2024 NBA Draft Thread

[babyjax13]

I think Sheppard has better vision than people are giving him credit for. Despite that I'm still either lower on hin, or higher on other prospects relative to the consensus.

[The Moose]

Salaun's shot chart

Super tough battle between him and Risacher for most overrated prospect in the class

[HadAnEffectHere]

Salaun should become a good shooter once he fixes his horrible footwork.

But his footwork is just so horrible.

Salaun's total lack of any explosion does limit his offensive and defensive upside a huge amount though.

[pcbothwel]

Sheppard can definitely hold up on the defensive end. If not on the ball, then off the ball.

Not a direct comp, but I think Sheppard will do what Fred VanVleet does: deep shooting, adequate playmaking, limited driver, tough on-ball defender.

Exactly. Guys like FVV, Lowry, Alvarado, and CP3 have shown that a lead guard with poor measurables can be a good defender due to IQ, quickness, and physicality.

[BlazersBroncos]

Salaun should become a good shooter once he fixes his horrible footwork.

But his footwork is just so horrible.

Salaun's total lack of any explosion does limit his offensive and defensive upside a huge amount though.

Ya he really doesnt have much pop to him athletically. I would say he is athletically similar to a guy like Trey Lyles but far skinnier (Lyles is like 235lbs, Salaun listed at 210).

[JMAC3]

Not only does the freshman class not look super strong, but the # of real sophomores that are guaranteed to get drafted is super small. I feel like only 4 sophomores are guaranteed to get drafted, which feels super low.

2023 Freshmen

Miller
Black
Wallace
Lively
Walker
Hendricks
Dick
Whitmore
Howard
George
Schiffino
Clowney
Whitehead
Smith Jr.
Sensabaugh
Phillips
Walsh
Bailey
Livinston

2024

Collier
Walter
Castle
Carrington
Williams
Missi
Ivisic
Sheppard
Dillingham
Furphy
Ndongo
McCain
George
Edwards
Evans


I don't remember anybody concerned about sophomores last draft. I think it's fair to expect at least 4 and possibly 6 sophomores to be taken compared to just 4 last year.

2023

Hawkins
Bufkin
Gueye
Bates

2024

Clingan
Filipowski
Ware
Dunn
Bona
Karaban

Yeah that is a small sample size view.. Using the mock on Tankathon as reference here is how this year compares to 2015-2023 data averages.

This year
First Round
Freshman- 10
Soph- 4
Junior - 2
Senior- 6
International- 5
Others- 3

2015-2023 averages
First Round-
Freshman - 13
Soph- 6
Junior- 3.5
Senior- 3
International- 3.5
Others- 1

So again for the first round only... we are seeing 19 Fresh and Soph combined is the avg vs Tankathon proj. Mock is at 14. So 5 off from the avg.

Same thing but for 2nd round projections
This year
2nd round
Freshman-5
Soph- 2
Junior - 8
Senior- 8
International- 4
Others- 1

2015-2023 averages
2nd round
Freshman - 4.5
Soph- 5
Junior- 5.5
Senior- 8
International- 6
Others- 1

So the same thing for 2nd round. We are seeing 9.5 Fresh and Soph combined is the avg vs Tankathon proj. Mock is at 7. So 2.5 off from the avg.

So total of 7.5 less projected underclassman vs the norm, and you can have a couple issues with Tankathon mock, but I find they are usually pretty solid and a few swaps here or there aren't making a huge dent into nearly 8 player differential.

[babyjax13]

The Knicks are absolutely drafting Ryan Dunn, right? At least if Thibs gets a say?

[FarBeyondDriven]

Salaun should become a good shooter once he fixes his horrible footwork.

But his footwork is just so horrible.

Salaun's total lack of any explosion does limit his offensive and defensive upside a huge amount though.

where do you come up with this stuff?

[FarBeyondDriven]

Not only does the freshman class not look super strong, but the # of real sophomores that are guaranteed to get drafted is super small. I feel like only 4 sophomores are guaranteed to get drafted, which feels super low.

