Where would Marcus Smart go in this draft?

[PaulP34]

 If Danny could do it over again I bet he doesn't take Smart at #6 and picks Dario Saric. No ifs ands or butts

[PickNRoll]

You guys must be playing nba2k video games or something.  Smart can step in and play right now in an NBA playoff game.  In fact, he's an impact player.  He guards 3+ positions and he's never a liability.

Smart is not only the clear third pick in this draft, he's the clear 3rd pick in the 2014 draft retrospectively.  There's an argument that Dunn or Murray become better players, but Smart offers at least as much and is a much safer pick given what we know now.

[PaulP34]

Smart can't shoot. He can defend 3 different positions whoop di do, what good is that when he gets to the other side of the floor and throws up brick after brick ? I wouldn't put Smart in the top 10 in this years draft. Sorry but a player has to know how to score to be an elite basketball player. I don't see any of that in Smart

[PickNRoll]

Smart can't shoot. He can defend 3 different positions whoop di do, what good is that when he gets to the other side of the floor and throws up brick after brick ? I wouldn't put Smart in the top 10 in this years draft. Sorry but a player has to know how to score to be an elite basketball player. I don't see any of that in Smart

Well, there's more to basketball than ISO step back jumpers.  You probably wouldn't draft Dennis Rodman, Horace Grant, Robert Parish, Antonio Davis, Udonis Haslem, or Ben Wallace.  This isn't NBA2k.

[PaulP34]

I don't play video games. I call it how I see it and quite frankly, I don't see it in Smart

[PaulP34]

1-10 on this years draft board I'd pick every single player over Marcus Smart. I'd take Buddy, Murray, Dunn, Even Bender over Smart. I'd take Skal Labisierre over him. I'd take Marquess Kriss over him. I'm sorry but Danny goofed that pick up but in his defense, that year was a terrible year for talent so I give Danny the pass on that but only that. Smart is more valuable to us in a trade then he is on the court.

[PickNRoll]

1-10 on this years draft board I'd pick every single player over Marcus Smart. I'd take Buddy, Murray, Dunn, Even Bender over Smart. I'd take Skal Labisierre over him. I'd take Marquess Kriss over him. I'm sorry but Danny goofed that pick up but in his defense, that year was a terrible year for talent so I give Danny the pass on that but only that. Smart is more valuable to us in a trade then he is on the court.

Luckily, there are many GM's like you for Danny to take advantage of.

[trickybilly]

Smart can't shoot. He can defend 3 different positions whoop di do, what good is that when he gets to the other side of the floor and throws up brick after brick ? I wouldn't put Smart in the top 10 in this years draft. Sorry but a player has to know how to score to be an elite basketball player. I don't see any of that in Smart

Just out of curiosity, how many games did you watch last year?

[loco_91]

I'd take Skal Labisierre over him.

[alldaboston]

I don't play video games. I call it how I see it and quite frankly, I don't see it in Smart

Video games don't see it in smart (2k has him as a 74 on my console).

I look at real life. I call it how it is and quite frankly, I see it in Smart

[inverselock]

Smart's offense is highly offensive to watch.   I don't want to see it.

[crimson_stallion]

His inability to shoot would be exposed by now and he'd be in the mix with Dunn, Hield, and Murray. Anywhere from 3 to 9. There might also be issues with his injuries.  If he led Oklahoma St to a championship maybe he goes as high as 2 or 3

if Okafor was coming out right now would he go 2nd above Ingram ?

Very likely.

If that's very likely, are you saying there's a chance if Okafor was coming out right now he'd even go ahead of Ben Simmons as the #1 pick ?

In response to your questions, my thoughts would be:

Where would Smart go?
I would say that he'd would go after Simmons, Ingram, Bender, Hield, Murray and Dunn.  He'd probably go under Brown as well I think, because Brown is a better athlete, is a year younger, and his jumper seems to have more potential.

So I would say Smart in this draft would probably go around 7th.


Would Okafor go above Ingram in this draft?
No, I very seriously doubt it.  Ingram is 18 years old, has possibly the best length in the league at the SF spot, has the potential to be a two way player, and can already score in a wide variety of ways.  Okafor had great size and showed some elite talents, but he had very clear flaws in his game from day one.  I'd be pretty surprised if he went above Ingram.


Would Okafor have a chance of going above Simmons in this draft?
Of course - technically ANYBODY projected to go top 5 has a chance of being taken #1.  All it takes is one deranged team who has an inexcplicable obsessoin with a specific player, and anything can happen. 

