2024 NBA Draft Prospect Discussion

[buzzkilloton]

"At the top, this class is seen as clearly the weakest in the past decade. Last year, I had five players in my Tier 1 or Tier 2: Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson, Cam Whitmore, Brandon Miller and Amen Thompson. The year before, I had four such players in Chet Holmgren, Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith Jr. and Jaden Ivey, so I’m not particularly stingy with those grades. No player in this draft class has even hit the Tier 2 level for me.

NBA team evaluators are still struggling to pinpoint the highest-upside players. Many compare it to the 2013 draft in which Anthony Bennett was selected No. 1, only one All-Star was taken in the lottery and only three All-Stars were picked the entire night. The good news for teams: Giannis Antetokounmpo went 15th in that draft, as did Rudy Gobert at No. 27. As in every class, All-Stars will emerge. But it will be a lot more difficult for NBA teams to identify those players."

Read what he wrote in the beginning


Sam V new mock out.

1.Risacher
2.Sarr
3.Matas Buz to us
4.Reed Sheppard
5.Topic
6.Castle
7.Cody Will
8.Holland

https://theathletic.com/5337105/2024/03/19/nba-mock-draft-2024-march-madness/

[buzzkilloton]

Give me Reed. His report in spl

Spoiler:

Reed Sheppard | 6-3 guard | 20 years old | Kentucky
A month ago, I said Sheppard and Kentucky teammate Rob Dillingham were the two most polarizing players in this draft class. That label remains accurate for Dillingham, but I don’t think that applies to Sheppard anymore, based on my conversations with NBA team personnel.

In his last 13 games, Sheppard is averaging 14.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists (with a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio), 2.7 steals and nearly one block per game while shooting a ridiculous 52.6 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from 3 and 86.4 percent from the free-throw line. By the way, that 50 percent mark from 3 over his last 13 games? It’s actually made his full-season percentage go down.

Questions certainly remain. Sheppard is listed at 6-foot-3, though scouts are skeptical he’s that tall. He lacks the length or athleticism typical of a top-10 pick. But the more Sheppard starred in SEC play, the more scouts emphasized what he can do as opposed to the traits he doesn’t have. It’s absurd to me that he only made second-team All-SEC; there’s a real case for him as one of the five best players in the entire country, and I’d consider him an All-American in some capacity. It’s almost impossible for a college player of any age to be this productive and efficient.

Offensively, Sheppard is potent leading the fast break or delivering hit-ahead passes to his teammates. When combined with his elite shooting, those attributes make Sheppard one of the best connective players in this class. On top of that, he’s showcasing more dexterity operating in ball screens and as a playmaker in recent weeks. His games against Mississippi State (32 points, seven assists and five rebounds on Feb. 27) and Tennessee (27 points, five rebounds and five assists on March 9) were eye-openers for NBA personnel.

Defensively, Sheppard makes plays, and his closeouts on shooters are textbook and disruptive. He has some off-ball lapses that can cause issues for Kentucky, and while he’s excellent at staying in front of guards on the ball, opponents can force mismatches that take advantage of his size deficiencies.

Should NBA personnel believe in Sheppard’s remarkable feel for the game and high skill level, or should they worry about his physical deficiencies? Given the recent success of other supposed “skill-first” guys who slipped in the draft (Jalen Brunson, Brandin Podziemski and Desmond Bane, to name a few), I continue to buy into Sheppard’s positives more than I fret about his negatives. I had Sheppard ranked at No. 6 on my big board back in early December and have maintained a high grade on him throughout the process.

[MotownMadness]

Cody Williams with a 0 point game to open the tournament

[tmorgan]

Cody is pure project butt.

[Invictus88]

Reed Sheppard with a donut 25 minutes in

[mattao313]

Cody is pure project butt.

He kinda reminds me of Tobias Harris

Sent from my SM-A528B using RealGM mobile app

[bstein14]

This Oakland + Kentucky game is an instant classic.

[MotownMadness]

KY bounced already and a poor showing from Sheppard as well

[zeebneeb]

Great. Man this draft sucks, and no team is gonna want the Pistons pick.

Man what a nightmare. I guess we start looking forward to the next NBA draft? 2025?

Nuggets/Knicks game is good anyway.

[The Moose]

I love Sheppard but that was awful

[bstein14]

Sheppard **** the bed... I thought he was more NBA ready than some others because his shot would transfer to the NBA but he might be a bit of a project when it comes to doing more than being a catch and shoot guy.

