2024 NBA Draft Thread

[BlazersBroncos]

The "debate" between Topic and Sheppard is why this draft is so bad in a nutshell. We're splitting hairs over potential rotation guys. Literally none of these guys profile as stars. I'm sure there will be a few, but they are the needles in this haystack of crap.

Ya, its a really bad draft. What gross timing for my Blazers to rebuild.

Like, Topic is probably best as a 6th man and 2nd unit lead ballhandler and even with that I think he is probably a Top-5 talent in this draft.

Sheppard can be a 5th starter IMO who does it all and is rock solid on a PO team that has its go-to guys - that should be a early 20's or late teens pick but this year he is almost for sure a Top-10 talent. And will end up on a bad team where his skills are not utilized at all (IE asked to do too much).

[Hal14]

The "debate" between Topic and Sheppard is why this draft is so bad in a nutshell. We're splitting hairs over potential rotation guys. Literally none of these guys profile as stars. I'm sure there will be a few, but they are the needles in this haystack of crap.

Ya, its a really bad draft. What gross timing for my Blazers to rebuild.

Like, Topic is probably best as a 6th man and 2nd unit lead ballhandler and even with that I think he is probably a Top-5 talent in this draft.

Sheppard can be a 5th starter IMO who does it all and is rock solid on a PO team that has its go-to guys - that should be a early 20's or late teens pick but this year he is almost for sure a Top-10 talent. And will end up on a bad team where his skills are not utilized at all (IE asked to do too much).

Huh? So a 6th man is a top 5 pick but a 5th starter goes in the 20's?

Isn't a 5th starter better than a 6th man? Or at the very least, they're comparable in value to a team. So why would one go so much higher than the other? I'm confused haha.

Also, I think the sell with Topic is for him to be a franchise's starting PG of the future. Good positional size, very young, but has already produced really impressive results at 3 or 4 different levels at a young age. Can pressure the rim at will, a PnR maestro, really good passing feel, knows how to run an offense, facilitate, play with good pace..has upside as a shooter and defender.

I think if you think he's your starting PG, you take him in the top 5 or 6 picks. If not, if you just think he's a backup guard like a Cam Payne or a TJ McConnell type, a Delon wright/tyus jones/monte morris type, then take him in the 20's. But he's not gonna fall that far so you just won't take him..

[Colbinii]

Bro, late teens and early 20s you are hoping you get a player who resigns with your team after his 4-year rookie scale contract. In no way is the expected outcome of a pick in the late teens or early 20s a starter.

[babyjax13]

There's plenty of high-end talent. What it lacks, and why I think people assume it's a weak draft, is a consensus potential franchise type talent. That where evaluation skills have to come into play. There's no Banchero, Wembanyama, or Zion type talents. That's pretty obvious. But there's potential Miller, Smith, Thompson, Brown, etc. type talents. How many will determine whether it's a better than average draft. It's just the weak label that gets to me because I know people aren't watching tape because they've admitted or have had these takes since before last draft.

Say you're the Pistons G.M. and you have the 1st pick and you want to go high floor/low ceiling type. Who would be your pick. Which prospects fit that description? I can't find that type in this draft until well into the teens. Even a guy like Filipowski has a high ceiling. First guys I can think of are Knecht and McCullar

A lot of us watch high school, U18, and U16, as well. You are, again, just making things up.

except some people have literally stated they don't pay attention to the international prospects. And most of you have had this take about it being a weak draft class since before last draft. I'm not sure why you're pretending otherwise. I really don't feel like going through the various threads to prove it for the likes of you but they're there. Sorry you're seemingly triggered by this? Or that you feel the need to defend others since I didn't name you?

I mean you have singled me out, but really I'm telling you that about 30 percent of the posts from the last two weeks are you complaining and it is old. People have eyes, they are watching games, and from the people who have said they hadn't watched international prospects yet (Clyde) they've been saying the college class is bad. You are just choosing to say this almost every time someone says they think it is a bad draft class.

[Colbinii]

Is the entire point of some people here just to lump people together and tell them they are wrong?

Maybe we should just all ignore the trolls [Big J, JMac and FarBeyondComprehension] and talk about the prospects.

[clyde21]

saying this class isnt any good is like that bat signal for this dude

still waiting on that definition of "needle mover"

still waiting. I'm assuming none will be given because then you're stuck having to actually defend your takes in the future? Can't be pigeoned-holed now can we? Typical

i dont have time to waste on such stupid questions and convos.

[TheDraftGuy]

The "debate" between Topic and Sheppard is why this draft is so bad in a nutshell. We're splitting hairs over potential rotation guys. Literally none of these guys profile as stars. I'm sure there will be a few, but they are the needles in this haystack of crap.

Ya, its a really bad draft. What gross timing for my Blazers to rebuild.

It really isn't that bad of a draft.

