Imagining an expansion draft for a new Seattle NBA team

NBA conversations tend to run rampant with hypothetical scenarios designed to peak interest and debate. Every now and then one of these ideas stands out and must be expounded upon. This week NBA Twitter fixture Haralabos Voulgaris gave us this gem:

Expansion is always a reoccurring topic within the NBA, especially since the league vacated Seattle for the wide-open, manure-filled pastures of Oklahoma. Any #hoopidea like this deserves additional praise and conversation and so we at The Step Back will oblige.

When you examine who past expansion teams were able to build their initial rosters with, you can see how expansion teams have been limited. Back in 2004 when the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Hornets) joined the NBA as an expansion team, each NBA team got to protect eight players under contract or set to be restricted free agents. The player pool was thus much more muddied for Charlotte.

In our whimsical scenario each team can initially protect two players of their choice. The expansion club then selects two players from the entire pool, then the teams go through another round of protections (this time it’s four) and the expansion team fills out the rest of their roster. One can assume there will be a better fielded team in this instance and some clubs could be left hurting depending on who they lose.

Let’s lay some ground rules.

• The expansion team may only select 1 player from each NBA club
• NBA teams can protect any 2 players, then 4 they choose regardless of contract situation

That’s it! No more rules, let’s get to picking!

The players highlighted in blue depict the first two players each team would protect, in our estimation. Obviously, this is subjective and could change in reality, but talent, age, upside and injury history were the main factors considered for those initial protections. Some teams were more difficult than others and some were easy — as much as the Warriors love Draymond Green, Durant and Curry ain’t leaving.

The first two picks

The expansion team had two selections at this point and they chose Draymond Green and Kevin Love. There was a brief hullabaloo before the second selection as the expansion club was pushing for an appeal on the two players from one team rule because they really wanted the combo of Green and Klay Thompson. Adam Silver deliberated briefly and struck down their appeal leaving them with a choice between Love and Blake Griffin. Though they are the same age, past injury concerns and the fact that Draymond Green called immediately and said “you better not take that red-headed Clipper” went into consideration.

Green and Love are both in their prime years, and both bring unique skill sets the team can build around. Green is perhaps the most versatile forward in the NBA who can really play positions 2-5 if necessary, and of course brings his you-better-get-outta-my-face attitude which can lift an entire franchise to new heights. Love has proven to be malleable since his move to Cleveland and still possesses the ability to drop 20 and 10 on any given night. He is also extremely unselfish and stretches the floor past the 3-point line which fits the small ball mold this franchise would have to go for with a lack of quality big men to draft.

Rounding out the roster

This proved more taxing than expected, especially when factoring in the “only one player from each team” rule. Again, there are literally thousands of different options for the remaining 13 players, but we took some key factors into consideration — age, potential, current skill set, overall talent, chemistry and of course the willingness to be yelled at by Draymond without wanting to quit immediately after.

The guards have a nice mix of pick-and-roll dynamos in Smith and Ferrell, shooters in Daniels and Hardaway Jr. and a wild card who showed ultra-bright moments last year in Tyus Jones. Expansion teams aren’t meant to be championship, or even playoff, caliber from the jump but this is a group of competitors should at least be competitive.

Clearly the wing trio of Green, Ariza and Chandler show our cards as a small ball, run-and-gun type of team. Its feasible — though unlikely — that all three could be on the court at the same time which provides ultimate versatility and matchup problems galore. Mario Hezonja was selected because I am clearly marooned on #MarioIsland and refuse to leave, even though many have swooped in to try and save me.

Love, Gibson and Holmes round out the 4s and if coach is feeling froggy perhaps Trey Lyles can show off his skills from time to time as well. He’s still just 21-years old and at this point is a long-term investment.

Our 5s are longer than the list of teams Ish Smith has played for in his career, so take that! Henson is on the all-wiry team at 6-foot-11 and like 125 pounds, but can fill a role rebounding and blocking shots. Nogueira showed signs of life for the Raptors this season and at just 24-years old is still developing into his potential as a sideshow Bob lookalike.

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This squad might win like 25 games in year one but that would be part of The Process here. Win some games early, develop these young players and feed in some future lottery picks to build around Green and Love.

Compare this squad to who the Bobcats rolled out in season one and this situation is definitely more beneficial for an expansion club. Now, get on it Adam Silver!