[whitehops]

annual reminder for people to not weigh the 1-3 games during the tourney too heavily when judging prospects. the most games a player will play during march madness is 6 and the vast majority play 3 or less. it's a tiny sample size to judge a player off of whether they play good or bad.

heck, look at the list of MOP winners: ochai agbaji, donte divincenzo, tyus jones, shabazz napier, kemba walker, kyle singler, wayne ellington, mario chalmers, etc. anthony davis is the only generational prospect that won MOP in the last like 40 years, the rest of the list has far from the best prospects.

this draft is famously underwhelming because it doesn't have any blue chip prospects but it does have guys that can be "stars in their roles".

[theBigLip]

annual reminder for people to not weigh the 1-3 games during the tourney too heavily when judging prospects. the most games a player will play during march madness is 6 and the vast majority play 3 or less. it's a tiny sample size to judge a player off of whether they play good or bad.

heck, look at the list of MOP winners: ochai agbaji, donte divincenzo, tyus jones, shabazz napier, kemba walker, kyle singler, wayne ellington, mario chalmers, etc. anthony davis is the only generational prospect that won MOP in the last like 40 years, the rest of the list has far from the best prospects.

this draft is famously underwhelming because it doesn't have any blue chip prospects but it does have guys that can be "stars in their roles".

Agree on the over rating of tournament players. Mock drafts will take a bad turn next week. Regardless, thinking Sheppard is a top 5 pick, even in a bad draft, is craziness.

[buzzkilloton]

Was a bad game but UK players have a history of underperforming in the tourney and going on to be fine pros. Should be looking at his entire season of work not just the last game.

Also have to factor in some other of the top prospects have been worse over a bigger sample size then one game. Cody Williams has been terrible for awhile now.

Risacher is averaging 8 points in his last 9 games and is 10-28 from 3 (35.7%). 6 assists and 11 turnovers during that span. His metrics dont look of that of a elite shooter more of a streaky guy.

[theBigLip]

Was a bad game but UK players have a history of underperforming in the tourney and going on to be fine pros. Should be looking at his entire season of work not just the last game.

Also have to factor in some other of the top prospects have been worse over a bigger sample size then one game. Cody Williams has been terrible for awhile now.

Risacher is averaging 8 points in his last 9 games and is 10-28 from 3 (35.7%). 6 assists and 11 turnovers during that span. His metrics dont look of that of an elite shooter more of a streaky guy.

Agree on the UK guys becoming good pros. I wanted us to get Cason Wallace last year (along w Hendricks). But Shepherd doesn’t seem athletic enough.

Risacher is what - 19? Not there yet, but could develop into a great wing. More risk than a normal top pick, but that’s who I’d go with in this weak draft class.

[theBigLip]

Watching Colorado-Florida and there’s a new game. It’s called “Where’s Cody?”

Can I retract everything I said about him until now?

[whitehops]

Been saying this all season, I'm baffled by the Cody Williams hype. Colorado didn't even have him in the game for the most part in the clutch. I'll just repeat that this is a weak draft but there HAS TO be at least 5 better prospects in this draft, any GM that hitches their wagon to Williams in the top 5 is a fool so.... I guess he's Weaver's guy in that case.

i suspect that him being jalen williams' brother definitely plays a part in his hype. like if jalen williams is an emerging star then cody must be as well.

unfortunately historically brothers are rarely both good. i can't think of anyone other than the gasol brothers both being quality players. the morris twins were the same calibre but neither of them were close to being all stars. otherwise there's pretty much always been one sibling that's way better (curry, lopez, holiday, alphabet, mcdaniels, mobley, wagner, plumlee, etc.).

[MotownMadness]

Might as well be bad one more time to get a star out of the 25 draft lol

[NYPiston]

KY bounced already and a poor showing from Sheppard as well

This draft is a nightmare capping off a nightmare season with also nothing much in free agency or anybody who is currently projected to be on the trade market to get excited about. Can we just fast forward 5 years when the Pistons might actually be good?

[A_dub06]

Trade Duren for a better wing, draft Sarr. Duren sucks on defence and who cares about dunking rebounders? Sarr in his rookie season will at minimum be as good as Duren on the defensive end but I think he will be better, and offensively his ceiling is pretty high. The pistons need a talent injection period, we can talk about getting veteran guys and more shooters but at the end of the day they are devoid of top tier talent. If this team passes on Sarr which has the potential to be a really impactful player for someone like one of UK’s guards or Zaccharie I’ll be livid.

This draft sucks, and moving off Duren before the rest of the league realises how bad his defence is will only help us