03-03-2026, 12:34 PM
(03-03-2026, 12:12 PM)Chicagojk Wrote: Yeah, that was the report. Boston moved back into the second round and picked up some seconds. One of the players they picked was Jordan Walsh who was younger than Prosper but had some of the same traits. Walsh has been up and down but has shown some growth recently.
I agree about the Mavs. For a franchise who found Jalen in the second round, they sure did not take those picks seriously. Most will not work out. But if they do, it can really change things. They are low cost gambles. Mavs seemed almost uninterested in even trying for years.
Presti has had some misses. Poku. Traded Senguin and picked a player who has been pretty average and is no longer on the team. He understands you will have misses. He also knows (like Morey) that you can find value in the second round. Not always, but players are there. It seems like the Cuban plan was always hoping for free agents, while looking down of players drafted in the second round/late first.
Historically, the risk factor increases as the draft proceeds, thus the rookie wage scale and only two guaranteed years for FRPs to protect teams from overhyped college "stars". But it's still a crap shoot. Just look at the two guys taken ahead of Luka.
Carlisle was notorious for not playing rookies, I don't know if Nelly was any better. Why spend time and resources on the draft if you're not going to play them anyway? Obviously, Dirk was a win, but even he was a trade for Tractor Traylor during the draft. Imagine how the Mav's history would change if that deal didn't happen. Even so, I wonder if Dirk would have been successful if he didn't have Holger's dedicated summer workouts to polish his game to the point they HAD to play him?