The NBA general managers witnessing the draft lottery this week were a bit late getting into the locked-down room because they had spent much of the afternoon at a meeting where one of the topics of discussion was whether the process needs to be changed.
Given what transpired聽鈥斅燚allas and San Antonio defied long odds to get the first and second picks while Washington, Utah and Charlotte fell out of the top three聽鈥 it was a major conversation point in chats with GMs while we were locked away until the television show was over.
The four-number combination that landed the Dallas Mavericks the first overall pick was
Two schools of thought emerged:
Does the NBA need to enhance the odds of the worst teams getting the best picks? The draft鈥檚 primary reason is to get the top players to the teams that need the help.
Or does the league need to flatten the odds even more so blatant tanking to get into the top three spots isn鈥檛 rewarded?
Neither idea seemed to be a clear winner. There were a few people that I talked to who think there鈥檚 no reason to make changes at all.
A few people suggested that this year鈥檚 clear-cut No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg, was such an anomaly that it won鈥檛 matter this year, just as it didn鈥檛 matter in 2024 when no one cared about tanking to draft Zaccharie Risacher.
For starters, there is special depth to this draft class ... all the way to No. 9 and beyond.
But there wasn鈥檛 was any consensus on the philosophical question about the draft.
鈥淚t has to help the worst teams,鈥 was one point.
鈥淭eams need to be incentivized to win, not helped because they don鈥檛 care,鈥 was another.
The sense I got is that most feel there is no need for major change. This spring was an outlier mainly because Flagg was the reward, but a conversation that got fans worked up in March was forgotten once the playoffs began. And it will be much quieter next winter.
The Raptors seem to be fine with the way things are. They鈥檝e never clamoured for change and when they see seasons slipping away they are as interested in seeing their young players play as they are of having their lottery odds enhanced.
Here we go again
There鈥檚 no reason to doubt the reporting of Marc Stein this week that the Atlanta Hawks might be interested in poaching Masai Ujiri to run their basketball operation.
Three points after knowing the lay of the land and the principles involved:
- Ujiri isn鈥檛 going anywhere to do the same job he does here. If the Hawks want to talk about an ownership stake, maybe there鈥檚 a conversation.
- Ujiri鈥檚 relationship with Edward Rogers is OK. They are not kissing cousins and it鈥檚 not nearly what Ujiri鈥檚 relationship with Larry Tanenbaum is, but it鈥檚 not irreparably broken.
- The thing to watch around the upper echelons of the team is more than just Ujiri.
ESPN鈥檚 Shams Charania reported Antetokounmpo is open to leaving the Bucks, and 海角社区官网should
When I asked Ujiri point blank at his end-of-season session about getting new deals in place with his inner sanctum聽鈥 Bobby Webster and Dan Tolzman, primarily聽鈥 he was unequivocal.
鈥淥ne hundred per cent and I鈥檓 working on it now,” he said. “All of them. Everybody. It鈥檚 a focus for me.鈥
That was a month ago. Nothing has happened and that has my eyebrows raised.
If there are factions of ownership dithering on Ujiri鈥檚 plan to take care of his most valued lieutenants, it鈥檚 a storm cloud building here and around the NBA.
Meeting time
Do the Raptors run psy-ops on potential draft picks? Sure sounds like it.
As part of their meetings with players in Chicago this week聽鈥 they have individual half-hour meetings with about 20 potential picks聽鈥 they delve into much more than basketball.
They鈥檝e already done all kinds of due diligence on the players, far deeper than on-the-court potential, and they like to grill the prospects about aspects of their history. They find moments that kids are proud of and, just as important, aspects of their history they might not be so proud of and ask them to explain or discuss them, why they occurred, what can be learned from them.
It helps Ujiri, Webster, Tolzman and others in the room to get a better idea of who the teens are as people, and the answers they get go a long way in how they weed out the legitimate prospects from the suspect ones.
On the road again
The Raptors talked much of last season about an unofficial team-bonding camp in Spain in the summer that played a huge role in building team chemistry.
It was so good they鈥檙e doing it again this summer, according to a couple of team officials.
The summer trip was important last year because there were so many new faces, including a bunch of rookies; it won鈥檛 be as important with so many returnees this year but getting a leg up on building relationships can鈥檛 hurt.
Plus, a few summer days in Spain sounds like a delightful time.
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