NBA
Bad Bounces
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Turnovers are a part of any NBA game. It’s like strikeouts in a baseball game or having the punt the ball in football. They will happen. But how often they happen can make or break a season.
Only once this season have the Atlanta Hawks committed less than 10 turnovers in a game and they lost that game anyway.
On the other end of the spectrum, they have over 15 games with at least 20 turnovers, far and away the worst in the league. Some teams have a one or two players responsible for high turnover rates, but for the Hawks, it’s pretty much everyone. And they aren’t bad, they are historically awful.
All things in balance, since the Hawks have an excellent shot profile and they don’t take very many mid-range shots, those shots lead to an increased turnover rate, and defenses are adept at stopping Atlanta’s offense in that situation. It’s not entirely to blame for the awful turnover rate, but it’s a big area of concern.
The issue is that a team chocked full of rookies and other young players are being tasked with taking almost exclusively three points or layups. Trae Young and Kevin Huerter just don’t have the experience to handle the ball with regularity and prevent turnovers. Veteran players like Kent Bazemore, who isn’t a ball handler by trade, are out of their element when asked to do so.
Jeremy Lin turns the ball over nearly twenty percent of the time. Taurean Prince, Dewayne Dedmon and Alex Len all turn the ball over more than 15% of the time. Young and Huerter have growing to do, but the fact that the team’s seasoned players are having career-worst seasons is inexcusable.
The coaching staff has, somewhat inexplicably, not found the time to be concerned about the turnovers.
Granted, the correlation between turnovers and team success has lessened in the past decade and a half, but Coach Pierce is not working on fixing the problem. Instead, he has made it clear that he’d rather his team throw the ball around and grow without strict oversight. It’s understandable for the youth, but those veterans are being allowed free reign to turn the ball over with impunity.
The call is probably right. Trae Young will learn by doing, and he will stumble and he will turn the ball over; but he’s also a talent the likes of which haven’t been seen in Atlanta in a long time.
He’s an incredible passer and with each turnover he will figure out what not to do, and before we all blink, he’ll be one of the best in the league at making plays.
Ditto for Huerter and Jason Collins, who turn the ball over more than anyone would like but need to be given the freedom to explore what they can do with the ball in their hands and hone those skills, rather than be typecast into certain roles this early in their career.
The veterans on the team shouldn’t have that same luxury, but it’s certainly understandable if Pierce feels that he can’t chew out a veteran for the same turnover a rookie is making without losing a bit of credibility with the older guys.
Atlanta’s turnover problem is massive and is holding them back from making the next step (even amid improved overall play) in terms of offensive output, but there’s a method to Pierce’s madness.
The long-term development of players like Young, Huerter, and Collins will have speed bumps along the way; it’s just an unfortunate coincidence that the rest of the team seems to have followed suit in this specific area.
Trading Places
By: TJ Hartnett
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
Look, we all knew that the 2018-19 season was going to be a tough one for the Atlanta Hawks.
We hoped for the best; not that they would contend, but that they would show some sparks and some reasons for future excitement.
At the very least, the front office would be able to get a feel for what they were working with and how they could start making improvements during the rebuilding process.
And it’s been tough.
Now that is bad news. However, it provides the front office a place to start as they look for trade options to improve their struggling roster. So where will they look? The key is looking at where some of the pieces the Hawks might see fit to move could end up and what those trades could bring back to Atlanta.
As a team in the middle of a rebuild, the Hawks’ rookie core is where Atlanta will hang their hat and they will try to strengthen that core with even more young talent.
They don’t get much younger than the 76ers Markelle Fultz, who can’t legally drink until next May. With Jimmy Butler arriving in Philly, Fultz is going to get even fewer touches, and his relationship with the Philadelphia brass is fairly fraught after an injury that neither side thinks was handled well by the other.
If Fultz wants to start over with a new franchise where he is sure to spend a fair amount of minutes on the court instead of the sidelines, Atlanta is the best location.
He’ll have the added bonus of being a key player on a team with none of the associated stress, since Atlanta has already been written off and forgotten about by pretty much everyone. Fultz could use that breathing room to regain his college form.
What might it take to pry Fultz away from the 76ers? How about some insurance at center? When Joel Embiid leaves the game for Philly, he leaves a void that Amir Johnson and Mike Muscala just can’t fill. However, Dewayne Dedmon might be able to handle it. Dedmon can play the position plus hit a three when he needs to.
