Hsinchu Siege Lions, a small team in the Chinese Taiwan League made headlines with a signing. They signed the former No. 1 pick in the NBA, Anthony Bennett.
Going back in time to the 2013 draft, I wonder if the Cleveland Cavaliers will still use the No. 1 pick in their hands to select Bennett?
When we look back on the past from the perspective of God, we will find that that year was not a draft year as the fans said, that year produced Oladipo, Otto Porter, CJ-McCollum, Adams, Gobert, and Antetokounmpo.
Against the background of these good players, Bennett, who averaged 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, and only played in the NBA for 4 years, looks like a clown…
The fate of the top pick in parallel imports has always been the laughing stock of NBA history, and countless descendants will continue to laugh at Bennett because of this incident, just as fans treat Joe Smith, Olowokandi, Kwame Brown, Auburn. Deng, these parallel champions are the same.
No matter how the NBA develops in the future, these parallel champions who are targeted at the column of shame will never be forgotten. Whenever the draft is approaching, someone will always bring them out as a joke. At the same time, fans will not be merciful to those teams that select the champion of parallel imports, and even they will accept heavier mockery.
Moreover, even if the champions are reduced to parallel imports, they can still get a generous salary that is enough to make themselves comfortable, and can live a very good life. On the contrary, the team that selects the champion of parallel imports is the one who will suffer heavy losses.
Here we might as well analyze, if a team selects the number one pick or a high-ranked parallel importer, how much will their losses be?
First of all, a team with a high pick but not taking advantage of it will lose the opportunity cost of picking other good players and waste the great opportunity to get ahead.
For example, the Trail Blazers who selected Oden in 2007 missed the super giant of Durant (although anyone would choose Oden at that time, it cannot be denied that it is a pity to miss Durant).
In 2017, if the 76ers didn’t use the No. 1 pick in their hands to select Fultz, but Tatum, would the 76ers be very different today? The interesting thing is that it was not the 76ers who held the No. 1 overall pick, but the Celtics. But the Celtics wanted Tatum more, and thought it was enough to win Tatum with a third overall pick, so they made a swap deal with the 76ers and lost the “parallel import” to the 76ers.
If the 76ers could get Tatum at the time, they might not have to worry about the lineup anymore.
Whether it is the No. 1 pick or a high-ranked rookie, in addition to selling potential, they are also highly cost-effective combat power. If the team does not use it well, then this cost-effective reinforcement will become a “junk contract.”
Taking this year’s rookie contract as an example, the starting salary of the champion can reach 11.05 million, which means that if the parallel champion is selected, the team will lose 11.05 million of reinforcement space in vain.
Assuming some rebuilding teams, they can also alleviate this embarrassing situation by continuing to rot, just like the Cavaliers got the No. 1 overall pick after picking Bennett for another year and selected Wiggins.
But it’s not that simple for some strong teams that don’t get top or bottom, or even some extra high draft picks. For example, the Pistons who won Milicic with the second overall pick in 2003, the Serbs could not meet the requirements of the Pistons at all. The Pistons could only put him on the bench, occupying a salary space and a lineup.
The same is true of Wiseman, the second-place pick in 2020. When the Warriors began to strive for the championship, Wiseman, who failed to meet the requirements of the competition, could only sit on the bench, and the Warriors had to pay him an annual salary of 9.16 million last season. , Given the tight salary level of the Warriors, it is conceivable to pay the luxury tax to retain Wiseman, not to mention that Wiseman takes up a valuable roster spot on the championship team.
So it’s easy to see that although fans can laugh at the parallel rookies as an after-dinner pastime, they are not for the team.
Any team should try to avoid picking parallel imports as much as possible, and the best way is to choose a player whose talent matches this position in whatever position they get. Instead of using the No. 1 pick to pick mediocre players who are only at the bottom of the lottery, as the Cavaliers did in 2013, put players and teams in an embarrassing situation.
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