2022 NBA Draft Talk: Never too soon

[Klomp]

I've been watching a lot of Ochai Agbaji and I'm hoping he's there at 19. While there are a lot of teams who like to bet on youth and potential, I bet Agbaji is someone who could slip through the cracks. But I really like his arsenal.

First off, that jumper is smooth. Over 40% on over 6 attempts per game. There's no tweaking necessary with that form either, it's one of the purest in the class. Mind you he entered college as more of an athlete than a shooter. Those hops haven't gone away either. His defense is there. His leadership is there. His clutchness is there.

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[Domejandro]

I see absolutely no world where Ochai Agbaji drops to #19. That said, if he is there, I agree that he is a no-brainer.

[shangrila]

I disagree. Agbaji looks incredibly limited.

I agree he's probably not available. I don't agree that that's a bad thing.

[jpatrick]

I disagree. Agbaji looks incredibly limited.

I agree he's probably not available. I don't agree that that's a bad thing.

He definitely doesn’t have upside but he’s going to be a 3/D wing. Those are valuable. I wish he was a bit taller so he could defend bigger forwards, but there is some Desmond Bane to him, who also dropped because of lack of upside.

[shangrila]

I disagree. Agbaji looks incredibly limited.

I agree he's probably not available. I don't agree that that's a bad thing.

He definitely doesn’t have upside but he’s going to be a 3/D wing. Those are valuable. I wish he was a bit taller so he could defend bigger forwards, but there is some Desmond Bane to him, who also dropped because of lack of upside.

I think I did a statistical comp between those two a few pages back, but IIRC there really isn’t much there beyond the fact they were both seniors.

Agbaji has worse FT rates, AST% and STL%, which makes me doubt both his creation abilities and his defence.

People might have forgotten but Bane was actually an offensive focal point his final season, so there was a bit more there than with Agbaji. Not to mention Bane developed a 1 dribble pull up to counter close outs and I’m not sure Agbaji can/will.

[Rookie-Mistake]

Trade up for him pls.

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Dear Lord, those are some measurements.

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[Devilzsidewalk]

I disagree. Agbaji looks incredibly limited.

I agree he's probably not available. I don't agree that that's a bad thing.

I wasn't overwhelmed. Obviously on 2 higher levels athletically, but isn't his game just Beasley? I think Beasley doesn't have that 28 foot range though, but he's also a little faster setting his feet and getting his shot off.

And he's a senior. He looks like a classic late first prospect with his age and limited skillset, I'm surprised he's being talked up as a lotto pick. Maybe overcompensation because teams missed on Bane, I dunno, I have a hard time setting his value. Like if you took him 10th, and he's the next Max Strus, did you get your money's worth

[cupcakesnake]

Im on the EJ Liddell bandwagon at 19. I just see a perfect Towns compliment. Super smart on both ends, strong with good feet and hands, excellent paint protector and switchy. He has some scoring upside, but right now his pull up doesn't look NBA level. Towns will give him space to operate a bit more in the post though, if there's a matchup.

There's a lot of big defensive wings in the draft. Sochan, Tari Eason, Ron Harper Jr. (kinda looks like Okogie 2.0). I like the strategy of putting defensive difference makers between Kat and Ant (and D'Lo if he's still a part of the plan).

[Neeva]

Im on the EJ Liddell bandwagon at 19. I just see a perfect Towns compliment. Super smart on both ends, strong with good feet and hands, excellent paint protector and switchy. He has some scoring upside, but right now his pull up doesn't look NBA level. Towns will give him space to operate a bit more in the post though, if there's a matchup.

There's a lot of big defensive wings in the draft. Sochan, Tari Eason, Ron Harper Jr. (kinda looks like Okogie 2.0). I like the strategy of putting defensive difference makers between Kat and Ant (and D'Lo if he's still a part of the plan).

Liddell looks 6’5 ish , just way too small and I don’t think he will ever be a good enough outside shooter for league.

[cupcakesnake]

Im on the EJ Liddell bandwagon at 19. I just see a perfect Towns compliment. Super smart on both ends, strong with good feet and hands, excellent paint protector and switchy. He has some scoring upside, but right now his pull up doesn't look NBA level. Towns will give him space to operate a bit more in the post though, if there's a matchup.

There's a lot of big defensive wings in the draft. Sochan, Tari Eason, Ron Harper Jr. (kinda looks like Okogie 2.0). I like the strategy of putting defensive difference makers between Kat and Ant (and D'Lo if he's still a part of the plan).

Liddell looks 6’5 ish , just way too small and I don’t think he will ever be a good enough outside shooter for league.

He's been measured a few times now: 6'5.5" barefoot, 6'7" in shoes, 7'0" wingspan, 240lbs. pounds. I think thick, long guys like this can play bigger than their size when they're mobile/athletic enough. We were so skinny this year, with Vando and McDaniels as our defensive frontcourt guys, and sometimes we were just bullied. There's a lot of successful shorter frontcourt players in this role: Draymond, PJ Tucker, Grant Williams,

I think Liddell gives us a different look playing as a defensive 4 who can guard multiple positions. His block rate is as good as anyone's (not named Chet or Mark Williams), he was an absolute monster in help defense situations and he switched like a beast. Super smart and excellent in defensive rotations.