The lanky center is far from the only moveable piece on the Hawks’ current roster. The other notable veterans that might benefit the Hawks move by being shipped off are Kent Bazemore and Jeremy Lin.
Lin isn’t the kind of superstar that would bring back an incredible haul, but if the Hawks can find a partner that desperately needs a point guard, they could fetch themselves a young player with a high upside.
Bazemore has been the Hawks’ sole constant during the last few years, the final remaining player from brighter days in Atlanta’s NBA history (and he only arrived in 2014), but his stellar defensive play is being wasted.
He’s a starting player for a team that needs one. The Pelicans need one and would likely be willing to part ways with a future first-round pick to get their hands on a player like Baze.
As tough as it might be to see some of the more experienced players depart from a team that is lacking in bright spots, the Hawks have to consider 2019 and beyond.
This season was a lost cause before the very first tip-off; this double-digit losing streak has only brought that into clearer focus. If the Hawks want to improve, they’ll need to start by trading players who are more valuable to others than to Atlanta.
Young And Talented
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NBA season has recently started. The Atlanta Hawks finished the 2017-18 season 24-58 and earned the third pick in the draft. They drafted Luka Doncic from Spain then traded him to Dallas for the fifth pick, Trae Young.
In his lone season at Oklahoma, Young established himself as a multi-talented scoring threat. Young finished his freshman regular season leading the country in many statistics: assists (271), turnovers (161), points (848), points per game (27.4), assists per game (8.7), and assist percentage (48.6%).
The 811 points scored in the Big 12 would break the conference’s record for most points scored by a freshman player, which was previously held by Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley.
Young has received a lot of hype with some labeling him as the next Steph Curry. So far, he has done well, leading rookies with 19.8 points per game. His season high was 35 points against Cleveland. The Cavs also have a stud rookie point guard, Collin Sexton. The Hawks won the game 133-111 for the first win of the season.
The next game Atlanta played Dallas in the battle of traded draft picks. Kent Bazemore led the way with 32 points. Small forward Taurean Prince scored 24 and Young had 17. Doncic played well for the Mavs and had 21 points. Atlanta won 111-104.
Doncic is averaging 18.7 ppg, 6.2 rebounds per game and 4 assists per game. We are still early in the season so we cannot tell which team won the draft day trade. I felt Atlanta should have kept Doncic but time will tell which player will have the most success.
The last game was at home against Chicago. The Bulls won 97-85. Prince, Young and Bazemore combined for 15 of Atlanta’s 22 turnovers on a night when the Hawks shot 32.1 percent (27 of 84).
”Coming off two games where we played well (and won), it was a lesson in how you handle success,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. ”Sometimes, we were trying to do too much, and it was evident with our 22 turnovers. … I thought right from the start we were trying to hit home runs.”
So far Prince has been a pleasant surprise in his second year. He’s averaging 20.6 ppg and 5 apg. He forms a solid young tandem with Young.
DeAndre’ Bembrey is also a second year small forward and he’s playing well coming off the bench. He averages 9 points and 5.4 rpg.
The Hawks have some veterans on the team to help. Vince Carter is in his 20th season. He transitioned from being a great dunker into a three-point shooter.
The team is 2-3 and currently ninth in the East. Time will tell if they can sustain this current pace or be one of the worst teams in the league.
There is some excitement around the team, which has been lacking for quite some time. The stadium underwent a $213.5 million renovation and has been renamed State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena).
I know they aren’t going to the playoffs but this team is exciting to watch. Young is a potential Rookie of the Year candidate.
Rebuilding The Nest
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Even though we are in the thick of the football season, for basketball junkies, like myself, there is added excitement since the start of the basketball season is just around the corner.
For fans of the Atlanta Hawks there may not be much to cheer about this upcoming season when it comes to their overall record. However, there will be plenty of identifiers that will give them an idea of where their team is headed.
The first person I’m watching is new head coach, Lloyd Pierce. When whatever soap opera revolving around Mike Budenholzer came to end and the Hawks decided to rebuild from the ground floor up, it made sense to bring in a coach with a reputation for working with young players.
Not only did Atlanta get that with Pierce, but he also knows what it’s like to work through those “growing pains” having been in Philadelphia the past five years.
Much like when Brad Stevens was hired in Boston a few years ago, Pierce won’t be judged on his win/loss record right away, or at least he shouldn’t be.
What Travis Schlenk, Atlanta’s general manager will be focusing on are the “how’s” of Pierce’s coaching:
How does Pierce relate to his players?
