gabriele Procida - traded to Detroit two weeks later (with a 2025 1st and two other 2nds) as part of the Jerami Grant deal
57. Jabari Walker - 3 years with PT, 188 games, 6.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg

Reminiscent of their 2018 class, this was an excellent draft by the Blazers. Sharpe has increased his points average every season in the league, reaching 20.8 ppg this year. Bearing in mind the draft position, you could argue Walker was an even better value pick.

2023
3. Scoot Henderson - 3 years with PT, 158 games, 13.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.0 apg + 5 playoff games, 15.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.2 apg
23. Kris Murray - 3 years with PT, 188 games, 5.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.2 apg + 5 playoff games, 1.0 ppg
43. Rayan Rupert - 2.5 years with PT, 139 games, 3.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg

Scoot showed in the recent playoff series against the Spurs that there's still plenty of talent and potential there, plus there was never any doubt he was getting picked in the top three of the draft, so I'm not dinging them for this selection. Murray's been fine and, to be fair, there aren't many other better options at the end of the first round, unless you love Brice Sensabaugh, which I kind of do.

2024
7. Donovan Clingan - 2 years with PT, 144 games, 9.5 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.7 bpg + 5 playoff games, 7.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.2 apg
14. Bub Carrington - sent to Washington as the main element of the Deni Avdija trade
34. Tyler Kolek - traded to the Knicks on draft night for three 2nds and the returning rights of Dani Diez.
40. Ososere Ighadaro - traded to OKC on draft night for Quinten Post, who'd been picked 52nd, and cash.

Portland selected four really good players in this draft, but only kept one of them. Time will tell how many of those they come to regret, but I think it's safe to add the Carrington + stuff for Avdija trade to the "we'd do that again in a heartbeat" pile. It wasn't a strong draft at the top, but Clingan's proven to be a really good player, who could anchor their defence for the rest of the decade.

2025
11. Cedric Coward - traded on draft night to Memphis for Yang Hansen (selected at 16), a 2028 1st and two 2nds.
- YH's stats: 1 year with PT, 43 games, 2.2 ppg, 1.5 rpg + 4 playoff games

We need to wait until all the draft compensation is resolved before fully judging this trade, but my goodness, it looks awful at the moment. Coward averaged 13.6ppg and 5.9 rpg for the Grizzlies, while finishing 5th in ROY voting... Hansen didn't come close to doing any of those things.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: Probably Simons, although Sharpe will have a strong case if he keeps up his progress
Best value pick: Definitely Simons
Worst pick/trade: Even though it's very early days, it's Coward for Hansen. However, the Beef Stew, Ariza and another 1st for Covington deal runs it close.
Worst value pick: Zach Collins, although this one is slightly unfair because of all the injuries

reddit.com

u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 10 days ago

▲ 147 r/footballcliches

It doesn't quite work, but the intention is lovely.

u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 11 days ago

▲ 1 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

The Charlotte Hornets recent draft history

Number 14 in this series is the Charlotte Hornets, the last of the four teams that made the play-in, but missed the playoffs. To reiterate the rules from the previous editions (links at the bottom of the post), I've started with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

The tale of Charlotte's drafting over the last twelve years is 'what could have been'. They've obviously been able to select some high-quality players, starting with Miles Bridges in 2018 (more on that in a second), mainly due to having six top-10 picks in this period, which is equal highest amongst non-playoff teams with Sacramento and Washington. The Hornets have certainly acquired much better players than those two, which culminated in a highly entertaining playoff push this season.

However, we have to come back to what might have been for this franchise. It took him a while to get there, but they traded away future MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (for Bridges), whilst Jalen Duren was traded away for much less draft capital than that. They chose Frank Kaminsky over Devin Booker, Malachi Richardson over Pascal Siakam/Dejounte Murray, Malik Monk over Donovan Mitchell/Bam, Bouknight over Sengun/Trey Murphy, Tidjane Salaun over Buzelis, even PJ Washington over Tyler Herro. Long story short, but Charlotte could have been as good as they were this year a few seasons ago with better talent evaluation.

Here are some stats:

- Seven drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Hornets
- Five of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - LaMelo Ball, Bridges, PJ Washington, Nick Richards and Cody Martin
- Seven players have averaged double figures during their time with Charlotte - Ball (20.8), Brandon Miller (19.0), Kon Knueppel (18.5), Bridges (15.9), Devonte' Graham (13.3), Washington (13.0) and Mark Williams (12.3)
- 34 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 29 that actually ended up playing for the Hornets is 2.7 years.
- Those 29 players averaged 134.6 regular season games and 9.5 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 34 picks is 29.06

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
9. Noah Vonleh - 1 year with the Charlotte Hornets, 25 games, 3.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg + 12 playoff games, 1.2 ppg
24. Shabazz Napier - traded to Miami on draft night for PJ Hairston (picked 26th), Semaj Christon (picked 55th, traded to OKC the next day), a future 2nd and cash
- PH's stats: 1.5 years with CH, 93 games, 5.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg
45. Dwight Powell - traded to Cleveland on draft night (with end-of-career Brendan Haywood) for Scotty Hopson, who was sent to New Orleans for some cash the next day

A busy first draft class. Vonleh was picked far too high, with the Hornets potentially missing out on Zach LaVine or TJ Warren, who went at 13 and 14. To be fair to the front office, they figured this out quickly and sent him to Portland (with the underrated Gerald Henderson) for Nic Batum, who spent five high quality years in Charlotte. Hairston and Napier basically cancel each other out (the latter only lasted one season in Miami, although had a longer career overall), but the biggest mistake might have been letting go of Powell, who's spent over a decade in Dallas, for nothing.

2015
9. Frank Kaminsky - 4 years with CH, 282 games, 9.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.6 apg + 7 playoff games, 7.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.1 apg
39. Juan Pablo Vaulet - traded to Brooklyn on draft night for two 2nds and $880,000. Never made it to the NBA.

Kaminsky was perfectly fine, but that was about it and left when his rookie contract expired. Again though, Charlotte missed out on better players this year, with Myles Turner (11) and Devin Booker (13) still on the board. Norm Powell, Josh Richardson and Pat Connaughton were all available at 39 as well. Not great work by the Hornets.

2016
22. Malachi Richardson - traded to Sacramento on draft night for Marco Belinelli, who played one season in Charlotte and averaged 10.5 ppg.

Bearing in mind Richardson's NBA career only lasted 70 games, we can say the Hornets got the better of this trade. However, and this is becoming a familiar refrain, consider who was still available - Pascal Siakam, who went 27th, and Dejounte Murray, who was taken two picks later.

2017
11. Malik Monk - 4 years with CH, 233 games, 9.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.8 apg
31. Frank Jackson - traded on draft night for Dwayne Bacon, who'd been picked 40th, and $1.8m
- DB's stats: 3 years with CH, 135 games, 5.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.0 apg

Monk had a similar Hornets career to Kaminsky, but conversely, he improved after leaving and twice received 6MOY votes while in Sacramento. A quick check of the players selected shortly after Monk shows... oh no, Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo! This is getting worse.
Bacon and Jackson pretty much level out, but again better options were there, with Dillon Brooks (taken at 45), Isaiah Hartenstein (43) and Thomas Bryant (42) all available.

2018
11. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - traded on draft night to the Clippers for Miles Bridges (who'd been picked 12th), a 2020 2nd (used on Vernon Carey) and a 2021 2nd (used on Scottie Lewis).
- MB's stats: 8 years with CH, 501 games, 15.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.8 apg
34. Devonte' Graham - drafted by Atlanta, then traded to Charlotte for 2 future 2nds
- DG's stats: 3 years with CH, 164 games, 13.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 5.4 apg
55. Arnoldas Kulboka - 1 years with CH, 2 games

Oh boy. Charlotte finally takes the best player available and trades him away for an admittedly very good starter, but not (checks Wikipedia and Basketball Reference), nope, not a future MVP and Finals MVP. We'll cover the two 2nds in the deal later, but neither have made much of an impact. Getting Graham at 34 from Atlanta was a really good piece of business... not sure it makes up for dealing away SGA though. He was eventually sent to New Orleans as part of the 2021 three-team trade that also involved Memphis, with Charlotte getting the 2022 1st that turned into Mark Williams.

2019
12. PJ Washington - 4.5 years with CH, 304 games, 13.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.3 apg
36. Cody Martin - 5.5 years with CH, 245 games, 6.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.3 apg
52. Jalen McDaniels - 3.5 years with CH, 174 games, 7.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.4 apg

That's five quality players drafted in two years - Charlotte's getting better at this - although Tyler Herro went at 13 to Miami, which stings more than somewhat. They fetched some decent trade returns too. PJ went to Dallas (with two 2nds) for a 2027 1st, Grant Williams and Seth Curry. Additionally, Martin was sent to Phoenix for Jusuf Nurkic at the 2025 trade deadline, with Charlotte then swapping Nurkic for Colin Sexton the following summer.

