I usually say ‘trust the professionals’ but after missing on Mobley, Castle and Grimes I don’t have high hopes for Stone finding a diamond in the rough
I'd feel better if Stone picked blind folded or randomly, I wouldn't even want him to research anyone... Just have him show up, put a bunch of random names on some cards and have him pick one blind folded..... That's our draft pick .
Ugonna Onyenso Not afraid to shoot the three but perhaps should be Lob threat who can block shots on D.
Exactly, tons of random fans would have built a better young core just making the obvious picks at 2 and 3,
It's like Stone went out of his way to make bad picks... It's actually impressive how bad he is at his job....
Since a lot of players went back to College.....the end of 1st Round and start of 2nd Round......options wore thinner. At some point, Henry Veesar was going 30-40, now he is projected at the end of the 1st Round. They got to start flattening NIL Money.
He literally just picked the consensus guys from mock drafts / draft boards at the top of the draft every year; except maybe 2021 when it was kind of a toss-up between Green and Mobley. Jabari and Amen were incredibly obvious picks. And, to be fair to Stone, the two guys picked after Jabari who are better players (Jalen Willams and Jalen Duren) were not even really in the conversation at that pick, so they would have been considered wild reaches and gotten "F" grades from most analysts at the time. And Amen was probably the best player available, although Keyonte George at #16 is also looking like a future all-star. It's too early to call the 2024 draft at this point, although missing on Castle is looking maybe pretty bad? Farther down in the draft is where the best general managers really make their bones, and that's where I have more of a problem with Stone. It's okay to miss on some of those picks. To miss on most of them is less okay IMO.
I mean Jalen Brunson, Gilbert Arenas, Manuel Ginobili, Marc Gasol, Jokic, Herb Jones...the second round has always been digging for hidden gems but I think now with the influx of international talent along with nil upperclassmen, the second round is where teams can find solid rotation players.
I would argue you take the big if it’s a toss up (Mobley). Drafting an undersized combo guard at 3 is a poor pick on it’s face, and drafting Jalen’s buddy over Grimes is malpractice. Alpi is the only good draft move he’s made imo.
Would love to snag Peat next year if he goes back to Arizona. As for Stone, it seems there is a lot of talk about how he missed on several players. Mobley for one. What has Mobley done other than becoming a glorified role player on a playoff team? Not much. While Stone missed on Castle and Grimes, neither are all-stars. Stone picked Jabari ‘cause it was a weak draft with no obvious ‘can’t miss’ player like Dybantsa, Peterson, or C Boozer. No PG’s like Flemings is Acuff. Stone grabbed Green since most thought he was POTENTIALLY the next coming on Michael Jordan. Personally, I never bought the hype since he didn’t have good form on his shot, but there was no denying his athleticism at the time he was drafted. Stone may not be great but I give him credit for picking Sengun at #16. That’s 15 teams that whiffed on a 6’11” borderline all-star.
I don't think Stone's dilemma is the Draft really....oh yeah, do I wish he would be better at finding gems in the Second Rounds? Sure, but not where we at......the gripe is that Stone knows nothing about PG, he wanted wingers KPJ and now Amen to play PGs. He also was too emotionally invested in low IQ players like Jalen Green and KPJ. He also does not know much about Playoff Intensity, he has not been to the 2nd Round of Playoffs as a Lead GM as much.
