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Congrats up Josh #18 Mavericks, Zeke #22 Nuggets, & Nico #48 Warriors on being drafted to the NBA!

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BEARDOWN!!!

Congrats to all three!

Off the top of my head—
All three landed in good situations on talented, well-run teams, with realistic playoff aspirations. Initially none of them should be asked to do a lot and they should get time to develop. They will each need to prove themselves as improved three-point shooters if they want to stick around though.

Best Guess Scenario for Each

• Mannion wins the backup PG role. Last year the Warriors gave their backup PGs a lot of run due to injuries to their all-star guards. The Thompson injury is something of an opportunity since Warriors will have to try and fill in by committee and will look to limit Curry's minutes/exposure. Mainly Mannion needs to out perform Ky Bowman. Maybe with the Wiseman selection there's a lineup for the Warrior's that permits two small guards for substantial minutes but I don't see it. Regardless, this an incredible learning environment in a tier one city.
• Green gets big rotation minutes. The Mavericks would have drafted him to aim for that—although they aren't shy to drop picks on their g-league team. SF isn't a strong position on the Mavericks and it's important to their SFs to be great defenders in the event they want to move Luka around on that end. Fortunately that's where Green is most ready. However Hardaway Jr opting in today squeezes some of those minutes..
• Nnaji probably gets the least playing opportunity out of the three if the Nuggets' other forwards and centers are healthy. But Millsap is likely gone after this season—expiring bad contract. The Nuggets might even start carving our extra development minutes for the young guys this year. Zeke needs to fill out if he wants to carry forward the rebounding talent he displayed in college. But that could be a way to differentiate himself from the team's depth at his position.

Congrats to all three of the guys for being drafted.
I am almost positive Miller is going to be using those metrics for the next crop(s) of elite talent he goes after.

Off topic a bit, but I noticed a handful of PAC-12 players got drafted this draft.
Arizona/Washington both had multiple (2) players get selected in the 1st round; being a small group of programs to have multiple players drafted in the 1st round.
Colorado/Stanford/Oregon/USC/Washington State also had a player drafted, but the PAC-12 still is not able to get any national love when it comes to how talented we are.
We accounted for 9 of the 60 possible draft picks, which is 15% of the total draftees.

I think Nico is the only one that's ready to play today.  His shooting numbers weren't as stellar as we predicted at Arizona, but his game is smooth and he's the perfect candidate to back up Steph in the GSW system.

Green will have an opportunity to get some minutes, but I envision him as a guy that slowly works his way into a rotation.  He needs another year or two to work on his shot before Dallas gives him a heavy load on the wing.

Zeke could likely contribute immediately for Denver, but his game is still raw and I think it's good that he can practice against a diverse group of big men.  Guys like Jokic and Plumlee can refine his "back to the basket" game while Bol Bol and Porter play like athletic wings that are the same height (if not taller) than Nnaji.

Great situations for all 3.  I'm happy that they'll get an opportunity to make a living in the league.

The Pac-12 didn't get much love for it's deep draft class.  I think 10 guys were actually drafted within the first 48 picks.  Pretty impressive, considering the conference was considered "down" last year.