Zion is the last 2019 lottery pick still with his team
All other top 14 of the 2019 class are no longer with the team that drafted them. Think the draft class is a very interesting look back. A seemingly very injury prone class.
Terrible draft class, important reminder that no prospect is a sure thing lol
It’s crazy because the whole class mostly just…doesn’t matter anymore, lmao
I honestly don’t know who i would even take first if we were redrafting that class — Garland I guess.
I know im happy with us getting KJ at 29.
There are a few undrafted guys who would do really well in a redraft -
Naz Reid Dean Wade Lu Dort ❌Kyle Anderson
Kyle Anderson was a first rounder
You’re right. We picked him 30th back in 2014. I was looking at a list on the 2019 draft Wikipedia that showed undrafted players. I saw Kyle Alexander and for some reason I thought of Kyle Anderson.
With hindsight, you still take Zion or Ja and trade them at their peak for picks/good value players. In 2019, Spurs probably take the future picks
I’d definitely take Garland. While he has flaws and injury stuff too, the injury stuff is much more possible to imagine a world where it doesn’t happen. While with Zion, this was probably more likely to be the outcome than him being healthy. Garland has the 2nd highest ceiling after Zion and even at his absolute lowest, Garland’s worst outcome is at least an elite spot up shooter
this might sound crazy, but with how great RJ played in the playoffs, I’d probably take him 1st overall. (this is Raptors glaze btw)
Nah, I’m with you. I’d take RJ’s consistency over Garland’s flashes between major injury stints.
Eh, RJ Barrett is one of the Raptors’ most important players and they wouldn’t have taken the Cavs to 7 games without him. 3 of their 5 starters injured and he really stepped up.
He’s so important he’s about to get traded to his 3rd team
Rj+BI to Clippers Kawhi to Raptors
…then BI to Lakers for Rui. Who says no?
if luka gets cursed with BI as his second option i’m gonna be so pissed
Y? Ur a sixers fan. I don’t understand. And I don’t think Luka will get cursed. Probably the only thing holding Luka back is a shitty FO.
I like and root for luka. i don’t want to see him have an overpaid second option who is injury prone and doesn’t fit with him
Are Herro and Hachimura the most relevant players right now?
NAW?
Herro, Barratt, and Garland. Hachimura is down a level with a bunch of other bigs.
Obviously Cam Reddish is number 1
Also of “X class is so loaded and Y is so weak”. You’d value any top 2019 pick over 2020 and miss Edwards. Or Castle and Sarr in 2024.
It’s the off season but some of yall takes are so dramatic and exaggerated. Terrible???? Smh, I don’t think yall love basketball
Name a worse draft class in the last 20 years in terms of elite talent
2024 was the draft class where Zacc went #1 right? That’s probably the worse class, but we don’t know how it will turn out in a few years
Is 2024 not worse? 2019 although disappointing, produced 4 all-star players and decent roleplayers in NAW, Rui, Coby, and R.J.
Idk who’s gonna be an allstar in 2024 besides Castle, maybe Sarr?
How could we know it’s only been 2 years
well you said name a worse draft class and I said a worse one.
It’s not tho. It’s too early to make a judgement
Castle and Sarr for sure will be all stars at some point. Other than that it’s just a bunch of high level role players like Clingan, George, Buzelis and even Reed sheperd when he’s not asked to be the lead guard. Really odd draft class
He might have the biggest ceiling as a prospect too
This sports can be surprising
The depth is actually pretty good, it goes 20 deep more than most classes. But the top end talent did not pan out to their high end outcomes.
That was a hyped class as well
He’s gonna be a Celtic by the end of the week
Joe Mazz: “Where 3 pointer?”
I think Zion can shoot three. He has been “conditioned” by his coaching staff to think that he shouldn’t shoot three, and that’s a dumb, career-ruining advice.
Why do you think that?
In his first few games in his rookie season, he shoots 3s. Very soon, he resisted shooting 3s. In his subsequent interviews, he said he think he help his team best if he go inside and leave the shooting to his teammates which he trusted.
That’s what players say when the player buy the coaches system. That’s why I think Zion is coachable but his coach think he should only focus on interior. I kinda think he should follow what Blake Griffin did in his later part of his career, to mix shooting and interior, so that his body can sustain longer, and people will need to respect his outside game instead of intended to bang each other in the post all game.
I can see it if u trade JB to a diff team
Zion + Trey for Jaylen + Sam
Jordan Poole + Jordan Hawkins for Tatum + picks
Overpay for the Pelicans.
I think part of the reason is that the rest of the league wants him even less than they wanted Ja. Ja at least has a track record of trying and leading his team in the playoffs, Zion only leads his team to restaurants and stripclubs. Why would anyone expend draft capital and space on their salary cap for him?
Imagine how well he’d play in a boring place like Utah
I do wonder how Zion’s career arc wouldve changed had another franchise drafted him or had he played as a second option that rounds out the offense. To me is seems like he could plug into a team but shouldnt be the one to initiate offense or have the offense run through him BUT could still be the leading scorer
He played with Brandon Ingram and either Jrue or CJ McCollum most of those early years. He was not playing enough and always seems like he is an AAU mercenary who does not know what his team is doing
I would be curious if a more serious organization than the Pelicans would’ve done a better job at pushing Zion to lose weight right out the gate, that’s clearly been the source of a lot of his injuries
This year he was finally healthy and nobody even cared, it’s clear a lot of his athleticism has left him already
Zion drafted by the Heat might’ve lived up to his potential
You could say that about most top prospects lmao
Not in the same way you can about Zion with his weight issues and hype.
