Grading 2020 NBA Draft: OKC Thunder are active and aggressive
Mediocre effort:
Typically many of the teams fall in this area on draft night. Their picks are fine – – average – – expected even.
But, these squads are also frustrating because they failed to take any risks, make any trades, or do anything that would possibly give their team an edge.
Some might say that warrants a solid grade since they aren’t making bad moves. On the other hand consider teams like the Heat (Kendrick Nunn, Duncan Robinson), Raptors (Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Terence Davis), and the OKC Thunder (Luguentz Dort) who went off the board, signed undrafted players, or took a huge risk that paid off.
Do the Raptors win the title, Heat get to the finals or Thunder make the playoffs if they don’t take these draft night risks? And by not taking a risk of that nature does it set back the club
Clippers
- Daniel Oturu (33rd), C, Minnesota
- Jay Scrubb (55th), SF, John A. Logan College
The Clippers focused on adding depth in the frontcourt (as they also did by picking up Serge Ibaka in free agency). I’m not sure the Montrezl Harrell signing across the hall was so much of a steal as it was a quiet wave goodbye given the Clippers truly needed to add size was bluntly demonstrated in the postseason.
Oturu might be an eventual contributor but not this season and Jay Scrubb is a project with upside.
Grade: C-
Nuggets
- Zeke Nnaji (22nd), C, Arizona
- RJ Hampton (24th), combo guard, NBL
The RJ Hampton pick (or trade rather) is more enticing than Nnaji. Since he can play either guard position he could provide a great partner for Jamal Murray in the backcourt. His athleticism and length should help be a bonus defensively and again help Murray specifically.
Nnaji feels like much more of a project and it’s unlikely he’ll crack the lineup anytime soon. The loss of Jerami Grant was huge, however, so Mike Malone will need to address that loss particularly defensively which is the area of Nnaji’s game that is most suspect. That could result in others moving past the youngster for minutes as Malone searches for answers.