Jack Brickman
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I thought it was funny that in the same post, you said TT had a bad rookie year yet followed that up with "high upside" and Torn said Drummond came into the league playing at his peak already lol.
But let's cut to the chase. Sure, we needed to address all the holes but you don't reach for players when there are other players that were more obvious like Gouri said. If you reach, that pick better hit or you fucked it up. So now we have Dion coming off the bench. Make all the excuses you want, our #4 pick who was suppose to be drafted as our starting SG is coming off the bench.
1. It's stupid to compare anything I say to what Torn says. We're not the same person and we have different viewpoints. And my point was that we had already drafted Thompson and seen his work ethic coupled with his athleticism and college predictive play. He did have high upside. Would he realize it? Who knew at that point, but considering the only four on the board (Robinson) was on the same level as several other picks we could have made in the top ten (including Waiters), it made little sense to draft him. And, in retrospect, it looks like we made the right call.
2. Waiters was no more of a reach than Drummond. In fact, Waiters was ahead of Drummond on most 2012 mock drafts, most of which had Golden State taking him at seven. The Cavs needed a long-term two, a three, and a five going into the 2012 draft, and you could have made an argument for a four too. They drafted a two who was projected to go in the top ten and higher than Drummond in most mocks. I really don't see the reach there.
3. I don't really see the relevance of Dion coming off the bench. Harden came off the bench for Oklahoma City. Did that make him a waste of a pick at number three? Dion may be coming off the bench, but he's also averaging ten more minutes per game than the guy starting in front of him. Really, just a terrible argument, although given who's making it that's not much of a surprise.
4. As far as the pick hitting, can you explain to me how the Dion pick hasn't hit? He's clearly improving on where he was last year at this time. His shot selection is better, he's drawing fouls and finishing at the rim better than he was at the start of the season, he's shooting over 40% from three (his outside shooting was a criticism last year), he's distributing the ball and playing within the offense, and he's playing solid to good defense. Is he a finished product? Of course not, but I don't see how anyone can watch Dion the past two or three weeks and not see his potential. If you want to go by PER as a metric, Waiters is the fourth best rookie from the top ten behind Davis, Lillard, and Drummond. He's ahead of Beal, Barnes, MKG, Robinson, and the rest.