2021 NBA Draft Winners And Losers
Written by Ayaan Syed
As with every edition, the 2021 NBA Draft was laden with winners and losers. However this year presents us with one of the most remarkable discrepancies of value between the two respective groups. Poor-value selections and bewildering picks were the main themes of the night, leaving an unfortunate handful of teams more jumbled and worse than they had been the morning prior. Whether these mistakes were made via an aberration of fit or style or just by an outright reach of talent, errors were made nonetheless. That being said, a few organizations took full advantage of the others' shortcomings, even selecting lottery-level talent towards the latter portion of the draft.
Let's take a look at the biggest winners of the 2021 NBA draft.
2021 NBA Draft Winners and Losers
WINNERS:
The Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks ended the season on an impressive playoff run to the Conference Finals, eliminating the #1 seeded Philadelphia Sixers in the process, before losing to the eventual champs in 6. The Hawks capitalized on this playoff momentum by stealing forward Jalen Johnson with the 20th pick and guard Sharife Cooper with the 48th pick. A talented forward from Duke, Johnson dropped from his projected top-10 position due to reported character issues. This did not scare away Atlanta, and they acquired a skilled forward to pair with Deandre Hunter on the wing. However, Johnson was not Atlanta’s largest heist of the night. Sharife Cooper, a diminutive yet highly skilled guard out of Auburn, was picked at 48, behind players such as Isaiah Todd, Jason Preston, Juhann Begarin and Greg Brown. His stratospheric drop was highly unexpected and the Hawks took advantage of teams passing up on a first round talent to bring the Atlanta native back to his hometown. The Hawks reloaded an already talented squad, as they hope to compete for a championship once more.
The Orlando Magic
The Magic signaled a new rebuilding phase last trade deadline when they traded their 3 best players: Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier. The Magic went into the draft looking for an elite talent to jumpstart their rebuild, and they acquired that with guard Jalen Suggs with the 5th pick. A talented and exciting young player, Jalen Suggs dropped out of his projected top-4 position and fell into the Magic’s lap at 5. Suggs has the potential to be one of the best guards in the NBA, and the Magic desperately needed an exciting prospect to build around. The Magic then picked Michigan forward Franz Wagner, ranked 12th on the Looney Bin consensus board and a steady wing to place alongside Suggs as both develop together for years to come.
The Philadelphia 76ers
Daryl Morey has had an excellent career when it comes to the NBA Draft, and that trend continued in his 2nd season with Philadelphia. Morey selected Tennessee guard Jaden Springer, ranked 13th on the Looney Bin consensus board with the 28th pick.. Springer will help lead the bench unit for the 76ers while providing crucial 3 and D minutes come playoff time. Morey also scored multiple steals in the 2nd round and outside the draft, selecting skilled yet often injured bigman Charles Bassey with the 53rd selection and signing wingman Aaron Henry as a UDFA. Both Bassey and Henry were expected to go much higher in the draft (in Henry’s case, selected in the early 2nd round instead of going undrafted). Both Bassey and Henry should provide key bench depth for Philadelphia behind star players Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris. With these additions, Morey continues his keen eye for draft steals.
The Golden State Warriors
The Warriors entered the draft in a weird state. Despite having the NBA scoring champ and all-time great point guard Stephen Curry and impact defender Draymond Green, Golden State failed to make the playoffs as their sheer lack of depth doomed them in a play-in loss vs Memphis. Therefore, the Warriors were expected to select a win-now shot-creator, such as a Davion Mitchell. Instead, they selected young wing Jonathan Kuminga from the G-League Ignite team. Kuminga is purely a developmental pick for the Warriors, he’s shown flashes of greatness and could end up as one of the best players in the draft if the Warriors can tap into his immense potential. His ceiling is higher than a Davion Mitchell type, and the Warriors hope he can fully develop his shotmaking and creating traits. Seven picks later, the Warriors selected Moses Moody out of Arkansas, right after two horrendous picks in Josh Primo and Chris Duarte (more on them later). Moody is just the wing the Warriors need, providing great on and off-ball defense with one of the most impressive wingspans in the draft. Moody was also a known shot creator for both himself and his teammates at Arkansas, a trait the Warriors desperately need as it takes pressure off star players like Curry. Moody is also a great off-ball shooter, with nearly half his shots in the half-court at Arkansas being catch-and-shoot jumpers. Moody provides the Warriors bench with an impact 3 and D wing to a unit that desperately needs it.