It's only a "weak draft" in that there are no major superstars that are apparent. But anyone who has studied this draft knows there are potential All Stars to be found all over. I think teams like the Blazers, Spurs, Pistons, and Grizzlies can really set their futures in stone with this draft, if they acquire the right players.

It reminds me of the 2005 and 2006 Drafts honestly (also considered weak at the time).

Like those drafts, I'm willing to bet the best player will be found at #5-12 range and another All-Star will be found in the range the Warriors pick is in (#10-20).

Sarr is probably Bargnani where he looks like the latest thing (Wemby) but doesn't live up to the hype, someone like Cody Williams or Nikola Topic is the Roy/CP3, there's an Aldridge/Deron Williams somewhere in the Top 10 (imo, Castle). Either Cody Williams or Risacher is the Granger/Lowry.

Holland is the Rudy Gay.

Meanwhile, a big man like Missi or Clingan may end up being the Andrew Bynum or Paul Millsap of the draft where they slip a bit but are impactful big men. I think both are going to be impactful.

Don't want to make too direct of an analogy but it looks like a very normal draft to me.

[165bows]

Haven’t followed it closely this year but my uninformed take is that the big men seem over rated and the guards seem underrated.

[EvanZ]

The "debate" between Topic and Sheppard is why this draft is so bad in a nutshell. We're splitting hairs over potential rotation guys. Literally none of these guys profile as stars. I'm sure there will be a few, but they are the needles in this haystack of crap.

Ya, its a really bad draft. What gross timing for my Blazers to rebuild.

It really isn't that bad of a draft.

It's only a "weak draft" in that there are no major superstars that are apparent. But anyone who has studied this draft knows there are potential All Stars to be found all over. I think teams like the Blazers, Spurs, Pistons, and Grizzlies can really set their futures in stone with this draft, if they acquire the right players.

Bro, that's literally why it's a bad draft.

Of course there could be All-Stars. But nobody knows who they are right now. That means it's a bad draft at the top and it's a bad draft to rely on to get a star because it's highly unpredictable. LITERALLY A BAD DRAFT.

I get that a guy whose handle is "TheDraftGuy" thinks he has to say every draft is good, but history has shown that simply isn't the case. There are drafts that are just poop. This is one of them with very high likelihood.

[clyde21]

When the best player in this class would go no better than #4 or #5 in last year's class, it's a bad class

i dont know why people can't admit this. this is just a natural cycle. some draft classes will be stronger, some will be top heavy, some will be deeper, others will be weak. jfc are we gonna get into this every time someone says this a weak class? it was a historically weak HS class so it's not surprising its not a strong NCAA class.

if you think this is a strong class good for you, i hope you're right, the NBA can always use the best talent possible. right now it's not hard to see why people think its weak, you don't have to bitch about it every time someone says it.

[TheDraftGuy]

Bro, that's literally why it's a bad draft.

Of course there could be All-Stars. But nobody knows who they are right now. That means it's a bad draft at the top and it's a bad draft to rely on to get a star because it's highly unpredictable. LITERALLY A BAD DRAFT.

That's incorrect. A bad draft is like the 2013 draft, where only three guys became All-Stars.

Most drafts have 5+ All Stars in it with the top talent being close to 50/50 in panning out. This will be an average/normal draft, as I already stated.

And one such reason for this becoming more of the norm is due to all these drafts producing international talent. Transport Giannis, Embiid, Luka, SGA, Jokic, young Wemby into the late 1960s and they can pretty much match up with Wilt, Russell, Baylor, Oscar, West, young Kareem in terms of impact and legacy.

In another era, with less international talent, this draft would be considered a bad one if it solely relied on American talent and some mediocre international players.....but this recent change where you get one or two multiple time All-Stars who aren't American now in almost every draft makes drafts overall more worthwhile to invest in.

[BlazersBroncos]

I am historically very wary on calling a draft bad - and this is a bad draft.

That doesnt mean a guy or two cant come out of nowhere and be an all star, and it doesnt mean there wont be a ton of good rotation players from this draft (I think in terms of 'ideal' sized role playing forwards, this draft is strong. Same sentiment to the bigs - lots of rotation guys).

But in terms of pure talent, its not a good draft. For example, if this was the class Shadeon Sharpe was in rather than 2022 - even coming off a year of not playing at Kentucky I think he would be the top prospect by a good margin. That says a bit about the high end talent of this years class IMO.

[tester551]

Bro, that's literally why it's a bad draft.

Of course there could be All-Stars. But nobody knows who they are right now. That means it's a bad draft at the top and it's a bad draft to rely on to get a star because it's highly unpredictable. LITERALLY A BAD DRAFT.

That's incorrect. A bad draft is like the 2013 draft, where only three guys became All-Stars.

The 2013 draft is the most applicable comparison for this draft IMO... most likely without the outlier of a once in a generation development of a MVP caliber player.

