2020 NBA Draft

[clyde21]

Obi Toppin or Paul Reed?

[Duke4life831]

Obi Toppin or Paul Reed?

Give me Toppin. I like Reed's defensive timing, but Im not sure he has the explosion for his defensive impact to truly translate to the next level.

I trust Toppin jumper a lot more. So I can see Toppin maybe becoming another Kyle Kuzma kind of player. A stretch 4 that should be able to put up points, but his stiffness will probably keep him from ever being a good defender.

[Ruzious]

Obi Toppin or Paul Reed?

Give me Toppin. I like Reed's defensive timing, but Im not sure he has the explosion for his defensive impact to truly translate to the next level.

I trust Toppin jumper a lot more. So I can see Toppin maybe becoming another Kyle Kuzma kind of player. A stretch 4 that should be able to put up points, but his stiffness will probably keep him from ever being a good defender.

I prefer Reed over Toppin. I have Reed as the most underrated prospect in the 2020 draft. Toppin probably has an edge offensively, but I see Reed becoming the better all-around player because he has more defensive ability and versatility. When 2 prospect bigs are close, I'm almost always going with the one with better defensive versatility.

[clyde21]

fwiw, Obi is super old for a sophomore, he's more than a year older than Reed who's a junior. Obi is pretty much senior aged already.

[CP War Hawks]

I like Paul Reed too. Unicorn esque coming in a 6-5 fr. and now a 6-9 20 year old. Possibly still growing as well.

[Illmatic12]

Compared to most big men his age, I don't see motor issues with Wiseman at all. He plays with a pretty great motor for a seven-footer and typically only noticeably slows down when he runs out of gas. The other concerns I understand, but this one not really.

Also, in college he has played the way he was supposed to at the start of the season – dominate smaller players inside. He did not opt to settle for jumpers aside from trying to show that he can hit some of them (only normal as a projected top pick). Shot selection appears to be a concern based on high school, not college.

Tbh the talk about Wiseman's motor or him "coasting" is mostly a non-concern to me. . I find we tend to be unnecessarily critical of young big men bc they might move or respond awkwardly on the court. Well most of the time these bigger kids simply take longer to develop physically.. it may take a while for them to figure out how to optimize their athleticism compared to their smaller peers. Patience is key, you have to project a little further out to when these guys actually mature into their bodies & have experienced NBA strength/conditioning.

Wiseman may not have the utmost superstar ceiling but he will stand out to NBA teams for several reasons:


He is an athletic massive 7-footer who is physically stout, despite his stature - no injury/fitness/load management concerns.
He projects as an elite defensive anchor + rebounder.
He is a center who can shoot FTs at an acceptable clip - ie won't need to be subbed out in crunchtime.

Basically Wiseman has the Rudy Gobert starter kit . Now is Gobert the flashy superstar that you hope to draft top 2-3? Probably not. But in this draft class it really wouldn't be a hard decision for a GM to take Wiseman with a top pick. Bc one could argue that Wiseman has a greater likelihood of reaching Gobert-level impact than Edwards does of becoming the next Dwyane Wade, or Lamelo the next Luka , or Cole Anthony the next Lillard or what have you.

[No-Man]

Again Gobert is a workhorse, that man brings it, consistently, his attitude has always been that, he has worked relentlessly on his body too, you are really underrating his work ethic

I just haven't seen that from Wiseman, who tries to do things on offense that are dumb, has gotten eaten alive in 1on1 match-ups with other elite bigs in HS and is a tad overrated athletically (his timing/inability to quick jump are limiting factors)

And you better get Gobert, or Chandler, if you draft a dude top3 with that profile, because if not, the downside is the biggest almost out of any archetype, I'd argue that Wiseman's downside is way bigger than those other guys

LaMelo is not really similar to Luka, neither is Edwards to Wade (more like Beal/J-Rich/Finley really)

[The-Power]

Havent really watched him yet but Haliburton has some great looking stats

Watch him, he's amazing. Such an intelligent player with quick decisions.

[The-Power]

He had some terrible fade aways attempts in college too, he also played against nobodys and teams whose tallest players were 6-8 or 6-9

I have issues with his motor and physicality and defense, 100%

He played against smaller competition and dominated them in the paint. What exactly is the issue here? Nobody is arguing that these games have demonstrated his superstar ability. But they sure as heck don't paint the picture of a coasting big man with poor shot selection.