The Utah Jazz
The Jazz only had one pick in the draft(the 40th selection), yet they came out with arguably the steal of the draft in Jared Butler. Butler was instrumental in the success of Baylor’s national championship team, showcasing innate scoring ability and ball-handling skills. He is also a great on and off-ball defender while being a knockdown shooter, hitting 41% on 6 attempts a game. Butler is comfortable in high usage situations, and is a capable creator for both himself and teammates. If not for potential health risks that arrived at the NBA Draft Combine, Butler was a projected top-25 pick. Instead, the Jazz get a talented player at a low-risk, high reward price.
LOSERS
The San Antonio Spurs
Let’s get this out the way. No one expected Josh Primo to go in the lottery. The Spurs took a massive reach on a player who has not shown the capability to be a first-round talent. Primo has upside as the youngest player in the draft, having just turned 18 in December. Primo is also a known knockdown shooter, having shot 38% from deep on nearly 4 attempts a game. Yet, his shortcomings arrive in the form of weak upper body strength, leading to poor finishing around the basket and few drives using his weaker left hand. He also does not have the burst or handle necessary for a score-first player like he projects to be. Therefore, San Antonio would have done much better in selecting far superior prospects and players such as Moses Moody, Jalen Johnson, and Trey Murphy to name a few. Time will be needed to fully judge the Primo pick, but for right now, it is a head scratcher.
The Indiana Pacers
The Pacers started the off-season with the firing of first-year head coach, Nate Bjorkgren, replacing him with longtime Mavericks head coach, Rick Carlisle. Now, that may seem like a positive move for Indiana, but is potentially far from it. Carlisle in his first stint with the Pacers was deemed a “poor roster manager” and was the coach during the infamous “Malice in the Palace” incident. The Pacers roster as of this moment, are in a difficult locker room situation, with former coach Bjorkgren losing the locker room entirely. So when the Pacers entered the draft, they were expected to take someone who fit the roster needs with a ceiling high enough to push the Pacers out of mediocrity, while also being a locker room leader and teammate. The Pacers only accomplished half of that prompt, instead, selecting a player who is the same age as Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker, who has played for 6 seasons in the NBA. Now, while Duarte is not a bad player, and was known for his leadership at Oregon, his ceiling is limited compared to players picked after him and restricts the Pacers ability to develop a superstar while retooling their current roster.
The Washington Wizards
The Wizards made a splash before the draft even began, trading All-Star guard Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers. In return, the Wizards received Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell in addition to the 21st pick from Los Angeles(eventually traded to Indiana). Trading Westbrook from a playoff team signifies a rebuild from the Wizards point of view. Yet, the Wizards selected forward Corey Kispert with their 15th pick and center Isaiah Todd in a trade for the 31st pick. Kispert is known for his perimeter shooting and defense but has a ceiling that is too low for a rebuilding team to build around. Kispert also slows the developmental timeline of second-year player Deni Avdija by making him fight for minutes with Kispert. As for Todd, he is just not talented enough to be picked at all, much less with the first pick of the second round.
The Sacramento Kings and Davion Mitchell
The Kings are in a tricky situation. They have an All-Star talent in De'Aaron Fox with few win-now players surrounding him(with the exception of Richaun Holmes). The Kings would have benefitted from selecting a young wingman to combine with Fox for the future, like Ziaire Williams or Moses Moody. Instead, the Kings selected an older college player in Davion Mitchell. Now, Davion is coming off a very impressive junior season with the national champions Baylor Bears. But the Kings do not need another guard. At the start of the draft, the Kings had 6 guards on their roster. Mitchell, a guard, is not good enough to warrant a lottery selection when the Kings already have Fox and Haliburton. To add further insult to injury, in post-draft interviews Mitchell was noticeably unenthusiastic when answering questions about the Kings. He was seen deflecting numerous questions about his emotions and how he felt about being picked by the Kings, painting the picture that Mitchell did not want to play in Sacramento. Mitchell's selection looks to be another addition in the disastrous history of Kings draft picks.
The Portland Trailblazers
You do not trade into the draft for Greg Brown. Just, no.Ultimately, this article could age horribly in 4 years time. But as for right now, these are the winners and losers from the 2021 NBA Draft.