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2018 NBA Draft Picks By Team

May 17th, 2018 at 10:49am CST by Luke Adams

While the Sixers were knocked out of the 2018 playoffs in the Eastern Conference Semifinals by the underdog Celtics, few teams are better positioned in this year’s draft than Philadelphia. The 76ers own six of the 60 picks in the 2018 NBA draft, including a pair of first-rounders.

As our full 2018 draft order shows, the Sixers are one of seven NBA teams that holds more than two selections in this year’s draft. On the other end of the spectrum, eight teams have just one pick in 2018, while two teams – the Heat and Raptors – don’t have any selections.

To present a clearer picture of which teams are most – and least – stocked with picks for the 2018 NBA draft, we’ve rounded up all 60 picks by team in the space below. Let’s dive in…

Teams with more than two picks:

Philadelphia 76ers (5): 10, 26, 38, 56, 60
Phoenix Suns (4): 1, 16, 31, 59
Atlanta Hawks (4): 3, 19, 30, 34
Dallas Mavericks (3): 5, 33, 54
Orlando Magic (3): 6, 35, 41
Charlotte Hornets (3): 11, 45, 55
Denver Nuggets (3): 14, 43, 58
Los Angeles Lakers (3): 25, 39, 47

Teams with two picks:

Sacramento Kings: 2, 37
Memphis Grizzlies: 4, 32
Chicago Bulls: 7, 22
New York Knicks: 9, 36
Los Angeles Clippers: 12, 13
Washington Wizards: 15, 44
San Antonio Spurs: 18, 49
Minnesota Timberwolves: 20, 48
Utah Jazz: 21, 52
Indiana Pacers: 23, 50
Brooklyn Nets : 29, 40
Oklahoma City Thunder: 53, 57

Teams with fewer than two picks:

Cleveland Cavaliers (1): 8
Milwaukee Bucks (1): 17
Portland Trail Blazers (1): 24
Boston Celtics (1): 27
Golden State Warriors (1): 28
Detroit Pistons (1): 42
Houston Rockets (1): 46
New Orleans Pelicans (1): 51
Miami Heat (0)
Toronto Raptors (0)

Bojan Bogdanovic To Play For Croatia This Summer

May 16th, 2018 at 1:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Count Pacers forward Bojan Bogdanovic among the players who intends to represent his country during this summer’s 2019 World Cup qualifiers. As he tells FIBA.basketball, Bogdanovic will look to turn things around for Croatia after the squad went 1-3 in the first two sets of qualifiers.

Hawks Notes: Pierce, Defense, Schroder

May 15th, 2018 at 10:10am CST by Luke Adams

During his introductory press conference on Monday, new Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce talked about his passion for defense, and indicated that he’ll be looking for defensive-minded assistants as he starts putting together his staff in Atlanta, as Charles Odum of The Associated Press writes.

“If we weren’t doing this press conference right now, I’d probably have these guys doing some defensive drills,” Pierce said, referring to the Hawks players who attended the presser. “That’s who I am.”

In addition to the four Hawks who were in attendance on Monday, Sixers forward Robert Covington – who was in Atlanta visiting a family member – showed up to support the former Philadelphia assistant. Covington had nothing but praise for Pierce, calling him a “great coach” who is “absolutely” ready for his first head coaching job.

Here’s more out of Atlanta:

During Monday’s presser, Hawks GM Travis Schlenk said that he and Mike Budenholzer remain on good terms, despite the former head coach’s departure from Atlanta. “I talked with [Budenholzer] a couple days ago,” Schlenk said, per Odum. “No hard feelings at all.”
In a Q&A with Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Pierce spoke at length about the defensive strategies he employed in Philadelphia, which he’ll bring to the Hawks.
Dennis Schroder, who led the Hawks in points (19.4 PPG) and assists (6.2 APG) last season, made comments this week at a press conference in Germany that made it sound like he wouldn’t mind moving on from Atlanta. Schroder said he could imagine playing for teams like the Bucks and Pacers (Twitter link via David Hein), adding that he doesn’t want to keep finishing “second-to-last in the Eastern Conference” (link via Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net). Schroder is under contract for three more years at $15.5MM annually, but wasn’t drafted or extended by the current management group, so he could emerge as a trade candidate for the Hawks.

