Way too early NBA draft thread 2021

[Pax for Prez]

Duke freshman forward and projected lottery pick Jalen Johnson has opted out for the remainder of the college basketball season, Jacob Polacheck and Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com report.

The 6’9” Johnson is currently ranked No. 6 on ESPN’s Best Available list for this year’s draft. He’s the top-ranked small forward and ESPN’s Mike Schmitz writes that Johnson has an impressive combination of strength and explosiveness and is an extremely versatile defender.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2021/02/projected-top-10-pick-jalen-johnson-cuts-college-season-short.html

Will be interesting to see where he gets drafted. Him leaving coincides with his minutes getting cut, so not a great look. And apparently he did similar things in high school.

The comparison I like was "Ben Simmons without Simmon's elite athleticism". Johnson has great size, ok handles, but lacks a consistent jumper.

I bet he get's drafted late lottery. Too many good players at the top, teams won't want to gamble on potential with little consistent production.

Yes, his range is probably # 6-13 range depending on workouts and interviews. Players I see in that tier (in no particular order) are listed below.

SF / PF J. Johnson - Duke
SG K. Johnson - Tennessee
SF Z. Williams - Stanford
PG S. Cooper - Auburn
SG M. Moody - Arkansas
SG J. Bouknight - Uconn
SF C. Kispert - Gonzaga
SF / PF S. Barnes - Florida St.

[Kukoc-Lauri]

I am ok with all top five prospects on the top. Besides that Bouknight,Barnes,Springer,K.Johnson at least projected as high end role players. Bouknight have most potential from bunch to improve.

[StunnerKO]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[Am2626]

Duke freshman forward and projected lottery pick Jalen Johnson has opted out for the remainder of the college basketball season, Jacob Polacheck and Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com report.

The 6’9” Johnson is currently ranked No. 6 on ESPN’s Best Available list for this year’s draft. He’s the top-ranked small forward and ESPN’s Mike Schmitz writes that Johnson has an impressive combination of strength and explosiveness and is an extremely versatile defender.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2021/02/projected-top-10-pick-jalen-johnson-cuts-college-season-short.html

Don’t really understand why he would quit on his team like that. There was so much pressure for Zion to do that yet he came back and honored his commitment. This is a decision made by a much better prospect that Jalen Johnson.

Makes you wonder if this kid will want to quit on his team in the NBA if things get tough. He has a history of this going back to high school. Don’t see him being worthy of a top 10 pick.

Also don’t understand what he can do to prepare for the NBA by leaving college? He is forgoing the opportunity to play in games to do what, workout and sit around?

[DuckIII]

I’ve only seen Jalen Johnson play twice at Duke. And I don’t see it. Like, at all. If he’s a selfish head case on top of it, yikes.

Of course my basis is a very small sample size.

[CoreyVillains]

Most likely out of our range and it’d mean a shift away from WCJ if we were in position for him, but just dropped my Evan Mobley scouting video.

Watch on YouTube

[Chi town]

Joe Harris 2.0. Valuable player in this 3 Ball era.

Watch on YouTube

[qianlong]

Most likely out of our range and it’d mean a shift away from WCJ if we were in position for him, but just dropped my Evan Mobley scouting video.

Watch on YouTube

Did not watch a lot from other top prospects, but Mobley is a franchise player. Not immediately, he would take some years to get the strength and refine his skills and slow down the game, but immagine a Gobert with some extra passing and offensive versatility.
Unfortunately he does not match with Zach window, but if we were going for a complete rebuild trading Zach, he would be a great prize.

[chefo]

Joe Harris 2.0. Valuable player in this 3 Ball era.

Watch on YouTube

Yeah, dude has something like a +40 net rating with 70%+ TS...

Somebody in the late lottery will get a really nice player that's ready to go from the get-go. He's like a 6'7 Reddick/Harris and you can do much worse than that.

[MrSparkle]

We obviously don't need another type of this player, but Wagner and Kispert are two more guys who share the Lauri market. Feel like teams aren't gonna have to look far this summer to get a good shooter who'll lag on defense.

