Top 5 takeaways from NBA Draft, what side OKC Thunder was in terms of trends.
Rich get richer:
There is a reason why certain teams perform well every year and much of that has to do with their front offices. Likewise, there are teams who fail to impress even when they have the opportunity to succeed.
For example, the San Antonio Spurs sat back and let others miss out on key prospects and then smartly stepped in to pick Luka Samanic at 19th and perplexingly Keldon Johnson who fell all the way to 29th. And don’t be surprised if Quinndary Weatherspoon (the Spurs 49th pick) ends up being a reliable bench producer.
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After five consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, the Warriors haven’t had much to play with when it comes to the draft. So, they found a way to get their man in spite of their seeding. To wit, the Dubs kept their G-League player Alen Smailagic out of the G-League draft workouts in order to hide him away. The result netted the Dubs Smailagic with the 39th pick and it’s likely they told the youngster to keep a low profile with a promise of selecting him.
In recent years, Masai Ujiri has made a habit of mastering late round picks and developing them into contributing stars. Norman Powell was selected 46th while Fred VanVleet didn’t even make the 60 player draft cut.
This year, the Raptors entered with a lone pick at 59th and again Ujiri jumped on his opportunity by adding Dewan Hernandez. In case you are unaware Hernandez became the poster boy for the witch hunt in the NCAA all because he was honest about accepting a hotel room to sleep in. The Raptors front office kept tabs on the Miami Hurricane prospect as he developed off the court.
As for head scratchers, it’s hard to rationalize the Wizards selecting a player they not only didn’t work out but never even made their indications clear. Likewise, the Suns had an opportunity to land some exciting talent and instead made moves which beg if James Jones is already falling prey to the curse in Phoenix.