Fucking monkey’s paw gets me again
I remember the crash out after the Knicks got that number 2 overall pick and missed out on Zion. Who could have known that he wouldn’t reach his massive hype and potential.
Knicks probably never end up with OG if you don’t have Barrett at #2 — rly did all work out in the end
Nyk got insane value for RJ, not that he hasn’t played well but man did OG deliver on that trade
OG was just super underrated even though everyone wanted to trade for him
Screw it I’ll say it: NOLA doesn’t get enough flak for the failures of Zion’s career thus far
The conditioning, handling off court troubles, building a team around him, inconsistent management. Zion’s tenure with them is soaked in mediocrity and he’s one of the few players who would actually show his potential on a new team
The Pelicans org is a disaster but Zion has had good teams. He just was on the bench watching them. They made the playoffs in 21-22 without him playing a single minute. I seriously doubt you’ll find a lot of #1 picks whose team would make the playoffs entirely without them in their third season.
If he’s the guy he purports to be, adding him straight up to a playoff team should make for an elite team.
You can lead a horse to water but
I think that’s a big part of what he’s saying
I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on Pelican’s culture but if he was drafted to a team like the Heat or Spurs thats just more rigid and structured, who knows what could’ve happened
They gave him a max and didn’t just force him to get conditioned or fix his off the court problems.
There is a reason why the same franchises never achieve anything.
They’re going to sell low on Zion and some team is going to feast with him. People are way too out on him.
I mean all this considered he’s still a game changing stud. Has no issue throwing up 20+ and 6 boards, and was healthier last season. They’ll have to sell low because nothings guaranteed with the guy, but I still see breakout potential in the right scenario
People on here are way too low on him, mainly because they don’t actually watch games outside of the playoffs and their own team. Which is fine, because I’m that way too.
Zion is a very good player with some serious faults. He has one move, go hard to the left and try to lay it in. And man, everyone knows he’s doing it and he still averages 22 on around 60% shooting. He’s a fantastic player. He also leaks early on defense to try to run the floor and never really goes for rebounds. And teams leave him as wide open as anyone in the league from farther than 15 ft. If he put some work in he could be elite. Dude is a baller. If he got moved to a team like Boston, LA, or some other major market, he’d be all over ESPN and everyone would say dumb shit like “omg where has this guy been??”
It’s funny that RJ Barrett to this point has topped out as a solid starter but has still had the best career of the top 3
Zion to lakers please
For the whole draft, it’s just Zion & Keldon left on their original teams
I’m surprised people still believe in Zion. This is why bad teams stay bad. They don’t know when to cut their losses and move on. No team should be interested in Zion at this point.
Ja a top 3 bust of all time I hate that guy
I’m not sure you know what a bust is.
He defiantly doesn’t if he thinks ja is top 3.
Trust me I know what a bust is
We all do, but that’s not the point.
Call me when your bust sweats spaghetti sauce
Anthony Bennett, Hasheem Thabeet, Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown, Michael Olowakandi
Everyone in the 1986 draft except for two dudes.
Ja morant
He just peaked early and flamed out dude, it happens.
I also think he is a bust, especially from Memphis’ perspective, but he’s in a different, much lower tier than those listed above
Underwhelming, maybe. A bust, no. 2x All Star, 1x All-NBA, ROTY, a few playoff appearances and the best record for a season in franchise history isn’t a bust.
If Ja is a bust, who is the player they missed on big time by taking him? Garland? RJ? You want to say Herro who was all the way at 13? I wouldn’t say any of those guys had a better peak than Ja in Memphis.
You gotta factor in injuries as well. Ja barely played because he was suspended or injured a lot of the time. Sam Bowie, Brandon Roy and Greg Oden are also busts, yes because of injuries, and that is in a lower tier because its not exactly their fault that their body can’t hold up, but they’re still busts from a team and fan perspective, because a high pick was “wasted” on them.
Herro at 13 is iffy, honestly I couldn’t be too mad if you called him a bust if you’re definition is so wide-spread, because we went absolutely nowhere with the Bam-Herro core (the final where Jimmy dragged us there, Herro was hurt), but once we start getting outside that top 10, you’re most likely getting a role player and not a star that can lead. And there were so many big busts in the top 10, that the list’d be too long if you started including guys outside that.
Even with injuries included though, who is the player they whiffed on? In order to be a bust there has to be something you missed on. You can’t call it a bust if the class is just weak and lacking in top talent, you have to judge the class against itself.
Herro isn’t a bust at all, that’s an awesome pick at 13. My point is that Herro is the best player after Ja and he was nowhere close to a top pick. Garland is injury prone himself and definitely didn’t peak anywhere near as high as Morant. RJ is the most consistent contributor and not the headache Ja was but he’s not good enough to be a miss.
Hmmm fair enough, that’s a good point. Never realized Ja and Herro were the same draft class and how god awful that year was. Zion was seen as a generational prospect and he’s also a bust.
Again though with Zion, a bust compared to who? Unless the argument is that even as disappointing as Ja ended up compared to hype he’d still go 1 in a redraft.
Is he even a top 3 bust to wear a Grizzlies uniform?
My brother, your team drafted Hasheem Thabeet
Ja is a multiple time allstar and former all NBA player. In no way can he be considered a bust. Injury riddled and moronic? Sure, but a bust? No. He is also like 26 he has time to reach those heights again.