TripleThreat wrote:nixluva wrote:I personally don't really think the draft is such a high % path to success.
Why don't we put an end to this happy horse **** right now? Yes, let's do that.
Golden State Warriors
Steph Curry - drafted
Klay Thompson - drafted
Andrew Bogut - via trade, but acquired by giving up Monta Ellis, meaning a great job of mining the 2nd round of the draft for a high value asset at the time
Igoudala - Only able to get to the Warriors because they gave up draft picks for Utah to eat contracts. Utah's valuation of those picks (i.e. their view that the draft would lead them to better success) allowed that trade to happen.
Draymond Green - drafted
Chicago Bulls
Joachim Noah - drafted
Derrick Rose - drafted
Taj Gibson - drafted
Jimmy Butler - drafted and a gem of a late first round pick
Nice young talent in Mirotic and McBuckets ( the Knicks would KILL to have guys like this on the roster) - drafted
OKC Thunder
Kevin Durant - drafted
Russell Westbrook - drafted
Serge Ibaka - drafted
Steven Adams - drafted
Perry Jones ( doing a nice job filling in with injuries) - drafted
Reggie Jackson - drafted ( a nice late first round value)
LA Clippers
Blake Griffin - drafted
DeAndre Jordan - drafted
Chris Paul - In trade, but trade was leveraged with biggest piece, Eric Gordon, then a high value shooting guard at the time, was a drafted player
Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James - originally drafted, came back ( cap space cleared was only possible using draft assets to dump contracts)
Kevin Love - trade, but only after using high value drafted assets in Wiggins and Bennett to get him
Kyrie Irving - drafted
Dion Waiters - drafted
Tristan Thompson - drafted
Anderson Varejo - drafted ( despite injurie, a hell of a value for a 2nd rounder)
SA Spurs
Tim Duncan - drafted
Tony Parker - drafted ( high value grab not at the top of the draft)
Manu Ginobili - drafted
Tiago Splitter - drafted ( late first rounder)
Kawhi Leonard - draft day trade for George Hill ( Hill was a developed late first rounder)
Some super high draft picks, but a lot of these teams, much of their core was digging for value in the draft even outside the top of the draft. Guys like Reggie Jackson, Varejao, DeAndre Jordan, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green. All guys who would be STARTERS for the Knicks today.
In almost every case, these teams, current contenders, are build around the draft or gotten key assets through trades from high value draft assets or developed draft assets. Almost all have a player who was a high value grab later in the draft.
Even if the Knicks didn't have super high draft picks and just did the heavy mining in the late first round and 2nd that some of these teams did, they'd be in an infinitely better position.
The draft doesn't work for you if YOU ARE A BAD ORGANIZATION AND HAVE A BAD FRONT OFFICE. Yet you keep clamoring how amazing Zen Master is, how he's a leader of men, how he's changing the entire Knicks landscape, yet you seem to think a roster he tried to almost entirely dump this past offseason is full of hidden gold.
The Knicks have coughed up so many draft assets in the last decade that they don't EVEN GIVE THEMSELVES A CHANCE TO SEE IF IT MIGHT WORK FOR THEM.
I'm not trying to say you can't build thru the draft. I said high % meaning that most teams that try to do it that way aren't as successful as the few you're posting. It's the reason I said what I said. It's not a high % success rate. How many teams are there in the NBA and you point to a precious few that were able to build thru the draft and become contenders. If I listed the teams that have tried and failed over the years it's a longer list. So it's not "happy horse..." It's reality.
Now I'm not saying it made sense to surrender assets as badly as this franchise has. The thing is that the basic premise most are suggesting is to lose badly and hope a great player is there and we actually get lucky bounces of lottery balls. It has to be recognized that this may not work as expected and you could be in the lottery for many years without success.
