2024-2025 College Basketball / NBA Draft

[Kobblehead]

I watched Liam McNeeley last night vs. Villanova. Dude is a pure stud. Has a lot of fire in him, too.

[Negrodamus]

McNeeley is intriguing but man he’s a traffic cone on defense against anyone more athletic than him.

[Kobblehead]

Right now, my top guys are:

Flagg
Bailey
Harper
Edgecombe
McNeeley
Knueppel
Johnson

[Negrodamus]

Watch on YouTube

He's not as fluid of an athlete as Jokic, but this guy definitely has exceptional BBIQ and great size. I don't know if he'll survive in the NBA and if you can really improve upon his athleticism, but a deep sleeper worth taking a flier on. Would love to see him in college for one year, but don't know the circumstances behind if that would even be a possibility.

[Negrodamus]

Watched a few stretches of games for some of the top prospects:

Rutgers vs Illinois. The Rutgers duo plays the most unwatchable basketball I've ever seen which makes it hard to evaluate. It feels like they went there with the assumption that they can play some improv basketball. It's unenjoyable. Ace looks like he has no interest in doing anything on offense other than taking tough shots. Ace and Harper have a good statistical game, but I haven't been impressed so far (halfway through the first). Kasparas has a bad game and has looked bad so far. Wasn't really watching this for him though.

First half of Baylor vs BYU, VJ looks good in stretches but is running mostly off ball stuff. Looks shorter than 6'5, which is deeply annoying. Playing poor defense. I know he goes off in the second half offensively, so I might need to revisit. Also one of Egor Demin's best games and I'm peripherally watching him. He has no advanced handles and can't really do anything on offense other than throw very nice passes to cutters.

Derik Queen vs Indiana. Statistically he has a poor scoring game which I knew going in and welcome it as a gut check. He is simply no match defending Oumar Bello who is outsizing him significantly in the post. Playing defense to not foul, so never really going after blocks. Love his offense as he's not really the focal point, usually gets the ball off of PnR or O-Rebs. Once again, great passer. Takes a few plays off which isn't great.



I'm starting to lose the hype I had for this draft, tbh. Flagg is obviously a nuke prospect, but everyone else has their flaws.

[Mik317]

as always I am pretty passively watching the draft class until the tourny and live vicariously through this thread and some youtube videos but yeah it really feels like a lot of the hype was mostly due to how awful the previous class was as sans Flagg (who admittedly I haven't even seen play lol) every time I hear about any of the other top prospects they have some potential major downsides that just hard work can't overcome....which is not what you want at the top of a draft as I feel like in that range you need gamechangers rather than guys who "might" top out as a good starter (which is still fine mind you). So here are some uneducated hot takes

I am scared of the Rutgers guys after Fultz and Simmons. Perhaps this is me becoming an old fogey but you kinda have to win at some point ,no? Ant Edwards is the only outlier I can think of in recent memory and his athleticism and "swag" kinda made up for that a bit (he also may just be a loser irl too so who knows).

Edgecomb looks awesome but I feel like he is closer to 6'2 which of course is not great for us...also feels like Baylor has had this 6'2- 6'5 wingy guy prospect every year and none of them have panned out ,no? I DO think you take a chance on outlier athleticism tho (This is why despite the above, I'd probably lose my job for Bailey regardless of his flaws and my own eyes lol)

Queen's highlight tape is awesome and the idea of him is also intriguing. Its all about if he can survive on an island if pulled out to the perimeter tho. Reminds me of a less athletic but better creating Yabu actually....which is a lazy comp but still.

everybody else becomes a weird soup of guys who don't really "fit" with our "future tiny backcourt even if we trade one of the tiny guys lol. Bunch of guys who are more exciting if they were a bit taller or better defensively or both.