2020
3. LaMelo Ball - 6 years with CH, 303 games, 20.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 7.3 apg, 1.4 spg.
32. Vernon Carey - 1.5 years with CH, 23 games, 2.3 ppg, 1.4 rpg
42. Nick Richards - drafted by New Orleans, then traded to Charlotte for a 2024 2nd
- NR's stats: 4.5 years with CH, 221 games, 7.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg
56. Grant Riller - 1 year with CH, 7 games, 2.6 ppg

Two more excellent draft picks - the Hornets' front office is rolling. Ball was a classic 'great stats, bad team' player (he was ROY in his debut season and an All-Star in his second) until this season when he seemed to elevate his game to another level. Could they have taken Haliburton instead? Sure, but most draft boards had him nowhere near the top three. And this pick has still worked out. Nabbing Richards from the Pelicans was excellent value too. He was eventually traded with a 2nd to Phoenix for 15 games of Josh Okogie and three 2nds.

2021
11. James Bouknight - 2.5 years with CH, 79 games, 4.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg
19. Kai Jones - drafted by the Knicks, then traded for a 2022 1st, which didn't convey
- KJ's stats: 2 years with CH, 67 games, 2.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg
56. Scottie Lewis - 1 year with CH, 2 games
57. Balsa Koprivica - traded to Detroit on draft night for JT Thor (who'd been picked 37th) and Mason Plumlee, who averaged 9.0 ppg and 8.6 rpg in 129 games for the Hornets (all starts)
- JTH's stats: 3 years with CH, 165 games, 3.2 ppg, 2.1 rpg

This feels like one of the early Charlotte draft classes in our window, but with not just one, but two awful 1st round picks. A few teams had odd picks towards the end of the lottery, but the Hornets felt like they actually had to waive Bouknight. And Alperen Sengun and Trey Murphy went at 16 and 17. At least Jones didn't cost anything in the end, but Jalen Johnson went at 20, which is proper 'kick yourself' territory. When a 31-year-old Plumlee brother ends up being the star pick-up from your draft day, you know you've had a bit of a stinker.

2022
13. Jalen Duren - traded to the Knicks for a 2023 1st that became Nick Smith Jr, plus four 2nds, one of which was used on Amari Bailey
15. Mark Williams - 3 years with CH, 106 games, 12.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.1 bpg
45. Josh Minott - traded to Minnesota (with one of the Duren 2nds) for Bryce McGowens, who'd been picked 40th
- BM's stats: 2 years with CH, 105 games, 5.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.0 apg

This is another huge missed opportunity of a draft class. Ending up with injury-prone Mark Williams instead of Jalen Duren is a disaster, unless the 2029 1st the Hornets got from Phoenix for Williams leads to an All-Star level player. Charlotte even wasted the 1st they got from New York, although there's a much greater margin for error from a 27th selection, which is where it ended up.

2023
2. Brandon Miller - 3 years with CH, 166 games, 19.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.0 spg
27. Nick Smith Jr - 2 years with CH, 111 games, 8.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.8 apg
34. Colby Jones
37. Mouhamed Gueye - both traded to Boston for James Nnaji (drafted 31st, hasn't made it to the NBA yet)
41. Amari Bailey - 1 year with CH, 10 games, 2.3 ppg

Brandon Miller's been an excellent pick and has proved he deserved to be selected ahead of Scoot Henderson. He finished 3rd in ROY voting and looks like a potential All-Star. Brice Sensabaugh was the most 'notable' rookie taken in the vicinity of Smith Jr, who was waived after two seasons in Charlotte. Gueye was one of the 2nd from the Duren trade and has turned into a decent back-up big in Atlanta, thus making that deal a disappointment as well.

2024
6. Tidjane Salaun - 2 years with CH, 97 games, 5.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.0 apg
42. KJ Simpson - 1.5 years with CH, 50 games, 7.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.5 spg

Another wasted draft class for Charlotte as Salaun has been a bust so far. That draft wasn't great by any means but Donovan Clingan, Zach Edey and Matas Buzelis all went between 7 and 11 and would have brought some extra oomph to the Hornets. Simpson was waived halfway through his sophomore campaign, which is always a bit of a sickener with a rookie selection.

2025
4. Kon Knueppel - 1 year with CH, 81 games, 18.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.4 apg
33. Sion James - 1 year with CH, 82 games, 5.4 ppg, 3,5 rpg, 2.0 apg
34. Ryan Kalkbrenner - 1 year with CH, 69 games, 7.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg

This is the best Hornets' top-to-bottom draft class from our exercise. Knueppel finished 2nd in ROY voting and was pretty close to winning it after an outstanding season. You get the feeling he'll only get better over the coming years. Kalkbrenner looks outstanding value at 34 and James looks useful, either coming off the bench or as a trade asset.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: It's probably LaMelo at the moment, but Knueppel and/or Miller could take over him in the next couple of years.
Best value pick: Getting Miles Bridges at 12, although there are some strong 2nd round cases - Graham, Kalkbrenner, McDaniels, Richards.
Worst pick/trade: This is obviously a hindsight pick, but it has to be the SGA/Bridges trade, although the Duren/Nick Smith pick swap runs it close.
Worst value pick: Salaun is already in the running for this, but it's got to be Bouknight.

Lost in the Play-In
The Golden State Warriors recent draft history : r/billsimmons
https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/comments/1t5a6fz/the_los_angeles_clippers_recent_draft_history/
https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/comments/1t794pa/the_miami_heat_recent_draft_history/

reddit.com

u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 12 days ago

▲ 4 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

The Miami Heat recent draft history

Number 13 in this series is the Miami Heat, the third of the four teams that made the play-in, but missed the playoffs. To reiterate the rules from the ten previous editions (links at the bottom of the post), I've started with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

The Miami Heat's reputation as excellent draft evaluators is certainly borne out by the numerous players and statistics listed below. Getting Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro with end-of-the lottery picks is great work and in more recent drafts, they've continued to get great value slightly later in the 1st round. Both their draft pick's average tenure with the team (3.5 years) and their regular season games played (204.4) are both, by far, the highest I've come across during this project. Chicago drop to 2nd in both (3.0, tied with Memphis, and 163.0). However, keen basketball watchers amongst you will have noticed that the Heat have selected much better players than the Bulls, but probably not the Grizzlies.

Now there are extenuating factors as to why that may be so. Firstly, the Heat never have late 2nd-round draft picks. Ever. The latest they've drafted in our timeframe is at 44, and Miami haven't drafted lower than 50 since 2009. This means they have the lowest average position of any team so far - 24.0 (again, Chicago is now 2nd at 25.8). In relation to this, Miami have had nine top-20 picks in the last twelve years, although none of them was higher than 10. This means there's statistically going to be a higher success rate, and maybe that's their plan. If it is, it's working very well.

Here are some stats:

- Five drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Heat
- Five players have signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Adebayo, Herro, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and Nikola Jovic.
- Five players have averaged double figures during their time with Miami - Herro (19.5), Adebayo (16.2), Jaime Jaquez (12.1), Richardson (11.6) and Kel'el Ware (10.3)
- Only 13 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 12 that actually ended up playing for the Heat is 3.5 years.
- Those 12 players averaged 204.4 regular season games and 24.5 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 13 picks is 24.00

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
24. PJ Hairston
55. Semaj Christon - these two were traded to Charlotte on draft night (with a 2019 2nd and cash) for Shabazz Napier, who'd been picked 15th.
- SN's stats: 1 years with the Miami Heat, 51 games, 5.1 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.5 apg

I have a vague recollection of a possibly apocryphal tale about LeBron James extolling the virtues of Napier, then of course buggering off before Young Shabazz had played a game for the Heat. Napier, who ended up having the best career of these three players, was traded to Orlando twelve months later for a 2nd-rounder that didn't convey.

2015
10. Justise Winslow - 4.5 years with MH, 241 games, 9.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.7 apg + 18 playoff games, 7.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.2 apg
40. Josh Richardson - 5.5 years with MH (in two spells), 310 games, 11.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.1 spg + 19 playoff games, 7.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.9 apg

Richardson was a great 2nd-round pick, and became a starter in his second season, before being sent to Philadelphia in the Jimmy Butler trade. He returned as a free agent in the summer of 2023, but was traded to Utah, then waived, in February 2025.
Winslow also had a very promising start to his career (he was 6th in ROY voting), but never really kicked on and was eventually dealt to Memphis in a three-team deal. Another apocryphal story revolves around the Celtics offering a handful of 1st-round picks to trade up to get Winslow. If true, then it's probably a deal Miami should have done. Or they should have taken Myles Turner (went at 11) or Devin Booker (went at 13).

