You have the first pick in the nba draft who do you take?

Rayburn8

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Feb 26, 2013
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Wiggins or Parker (randle exum and the Kansas center are all off the table this is wiggins vs Parker). I'm taking wiggins here is how I see it Parker is better now but wiggins will be better in 3 years and wiggins plays way better defense in my opinion
 

57stratdawg

Heisman
Dec 1, 2004
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Hate to take the easy way out, but it probably depends on who has the #1 pick. I would take Wiggins if I had to pick.
 

DAWG61

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Feb 26, 2008
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17 that I'm taking Embiid even if you say I can't. That dude's a freak! But between Wiggins or Parker I'm taking Wiggins.
 

mstateglfr

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Feb 24, 2008
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Why is Embiid off the table? He is long as hell, has control of his body, runs light, and is aggressive. He is a GM's dream.

If you want it to be a discussion on Wiggins and Parker, just ask which one of the two will be picked before the other.

I would take Parker if I were a GM. I am in charge of a terrible team and need help right away. Parker is someone who can come in and impact the game right away. Also, everything I have read about him is good. Solid character off the court too.

Wiggins is a freak athlete. He also takes a lot of plays off and seems to drift thru parts of the game. He is like Ben McLemore last season at Kansas- just not aggressive as often as I think he should be.
I am sure he has the potential to improve as he matures, but I am in charge of a terrible team and want some immediate impact.


Too often, some project or potential player is drafted high and is thrust into a role where they need immediate production- and just dont have it. Or they ride the end of the bench while some veteran whose skills have deteriorated plays way more minutes than he should.
 

johnson86-1

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Aug 22, 2012
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I am in charge of a terrible team and want some immediate impact.
...
Too often, some project or potential player is drafted high and is thrust into a role where they need immediate production- and just dont have it.

If you're a bad enough team that you 'earned' a top three pick (and didn't strike gold in the lottery after just missing the playoffs), I'm not sure you want immediate production unless it's from a Lebron, Durant, Duncan type player or unless you have the cap space and a desirable destination so that you can be a major player in free agency. Getting one player that is good enough to immediately make you better without making you competitive just makes it that much harder to add pieces through the draft later on. There's definitely a downside to having young players on a terrible teams as they tend to pick up bad habits, but it's easy to get stuck in no-man's land where you are too good to build through the draft but not good enough to be competitive.

Of course this is the reason you see so many of the same teams in the lottery year after year. You pretty much have to have a little bit of luck to pull yourself off the floor, either hitting on some later draft picks or getting a top pick in a draft where a true difference maker is available.
 

dogfan96

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Jun 3, 2007
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It worked for OKC.. they sucked enough to get Durant, Westbook, Harden, and Ibaka in consecutive drafts
 

DudyDawg

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Jan 19, 2014
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I take Wiggins, especially considering Embiid isn't sure he's ready to come out (said he thinks he isn't ready due to culture change and only just learning basketball, per bleacher report). Also, the fact that Wiggins should be a senior in highschool right now and still leads number 8 team in nation in scoring means he is likely farther from his full potential than parker is to his own. Lack of aggression etc (McLemore reference) can be attributed to Wiggins' youth and can be changed. He's simply got a higher upside
 

mstateglfr

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Feb 24, 2008
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But he is in this discussion. Go back and read the first post- he says to exclude Embiid.
 

johnson86-1

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It worked for OKC.. they sucked enough to get Durant, Westbook, Harden, and Ibaka in consecutive drafts

Too lazy to go look it up, but I don't think Oklahoma used their own picks for that. I think Sam Presti stocked several of those picks through trades.
 

dogfan96

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Pretty sure they did use their own picks.. The 2 years prior to drafting James Harden, they won 20 and 23 games. Ibaka may have been via trade but Durant, Westbrook, and Harden were all high draft picks they got due to sheer sucktitude, and to their credit, they didn't miss on any of those picks
 

johnson86-1

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Pretty sure they did use their own picks.. The 2 years prior to drafting James Harden, they won 20 and 23 games. Ibaka may have been via trade but Durant, Westbrook, and Harden were all high draft picks they got due to sheer sucktitude, and to their credit, they didn't miss on any of those picks

Damn. I thought they got Durant and Westbrook on their own, but I thought they improved more than that for Westbrook's rookie season.

Speaking of not missing on any picks, supposedly they were going to pass on Harden because even though they thought he was the best talent available, they thought he wouldn't fit with Westbrook and to a lesser extent Durant. Harden wrote the GM or maybe owner a letter telling him that he wanted to play with Durant and Westbrook, and that despite it looking like he and Westbrook would not be complementary players, he would make it work and they should draft him.
 

johnson86-1

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Pretty sure they did use their own picks.. The 2 years prior to drafting James Harden, they won 20 and 23 games. Ibaka may have been via trade but Durant, Westbrook, and Harden were all high draft picks they got due to sheer sucktitude, and to their credit, they didn't miss on any of those picks

Got curious and looked it up. Can't see which picks were theirs and which picks they traded for, but Presti or somebody on his staff has a hell of an eye for talent. Presti took over in June of 2007.

In 2007, OKC (or Seattle I guess) drafted Kevin Durant with the second pick (basically a no brainer) but picked up Carl Landry and Glen Davis with the 31st and 35th overall picks. I would say both have greatly exceeded the average career for second round picks.

In 2008, They took Westbrook 4th and Ibaka 24th. Again, you expect to his with the 4th, but Ibaka was a damn good pick at 24th. They did take Walter Sharpe with the 32nd pick which obviously didn't work out, but I think that was a decent flyer to take. Walter Sharpe had the potential to be a good NBA player if he got his head straight, and that's not a terrible way to use a second round pick. They also had three last second round picks that basically amounted to nothing.

In 2009, they drafted Harden 3rd and Rodrique Beabois 25th. I don' think Harden was an obvious pick at 3rd and I guess Rodrique Beabois was his first true miss in the draft unless I have just missed him doing something.

That's a damn good three year stretch. So looks like my initial statement was completely wrong. You need maybe a little bit of luck to have a true franchise player available when you have a high draft pick, but it's probably more important that you hit on your draft picks. Getting Ibaka, Carl Landry, and Glen Davis with the 24th, 31st, and 35th picks gives you a lot of valuable assets from picks that are generally not that valuable.
 

Predestined

Junior
Dec 5, 2008
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Naw, trade down, get picks, hope to snag Baxter Price in late first

he was a better player for us than RS.