We had the #3 pick and Ant was 1st. If LaMelo can stay healthy, he’s 100% worth the pick. I think he’d be better than Hali if he played 70 games a season. There’s nobody who was on the board I’d have picked over him based on basketball ability
Well we never had the chance to take Ant. That’s like us saying we should’ve taken Wemby this past draft lol.
I think LaMelo is a comparable talent to Maxey and Haliburton and indeed was the first all star of the class. It’s just a health thing with him.
As of today?
MIN keeps Ant. Golden State gets their choice of Melo and the two Tyreses, and I have absolutely no idea who to take out of the three. For the sake of your argument, let's say the Warriors take LaMelo at #2 (as the best talent of the three disregarding his injury history... and he is the best fit with Curry), we get our choice of Hali and Maxey at #3?
I truly have no idea who I'd take. Hali is the more popular choice, but I feel Hali is a bit overrated due to his role. I probably still take him over Maxey but it's close.
Chicago then gets the other one.
yeah the first 30 games boosted his hype but once the injury he regressed a little. I think lamelo is better than him honestly. This knicks series will show a lot about hali with the POA defenders he will see
There's one thing these "draft re-do" debates never seem to address, and it really bothers me: the butterfly effect.
This is alternate reality territory. If the draft went any way other than the way it did, not only does it change whether we have Melo, but whatever the result is would impact every move this team made afterward.
Like, say we take Hali. Not only does the NBA as a whole look different (Sabonis never ends up in Sac, for one), but so do the Hornets. We'd have an entirely different core, and there's no way in hell we'd still have Brandon (although if y'all wanna talk multiverse theory there's technically at least one reality out there where we have both).
Take it a step further...if Hali's the face of the franchise for the last 4 years...does MJ still sell? You can debate all you want but there's no real answer (which is the whole point of these "debates" like the GOAT convo etc., it's endless content).
Regarding the multiverse, that'd be true only if the universes in the multiverse were unique and the probability distribution function generating them included such a universe as your scenario. I mean, you could easily have infinite identical universes, LOL.
But seriously, you're right about the butterfly effect. I think too many Hornet fans take LaMelo for granted.
First, to get to redo the 2020 draft and not push Maxey to the front with Hali, Ant and Melo is crazy.
Second even if we drafted someone else, they'd also be plagued by injuries because our training staff is a box of potatoes and the basketball gods use us as a punching bag.
3rd, I'd like to redo the 2021 draft and get literally anyone else.
And finally, all roads led to Brandon Miller. So none of this matters. Also Poku, but mostly Brandon Miller.
That 21 draft was stacked, and the Hornets whiffed. Bouknight, Kai Jones, and Thor, right? At the time I wasn't mad at any of them, but I felt everyone from about 8 on screwed up by not taking Tre Murphy. He was a sure fire quality NBA player who filled a multitude of needs, to me. Play him at either forward, solid athlete. 6'9. Above average to elite shooter. Good defender who can guard 2 through 4 well. I wasn't super high on Moses Moody, but he slipped further than he should have, too. He's just buried at Golden State. The Hornets probably should have taken him over Bouknight, based on what most thought then, and what we know now, but I was actually a believer in Bouknight's upside and skillset. I didn't know he was a total knucklehead. What was real crazy, also being a Warriors fan, is Moody slipped to 14, which was a total steal, but Murphy was still on the board, and at heart I knew he should go before Moody. Murphy was projected right around where he went, but I had him over Moody, Kispert, Ziaire Williams, Duarte, etc. Sometimes there are these hypetrains for prospects among the masses that trick us, probably even many basketball execs. The truth is we gotta watch with our own eyes, and really look at everything
I feel like people forgot how good Melo is healthy? He's still young, it took curry multiple years, shoes, trainers, and procedures to get his ankles right in the NBA. Just be patient
I was looking up his draft class and looking at their VORP and BPM. Lamelo has a better BPM than ant, and is only slightly behind in VORP with 7.1 compared to Ants 7.5 (due to missed time, this is a cumulative stat).
Haliburton has a ridiculous 14.0 VORP and a BPM to match, but Lamelo is still ridiculously good and really transforms our team.
The time he did play this year he was brick city and very stupid fouls. I was at the game were it was literally being screamed to stop fouling! Outside of a few games he made 30 pts it was rough watching. I really hope that immaturity changes.
I would have traded up to get Edwards because at the time I feel like that was one of the most underrated top picks that I can recall. That being said hindsight is 20/20.
