On June 23, the 2022 NBA Draft will take place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where each of the Great League franchises will try to improve their roster by selecting the right prospects. To better prepare you for this always eagerly awaited event, we thought it would be useful to focus in particular on the ten teams that will choose from the Top 10, from Orlando to Washington. After the Wizards and the Spurs, we continue with the Pelicans, who have the #8 pick this year. What are their options in the Draft?
Option #1: select a crack on the outside lines
According to the latest news from Fletcher Mackel – a local NBC reporter in New Orleans – Dyson Daniels and Benedict Mathurin are the Pelicans’ priorities. The first is an Australian leader announced around 2m, an excellent playmaker, who would bring a lot of structure to Willie Green’s system. We don’t say that Devonte’ Graham sometimes lacks discipline, but Devonte’ Graham sometimes lacks discipline. Small aside, it will however be necessary to go to check the details of the Australian diet: after Ben Simmons and Josh Giddey, it is the third leader of large size who arrives from the country of Oz. He could thus bring this verticality to a New Orleans workforce which is beginning to collect atypical profiles. Yes, the experiment of the freak Trey Murphy is bearing fruit for the moment, and finding him a laboratory buddy would be nice. And Benedict Mathurin then? A rear of just over 2m with a powerful, horizontal, versatile game, and who is doing well on the other side of the floor. He too is a circus beast, and could bring fantasy to a workforce that does not lack it.
“Dieng is one of several players the Pelicans have interest in, league sources told The Times-Picayune. The belief is that he is an option should Dyson Daniels and Bennedict Mathurin be unavailable when New Orleans picks.” https://t.co/5boxR3MFhu
– Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) June 14, 2022
Option #2: try a tricolor bet
New Orleans, the Bayou, the fleur-de-lys, an obvious – since historical – connection between this bitter region and France. But what exactly do we mean by “Equal tricolor” ? A freak like Ousmane Dieng could consolidate the project of a team that is just finding the right part of the table. Even if his profile offers no guarantees – from Kevin Knox to Kevin Durant – he allows us to project ourselves into the future, by starting to develop small young people around a good workforce already in place. It is in this way that the slack periods are avoided, and that in the event of a major famine, there is always something to eat in the reserve. This is especially what the Warriors do by forging Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiseman in the same mold as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. We don’t say that Ousmane Dieng is the start of a dynasty, just that his name would fit well with the Pelicans project. It’s also Christian Clark – editor for NOLAnews – who supports this.
Option #3: try a bigger three-color bet
We could have put “bring together an experienced player by swinging the pick in a trade”, but the act would be criminal and – to date – no echo hypothesizes it. In most mock drafts, Ousmane Dieng comes to the end of the lottery, like a Sekou Doumbouya in 2019, selected in 15th position by the Pistons. Why not try to set up a trade to find the 12th or 13th pick – accompanied by interesting odds and ends – against this 8th pick? If Dyson Daniels and Benedict Mathurin do not interest the Pelicans – which today seems unlikely – as much « trade down » to nab the French freak and cartridges from which a team wishes to part. This assembly is easy to imagine, less to implement. It’s just a third option, a little whimsical, which simply prevents sick minds from going after Kyle Kuzma and Tomas Satoransky against this 8th pick.
With an already very complete squad (Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte’ Graham, Trey Murphy, Jose Alvarado, Larry Nance Jr.), the Pelicans will be one of the teams to follow during this 2022 Draft We don’t forget to thank the Lakers for this 8th pick, scraped in the transfer of Anthony Davis in 2019.