Centers Could Be Paired Togethere

May 14th, 2018 at 5:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pacers centers Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis could play together more often next season, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star reports. They bring varied skill sets to the floor, which could allow them to complement each other. Turner prefers to shoot jumpers and 3-pointers off of ball screens, while Sabonis rolls to the basket more often and shoots mid-range jumpers, Michael notes. “They’re different in how they play,” coach Nate McMillan said. “Part of it this season was allowing those guys to spend some time on the floor and possibly developing into a spread player at the 4 or the 5, depending on who was guarding who.”

Review Of Ike Anigbogu's Rookie Year

May 13th, 2018 at 4:57pm CST by marksuleymanov

NBA.com’s Mark Monteith reviewed Ike Anigbogu‘s first NBA season after he taken by the Pacers in the second round last season. Anigbogu only appeared in 11 games but the 19-year-old showed promise during his scare opportunities, Monteith writes.

Deveney Previews Pacers' Offseason; J. Michael Explores Possible Trade Targets

May 11th, 2018 at 3:18pm CST by Luke Adams

Sean Deveney of The Sporting News previews the Pacers‘ offseason, observing that president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard will have a narrow line to walk as he looks to improve Indiana’s roster without handing out or taking on any bad long-term contracts.
It’s possible that All-Star caliber players like Kawhi Leonard and Kemba Walker will be on the trade market this offseason, prompting J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star to explore whether it would be worth it for the Pacers to pursue any big-time trade candidates.

Pacers’ Pritchard: We Hit Jackpot With Oladipo

May 8th, 2018 at 9:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard lavished praise on Victor Oladipo and revealed he consulted the team’s current star on potential moves, Dakota Crawford of the Indianapolis Star relays. Pritchard’s comments were made during radio interviews with ESPN’s Dan Dakich and CBS Sports Radio’s Kent Sterling. Pritchard said Oladipo changed the organization after being acquired from the Thunder in the Paul George deal last summer, not only with his breakout season but with his personality.

“We feel like we hit the jackpot,” Pritchard said. “No offense to Paul George, he’s having success and he’s going to go wherever he wants this offseason …”

Pritchard texts regularly with Oladipo and indicated he’d ask for the guard’s input on future decisions. Pritchard began doing that at the trade deadline.

“We looked at two or three deals. Two of them were just OK. But one of them, we really looked at. We went to Victor … he said some things, and we (kind of decided to leave it on the table).”

In other nuggets from the interviews:

Pritchard said he’d like to retain forward Thaddeus Young, who has a player option on his contract. “He didn’t talk a lot in the locker room, but when he did it was powerful. Thad was amazing. We hope he comes back.”
Pritchard hinted he wasn’t interested in pursuing George in free agency. Front office executives aren’t allowed to speak specifically about opposing players. “One of the things we’re about, we don’t care about big names, we don’t care about big personalities we don’t care about big brands. What we care about is being humble … Anybody that fits in, yeah, we’re interested … But if they don’t fit that, I’m not interested. It’s that simple.”
Pritchard liked the way the contracts of Darren Collison and Bojan Bogdanovic worked out and indicated he might take the same approach this offseason. Both were signed to two-year deals with a team option. “We think big, but the challenge is, if we lose a lot of our pieces to go big … are you better off with a couple major players, or are you better off with a really good group of players that don’t make the $30 million? That (instead) make the $10 or $12 million.”

