This thread is full of people who despite years of following this team still have no clue about how BB operates during drafts. Go listen to Lombardi or read some books on that. If there was a player that really was "their guy" (e.g. in the "starter" category of players) they would have gotten him by using some of their assets to move up - especially after the Mitch Morse debacle in the 2015 draft. Usually, they learn from that ****.
In reality, Feeney was most probably slightly higher rated than Garcia but in the same "potential starter" group of players.
This is a weird post. You write how unlikely it is that they would miss their guy...then in the same sentence, point out how that happened the previous year.
So if they really wanted to do it, they would have. Except when they didn't. Which was a year before.
I'm not saying it did happen, or it didn't. We can't possibly know, unless BB or Nick want to tell us (wouldn't hold my breath on that one).
More than likely, from listening to the Ringer podcasts with Lombardi and seeing bits and pieces over the years, it feels like the team has a very limited draft board, then works around to get some of those guys. If there's a guy who is head and shoulders above, they may move up for him, otherwise they're content to let the draft come to them.
It also seems like they try to work out a trade back at every pick, then wait to see who is available before figuring if it's worth it or not. That scenario was described with Malcolm Brown, where there was a potential trade-down, but the value seemed too good to pass up.
What is clear is that the value they had in trading back was higher than any player on the board. What we can't say with any conclusiveness is if one of the players selected ahead would have changed that value equation if they had dropped to 72.