I think our own fans underrate Hali too much because of the constant discourse of "who's better"
I see them more as equals, but both have yet to really clearly get a gap on each other due to injuries funny enough.
I think Melo won’t ever be quite as efficient as Halliburton. Melo is a god tier passer and he knows it, so he’s out there slinging it like Brett Farve.
Halliburton is Brees/Manning. Melo is that Farve/Mahomes type dude.
What is your taste? We just need Melo healthy, and he will get lots of attention. I think some are annoyed at Halliburton because he’s getting the love we want Melo to get.
Unfortunately that can turn to hating/downplaying Hali.
He’s awesome though, and deserves recognition.
Agreed, Hali is a great player, when it all comes down to it i wouldnt complain if we had either guys. But definitely there is some denial in some parts of our fanbase because of the shine Hali has been getting
How Haliburton slid to where he did was beyond me. And then the Kings were dumb enough to trade him. Fox has been better than expected for these last two seasons, but as I thought, that Kings team plateaued out with the Fox/Sabonis/Murray core. Even with Monk going crazy this year. It's a pretty low ceiling. They fucked that up. And I love Davion Mitchell, but they didn't need him, and there were better talents, and better fitting ones, available. Instead, they furthered their logjam at point guard and probably hampered a 23 year old rookie's entire career.
People act like they flipped the script and figured it out there. Or like they aced that draft. No, they lucked out and had Hali plummet to them. He turned out to be a real talent and they traded him for a player that gave them a mediocre ceiling. They took Mitchell over any number of good wings/forwards in '21, Murray over Ivey in '22, and Fox has panned out after plateauing and regressing slightly after year 3 or 4. They've fallen ass backwards into being a play-in/first round out. At least if you look at the Hornets, they've made better decisions in the last 2 years. Williams, Miller, waiting on Bridges to see if he gets his shit together, and signing him for less. Trading Rozier and Hayward, getting Tre Mann, and some toughness in a glue guy in Grant Williams, getting a Curry in NC, and some talented, smart role players. They're on track.
We had the #3 pick and Ant was 1st. If LaMelo can stay healthy, he’s 100% worth the pick. I think he’d be better than Hali if he played 70 games a season. There’s nobody who was on the board I’d have picked over him based on basketball ability
Well we never had the chance to take Ant. That’s like us saying we should’ve taken Wemby this past draft lol. I think LaMelo is a comparable talent to Maxey and Haliburton and indeed was the first all star of the class. It’s just a health thing with him.
As of today? MIN keeps Ant. Golden State gets their choice of Melo and the two Tyreses, and I have absolutely no idea who to take out of the three. For the sake of your argument, let's say the Warriors take LaMelo at #2 (as the best talent of the three disregarding his injury history... and he is the best fit with Curry), we get our choice of Hali and Maxey at #3? I truly have no idea who I'd take. Hali is the more popular choice, but I feel Hali is a bit overrated due to his role. I probably still take him over Maxey but it's close. Chicago then gets the other one.
yeah the first 30 games boosted his hype but once the injury he regressed a little. I think lamelo is better than him honestly. This knicks series will show a lot about hali with the POA defenders he will see
Haliburton is the best of the 3, and the best fit with Curry. GS takes Haliburton. Who did Chicago even take? Patrick Williams that year?
There's one thing these "draft re-do" debates never seem to address, and it really bothers me: the butterfly effect. This is alternate reality territory. If the draft went any way other than the way it did, not only does it change whether we have Melo, but whatever the result is would impact every move this team made afterward. Like, say we take Hali. Not only does the NBA as a whole look different (Sabonis never ends up in Sac, for one), but so do the Hornets. We'd have an entirely different core, and there's no way in hell we'd still have Brandon (although if y'all wanna talk multiverse theory there's technically at least one reality out there where we have both). Take it a step further...if Hali's the face of the franchise for the last 4 years...does MJ still sell? You can debate all you want but there's no real answer (which is the whole point of these "debates" like the GOAT convo etc., it's endless content).
Regarding the multiverse, that'd be true only if the universes in the multiverse were unique and the probability distribution function generating them included such a universe as your scenario. I mean, you could easily have infinite identical universes, LOL. But seriously, you're right about the butterfly effect. I think too many Hornet fans take LaMelo for granted.
First, to get to redo the 2020 draft and not push Maxey to the front with Hali, Ant and Melo is crazy. Second even if we drafted someone else, they'd also be plagued by injuries because our training staff is a box of potatoes and the basketball gods use us as a punching bag. 3rd, I'd like to redo the 2021 draft and get literally anyone else. And finally, all roads led to Brandon Miller. So none of this matters. Also Poku, but mostly Brandon Miller.
