Angryfatboy wrote:NoDopeOnSundays wrote:Angryfatboy wrote:For me personally I’ve narrowed it down to vassell or nesmith
Vassell is the cant go wrong pick imo I’m most comfortable with him at 8
Even at worse case scenario you still end up with a good athlete that’s going to be dynamic on defense, can shoot The 3 ball, fits in any offense, hustles on the boards, and has good communication skills on court. He comes with more intangibles than just being a 3/D player.
On the flipside
Nesmith is a guaranteed flamethrower anywhere on the court with high volume to back it up, excellent off ball movement on the court getting to spots looks likes shades of Klay thomposon. His best case scenario is probably buddy Hield If the handles get better.
Okoro it’s like double Dutch Im tryna find my way in but I’m initially hesitant big PAUSE lol. He has the most upside of either guy but drafting a non shooter at 8 seems crazy if your the Knicks the shooting and free throw% is a turn off. If okoro was a solid playmaker I think that would be more appealing to make up for the lack of shooting but he’s neither a shooter nor playmaker he’s a gifted defender and athlete. I like him but I’m not crazy about it
Worst case scenario for Vassell isn't 3 & D, it's that the 3 isn't real and you're left with a guy who is very limited on offense. That is why you see names like Williams and Okoro so much now for us, because it's easier to teach someone to shoot than it is to teach them to dribble and dynamic players are what teams want. You can go back 10 years, and the most successful 3 & D guy taken in the lottery so far has been Otto Porter, and the second is Mikal Bridges, there are a whole lot more busts for the 3 & D player type in the lottery than there have been successes, because you can find these type of players later in the draft.
I'd much prefer Okoro over Vassell, there's just more to work with there with the hopes that he can develop into more.
What’s the indication he can’t shoot the 3?
“ This past season, he finished fifth in the ACC in three-point percentage, shooting 41.5% on 3.5 attempts per game. In Vassell’s freshman season, he shot 41.9% from beyond the arc on 1.9 attempts per game, so his successful three-point shooting is something that has been a staple in his game for his entire career, not just one season.”
According to his Synergy Sports profile, Vassell was dangerous from pretty much every zone behind the three-point line in 2019-20. His highest volume of three-point attempts came from the left/right wings, where the 6-6 swing-man shot 40.8% on 49 attempts. Vassell shot 41% last season on left/right corner three-point field goals (39 attempts), and he went 8 for 18 (44%) on three-point attempts from the top of the key.
He’s gonna be an elite role player easily . I’ll take that at pick 8 in this particular draft long term next to RJ and mitch to grow with.
What’s the plan with Barret and okoro? It’s a on over lap of play styles there both drivers. Your taking away from Barrets development if you force him to be a spot up shooter while putting the ball in okoros hands and your taking away from okoros development putting the ball in Barrets hands while forcing okoro to be a spot up shooter. And the fact neither of them can shoot or hit free throws its going to be an awkward development process in general.
In today’s nba teams are coming down the court shooting the 3 ball not coming down the court with 2 drivers who are shaky shooters On the wing lol. I don’t like it man If we had a center that could space the floor and real shooters to compliment it then ok that makes more sense.
Free throw shooting, there's a correlation between freethrow shooting in college and 3 point shooting at the next level. He was not a high volume three point shooter, it would be one thing if he was taking 5 per game and shot 80%+ from the line, but the volume he took was low and being 73.8% from the line for a supposed shooter is not good. For example, Lonzo Ball shot 41.2% from three and 67% from the line, he took 90 more threes on the year than Vassell, a much higher volume of threes and his shooting didn't translate.
You're drafting someone like Okoro and hoping he develops like Jaylen Brown did, another guy who was a great athlete with a shaky shot, but could handle the ball. You draft Okoro with the idea that he can be taught to hit corner threes because there's a similar level defender there with a better handle & much more capable of finishing at the rim, you draft a Patrick Williams with the same hope, because he showed promise handling the ball in PnR and hitting pullups off closeouts. How RJ & Okoro fit together next year would be troubling, but how they'd fit together 3 years from now after they've had development time is why you do it. I wouldn't want to blow a lottery pick on a guy whose projection is 3 & D, there's going to be someone taken later on or undrafted that will do the exact same thing, but is probably just 2-3 years older.
We shouldn't be building our team for "todays NBA" either, we should be looking at the Celtics with their multiple ball handlers who can drive, create or shoot off the catch as the template for the future. The stand and watch 1 guy create type of offense is cool if you have Luka or LeBron, we don't have that. If you look at the teams left in the playoffs, almost all of the 3 & D wings are value guys on good deals, some of them were undrafted (Craig) while others were second rounders (Green, Crowder).
