2018 Guru Draft Review -- Part II

[Phoenix Suns]

11. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander -- Denver

A


Denver strikes again, nabbing the best PG in the draft at the perfect spot.  I would have perhaps grabbed the same two players at #9 and #11. 

Pair these two with Willie Cauley-Stein, Jordan Bell, Gary Harris, and Dejounte Murray, and you've got a good start to rebuilding the Nuggets.

Imagine if Nuggets hadn't tried to hold onto Boogie like George III tried to hold onto America and sold him for a haul -- you'd have a squad.  Napoleon
sold and got 10m from the Louisana Purchase.  He knew when to sell.

But I digress.

Scrooge McDuck minus the fortune did well here, as SGA is a great on-ball defender, Shot 41% from 3 and 82% from the line, and plays with a
ferocious intensity reminiscent of Chris Paul.  When your 11th pick in the draft starts as a plus defender, and is already a crafty scorer and a 
decent playmaker, you know you've done well.

I'll leave you with one final thought:  Maybe wait for more than 2 games this season before bragging about your players, you dumb fuck.







12. Lonnie Walker IV -- Portland

A-

The last two times the IRL Spurs selected someone this high, it turned into Kawhi Leonard and Tim Duncan.

Walker is a great pick, with lottery-level talent who can score, make plays, and defend.  If Kawhi bails, this turns into
a very good situation for him.

The pick is an A, while the injury history and taking him this early earns him the minus.



I considered making this a B+ due to the slight reach and the knee problems, but this video is too good, and his name is Lonnie Walker IV...
Die Hard 4, Harry Potter 4, the iPhone 4... the 4th generation always seems to excel, and the Lonnie Walker, Texas Ranger jokes
practically write themselves.

A great find at the backend of the lotto, which isn't surprising, given how much backend work Blazers does with PYTHON 



13. Mikal Bridges -- Vancouver

D+

A knockdown 3-and-D guy who shot 44% from three on 240 attempts, while hitting 85% from the line -- this guy spreads the floor like
Portland spreads buttcheeks.

He's a good fit in Phoenix, projecting to be a Robert Covington-type player, which is unfortunate, because that means he probably has
more value IRL than he does in a points league in fantasy, topping out around 25-30 FPPG.  Not the type of transcendent player you
need when rebuilding from scratch.

This pick doesn't make sense to me when Miles Bridges was available and is in a much better situation to produce at the fantasy level.

You're the worst team in the league -- you need to hit home runs, not singles.

The only singles you should be hitting on, are on Tinder.



14. Miles Bridges -- Milwaukee

A


Miles is a potential Top 10 lotto pick who is an explosive, shifty player who can do it all, including shoot, which he did at a 36% rate
from 3 and 85% from the line.  A smart player who is a perfect fit in the modern pace-and-space NBA, Bridges is a polished player
with some upside who can defend, and a fantastic pick at #14.

Bucks has struggled as a franchise, but is slowly amassing a slew of talented young players to compete with down the road, with
Josh Jackson, Malik Monk, and Miles Bridges looking like a promising core.

If you love root canals, try trading for one of them!



15. Elie Okobo -- Minnesota

D

You lost me at Phoenix PG.  As the owner of the previous four Point Guards for Phoenix, I can assure you, these aren't the fantasy
producers you're looking for.

Okobo is a promising rookie who shoots 42% from three, can fire off the dribble, finishes at the rim, has a good first
step and can pass.

That said, this feels like a huge reach, I'm not sure anyone was taking Okobo anywhere near this early.  He went in the second round in
the NBA draft and was listed at #27 on draft.net.

Reaching is becoming a common theme for Wolves in this draft.  At least no one will ever accuse you of this:



There was just no reason to take him this early, you should have traded down like Blazers did.

i n f i n i t e  v a l u e



16. Donte DiVicenzo -- New York

F

A 6'4 white dude.  Yikes.  He shot 40% from three, but only 71% from the line, which is more predictive of 3pt shooting success long-term.

His player comp is Nik Stauskas.  

