So, the NBA is obviously looking to expand. The last time this happened, teams could protect eight players in an expansion draft. Looking through our roster, I actually had a hard time identifying which eight players I'd like to protect. Thoughts?
I actually thought that was pretty straight cut tbh: (in order of importance) Jalen Jabari Sengun Amen Tari Whitmore FVV KPJ
FYI, here are the 2004 Expansion Draft Rules from when the Charlotte Bobcats entered the league: https://www.nba.com/hornets/news/draft_central_expansion_rules_summary.html
Expansion teams: what they are looking for are cheap young players (ideally on rookie scale) that they can play heavy minutes and see if they have a franchise star. So a no-brainer is to protect all of Green, Smith, Thompson, Sengun, Eason, Whitmore. Anyone who failed to vote for those 6 possibly doesn't understand how an expansion draft works. We can leave Brooks and FVV unprotected. Assuming it is after this season, we will know how well they have performed, and how much the team has improved. Either way, their big contracts make them (a) an unlikely steal and (b) replaceable (given that we are in fairly kind cap space right now) I'd be more inclined to protect KPjr given his team friendly contract - but a lot of that depends on his production this year. 8th spot would either be FVV or one of Landale/ Tate (depending on their production). Both those guys have very nice contracts (pending performance!). All fairly speculative, depends on how the team and players go this year
1) Green 2) Sengun 3) Jabari 4) Tari 5) Amen 6) Whitmore 7) KPJ 8) Brooks Unprotected: FVV An expansion team isn't gonna take a player on a max deal, FVV is safe, you can leave him unprotected. I think the Brooks contract will age well, I wouldn't gamble with it. KPJ will be selected if unprotected due to his contract, so he's gotta take a spot.
This (although the order of the top 6 is debatable). I barely had to think twice about this, and my only other consideration was whether I'd rather keep Landale over KPJ since the Rockets need size and KPJ's skillset overlaps with so many other young players. But KPJ has more value on paper. As of right now, I see the Brooks contract as a minus, and few teams would want to take it, so why protect him? And I like Tate, who's a solid role player on a fairly reasonable contract, but I doubt he has more value than maybe a late 2nd rounder or as a throw in for contract purposes on a larger trade.
1) Thompson 2) Green 3) Eason 4) Smith 5) Sengun 6) Cam 7) Porter- contract is sweet and level pay 8) Landale - value contract that only has one year guaranteed.
That's an easy one 1) Jalen Green 2) Jabari Smith 3) KPj 4) Cam Whitmore 5) Tari Eason 6) Amen 7) Jock Landale 8) Jeff Green *In no particular order
I'd protect Jock before Dillon KPJ might end up being a trade candidate anyways if his & Jalens skills overlap too much so might even choose Jock ahead of him
…? A good rep, high character star/borderline star is exactly the type of player an expansion team is praying for. They’d pick FVV in a heartbeat, he’d likely be the #1 pick, if the Rox were dumb enough not to protect him…
Dillon Brooks Dillon Brooks Dillon Brooks Dillon Brooks Dillon Brooks Dillon Brooks Dillon Brooks Dillon Brooks
