Les Français viennent! Les Français viennent!

Three Frenchmen in the top six picks, two years after two Frenchmen went in the top 10. The French takeover of the NBA is happening.

Good morning. We’re going blog style for draft reaction. Let’s basketball.

The Coronation of Napoleon; Jacques-Louis David; 1806

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The Best Knicks Roster Since There Was Blood In The Garden

O.G. Anunoby left money on the table to re-sign with the Knicks: five years, $212 million. It’s a lot of bread for a player who has appeared in 65% of his team’s games for the past four seasons. But also, the Knicks were spectacular in the 30-ish games Anunoby played for them this season, and both Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges are on bargain deals, allowing New York to splurge elsewhere.

There are potentially more dominoes to fall, including the fate of Isaiah Hartenstein, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson. There’s little chance all three stick around (Hartenstein is a free agent, the other two have been mentioned in trade rumors). But given how amazing Brunson has been the past two seasons, it’s pretty clear that this Knicks team is set up to be a legitimate contender for the foreseeable future. What a turn of events.

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Charlotte Loves A Project

I was traveling and listening to the NBA Draft for the first 10 picks. As you know, I’m not all that up on the prospects, especially this batch of internationals. When Adam Silver told us who the Charlotte Hornets picked at No. 6, I had no idea what he was talking about. Compounding the issue is that the ESPN studio show — which was fantastic, I briefly experienced the ABC version with Stephen A. and Bob Myers and immediately raced back to ESPN — didn’t spend much time on that pick because of other stuff going on.

The pick was Tidjane Salaun out of France. He was top-10 in the consensus mocks, so this isn’t some wild reach. It really just threw me off.

Anyways, here’s the analysis section of his draft bio from NBA.com:

The 6-foot-9 forward has intrigued scouts with his combination of fluidity and shooting touch. He’s smooth in transition and cutting to the basket, while he can also knock down looks from deep. He went a modest 68-for-211 (32%) in 2023-24 but 61-for-168 (36%) in 2022-23 and 27-for-77 (35%) in 2021-22. Salaun is mostly a finisher as he totaled 44 assists to 64 turnovers last year. On defense, he isn’t a showstopper but he has a 7-foot-2 wingspan and competes with good athleticism. Hustle and desire helps him on both ends of the floor.

Writing he “is mostly a finisher” before listing his badly negative assist-to-turnover numbers is the sweetest poem ever written. “On defense, he isn’t a showstopper but” is similarly nice. Did a Canadian write this bio?

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Speaking Of Les Français …

Four Frenchmen in the first round, three in the top six picks. No nation other than the United States has had three players picked in the top 10 of a single draft before. An interesting twist is that all four of the French picks are considered projects. Gone are the days of plug-and-play French prospects like Tony Parker and, uh, Victor Wembanyama. It reminds me of Boris Diaw, who spent years in the NBA (more specifically, on the Atlanta Hawks) playing the wrong position.

It reminds me of early Nicolas Batum being highly intriguing only to Blazers fanatics who saw the vision and us Francophiles with high hopes. It reminds me of the last French invasion, the pre-Gobert blog era of Johan Petro, Ian Mahinmi, Alexis Ajinca, Mickael Pietrus, Yakhouba Diawara, the unsignable Nando de Colo and the untouchable Rodrigue Beaubois.

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DominAyyyyy What Now?

The Portland Trail Blazers were active. They traded two firsts, two seconds and the Born To Be Traded Malcolm Brogdon to the Wizards for Deni Avdija, who is an intriguing prospect on a good contract that I am stunned a tanking team would chase for multiple picks. I’m not sure I understand what the Blazers are doing, even though I think Avdija is a starter in the NBA. I just don’t know that the Blazers are remotely close to being competitive in any way, and so I don’t know why you’d put draft equity out for a player that doesn’t get you dramatically closer?

Then the Blazers picked Donovan Clingan at No. 7. (The great

Sean Highkin

of

The Rose Garden Report

has been calling it.) Clingan is a promising defense-and-finishing center who just helped UConn win back-to-back championships. You know who else is a center? Deandre Ayton, who famously came to Portland in the Jusuf Nurkic deal last summer and who less famously had a really solid finish to the season despite the Blazers’ hellscape record. You know who is on a very large contract for the next two seasons? Deandre Ayton. You know who seems particularly sensitive to being shown respect by the team that employs him? Deandre Ayton.

We’re monitoring the situation.