(05-13-2026, 11:43 PM)hakeemfaan Wrote: You definitely have access to more guys in the building. I am just going on gut instinct and not fully believing what Ujiri is saying.
I can't see a guy who has built his reputation by drafting suddenly giving that up when having a top 10 pick, with no other high picks on the horizon, and especially when he has started a new job. Of course chances are pretty high that both of them are going to be aligned for the most part anyway on the type of player they want. It's just that if there is a clear disagreement, my feeling is for this particular pick Ujiri will win out, but Schmidt will get plenty of other chances where he will get his way as well.
It goes a bit off this thread title, but for me the hiring of Ujiri and Schmitz signals a talent based rebuild around Cooper in the next three to four years - and that would mean to take risks to get more high draft picks in the next years by trading out the likes of PJ, Naji, Gafford and also Kyrie - when the value and the timing is right („product-market-fit“).
By risk I mean things like projecting a teams next season going much worse than they anticipated and their pick ending up much higher than at the moment of the trade, because of one injury, or some clauses with protections being dependent on lottery results etc.
So for sure we have to hit with this years picks - ideally with at least two like we did with Brunson in addition to Luka - and then have to fill up the talent pipeline these next seasons while OKC is almost unbeatable in SGAs prime to get on the talent level of the Spurs for the years 2030+