2026 NBA draft thread

[Mavs2021]

I think some folks are grossly underestimating how much help Flagg will need. If you look at his top end comps when they won:

Kawhi had Lowry, Siakam and VanVleet, all in or near their primes. 

Tatum had Brown, Jrue and White, all in or near their primes. 

Giannis had Jrue and Middleton, all in their primes. 

I agree that Flagg will get better and better.  I am counting on him reaching the level of those guys. But by the time he reaches the age of those greats when they won, Kyrie will no longer be a factor. We don’t have anybody else on the roster that can help on the creation front. That is why I wanted Burries. He has a reasonable chance to turn into one of those guys. Their top priority at this point is to find those guys.

But they have three years to develop Johnson into Siakam instead of Burries into Lowry, and by 2028 (when Flagg is fully ready), they´ll have 4-5 1sts to trade (as it stands) and at least one summer with cap space to chase a FVV signing. I think what we have seen is that they´ll build one veteran team for Flagg´s development and one team for the start of Flagg´s prime. Drafting Burries and Bradley now would be the Cuban approach, where he could never big picture and take one step back to take two steps forward. Maybe they simply did not rate Burries that highly. They certainly had more information on the Michigan guys to make an educated projection.