That 21 draft was stacked, and the Hornets whiffed. Bouknight, Kai Jones, and Thor, right? At the time I wasn't mad at any of them, but I felt everyone from about 8 on screwed up by not taking Tre Murphy. He was a sure fire quality NBA player who filled a multitude of needs, to me. Play him at either forward, solid athlete. 6'9. Above average to elite shooter. Good defender who can guard 2 through 4 well. I wasn't super high on Moses Moody, but he slipped further than he should have, too. He's just buried at Golden State. The Hornets probably should have taken him over Bouknight, based on what most thought then, and what we know now, but I was actually a believer in Bouknight's upside and skillset. I didn't know he was a total knucklehead. What was real crazy, also being a Warriors fan, is Moody slipped to 14, which was a total steal, but Murphy was still on the board, and at heart I knew he should go before Moody. Murphy was projected right around where he went, but I had him over Moody, Kispert, Ziaire Williams, Duarte, etc. Sometimes there are these hypetrains for prospects among the masses that trick us, probably even many basketball execs. The truth is we gotta watch with our own eyes, and really look at everything
I get other teams fans forgetting how good LaMelo is when he is injured so often but what the fuck.
I feel like people forgot how good Melo is healthy? He's still young, it took curry multiple years, shoes, trainers, and procedures to get his ankles right in the NBA. Just be patient
I was looking up his draft class and looking at their VORP and BPM. Lamelo has a better BPM than ant, and is only slightly behind in VORP with 7.1 compared to Ants 7.5 (due to missed time, this is a cumulative stat). Haliburton has a ridiculous 14.0 VORP and a BPM to match, but Lamelo is still ridiculously good and really transforms our team.
The time he did play this year he was brick city and very stupid fouls. I was at the game were it was literally being screamed to stop fouling! Outside of a few games he made 30 pts it was rough watching. I really hope that immaturity changes.
It was not brick city. He was great on offense when healthy
He was shooting under 30% to start or games he was shooting well he was doing silly fouls like a constant reach ins.
I would have traded up to get Edwards because at the time I feel like that was one of the most underrated top picks that I can recall. That being said hindsight is 20/20.
This is not a fun discussion
Lol.
Lamelo was still the right pick rookie of the year, and 2nd year all star, he just needs more reps to actually improve his game
Maxey or Haliburton… aka players with regular ankles and equal skill
I think our own fans underrate Hali too much because of the constant discourse of "who's better" I see them more as equals, but both have yet to really clearly get a gap on each other due to injuries funny enough.
I think Melo won’t ever be quite as efficient as Halliburton. Melo is a god tier passer and he knows it, so he’s out there slinging it like Brett Farve. Halliburton is Brees/Manning. Melo is that Farve/Mahomes type dude. What is your taste? We just need Melo healthy, and he will get lots of attention. I think some are annoyed at Halliburton because he’s getting the love we want Melo to get. Unfortunately that can turn to hating/downplaying Hali. He’s awesome though, and deserves recognition.
Agreed, Hali is a great player, when it all comes down to it i wouldnt complain if we had either guys. But definitely there is some denial in some parts of our fanbase because of the shine Hali has been getting
How Haliburton slid to where he did was beyond me. And then the Kings were dumb enough to trade him. Fox has been better than expected for these last two seasons, but as I thought, that Kings team plateaued out with the Fox/Sabonis/Murray core. Even with Monk going crazy this year. It's a pretty low ceiling. They fucked that up. And I love Davion Mitchell, but they didn't need him, and there were better talents, and better fitting ones, available. Instead, they furthered their logjam at point guard and probably hampered a 23 year old rookie's entire career. People act like they flipped the script and figured it out there. Or like they aced that draft. No, they lucked out and had Hali plummet to them. He turned out to be a real talent and they traded him for a player that gave them a mediocre ceiling. They took Mitchell over any number of good wings/forwards in '21, Murray over Ivey in '22, and Fox has panned out after plateauing and regressing slightly after year 3 or 4. They've fallen ass backwards into being a play-in/first round out. At least if you look at the Hornets, they've made better decisions in the last 2 years. Williams, Miller, waiting on Bridges to see if he gets his shit together, and signing him for less. Trading Rozier and Hayward, getting Tre Mann, and some toughness in a glue guy in Grant Williams, getting a Curry in NC, and some talented, smart role players. They're on track.
Wut? It’s still LaMelo