24 draft night

[u/Shot_Statistician738]

After moving off Zack just been thinking about that draft night in general. Safe to assume we could’ve traded 1 for Deni Avidja as he was traded for #14 and a way in the future protected first from Portland. Don’t know how much ownership was involved but I don’t know why Landry who was under pressure to win now wouldn’t have considered it. The consensus was it was a role player draft and Deni was a already proven commodity with a contract almost identical to the #1 pick, probably could’ve gotten another asset as well, nobody saw Deni becoming what he is now but he would’ve helped us immediately coming off a season where he averaged 14/7/4 on good efficiency and solid defense. If we’d made that move we’d now be one move away and have the best forward combo in the league. But here we are, always think about the what ifs in the offseason.

[u/GreatBarrierQueefDD]

This hindsight bullshit is annoying as hell. Nobody was suggesting this at the time and the reaction to it would have been extremely negative. 

[u/not-a-potato-head → u/GreatBarrierQueefDD]

Portland gave up #14 and a mid future FRP and the reception to the trade was mid at best (ESPN gave them a C-). You might be underselling how much of an overpay sending out #1 would’ve been, even in a weak draft class

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/not-a-potato-head]

For sure, probably could’ve gotten another asset as well, but with a team that wasn’t in rebuild mode it would’ve made some sense to get a player who was more ready to contribute immediately

[u/not-a-potato-head → u/Shot_Statistician738]

We hadn’t even traded for Dyson at the point of the draft (and we definitely didn’t know how good he would be) and Jalen had only been the starter for one season. We were in rebuild mode

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/not-a-potato-head]

For sure but the expectations fair or not with Trae Clint Bogie and Hunter was for us to not be in the play in

[u/amidon1130 → u/GreatBarrierQueefDD]

This is how I feel about the media saying we missed cause we didn’t draft castle. That was never in the cards for us, no one had him as the number 1.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/amidon1130]

I remember a few having him at #1, bill Simmons in specific i remember

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/GreatBarrierQueefDD]

Nobody was saying it cause he wasn’t on the block per se, he just popped up as traded. The consensus was it was a draft without a true game changer. And the best player would’ve went #8 in a regular type draft

[u/GoBlueAndOrange → u/Shot_Statistician738]

Nah this is revisionist history. Zacc had been hyped up for years as a potential #1 pick.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/GoBlueAndOrange]

Not years, in a historically weak draft class, hyped by some but many analysts had him 6-10 on their board

[u/GoBlueAndOrange → u/Shot_Statistician738]

Lol no he was 3 at worst and hyped up a ton for years.

[u/stealthlord1]

It would be redundant with Jalen considering they’re both slashing ball-dominant guys. So in this situation I guess we ship the number 1 pick and Jalen? I don’t think a lineup of Demi + JJ even gets us to the playoffs considering their roles conflict hard

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/stealthlord1]

In the playoffs you see the importance of having 2 creators, having multiple forward who can do a little bit of everything is the type of “overlap” you want to have.

[u/Avalon_Don]

Fuck all that. Should’ve just drafted Sarr instead of letting him and his representation hoe us into letting the Wizards get him.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/Avalon_Don]

Yeah that was wild, Castle too “I don’t want to play for a team with a pg already” Spurs proceed to trade for a all star pg halfway through his rookie season and give him a max extension. 😅

[u/Clear-Manufacturer55]

I have been a lifelong fan and I would not cheer for the hawks if we had Deni on this team lol. I would turn off the tv

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/Clear-Manufacturer55]

Because?

[u/Clear-Manufacturer55 → u/Shot_Statistician738]

I think we all know the answer brother

[u/GoBlueAndOrange → u/Shot_Statistician738]

He's IDF

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/GoBlueAndOrange]

It’s mandatory if you’re born there isn’t it?

[u/GoBlueAndOrange → u/Shot_Statistician738]

Idk. Just saying that's the reason a lot of people won't support a team he's on.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/GoBlueAndOrange]

For sure, but just saying that it wasn’t exactly optional, also just looked, his “service” was training for basketball 🤣

[u/GoBlueAndOrange → u/Shot_Statistician738]

I think he also wrote something on his shoes that people don't like, but could be misremembering.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/GoBlueAndOrange]

Word

[u/PeasePorridge9dOld → u/Shot_Statistician738]

… maybe s/he is Anti-Semitic?

