2015 NBA Draft: More of what teams don't need
By Matt Zemek
The 2015 NBA Draft is over, and now the days of analysis and assessment begin before the whirl of free agency starts on July 1. Naturally, many more moves on the chessboard await, but one has to be at least a little concerned about teams which used draft night to load up at positions that were already filled.
If there was a theme for this draft, it emerged in the number of teams which duplicated positions or styles of play instead of seeking to plug the gaping holes which existed at other spots on the floor.
No team exemplified this trend more than the Philadelphia 76ers.
Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid on the roster? Hey, let’s take Jahlil Okafor at No. 3. Let’s add European centers at No. 35 and 47, for good measure. Just how many big men does Sam Hinkie need to stockpile in Philadelphia? Perhaps the Okafor pick is perfectly reasonable — you could certainly make the case that it is. However, doesn’t that pick essentially concede that the selection of Embiid was imprudent, given everything everyone knew about his health? If Okafor was the right call, Embiid was the wrong one. The Sixers’ relentless pursuit of big men can’t be seen as wholly enlightened — partially, perhaps, but not in its entirety.
Then consider what several other teams have done. Sure, free agency and the dealmaking that is to come could balance out rosters, but what if it’s not as easy to make the deals a team wants to make? Many organizations could get stuck with redundant parts.
Indiana couldn’t ship Roy Hibbert on draft night. Hibbert opted into the remaining year on his contract. The Pacers took a man who is ostensibly supposed to be Hibbert’s replacement, Myles Turner of Texas, with the No. 11 pick. The Pacers will try to move Hibbert, but they have certainly placed added pressure on their shoulders.
Look at Sacramento. Who knows if head coach George Karl will be fired, thereby keeping DeMarcus Cousins on the roster? For now, though, the Kings supplemented Cousins with another Kentucky big man, Willie Cauley-Stein (at pick No. 6). For a team in Sacramento’s position, which needs complete (two-way) players, what would make it so important to choose such a limited offensive player with a lottery selection well inside the top 10 of the draft? Isn’t Cousins the more developed big man the Kings already have?
The duplications of positional possessions kept continuing as the first round unfolded.
The Utah Jazz have Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert on their roster. That didn’t stop them from taking a long frontcourt player, Trey Lyles, over a wing shooter at No. 12.
The Houston Rockets have so many muscular players at 6-7 or taller. They took Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell instead of shoring up their backcourt, chiefly by getting the backup point guard they needed.
The Chicago Bulls pushed out head coach Tom Thibodeau, a defense-first coach who failed to make the NBA Finals in the Windy City because his team lacked knockdown shooters in the postseason. What player did the Bulls take at No. 22? Bobby Portis, a relentless and determined rebounder with an inexhaustible supply of energy… just the kind of player Thibodeau loves to coach. Portis is so much the kind of player Thibs has had on his roster the past several years, and yet he’s the guy the Bulls’ front office chose with its first-round pick this year. Portis is a fine player, and anyone who took him would have been better off as a result. Any NBA team could use Portis’s rebounding and energy.
However, of all the teams in the NBA that had a chance to take Portis, Chicago would seem to be last on the list… unless the Bulls are shopping Taj Gibson and perhaps have plans in mind to get rid of another frontcourt player. However, none of that is certain right now. The Bulls could have saved themselves some complexities and tensions by taking R.J. Hunter at 22.
Speaking of Hunter, the Boston Celtics grabbed him at 28, a fairly enlightened pick. However, the Celtics went for Louisville guard Terry Rozier at 16, when they need frontcourt help. Boston entered this draft as a backcourt-heavy team, so the Rozier choice once again duplicated a position the Celtics had already filled on their roster.
Again, free agency could shake up all these situations and lend fresh dimensions of clarity to the thought processes of various NBA organizations. It’s far too early to render final verdicts on offseason maneuverings when the draft is merely the prelude to next week and the frenzy which will ensue. However, if any of the above organizations — and any other teams that duplicated positions in this draft — are stuck with too many versions of the same kind of player, they can’t say they didn’t have a chance to do something different.
Draft night was their chance to reduce complexity and relieve internal organizational pressure.
We’ll see what free agency does to change (or not change) the way each NBA team approached the 2015 draft.
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