He shot a couple fade-aways – and? It's not exactly a surprise for a potential top pick to try and show some skills against inferior competition in particular. In the end, the guy shot 77% from the field, posted a FTr of >1 and grabbed 4.3 OREB in 23 MPG. Also 7 Blocks per 100. He feasted inside.

To now point to a couple (almost literally a couple, for what it's worth) of odd-looking jumpers and use that in an argument about shot selection concerns even in college feels awfully disingenuous. The guy took 73% of his shots at the rim and converted them at a 90% rate, for heaven's sake. He did exactly what he needed to do in those games.

[No-Man]

I mean, the issue I have is settling for not even a jumper, a terrible fadeaway when he has position to score inside, which happened a couple times, and also it's a recurring theme with him, he did the same in HS, that's why

[Ruzious]

If we're going with small sample sizes, the 3 games he did play for Memphis, he had a 51.3 PER and a 76% eFG. The oppositions weren't good (Oregon played without Dante), but considering those were his first games - not too shabby.

[Chi town]

Edwards reminds me of Jimmy Butler with his strength and how he uses his body.

With his explosion and shot I think he will be the best player drafted since Luka. Better than Trae. Zion doesn’t count yet due to health.

[No-Man]

Edwards isn't really a driver, more of a jumpshooter, he reminds me of J-Rich and Beal

[clyde21]

Edwards isn't really a driver, more of a jumpshooter, he reminds me of J-Rich and Beal

J Rich as in Josh or Jason?

[GimmeDat]

A couple of Australian's in the NBL having good seasons that are worth keeping an eye on as possible fringe draftable guys.

21 year old Will Magnay has played limited mins all season, but finally got big mins and had a great performance against Andrew Bogut yesterday, putting up 23/12 with 2 blocks.

6'10, athletic, quite mobile, and has good touch on his shot. Shot 74% from the FT line so far this season, and finally looked at some 3's in this game, where I was impressed by the form. He doesn't usually take them so Bogut was just leaving them, but I'm sure as the season goes on and he keeps getting mins/taking them defenders will come out to him.

He's been known as an athletic shot-blocker up to this point but if the offensive game keeps expanding I'm intrigued as to his upside. He's only just getting a proper opportunity now.

Watch on YouTube

Then the other guy is Kouat Noi (also 21). He left TCU to play pro this season. Long 6'7 athlete, shot really well in college, so far 34.3% from 3 over 16 games which I think will improve. Brings a lot of energy and is tenacious on the boards. He's been one of the most efficient guys in the league off hand offs. I think he has 3/D potential. Will be putting his name into this upcoming draft.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

There's also Sam Froling, I don't think he's played enough to get a proper look in, and he's injured right now, but he was exceptional across FIBA and has really impressed me in his opportunities at the NBL level.

Per 36, Froling has averaged 18.2 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists. 55.6% FG and 72.7% FT - sub 30% from 3 so far but I think there's potential there. Don't have footage of him at NBL level, he's not super long or a stand-out athlete, but he's moves pretty well at 6'11, has excellent feel/passing (I can't find the stats but the junior Aus team basically played through him, averaged like 4.5 assists a game), high skill level, uses both hands, great footwork, etc.

[Illmatic12]

Edwards isn't really a driver, more of a jumpshooter, he reminds me of J-Rich and Beal

J Rich as in Josh or Jason?

I think he’s more of a bigger Donovan Mitchell if anything. Very midrange happy

Ant has the tools of a #1 scorer but not sure if he’ll quite reach elite-tier efficiency as a #1.

[No-Man]

Obviously Jason lol

He is not as physical as Mitchell but that's a fine comp too

Below avg nº1 pick to be sure, but has still really good tools, passing is underrated

[karkinos]

this year's draft class is gonna be wild
it's awesome if you're a scout
it's gonna be nerve wracking if you're an nba gm though. can't just be like, well why don't we draft the best player from the best team? when all the #1 seeds have lost

[doordoor123]

Ashton Haggins is a real sleeper when you think about all the great defensive prospects who dropped due to shooting concerns but turned that aspect of their game around fairly quickly in the NBA.

I’m with you, not a lot of guards have the speed, first step and defensive ability he has. His game looks like it’ll be better in the NBA just because he’s athletically an NBA player and has shown flashes of advanced moves. In the NBA he’ll have more space to do more stuff with the ball. He still has issues, but has clear ability to translate to the next level. The question becomes if he’s more of a third string, Back up or starter. He’s an NBA player though.

[No-Man]

Hagans has no brains and plays PG, he is toolsy but ultimately he is a limited player

I think he is draftable, but can't get too high on the guy