Thaddeus Young: 'Sky Is The Limit' For Next Season

May 5th, 2018 at 5:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

Watching the Eastern semifinals has been a painful experience for Thaddeus Young and his Pacers teammates, relays Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. The Indiana players are still reeling after dropping a tough seven-game series to the Cavaliers, and they believe they could be on their way to the conference finals if they had gotten by Cleveland. Young adds that he hasn’t decided whether to opt out of a $13,764,045 salary for next season, but he believes the Pacers are headed for even better things. “Man, I think the sky is the limit for us,” he said. “As a team, we’re already pretty good, but I think we’ll be so much better entering next season because we’ll all have another year of experience under our belt and we won’t be a new-look team that just got together anymore.”
The Pacers need to add a 3-point shooter in free agency, observes J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star, who examines potential targets for this summer. Indiana should have roughly $10MM to spend, even if Young opts in, which could be enough to land Wayne Ellington, Joe Harris or Marco Belinelli.

Pacers’ Cory Joseph Picks Up Player Option

May 4th, 2018 at 9:28pm CST by Luke Adams

MAY 4: While there has been no formal announcement from the Pacers, Joseph has officially exercised his 2018/19 option, according to RealGM’s NBA transactions log.

MAY 2: Pacers guard Cory Joseph will exercise his player option to return to Indiana for one more season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The 2018/19 option will pay Joseph a salary of $7,945,000 before he becomes eligible for unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2019.

Joseph, 26, was a reliable rotation piece for the Pacers in his first season with the team, appearing in all 82 games and starting 17 when Darren Collison was unavailable. In 27.0 minutes per contest, Joseph averaged 7.9 PPG, 3.2 APG, and 3.2 RPG with a shooting line of .424/.353/.745.

If Joseph had faced this year’s player option decision in either of the last two offseasons, when NBA teams had more cap room available, he likely would’ve opted out. With teams expected to spend less aggressively in free agency this summer, it’s hard to blame the veteran point guard for playing it safe and exercising that option. Joseph is already the third veteran to pick up a 2018/19 option – joining Jeremy Lin and Wesley Matthews – and he certainly won’t be the last.

While Joseph’s opt-in will add more guaranteed money to the Pacers’ cap for next season, the team remains in very good financial shape, with just under $48MM in guaranteed salary on its books. If Thaddeus Young – like Joseph – picks up his player option, that would add another $13MM+ to that total. The Pacers will face decisions of their own on Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic, Lance Stephenson, Al Jefferson, and Joe Young, all of whom have team options or non-guaranteed contracts.

You can follow all of this year’s player option decisions using our tracker.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pacers Notes: Sabonis, Turner, Young, Offseason, Pritchard

May 3rd, 2018 at 9:41pm CST by marksuleymanov

With the Pacers eliminated from the postseason, the focus turns to next season and how the team can improve. With several roster options to consider during the offseason, the Pacers figure to weigh the pros and cons of potentially starting both Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner, Mark Monteith of NBA.com examines.

While neither player is a finished product, both possess attributes that helped Indiana this season. Turner is a good three-point shooter and shot blocker, whereas Sabonis is the better rebounder and mid-range shooter. Although neither player is a traditional center or power forward, team president Kevin Pritchard believes that both Turner and Sabonis can help the team if they are on the floor together.

“Players who play with each other a couple of years, they know where they’re going to be,” Pritchard said. “That makes the game come slower. Domas, the game already comes slow. He can make reads. Myles, he gets a little frantic. And that makes a difference. He’s got to calm down a little bit.”

Check out more Pacers notes below:

Both Cory Joseph and Thaddeus Young, who have options in their contracts, could leave Indiana this offseason. However, during his end of season media session, Pritchard indicated that both men expressed interest in returning during their exit meetings, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star writes. Since then, a report has indicated Joseph will pick up his option.
Pritchard addressed several aspects of the Pacers’ season in his media session, including the team’s somewhat improbable run to the postseason, roster, and impending offseason decisions, NBA.com’s Mark Monteith writes. “In my 26 years (in the NBA) I’ve never been around a team that brought it like they did this year. They had each other’s backs,” Pritchard said.
Bobby Marks of ESPN Insider (subscription required) looked at the Pacers’ impending decisions this summer. Marks examines whether Turner should be signed to a long-term deal, whether the Pacers will keep their roster together, and more.