NBA Draft Day is often a time for the leagues GM’s and personnel to make some moves that can possibly dictate the future of their franchise. We’ve seen some historic draft day deals, particularly one made by the Boston Celtics in 2007 to get Ray Allen, which also sparked the deal for Kevin Garnett later that summer, and we’ve also seen some other deals that might not have worked too well. Remember when the Milwaukee Bucks traded Dirk Nowitzki away to the Dallas Mavericks for Robert ‘Tractor’ Traylor? Yea. There’s been highs and lows on draft day.
Recently some of the most memorable deals involved the Philadelphia 76ers trading Elfrid Payton to the Orlando Magic for Dario Saric in 2014. In 2013 the Sixers sent Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans for Nerlens Noel and in the same draft the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves swapped guards when Trey Burke went to the Jazz and Shabazz Muhammad was sent to the T-Wolves.
So with the history of deals going down on draft day that can affect a franchise for years to come, why wouldn’t Charlotte Hornets GM Rich Cho think there would be a good amount of movement on 2015 NBA Draft day?
Following from Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer and the Hornets.
"I think there will be a decent amount of movement" around the league connected to the draft.
— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) June 18, 2015
"We've been talking to a lot of teams about moving up, moving backward, moving the pick all-together." — Cho on trade possibility.
— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) June 18, 2015
"I'd love to move up. Depends on how much we'd have to give up." — Cho on a draft-night trade.
— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) June 18, 2015
CHO: Teams behind you don't want to give up a lot to move up… that's the way it goes. Next week talks will get more serious #HornetsDraft
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) June 18, 2015
There’s already been some talks about the New York Knicks possibly moving out of their fourth pick if none of their top 3 guys land at their spot and one possible scenario could involve Eric Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns selection. The Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings have reportedly discussed the possibility of a deal involving their lottery picks and Ty Lawson. The precedent is there along with the rumors, so don’t be surprised.
The difference with this draft as compared to some from years past, the talent pool is very deep. In 2014, it was essentially Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, an injured Joel Embiid and the rest of the guys. In 2013, Anthony Bennett went first overall, enough said.
The top 4 projected guys, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, Emmanuel Mudiay and D’Angelo Russell, appear to all be can’t-miss guys and then there are about 10-15 more guys who could also be good players in the league. Whether it’s Justise Winslow, Willie Cauley-Stein, Kristaps Porzingis, Mario Hezonja or even Stanley Johnson, there’s a possibility from a number of these guys to make this draft class one of the best of all-time, which allows teams to move up and down as they please. If they can’t get their number one guy, it’s ok because their second, third and maybe even fourth guy on the list could be good players as well.
We all just hope these talents in the 2015 NBA Draft live up to the hype.
