It has almost been two months since the last NBA Game has been played with the Golden State Warriors winning the 2014-2015 Larry O’Brien Trophy. Though my prediction was wrong, most of it though panned out especially that I never saw what Matthew Dellavedova, or more well known as “Delly”, proved more competent than what I expected.
It has been over a month since the NBA Draft took place as well and as always, there is a lot of hoopla about this event. And then Free Agency took place and another set of hoopla took place anew.
Thus this is what this blog is all about. How do we build Championship teams? NBA Draft or Free Agency / Trades?
Right now, it is hands down, teams should build through free agency and/or trades and with well-studied and smart drafts which is not necessarily the first top five players. As so much analysis are made on who should be the top pick and who the following players that will be drafted next, this seems to be a not so worthwhile endeavor.
Why?
In the past 20 years, only two top-five draft picks that stayed on their respective teams won it all: Tim Duncan and Dwyane Wade.
Even the vaunted Lebron James only won his Championship only upon “bringing his talents” to Miami.
Think about that, only two franchise players won it all in the past 20 years who were drafted on the top five. Thus, all the teams that made such drafts did not win it all but they did it through free agency and drafting smart in the later rounds. Just look at the Golden State Warriors, their MVP Stephen Curry was drafted sixth. Their NBA Finals MVP, Andre Iguodola, came from a trade / free agency. Their best all-around player was drafted in the second round: Draymond Green. And the half of the Splash Brothers in Klay Thompson was drafted 11th.
Thus, organizations can waste their time, money, and players through trade just to get that “franchise” player in the first top-five picks but that really has not resulted in any rings except for two franchises. And if you think about it, in drafting players, there is so much unknown such as having the right mindset, maturity, emotional intelligence, and the right people surrounding them. But if you build through trades and free agency, you have a better gauge of the players that you will get because they have been in the league longer thus the “unknown” is much less. Then if you have a later draft pick, you could research further about lesser-known players without much hoopla to build a championship team.
Did Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs win because of all of these high draft picks aside from him? No! They have late first round draft pick and second round picks that are major contributors to the team such as Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli. And solid acquisitions such as Kawhi Leonard and Boris Diaw as of late.
On that note, how is “tanking” the way to go and build your team? Not really because smart management is not betting all balls for those ping-pong balls on draft night. It is about doing research, paying the right people in free agency, trading to get the right pieces; and even in the second round on Draft Night, you could still get quality players.
Though it is great to discuss on what teams should draft on the first five picks, spend more resources on free agency, trades, and later draft picks. It would even be smarter to trade a first five top pick to get quality and more proven players.
If you know anyone needing a General Manager for an NBA team, your endorsement is appreciated!