How does he use his rotation?
How does the first year coach react to particular end of game situations?
The way Pierce handles himself in these instances among, I don’t know, a hundred others he’ll encounter during the season, will speak louder than their final record.
Obviously, no matter how good Pierce may be leading the Hawks from the sideline, ultimately his fate rests with the players in the floor (come for my pop culture references, stay for my obvious analysis). In Atlanta’s case, most of those players are still acclimating themselves to the league.
Atlanta has a nice core of young players, starting with the trio of Taurean Prince, John Collins, and Trae Young.
Prince may never be an All-Star caliber player, but he’s solid on both ends of the floor and seems like the type of player who will fit in well with what Pierce wants to do.
Collins tends to remind me of a more athletic Al Horford, back at the start of Horford’s career.
Collins doesn’t have the array of offensive moves his elder does, but he does have the potential to get there. I really liked his game when he was at Wake Forest and look forward to seeing what he can over the next few years.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about Trae Young. While I understand the Stephen Curry comparisons to when Steph was coming into the league, Young is still a big gamble.
You could argue the player the Hawks traded away Luka Doncic for Young. Luka Doncic- has the highest floor, while Young has the greatest potential to be a bust.
Personally, I can see him averaging a double double in points and turnovers, just as easily as points and assists.
It would be easy to chalk this season up to a learning experience and spend time doing other things besides following a team that may not win 20 games. The reality though is this season is extremely important.
The Hawks are starting to put together the pieces they hope will bring them back to prominence over the next couple of years. This year will go a long way in determining if they’re starting with a solid foundation, or if they’re going to have to go back to the drawing board.
One Fell Swoop
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
In a blockbuster move that stole headlines all across the United States of America, the Atlanta Hawks traded for Oklahoma City superstar and future NBA Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony.
Okay, that might have been disingenuous way to start this article but I just couldn’t resist.
Plus, it’s technically true. Melo was sent to the Hawks from the Thunder. It’s just there’s a caveat that Melo won’t be donning an Atlanta jersey anytime soon. Or ever, probably. Let’s back up a little bit, shall we?
It was pretty much the exact moment after the sound of the buzzer that ended the Finals faded away that the rumor mill started cooking up the notion that Dennis Schröder was not long for Atlanta.
Schröder himself stoked the flame by removing all mention of the Hawks from his social media (granted that has never meant anything relevant, but it was noteworthy at the time). Turns out, those prognosticators were right and Schröder has left Phillips Arena, never to return again. Except as a visitor from the Midwest, of course.
The visiting team will have to be the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Schröder was shipped off to in exchange for Melo, one of the biggest NBA stars of the century, as well as a 2022 first round pick.
The Philadelphia 76ers contributed to the swap as well, sending Justin Anderson to Atlanta and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to Oklahoma City and receiving Mike Muscala, also from Atlanta.
To be fair, while this was a headline-grabbing trade due in large part to Anthony’s involvement, it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise for those paying attention. It seemed inevitable that the Hawks would make a move like this one.
And it’s a doozy. In a good way. They acquired some breathing room in their salary cap going forward and in turn gave themselves plenty of routes to play with their roster.
For the more immediate future, Muscala and Schröder will be missing from the roster, and that is not a benefit. They managed to keep the Hawks afloat last season, or as much as the Hawks could be kept afloat, anyway.
They have been Atlanta staples for the past several years and with good reason. They were consistent in their performances on the court, in the regular season and in bright spots during the playoffs.
But despite the hurt that their being traded will reign down on the team’s quality, let’s not forget that this is a rebuild and eggs must be broken before omelets can be made.
This was a trade for the future and that draft pick is half the battle. The other half is Justin Anderson. Anderson is a young player with potential that Philadelphia failed to unlock.
This was also a trade for financial flexibility so that the team can maneuver as needed in the months to come, having less than half of the $109 million they can spend committed for the 2018-2019 season.
That’s three goals: draft pick, young talent, cap space, accomplished in one fell swoop.
There’s no way to argue that this is a trade that made the Hawks better for the upcoming campaign, it did not. It made them worse.
But that’s okay, because they weren’t very good to begin with and this trade, while immediately detrimental to the team’s win-loss prospects, sets Atlanta up for the future in a big and bright way. It’s the kind of trade that needed to be made, and Atlanta pulled the trigger at seemingly the right time.
Oh, and Carmelo Anthony was immediately waived. Had to get that salary cap space. Sorry.
