With the 29th pick of the 2017 NBA Draft...
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Frank would be much better off going to a solid team where he can join a decent second unit than going to a rebuilding team where they wouldn’t have the type of bench players that could help him succeed. I don’t know that Philly would be a good situation for him because of that, but San Antonio, Golden State, Houston, heck, even Boston, Memphis, Washington or other playoff level teams would be good places for him to land.
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Washington would potentially be a great fit, closer to home and backing up Wall. I have seen Jennings and Burke are free agents and not likely to be re-signed which puts the Wizards in need of a solid backup PG. They currently have the 52nd pick which is probably around where Mason may fall anyway…
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If he went to Washington I’d watch a lot of Wizards games.
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It looks very likely to me that Frank falls to a less than stellar team. But, the Spurs are sitting at 59 if he falls that far. Would have to pass Philly 4 times, Knicks twice, Nuggets twice, Magic twice, Suns twice, New Orleans and the Nets to get there though. And Mocks have Spurs taking a PG with the 29th pick. So I just don’t think Frank will make it there.
I think there is a real shot he and Josh actually do both end up in Philly. Also think Hamidou Diallo ends up in Philly… But that is another story.
One more note, Caleb Swanigan, another Naismith finalist, is projected to be drafted in the 2nd round as well. Blows my mind. Talk about a steal around pick 40. Draymond Green twin.
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Spurs have their PG of the future already, they aren’t drafting Mason.
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The mock drafts are all over the place; I am not really sure which one has the best record of picking the correct players and positions. I have seen Swanigan anywhere from #20 to mid second round, Collins from Gonzaga anywhere from late lottery to late first round, Iwundu from late first round to late second round and Mason from as high as #29 to late second round but most have him in the middle second round.
Anyone knows which mock draft site has the best record?
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Looking at last years as a baseline I took the 3 most popular mock’s (ESPN, Draft.net & Draftexpress). Mind you this was just a quick compile so there may be some error.
ESPN- 10 correct 1st round picks, 1 2nd round pick (picked the correct team but player was drafted in 1st).
25 of 30 correct 1st round overall (players ESPN mocked in the 1st round were drafted).
Draft.net- 4 correct 1st round picks, 4 correct 2nd round picks.
27 of 30 1st round overall
Draftxpress- 8 correct 1st round picks, 0 2nd round
26 of 30 1st round overall.
Overall I think these sites generally know who’s going in the first round but with trades etc always tough to predict outside the top 10 picks. 2nd round is a total crap-shoot with only Draft.net correctly picking anyone in the 2nd round. We likely will have little clue where Mason ends up before hand.
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Also have to remember that draft day trades make it hard to predict what will happen because once picks start moving, the whole look of the round could change. That’s the part that lends to the lack of surety here.
Let’s imagine for a moment that the first 9 picks go something like this:
- Boston - Fultz
- Los Angeles - Ball
- Philly - Jackson
- Phoenix - Tatum
- Sacramento - Fox
- Orlando - Isaac
- Minnesota - Smith
- New York - Monk
- Dallas - Collins
Portland has three non-lottery first round picks. Sacramento has two top 10 picks. Sacramento is in the midst of a huge rebuild. Portland needs an infusion of talent to go with Lillard and McCullough. Sacramento offers Cauley Stein and 10 for one of their wings and picks 15 and 26.
If Portland says yes, they probably aren’t taking a PG with that pick like some mocks have Sacto doing. They are taking a wing or a big man. Let’s give Portland Jarrett Allen. Charlotte now takes Markkanen, and Detroit decides to move down from 12 to 16. Sacto is holding 15 and 26. They already have Fox, so they probably want a scoring wing and a defensive big to go with him since they moved Cauley Stein. Maybe Giles at 15? Or Justin Jackson? Maybe Justin Patton? And that would have the trickle down affect through the entire rest of the first round.
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@HighEliteMajor Perfect scenario there.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Ok, perhaps I am simply ignorant. It’s the NBA. So I’m not a great source. But such a definitive statement seems unwise. It is unlikely that your premise is relevant. I don’t think any team would draft Mason as their “point guard of the future” – like the guys you see at the top of the draft. Further, it would seem that many teams do, in fact, draft more than one point guard; and that some teams use first round picks on possible back ups. Of course, the Spurs may not draft Mason. That’s likely correct given the numbers and draft positions. But to dismiss it seems silly.
