Who will the newest hoops Pelican be?
Baby you're no good
Cause they warned me 'bout your type girl
I've been ducking left and right
Baby you're no good
Think I fell for you, I fell for you, I feel for you
You got me puttin' time in, time in
It may not be the weekend, and Pelicans GM Jestor can't sing like The Weeknd, but the blogosphere is buzzing that UConn point guard Stephon Castle is in fact not a lock to go #1 overall. In fact, there's three names, of which Castle, and...
*record scratch*
Shaedon Sharpe isn't one of the three.
Momma called me cryin', cryin', cryin' cryin'
Cuz I won't find somebody that's real (she wants somebody that's real)
Shit
Cuz every time I try to, try to, try to run
The fast life keeps gaining on me (the fast life keeps gaining on me)
That Sharpeless has left casuals' mouths' shapeless, sobbing that the media has lied to them about the long-thought Top 2 locks in this draft class. In fact, said one analyst, "The Top 10 is far more volatile than you might expect. This is one of those years that you had better scout, scout, scout or you'll say "It's too late for me" and you'll blow the pick. And New Orleans has scouted the top of the draft heavily enough that they'll go BPA and say Beak That to positional need."
In fact, the Big Easy's front office is reportedly so underwhelmed with this year's crop of centers that they wouldn't have drafted one with in the Top 10, even had they dropped from #6. So positional need was clearly not the priority heading into this top selection. Or, as another scout put it, "Positional need is when you're in the mid-late 1st and you're looking mainly for rotational guys."
The N'Awlin's front office is being tight-lipped about who the other two players are, and the leakers in their orbits likewise haven't been able to draw more than no Sharpe, no centers. So if a center will not hold, are we looking at a power forward? Yet another wing, and a Jayson Tatum heir sooner than expected?
As a Portland-based sports blogger noted, "I'm hearing they're veering off in Castle in part because he's not going to be Tatum. And if you're drafting 1st overall, you want a diamond for the next 10 seasons. Especially when your primary offensive engine is 31. If defenses don't really need to gameplan for him, what are you even really doing? Especially since they have a core group of guys they like in Coby White, J.D. Davison, and SPJ to handle point guard duties. And if finances become an issue, they can just trade out White and still have Davison and SPJ."
That isn't to say that Castle definitively *won't* be the pick. He's one of three players who have come in for multiple interviews and multiple final workouts to clean up a last area or two where there's still some ambiguity as to potential.... and of course, uncover any potential red flags.
Either way, so end the final days, where the Pelicans and players are getting... acquainted.
