2025 Draft prospects - thread 2

[Chi town]

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Couldn’t agree more with this. Hard passing on a lob threat for Giddey, who has a massive frame and is a great screen setter, who compliments Buzelis, AND is an agile rim protector is crazy to me. Suddenly Giddey & Coby’s perimeter defensive woes are minimized and we can run a team with a totally different style than the 90’s style Derozan and Vuc ball we’ve been miserable with. His physical traits alone are enough to keep his floor elevated.

I agree with the framework of what you are saying but there is one giant caveat… MOTOR.

Normally players that don’t have never get one. Malauch without a motor is a backup C. He didn’t show much of a motor all season. He never dominated the glass. His greatest asset is probably his threat of blocking. He deters lots of folks from the rim. That won’t happen in the league unless he proves to have a motor and go at dunkers.

My concern is he will be a giant poster. Getting dunked on and giving up 50/50 balls constantly.

[Jcool0]

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Couldn’t agree more with this. Hard passing on a lob threat for Giddey, who has a massive frame and is a great screen setter, who compliments Buzelis, AND is an agile rim protector is crazy to me. Suddenly Giddey & Coby’s perimeter defensive woes are minimized and we can run a team with a totally different style than the 90’s style Derozan and Vuc ball we’ve been miserable with. His physical traits alone are enough to keep his floor elevated.

I agree with the framework of what you are saying but there is one giant caveat… MOTOR.

Normally players that don’t have never get one. Malauch without a motor is a backup C. He didn’t show much of a motor all season. He never dominated the glass. His greatest asset is probably his threat of blocking. He deters lots of folks from the rim. That won’t happen in the league unless he proves to have a motor and go at dunkers.

My concern is he will be a giant poster. Getting dunked on and giving up 50/50 balls constantly.

I mean I watched a lot of Duke basketball for Cooper then Kon and Malauch always stood out. Lack of motor is something that I never thought about with him. Did you only watch the Houston game? His problem is lack of experience which he might not ever get caught up on. But his potential is literally Gobert with a 3. So it's hard to pass on that.

[Chi town]

Couldn’t agree more with this. Hard passing on a lob threat for Giddey, who has a massive frame and is a great screen setter, who compliments Buzelis, AND is an agile rim protector is crazy to me. Suddenly Giddey & Coby’s perimeter defensive woes are minimized and we can run a team with a totally different style than the 90’s style Derozan and Vuc ball we’ve been miserable with. His physical traits alone are enough to keep his floor elevated.

I agree with the framework of what you are saying but there is one giant caveat… MOTOR.

Normally players that don’t have never get one. Malauch without a motor is a backup C. He didn’t show much of a motor all season. He never dominated the glass. His greatest asset is probably his threat of blocking. He deters lots of folks from the rim. That won’t happen in the league unless he proves to have a motor and go at dunkers.

My concern is he will be a giant poster. Getting dunked on and giving up 50/50 balls constantly.

I mean I watched a lot of Duke basketball for Cooper then Kon and Malauch always stood out. Lack of motor is something that I never thought about with him. Did you only watch the Houston game? His problem is lack of experience which he might not ever get caught up on. But his potential is literally Gobert with a 3. So it's hard to pass on that.

I watched alot of Duke too. He always had me wanting to see more. Very similar to Pat vibes.

I do think he was hidden a bunch on offense. Never touched it in the post unless a lob or pass for a dunk. He barely ever shot the ball outside a finish.

[Jcool0]

I agree with the framework of what you are saying but there is one giant caveat… MOTOR.

Normally players that don’t have never get one. Malauch without a motor is a backup C. He didn’t show much of a motor all season. He never dominated the glass. His greatest asset is probably his threat of blocking. He deters lots of folks from the rim. That won’t happen in the league unless he proves to have a motor and go at dunkers.

My concern is he will be a giant poster. Getting dunked on and giving up 50/50 balls constantly.

I mean I watched a lot of Duke basketball for Cooper then Kon and Malauch always stood out. Lack of motor is something that I never thought about with him. Did you only watch the Houston game? His problem is lack of experience which he might not ever get caught up on. But his potential is literally Gobert with a 3. So it's hard to pass on that.

I watched alot of Duke too. He always had me wanting to see more. Very similar to Pat vibes.

I do think he was hidden a bunch on offense. Never touched it in the post unless a lob or pass for a dunk. He barely ever shot the ball outside a finish.

Duke was going for a national title, not to get him drafted #2 overall. FWIW he was a 32% 3PT shooter in the pro league last year. They played to his "strengths" on offense at Duke which ment a lot of lob plays since he is 7'2". I saw him constantly playing hard and making an impact in games.

[Chi town]

I mean I watched a lot of Duke basketball for Cooper then Kon and Malauch always stood out. Lack of motor is something that I never thought about with him. Did you only watch the Houston game? His problem is lack of experience which he might not ever get caught up on. But his potential is literally Gobert with a 3. So it's hard to pass on that.

I watched alot of Duke too. He always had me wanting to see more. Very similar to Pat vibes.

I do think he was hidden a bunch on offense. Never touched it in the post unless a lob or pass for a dunk. He barely ever shot the ball outside a finish.

