I haven’t sorted out all the impressions yet and honestly, I’m not quite sure what to think about everything that happened in the draft night.
First, I am more or less satisfied with the selected players. Both Grimes and McBride seem to me like players exactly according to Thibs’ wishes. Sims is a project and can fill the 3rd center position for now. The question is when we will see the Lithuanian, he is almost certainly a stach pick. Trade up obviously couldn’t be done for some reasonable price. Murphy and Mann went right in front of us, and my biggest surprise was Moody which I was sure was the top 10 pick. I hope we don’t regret Keon, Jalen or Garuba in next years.
On the one hand, it’s clear that the FO didn’t want to be loaded with rookies because Thibs certainly doesn’t want too many projects. This way he got the players he wants. Players who are probably not "a year or two away from playing in the NBA". If we look from the perspective that we got the players the team wanted, then all these trade downs make sense. But on the other hand, trading the 19th pick in the loaded draft for the top 18 protected pick on the next one doesn't really make sense unless you really didn't want an unplanned rookie on the roster and you prefer an asset in the form of a future pick.
Basically, I’m not entirely disappointed because, as I wrote, the players we selected are ok. But I can't be completely satisfied either because the draft unfolded in such a way that we could reach very talented players. But that’s clearly not the direction the team will go in the new season. If we didn’t know before, now we definitely know we continues in full win now mode.
