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NBA Myth #14 - your draft picks have to develop into superstars

Wasn't that the excuse for abandoning them? Julius Randle, D'Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, et all....they'd never be Lebron James or Anthony Davis, so why bother holding onto them, right?

Wrong. That's completely absurd.

First of all, superstars don't grow on trees. If they did, teams wouldn't be willing to trade the farm to acquire them. Therefore, it's foolish to set that level of expectation for any draft pick (yes, even the lottery ones). If you can get an impact role player out of the draft, you should be happy. If you get an all star, you should be ecstatic. If you get a superstar, you should consider yourself lucky.


Second, as Judge Smails once said: "The world needs ditch diggers too". Every NBA champion that has ever existed has gotten big contributions from role players. In fact, role players are so important that they named a season award for them: the 6th Man of the Year. As with the superstars, the good ones don't go on trees - if you have one you hold onto him until something better comes along.


Third, the CBA makes it imperative that you develop your draft picks. You get them on depressed contracts and you have indirect control of the first 7 years of their careers. Whether they develop into superstars or not, you can still get cost-controlled production out of them.


Finally, and most importantly - if you develop your draft picks into competent players, it makes it that much easier for you to bring in a superstar. You can offer FAs a balanced roster and chance to be THE MAN, and other teams are more likely to offer you value in trade for established vets than they would for prospects.

No, that does NOT mean you hold onto your draftees at all costs, it simply means you don't let them walk for nothing or give them away for cap space. If you do move them, you need to get value in return.

And no, that does NOT mean you don't try to acquire superstars - it simply means you hold onto your assets until the opportunity to acquire one comes up. You don't give them away in the hopes that it will happen.