Duke was going for a national title, not to get him drafted #2 overall. FWIW he was a 32% 3PT shooter in the pro league last year. They played to his "strengths" on offense at Duke which ment a lot of lob plays since he is 7'2". I saw him constantly playing hard and making an impact in games.

I agree. Two sides to that too. If he really had it they would have put it to use. They would have fed him the ball and used him in pick n pop for 3s.

I’d be thrilled to have him fall, draft him and he turns out great. Believe he will be gone latest by 9.

[BullsSD]

I watched alot of Duke too. He always had me wanting to see more. Very similar to Pat vibes.

I do think he was hidden a bunch on offense. Never touched it in the post unless a lob or pass for a dunk. He barely ever shot the ball outside a finish.

Duke was going for a national title, not to get him drafted #2 overall. FWIW he was a 32% 3PT shooter in the pro league last year. They played to his "strengths" on offense at Duke which ment a lot of lob plays since he is 7'2". I saw him constantly playing hard and making an impact in games.

I agree. Two sides to that too. If he really had it they would have put it to use. They would have fed him the ball and used him in pick n pop for 3s.

I’d be thrilled to have him fall, draft him and he turns out great. Believe he will be gone latest by 9.

1. Keep in mind he started playing basketball only a few years ago. It’s pretty incredible he’s at where he’s at. We don’t exactly know what his development curve is because of this. Giddey will make the development easier than any other guard in the league could do. I truly believe they would be a nightmare for a decade together… especially with Coby and Buze being on the wings ready to knock down 3’s in proper pick and roll coverage.
2. I agree he’s probably gone by 10. But I also think the lottery will play a massive role in bigs slipping. Say for instance Raptors get top 4 pick. I think that dominos and bigs fall farther based on team needs.

Ultimately I think we are making a mistake not being ready to move up 2-5 stops to take him. The drop off from Maluach to CMB or Newell is significant. You can teach ball, you can’t teach size. He’s the accent to our core that does the dirty work and allows us to sign a star PF.

[2weekswithpay]

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Probably not an NBA player, but maybe worth paying attention to as a two-way guy.

Spoiler:

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[2weekswithpay]

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[2weekswithpay]

I'm not high on Maluach's offense developing, but at his size, catching the ball and finishing is enough to make him a threat on offense.

[Bulls Fan 23]

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Probably not an NBA player, but maybe worth paying attention to as a two-way guy.

Spoiler:

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I want him with our second round pick. A good rim runner and lob center.

[DuckIII]

Ultimately I think we are making a mistake not being ready to move up 2-5 stops to take him.

I would draft Maluach with a huge smile on my face. I believe the general consensus of him on this board, as a prospect, is too low.

But I would not trade up to get him. There are a few guys even outside the no-brainer Flagg/Harper duo, for whom I would offer *a little* to move up for, but Maluach is not one of them.

That said, I did say the board as a whole undervalues him in my opinion. Here is how I see Maluach: Barring injury, for the next 8 or so years titles are going to primarily run through OKC and SA. You don’t like that assumption? Fine. But I’m quite confident of it so it is part of my premise. In addition, in recent years the NBA has returned to the big man in all shapes and sizes. Joker, Embiid (when healthy), Freak, Edey, Clingan, Kat, Gobert, etc. This stuff already matters and is going to matter even more.

Maluach is unique. He provides an opportunity to get a matchup guy with a solid talent base to develop as part of this size race. But it’s not so important I would give up a significant asset to trade up to get him. Especially not with our weak stock of assets.

[Guru]

I'd be delighted with any of those 4 at the 12. Its most likely that Demin is the only one available at that point though.

Maluach at 12 would be a dream.

The only one out of those I wouldn't want would be Demin, but even then, I could probably be convinced.

The hardest part of the process for Maluach was the college season. The combine/workouts part of the process will be cake. I would be shocked if Khaman Maluach falls out of the top eight.

I would have to take a strong look at Jase Richardson and Walter Clayton Jr. if the Bulls stay at 12. Donovan is more than likely going to start Giddey, White, Ayo, Buzelis, and Vucevic. I think the Bulls could use a guard to add scoring to the second unit. I don't think Lonzo is reliable, and I don't want to see AK waste future flexibility bringing back Jones.

Him being bad on the court and good on paper is the issue. And he's not that good on paper.

[Guru]

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Couldn’t agree more with this. Hard passing on a lob threat for Giddey, who has a massive frame and is a great screen setter, who compliments Buzelis, AND is an agile rim protector is crazy to me. Suddenly Giddey & Coby’s perimeter defensive woes are minimized and we can run a team with a totally different style than the 90’s style Derozan and Vuc ball we’ve been miserable with. His physical traits alone are enough to keep his floor elevated.

He's not a good basketball player. He doesn't really do anything well. He played on the best team in the country and couldn't get easy shots, easy rebounds. All he did was dunk. He wasn't that good of a shot blocker even.