2023 Freshmen

Miller
Black
Wallace
Lively
Walker
Hendricks
Dick
Whitmore
Howard
George
Schiffino
Clowney
Whitehead
Smith Jr.
Sensabaugh
Phillips
Walsh
Bailey
Livinston

2024

Collier
Walter
Castle
Carrington
Williams
Missi
Ivisic
Sheppard
Dillingham
Furphy
Ndongo
McCain
George
Edwards
Evans


I don't remember anybody concerned about sophomores last draft. I think it's fair to expect at least 4 and possibly 6 sophomores to be taken compared to just 4 last year.

2023

Hawkins
Bufkin
Gueye
Bates

2024

Clingan
Filipowski
Ware
Dunn
Bona
Karaban

Yeah that is a small sample size view.. Using the mock on Tankathon as reference here is how this year compares to 2015-2023 data averages.

This year
First Round
Freshman- 10
Soph- 4
Junior - 2
Senior- 6
International- 5
Others- 3

2015-2023 averages
First Round-
Freshman - 13
Soph- 6
Junior- 3.5
Senior- 3
International- 3.5
Others- 1

So again for the first round only... we are seeing 19 Fresh and Soph combined is the avg vs Tankathon proj. Mock is at 14. So 5 off from the avg.

Same thing but for 2nd round projections
This year
2nd round
Freshman-5
Soph- 2
Junior - 8
Senior- 8
International- 4
Others- 1

2015-2023 averages
2nd round
Freshman - 4.5
Soph- 5
Junior- 5.5
Senior- 8
International- 6
Others- 1

So the same thing for 2nd round. We are seeing 9.5 Fresh and Soph combined is the avg vs Tankathon proj. Mock is at 7. So 2.5 off from the avg.

So total of 7.5 less projected underclassman vs the norm, and you can have a couple issues with Tankathon mock, but I find they are usually pretty solid and a few swaps here or there aren't making a huge dent into nearly 8 player differential.

yeah, it's well established that NIL has completely wreaked havoc on college basketball. Many freshmen chose poorly and actively harmed their draft stock. And kids that might have come out last year stayed in and improved their draft stock making them sophomore, juniors and seniors this class because of NIL.

Those averages are also skewed because in the past few seasons Ignite, Overtime, NBL have stolen a bunch of prospects that historically would have been counted as freshmen. We still have to wait and see who declares. It's too early to determine anything really. For all we know Bronny, Mgbako, Ivisic, Foster and other freshmen declare or a few sophomores do.

These mock sites haven't even heard of Yang, Perrin, Ndongo, Sane or Toohey and they don't classify foreign born players playing in the US they do have in their mocks (Missi, Furphy, Ivisic George, Mitchell, Larsson) as international so the number you posted (9) is potentially approximately 20 +

Point is, nobody said a peep about the lack of sophomores last season but are using it to bash this class. I'm not sure why. People are really reaching. It's not quite as laughable as the notion that this is a weak point guard class though. That narrative is truly hilarious.

[HadAnEffectHere]

Salaun should become a good shooter once he fixes his horrible footwork.

But his footwork is just so horrible.

Salaun's total lack of any explosion does limit his offensive and defensive upside a huge amount though.

where do you come up with this stuff?

Salaun can't jump as shown by... him being unable to score in the paint and averaging 0.2 BPG despite being huge?

Salaun constantly overhelps and goes for blocks, he just can't get any because he can't jump.

He has 9 blocks in 44 games at 23 MPG despite being 6'9" to 6'10" with a big wingspan, it's bad.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Salaun should become a good shooter once he fixes his horrible footwork.

But his footwork is just so horrible.

Salaun's total lack of any explosion does limit his offensive and defensive upside a huge amount though.

where do you come up with this stuff?

Salaun can't jump as shown by... him being unable to score in the paint and averaging 0.2 BPG despite being huge?

Salaun constantly overhelps and goes for blocks, he just can't get any because he can't jump.

He has 9 blocks in 44 games at 23 MPG despite being 6'9" to 6'10" with a big wingspan, it's bad.

