2024 NBA DRAFT THREAD 4

[ForeverTFC]

feels like people are saying this for about 20+ players

Sarr, Clingan, Castle, Reed, Holland, Dillingham, Buzelis, Risacher, Knecht, Devin Carter, McCain, Salaun, Topic, Cody Williams

That's 14 players.

Then we have another 20+ players that might make the 1st round: KJ Simpson, Filipowski, Ja'Kobe, Kel'el Ware, Collier, Djurisic, AJ Johnson, Terrence Shannon Jr., Da Silva, Edey, KyShawn, Tyler Smith, Carlington Carrington, Jaylon Tyson, Johnny Furphy, DaRon Holmes, Yves Missi, Kevin McCullar, Jamir Watkins, Pacome Dadiet, Hunter Sallis, Tyler Kolek

Half of them have the potential to go top 18

Ya, there's like 25 different names where people are like, 'no way he's getting to 19'. Some guys are dropping, maybe even to 31.

Raptors should be able to get a couple solid guys with two top 31 picks. This draft looks pretty deep in terms of potential nba rotation guys.

I have been saying the same. This is not a bad draft. It's just a bad draft for tanking teams with a top 10 pick. I am actually finding this draft to be really deep after 15. More so than most. It has actually made me question if we should have kept the 28th pick.

How much of this supposed back of the draft depth is because so many guys are clustered? Pick 20-30 this year is the equivalent of the choices you have at the top of round 2 any other year from what I’ve heard in pods with draft scouts.

Sure, a guy could go 19 or 31. But that doesn’t mean either is a 19th pick expected value.

When I listen to the Veccenie pods and they get to pick 20, it’s always “IF x and IF y and IF z, then player A has a chance to be a 7th man”. I wouldn’t consider that value.

[OakleyDokely]

Jamir Watkins, Junior, 22 years old, 6'5 without shoes (6'10.75 wingspan)

28.1 MIN, 15.6 PPG, 6.0 REB, 2.8 AST, 1.9 STL, 0.8 BLK, .457 FG (10.5 ATT), .344 3PT (2.9 ATT), .795 FT (6.2 ATT), .577 TS, 27.6 USG, 9.1 BPM

What do you think about Dillion Jones?

He looks interesting as well. Built like a tank. Reminds me of guys like James Johnson, Stanley Johnson, Jae Crowder, Ochai. Needs to shoot it better from 3 to make it.

[Psubs]

Jamir Watkins, Junior, 22 years old, 6'5 without shoes (6'10.75 wingspan)

28.1 MIN, 15.6 PPG, 6.0 REB, 2.8 AST, 1.9 STL, 0.8 BLK, .457 FG (10.5 ATT), .344 3PT (2.9 ATT), .795 FT (6.2 ATT), .577 TS, 27.6 USG, 9.1 BPM

What do you think about Dillion Jones?

He isn't shooting well in the scrimages.

[Psubs]

Some interesting tidbits from Doug who's at the combine

Money talks

There are many reasons why the Raptors losing their top pick after the NBA lottery this week wasn’t exactly a disaster.

Chief among them is that they now have certainty about the 2025 draft and can use that first-round pick, or dangle it in trades. It just clears the slate of any uncertainty.

Oh, and the feeling that this year’s draft may not be stacked and next year’s could be certainly entered into the thought process of the team’s front-office residents.

The other aspect that’s not been mentioned a lot is that it saves a few million dollars a year on about four years of contract, and that matters.

The Raptors are looking at a maximum extension for Scottie Barnes this summer, and it’ll cost them somewhere around $25 million a year to do a new deal with Immanuel Quickley. Any extra financial wiggle space is welcome; it was certainly a talking point among Raptors officials right after the lottery.

Not having to pony up around $6 million this coming season for a high draft pick will help the bottom line.

What’s No. 31 worth?

If you’re extrapolating what the Raptors might do with the first pick in the second round, here’s a thought: Look at what Andrew Nembhard got from Indiana a year ago. Locking up the 31st pick on something like a four-year deal with a total value around $10 million is certainly high in their thoughts.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/raptors-insider-signs-point-to-a-bruce-brown-trade-near-nba-draft-time/article_02beaa4a-10cb-11ef-b6ef-7f57fe703ed3.amp.html

On #31, what Doug fails to address compared to Nembhard is the new CBA rules. Nembhard has a team friendly deal but the Pacers had to dip into an exception to sign him to that.