One sneaky guy is Maluach. Taking unskilled centers is always a low chance of success IMO BUT if they are serious about keeping the Biid is the world plan in play, getting a huge raw guy to play behind him as he ages and hope he can pick up things from him is something I can see them trying as its different from the old aging backup or small tweener centers of old I guess.

But yeah ATM, I am not as worried about losing the pick as IDK if any guy sans Flagg really changes the immediate future for us anyway.

[Negrodamus]

I'll just say that I've hated Maluach every time I've watched him and felt he needs to come back to school. His intrigue, to me, is that he's preposterously big and shoots 70% from FT. Otherwise he doesn't pass my eye test, but take that for what it's worth (nothing).

[Negrodamus]

Not many guys really consistently blowing up as we get into the end of the year. McNeeley is definitely one.

A guy not talked about a lot on here is Kentucky's Otega Oweh. He has strong Ricky Council IV vibes, so not necessarily for us, but someone else out there.

[Negrodamus]

Watch on YouTube

It's a shame this guy is on such a doo doo team because I would love to see him in some postseason games. He has been electric the last 12 games. RS Fr. Ugly ass shot but it goes in. If he declared this year and I was a team in need of a PG/SG, I'd give him a promise outside of the lottery.

[Kobblehead]

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=LeagueHim

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/nique-clifford-1.html

No name recruit playing for a small school, but holy crap, Nique might be the most impressive statistical outlier in this class and he's athletic ontop of it.

[Kobblehead]

Do we think Kasparas Jakucionis is at least 6'4" in height?

[Kobblehead]

I think Egor Demin should stay in school for his sophomore year. He's already really strong on the glass and one of the best passers in the country. Let him develop his shooting and get more comfortable as a scorer.

Also, the #1 guy in the 2025 recruiting class, A.J. Dybantsa, is coming to BYU. They could legit win it all because they're already a good team this year.

[Negrodamus]

Do we think Kasparas Jakucionis is at least 6'4" in height?

He's listed as taller but always looks shorter to me. If he's not 6'4 bare foot, then that hurts his value to me.

[Negrodamus]

I can't unsee defensive Malik Monk every time I watch Edgecombe. They move the same way, have the same limitations on offense, but Edgecombe is a magnificent defender.

[Kobblehead]

I can't unsee defensive Malik Monk every time I watch Edgecombe. They move the same way, have the same limitations on offense, but Edgecombe is a magnificent defender.

I'm getting some Ant-Man vibes. Some close statistical stuff between them two to go along with the size/athleticism similarities.

Per-36:
- Edwards: 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists
- Edgecombe: 5.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists

Ant-Man became a 20 point, 5 rebounds, 4 assist guy. If Edgecombe can be that in the NBA to go along with his defensive prowess, he has a good case to go #2 overall because now we're talking potential D-Wade.

[Negrodamus]

If Dailyn Swain's outside shot wasn't a complete train wreck, he'd need to be considered as a lottery pick. 6'8 sophomore wing with excellent athleticism and fluidity. Handles well. Nice touch around the rim. He also shoots 83% from FT so I don't get the complete discomfort from outside. Here's a thread on Twitter scouting him:

Read on Twitter

[Negrodamus]

Even with his slump on offense, I’d still take Miles Byrd with a top 20 pick.

[Negrodamus]

Watch on YouTube

;t=69s

I mean, it'd be nice to have a guy like this that can stay on the court and be disruptive against Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum without being a complete zero on offense (a la Thybulle, Springer, Oubre, etc). I think he's having consistency issues scoring right now, but the shot looks good and he has PG abilities. SDSU also famously nerfs prospect's stats.

[ProcessDoctor]

Hypothetical: we get the #2 pick, and New Orleans is willing to part with Zion + Jones for #2 + George.

Maxey/Butler
Grimes/McCain
Jones/Oubre
Zion/Yabusele
Embiid/Bona

Would you accept?

[Negrodamus]

Fears is the lowkey all star guard in this draft, he just needs time to fill out and refine his shot a bit.