He hit 37% on 3.8 attempts from 3 this year and has improved every year as a shooter. 76% from the line projects well. I don't think his little pull up game will translate to the NBA, but as a catch and shoot guy I think he's going to be more than fine. I don't like his shooting form overall but I'm encouraged by the results and the consistent improvement.

EDIT: I also think his ability to score in the post means you wont be able to "hide" weak defenders on him.

[Neeva]

I’d be fine with him with one of the second round picks.

[shangrila]

Im on the EJ Liddell bandwagon at 19. I just see a perfect Towns compliment. Super smart on both ends, strong with good feet and hands, excellent paint protector and switchy. He has some scoring upside, but right now his pull up doesn't look NBA level. Towns will give him space to operate a bit more in the post though, if there's a matchup.

There's a lot of big defensive wings in the draft. Sochan, Tari Eason, Ron Harper Jr. (kinda looks like Okogie 2.0). I like the strategy of putting defensive difference makers between Kat and Ant (and D'Lo if he's still a part of the plan).

Liddell looks 6’5 ish , just way too small and I don’t think he will ever be a good enough outside shooter for league.

He's been measured a few times now: 6'5.5" barefoot, 6'7" in shoes, 7'0" wingspan, 240lbs. pounds. I think thick, long guys like this can play bigger than their size when they're mobile/athletic enough. We were so skinny this year, with Vando and McDaniels as our defensive frontcourt guys, and sometimes we were just bullied. There's a lot of successful shorter frontcourt players in this role: Draymond, PJ Tucker, Grant Williams,

I think Liddell gives us a different look playing as a defensive 4 who can guard multiple positions. His block rate is as good as anyone's (not named Chet or Mark Williams), he was an absolute monster in help defense situations and he switched like a beast. Super smart and excellent in defensive rotations.

He hit 37% on 3.8 attempts from 3 this year and has improved every year as a shooter. 76% from the line projects well. I don't think his little pull up game will translate to the NBA, but as a catch and shoot guy I think he's going to be more than fine. I don't like his shooting form overall but I'm encouraged by the results and the consistent improvement.

EDIT: I also think his ability to score in the post means you wont be able to "hide" weak defenders on him.

38 inch vert too, tied 8th in the combine behind Kendall Brown and a whole bunch of guards/wings. Combine it with good (though admittedly not great) agility scores and I think any concerns about him physically are overblown.

[shangrila]

That's actually an interesting comparison. Looking at the Tankathon comparison page, they're nearly identical in the majority of statistics with a few notable differences.

Bane had the higher 3pt%, RPG and APG, while Agbaji had a higher PPG, FTAr and overall efficiency (probably due to the FTs). Some of the differences could come from overall role and team construction too (Agbaji has a significantly lower AST:TO ratio but he was more of a finisher vs Bane who was TCU's offensive hub his final year, while the difference in rebounding could be explained by Agbaji playing with a guy like Braun (6.8rpg)).

What I worry about with Agbaji is the steals. His steal rate is worse than Bane's by a significant enough margin that I'd worry about his IQ on that end. He is, undoubtedly, the better athlete; not just in terms of hops but he'll easily blow Bane's "negative" wingspan out of the park. But if he isn't smart it will put a cap on him on that side.

Overall I wouldn't be upset with Agbaji, especially if they're moving Beasley and/if he measures closer to 6-6 (or can cover SFs) since that would give us some interesting lineup options moving forward. But Bane developed in an interesting way that I don't think many expected (his one dribble pull up game is why he's so lethal and he didn't show much if any of that in college IIRC) and that I'm not sure Agbaji will do himself.

Here's what I posted earlier about Agbaji vs Bane.

He did measure 6-6 BTW, so I do like him with a bit of positional versatility.

[Zion Wembanyama]

NOLA

#8
Devonte' Graham
Garrett Temple
Willy Hernangomez

MIN

#19
Malik Beasley
Naz Reid
2023 1st

[wolves_89]

NOLA

#8
Devonte' Graham
Garrett Temple
Willy Hernangomez

MIN

#19
Malik Beasley
Naz Reid
2023 1st

I don't see the Wolves having any interest in giving up a 2023 1st (plus Beasley and Reid) to move up to #8. Once Murray is off the board there isn't anyone worth paying that much to move up for (and I see no chance Murray is still available at #8).

[moss_is_1]

Look at the comp. I'll take another.

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Had a chance to look at Dieng some. He reminds me more of a Batum type. Wouldn't mind someone like that for sure. Good handle and playmaking ability, nice defense 1-4, long good athlete, jumper needs work but only 18.

[Slim Tubby]

Any thoughts on Jalen Duren?

He'd be a great guy to get, but I don't see any realistic chance he makes it out of the top 13 (with a good chance of going in the top 10). It would probably be too expensive to consider trading up to draft him.

My thoughts exactly.


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[Slim Tubby]

How far up the draft could we upgrade #19 with a future 1st, Nowell and Naz?

Where would #19 + McDaniels get us?

I don't know, but there's no one in this draft worth trading McDaniels for.

I’m not saying you’re wrong but that’s a very bold take.


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[Slim Tubby]

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Dear Lord, those are some measurements.

I’d be happy to offer #19, Bolmaro and all of our 2nds for a chance to land Williams, Sochan or Duren.


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[wolves_89]

I was fairly high on Baldwin, but this scares me.

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I also saw in a SBNATION article that Baldwin had the second worst lane agility time and the fourth worst three-quarters court sprint.