2016
No draft selections. The 2016 1st was originally included in the LeBron trade in 2010, before Cleveland sent it to Philly in the three-team Kevin Love / Andrew Wiggins trade. The pick eventually landed at 24 and the 76ers selected Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.

2017
14. Bam Adebayo - 9 years with MH, 640 games, 16.2 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.1 spg + 78 playoff games, 16.4 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 3.5 apg.

Bam has been 1st-Team All-Defence once, 2nd-Team four times, top-5 in DPOY voting on five occasions, whilst also finishing 10th and 11th in the last two seasons. You also might have heard he scored 83 points in a game this season, albeit against a G League team. Awesome pick, awesome player, no further notes.

2018
No draft selections. Their 1st this year was originally sent to Phoenix in the 2015 deadline trade that brought Goran Dragic the other way. The Suns selected Zhaire Smith at 16, then flipped picks with Philadelphia, who'd chosen Mikal Bridges, which was a great deal in hindsight.

2019
13. Tyler Herro - 7 years with MH, 394 games, 19.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.1 apg + 50 playoff games, 14.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.3 apg
32. KZ Okpala - drafted by Phoenix, then sent to Miami in a three-team trade that saw TJ Warren go to Indiana.
- KO's stats: 2.5 years with MH, 63 games, 2.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg
44. Bol Bol - traded on draft night to Denver for a 2022 2nd (didn't convey) and $1.2m

Once again, Miami absolutely nailed their end-of-the-lottery pick, with Herro, like Bam two years earlier, proving to be an absolute home run. Okpala's biggest impact for the Heat was being traded to OKC for the 2023 1st that became Jaime Jaquez, with Miami's 2025 1st also going the other way.

2020
20. Precious Achiuwa - 1 year with MH, 61 games, 5.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg

This is the first occasion in our timeframe that the Heat left an absolute dealbreaker on the table, with Tyrese Maxey going to Philadelphia with the very next pick. It doesn't help that, twelve months later, Precious was traded to Toronto (with Goran Dragic) for 2.5 seasons of half-speed Kyle Lowry. The Heat are always in 'win now' mode, but Achiuwa has developed into a solid back-up big, even starting 57 games this year for the tanking Kings.

2021
No draft selections. This was the second 1st-round pick that was originally sent to Phoenix in the 2015 deadline trade for Goran Dragic, then also included in the 2018 Suns / 76ers pick swap. Philly sent it to the Clippers at the 2019 deadline in the Tobias Harris deal, before LA added it to the SGA / Paul George package. All that to take Tre Mann at 18.

2022
27. Nikola Jovic - 4 years with MH, 154 games, 8.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.2 apg + 16 playoff games, 5.4 ppg, 3.4 ppg, 1.1 apg

Jovic has never played more than 47 games in a regular season for the Heat, but he's a solid enough back-up. Looking at who was left in the draft, there aren't any standouts unless you're huge fans of Peyton Watson (30), Andrew Nembhard (31) or Jaylin Williams (34).

2023
18. Jaime Jaquez - 3 years with MH, 216 games, 12.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.3 apg + 7 playoff games, 7.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.9 apg

It was very surprising when Jaquez dropped this far, but not surprising that the Heat claimed him or that he'd be outstanding for them. He was 4th in ROY voting and then finished 2nd in 6MOY voting this season, basically averaging 15/5/5 in 28 minutes per game off the bench.

2024
15. Kel'el Ware - 2 years with MH, 141 games, 10.3 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.1 bpg + 4 playoff games, 4.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.0 apg
43. Nikola Djurisic - traded to Atlanta in a three-team trade that saw Pelle Larsson, who'd been picked 44th by Houston, come to Miami.
- PL's stats: 2 years with MH, 125 games, 8.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.4 apg + 4 playoff games, 5.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg

Two more outstanding picks, both in terms of value and production. Not much else to say really, just the Heat doing very Heat things.

2025
20. Kasparas Jakucionis - 1 year with MH, 53 games, 6.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.6 apg

This also felt like an incredibly Heaty pick when he dropped to 20, but he's only really shown that in flashes this season. Plenty of time for him to develop in their system though. This pick was actually the one 1st from the Jimmy Butler departure trade. Miami's own pick landed at 15 and went to the Clippers in 2019 as part of the four-team Jimmy Butler arrival trade, before being added to the Paul George / SGA trade package a few days later.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: Bam Adebayo in 2017. Not just for the stats and postseason awards, but for what he means to the team off the court as well.
Best value pick: Getting Bam at 14 just edges out Jason Richardson at 40
Worst pick/trade: The 2014 rookie trade was a pretty level one, so I'm going for Precious Achiuwa, who's a good player, being taken one spot before Tyrese Maxey.
Worst value pick: This was a tough one, but bearing in mind how well virtually every other pick has turned out, the Heat would have expected more from Winslow at 10.

Lost in the Play-In
The Golden State Warriors recent draft history : r/billsimmons
https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/comments/1t5a6fz/the_los_angeles_clippers_recent_draft_history/

reddit.com

u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 14 days ago

▲ 8 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

Number 12 in this series is the Los Angeles Clippers, the second of the four teams that made the play-in, but missed the playoffs. To reiterate the rules from the ten previous editions (links at the bottom of the post), I've started with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

As with Golden State in my previous post, it's important to note that, for most of this period, the Clippers have been good and have had a 'win now' mentality. They haven't won because, well, they're the Clippers, but you can't argue with fate. What you can fault is their drafting strategy and their talent evaluation, because they've been absolute abysmal at it. Again, an important caveat is that they've only had two top-20 picks in the past twelve years, and, to give the LA front office a ton of credit. one of them was swapped for a future MVP, but there's been zero value from a number of draft classes.

The average Clippers' draft pick position is the highest so far (36.77), but not that much higher than the Bucks (35.44), Indiana (35.93) or Golden State (the previous highest at 36.55). However, LA's average of regular season games played by rookies (68.5) is the worst I've recorded so far by miles. Milwaukee's is now the 2nd worst at 101. If you take Terance Mann's 382 out of that, that figure plummets to 52.8. Mann has played 26.5% of the total regular season games by Clippers' rookies since 2014! That's insane. The full list of clangers is below, and it's grim, but there is some light in the darkness. In the last four years, some talent has been found in the 2nd round - Moussa Diabate, Jordan Miller, Kobe Sanders - so maybe a corner has been turned.

Here are some stats:

- Just one drafted player has played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Clippers. Take a bow, Terance Mann. In fact, only five have played more than 100.
- He's also the only player to have signed an extension to their rookie contract
- Only one player has averaged double figures during their time in LA - young Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (10.8).
- 22 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 21 that actually ended up playing for the Clippers is 1.8 years.
- Those 21 players averaged 68.5 regular season games and 7.9 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 22 picks is 36.77

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
28. C.J. Wilcox - 2 years with the Clippers, 44 games, 2.5 ppg + 2 playoff games

It's not a great start to be honest, so let's move on.

2015
56. Branden Dawson - drafted by New Orleans, then traded to LA for cash.
- BD's stats: 1 years with LAC, 6 games, 0.8 ppg + 2 playoff games

Somehow it got worse... this might be a short post. Their 1st-round pick this year, which ended up at 28, was traded to Boston for Doc Rivers. The Celtics selected RJ Hunter, who only had a marginally more successful NBA career than Dawson.

2016
25. Brice Johnson - 1.5 years with LAC, 12 games, 1.7 ppg, 1,3 rpg
33. Cheick Diallo - traded on draft night to New Orleans for David Michineau and Diamond Stone, who'd been picked 39th and 40th respectively.
- DM - never made it to the NBA
- DS' stats: 1 years with LAC, 7 games, 1.4 ppg

Good grief, this is getting super grim. Johnson ended up going to Detroit in the Blake Griffin trade and played nine more NBA games, whilst Pascal Siakam (27) and Dejounte Murray (29) were selected shortly afterwards. It almost goes without saying that the Clippers massively ballsed up the 2nd round trade as well, although it was pretty slim pickings as a whole in the latter stages of this draft.

2017
39. Jawun Evans - drafted by the 76ers, then traded to the Clippers for $3.2m
- JE's stats: 1 year with LAC, 48 games, 4.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 2.1 apg
48. Sindarius Thornwell - drafted by Milwaukee, then traded to the Clippers for $2m
- ST's stats: 2 years with LAC, 137 games, 2.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg + 4 playoff games, 1.3 ppg, 1.0 rpg

This draft class might qualify as a roaring success from the Clippers' perspective, but it's still an absolute shambles. With the 39th pick, LA could have had Dillon Brooks, Isaiah Hartenstein or even Thomas Bryant. Evans and Thornwell were eventually both waived and played a combined 31 NBA games after leaving Los Angeles.
The 1st-rounder this year was originally sent to the Bucks with Jared Dudley in a blockbuster 2014 trade for...Carlos Delfino?! Twelve months later, Milwaukee traded it to Toronto - with a recently drafted Norm Powell - for Greivis Vazquez??!! I'm sure something in there makes sense to someone. The Raptors ended this tomfoolery by using the 23rd pick to select OG Anunoby.