Cleveland took Bennett #1.  Detroit took Milicic at #2 over Wade, Bosh and Carmello.  Lakers surprised everybody when they took Russell over Okafor.

So yeah, anything is possible.  There is a chance Okafor could have been taken #1 over Simmons, just like there is a chance that Philly could take Dunn over Simmons, or Lakers could take Bender over Ingram.  Highly unlikely, but not impossible.

Simmons is a far more impressive talent then Okafor is though.  Okafor is a talented young big, but there is nothing out of this world about what he brings - he's just a big guy with very impressive post skills.  Simmons by comparison is the type of unique talent we haven't seen in this league since perhaps Lebron James - it's maybe once every 10 years that you see a big man who has the type of unique talent/skill set that Simmons has. 

Simmons has the potential to become the best player in the NBA one day - not saying he's necessarily going to become that...just that the potential is there.  Hell when it comes to ceilings, Simmons pretty much doesn't have one.   

[crimson_stallion]

1-10 on this years draft board I'd pick every single player over Marcus Smart. I'd take Buddy, Murray, Dunn, Even Bender over Smart. I'd take Skal Labisierre over him. I'd take Marquess Kriss over him. I'm sorry but Danny goofed that pick up but in his defense, that year was a terrible year for talent so I give Danny the pass on that but only that. Smart is more valuable to us in a trade then he is on the court.

Luckily, there are many GM's like you for Danny to take advantage of.

What he's saying is actually no that unreasonable.

People don't seem to realise that the 2014/15 draft was horrendous once you got past the top 3.  That draft was all about Wiggins/Parker/Embiid - once you got beyond that, it was pretty much "choose your role player".

I think Danny picked pretty well, because if Smart did develop his shot and surprise some people then he could have surprised and been better then expected - outside of Exum he was probably one of the higher upside picks outside of the top 3.  But in all honesty there just really was not a lot to choose from, and out of a basket full of short straws, Danny picked one of the longer ones.

Realistically Embiid and Smart were probably the closest things there were to 'versatile' players in the top 6. 

- Wiggins' only talent relying on his athleticism to score buckets
- Parker could score and rebound decent, but couldn't defend and lacked athleticism
- Gordon looked like a defensive role player from day one
- Randle clearly could not defend to save his life
- Exum had potential but was a huge gamble (kinda that year's Bender)
- Embiid looked like a two-way star potentially, but had major health concerns

Smart was really the only guy in that top 7 who actually looked like he had the potential to be a positive impact guy on both ends of the court.

Fast forward to this year and you have Simmons, Ingram, Bender, Dunn, Hield, Brown, Poeltl, Chriss, Labissiere, Davis, Baldwin - all of those guys have the potential to become two-way players at the NBA level, and all of them have the ability to contribute in more then just one way if they happen to reach their potential. 

In fact the only high ranked prospect in this year's draft that looks like a one-way man is Murray - who has about zero defensive potential and who I kinda see as this year's Jabari Parker (albiet a pocket sized version).

Looking at all those guys who could become two-way stars one day,it's actually really hard for me to envision Smart going any higher then  top 7 or 8.  He could well fall back outside of the top 10 (where Baldwin, Luwawu and Valentine are are currently projected to go).  I struggle to see Smart as a major leap above those guys.

[TheSundanceKid]

Are we talking about if Smart came out at the age he is now? Or are we saying take the 2014 draft Smart and rank him in this?

Smart can't shoot. He can defend 3 different positions whoop di do, what good is that when he gets to the other side of the floor and throws up brick after brick ? I wouldn't put Smart in the top 10 in this years draft. Sorry but a player has to know how to score to be an elite basketball player. I don't see any of that in Smart

I mean this makes me question whether you know anything about basketball. In a still very young career Marcus can defend most players 1-3 out of a game. At times he can even spot against guys like Porzingis. If he did nothing else in the rest of his game he would be a net plus.
He knows how to score. What he needs to learn is how to do it efficiently and consistently. When Smart makes a good defensively play that doesn't mean he jacks up a shot at the other end. His number of great defensive plays far outnumbers his bricked shots.

But I am getting the feeling that you make your mind up about something and nothing will change it.

[PhoSita]

After Simmons, Ingram, Bender, and Dunn. He'd be in the mix with Murray hield brown Chriss Davis luwawu Baldwin valentine etc.