The 2016 NBA Draft has come and gone, and now the dust has settled. It’s time to take a look at the moves made, and who took their team to a better position or set themselves back.
Winners
Oklahoma City Thunder: The Thunder didn’t have a single pick, but managed to pull off a trade, sending Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to 11th overall selection Domantas Sabonis. In addition, they purchased a pick from the Denver Nuggets and took Daniel Hamilton out of UConn, which they originally owned (traded for Randy Foye).
Sabonis will be a tremendous combo with Steven Adams, and Victor Oladipo is an immediate upgrade over Dion Waiters and Andre Roberson. Ilyasova is an underrated offensive weapon and Daniel Hamilton will likely follow the paths of Josh Huestis and Dakari Johnson, by being stashed with the OKC Blue of the D-League. The Thunder managed to get better on Thursday night, without owning a single pick before the draft began.
Denver Nuggets: The Nuggets didn’t make any notable trades, but probably had the best overall draft class. Jamal Murray is a legitimate three-point threat and will complement Gary Harris and Emmanuel Mudiay. Juan Hernangomez may be one of the better international prospects in the draft and follows a strong trend of terrific international scouting by GM Tim Connelly and company. Malik Beasley is another gifted scorer and is the perfect fourth guard to round out the rotation. Even Petr Cornelie is an intriguing draft and stash prospect in the second round. The Nuggets had a wealth of draft picks and used them tremendously.
Losers
New York Knicks: The fact that the Knicks had no picks makes this easy. But there is more to this. The acquisition of Derrick Rose is a futile attempt to become a respectable free agent destination. Free agents won’t like how they gave up on Robin Lopez after one year, and you can’t guarantee Rose stays healthy anyway. On top of that, they gave up their one young talent in Jerian Grant. They did reportedly sign Ron Baker of Wichita State as a UDFA but the team keeps getting older and more injury prone.
Milwaukee Bucks: If Thon Maker lives up to all the hype and hoop mixtapes, I will gladly eat my words. However, if you are an organization that gave up a future first round pick for Greivis Vasquez (!), you owe it to yourself to at least not reach for a guy like Maker at No. 10. All three picks behind them were already on the move via trade, and some other team must have had a desire for Sabonis, Taurean Prince or even Denzel Valentine.
While the Brogdon pick is better, it doesn’t do enough to warrant the gross reach that was Maker. Just before the draft, there were reports that he was falling on draft boards, but somehow goes at 10. You can only hope Maker proves the doubters wrong, because the Bucks now have some ridiculous athleticism and length from all five positions.
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