2018
12. Miles Bridges - traded to Charlotte on draft night for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (who'd been taken 11th) and two future 2nds
- SGA's stats: 1 year with LAC, 82 games, 10.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.2 spg + 6 playoff games, 13.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.0 spg
13. Jerome Robinson - 1.5 years with LAC, 75 games, 3.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg + 5 playoff games, 3.6 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.4 apg

There's no need to go into SGA's time in Los Angeles in any more detail than 'it was a great pick, but it was OK to add him to the Paul George trade because no-one thought he'd be this good.' Incidentally, this pick came from Detroit as part pf the Blake Griffin deal. Needless to say, there was a much more 'Clippersy' pick right around the corner. The LA brass preferred Robinson to Michael Porter Jr (probably fairly bearing in mind his injury record and the Clippers' record of having player injure themselves), Donte DiVincenzo, Kevin Huerter, Grayson Allen and Anfernee Simons, who all went between 15 and 24,

2019
48. Terance Mann - 5.5 years with LAC, 382 games, 8.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.9 apg + 43 playoff games, 6.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg
56. Jaylen Hands - traded to Brooklyn on draft night with a 2020 1st (ended up at 19, Saddiq Bey was selected) for Mfiondu Kabengele, who'd been picked 27th.
- MK's stats: 1.5 years with LAC, 35 games, 2.0 ppg

At that pick spot, Mann was a rare draft success story for the Clippers and was even an NBA starter this season for an (admittedly tanking) Brooklyn team. He was also the main element of a deal for Bogdan Bogdanovic at the 2025 deadline. As with the 2018 class though, Los Angeles made a pig's ear of their second selection. I get the feeling Bey would have been quite useful for the Clips at some point over the last few years. Kabengele was not.
Their 1st-rounder this year was originally sent to Memphis at the 2016 deadline for Jeff Green, then at the 2016 deadline it was traded to Boston for two 2nds. On draft night, the Celtics traded the 20th pick to the 76ers, who chose Matisse Thybulle.

2020
33. Daniel Oturu - drafted by Minnesota, then traded for the rights to Mathias Lessort (never made it to the NBA) and a 2023 2nd.
- DO's stats: 1 year with LAC, 22 games, 1.8 ppg, 1.6 rpgoriginally
57. Reggie Perry - traded to Brooklyn on draft night in a four-team deal that brought in Jay Scrubb, who'd been picked 55th.
- JS' stats: 2 years with LAC, 22 games, 3.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg

More Clippers nonsense here, with two rookies coming in and having next to no impact. Xavier Tillman and Vit Krejci would have been decent picks here, before coming off the board at 35 and 37. Oturu was then a makeweight in the trade that acquired Eric Bledsoe from Memphis and played three NBA games after leaving LA. That's one more than Scrubb managed post-Clippers.

2021
25. Quentin Grimes - traded to the Knicks on draft night for Keon Johnson, who'd been taken at 21, and a 2024 2nd.
- KJ's stats: 0.5 years with LAC, 15 games, 3.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg
33. Jason Preston - drafted by Orlando, then traded to LA for a 2026 2nd and cash
- JP's stats: 2 years with LAC, 14 games, 2.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.9 apg
51. Brandon Boston Jr - drafted by Memphis, then traded to LA (via New Orleans) for a 2022 2nd (which didn't convey) and cash
- BB's stats: 3 years with LAC, 105 games, 6.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg

You could pretty much add the three players acquired by the Clippers together and not get a player half as good as Grimes. Just another in the litany of terrible draft day decisions. Having said that, Boston was pretty good for a 51st pick, but Johnson was awful and sent to Portland as an add-on in the Bledsoe / Norm Powell trade at the following deadline.
The Clippers sent the first 1st-round pick to OKC from the Paul George trade this year. It was originally Miami's, which ended up at 18, and the Thunder picked Tre Mann.

2022
43. Moussa Diabate - 2 years with LAC, 33 games, 2.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg

The choice of Diabate was a good one, as evidenced by his breakout season in Charlotte this year. Waiving him after two years was, we'll politely say, ill-advised. The Clippers' 1st-round pick this year was the second sent to OKC (the first of their own) from the Paul George trade, with the Thunder selecting Jalen Williams at 12.

2023
30. Kobe Brown- 2.5 years with LAC, 118 games, 2.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg + 3 playoff games
43. Jordan Miller - 3 years with LAC, 105 games, 7.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.6 apg + 3 playoff games, 2.3 ppg, 1.3 apg

One very good pick and one disappointment is definitely a win if you're a Clippers fan, even if there weren't any real game breakers in the 2nd round. Miller's been a very pleasant surprise, whilst Brown was sent to Indiana in the Ivica Zubac trade.
LA ended up at picking at 30, rather than 20, because of a 1st-round swap provision added into the not very good Eric Gordon / John Wall trade at the 2023 deadline. Houston picked Cam Whitmore, who was, it goes without saying, better than Kobe Brown.

2024
46. Cam Christie - 2 years with LAC, 68 games, 2.6 ppg, 1.3 rpg + 3 playoff games, 1.7 ppg

The Clippers' 1st rounder this year was another that went to OKC (the 3rd overall, the Clippers' 2nd). The Thunder sent it to Dallas at the 2024 deadline (for the right to swap 1st-rounders in 2028), who then traded it to Washington for Daniel Gafford. It ended up at 26, with the Wizards then swapping it with the Knicks and ending up with Kyshawn George, who'd been selected at 24. I add all that in because there's nothing to say about Cam Christie.

2025
30. Yanic Niederhauser - 1 year with LAC, 41 games, 4.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg
51. Mohamed Diawara - traded to the Knicks (with the rights to Luka Mitrovic) on draft night for Kobe Sanders, who'd been taken 50th.
- KS' stats: 1 year with LAC, 68 games, 7.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.6 apg

Both of these rookies have shown promising flashes this season, which is more than can be said for most players on this list. I certainly prefer Sanders to Diawara, so that's definitely an early win for the Clippers. Hopefully this is a sign of better things to come from future draft classes.
LA ended up with the 30th pick after OKC exercised their right to swap pics as a result of, yep, you guessed it, the Paul George trade. The Thunder ended up with the 24th pick, chose Nique Clifford, and then traded him to Sacramento. Not sure what he did to deserve that.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: Getting SGA for Miles Bridges was the sort of trade you'd think was beyond the Clippers' front office, but here we are.
Best value pick: Terance Mann at 48 by an absolute mile.
Worst pick/trade: Trading actual Quentin Grimes for 15 games of Keon Johnson.
Worst value pick: Jerome Robinson at 13 is an absolute stinker.

Lost in the Play-In
The Golden State Warriors recent draft history : r/billsimmons

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u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 16 days ago

▲ 16 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

Number 11 in this series is the Golden State Warriors, the first of the four teams that made the play-in, but missed the playoffs. To reiterate the rules from the ten previous editions (links at the bottom of the post), I've started with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

Of course, the most important caveat to flag when talking about the Warriors' recent drafting is that their almost continual title contention, means a) not many picks, and b) the ones they do have haven't been particularly high. They've only had four top-25 selections in the last 12 years and their average rookie draft position (36.55) is the highest so far. Having said that, Golden State has generally found some really good value - Jordan Poole at 28, Brandon Podziemski at 19, a decade of Kevon Looney at 30. What's more remarkable I think is that, in the past four drafts, the Warriors' front office has drafted four players in the 50s all of whom have averaged over 6.0 ppg and played an average of 58 games a season. That's extraordinary.

Where you can ding Golden State is that their three top-15 picks in this period have all been big swings and misses. I'm obviously not the first person to say this, but imagine if they'd picked LaMelo Ball / Haliburton, Franz Wagner and one of Sengun / Trey Murphy / Jalen Johnson instead of James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. Even if we say, more realistically, that they only get one of those picks right, Steph's championship window, which has been open for a decent while as it is, is open for a lot longer.

Here are some stats:

- Five drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Warriors
- Four of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Poole, Looney, Kuminga and Moody
- Four players have averaged double figures during their time with Golden State - Poole (15.8), Kuminga (12.5), Eric Paschall (12.2) and Podziemski (11.6)
- 22 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 19 that actually ended up playing for the Warriors is 2.8 years.
- Those 19 players averaged 146.9 regular season games and 24.1 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 22 picks is 36.55

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
No draft selections. Their 1st-round pick this year had been sent to Utah in the previous summer's three-team Andre Iguodala trade. It ended up at 23, with the Jazz picking Rodney Hood.

