2015 Nba Draft Discussion: Russell, Nance Jr., Brown

I'm really not that concerned about us missing the pick honestly. Right now we're in 4th where we have a really good shot at keeping the pick. We're only ONE game back from 3rd though and I think we'll get there. Our tanking game is strong. Injuries are stretched out (Hill and Young), minutes for talented players are restricted (Young, Hill, Davis, even Boozer and Lin). We're highly dependent on Clarkson and Ellington carrying us to victory which might be the worst starting combo in the NBA even though they'd make strong bench players.

With only 39 games left we're 2.5 games in front of Orlando who will be our closest competitors. Denver is 7 games behind of us. Utah will likely stay behind us unless they're start getting hurt. Minnesota could end up winning a few more games as their young players develop and their veterans return.

I think we end up 3rd when it's all said and done with an opportunity at 2nd even. We won't catch up to NY though. They're shutting down Carmelo and after that their roster is somehow even worse than ours.

 

Yeah Johnson's stock has been slipping for some reason. People are giving Russell the benefit of the doubt over Mudiay, but not Johnson? Why not?

Like I said though: there's at least 5 solid players in this draft. Get one, get out, and get a FA that can change our direction.

 

Tank at all costs at this point. We need to keep that top 5 pick, and the best way to ensure that is to end up in the top 2 or 3. Keeping our pick takes a lot of the sting out of the Nash deal. Losing that top 5 pick would be an epic fail since we have nothing else to play for at this juncture. Like Realdeal said, get any of those top 5 candidates and we're good to go. Nice to also have Houston's pick as well for later in the first round.

 

Yeah that makes sense. Someone that was working with Ford estimated Stan Johnson's value somewhere between 5 and 24 because of exactly what you said. People these days are looking for the home-run and while this guy might be a single or a double, his chances of being a home-run are lower than some.

Still though if he starts slipping I hope the Lakers find a way to get to him. Move that Houston pick with some other thing and go get him.

 

Just based off of Ford's take that Johnson has Top 5 upside, but some teams have him as low as 24. Obviously that sounds ridiculous to me, but if for whatever reason they're right and he were to slip that low, I'd expect Mitch to find a way to grab him.

Ford is probably full of it, but that's what I was referencing.

 

He sure is. I would be estatic if we were able to grab him with Houston's 1st pick that we have

 

He just raised his stock value a good 2-3 spots with that game. He didn't just play well, he was poised in a huge game and ran the offense efficiently. I think he's got really below average size, but some decent quickness that might be able to translate to the NBA... hard to tell.