Deal with Dumars being finalized now. A lot of speculation out there that Phoenix would like Willie Green, which works out great if Dumars has his own guy in mind (Malone from Denver?). Also, its being reported Dumars will be instructed by ownership to trade Zion.
If the lottery signals the official end of the season for non-playoff teams, then the result was near perfect for the Pels, given their luck this season. Fourth worst record, the lotto floor was 8th and they got 7th. To make things worse, division rivals Dallas and San Antonio jumped us and got the top 2 picks. Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper are sure things at 1-2, then it's anyone's guess. I'm hoping for Knoeppel from Duke at 7 but don't think he'll be there. No one excites me other than the 3 names I've mentioned at this point.
Pels took Jeremiah Fears, PG, Oklahoma at #7. Stephen A. Smith promptly lost his mind on the TV coverage, pronouncing that if Fears improves his outside jumper, he will be "the next Kyrie Irving." I could live with that. I had a feeling just before the pick they would take Derek Queen, the PF/C out of Maryland. Instead, they traded up with Atl, giving up the no. 23 they just got from Indiana and whatever turns out to be the higher of their two first rounders next year, and took Queen at 13. He's about 6'10, 250, and the best description I'm seeing is, "not very athletic, but a supremely intelligent player."
Franchise is absolutely jinxed. Derik Queen injured his wrist in summer league, requiring surgery. He will likely miss all of training camp and the beginning of the season. He was a hard to figure out prospect in 3 games, imo. To me, looks very slow, and I do mean sloooooowwww, but he averaged a double-double. Fears got some negative reviews, but I think they were being too hard on him. He made multiple hilite-worthy passes that should have been spectacular assists for him, and his teammates couldn't handle the passes. Hopefully, Zion, Trey and company can handle what he's dishing out.