2015
30. Kevon Looney - 10 years with Golden State, 599 games, 5.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.6 apg + 89 playoff games, 5.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.5 apg

As mentioned above, viewing this pick through the Warriors' prism of almost-constant contention during this timeframe, Looney is about as good of a pick as you could get at that draft position. Reliable, strong defence, happy with getting 15-20 minutes a game and would generally give you an extra 10% in the playoffs. Super valuable.

2016
30. Damian Jones - 3 years with GSW, 49 games, 3.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg + 12 playoff games, 1.2 ppg
38. Patrick McCaw - picked by Milwaukee, then traded to GS for $2.4m
- PM's stats: 2 years with GSW, 128 games, 4.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 1.2 apg + 21 playoff games, 3.1 ppg, 1.7 rpg,

This year's 30th pick wasn't quite as big a win as Looney was, and, even worse, Ivica Zubac was selected two picks later by the Lakers. Jones was eventually traded for a so-so season of Omari Spellman and a 2026 2nd. McCaw played more than I remembered during the 2017 playoff run and was passable for an end-of-the-bench guy.

2017
38. Jordan Bell - drafted by Chicago, then traded to the Warriors for $3.5m
- JB's stats: 2 years with GSW, 126 games, 3.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.4 apg + 32 playoff games, 2.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg

Another meh player at this spot, but again Golden State had better options, with Isaiah Hartenstein (taken at 43) and Thomas Bryant (42) still sitting there. Dillon Brooks was also available (Memphis took him at 45), but it's probably a good thing the Warriors didn't pick him. Dillon and Draymond would have killed each other.
The 1st-rounder this year was the second 1st sent to Utah from the Iguodala trade, which ended up at 30. It was traded to the Lakers, who picked Josh Hart.

2018
28. Jacob Evans - 1.5 years with GSW, 57 games, 2.9 ppg, 1.2 rpg + 7 playoff games

Again, it's a late-round pick, so there's a greater degree of difficulty with more ifs and maybes, but, man this could have worked out so much better for the Warriors. Jalen Brunson eventually went 33rd - imagine having him back up Curry, rather than Luka. That would have been bonkers. Mitchell Robinson and Gary Trent Jr went a couple of picks after that as well. Evans eventually ended up in Minnesota as a throw-in with the Russell / Wiggins trade.

2019
28. Jordan Poole - 4 years with GSW, 266 games, 15.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.4 apg + 35 playoff games, 14.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.7 apg
39. Alen Smailagic - drafted by New Orleans, then traded to the Warriors for two 2nds and $1m
- AS' stats: 2 years with GSW, 29 games, 3.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg
41. Eric Paschall - 2 years with GSW, 100 games, 12.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.8 apg
58. Miye Oni - traded to Utah on draft night for $2m

The Jordan Poole pick is the best one on this list, what with him being a vital part of the 2022 title-winning team. Shortly after that, unfortunately for him, his face collided with Draymond's fist and he was traded to Washington with a 2030 1st, a 2027 2nd and a couple of scrubs we'll get to later for Chris Paul. Golden State's front office deserve credit for choosing Paschall too, although he had a really odd career. He finished 6th in ROY voting in the 19-20 tanking season, played two more seasons (including one for Utah) and then moved overseas.

2020
2. James Wiseman - 2.5 years with GSW, 60 games, 9.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg
48. Nico Mannion - 1 year with GSW, 30 games, 4.1 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.3 apg
51. Justinian Jessup - never played in the NBA

Not an original opinion, but the Warriors' highest pick in 25 years was a massive error. Yes, it was the Covid year and the whole draft went a bit wonky, but Wiseman hadn't played much in college and had a number of red flags, which came to pass when he missed the whole of the '22 title season with a knee injury. Golden State were picking for need and potential upside of course, but passing on Haliburton and LaMelo, even Deni Avdija or Onyeka Okongwu, hasn't been a good look. Wiseman eventually went to Detroit in a four-team trade that saw Gary Payton II return to Golden State.

2021
7. Jonathan Kuminga - 4.5 years with GSW, 278 games, 12.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.8 apg + 34 playoff games, 7.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg
14. Moses Moody - 5 years with GSW, 315 games, 8.0 ppg, 2,4 rpg, 1.0 apg + 37 playoff games, 5.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg

On paper, these draft picks look fine, if a tad high for their production, but again, it's a case of the Warriors' brain trust missing out on much better players. Franz Wagner going to Orlando at 8 is the most famous one, but Alperen Sengun, Trey Murphy and Jalen Johnson went at 16, 17 and 20 respectively. Any of that trio would have been a gigantic upgrade on Moody or Kuminga. After repeatedly falling out of favour, Kuminga was traded to Atlanta in February (with Buddy Hield) for Kristaps Porzingis.

2022
28. Patrick Baldwin - 1 year with GSW, 31 games, 3.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg + 3 playoff games
51. Tyrese Martin - traded to Atlanta (with cash) for Ryan Rollins, who'd been picked 44th
- RR's stats: 1 year with GSW, 12 games, 1.9 ppg, 1.0 rpg
55. Gui Santos - 3 years with GSW, 147 games, 6.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.7 apg + 10 playoff games, 2.6 ppg, 1.2 rpg

Baldwin and Rollins were both sent to Washington in the Jordan Poole trade 12 months later, with Rollins certainly being the bigger miss bearing in mind he averaged 17.3 ppg for Milwaukee this year. Santos has developed into a very decent NBA player, and excellent value at that draft position, after spending his rookie year in the G League.

2023
19. Brandin Podziemski - 3 years with GSW, 220 games, 11.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.0 spg + 12 playoff games, 11.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.3 spg
57. Trayce Jackson-Davis - drafted by Washington, then traded for cash
- TJD's stats: 2.5 years with GSW, 166 games, 6.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.3 apg + 9 playoff games, 4.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg

Two excellent picks, both in terms of value and actual production. Podziemski finished 5th in ROY voting and has improved each season since. Unfortunately, Jackson-Davis' stats went in the opposite direction, and he was sent to Toronto at this year's deadline for a 2026 2nd.

2024
52. Quinten Post - 2 years with GSW, 109 games, 7.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.4 apg + 12 playoff games, 3.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.0 apg

For the third year in a row, Golden State pick up an excellent role player in the 50s, which is almost unheard of. Post was actually traded on draft night to OKC for Lindy Waters III, then flipped to Portland (with cash) for Oso Ighodaro, who'd just been selected 40th. The Blazers then sent him back to the Warriors for cash, which all seems like too much effort.
In another long-winded tale, this year's 1st-round pick was originally sent to Memphis in 2019 to ease the burden of Andre Iguodala's contract, then went to Boston in the Porzingis / Marcus Smart trade. The Celtics sent it to Portland in the Jrue Holiday deal, with the Blazers including it in the package to get Deni Avdija. After all of that noise, it ended up at 14 where the Wizards picked Bub Carrington.

2025
41. Koby Brea - sent to Phoenix after the draft in the seven-team Kevin Durant trade
56. Will Richard - selected on draft night by Memphis, then traded to Golden State for Jahmai Mashack (who'd been picked 59th) and a 2032 2nd.
- WR's stats: 1 year with GSW, 69 games, 6.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.2 spg

The Warriors have definitely found their niche. Make that four years in a row for great value picks in the 50s, which is definitely unparalleled and shows a much higher level of rookie talent evaluation since the 2021 mess. Their 1st-rounder this year went to Miami from the Jimmy Butler trade and ended up at 20th, with the Heat selecting Kasparas Jakucionis.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: Undoubtedly Jordan Poole
Best value pick: Despite the quality picks in the 50s over the last four years, it's clearly Poole again.
Worst pick/trade: Obviously James Wiseman
Worst value pick: Definitely James Wiseman

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u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 18 days ago

▲ 11 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

Number 10 in this series is the Chicago Bulls, which thus completes my analysis of the teams that missed the play-in tournament this season. Just to reiterate the rules from the previous editions (see links at the bottom of the post), I'll start with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

In a very similar way that the team has occupied the mushy middle over the last few years, the Bulls' drafting since 2014 has been perfectly fine. A number of good players, a couple of very good ones and no absolute stinkers. Maybe that's a reflection of only having one top-6 pick in the last twelve years, and not stacking up picks in the 40s and 50s like some other teams, but the main issue is the decisions the front office has made around Chicago's rookie players and whether they're making the team better.

One thing you can say about the front office, and you can argue about whether this is a good thing or not, is that they favour stability and giving rookies a real chance to develop. Their average of 3.0 years tenure per draft pick is the joint-highest I've seen so far (with Memphis) and the average games played by their rookie draftees (163) is the highest amongst the bottom ten teams. Both of which on paper are a good thing, but some players have outstayed their welcome. Now if Matas Buzelis lasts that long and continues to improve, Chicago may finally be onto something.