The Super Teams
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NBA season is over and Golden State won another championship. I’m sure that surprised nobody. I have to wonder if dynasties are bad for the NBA? In addition, can a team be assembled that can stop them?
I have to admit Kevin Durant didn’t invent the super team. The 1998-99 Houston Rockets had Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, two perennial All-Stars. It was a lockout shortened season and Scottie Pippen was traded to the Rockets in exchange for Roy Rogers and a 2nd round pick in the 2000 NBA Draft (Jake Voskuhl was later selected).
There were chemistry problems with the three super stars. Despite averaging a career high in minutes per game with 40.2 and finishing 4th in the NBA in minutes played, Pippen averaged 14.5 points per game, his lowest since his rookie year, and he made a career-low 43.2 percent of his shots. He also averaged 6.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists and was named to the NBA All-Defensive first team for the 8th time.
Barkley played 42 regular-season games and managed 16.1 points on .478 shooting and 12.3 rebounds per game. Houston finished the season with a 31-19 record. They lost in the first round to the Los Angeles Lakers 3-1. This is a perfect example of super stars teaming up and failing.
The 2003-04 Lakers are another example. LA won three consecutive titles before San Antonio won it all in 2002-03. Los Angeles responded by adding Gary Payton and Karl Malone to the roster. On paper, they seemed to be one of the most talented teams ever assembled but they lost to Detroit in the Finals, 4-1.
The modern template for great players teaming up is the 2010-11 Miami Heat. LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwayne Wade in South Beach. That team made it to four consecutive NBA Finals and won two of them.
We have seen examples that the perceived team with more talent does not always win. Right now, Golden State is head and shoulders above the rest of the league. The Warriors were 73-9 in 2015-16, which was the best record ever. They lost to Cleveland in the Finals. After that season, Durant joined them and the rest is history.
Now I have to wonder if anything can slow the Warriors down? Durant has said that he plans to re-sign with the team.
Mychal Thompson, former NBA player and father of guard Klay Thompson revealed that his son likely will not sign a contract extension with Golden State this summer.
That will drastically affect the team if Thompson leaves. Him paired with Steph Curry is the best backcourt in the league. He’s also one of the best three-point shooters in the game.
We do not have an idea of where Thompson will land. The biggest names in free agency are LeBron and Paul George. They are rumored to head to LA and join forces. Kawhi Leonard is still under contract with San Antonio but he is demanding a trade. Los Angeles is also his desired destination according to the media. Boston is also a rumored landing spot.
We will have a better idea of how everything will play out when free agency officially begins. I can’t foresee another team being able to overtake the Warriors in 2018-19 but we can only hope.
Atlanta Hawks Flying In The Right Direction?
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NBA draft, it’s that magical time of year when professional teams will seek out new stars for their franchise.
It’s that time when players who were forced to waste a year of their lives going to college when they were destined to end up in the NBA anyway finally meet their destiny.
It’s that time when the Atlanta Hawks and all their brethren teams are put under the microscope so we can judge whether or not their choices stack up against logic.
In any pro sport, the team at the top of the mountain will always inspire a slew of imitators. Franchises will reset their entire way of thinking based on whoever has been winning in the league.
For the past several years, the team being imitated has been, of course, the Golden State Warriors. The Hawks, in the beginning stages of their rebuild, are attempting to use the Golden State model to get back to winning ways.
GM Travis Schlenk’s deal that ended with Luka Doncic as a Maverick wasn’t without its critics, but he sees the fruit of that deal. Trae Young is expected to be the centerpiece of Atlanta’s team for years to come. In short, Schlenk has attempted to provide the Hawks with their own Steph Curry. In his only college season, he became the only player to lead the NCAA in both points and assists.
The plan to draft shooters continued later on the first round when the Hawks picked up Maryland’s Kevin Huerter. The comparison there is, if you can believe it, Klay Thompson.
So, the Hawks have their Curry and they have their Thompson but here’s the problem: Trae Young is not Steph Curry, and Kevin Huerter is not Klay Thompson.
On top of that, there isn’t a Kevin Durant among Atlanta’s draft picks either. It’s not that these pieces can’t evolve into top-tier talent, but Steph Curry is an all-time talent. Thompson is an elite player. The Warriors making it to Finals after Finals isn’t just because they have these types of players, but because they have legendary versions of those players.
Neither Young nor Huerter are likely to turn into that. They’ve got upside, but not the kind of guaranteed prospect that Durant was.