All I can think about when reading about this guy:



I can't see him getting any serious FPPG on a team with Giannis, Middleton, Bledsoe, and Jabari.

Screams fantasy bust to me, even if he provides spacing and value to the IRL Bucks.

This is the Luke Kennard of draft picks.

Pass.




17. Zhaire Smith -- Minnesota

C+

The player in a vacuum is a B+, the situation is a D.

Zhaire is an exciting player to take a flier on and this is the appropriate spot to take him at, but he is an athletic and 
defensive player on a stacked team that already has Embiid, Simmons, Covington, Redick, and Saric.  I just don't see
where he is going to get the opportunity to put up FPPG.

Better pick for IRL 76ers than for Guru Wolves.  

Yahoo Sports described his frame as sub-optimal.  Although, to be fair, every frame is sub-optimal when compared to
Wolverine's:



Someone wants to stick some python into that backend 





18. Jerome Robinson -- Chicago

B

SBNation says that the issue with Robinson is that "he’s a poor defender who will give back as many points as he scores."

He put up 21 PPG at Boston College, shooting 41% from three and 83% from the line, while being an athletic scorer and
excellent dribbler, giving him lots of offensive upside.

While he was arguably a reach in the NBA draft at #13, taking him at #18 is far more reasonable.

If Jerry West is willing to take you over MPJ, that says something very positive.  His lack of defensive ability is scary long-term,
but he should be very impactful in terms of FPPG in the near-term, and has the tools to excel in the modern NBA given his 
stellar shooting numbers and aggressive scoring mentality.  The Clippers are a great situation for him.

A nice fantasy pickup for Bulls, who has nailed the last few drafts with Tatum and Brown, and continues to pile the assets and
improve his team.

I was 30% convinced Bulls was Danny Ainge IRL with those previous selections, but he didn't select Robert Williams in this draft.
Unless he was trying to throw me off the trail... 

5D Chess


19. Troy Brown -- Philadelphia

The Ringer: "There is a lot of Evan Turner in his game"

F




Winners

The biggest winners were the teams that grabbed Ayton, Doncic, JJJ, Young, Bamba, and Bagley.

Minnesota had the steal of the draft, but disappointed throughout with wild reaches and players in poor situations.  JJJ falling
to him is more luck than skill.  Nevertheless, hard to call grabbing JJJ and MPJ anything but a win.  The question is, does it
match what he gave up to grab those picks?  He gave up significant assets to get those draft picks.

Vancouver made one of the best trades of the year, and began the rebuilding process with a bang, taking a great prospect in Ayton.

The rich got richer as Dallas nabbed Doncic, Seattle did well to salvage missing out on the aforementioned by selecting Bamba, and
Lakers took one of the best players in a strong draft in Bagley, which should prove instrumental in his rebuild, even if he arguably
took him too early.

Portland had one of the better drafts, and despite trading down repeatedly, to the annoyance of the league, he came away with excellent
assets in Trae Young and Lonnie Walker.

Denver had the best draft relative to where he had to pick, and made out like a bandit selecting SGA and Wendell Carter Jr.

Bagels and Sexton were a solid haul for the Lakers, but could have perhaps done more given the pair of prime lotto picks he had going in.
Still a win, though, as he didn't whiff on any of the picks.

Chicago did very well with his only pick, as did Milwaukee, who crushed it at his position.


Losers

Minnesota.  Some really questionable picks past Jaren Jackson Jr..  Can't help but feel like the EOTY could have done better given the sheer
amount of attempts he had.  Haven't seen that many ill-advised reaches since Donald Trump hosted The Apprentice.  That said, if Michael Porter Jr.
pans out, we'll all look like idiots.

At least the Wolves got some primo assets in the draft, though.  The same can't be said for Oklahoma City, who made a fairly uninspiring pick
in Kevin Knox.

I really hated New York's only pick in selecting DiVicenzo -- I don't see how that will produce anything relevant fantasy-wise.

I don't actually know anything about Philadelphia's Troy Brown pick, but the second I saw the Evan Turner comp, I immediately stopped reading and
nope'd the hell out of there.