Crazy how many lottery picks never amount to much. Wesley Johnson was just traded in a salary dump deal for 2nd rounders.

This guy was the 4th pick in the 2010 draft. SMH.

ramtour420 wrote:It doesn't pay to draft your core,most of the time its a fail. But the few times that it does work out , the whole future of the team can be changed with one player. Unless you are a crappy organization then it doesn't even matter.

CashMoney wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

ramtour420 wrote:It doesn't pay to draft your core,most of the time its a fail. But the few times that it does work out , the whole future of the team can be changed with one player. Unless you are a crappy organization then it doesn't even matter.

I think that is misguided. Take the top 3 players on each of the final four NBA teams this year. 9 of the 12 players were drafted by their teams. My guess is that's similar to the percentage for any given year.

Yeah but the the team that won it all doesn't get another ring without FA's Bosh, Lebron, Miller and Battier.

ShellTopAdidas wrote:This thread would never be on the Spurs or OKC board...Smh

VCoug wrote:The thing about the draft vs free agency vs trades is that the draft is usually the only way to get a player you can build a championship-caliber team around. What happened two years ago, with all the talent that switched teams, is really unusual. Usually, players of that caliber only switch teams at the end of their careers, like Kevin Garnett, or when a player demands a trade, which doesn't happen as often as some people think. Also, by trading for a player you're giving up assets that will take time to replace, using up valuable years of a veteran player's career.

If you look at most of the championship teams over the last 30 years, usually, most of their best players were drafted by that team: the Lakers' Magic, Worthy, Kobe, and Bynum; the Celtics' Bird, McHale, Pierce and Rondo; the Isiah/Dumars Pistons; the Jordan/Pippen/Grant Bulls; Olajuwon's Rockets; the Duncan/Robinson/Manu/Parker Spurs; Wade's Heat; and Nowitzki's Mavs. There's no surefire way to build a championship team, and the draft is always a crapshoot, but it's usually the only way to get one of these players.

ShellTopAdidas wrote:

VCoug wrote:The thing about the draft vs free agency vs trades is that the draft is usually the only way to get a player you can build a championship-caliber team around. What happened two years ago, with all the talent that switched teams, is really unusual. Usually, players of that caliber only switch teams at the end of their careers, like Kevin Garnett, or when a player demands a trade, which doesn't happen as often as some people think. Also, by trading for a player you're giving up assets that will take time to replace, using up valuable years of a veteran player's career.

If you look at most of the championship teams over the last 30 years, usually, most of their best players were drafted by that team: the Lakers' Magic, Worthy, Kobe, and Bynum; the Celtics' Bird, McHale, Pierce and Rondo; the Isiah/Dumars Pistons; the Jordan/Pippen/Grant Bulls; Olajuwon's Rockets; the Duncan/Robinson/Manu/Parker Spurs; Wade's Heat; and Nowitzki's Mavs. There's no surefire way to build a championship team, and the draft is always a crapshoot, but it's usually the only way to get one of these players.

We don't keep any draft pics.around long enough to see if they'd ever amount to anything.

We've drafted 2 all star playes in the last 26 years.

Bonn1997 wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

ShellTopAdidas wrote:

VCoug wrote:The thing about the draft vs free agency vs trades is that the draft is usually the only way to get a player you can build a championship-caliber team around. What happened two years ago, with all the talent that switched teams, is really unusual. Usually, players of that caliber only switch teams at the end of their careers, like Kevin Garnett, or when a player demands a trade, which doesn't happen as often as some people think. Also, by trading for a player you're giving up assets that will take time to replace, using up valuable years of a veteran player's career.

If you look at most of the championship teams over the last 30 years, usually, most of their best players were drafted by that team: the Lakers' Magic, Worthy, Kobe, and Bynum; the Celtics' Bird, McHale, Pierce and Rondo; the Isiah/Dumars Pistons; the Jordan/Pippen/Grant Bulls; Olajuwon's Rockets; the Duncan/Robinson/Manu/Parker Spurs; Wade's Heat; and Nowitzki's Mavs. There's no surefire way to build a championship team, and the draft is always a crapshoot, but it's usually the only way to get one of these players.

We don't keep any draft pics.around long enough to see if they'd ever amount to anything.

We've drafted 2 all star playes in the last 26 years.

You can't draft all-stars when you don't draft players.
I think you can count on zero hands the number of teams in my lifetime that won championships without the draft playing a critical role.

I hate to bring them up because that was such a weird season and Finals, but the 2004 Detroit Pistons were built almost exclusively through free agency and trades. Offhand, I can only think of two players that were drafted onto that team: Tayshaun Prince and Darko.