Here are some stats:

- Seven drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Bulls.
- Four of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Coby White, Patrick Williams, Valentine and Ayo Dosunmu. (I'm not including Lauri Markkanan as his extension was part of a sign-and-trade)
- Five players have averaged double figures during their time with Chicago - Markkanan (15.6), White (15.4), Buzelis (12.4), Dosunmu (10.9) and Wendell Carter (10.8).
- 19 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 18 that actually ended up playing for the Bulls is 3.0 years.
- Those 18 players averaged 163.0 regular season games and 4.9 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 19 picks is 25.26

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
16. Jusuf Nurkic
19. Gary Harris - these two were traded on draft night to Denver for Doug McDermott (who'd been selected 11th) and Anthony Randolph
- DM's stats: 2.5 years with the Chicago Bulls, 161 games, 8.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg + 3 playoff games, 1.7 ppg
49. Cameron Bairstow - 2 years with CB, 36 games, 1.2 ppg, 1.0 rpg

It's pretty remarkable that all three rookies in this 1st-round trade played significant minutes in the NBA this year. Unfortunately for the Bulls, they got the rough end of the stick. Career-wise, McDermott has tracked out the worst, while Harris spent his first 6.5 years in Denver, averaging 12.0 ppg. On the negative side of the ledger as well - a) Randolph was traded to Orlando two weeks later for someone that never made it to the NBA, and b) somehow the Bulls' front office managed to trade Bairstow for Spencer Dinwiddie. Who they then waived the following month. Not a great start.

2015
22. Bobby Portis - 3.5 years with CB, 221 games, 9.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.1 apg + 6 playoff games, 6.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.2 apg

Really good pick, really good player, although Portis' best years came after he left Chicago. He was eventually traded to Washington (with Jabari Parker and a 2nd) for Otto Porter, who spent two injury-plagued years with the Bulls. Another trade they'd want to have back.

2016
14. Denzel Valentine - 5 years with CB, 232 games, 7.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.0 apg + 4 playoff games, 1.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg
48. Paul Zipser - 2 years with CB, 98 games, 4.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg + 6 playoff games, 7.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg

After a 10.2 ppg sophomore campaign, Valentine missed the entire next season through injury and never really recovered. In hindsight, would the Bulls have picked Malik Beasley (went at 19) or Caris LeVert (20)? Maybe. They definitely should have taken Pascal Siakam or Dejounte Murray, who were selected at 27 and 29 respectively.

2017
16. Justin Patton - sent to Minnesota on draft night in the Jimmy Butler trade, with Lauri Markkanen, who'd been picked 7th, coming the other way.
- LM's stats: 4 years with CB, 221 games, 15.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.2 apg
38. Jordan Bell - traded to Golden State on draft night for $3.5m

Taking the other elements of the Butler trade out of the equation, the pick swap worked out superbly for Chicago, especially bearing in mind that Patton only played 22 NBA games. What with it being the Bulls, they did massively lose the trade that sent Markkanen to Cleveland, which was for two mediocre years of Derrick Jones Jr and two picks (a 2022 1st from Portland and a 2023 2nd) that didn't convey.

2018
7. Wendell Carter - 2.5 years with CB, 119 games, 10.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.0 bpg
22. Chandler Hutchison - 2.5 years with CB, 79 games, 5.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg

Carter's been a pretty good player, but was beset by injuries in Chicago and was shipped out in the awful Nikola Vucevic trade. I'm also duty bound to point out that future-MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went four picks after him, which seems bad. The 22nd pick came from New Orleans in another rotten trade at the 2018 deadline - Tony Allen, Jameer Nelson and Omer Asik (who played a combined 4 games for the Bulls) and the 1st for Nikola Mirotic. Anfernee Simons, who went 24th to Portland, would have been a far better selection.

2019
7. Coby White - 6.5 years with CB, 451 games, 15.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.9 apg + 5 playoff games, 8.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.8 apg
38. Daniel Gafford - 1.5 years with CB, 74 games, 5.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.2 bpg

White has his faults, but was a really good player in Chicago and they got great value for a pick at that position. Should Chicago have taken Tyler Herro, who eventually went at 13? Probably, but it's a discussion. Not a very long one admittedly, but a discussion nevertheless. Gafford's been an excellent role player in the league, who, and stop me if you've heard this one before, had his best years after leaving the Windy City. He probably ended up as the best player from the trade that sent him to Washington.

2020
4. Patrick Williams - 6 years with CB, 348 games, 9.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.5 apg + 5 playoff games, 11.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg
44. Marko Simonovic - 2 years with CB, 16 games, 1.4 ppg

The 1st-round selection felt like a reach at the time and has proved as much, especially with Deni Avdija (9) and Tyrese Haliburton (12) still on the board. As with White the year before, you maybe have to credit Chicago's front office with patience and giving young talent the chance to develop, and at least Williams' second contract (over)pays him like the good bench player he's turned out to be.

2021
38. Ayo Dosunmu - 4.5 years with CB, 324 games, 10.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.3 apg + 5 playoff games, 4.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.2 apg

Incredible value for a 38th pick, and a really good player, as has been proved by how well he's settled in with Minnesota. The Bulls will be hoping that the package they got for him - Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller and three 2nds - will replicate his skillset. Their 1st round pick ended up at 8, but went to Orlando in the Vucevic trade. The Magic took Franz Wagner, who seems like a player that could have helped Chicago.

2022
18. Dalen Terry - 3.5 years with CB, 204 games, 3.5 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.2 apg

This is another pick that plays into the 'Bulls have too much patience" rhetoric. In the previous nine posts, I haven't seen a 200-game player with such a low ppg whilst averaging just 11.1 minutes per game. There were some good players taken after him in the draft as well - Christian Braun (21) and Walker Kessler (22) were the best-case scenarios. Terry was sent to New York for Guerschon Yabusele at this year's trade deadline.

2023
35. Julian Phillips - 2.5 years with CB, 154 games, 3.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg

This year's 1st was the second sent to Orlando, and they took Jett Howard at 11. Phillips was originally drafted by Boston, then sent to Washington as part of the three team Marcus Smart / Kristaps Porzingis trade and finally got to the Bulls five days later in exchange for two future 2nds. A perfectly decent end-of-bench guy that also went to Minnesota in the Dosunmu trade earlier this year.

2024
11. Matas Buzelis - 2 years with CB, 157 games, 12.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.2 bpg

An excellent pick and Buzelis took a big leap this year, almost doubling his scoring average (8.6 to 16.3) after a debut season where he finished 7th in ROY voting. If he continues on a similar upward trajectory, he could be the most impactful Bulls draftee since Jimmy Butler.

2025
12. Noa Essengue - 1 year with CB, 2 games
45. Rocco Zikarsky - traded on draft night to the Lakers for Lachlan Olbrich (selected at 55) and cash
- LO's stats: 1 year with CB, 37 games, 2.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.1 apg

Essengue's rookie season totaled just six minutes before a shoulder injury ended his campaign. Hopefully he'll be back to 100% and playing at a high level by the autumn, so the fact Derik Queen and Carter Bryant were the next two picks aren't a cause for regret. Olbrich has looked more developed than his fellow Australian thus far, so chalk up a very early Bulls win for the 2nd-round trade.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: Hopefully in a couple of years, this will be Buzelis, but at the moment it's Cody White
Best value pick: Buzelis may end up nabbing this one too, but I can't overlook getting Dosunmu at 38.
Worst pick/trade: The McDermott for Harris/Nurkic trade didn't go well for the Bulls, but I think it's Dalen Terry
Worst value pick: Patrick Williams was too much of a stretch at 4

Previous reports:
The Milwaukee Bucks recent draft history... : r/billsimmons
The Washington Wizards draft history : r/billsimmons
The Indiana Pacers recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Brooklyn Nets recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Utah Jazz recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Sacramento Kings recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The Memphis Grizzlies recent draft history : r/billsimmons
The New Orleans Pelicans recent draft history : r/billsimmons
https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/comments/1sziu9e/the_dallas_mavericks_recent_draft_history/

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u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 20 days ago

▲ 8 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

Number 9 in this series is the Dallas Mavericks and to reiterate the rules from the previous editions (see links below), I'll start with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

The first thing that jumped out from my Dallas analysis was how few draft picks they've had in the past twelve years. They're a team that's traditionally been quite aggressive when it comes to trades, and draft picks tend to be an integral part of those packages. And when you can secure generational players like Luka Doncic and Cooper Flagg, you can afford to be a bit more laissez-faire with your draft capital.

Their draft history has been pretty boom-or-bust, with four players out of their 18 draft picks playing at least 200 games for Dallas - two of whom, Jalen Brunson and Jaden Hardy, were picked in the 2nd round. However, nine of those 18 picks have played less than 25 games for the team. Only three top-10 picks in twelve years will lead to some of that inconsistency, but they've left quite a bit on the table over the years. But again, nabbing Luka and Cooper will hide a lot of your franchise's flaws, not just with your draft process. Needless to say, they'll be hoping to add another strong piece in the lottery this year.

