3 hours ago
(5 hours ago)KillerLeft Wrote: Gotta be a stash, yeah?
Yeah, I would wager so.
The way he landed as a Mavs pick screams "stash" -- buy a trash tier pick, to draft the not-ready guy you scouted personally. You let him develop if he can. No hurry, since you retain the rights of a pick. But if you don't pick him and he gets past pick 60 to UDFA, and then develops into something in Europe, no one has exclusive rights.
From what I saw, Ishchenko's got a ton of work to be anywhere close to NBA level (or GL) level. He's nowhere near a player yet. But a stash of an almost-free pick is a perfect plan imo, since Schmitz scouted him and at least has some thoughts on whether one day he might evolve.