Any other highly drafted (top 4-5) Euro bigs since, besides Pau?

I can't think of any.

Just looked, Jonas at #5 in '11 is the only other one. Kanter stayed a year at UK so wasn't a straight import.

I had forgotten about Jan Vesely.

Markkanen was #7

Gallo was #6. He's a quasi-big now but also wasn't top 5 (I know that's an arbitrary filter). There weren't many others that would fit like those two tho, Yi Jianlian if he was a Euro (Yao too ldo). Bogut is Aussie w/ straight Croatian blood, but also played at Utah as opposed to total foreigner.

If Durant has the choker gene what about the pathetic disgrace of a human being he wiped the floor with in the finals? The guy who was too scared and too scarred from being sonned asked to stop guarding the guy with the "choker gene". That's the pathetic loser we all know well.



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The Sixers were actually the 13th ranked defense the year before Okafor arrived. Unfortunately, Jahlil Okafor makes it nearly impossible to maintain a 20th or better ranked defense.

Markannen played in lolNCAA, as a basketball player he's not really an Euro since more than 15 american born citizens have seen him play before the draft

Darko was #2

Hinkie should have managed the optics better. The mistake he made was being honest about tanking.

If they tried to win 22 games instead of 10, Hinkie would probably still be employed. He should have signed some ****ty veterans on one year deals so they could at least pretend they were trying to win.

What an oversight!

I agree with this, but he did have guys like Jason Richardson and Carl Landry types on the roster most of the time. It was a byproduct of those salary-dump trades.

Hinkie eliminated plausible deniability. I think it's more naivety than hubris. People like to be attempted to be fooled, or they get offended. Most people are dumb.

I don't think he played though

Hinkie haters are the worst

Can't wait for Philly to put up a fight in the finals this year and then win like 3 out of then next 6

Good thread to click thru and see the other MVP breakdowns as well

He did. You're confusing him with Fran Vazquez.

Enes Kanter Wiki:

100% he didn't play that season.

Love this kind of thinking. Okay, you guys, let's keep the years you didn't run good in the lottery (& players that didn't develop as well as they could have) constant but also let's change that time you did catch a break. Then, let's evaluate how it turned out!

There are so many what if scenarios. You played an extreme negative what if scenario. And, in that scenario, the Sixers would be left with Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, the #1 overall pick from 2017, the Lakers lottery pick in 2018, Dragan Bender & a ton of cap space/flexibility in future years. I would say that's a much better future than all of the teams that were on the same rebuilding timeline as the Sixers. And that's in the Sixers bottom 25 percentile scenario.

Now, let's take a few positive what ifs. What if the Sixers won the lottery the year they drafted Okafor instead of Towns. What if the Heat pick conveyed (missed by like 1 win) in 2015 and they drafted Devin Booker. What if the Lakers pick conveyed (43% to convey) in 2016 an they drafted Jamal Murray. What if the Lakers pick conveyed (53%) in 2017 and they drafted Josh Jackson/Lauri Markenan/Jonathan Isaac.

What if Sam Hinkie didn't get usurped and made the deal with the Celtics for the Brooklyn pick* in 2016 (& got Jaylen Brown instead of nothing for Okafor). What if Okafor and/or Noel were traded at the right time by Colangelo and they got fair value (instead of nothing) in return?

Now, I will do what you did except show it in the positive version:

PG: Simmons, Fultz
SG: Devin Booker, Jamal Murray
SF: Robert Covington, Jaylen Brown
PF: Dario Saric
C: Joel Embiid

With max cap space

Seems ridiculous, right? Well, this was a plausible scenario, too. So, you should probably consider it in your hypotheticals. I didn't even include the scenario where they got Towns.

The truth is Hinkie even got **** from many posters for taking Embiid. I said even before Embiid played a game (and had his second surgery) that I would take him over anyone from that draft and I got **** for it. People said, he should have taken Aaron Gordon or Marcus Smart and gotten something from that draft - instead he completely whiffed and Embiid was an obvious bust. Now, those same people are saying he doesn't get credit for Embiid. He was lucky he got hurt because it allowed him to fall to 3. It was an obvious pick. It's intellectual dishonesty at the highest level.

*http://www.masslive.com/celtics/inde...rs_20_201.html

Obv I thought he was referring to Vesely not playing here. I knew Kanter didn't play, that's why I said "stayed" at UK.

He enrolled and trained with the team that year if I remember right.

Enes Kanter: ‘I still see myself as a Kentucky player’

http://www.zagsblog.com/2017/11/04/e...ntucky-player/

I'm confused because Jan played in the NBA and never waited. He ****ing sucked though in the NBA.

Kanter makes sense when GB said he never played. Because he never played at UK. Whatever, doesn't really matter.

Well Cal just sees his players as future NBA guys or draft picks....that boosts his chances of getting the next future NBA or draft picks. I'm glad they mutually like what the other views themselves as.

I don't see how you're confused.

I said I thought he was referencing Vesely as a conflation with Fran Vazquez.

Cool, you're disregarding the fact that he trained with the team for a year. You seem to be difficult to converse with, on NBA matters at least.

So his indefinite pronoun "he" could easily match with Kanter or Jan. Kanter NEVER played at UK. His statement is "I don't think he played." Well Kanter "did not play " at UK. GB is normally right with his assertions so I'll assume he's talking about Kanter and not Jan who did play in the NBA and never had a situation where he "did not play."

Your confusion is rooted in your ignorance of Fran Vazquez, I assume.

My misunderstanding of what he said is also not me accusing him of being wrong, fwiw.

To further expound, the topic at hand was Euros coming straight to the NBA. Referencing one not actually making the trip fits fully with the discussion, along with the fact that I thought I was already acknowledging Kanter's circumstances to a degree.

My reference to that situation should've been more clear, but I thought I was talking to an informed audience.