Nico Mannion

[Justwar]

You wait to fire if something comes out officially (it's been tapped as true but maybe waiting till trial. If he is implicated officially they fire with cause.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Still plus wingspans. Name quality negative wingspan point guards.

Does it really matter if you're say 6 foot three with a 6 foot three and a half wingspan or 6 foot three with a 6 foot 2 and half wingspan?

Would one allow you to become one of the greatest players of all time, and the other doom you to failure?

[GreatWhiteStiff]

His dad played in the NBA and is 6'7" and his mom is a former pro volleyball player and a beast so I think there is a good shot he gets to at least 6'5" and putting on strength shouldn't be a problem. I think at 6"5" he will without a doubt be an NBA player and will probably go in the upper lottery. He reminds me of Gordon Hayward (especially if he grows a bit more)...not because he's white but because like you said he is good at everything without a standout skill.

He's white?

As white as they come haha

Danny Ainge laughed at, at how white he is haha. (not a shot at Boston being racist or anything, just tried to think of the whitest guy I knew haha)

I'm not sure about this, but I think this kid might be a better prospect if he had his mom's biceps.

[Justwar]

Still plus wingspans. Name quality negative wingspan point guards.

Does it really matter if you're say 6 foot three with a 6 foot three and a half wingspan or 6 foot three with a 6 foot 2 and half wingspan?

Would one allow you to become one of the greatest players of all time, and the other doom you to failure?

No however history would make him in rare company. Very rare. I think he can be a 6th or 7th man but I am going with history right now

[Elrod is Back]

Still plus wingspans. Name quality negative wingspan point guards.

Does it really matter if you're say 6 foot three with a 6 foot three and a half wingspan or 6 foot three with a 6 foot 2 and half wingspan?

Would one allow you to become one of the greatest players of all time, and the other doom you to failure?

No however history would make him in rare company. Very rare. I think he can be a 6th or 7th man but I am going with history right now

...and to think, if Nico's arms were just an inch or two longer he could be the greatest guard of this era....instead the G-League.

[Justwar]

The only pure stat I can find because I don't have time to look at every player but in 2011 Redick and yao were the only players in the nba with a negative wingspan. Im just saying odds are way stacked

[azcatz11]

Why do you guys think he dropped so far to #48? I thought he was a little underwhelming bc his shot was off at Arizona but he developed a really nice floater and his mechanics seem pretty solid

[clyde21]

because NBA GMs aren't very smart, i'm still laughing at the fact that Payton Pritchard was drafted ahead of Nico.

[Duke4life831]

because NBA GMs aren't very smart, i'm still laughing at the fact that Payton Pritchard was drafted ahead of Nico.

Ya said this on the Celtics board. I can't believe the amount of guys Pritchard went before of.

[azcatz11]

because NBA GMs aren't very smart, i'm still laughing at the fact that Payton Pritchard was drafted ahead of Nico.

Ya said this on the Celtics board. I can't believe the amount of guys Pritchard went before of.

I bet they didn't like that comment

[No-Man]

Mannion is just bad, I'd have drafted him earlier, like early 2nd, just in case his shooting turns out elite (has some markers that could trend towards that) but otherwise...

[DirtyDez]

Mike Bibby. Complete player but doesn’t have all nba/all star upside.

Ugh. When 12 months ago seemed like 12 years ago.

[bwgood77]

Why do you guys think he dropped so far to #48? I thought he was a little underwhelming bc his shot was off at Arizona but he developed a really nice floater and his mechanics seem pretty solid

There was an interesting article about it on The Athletic from Sherwood Strauss....and how he dropped from 10 in an espn mock to 48 in the span of 7 games..

In an ESPN mock draft in December 2019, Mannion was ranked as the seventh pick. He slid a bit over the next couple of months but was still ranked No. 10 in a February mock draft.

Though a lot of time has passed, literally and metaphorically, since February, Mannion only played seven college basketball games after that point. What happened in those games was enough to finally, completely tank his draft stock. If you believe the mock drafts (and there were others that showed similar results) to be a proxy for NBA opinion, this is an astounding drop, especially since those seven games weren’t especially bad for Mannion (107 points on 87 shots).

So what happened exactly? How did Mannion go from a top-flight prospect to just barely getting drafted? And more to the point, from the Warriors’ perspective, does the answer to that question indicate that they got a steal at pick 48?

First, let’s go back to Arizona’s 2019-20 preseason. Mannion was recruited to be part of an exciting, 4-out offensive attack. Before the first game was played, major injuries to guards Terry Armstrong and Brandon Williams changed the calculus. Suddenly, the freshman Mannion was to be the lead playmaker on Day 1, which could have its benefits for his growth and his draft stock. Though he flourished initially, the downside predictably arrived. Not only was Mannion scouted and swarmed, but coach Sean Miller returned to his old conservative ways. The Wildcats shifted to something of a plodding double-post offense, anathema in the modern NBA and increasingly less popular in college. When I go through Mannion’s film, I see issues for him to clean up, but the main takeaway is just how little space there is on the floor.

For comparison, here is Mannion with a spread floor:

Watch on YouTube

;feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=Swish

Then it shows a clip with him trying to drive when the paint is pretty packed. He literally was forced to just take mostly outside shots or if he drove, he just ran into bigs.

He didn't play in a style he thought he was going into when he went to AZ.

According to Mannion’s high school coach Charlie Wilde, Mannion was starting to figure out how to work within its constraints.

“He never complained about it,” Wilde told me. “He found a way to be able to use his abilities with it. And with that NCAA Tournament (coming), he felt like he had really figured it out. He called me and said, ‘I’m going to have a great tournament. I’ve got this figured out. I know when to attack, when not to attack in this system.’ He just felt good about it. And then everything got shut down.”

Was Mannion ready to turn the corner? Maybe. His Feb. 29 game at UCLA showed a player on the cusp of takeover mode in the second half. If Mannion can get his offense going on the Warriors, his elite vision should be of tremendous benefit. To quote Wilde, “His ability to get to the basket will be better on the Warriors. Defenses are going to think he can’t score, then he’s going to score and they’re going to have to do something about it.”

It’s also possible that Mannion, like most second-round picks, was accurately red-flagged. We shall see. New teammate Steph Curry, who saw a younger Mannion at Curry’s Under Armour camp, is expressing confidence in the kid’s future.

“I talked to him right after the draft,” Curry said. “Sky’s the limit for him. Kind of wise beyond his years. Excited about the learning curve for him. He doesn’t lack confidence at all. He knows he belongs.”

When I watched him, I agree with him always looking confident and poised. I don't think he's a guy that gets nervous at all. I felt a lot more uneasy watching a lot of other AZ players with the ball over the years, Alonzo Trier being one example.