So because of Giannis, I actually think this one is worse.

[EvanZ]

Bro, that's literally why it's a bad draft.

Of course there could be All-Stars. But nobody knows who they are right now. That means it's a bad draft at the top and it's a bad draft to rely on to get a star because it's highly unpredictable. LITERALLY A BAD DRAFT.

That's incorrect. A bad draft is like the 2013 draft, where only three guys became All-Stars.

Most drafts have 5+ All Stars in it with the top talent being close to 50/50 in panning out. This will be an average/normal draft, as I already stated.

Please enlighten me who are the 5+ All-Stars in this Draft. It seems that you have come from the future to correct all of us.

[EvanZ]

Take the 2019 Draft. It looks god awful. And if you remove Zion, Ja, and maybe Garland who were all taken in the top 4, there are no stars outside of that.

And there are no Zions or Ja's in this class. So imagine a draft like 2019 without those top few guys. "Oh it's fine. It's a normal class." LMAO

[clyde21]

Bro, that's literally why it's a bad draft.

Of course there could be All-Stars. But nobody knows who they are right now. That means it's a bad draft at the top and it's a bad draft to rely on to get a star because it's highly unpredictable. LITERALLY A BAD DRAFT.

That's incorrect. A bad draft is like the 2013 draft, where only three guys became All-Stars.

The 2013 draft is the most applicable comparison for this draft IMO... most likely without the outlier of a once in a generation development of a MVP caliber player.

So because of Giannis, I actually think this one is worse.

and outlier development doesn't count towards pre draft analysis tbh...NO ONE saw Giannis coming. the ones that liked him thought he'd develop into a nice defender and maybe a guy that can run the court but anyone told you he'd be anywhere near where he is now they are lying.

Giannis developing the way he did doesn't change analysis of 2013 draft...you can't calculate for outlier development...not even NBA teams.

[tester551]

That's incorrect. A bad draft is like the 2013 draft, where only three guys became All-Stars.

The 2013 draft is the most applicable comparison for this draft IMO... most likely without the outlier of a once in a generation development of a MVP caliber player.

So because of Giannis, I actually think this one is worse.

and outlier development doesn't count towards pre draft analysis tbh...NO ONE saw Giannis coming. the ones that liked him thought he'd develop into a nice defender and maybe a guy that can run the court but anyone told you he'd be anywhere near where he is now they are lying.

Giannis developing the way he did doesn't change analysis of 2013 draft...you can't calculate for outlier development...not even NBA teams.

Agreed. That is what I was trying to say.

The '24 draft will be viewed (pre-draft) much like the '13 draft was.

For those that like to 'look back' and say the '13 draft wasn't bad because it produced an MVP caliber player and # All-stars, well I anticipate it to have results like the '13 draft (just without the MVP).

Just revisiting it, I count (and understanding health/injuries plays a part):
* 3 - undrafted players who had good/decent careers (Covington, Seth Curry, Dedmon)
* 4 - 2nd rounders who stuck around for a bit and had some contribution (Ennis, Neto, Muscala, Crabbe)
* 10 - 1st rounders who stuck around for a bit and had some contribution (Roberson, Bullock, Hill, Snell, Burke, McLemore, Noel, Len, Zeller, Bennett)
* 7 - 1st rounders who were starter quality for a reasonable portion of their career (Hardaway, Plumlee, Dieng, Schroder, Olynyk, Caldwell-Pope, Porter)
* 5 - 1st rounders who were SOLID starters for the majority of their career (Adams, McCollum, Oladipo, Gobert, Giannis)
* 2 - All Stars (Gobert, Giannis)

So you get 5/60 as solid starters => ~8%
Fringe starters or better => 14/60 => ~25%
Never making a substantial impact => 31/60 => ~50%

[Colbinii]

Milan Momcilovic looks like a nice prospect. Lights out shooter, moves well offensively, isn't a turnstyle defensively [I'm looking at you Corey Kispert].

I think his shooting could catapult him quite high in this draft given the rest of his game [Solid defensively, Movement] is strong.

[babyjax13]

Milan Momcilovic looks like a nice prospect. Lights out shooter, moves well offensively, isn't a turnstyle defensively [I'm looking at you Corey Kispert].

I think his shooting could catapult him quite high in this draft given the rest of his game [Solid defensively, Movement] is strong.

I've felt like he looks really slow from highlights, but I'll have to watch a full game.

[clyde21]

Milan Momcilovic looks like a nice prospect. Lights out shooter, moves well offensively, isn't a turnstyle defensively [I'm looking at you Corey Kispert].

I think his shooting could catapult him quite high in this draft given the rest of his game [Solid defensively, Movement] is strong.

I've felt like he looks really slow from highlights, but I'll have to watch a full game.

yea tough to project athletically, he's shooting lights out tho