Trent Jr was my favorite guy for that pick. He had a great freshman year shooting the 3 on a deep Duke team that didn't ask much from him. He had NBA size and athleticism, and by all accounts had a NBA work ethic from his namesake Father.
I'd argue that considering positional value he's not far off in value to Mitchell Robinson. Spellman isn't even close.
Trent wouldn't have contributed last year. But sure, 100% he'd have been on the team this year. Evans was on the team. I guess you can compare the very small sample sizes of NBA action, but the really alarming thing with Evans in his rookie year was that across the board: Summer League, G-League, NBA...he looked really bad.
So, comparatively, if you have Trent playing really well in the G-League with all these stellar practice reports on what a hard worker he is...there's just not going to be much angst. Likewise the work ethic that landed him a role on Portland certainly would have found him time with the Warriors, especially this year.
We know that the Warriors weighted "ability to help in 18-19" heavily with the selection of Evans. I don't think we'll ever know who was next on the list. We'll also never be sure what they really liked about Evans, and then why that was proven wrong so quickly.
It's not a decision that they can't recover from, but it's a big missed opportunity.
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Trent Jr was my favorite guy for that pick. He had a great freshman year shooting the 3 on a deep Duke team that didn't ask much from him. He had NBA size and athleticism, and by all accounts had a NBA work ethic from his namesake Father.
I'd argue that considering positional value he's not far off in value to Mitchell Robinson. Spellman isn't even close.
Trent wouldn't have contributed last year. But sure, 100% he'd have been on the team this year. Evans was on the team. I guess you can compare the very small sample sizes of NBA action, but the really alarming thing with Evans in his rookie year was that across the board: Summer League, G-League, NBA...he looked really bad.
So, comparatively, if you have Trent playing really well in the G-League with all these stellar practice reports on what a hard worker he is...there's just not going to be much angst. Likewise the work ethic that landed him a role on Portland certainly would have found him time with the Warriors, especially this year.
We know that the Warriors weighted "ability to help in 18-19" heavily with the selection of Evans. I don't think we'll ever know who was next on the list. We'll also never be sure what they really liked about Evans, and then why that was proven wrong so quickly.
It's not a decision that they can't recover from, but it's a big missed opportunity.