2024 NBA Draft Night: First Round Losers

June 27, 2024

Thunder Dan explains why he thinks these teams failed to meet their offseason objectives through the 2024 NBA Draft.

The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft is in the books, and as we expected, there were plenty of unexpected picks in what most analysts consider the worst draft in terms of overall talent in recent years.

Some teams like Washington, Minnesota, and Utah were able to secure multiple players and are being lauded for their picks. Others, like the Lakers and Sixers, who had only one pick, had players who fit their teams' needs fall to them in the middle of the draft and can be viewed as winners.

But if we have winners, then there must surely be losers, too, right? Here are the teams that I feel botched their picks and may feel the wrath of their fanbases after making some questionable decisions on draft night.

1. Charlotte Hornets

Selected Tidjane Salaun at No. 6 overall

Saluan was the third French player taken in the draft with Zaccharie Risacher and Alexandre Sarr going 1-2 to Atlanta and Washington. Sarr is the most NBA-ready of the three and was at the top of my board, while Salaun is arguably the most raw of the three.

I'm not going to deny that the 19-year-old has a ton of raw talent, but he falls very much into the category of a "work in progress" or a "project" rather than a guy who can step in and help the franchise in his first or even second season.

New Hornet Tidjane Saluan

Strengths:

- I know his %’s weren’t great but his shooting stroke is nice and I believe he can develop into a really nice catch and shoot guy
- Great size for someone who can play on the wing

Weaknesses:

- Doesn’t look quick off the dribble at all
-… pic.twitter.com/3xb5DbyyKt

— The Cat Shack (@NCCatShack) June 27, 2024

He's a tweener with the size to play the four but more of the skillset of an NBA 3-man. He's been compared to Michael Porter Jr. but is nowhere close to as good of a shooter yet and he will need to pack on some muscle if he's going to compete for boards in the paint.

A few other comps that have been thrown out are Al-Farouq Aminu and Jonas Jerebko, who both had solid careers as rotational players but nowhere close to being stars. It feels like Charlotte, who lacks any star power other than the oft-injured LaMelo Ball, could have gone after another playmaker or scorer here, as plenty of them were still available this high in the draft.

2. Brooklyn Nets

Have zero first or second-round picks in this draft

The James Harden trade continues to haunt this franchise. This year's first-round pick that was sent to Houston back in 2021 ended up becoming the third overall pick that the Rockets used to take Reed Sheppard - a player who some have ranked as the best guard prospect in the draft.

Now the Nets did just land a boatload of picks from the Knicks in the Mikal Bridges deal, which will help them rebuild in the future. But for now, we are looking at a team that is going to struggle without Bridges and wants to sign Nicolas Claxton to a big extension. I'm sorry, Nets fans, but a team built around Cam Thomas, Ben Simmons, and Claxton doesn't really move the needle for me.

It feels like things are going to get uglier in Brooklyn before they get better, and the Nets dug their own grave when they attempted to go all-in for a title with the big three of Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving.

3. Milwaukee Bucks

Selected AJ Johnson at No. 23 overall

I'm certainly not the only one puzzled by this pick. The general reaction to Johnson, a 19-year-old guard who averaged just two points a game playing in Australia last season, going to the Bucks was one of confusion.

I am actually shocked that the Bucks just took 19-year-old AJ Johnson with the No. 23 pick.

Milwaukee is trying to win an NBA Championship right now and Johnson will not contribute to this team for a while.

— Jake Weinbach (@JWeinbachNBA) June 27, 2024

The Bucks have been in "win-now" mode for several seasons as they are trying to get back to the NBA Finals again while Giannis Antetokounmpo is in his prime and under contract. I understand that sometimes good teams feel like they can draft for depth, but the Bucks had an underwhelming season this year and a quick exit in the playoffs, which exposed their roster surrounding Giannis quite a bit.

Terrence Shannon Jr. - a 23-year-old shooting guard out of Illinois, was available, as was Isaiah Collier - a six-foot-three freshman point guard from USC. I think either player would be ready to contribute more quickly, while a big man like Kyle Filipkowski out of Duke would also have made sense to help the frontcourt, as Bobby Portis is likely going to depart in free agency.

4. Memphis Grizzlies

Selected Zach Edey at No. 9 overall

This is probably the most polarizing pick of the draft. I suppose it all comes down to whether or not you are a believer in Edey and whether his skills will transfer over to the NBA game.

I will admit that I saw major improvement from him from his junior to senior seasons at Purdue, but if you watched this year's tournament, he was still exposed at times by quicker defenders and his lack of perimeter shooting.

oh and don’t forget 2x national player of the year 🏆🏆

yeaaaaaa @zach_edey @southlandcasino pic.twitter.com/2BIX1a1JbZ

— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) June 27, 2024

Reports are that he had really good workouts and that's what caused him to move up multiple teams' draft boards. Memphis badly wanted a center to help replace the loss of Steven Adams on the interior and was rumored to be interested in moving up to get Donovan Clingan.

Instead, they stayed put and took Edey a good 5-6 picks ahead of where most experts expected him to go. The fact that Edey went from a guy who some thought was a second-round pick to a top-ten pick tells you a lot about his perception among NBA scouts, and it also is a testament to how shallow the talent pool is in this draft.

Edey could easily be a solid rotational player for Memphis, but I don't see him as a starting center in this league. His lack of athleticism is going to be hard to hide on defense, and I see Memphis choosing to play small to close out games and push the pace.

Time will tell if I'm wrong or if Memphis was right, but to me, it seemed like a reach to take Edey that high.

Let's see what happens tonight in the second round, where there are still some big names like Kyle Filipkowski available. Thanks for reading!