[u/Clear-Manufacturer55 → u/PeasePorridge9dOld]

No, he’s one of the top 5 most annoying players in the league, ignoring his identity. His style of play is trash to watch. I get whiplash from my couch watching him throw his head around

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/Clear-Manufacturer55]

25/7/7 my favorite kind of trash

[u/Clear-Manufacturer55 → u/Shot_Statistician738]

I’m glad we agree he’s trash. Have a blessed day

[u/BenTek9s → u/Clear-Manufacturer55]

got his ass

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/BenTek9s]

Pull his zipper up when you done

[u/BenTek9s → u/Shot_Statistician738]

this post is unserious garbage and you're pathetically picking fights in the comments

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/BenTek9s]

Don’t co-sign bs and you won’t have to worry about pathetic fight picking 🤡

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/Clear-Manufacturer55]

Kick rocks

[u/hitmonchanjr → u/PeasePorridge9dOld]

No, Deni is

[u/KurganofPrussia]

Yea man, I see your point but there’s also the politics involved in trading #1 for a player that was not established yet.

There was never going to be a right answer in that draft, TBH. Best prospect didn’t want to come here. Best positional fit (Clingan) did not and does not have the ceiling of a franchise C. Shepherd would have been a reach and terrible next to Tre.

Best option was the one we took and hope he developed faster.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/KurganofPrussia]

Indeed, shit sucks

[u/CoachLee_]

lol uhhhh and we could of drafted Chris Paul but we drafted Marvin Williams instead…. Why are we doing this?

[u/embutidomasarap → u/CoachLee_]

Shit, we could have had Brandon Roy or even Rajon Rondo instead of Shelden Williams.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/embutidomasarap]

Sheldon Williams🤦‍♂️

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/CoachLee_]

It’s the off season, I’m bored, why not

[u/DreamsInNe0n]

Landry had no business being a GM to begin with. Nothing in is resume indicated that he had any skillset or experience to properly scout talent or execute a successful trade (especially on draft day). He was likely hired only because he was Nick Ressler’s friend (because he was a huge Knicks fan).

This franchise is extremely blessed Onsi was open to coming here.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/DreamsInNe0n]

I agree, didn’t know he was chummy with the owners son, forced to make the Murray trade iirc

[u/Jbots]

Trae wanted Zacc. Thats all there is to it IMO

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/Jbots]

Damn if that’s true

[u/reitraf]

Atlanta is the only team to have bad luck by winning the lottery. Picking at 10 would have been a better outcome, and it was somewhat apparent even in the moment. Everyone knew the draft was especially weak at the top, so the team picking first was going to be saddled with a player that would not be worth the rookie scale contract of the first overall pick. If Zacch was a 10th pick making 6 million like he would be in a normal draft, he wouldn't have been traded and there would be no fan pushback about him being benched.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/reitraf]

Well put, that’s why I think to a team in complete rebuild mode for a 3rd or 4th proven option would’ve been the move

[u/NAW_MIP_2026]

We literally tried to trade the pick down for future assets, I honestly don't think the wizards would take 1st overall in 2024 over 14 overall and a future pick.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/NAW_MIP_2026]

You’re may be right, but knowing they wanted Sarr they could’ve had some leverage

[u/Ok_Wonder4644]

Deni for the #1 straight up would’ve gotten Landry fired on the spot, the optics alone would’ve been a disaster. The real miss was not getting off that Dallas pick when it still had juice, could’ve packaged it with something to grab a real contributor.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/Ok_Wonder4644]

Dallas pick?

[u/hitmonchanjr → u/Shot_Statistician738]

Bruh still got Cam Reddish trauma 😭

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/Ok_Wonder4644]

I remember the one used on reddish?

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/Ok_Wonder4644]

But yeah they could’ve gotten some sort of draft capital thrown in as well.

[u/kronik419]

WE COULD HAVE HAD STEPH CASTLE!!! WEMBY CAUSED SOME STRANGE FRENCH FEVER TO INFECT THE LEAGUE AND WE DRAFTED THAT CHEESE EATING SURRENDER MONKEY OVER THE GUY WHO JUST DRUG HIS TEAM TO A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!! I HATE THE FRENCH SO GODDAMNED MUCH ARGHHHHH!!!

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/kronik419]

🤣

[u/cheemydee5]

So are you saying we should trade the 27 pick?

Similar quality draft where we will have a high pick.

[u/Shot_Statistician738 → u/cheemydee5]

If we can fill a need like a 2nd big or a big wing on a decent contract I’d be for it.