Looking at the teams that committed to a full rebuild recently, I can’t help but to notice that they now have a roster stacked with promising young pieces (25 yo or less):
- Cavs: Mobley, Garland, Allen, Okoro
- Magic: Banchero, Fultz, Wagner, Suggs, Black, Carter Jr
- Spurs: Wemby, Johnson, Vassel, Jones, Sochan
- OKC: SGA, Holmgrem, Wallace, Giddey
- Rockets: Jabari Smith, Amen Thompson, Jalen Green, Sengun
Conversely, the Raptors have no draft capital and lots of either old or good-but-expiring pieces. Do you really think the future of this franchise is looking good?
Here are some interesting recent facts about our picks (or lack thereof):
- Since 2017, we only had two top-15 1st round picks (Dick and Barnes who both so far seem to have very good ceilings).
- Our most valuable players right now (OG and Pascal) are from 2015-2017 which was a period when we had four 1st-round picks (more good picks = more chances of getting good players)!
- Our championship run was only possible because we had players that we drafted (JV, Poetl, DeRozan, Wright) to trade for Gasol, Dany and Kawhi.
so… please explain why is it such a bad idea to switch gears and focus on staking draft capital and finding young talent to match Dick and Barnes’ timeline?
I can assure you that this is not always the case, and more recency bias.
The Kings were rebuilding for decades. It’s only now that they made right decisions to suddenly be a playoff team, and even then, they are nowhere close to championship contention.
The pistons for example are still rebuilding since losing Blake years ago. They have promising young talent, but that’s not the case either. Knicks were stuck in draft hell for years.
Don’t let the recent teams cloud you into thinking that once we rebuild, we’ll suddenly find amazing talent. I can almost guarantee you that it’ll take a very long time on average.