2021 NBA DRAFT: July 29, 7 pm

[dirkfansince1998]

And WTF is your point?  

The discussion centered around the fact that a GM should not trade the 19th pick for Kleber/Brunson, because it would be a severe talent downgrade, even if the GM believes that player has All-NBA potential.

So the point of the discussion was that half the rotation of the NBA champions was drafted close to or even far below #19, and not by whom they were drafted.

It wouldn´t be a talent downgrade.  For some reason you are only mentioning the good examples. Not the majority of players in the late first round that never panned out. if you want to make a case for the value of the pick you have to go with the average or median. Not the once in a lifetime outlier.
Brunson for example was a great pick. Top 20 player in his draft class. Easily better than the average player that is drafted in the mid/late first round.


https://www.82games.com/nbadraftpicks.htm

https://www.82games.com/barzilai1.htm