Here are some stats:

- Four drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Mavericks
- Only one of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Doncic
- Four players have averaged double figures during their time with Dallas - Doncic (28.6), Flagg (21.0), Dennis Smith (14.5) and Brunson (11.9). However, between 2019 and 2024, that figure was zero.
- Just 18 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 14 that actually ended up playing for the Mavericks is 2.3 years.
- Those 14 players averaged 118.2 regular season games and 26.5 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 18 picks is 31.17

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
No draft selections. Dallas' 1st-rounder this year was traded to the Lakers in December 2011 for Lamar Odom, before going to the Rockets and then to OKC over the next twelve months. It ended up at 21 and the Thunder selected Mitch McGary. An uninspiring start.

2015
21. Justin Anderson - 1.5 years with the Dallas Mavericks, 106 games, 5.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg + 5 playoff games, 9.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg
52. Satnam Singh - never played in the NBA

It doesn't get much better when they have some draft capital. The three picks after Anderson were Bobby Portis, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Tyus Jones, and he was eventually included in a trade for Nerlens Noel.

2016
46. AJ Hammons - 1 year with DM, 22 games, 2.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg

Another draft goes by with nary a whimper from the Mavs' front office. Their 1st-round pick had been sent to Boston in the Rajon Rondo trade.

2017
9. Dennis Smith - 1.5 years with the Dallas Mavericks, 101 games, 14.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.9 apg

This is a bit more like it. Smith actually finished 5th in ROY voting before being sent to the Knicks as part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade and was never really the same player again. The Mavs' front office really missed a trick though as Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo were picked at 13 and 14.

2018
5. Trae Young - traded on draft night to Atlanta for Luka Doncic and a 2019 1st
- LD's stats: 6.5 years with DM, 422 games, 28.6 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 8.3 apg, 1.9 bpg + 50 playoff games, 30.9 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 8.0 apg. 5-time 1st-team All-NBA, 5 top-8 MVP finishes and ROY
33. Jalen Brunson - 4 years with DM, 277 games, 11.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.7 apg + 25 playoff games, 17.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg
54. Shake Milton - traded to Philadelphia on draft night for Ray Spalding (picked at 56) and Kostas Antetokounmpo (picked at 60)
- RS' stats: 0.5 year with DM, 1 game, 0.0 ppg
- KA's stats: 1 year with DM, 2 games, 1.0 ppg

I'm sure there are teams that have had better single year draft classes than Dallas did in 2018, but there can't be many. The Doncic trade was a franchise-changer and getting Brunson at the start of the 2nd round was also pretty good from a value and a production perspective. Trading away Milton, who had seven productive NBA seasons, probably wasn't the mistake (with Doncic and Brunson he wasn't going to get many minutes), but the draft return was. In hindsight it was virtually non-existent.

2019
37. Deividas Sirvydas - traded on draft night to Detroit for Isaiah Roby (had been picked 45th) and two 2nds

The 2019 1st from the Doncic trade ended up at 10, with the Hawks taking Cam Reddish, who never really worked out. Roby spent some time in the G League before being traded to OKC in January 2020.

2020
18. Josh Green - 4 years with DM, 223 games, 6.4 ppg, 2.7 ppg, 1.5 apg + 39 playoff games, 3.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg
31 Tyrell Terry - 1 year with DM, 11 games, 1.0 ppg
36. Tyler Bey - selected by the 76ers, then sent to Dallas with Josh Richardson for Seth Curry.
- TB's stats: 1 season with DM, 18 games, 1.0 ppg, 1.1 rpg

Josh Green was barely decent value at that draft spot and ended up going to Charlotte as a makeweight in the six-team Klay Thompson trade. However, two of the next three picks were Saddiq Bey and Tyrese Maxey, which makes it a much worse selection by Dallas. You also had Immanuel Quickley and Payton Pritchard available, who went at 25 and 26. Bey was an add-on in the Richardson / Curry trade, which swapped shooters that averaged just over 12 ppg in 2019-20.

2021
No draft selections. Their 1st-rounder this year went to the Knicks from the Porzingis trade. It ended up at 21, with New York selecting Keon Johnson, who was then traded to the Clippers for Quentin Grimes.

2022
26. Wendell Moore Jr - traded on draft night to Houston as part of the Christian Wood trade
37, Jaden Hardy - drafted by Sacramento, then traded to Dallas for two future 2nds.
- JH's stats: 3.5 years with DM, 212 games, 7.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.3 apg + 19 playoff games, 4.2 ppg,

In hindsight, you probably don't need to trade four players and a 1st round pick for Wood, who only had one season in Dallas, but Hardy was a very pleasant surprise at that draft spot. He ended up going to Washington in the Anthony Davis trade.

2023
10. Cason Wallace - traded on draft night to Oklahoma City (with Davis Bertans) for Dereck Lively (selected 12th)
- DL's stats: 3 years with DM, 98 games, 8.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.5 bpg + 21 playoff games, 7.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.0 bpg
24. Olivier-Maxence Prosper - drafted by Sacramento, then traded to Dallas (with Richaun Holmes) for cash.
- OMP's stats: 2 seasons with DM, 92 games, 3.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg

With Luka as the cornerstone of your franchise, you definitely swap Lively for Wallace - he ended up finishing 6th in ROY voting. However, with Lively's limited availability over the last two seasons, would Dallas want a do-over? It also doesn't help the trade review that the Mavs had to include Bertans to move down in the draft to get their man.
I covered how ludicrous it was that the Kings drafted a 1st round pick for cash in the Sacramento post, but Prosper didn't fire in Dallas and ended up in Memphis this year, where he averaged 10.0 ppg.

2024
58. Ariel Hukporti - sent to the Knicks on draft night (with the draft rights to Petteri Koponen and cash) for Melvin Ajinca (selected 51st)

Ajinca hasn't made it to the NBA as yet and is still playing in France. Their 1st round pick this year was the second of two to go to the Knicks from the Porzingis trade.

2025
1st: Cooper Flagg - 1 year with DM, 70 games, 21.0 ppg, 6.7 ppg, 4.5 apg, 1.2 spg

Dallas made the no-brainer pick and Flagg's possibly been even better than advertised, winning ROY narrowly over Kon Knueppel. I don't think he'll make Mavs fans forget Luka any time soon, but he's going to be another franchise player for them.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: The Luka Doncic selection
Best value pick: You could argue this should be Luka as well, but I'm giving it to Jalen Brunson at 33 in 2018.
Worst pick/trade: There aren't too many to choose from it's probably Josh Green at 18, bearing in mind who was drafted in the three picks after him.
Worst value pick: Could be Green for this one too, but I'll go for Justin Anderson at 21 in 2015

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u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 22 days ago

▲ 10 r/NBA_Draft+1 crossposts

Number 8 in this series is the New Orleans Pelicans and to reiterate the rules from the previous editions (see links at the bottom of the post), I'll start with the 2014 draft, so the stats line up with the original Milwaukee Bucks post. Plus 12 drafts give us a strong sample size to work with.

Overall, the Pelicans have a pretty solid draft record, and the output of their five top-10 picks in the last twelve years probably grades out about a B. Zion Williamson, their no 1 overall pick in 2019, has fluctuated between dominant offensive force and injury layoffs. Three of them - Buddy Hield, Dyson Daniels and Ziaire Williams - were subsequently traded away for better players, either on draft night or early in their New Orleans' careers. The flipside is that, in all three cases, much better players were left in the draft pool.

With a couple of exceptions, the Pelicans have been able to get good value for their picks, exemplified by securing Trey Murphy at 17. The New Orleans front office is also one of the better groups at getting value for their 2nd round picks. Herb Jones is the obvious standout in this regard, but there are several examples of the Pelicans trading up or swapping 2nd rounders and getting a positive outcome. Or at the very least putting some cash in the bank.

Here are some stats:

- Four drafted players have played more than 200 games (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Pelicans
- Three of those players signed extensions to their rookie contracts - Williamson, Trey Murphy and Herb Jones
- Four players have averaged double figures during their time with New Orleans - Williamson (23.8), Murphy (15.4), Fears (14.3) and Queen (11.7). There are also two other draftees on 9.9 ppg
- 29 players were selected across these 12 drafts (including draft night rookie swaps and trades), and the average tenure of the 20 that actually ended up playing for the Pelicans is 2.5 years.
- Those 20 players averaged 126.3 regular season games and 7.3 playoff games.
- The average draft position of those 29 picks is 31.31

I went into this in far too much detail below:

2014
47. Russ Smith - drafted by the 76ers, then sent to New Orleans for Pierre Jackson
- RS' stats: 0.5 years with the New Orleans Pelicans, 6 games, 0.8 ppg

We're not off to a great start here picks-wise, but New Orleans' 1st-rounder this year was traded to Philadelphia twelve months earlier in the Jrue Holiday trade. The 10th pick was then sent to Orlando, who selected Elfrid Payton.