Schlenk went after shooters as a priority in this draft, but in doing so picked players who might have a lower ceiling than you might usually find in the first round, especially in the top 5. The Hawks may very well have gotten themselves stuck for the future.
For example, the Hawks picked up Omari Spellman, who can shoot, instead of talents like Khryi Thomas or Keita Bates-Doip, who had fallen back and were available when Atlanta was up at 30.
There were also some questionable choices like trading their #34 pick. Why trade that one pick for two second rounders from Charlotte? Schlenk has never heard that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
At the end of the day, no one really knows for certain how these things will turn out. Even surefire hits turn out to be misses (looking at you Greg Oden). The path that Schlenk and the Hawks have chosen to go down is an obvious one – ape the champs – but it is far from a one that guarantees success.
These draft picks will need to play up to their potential and maybe beyond it every game, and Atlanta will still need to investigate bringing in additional players. It’s not out of the question for Atlanta to have success, but it’s a tough road to navigate.
Musical Chairs
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After what amounted to a pretty exciting playoff, the NBA season finished just as most of us expected; with Golden State defeating Cleveland in the finals.
It was kind of like being lactose intolerant and eating ice cream; you enjoy consuming it, but you ultimately know what the end result will be.
With a regular season that has become somewhat mundane and a predictable postseason, you can argue that the best time of the NBA season is upon us; the NBA offseason.
As much as fans complain that “Super Teams” are ruining the NBA product, just the possibility that any player is willing to change teams- even if they happen to be one of the best players in league- has turned it into the most intriguing offseason of either of the three major sports.
The NFL Draft, with all of its’ uncertainty and build up, is better than the NBA Draft, but it’s free agency period falls well short of its basketball counterpart.
Yes, the NFL has its share of player movement in the offseason but the caliber of player involved in those moves doesn’t compare to that of the NBA. The decisions (no pun intended) LeBron (Cleveland-Miami-Cleveland-who the hell knows) and Durant (Oklahoma City- Golden State) have made would be like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers leaving their respective teams, which just doesn’t happen very often in the NFL.
Well, if I’m going to spout about how the NBA’s downtime is superior to everyone else’s because of their free agency, I should probably mention some of the possible movement to look out for this summer.
The two big names are the two I just mentioned; LeBron James and Kevin Durant. It’s pretty common knowledge that Durant will stay in Golden State. In fact, I think he may have even stated that. As for James, I feel more comfortable trying to predict the end to Game of Thrones than I do trying to figure it where LeBron will wind up.
Besides those two, there are some other big name players on the free agent market.
Paul George, Chris Paul, and Demarcus Cousins, are the next tier of players, which is still pretty impressive when you consider two of those three could very well be with new teams next year.
I don’t think Paul is going anywhere. Houston could very well have been playing in the Finals had he not missed the last two conference final games and the Rockets have as good a chance as anyone to land LeBron. Kind of hard to walk away from that.
Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins, on the other hand, are different stories.
George is going to end up with either the Lakers or Thunder. He seems to have enjoyed his time in OKC and playing with Russell Westbrook. The allure of playing in LA, George’s hometown, may too much, especially in LeBron decides to head out west.
I have no idea about Cousins. I wouldn’t be surprised if he signs to play in Beijing because he likes Chinese food, he’s just that type of guy.
Then you have players like Aaron Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, and Jabari Parker, who could all opt for free agency.
The point is, even if you’re only an occasional fan of the NBA during the season it’s ok, the best part of the league is about to start.
I’m not sure exactly what that means for the NBA, but I know I’m as interested as anyone to see how the dominoes fall.
Back To the Future
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Here we go again, in the middle of the NBA Finals. For the fourth year in a row Cleveland and Golden State are playing. I expected the Warriors to dominate and win another championship and so far, they have not disappointed.
The first two games were in Oakland and the Warriors maintained home court advantage. They won Game 1, 124-114 in overtime. The biggest moment of the game came with 4.7 seconds left in regulation. George Hill missed a free throw and J.R. Smith grabbed the offensive rebound in the lane. He ran behind the three-point line and dribbled the ball out, expecting a teammate to call a time out.
“I just thought we were going to call a timeout. Because I got the rebound, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t shoot it over KD,” Smith said of Kevin Durant. “If I thought we were ahead, I would have just held on to the ball so they could foul me. Clearly that wasn’t the case.”
LeBron James played amazing, scoring 51 points, snatching 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Kevin Love also added 21 points and 13 boards.
