So its been 3 days. I’ve tried to let it set in, do my research, listen to the experts and hear everyone’s arguments…but the sting of drafting Tomas Satoransky simply won’t go away. Of all of Ernie’s questionable moves, this is by far the worst. Not the worst impact, (I realize it’s a 31st pick), but the worst move.
Most of his other misguided, uninformed decisions I’ve disagreed with, but I could at least comprehend the logic. The ariza/okafor trade I wasn’t happy with, but I get it. Blatches extension…also dumb, but I get it. He had a good spring the year before. Drafting Nick Young and Javale Mcgee – two immature kids with big upsides…fine. Pecherov … Euro’s were the thing back then…I lived. Even trading the 5th pick - the worst of the worst – I could forgive him for (on a good day).
But this pick was literally unacceptable. Without repeating what has already been said, here’s what I want to say:
A lot of you have made the argument that historically second rounder’s rarely pan out. This is true, but historically college players stayed 4 years, making it far easier to evaluate talent. Its much murkier now with these kids practically out of high school. Much harder to determine who’s the real thing. People grow into themselves, peak at different times. They’re 18/19 yrs old. The point is after the top 5-10, you really don’t know who will develop, and you need to accumulate assets. It wasn’t until the last few weeks of the season that Beal started to light it up. If he didn’t have the steller finish he’d probably would have been a late first rounder last night. Couple that with the fact that this draft was exceptionally deep due to last years lockout makes it even more inexcusable. Off the top of my head perry jones, barnes, T. jones, sullinger, lamb. .. 5 players right there that decided to stay a second year, making our 31st pick really a 26th.
What Irks me is that I really don’t think earnie even does the least bit of research. Literally every website agrees Tomas is just a marginal player with little upside other than his height. Are we to believe that EG has some magic formula? Or that he has a team of scouts working round the clock? Chris Brousard and jay bilas never even heard of him until he was called. He’s not 18. Hes 20, 2 years pro, and plays a backup role, and has marginal numbers. DraftExpress, peraps the most well respected, had basically nothing good to say. Someone said it best on draft night: Ernie just has to be the smartest guy in the room.
Finally, I disagree that our roster is somehow “set” or “we have enough rookie contracts”. Does anyone really think having mike bibby as a backup guard is gonna make a huge difference. Mack, Singleton, Crawford, vesely, booker? None have proven anything in the NBA. They’re all well, pretty bad. The point is yes – ill take any asset I can get down to the 15th man. They will have plenty of opportunity to practice to show their stuff and improve. More so then a backup euro playing eurostyle against subpar talent.
I’m sure you’re all thinking “get over it dude we got Bradley beal” I’m ecstatic about beal. But that doesn’t excuse how much ernie wasted last Thursday.