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The team drafting Mason is likely drafting him as a backup. After that, it’s really up to Frank how things turn out. If you’re drafted after the first 18-20 picks, teams aren’t picking you to be a starter or a star. They are drafting you hoping that you can contribute on a winning team as a role player or off the bench. That’s why teams are frustrated when lottery picks don’t pan out, and ecstatic when late first rounders do. The Spurs have stayed good because they have landed good players late in the first round. Most other teams have not had that success, which is why the Lakers are bad right now.
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@HighEliteMajor Spurs already have multiple PG’s. Tony Parker still has probably another 2-3 years left and his likely successor is Dejounte Murray who stepped up big time once Parker got hurt. The Spurs biggest need is a 2 because Manu is the next one to retire and even that’s not a huge need with Jonathan Simmons emerging. Spurs are probably picking an international player to stash like they frequently do.
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@justanotherfan Laker’s are bad because of Kobe and Stern. Nobody wanted to play with him. Ran Shaq and Gasol out of town. Then created a financial burden that didn’t allow them to sign star free agents, not like any of the good ones wanted to play with him anyways.
On top of that, the Lakers lined up a trade to have Chris Paul and the trade gets blocked. Stern basically ended the Laker’s future right then and their. Imagine a team next year with Chris Paul and Paul George. What 3rd free agent wouldn’t want to play with that pair? Does KD go to the Laker’s when Chris Paul is there instead of Golden State? Does LeBron go to LA instead of Clevland?
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Lakers will have George anyway. The Lakers have a built in advantage of always being an attractive free agent destination because it’s LA. The mix of guys being from there and guys wanting to live there is always in play.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lakers lineup in two years is PG - Ball, SG - Ingram, SF - George, PF - Randle, C - Draft Pick X.
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13 NBA teams have asked him to come in and work out. There is an awful lot of interest in Frank.
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It is hard not to be at least curious about the one player who swept all the major college awards and the emergence of Isaiah Thomas a a bonafide star has not hurt either.
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Be careful what you wish for… maybe he takes Bill with him to SA!
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How about the Celts take Frank and the first(?) low rise back court in NBA history!
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@justanotherfan I think you’re missing my point.
Would you rather have Lonzo Ball or Chris Paul?
Would you rather have Chris Paul, Paul George and someone like Deandre Jordan or LaMarcus Aldridge?
Or would you rather have Ball, George and X?
And, you are right. LA is attractive to free agents. Which proves my point to why Kobe screwed them so badly at the end. His contract prevented them from working around the salary cap to bring in other stud free agents and his personality didn’t help any.
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A couple of items. Sterns did not block the Chris Paul trade because it would help the Lakers too much, he blocked it because it would hurt the Hornets too much since it would have taken the only valuable player the Hornets had and at the time, the NBA owned the Hornets.
Next, Kobe did not screw the Lakers, they did that all by themselves. Kobe’s obligation was to himself first and to get the best possible contract he could and this is exactly what it did; the Lakers could have negotiated a better contract and yet they did not. Kobe’s presence put butts on seats and the Lakers did not hurt at the gate. Keep in mind that the NBA is a business and the players are businessmen whose job is to maximize their present and future income. Remember what LeBron told the Wall Street Journal…“The first time I stepped on an NBA court, I became a businessman.”
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I’d rather have Chris Paul right now. But in three years, Ball, George, Randle, Ingram and X could be a contending core. At the start of the 2013-14 season, no one would have coveted a core of Curry, Thompson and Green. Now, you couldn’t get that for a king’s ransom. Lots of people thought all of those guys were pretty good players. No one thought they would all be all stars. Green was coming off a rookie season where he averaged 3 points a game. Klay Thompson had played two very solid, but not spectacular years and looked like a rotation piece, but not a star. Curry was becoming a star, and was coming off a season where he attempted 600 threes for the first time, but no one could have seen a 400 make season coming.
That’s what I am point to. The Lakers in three years could have a core that represents where basketball is going with Ball (a passing and three point shooting PG), Ingram (maybe he unlocks his Durant lite potential), George (a two way star), Randle (a PF that can handle the basketball and rebound), and whatever X turns out to be. That’s better than having Paul, George and Jordan right now because that group is unlikely to be good enough to take down Golden State right now.
Truthfully, I would rather have what Minnesota has simmering (Towns, Wiggins, Lavine, this year’s #7 pick and a solid bench) than just about anything (you have to worry that Philly may never be able to keep Embiid and Simmons on the floor enough together to achieve what they could do) anywhere else in the league.