I don't know why I bother but whatevs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=141&v=dlZwdv4OI3U&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com&source_ve_path=MTM5MTE3LDM2ODQyLDIzODUx&feature=emb_title

a) he's 18 y/o. He's several years from reaching his physical peak b) he CAN jump as evidenced by all the dunks c) he's not considered a shot-blocking JJJ type of 4. I have him as mid-way point between Jabari Smith and MPJ as a prospect. They don't block shots because they're guarding stretch 4s like themselves and not around the basket unlike guys like JJJ who are.

[HadAnEffectHere]

Salaun is constantly around the basket because he wanders around and is lost all the time on defense. He just doesn't block shots because his explosion is trash.

I don't really understand where the Jabari Smith comparison comes up, Salaun is an extremely bad defender who currently can't shoot. Obviously there are no good comparisons for Salaun as he's bad at everything, but Jabari Smith is weird in particular.

Salaun's best NBA comparison is "random tall guy who can move well side to side who will probably eventually learn how to shoot, but has no basketball experience so he's bad at everything right now"

[Chi town]

Sears looks eerily similar to Brunson. Crazy similar measurements and college game.

[TheSuzerain]

Potential hot take but what if the best NBA prospect on UConn is...

Danny Hurley

[FarBeyondDriven]

Sears looks eerily similar to Brunson. Crazy similar measurements and college game.

I think he's even smaller tbh but he's going to play in the NBA. Like with Brunson, teams probably won't start him initially due to his size but if an opportunity presents itself down the road due to injury or circumstance, he'll stick as a starter

[RyugaFan]

Kyshawn George not being a consensus lottery pick is laughable to me. You could argue the size and shooting alone should put him there, but him being one of the smartest passers and team defenders in the draft makes it a no brainer.

[HadAnEffectHere]

Pretty disappointed with how scared and anxious Risacher is playing now that his jumpshot isn't going in.

[babyjax13]

Kyshawn George not being a consensus lottery pick is laughable to me. You could argue the size and shooting alone should put him there, but him being one of the smartest passers and team defenders in the draft makes it a no brainer.

I might be absolutely nuts but I have him first on my big board now I think he and Cody Williams are probably going to end up as the top prospects for me, but obviously going to be watching more games before the draft.

George reminds me a lot of Joe Ingles...but something that can happen with these lanky young wings is that they look slow in college and then by year 3 in the NBA are physically developed and look a lot better. Ingram is the most obvious example of this.

And to maybe add a bit more, this isn't a great draft relative to recent drafts, but if you are looking for a wing - which is the most valuable player in the league - there are more guys than usual who could be rotation caliber wings.

[RyugaFan]

Kyshawn George not being a consensus lottery pick is laughable to me. You could argue the size and shooting alone should put him there, but him being one of the smartest passers and team defenders in the draft makes it a no brainer.

I might be absolutely nuts but I have him first on my big board now I think he and Cody Williams are probably going to end up as the top prospects for me, but obviously going to be watching more games before the draft.

George reminds me a lot of Joe Ingles...but something that can happen with these lanky young wings is that they look slow in college and then by year 3 in the NBA are physically developed and look a lot better. Ingram is the most obvious example of this.

And to maybe add a bit more, this isn't a great draft relative to recent drafts, but if you are looking for a wing - which is the most valuable player in the league - there are more guys than usual who could be rotation caliber wings.

You know ball lol those two are my guys. And yeah, Kyshawn absolutely has untapped athleticism with how much he physically grew in the last few years.

[Catchall]

Kyshawn George not being a consensus lottery pick is laughable to me. You could argue the size and shooting alone should put him there, but him being one of the smartest passers and team defenders in the draft makes it a no brainer.

If you want someone just to catch and shoot from 27 feet, George is probably as good as anyone in the class. (He's not going to shoot off of movement, relocations, etc. like Knecht). Then he has real upside as a playmaker.

He just needs to work on his body. He's got almost no explosion off of one foot and needs to jump off of two feet to get above the rim. He needs to get with a trainer ASAP.