2015
56. Branden Dawson - traded on draft night to the Clippers for cash

Yikes, this is even worse. New Orleans' 1st-rounder this year was traded to Houston in a three-team trade that saw the Pelicans get Omer Asik and some magic beans. The pick ended up at 18 where the Rockets chose Sam Dekker.

2016
6. Buddy Hield - 0.5 years with NOP, 57 games, 8.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.4 apg
39. David Michineau
40. Diamond Stone - these two were traded to the Clippers for Chieck Diallo, who'd been picked 33rd
- CD's stats: 3 years with NOP, 133 games, 5.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg

Finally, a positive class for the Pelicans. Hield, along with Tyreke Evans and a 1st, were the key pieces in the Boogie Cousins trade, which unfortunately didn't really work out because of injuries. Jamal Murray went to Denver with the 7th pick, but I guess he'd have just been added to the Boogie trade as well, which would have worked out a lot better for the Kings. New Orleans definitely got the better of the 2nd round trade, what with Michineau and Stone playing just 7 NBA games between them. That's especially a shame for Stone, who has a Hall-of-Fame athlete name.

2017
40. Dwayne Bacon - traded to Charlotte on draft night (with $1.8m) for Frank Jackson, who'd been picked 31st
- FJ's stats: 3 years with NOP, 120 games, 7.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.1 apg
52. Edmond Sumner - traded to Indiana on draft night for $1m

The Pelicans really love swapping 2nd round picks, either for a better 2nd round pick or a chunk of change. Again, they got the better of the 2nd round pick swap, so kudos to them for that. Their 1st round pick this year was the one sent to Sacramento in the Cousins deal and ended up 10th.

2018
51. Tony Carr - never made it to the NBA

A fourth year in five where the Pelicans have got rid of their 1st round pick. This one, which ended up at 22, went to Chicago at the 2018 deadline with Tony Allen, Jameer Nelson and Omer Asik (who played a combined 4 games for the Bulls) for a year of Nikola Mirotic. Crazy as it is to say, I think New Orleans got the better of that deal, especially with Chicago's selection - Chandler Hutchison - only playing four mediocre years in the NBA.

2019
1st: Zion Williamson - 7 years with NOP, 276 games, 23.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 4.1 apg
8. Jaxson Hayes
17. Nickeil Alexander-Walker
35. Didi Louzada - these three arrived from Atlanta (NAW had initially been drafted by Brooklyn), along with the 2021 2nd that was used on Herb Jones. Going the other way were De'Andre Hunter (the first 1st in the Anthony Davis trade, originally selected 4th by the Lakers), Solomon Hill, Jordan Bone and a 2023 2nd.
- JH's stats: 4 years with NOP, 241 games, 7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg + 6 playoff games, 5.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg
- NAW's stats: 2.5 years with NOP, 143 games, 9.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.3 apg
- DL's stats: 1.5 years with NOP, 5 games, 1.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg
39. Alen Smailagic - traded on draft night to Golden State for two 2nds and $1m
57. Jordan Bone - see above

After five years of mostly insignificant drafting, New Orleans goes nuts after getting the first overall pick and trading Anthony Davis. I'm not dinging the Pelicans for the Zion pick as he was the consensus no 1, plus there hasn't been a standout hindsight selection from this draft. If you do a re-draft, the first pick is one of Zion, Ja Morant or Darius Garland, with Tyler Herro at 4.
The first-round trade was a complicated one to unpick, especially as, with the benefit of hindsight, the Pelicans maybe might have been better off just keeping Hunter... or picking Garland. NAW ended up going to Portland in the CJ McCollum trade (as did Louzada), and, after several years as an excellent defensive guard off the bench, he eventually returned to Atlanta last summer and has had an incredible season.

2020
13. Kira Lewis - 3.5 years with NOP, 118 games, 5.4 ppg, 1.3 ppg, 1.8 apg
39. Elijah Hughes - traded on draft night to Utah for the 2022 2nd that became Karlo Matkovic and cash
42. Nick Richards - traded to Charlotte on draft night for a 2024 2nd
60. Sam Merrill - traded shortly after the draft to Milwaukee as part of the Jrue Holiday / Eric Bledsoe + bunch of 1sts trade.

Lewis was a really bad miss, with Tyrese Maxey, Saddiq Bey, Cole Anthony and Aaron Nesmith all subsequently taken between 14 and 21. He was eventually traded to the Pacers (with a 2024 2nd) for some cold hard cash. The first two 2nd-round picks eventually even out, although Matkovic didn't get to the NBA until 2024.

2021
10. Ziaire Williams - sent to Memphis on draft night in a three-team trade that included Trey Murphy (taken 17th) and Brandon Boston (51st, immediately traded to the Clippers)
- TM's stats: 5 years with NOP, 317 games, 15.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.2 apg + 10 playoff games, 7.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.2 apg
35. Herb Jones - 5 years with NOP, 296 games, 9.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.6 spg + 10 playoff games, 11.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.6 spg. In 2024 was 1st-team All-Defense and 5th in the DPOY vote
40. Jared Butler - also sent to Memphis in the above trade
43. Greg Brown - traded to Portland on draft night for a 2026 2nd and cash

No matter how the rest of the trade played out (in terms of veteran players, New Orleans basically turned Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe into Jonas Valanciunas and Devonte Graham), swapping Trey Murphy for Ziaire Williams is a tremendous piece of business. However, when you couple it with Herb Jones at 35, this becomes a superb draft class for the Pelicans.

2022
8. Dyson Daniels - 2 years with NOP, 120 games, 4.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.1 spg + 3 playoff games, 1.3 ppg
41. E.J. Liddell - 2 years with NOP, 8 games, 0.5 ppg + 1 playoff game
52, Karlo Matkovic - 2 years with NOP, 104 games, 6.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg

Should the Pelicans have grabbed either Jalen Willians (went at 12) or Jalen Duran (taken at 13)? Almost certainly. Daniels and Liddell were both sent to Atlanta in the Dejounte Murray trade, and while it hasn't worked for New Orleans (Murray's only played 45 games in two years), it's been a godsend for Daniels, who was Most Improved and 1st-team All-Defense in his first season there. Liddell's time in New Orleans was decimated by injury, but Matkovic was a pretty good 2nd-round pick-up, although he didn't arrive for another two years.

2023
14. Jordan Hawkins - 3 years with NOP, 174 games, 8.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.0 apg + 3 playoff games

Hawkins has been a perfectly fine role player, albeit one that only shoots .374 from the field, which is probably not what you're looking for with the 14th pick. This is especially true when Keyonte George, Jaime Jaquez, Brandin Podziemski and Noah Clowney were all selected between 16 and 21.

2024
21. Yves Missi - 2 years with NOP, 139 games, 7.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.4 bpg
47. Antonio Reeves - drafted by Orlando, then traded to the Pelicans for two future 2nds
- AR's stats: 1 year with NOP, 44 games, 6.9 ppg, 1.4 rpg

I like Missi as a player and he's been pretty good value for that draft slot. However, for the second year in a row they could have taken a George, with Kyshawn (unrelated) going at 24. Reeves was waived after a decent rookie season.

2025
7. Jeremiah Fears - 1 year with NOP, 82 games, 14.3 ppg, 3.7 ppg, 3.4 apg, 1.2 spg
23. Asa Newell - traded on draft night to Atlanta (with an unprotected 2026 1st) for Derik Queen (selected at 13)
- DQ stats: 1 year with NOP, 81 games, 11.7 ppg, 7.1 ppg, 3.7 apg, 1.0 spg
40. Micah Peavy - drafted by Washington, then traded two weeks later to New Orleans in the CJ McCollum deal
- MP stats: 1 year with NOP, 61 games, 4.3 ppg, 1.9 ppg, 1.0 apg

Fears really excelled at times during his rookie season, Peavy had his moments after coming over from the Wizards and Queen started superbly, before being brought off the bench later in the campaign. Unfortunately for him, his performances will be tied to the unprotected 2026 1st, so Pelicans' fans will be hoping for more from him moving forward. Or that the Hawks botch the pick massively.

Finally, a couple of quick awards:
Best pick/trade: Zion. Injury and conditioning issues aside, I think overall he's been a big benefit to the franchise. Having said that, Try Murphy runs him close.
Best value pick: Murphy at 17 is a steal
Worst pick/trade: Tough one this, but trading De'Andre Hunter for Jaxson Hayes and Alexander-Walker doesn't look great over the entirety of their careers, although Hunter and NAW's production pretty much flipped this season.
Worst value pick: It's Kira Lewis, especially considering the players still available.

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u/Reasonable_Ad1500 — 24 days ago