With the new CBA, the Raptors can sign #31 to a 3-4 year minimum deal without having to dip into an exception. So that is better for any team with a 2nd round pick.

I can see GS trading Wiggins, Moody and 2025 2nd pick for Bruce Brown and #31. GS drafts Pacome Dadiet, Juan Nunez, Melvin Ajinca or Djurisic and stashes him for 1 year.

PG IQ - Carrington- JFL
SG Dick - Moody - Carrington
SF Barrett - Wiggins - Ochai
PF Barnes - Wiggins - Boucher
C Poeltl/Olynyk - Barnes

I think this team is fighting for a top 4 record in the East.

[BoyzNTheHood]

Some interesting tidbits from Doug who's at the combine


https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/raptors-insider-signs-point-to-a-bruce-brown-trade-near-nba-draft-time/article_02beaa4a-10cb-11ef-b6ef-7f57fe703ed3.amp.html

On #31, what Doug fails to address compared to Nembhard is the new CBA rules. Nembhard has a team friendly deal but the Pacers had to dip into an exception to sign him to that.

With the new CBA, the Raptors can sign #31 to a 3-4 year minimum deal without having to dip into an exception. So that is better for any team with a 2nd round pick.

I can see GS trading Wiggins, Moody and 2025 2nd pick for Bruce Brown and #31. GS drafts Pacome Dadiet, Juan Nunez, Melvin Ajinca or Djurisic and stashes him for 1 year.

In what world do we want Wiggins salary on our books for the next 3 years? And we give up 31? All to get Moses Moody? Please.

[grant101]

Jamir Watkins, Junior, 22 years old, 6'5 without shoes (6'10.75 wingspan)

28.1 MIN, 15.6 PPG, 6.0 REB, 2.8 AST, 1.9 STL, 0.8 BLK, .457 FG (10.5 ATT), .344 3PT (2.9 ATT), .795 FT (6.2 ATT), .577 TS, 27.6 USG, 9.1 BPM

One of 'my guys'. He's my preference @ 31. He's the kind of guy Miami drafts and turns into a play-off contributor. He's built for the NBA.

[DreamTeam09]

On #31, what Doug fails to address compared to Nembhard is the new CBA rules. Nembhard has a team friendly deal but the Pacers had to dip into an exception to sign him to that.

With the new CBA, the Raptors can sign #31 to a 3-4 year minimum deal without having to dip into an exception. So that is better for any team with a 2nd round pick.

I can see GS trading Wiggins, Moody and 2025 2nd pick for Bruce Brown and #31. GS drafts Pacome Dadiet, Juan Nunez, Melvin Ajinca or Djurisic and stashes him for 1 year.

In what world do we want Wiggins salary on our books for the next 3 years? And we give up 31? All to get Moses Moody? Please.

Moody would be better than anyone at 31
I believe we could absorb wiggins for 3yrs without being a luxury tax team, the luxury tax payments have decreased too btw, so really its the 1st & 2nd aprons that are team killer from a roster construction, we are no where near that, even with upcoming extensions

[RoteSchroder]

How much of this supposed back of the draft depth is because so many guys are clustered? Pick 20-30 this year is the equivalent of the choices you have at the top of round 2 any other year from what I’ve heard in pods with draft scouts.

Sure, a guy could go 19 or 31. But that doesn’t mean either is a 19th pick expected value.

When I listen to the Veccenie pods and they get to pick 20, it’s always “IF x and IF y and IF z, then player A has a chance to be a 7th man”. I wouldn’t consider that value.

19-31st is practically the 2nd round anyhow in some drafts. In past drafts you typically have 2-4 rotation players in that range, and some of them pretty trashy. The 2020 draft was a really good year for that range.

There are more players I don’t like than I like in that range as well, but there seems to be enough interesting prospects where we should be able to get a high level rotation player if lucky.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Sometimes I feel like in order to save the Raps FO from themselves we should be hoping for massive projects at each pick. Last thing I would want is a guy like Scheierman at 31 who could help win 2-3 more games next year and screw our 2025 and even 2026 selections. We need guys who will help us lose 2-3 more games in the short term. That's why Missi would be nice at 19 and maybe some INTL dude at 31.