I'd sooner go for Jaden Springer if we draft low.

[madvillian]

Any Franz Wagner interest around 7-13? He balled out last night against a very athletic and tough minded Rutgers team. Wanger is similar to Pat in that he's a player that in theory can guard 3 positions well, shoot, and also be an occasional secondary playmaker from the wing. He's a legit 6-9" and has an NBA ready body. He's very intriguing. Might not make sense above 10, but it might make a lot of sense in that range from 11-15 if that's where the pick is.

[greenl]

Duke freshman forward and projected lottery pick Jalen Johnson has opted out for the remainder of the college basketball season, Jacob Polacheck and Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com report.

The 6’9” Johnson is currently ranked No. 6 on ESPN’s Best Available list for this year’s draft. He’s the top-ranked small forward and ESPN’s Mike Schmitz writes that Johnson has an impressive combination of strength and explosiveness and is an extremely versatile defender.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2021/02/projected-top-10-pick-jalen-johnson-cuts-college-season-short.html

Don’t really understand why he would quit on his team like that. There was so much pressure for Zion to do that yet he came back and honored his commitment. This is a decision made by a much better prospect that Jalen Johnson.

Makes you wonder if this kid will want to quit on his team in the NBA if things get tough. He has a history of this going back to high school. Don’t see him being worthy of a top 10 pick.

Also don’t understand what he can do to prepare for the NBA by leaving college? He is forgoing the opportunity to play in games to do what, workout and sit around?

Playing devils advocate- he mitigates (to some degree) the chance of injury. If he feels his draft position is secure- spending the next several months working out, playing pick up games to shore up his weaknesses, and working with personal coaches (assuming he does all that) is an equally good path to the NBA. I'm not hung up on the "he quit on his team thing". NCAA basketball is a business. The players are little more than commodities to big programs like Duke. I see no issue with him doing what he thinks is right for his future.

[Chi town]

Any Franz Wagner interest around 7-13? He balled out last night against a very athletic and tough minded Rutgers team. Wanger is similar to Pat in that he's a player that in theory can guard 3 positions well, shoot, and also be an occasional secondary playmaker from the wing. He's a legit 6-9" and has an NBA ready body. He's very intriguing. Might not make sense above 10, but it might make a lot of sense in that range from 11-15 if that's where the pick is.

He’s what we wanted Lauri to be. More of a playmaker w the ball.

[PhilBlackson]

I don't think you guys will be in the top 5 again this year so the player I'd be focused on is SCOTTIE BARNES.

Doesn't seem like your management is committed to Lauri and tbh he does seem like the odd man out just as an outsider when I've watched your games.

I think your team would be much better off trying to find a long, defending PF that can play up tempo a la Draymond, Siakam, Simmons etc. He's got some decent offensive upside that really personally I don't see what makes Johnson that much better of a prospect, if at all. But he also plays with an intensity that I think overall is missing on your roster (and obviously from Markannen). Just my 2c

[madvillian]

Any Franz Wagner interest around 7-13? He balled out last night against a very athletic and tough minded Rutgers team. Wanger is similar to Pat in that he's a player that in theory can guard 3 positions well, shoot, and also be an occasional secondary playmaker from the wing. He's a legit 6-9" and has an NBA ready body. He's very intriguing. Might not make sense above 10, but it might make a lot of sense in that range from 11-15 if that's where the pick is.

He’s what we wanted Lauri to be. More of a playmaker w the ball.

Plays with fire and emotion too. I love watching him. Probably not a priority for Chicago with Pat in the fold already but if he's there around 10-13 and Chicago has the chance to draft him I'd be completely down.

[Am2626]

Duke freshman forward and projected lottery pick Jalen Johnson has opted out for the remainder of the college basketball season, Jacob Polacheck and Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com report.

The 6’9” Johnson is currently ranked No. 6 on ESPN’s Best Available list for this year’s draft. He’s the top-ranked small forward and ESPN’s Mike Schmitz writes that Johnson has an impressive combination of strength and explosiveness and is an extremely versatile defender.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2021/02/projected-top-10-pick-jalen-johnson-cuts-college-season-short.html

Don’t really understand why he would quit on his team like that. There was so much pressure for Zion to do that yet he came back and honored his commitment. This is a decision made by a much better prospect that Jalen Johnson.