[Guru]

Couldn’t agree more with this. Hard passing on a lob threat for Giddey, who has a massive frame and is a great screen setter, who compliments Buzelis, AND is an agile rim protector is crazy to me. Suddenly Giddey & Coby’s perimeter defensive woes are minimized and we can run a team with a totally different style than the 90’s style Derozan and Vuc ball we’ve been miserable with. His physical traits alone are enough to keep his floor elevated.

I agree with the framework of what you are saying but there is one giant caveat… MOTOR.

Normally players that don’t have never get one. Malauch without a motor is a backup C. He didn’t show much of a motor all season. He never dominated the glass. His greatest asset is probably his threat of blocking. He deters lots of folks from the rim. That won’t happen in the league unless he proves to have a motor and go at dunkers.

My concern is he will be a giant poster. Getting dunked on and giving up 50/50 balls constantly.

I mean I watched a lot of Duke basketball for Cooper then Kon and Malauch always stood out. Lack of motor is something that I never thought about with him. Did you only watch the Houston game? His problem is lack of experience which he might not ever get caught up on. But his potential is literally Gobert with a 3. So it's hard to pass on that.

I watched nearly every Duke game and he never stood out. Im struggling to find a time he ever stood out...Olympics? No

[Guru]

I agree with the framework of what you are saying but there is one giant caveat… MOTOR.

Normally players that don’t have never get one. Malauch without a motor is a backup C. He didn’t show much of a motor all season. He never dominated the glass. His greatest asset is probably his threat of blocking. He deters lots of folks from the rim. That won’t happen in the league unless he proves to have a motor and go at dunkers.

My concern is he will be a giant poster. Getting dunked on and giving up 50/50 balls constantly.

I mean I watched a lot of Duke basketball for Cooper then Kon and Malauch always stood out. Lack of motor is something that I never thought about with him. Did you only watch the Houston game? His problem is lack of experience which he might not ever get caught up on. But his potential is literally Gobert with a 3. So it's hard to pass on that.

I watched alot of Duke too. He always had me wanting to see more. Very similar to Pat vibes.

I do think he was hidden a bunch on offense. Never touched it in the post unless a lob or pass for a dunk. He barely ever shot the ball outside a finish.

He didn't dominate at anything. Everything is a projection.

[Guru]

Duke was going for a national title, not to get him drafted #2 overall. FWIW he was a 32% 3PT shooter in the pro league last year. They played to his "strengths" on offense at Duke which ment a lot of lob plays since he is 7'2". I saw him constantly playing hard and making an impact in games.

I agree. Two sides to that too. If he really had it they would have put it to use. They would have fed him the ball and used him in pick n pop for 3s.

I’d be thrilled to have him fall, draft him and he turns out great. Believe he will be gone latest by 9.

1. Keep in mind he started playing basketball only a few years ago. It’s pretty incredible he’s at where he’s at. We don’t exactly know what his development curve is because of this. Giddey will make the development easier than any other guard in the league could do. I truly believe they would be a nightmare for a decade together… especially with Coby and Buze being on the wings ready to knock down 3’s in proper pick and roll coverage.
2. I agree he’s probably gone by 10. But I also think the lottery will play a massive role in bigs slipping. Say for instance Raptors get top 4 pick. I think that dominos and bigs fall farther based on team needs.

Ultimately I think we are making a mistake not being ready to move up 2-5 stops to take him. The drop off from Maluach to CMB or Newell is significant. You can teach ball, you can’t teach size. He’s the accent to our core that does the dirty work and allows us to sign a star PF.

Its pretty incredible that he can catch a ball and dunk it? He averaged 8 points a game and 6 rebounds.

[2weekswithpay]

Lively averaged 5/5/1 at Duke, and yet he was able to play an important role on a team that went to the finals as a rookie. I've been critical of Maluach on here before, but his statistical numbers are in line with his age and role.

[Red Larrivee]

Lively averaged 5/5/1 at Duke, and yet he was able to play an important role on a team that went to the finals as a rookie. I've been critical of Maluach on here before, but his statistical numbers are in line with his age and role.

I agree, but I think the catch is that his role and game were a reflection of the fact that he's going to be such a slow burn outcome with a lot of ups and downs. He had 2 games last season where he played over 30 minutes. There were a handful of games against quality opponents where they just couldn't play him.

"Gobert with a 3" is such a dreamy outcome, but the probability of that is so slim and shouldn't be the primary reason you want him. His median outcome is my main concern, but if he's even Mark Williams or Jalen Duren, I think that would be acceptable.

[pipfan]

I don't like the idea of moving up. If Maluach falls, take him. I like Newell more, but he'll probably be gone

I'd rather move back than up. I like Fleming/Wolf/Beringer/Sorber as long term bigs, and all should be picked 15-20, and might fall into the 20's

Port pick for #24 and Dieng is my dream deal

Take BPA at #12, get another pick and a young guy with talent. OKC could use the $ savings and the roster spots, and gets a future pick (we know they love those)

[WindyCityBorn]

Someone watch this and tell me why Newell shouldn’t be pick at 12. Tall, athletic, great hops, strong finisher at the rim, strong on the offensive boards, good outside shooting touch. All of that in the best conference in college basketball. Yes Matas can play the 3.

https://youtu.be/sI0XJIKX_68?si=IU5C4GfE6JV30u4E