NOT securing high picks in the next two drafts is what would screw this franchise. It's already going to be hard enough to beat Wemby, Scottie Barnes and a bunch of super MID players won't be doing that even in 3-4 years from now. We need real talent. Masai can dream all he wants about this franchise developing scrubs into players capable of taking down superior athletes who are more skilled but it just doesn't work that way. Nothing wrong with developing guys but getting the most out of them still won't be good enough when you're treadmilling and have 0 access to the elite players that can be acquired via draft.

Hell, that's the reason we have Scottie Barnes in the first place.

We NEED at least mid-lotto picks in 2025 and 2026. For me, this isn't even debatable. There is 0 excuse to try to climb into the treadmill zone as early as this upcoming season. I've already vocalized why Masai should be fired many times but this is the same idiotic behavior.

[ForeverTFC]

How much of this supposed back of the draft depth is because so many guys are clustered? Pick 20-30 this year is the equivalent of the choices you have at the top of round 2 any other year from what I’ve heard in pods with draft scouts.

Sure, a guy could go 19 or 31. But that doesn’t mean either is a 19th pick expected value.

When I listen to the Veccenie pods and they get to pick 20, it’s always “IF x and IF y and IF z, then player A has a chance to be a 7th man”. I wouldn’t consider that value.

19-31st is practically the 2nd round anyhow in some drafts. In past drafts you typically have 2-4 rotation players in that range, and some of them pretty trashy. The 2020 draft was a really good year for that range.

There are more players I don’t like than I like in that range as well, but there seems to be enough interesting prospects where we should be able to get a high level rotation player if lucky.

Yeah I’m totally fine taking a flyer on a player in that range but wouldn’t want multiple gauranteed contracts coming from this pool of players.

[Dalek]

Some interesting tidbits from Doug who's at the combine

Money talks

There are many reasons why the Raptors losing their top pick after the NBA lottery this week wasn’t exactly a disaster.

Chief among them is that they now have certainty about the 2025 draft and can use that first-round pick, or dangle it in trades. It just clears the slate of any uncertainty.

Oh, and the feeling that this year’s draft may not be stacked and next year’s could be certainly entered into the thought process of the team’s front-office residents.

The other aspect that’s not been mentioned a lot is that it saves a few million dollars a year on about four years of contract, and that matters.

The Raptors are looking at a maximum extension for Scottie Barnes this summer, and it’ll cost them somewhere around $25 million a year to do a new deal with Immanuel Quickley. Any extra financial wiggle space is welcome; it was certainly a talking point among Raptors officials right after the lottery.

Not having to pony up around $6 million this coming season for a high draft pick will help the bottom line.

What’s No. 31 worth?

If you’re extrapolating what the Raptors might do with the first pick in the second round, here’s a thought: Look at what Andrew Nembhard got from Indiana a year ago. Locking up the 31st pick on something like a four-year deal with a total value around $10 million is certainly high in their thoughts.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/raptors-insider-signs-point-to-a-bruce-brown-trade-near-nba-draft-time/article_02beaa4a-10cb-11ef-b6ef-7f57fe703ed3.amp.html

On #31, what Doug fails to address compared to Nembhard is the new CBA rules. Nembhard has a team friendly deal but the Pacers had to dip into an exception to sign him to that.

With the new CBA, the Raptors can sign #31 to a 3-4 year minimum deal without having to dip into an exception. So that is better for any team with a 2nd round pick.

Under my dude can play and lock him up category is Ajay Mitchell. On offense the guy can do a little of everything and has great positional size at 6'5. On Santa Barbara he was asked to do too much and he had some weak turnovers and got caught watching on defense. In the scrimmages this past week he looked more like a rotation worthy back-up in the vein of Nembhard with some scrappy defense and tricky finishing:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

My other guy who I think we should pursue is Quinn Ellis. I mentioned him before and he got a camp invite but he was playing in the playoffs for Trento. He is a Derrick White type of big guard.

[Psubs]

I can see GS trading Wiggins, Moody and 2025 2nd pick for Bruce Brown and #31. GS drafts Pacome Dadiet, Juan Nunez, Melvin Ajinca or Djurisic and stashes him for 1 year.

In what world do we want Wiggins salary on our books for the next 3 years? And we give up 31? All to get Moses Moody? Please.

Moody would be better than anyone at 31
I believe we could absorb wiggins for 3yrs without being a luxury tax team, the luxury tax payments have decreased too btw, so really its the 1st & 2nd aprons that are team killer from a roster construction, we are no where near that, even with upcoming extensions

We get the 2025 2nd pick which would offset #31.

[Syd-TK3]

I'm definitely not expecting any draft day trades so I won't even get my hopes up on this Bruce brown stuff

[BoyzNTheHood]

I can see GS trading Wiggins, Moody and 2025 2nd pick for Bruce Brown and #31. GS drafts Pacome Dadiet, Juan Nunez, Melvin Ajinca or Djurisic and stashes him for 1 year.

In what world do we want Wiggins salary on our books for the next 3 years? And we give up 31? All to get Moses Moody? Please.

Moody would be better than anyone at 31
I believe we could absorb wiggins for 3yrs without being a luxury tax team, the luxury tax payments have decreased too btw, so really its the 1st & 2nd aprons that are team killer from a roster construction, we are no where near that, even with upcoming extensions

No need to take on Wiggins, or give up 31 just for Moody and a second. I’d much rather have an empty roster spot/cap space, over Wiggins, and the value of the 31st pick versus a 2025 2nd rounder.

[LoveMyRaps]

I'm definitely not expecting any draft day trades so I won't even get my hopes up on this Bruce brown stuff

I wouldn't be surprised if there are trades, especially when a top 10 pick is literally worth a 5th starter on a team.

Scouts and executives are saying this is a "Tobias Harris/Derrick Lively" draft.

Read on Twitter

This draft genuinely sucks.

[LoveMyRaps]

Masai & co. literally got Olynyk and Ochai for free.

[WuTang_OG]

Trentyn Flowers had a decent outing at the combine. Really athletic, cuts to the rim a lot, shot work in progress but overall I like the tools. 6'7" +1 wingspan

[ItsDanger]

It isn't a great draft in terms of high probability all stars. It's a draft that requires a lot of work and preparation. These media types just want easy material for their platforms. This is where draft analysts can separate themselves from the masses by providing actual good critical commentary.

[Rapsfan07]

Jamir Watkins, Junior, 22 years old, 6'5 without shoes (6'10.75 wingspan)

28.1 MIN, 15.6 PPG, 6.0 REB, 2.8 AST, 1.9 STL, 0.8 BLK, .457 FG (10.5 ATT), .344 3PT (2.9 ATT), .795 FT (6.2 ATT), .577 TS, 27.6 USG, 9.1 BPM

One of 'my guys'. He's my preference @ 31. He's the kind of guy Miami drafts and turns into a play-off contributor. He's built for the NBA.

I like him too but there's just going to be better prospects available at both #19 and #31. If we're able to pick up an additional 2nd or sign him as a UDFA, I'm down. Or if another one of the other guys I like go earlier than expected, I would consider him with #31.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

I am really starting to get higher on Edey. A lot higher. Every day I get lower on the class as a whole and Edey sticks out like a sore thumb with his post dominance and honestly there have been positive developments with him.

Firstly, he proved this year that he's not a perennial loser and rose to the occasion to take his team on a deep tournament run.

Secondly, he had the best AST:TO of his career and really became a free throw merchant. I do worry about his swing skill - the passing - but honestly going back to the tape he's so focused on scoring sometimes and there are passing lanes so blatantly wide open and easy to pass to that a team with a strong enough desire to invest in his development should be able to help him safely defer to perimeter shooters far more frequently.

Thirdly, he tested extremely well, even measuring in 0.5 inches taller and the wingspan 0.25 inches longer while being 7 lbs lighter. But there is hope that he can become even more agile which would do wonders for him.

Not to mention that with a legit chance to become a FT merchant there's value as it can force the opposition into playing soft defense in order to not get into foul trouble.

Obviously there is the concern regarding how the league is trending but how many bigs can defend Edey in the post while stretching the floor on O and outscoring him in that regard?

We are talking about a player with 0 injury history at what will now be a 7'5 listing with a wingspan only eclipsed by Wembanyama.

I'm not ready to pull the trigger yet but am dangerously close to putting him super high on my board as I'm starting to realize just how many fraud consensus lottery picks there are and starting to see the vision with Edey, especially given how he's trending in the right direction when it comes to mobility which can unlock him.