Makes you wonder if this kid will want to quit on his team in the NBA if things get tough. He has a history of this going back to high school. Don’t see him being worthy of a top 10 pick.

Also don’t understand what he can do to prepare for the NBA by leaving college? He is forgoing the opportunity to play in games to do what, workout and sit around?

Playing devils advocate- he mitigates (to some degree) the chance of injury.If he feels his draft position is secure- spending the next several months working out, playing pick up games to shore up his weaknesses, and working with personal coaches (assuming he does all that) is an equally good path to the NBA. I'm not hung up on the "he quit on his team thing". NCAA basketball is a business. The players are little more than commodities to big programs like Duke. I see no issue with him doing what he thinks is right for his future.

Maybe to some degree he mitigates risk of injury but we’ve seen guys get injured in workouts, pickup games, etc. I remember Jamal Crawford tearing his ACL in a pickup game one summer. More recently Klay Thompson tore his Achilles in a workout. You can’t wrap yourself up in a bubble to avoid injury. This kid isn’t participating in the G League so I’m not exactly sure what resources he has available to him. Whatever they are don’t see how that replaces playing in actual games. I’m sure there are NBA Executives that will want no part with this guy as he has quit on his team and commitments going back to high school. If he quits when things are tough or isn’t getting what he wants how is he going to deal with a losing team or culture? Is he going to give up on his team and try and force a trade? I see his draft stock slipping which will cost him millions of dollars so doing what he thinks is right can be completely different than doing what’s best for him.

[Andi Obst]

Any Franz Wagner interest around 7-13? He balled out last night against a very athletic and tough minded Rutgers team. Wanger is similar to Pat in that he's a player that in theory can guard 3 positions well, shoot, and also be an occasional secondary playmaker from the wing. He's a legit 6-9" and has an NBA ready body. He's very intriguing. Might not make sense above 10, but it might make a lot of sense in that range from 11-15 if that's where the pick is.

I have no idea about the other guys in this draft so I can't comment on his draft range, but I'd love Franz on the Bulls. I'm biased because he's German and was born and raised in Berlin, my hometown, but I also think he's a great fit in the modern NBA. He already played professionally here in Germany before going to Michigan (like his brother did before him) and it's remarkable how much he has improved since then. Most people expected him to be defensive liability against stronger competition, but instead he turned that into one of his strengths. He got much, much stronger, grew a bit and uses his combination of IQ and length very well. I'm incredibly impressed by what he has shown so far.

If we draft him and sign Moe to a cheap deal (the Wizards declined his fourth-year-option for some reason), I'm going to be the happiest Bulls fan on here.

[Repeat 3-peat]

He's a complete project offensively but Usman Garuba is a special defender. Versatile defender, athletic, fantastic lateral quickness which help him defend guards full court, long arms, relentlessly attacks the boards for rebounds.

Read on Twitter

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[TheSuzerain]

I think Keon, Wagner, Jalen Green, and Moody are all pretty closely grouped in that tier 2 5-8.

[Kukoc-Lauri]

Any Franz Wagner interest around 7-13? He balled out last night against a very athletic and tough minded Rutgers team. Wanger is similar to Pat in that he's a player that in theory can guard 3 positions well, shoot, and also be an occasional secondary playmaker from the wing. He's a legit 6-9" and has an NBA ready body. He's very intriguing. Might not make sense above 10, but it might make a lot of sense in that range from 11-15 if that's where the pick is.

He’s what we wanted Lauri to be. More of a playmaker w the ball.

Lauri averaging 19/7 with almost 40/50/90 splits. His per is better than per of Gordon,Bagley,Galinari,Pj Washington. He is in same group per wise, just slightly behind Randle,John Collins,Siakam as powerforwards. Franz Wagner is good prospect but unless he becomes new Gordon Hayward from Jazz days, he is not better prospect than Lauri.