The Sixers‘ coaching staff and front office had “serious conversations” about selecting Michael Porter Jr. before deciding on Mikal Bridges, tweets ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. The Sixers were intrigued by Porter’s potential to become a star, but bypassed him for a safer choice. Porter went four picks later to the Nuggets, while Bridges was traded to the Suns.
Because former president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo resigned in the wake of a controversy involving Twitter burner accounts, the Sixers are relying on a group effort between coaches and executives to decide on their picks.
There’s more from an active draft night:
- The Magic’s selection of Mohamed Bamba at No. 6 doesn’t mean Nikola Vucevic is headed out of town, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Vucevic is heading into a contract year, making $12.75MM next season. Orlando has a potential logjam at center with Bismack Biyombo signed for $17MM next year with a $17MM player option for 2019/20. “He’s a good pick,” Vucevic said of Biyombo. “He’s talented and he’ll be a big presence.”
- The Mavericks won’t ask Luka Doncic to go through a full summer league schedule after just finishing up his season in Europe, relays ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter link). “He needs a break,” said coach Rick Carlisle. The Mavs will meet soon to determine how much they want Doncic to do this summer.
- A medical issue may have caused Lonnie Walker to drop to the Spurs at No. 18, according to Doug Gottlieb of Fox Sports Radio (Twitter link). However, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony states that health concerns regarding Walker were exaggerated and had little effect on where he was taken (Twitter link).
- The Cavaliers are hoping to buy a pick in the second round, sources tell Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). The club can’t send out any more cash in trades during the 2017/18 league year, but could reach an agreement tonight and finalize it in July. The Cavs don’t own any picks beyond No. 8.
- The Bulls made an effort to move up, but decided it was “too expensive,” a source tells Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link). Any move would have cost them the 22nd pick and future selections.
How the hell did biyombo ever fleece a team into 17m a season for multiple seasons?
He was huge at the end of his last season with the Raptors.
The cap went up quite a bit that summer so a lot of guys cashed-in. Screwed the Lakers for a couple years with mozgov and Deng. That’s just two, there were many.
They never used Deng for the reason he was paid in the first place. He’s a 4/5, not a 3, and that was obvious when he wasnt as good at the 3 for the Heat before he put up big numbers at the 4/5 as he entered free agency. The Lakers apparently never figured that out
He played SF his entire career… his stats in Miami were the worst of his career at the 4.
Hopefully Bamba can learn for a year from Vucevic, how to shoot & pass, so I suppose can be good for Orlando, though this probably means Vucevic will be gone from Orlando. A good 5 on the market for next year, Orlando surprised me they need a PG, not a 5, but maybe they will use Vucevic to get a good PG, maybe Atlanta, for DS as they got their main man in Young now.
So Orlando is investing 30 million + on centers aka the most irrelevant position in the NBA. No wonder why they’re never going to win.
They can all play together. – Bryan Coleangelo
Maybe the Bulls could have moved up if they didn’t make a promise to pick Mr. Boise State, a month in advance. How stupid can they be? They basically pigeon-holed themselves into having to take him. Not saying it was a bad move to take him, but thank god these guys aren’t US military strategists.