tester551 wrote:I'd honestly start consider drafting him around pick 18 or 20. I don't see a lot of separation between players at that tier. I think McDaniels has a much higher celing though. If his personality checks out (work ethic, competitiveness, response to criticism) he'd be at the top of that tier.
I'm really hoping he stays in the draft & the Blazers buy a second rounder to pick him.
I'd maybe go even higher than that. If Kostas Antetokounmpo had produced like McDaniels this year he'd be considered a lottery pick.
From workouts McDaniels looks like a much better shooter than he was allowed to show at SDSU and if he can hit threes, he's just 20-30 pounds from being a very good combo forward (plus he'll likely increase his athleticism substantially as he adds muscle). I think he stays in the draft as he's got workouts scheduled with 10+ different teams already; clearly there's some demand to see him and that doesn't seem like the schedule of someone who's just looking to put his name on the NBA radar and go back to school.
He's also got a younger brother Jaden who's a bit shorter but has more guard skills than Jalen did at that age. Jaden is having a similar breakout year where he probably wasn't even a top-100 recruit at the beginning of his junior season and could end up being a McDonald's All-American/top 10 recruit next spring.
I posted this in the sleeper thread already but here's McDaniels' conference per 40 numbers next to Kawhi's (in yellow) in his last season at SDSU:
