2023 NBA Draft

[Duke4life831]

You were able to gather all of that after watching for only "a couple minutes" ?

Ya I tried watching about 5 minutes of game time and have seen plenty of highlights and have read plenty of write ups. All of that combined I think I have a pretty good understanding. If you feel different, I would love to be proven wrong. If you have a game in mind where you think the level of play is high, I would love to see it and Ill watch it.

I'd recommend watching the game from the other night that's on amazon prime (City Reapers vs YNG Dreamerz). Also, the 3 games from the OTE finals last year are pretty good, competitive games too.

Will do. Again just going off of the highlights, the things Ive read and my short attempt at watching a game. I will watch the City Reapers game and if I feel like I undersold the level of play. Ill come back and eat crow.

[The Box Office]

I'll say this. Ausar looks the easier of the two to integrate into a team. Defence is probably more fundamentally sound, he makes sensible decisions, the shot is clearly further distancing itself from Amens. He rebounds and blocks well. I mean, he's a lottery prospect for good reason.

Amen though has the ridiculous first step, but more so has court vision and speed of execution that Ausar can only dream of.

Above that, I know a fair few sets of twin boys and there seems to always be a leader and a follower. Amen is unquestionably the leader. Do I have reservations about how Amen will fare without Ausar beside him? I really don't. Would I be nervous about Ausar in a world with no Amen? That's one to ponder.

Amen takes too many risks with his prodigious talent and so maybe you're better off with the more submissive Ausar, who plays within himself more. But star upside apart, its Amens fire and focus and drive (while staying humble, polite, professional and hardworking) that excites me most.

And Ausar's second-fiddle-syndrome could be a blessing or cause him to drown in the alpha environment.

I agree with Ausar being an easier play to incorproate into a NBA role.

Doubly so given that I see the Thompsons as one of those Thabeet/Bennett type immediately bust after 15 games kind of prospects with at least 50% chance (and make people wonder how media manage to create such a smokescreen over these two pounding 16 old kids in sub-high school level basketball). Now in this scenario, Ausar is more salvageable as a NBA role player.

Stop saying this. It's literally false. It's not sub-high school level basketball. They're not playing against middle schoolers.

They just played against the Dreamerz, which has Jazian Gortman (could go 2nd round this year), Nathan Missia-Dio (also draft eligible this year). As well as a bunch of guys who are high major level recruits (Ivan Almansa, Alex Sarr, Bryson Warren, Jahki Howard, etc).

Go and watch the game on Amazon prime. The Thompson twins were playing against a team that had more size than them, a team that had some crazy athletes and a bunch of talent.

Most likely, these are the same posters, who crapped on LaMelo's competition when LaMelo played in Australia.

[clyde21]

38 piece by Wilson

and unlike the NBA that actually means something

[Duke4life831]

You were able to gather all of that after watching for only "a couple minutes" ?

Ya I tried watching about 5 minutes of game time and have seen plenty of highlights and have read plenty of write ups. All of that combined I think I have a pretty good understanding. If you feel different, I would love to be proven wrong. If you have a game in mind where you think the level of play is high, I would love to see it and Ill watch it.

I'd recommend watching the game from the other night that's on amazon prime (City Reapers vs YNG Dreamerz). Also, the 3 games from the OTE finals last year are pretty good, competitive games too.

Just wanted to kind of bump this as I finally got around to watching the Dreamerz/Reapers game.

I will say I have kind of fallen in the middle of where we left off haha. I will say this, the effort in that game was legit. Both teams played hard. So ya a much higher effort level than I was definitely saying before. Ill eat crow there for sure.

But with that said and this is why I say Im kind of in the middle, is even with the effort the quality of defense was really bad in my opinion. What I mean by that is there was a ton of over helping, two guys going all out on a close out which leaves a wide open floor, really bad rotations. Just overall a ton of defensive breakdowns in my opinion.

And if I were ranking the quality of defense, its still behind college or the G league. But yes I did undersell it before. Effort level in that game on the defensive end was legit.

[Hal14]

Ya I tried watching about 5 minutes of game time and have seen plenty of highlights and have read plenty of write ups. All of that combined I think I have a pretty good understanding. If you feel different, I would love to be proven wrong. If you have a game in mind where you think the level of play is high, I would love to see it and Ill watch it.

I'd recommend watching the game from the other night that's on amazon prime (City Reapers vs YNG Dreamerz). Also, the 3 games from the OTE finals last year are pretty good, competitive games too.

Just wanted to kind of bump this as I finally got around to watching the Dreamerz/Reapers game.

I will say I have kind of fallen in the middle of where we left off haha. I will say this, the effort in that game was legit. Both teams played hard. So ya a much higher effort level than I was definitely saying before. Ill eat crow there for sure.

But with that said and this is why I say Im kind of in the middle, is even with the effort the quality of defense was really bad in my opinion. What I mean by that is there was a ton of over helping, two guys going all out on a close out which leaves a wide open floor, really bad rotations. Just overall a ton of defensive breakdowns in my opinion.

And if I were ranking the quality of defense, its still behind college or the G league. But yes I did undersell it before. Effort level in that game on the defensive end was legit.

And one thing I noticed in that game. While it was not one of the better games for the Thompson twins, the Dreamerz defended the twins tough. Anytime one of the twins had the ball out on the perimeter and was looking to attack, all 5 defenders were locked in, and the guy defending the twin with the ball made it tough on them defensively, often times if the twin started driving, they'd be met by a double team..

[WargamesX]

https://nbadraft.theringer.com/

So they dropped their big board. It’s pretty interesting because they have some players wingspans that I assume are official. I don’t know what they were trying to do with the majority of comparisons except be cringey…..

They are really high on Maxwell Lewis too

[clyde21]

ugh, KOC.

[EMG518]

Oh man, the "shades of" section is so bad.

Brice Sensabaugh, shades of a mini TJ Warren.

I don't think KOC understands that mini would mean smaller. Sensabaugh is 235lbs. He ain't mini. He is bigger.

Taylor Hendricks, shades of good Jabari Parker.

Who has watched Taylor Hendricks and thought Jabari Parker, what.

Cam Whitmore, shades of a semi truck with a ferrari's accelerator.

What.

Amen Thompson, shades of beanpole Zion.

What.

I could go on an on, how does this guy have a job at the ringer is beyond me.

[azcatz11]

Oh man, the "shades of" section is so bad.

Brice Sensabaugh, shades of a mini TJ Warren.

I don't think KOC understands that mini would mean smaller. Sensabaugh is 235lbs. He ain't mini. He is bigger.

Taylor Hendricks, shades of good Jabari Parker.

Who has watched Taylor Hendricks and thought Jabari Parker, what.

Cam Whitmore, shades of a semi truck with a ferrari's accelerator.

What.

Amen Thompson, shades of beanpole Zion.

What.

I could go on an on, how does this guy have a job at the ringer is beyond me.

He's pretty bad. Seems like a very nice guy however. I can't even listen to the Draft podcast he does. It's just very basic and it seems like he doesn't really scout any players. I never learn anything.

[Duke4life831]

None of this surprises me with KOC. I watched a lot of Ringer stuff leading up to the draft and KOC even acknowledged that he didnt watch too much of these guys until after the season. Once the season ended and the combine came around, that is about the time he started watching a lot of the game tape and stuff of these guys.

Looks like it is no different this year as well. You can tell he has probably only watched 1-2 games max of these guys (if any at all) and is just going off of some highlights.

Over the years I have learned mock drafts during seasons mean absolutely nothing. Most of these guys just watch a couple big games and that is it and go off of other mock drafts. To me Trevor Keels was the perfect example of this last year. That dude was basically mocked early 20s in every mock draft last year during the season. And they all said the same thing, "big guard who plays good defense and a lot of potential with his shot." AKA we only watched the Duke/UK game and he looked good in that game. Because the rest of the year he didnt make any shots and his defense got bad. Then of course no surprise to basically anyone paying attention all year, he didnt go in the 1st round.

[EMG518]

Matthew Cleveland is a 1st rounder

[Big J]

Givony is even worse than KOC. Guy knows jack **** and is a pompous ass hat.

[MemphisX]

Givony is even worse than KOC. Guy knows jack **** and is a pompous ass hat.

Givony at least put in the work. KOC is simply a Celtics fan being propped up by The Ringer. Wish DraftExpress never sold to ESPN but I understand it probably made them a lot of money and made their life easier.

[azcatz11]

Givony is even worse than KOC. Guy knows jack **** and is a pompous ass hat.

As a freelance scout - it’s weird you want to burn bridges. Don’t you know want to work for espn some day?

[Ell Curry]

I haven't seen him play yet but as a Turk I'm really interested in how he is doing and what his draft chances are. Anyone here can say how Adem Bona is doing at UCLA?
The chasedown block at 0:35 is why I love him. He is one of the quickest and fastest center sized players I have ever seen

Watch on YouTube

I've recorded and watched every game I can and it's a tough eval. He clearly has great size, athleticism, BBIQ and skill but his teammates are mostly incapable of simple entry passes and his coach pulls him as soon as he commits a foul. I'm mostly surprised by his BBIQ and passing. It's NBA ready. I've been less than impressed with his defense. I thought he'd be getting 3-4 blocks a game but while he's in position to get blocks he seems to JUST miss several a game. I was super high on him before the draft but now am worried that he chose the wrong school and will be taken late 1st and buried on someone's bench for years. UCLA was a terrible choice by him. He did his draft stock no favors by going there.

Eh, looking at it, UCLA will need him to play 30 minutes a game when they match up against an elite big or 2 in the tournament, so this way he gets 5 months or whatever to improve and good teammates before he gets his real opportunity to outplay a Tshibwe, Edey or Biallo and be the 2nd or 3rd center taken. Not the worst college choice.

[Big J]

Givony is even worse than KOC. Guy knows jack **** and is a pompous ass hat.

As a freelance scout - it’s weird you want to burn bridges. Don’t you know want to work for espn some day?

Hell no, espn sucks ass.

[BoyzNTheHood]

Matthew Cleveland is a 1st rounder

Agreed. So is Trayce Jackson-Davis

[SeattleJazzFan]

Matthew Cleveland is a 1st rounder

Agreed. So is Trayce Jackson-Davis

tjd has to go first round just based on production alone. he gets production because he's an explosive athlete with a great motor who just understands how to play. there is a place for that most nba rotations.

[Hal14]

Matthew Cleveland is a 1st rounder

Agreed. So is Trayce Jackson-Davis

tjd has to go first round just based on production alone. he gets production because he's an explosive athlete with a great motor who just understands how to play. there is a place for that most nba rotations.

You don't get drafted in the 1st round based only on production. Otherwise, tell me why Drew Timme and Oscar Tshiebwe didn't get drafted last year? Neither is projected to get drafted this year either.

It's very hard to get drafted when you're 23 years old on draft night. To do it, it takes more than just production and a motor.

Jackson-Davis went back to school because he wasn't projected to get drafted last year. What has he done to improve his game this year? I think maybe his passing a little bit and he's doing a little more grab and go stuff. But he's also a year older now. I've got him ranked #60 on my board at the moment.

[SeattleJazzFan]

Agreed. So is Trayce Jackson-Davis

tjd has to go first round just based on production alone. he gets production because he's an explosive athlete with a great motor who just understands how to play. there is a place for that most nba rotations.

You don't get drafted in the 1st round based only on production. Otherwise, tell me why Drew Timme and Oscar Tshiebwe didn't get drafted last year? Neither is projected to get drafted this year either.

It's very hard to get drafted when you're 23 years old on draft night. To do it, it takes more than just production and a motor.

Jackson-Davis went back to school because he wasn't projected to get drafted last year. What has he done to improve his game this year? I think maybe his passing a little bit and he's doing a little more grab and go stuff. But he's also a year older now. I've got him ranked #60 on my board at the moment.

hence the reason i explained how he gets his production and you ignore the fact that he's an explosive athlete. in other words, it's not just about the production, but combined with his athleticism and motor - again there is a place for that player in most nba rotations.

athleticism goes a long way when combined with production and motor. tjd is an excellent run/jump athlete. timme? lol. tshiebwe isn't on tjd's level as a scorer and tjd averages three times as many blocks as oscar which speaks to another level of skill and athletic explosiveness.