Game 2 was a blow out win for Golden State, 122-103. Steph Curry was the star of the game hitting an NBA Finals-record nine 3-pointers and scoring 33 points.
”Pretty special night,” Curry said, ”and hopefully some more special things happen and we get two more wins.”
Kevin Durant scored 26 points to go with 9 rebounds and 7 assists while also mainly guarding LeBron. Klay Thompson added 20 points playing on a tender left leg. Surprisingly, JaVale McGee scored 12 points, making all six of his shots in his first career NBA Finals start as Kerr made a lineup switch that proved spot on.
James followed up his 51-point performance in Game 1 with 29 points, 13 assists and 9 rebounds in a far tamer finals sequel and a much more lopsided one.
Kevin Love had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the cold-shooting Cavs, who will now try to gain some momentum back home. Game 3 is Wednesday night in Cleveland.
”We want to continue to be uncomfortable,” James said. ”Just because we’re going home doesn’t mean we can relax.”
Cleveland has looked so overmatched that I know they cannot win this series. I think the best chance they have to win a game will be Game 3. The home court advantage should provide a boost to the team.
They only have two-star players, James and Love. The absence of Kyrie Irving is very apparent in this series. The Cavs honestly have a roster loaded with role players. I’m not sure how J.R. Smith is good enough to be the starting point guard on a playoff team but he consistently plays most of the games.
Maybe it’s premature to says that the series is over because we have seen strange things occur. If you recall back in 2016 Golden State was 73-9, the best record ever. They had a 3-1 series lead over Cleveland but the Cavs came back and won the championship.
I know that will not happen this time but hopefully they can steal a couple of games to make this series competitive.
Who’s Next?
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NBA season is almost over and we already know the draft order for the upcoming 2018 draft.
One of the weaker divisions is the Southeast. Three of the teams (Atlanta, Orlando & Charlotte) are picking in the top eleven. Another southern team (Memphis) is in the Western Conference and they have a top five pick. Let’s take a look at the biggest needs for each of these teams.
Atlanta (24-58) had the worst record in the East so they can improve in several areas. The Hawks actually have three first round picks (No. 3, 19, 30) so they have a chance to vastly improve the talent on their roster. In the NBA you need a superstar player to win and sell tickets.
A big man would be the biggest need, either a power forward or center. The top option if available is Marvin Bagley III from Duke. He’s a 6’10 center/power forward that averaged 21 points per game, 11.1 rebounds per game and made 61.4% of his shot attempts. He is a great rebounder so he will get easy shots. He can help the team win now and give them a marquee franchise player for the first time since Dominique Wilkins.
I expect Atlanta to select a guard with the 19th pick. By that time all of the big names will be off the board. I believe someone like Anfernee Simons will still be available. He was the No. 7 player in the class of 2018. The 6’4 guard from Orlando played at IMG Academy this past season.
He will be able to go straight to the NBA through a loophole. He graduated from Edgewater High in his hometown and spent a post-grad year at IMG Academy. He has talent but he has not faced college competition, so he is a mystery.
I think Atlanta will trade the 30th pick so I’m not sure who they would select.
Memphis (22-60) had the second worst record in the league. They also are forced to play in the tough Western Conference even though geographically they don’t belong. Michigan State center Jaren Jackson Jr. might be a good fit. At 6’11 and 235 pounds, he needs to put on weight in the NBA.
He averaged 10.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 3 blocks per game. He is able to step outside as well as protect the rim. He is probably a couple years away from making a consistent contribution. If he can mature physically and mentally, he can become a perennial All-Star.
Orlando (25-57) was the second worst team in the East. The Magic have had some amazing players in their fairly short history like Shaq, Penny Hardaway, Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis. Hopefully, they can get another transcendent star with this pick. Duke center Wendell Carter would be the ideal selection.
Wendell was overshadowed by Bagley at Duke but he was not far behind him in terms of production. He averaged 13.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG and 2.1 BPG. He’s 6’10 and 250 lbs. so he has a frame ready for the NBA. I think he can become an elite player that the Magic can build around in the future.
Michael Jordan’s team (36-46) just finished another subpar season. The Hornets franchise has not had much success after they were resurrected as the Bobcats. Alabama guard Collin Sexton would be a great pick. He will be Kemba Walker’s successor at point guard.
Walker was explosive last year, averaging 19.2 PPG and 3.6 APG. He may only be 6’1 but he should be able to score at will at the next level.