Best current NBA situations:
- Boston - really good team, top pick, a star (Thomas) and a developing star (Brown).
- Golden State - historically great team in its prime. They won’t be this good in five years, but they could stay this good for the next three.
- Cleveland - historically great player extending his prime, with two bona fide all stars entering their primes. They, like Golden State, lack the ability to add another great young player through the draft, but as long as Lebron is Lebron, they are here.
- San Antonio - because its the Spurs and they do this better than anyone.
- Houston - recognized the revolution before almost anyone else.
- Minnesota - best situation of all the non-playoff teams with super young talent.
- Philly - if everyone can stay healthy
- Lakers - If they get the draft right, they can turn things around in a real hurry with free agency.
Everyone else.
Last New York - Just a mess no matter how you look at it.
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@JayHawkFanToo Yet he let him get traded to the Clippers only 6 days later?
Nope. Don’t buy it.
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@justanotherfan Pelicans with an AD and Cousins duo for years to come is up there for me. They are one piece away from being a contender.
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@JayHawkFanToo Oh and Kobe did screw the Lakers by running other players out of town. LA is a destination city that couldn’t draw stud Free Agents. Kobe running players out of town cause LA to lose top players for nothing. Something you can’t do in the NBA.
You can’t lose a stud without getting a valuable asset back. Because once they leave, you can’t sign a free agent if it takes you over the salary cap. You had a guy with Bird rights, but once he leaves you don’t. So you can’t spend over the Salary Cap.
That kicked LA in the ass. Nobody good wanted to play with Kobe. So you signed 2nd tier guys to contracts that filled up the cap because they are required to spend 98% of the salary cap due to the CBA. Which is what put LA in contract hell. Until now that is.
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Kobe Bryant. Volume shooter deluxe.
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Either management, i.e. president, GM and coach run the team or you let the players run the team. If you let the players run the team and decide who comes, stays and goes then whose fault is it? Players are hired employees and management makes the decisions. You don’t see most teams having this problem, right? If the Lakers deferred to Kobi, whose fault is it? In my opinion, the Lakers. Players don’t do anything unless management allows it. Players are like kids and will continuously push the envelope, it is up to the adults to set the limits. You cannot blame for what happen to the Lakers on Kobi while holding management, i.e. the decision makers blameless.
As far as the Chris Paul Trade, most of the League owners were solidly against it, see here and here.
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New Orleans is one piece away, but they don’t have a first round pick this year and they may not have a high lottery pick next season because the Davis/Cousins combo will be too good to get a top five pick. They could even make the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed. But that won’t help them get the last piece they need.
They are a piece away, but have no clear path to getting that last piece. All of the teams I listed either have all of the necessary pieces, or have a clear path to getting those pieces in place. That’s not the case for the Pelicans.
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@JayHawkFanToo Of course the owners were against giving the Laker’s Chris Paul… Funny thing, if you look at what Charlotte would have gotten from the Lakers deal, it was significantly better than what they got for the Clippers deal. You can see that here.
Hornets/Pelicans don’t have a SINGLE player on their team still from that trade. Could have had Goran Dragic and Kevin Martin partnered with AD.
We can agree to disagree about KobE. What GM wouldn’t commit to him long-term? And good luck keeping someone with such an ego in check.
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@justanotherfan I feel pretty good about Pelicans landing a stud Free Agent in one of the next two offseasons. They have plenty of Cap room.
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The article you quoted is 3 years old and was written 3 years after the trade in question and as you know, hindsight is always 20-20. Scola was 31 at the time of the trade and Martin 28 and both past their prime, Scola more so than Martin; Dragic was young and unproven at the time and had just finished the season averaging 7 ppg but he turned out very well and kicking butt for Miami. Odom lasted 2 more mediocre years before he was out of basketball for good…at least the Kardashians did not turn him into woman.
I don’t blame Kobe for the situation with the Lakers, if I was in the same situation and was allowed to get away with what he did, I am sure I would do it too and probably you would as well. LeBron is the only other player that I can think that gets away with the same
Agree to disagree?
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Oh yah, Pop would be a great coach for Frank.
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@approxinfinity Hell yah! That would be 3 former Jayhawks on that team!
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@Texas-Hawk-10 The Spurs are set at point guard … as news today that they may take a run a Chris Paul. Just information.
