2025 NBA Draft Discussion Part 8

[PhilBlackson]

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People should listen to the Carter Bryant section but the short of it is he sounds like an obsessive worker and they reference a story where he as a junior played with basically the B-Squad on the Portland Generals at the Nike Hoops Summit against a bunch of top recruits at the time (ie/ Holland, Risacher, Bronny, Dillon Jones etc) and usually that team would get moped. But his effort required it coming down to the last shot...

Not to mention when the game was over he was the ONLY player who stayed after to continue working on his game and all the Intel they get on Carter is how he's such a hard worker. Between how well spoken & intelligent he is, his willingness to accept whatever role he's given in combination with this unbelievable work ethic, he really sounds like he'd be a fantastic fit with the franchise. If Maluach isn't there, personally I think Bryant might be the top of my board...but I'll say I won't be too upset if they chose Coward either although I very slightly favor CB.

[S.W.A.N]

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People should listen to the Carter Bryant section but the short of it is he sounds like an obsessive worker and they reference a story where he as a junior played with basically the B-Squad on the Portland Generals at the Nike Hoops Summit against a bunch of top recruits at the time (ie/ Holland, Risacher, Bronny, Dillon Jones etc) and usually that team would get moped. But his effort required it coming down to the last shot...

Not to mention when the game was over he was the ONLY player who stayed after to continue working on his game and all the Intel they get on Carter is how he's such a hard worker. Between how well spoken & intelligent he is, his willingness to accept whatever role he's given in combination with this unbelievable work ethic, he really sounds like he'd be a fantastic fit with the franchise. If Maluach isn't there, personally I think Bryant might be the top of my board...but I'll say I won't be too upset if they chose Coward either although I very slightly favor CB.

Of the guys that are realistic

Fears
Carter
Coward
Maluach
Kon
Noa

I think there is a really solid chance that one of these guys is the pick. And these are my favs...

Jak
Demin
Queen
CMB
Fleming

are the guys that could sneakily end up having a chance due to upside or floor. I have a lot of questions about this group (Really like Fleming but I do think he's a high floor medium ceiling guy that could be stretch big)

Carter/Coward are the player types I absolutely want.

[djsunyc]

apologies if discussed before but how does fears compare to d'arron fox coming out of school?

i really like his fast twitch movements and ability to easily get past his guy. he has the type of game to impose his will and force defenses to adjust to his speed.

currently the only guy on the roster that can drive north south and impact with his speed is shead.

shead's improvement from 3 as the season progressed gives me optimism for fears to develop that too.

[Yallbecrazy]

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People should listen to the Carter Bryant section but the short of it is he sounds like an obsessive worker and they reference a story where he as a junior played with basically the B-Squad on the Portland Generals at the Nike Hoops Summit against a bunch of top recruits at the time (ie/ Holland, Risacher, Bronny, Dillon Jones etc) and usually that team would get moped. But his effort required it coming down to the last shot...

Not to mention when the game was over he was the ONLY player who stayed after to continue working on his game and all the Intel they get on Carter is how he's such a hard worker. Between how well spoken & intelligent he is, his willingness to accept whatever role he's given in combination with this unbelievable work ethic, he really sounds like he'd be a fantastic fit with the franchise. If Maluach isn't there, personally I think Bryant might be the top of my board...but I'll say I won't be too upset if they chose Coward either although I very slightly favor CB.

Carter Bryant I could be okay with as he at least looks like he could be a good 4th/5th option in a starting lineup, maybe being a poor man's OG. He's athletic, a good defender and has at least an okay bbiq. I wouldn't love it though as I view him as having limited upside due to how far he is away from having any creation skills or being able to finish around the rim and all his shooting is standstill.

Coward I would be furious with, he moves slowly on the court and seems to lack any sort of feel for the game. He projects purely as a 3pt shooter. People seem to think he will be a good defender because he's long, can jump high and they saw a video with him talking about defense where he came across as insightful, competitive, and well spoken. The defensive stats were poor and absolutely dreadful when you consider the competition.

[Yallbecrazy]

apologies if discussed before but how does fears compare to d'arron fox coming out of school?

i really like his fast twitch movements and ability to easily get past his guy. he has the type of game to impose his will and force defenses to adjust to his speed.

currently the only guy on the roster that can drive north south and impact with his speed is shead.

shead's improvement from 3 as the season progressed gives me optimism for fears to develop that too.

Fox's stats were superior and so were his predictor stats, he was also a Kentucky guard under Calipari so his stats were probably neutered somewhat.

Fears gets to the rim really well, but doesn't finish well and turns it over too much. He's also a bad defender despite the high steals as he is constantly gambling and getting burned. He does have burst and a good handle + is extremely young (10 months younger than Fox was at the draft)

[earthtone]

Great, but they aren't available to be selected in this year's draft.

As previously discussed, there are more than a handful of freshmen from this year's college season who are better shot blockers than Khaman Maluach and even more upperclassmen who exceed his performance in those regards, yet none of them are in the discussion for us to pick at #9 .

As you suggested, there are also a number of NBA players who are better shot blockers than him (both now in the NBA and as college prospects), but most, if not all of them are not available on the trade market and not players we could reasonably add to this team.

Khaman Maluach is available to be selected in this year's draft.
Khaman Maluach is arguably the best C prospect in this draft.
Khaman Maluach is a prospect the Raptors probably have ranked quite high on their big board and I highly doubt the number of blocks per game he recorded or his block percentage are the only factors they are looking at when considering him.

Given our recent performance as a team, why does Khaman Maluach need to be an elite shot blocker to help the Raptors improve in that area?

This past season (2024-25), the Toronto Raptors recorded 4.2 blocks per game - good enough to rank 27th in the NBA.
The year before (2023-24), the Toronto Raptors recorded 4.7 blocks per game - good enough to rank 19th in the NBA.
SOURCE: https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/blocks-per-game

This past season (2024-25), the Toronto Raptors recorded a block percentage of 4.8% - good enough to rank 26th in the NBA.
The year before (2023-24), the Toronto Raptors recorded a block percentage of 5.2% - good enough for 22nd in the NBA.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/block-pct

If the Raptors drafted Khaman Maluach at #9, would you expect these numbers and rankings to improve, or become worse?

The numbers might improve early on, as guys take a chance at attacking the rim, but then I think it'll drop-off because less players will try to attack the paint.

I also think guys might lose their handle in the paint, before they can even get to the rim.

Rim deterrence is better than block percentage.

I expect he'll be so bad as a rookie that he doesn't see the floor much at all unless it is a blowout or the season has gone really wrong.

Maluach was a 5-star recruit and the #4 prospect entering college. He played professionally against grown men at 16 & 17 years old, and didn’t look out of on the court against NBA players during Olympic qualifiers.

He was the starting centre for one of the best NCAA teams in the country as an 18 year-old. He’s a projected Top 10 pick.

I get not believing in his ceiling or wanting the Raps to draft him. But writing him off to the point of projecting that him getting minutes means your teams season has “gone horribly wrong” is super weird to me. I don’t see any other prospect, especially one with his pedigree, get talked about like this.

[PhilBlackson]

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People should listen to the Carter Bryant section but the short of it is he sounds like an obsessive worker and they reference a story where he as a junior played with basically the B-Squad on the Portland Generals at the Nike Hoops Summit against a bunch of top recruits at the time (ie/ Holland, Risacher, Bronny, Dillon Jones etc) and usually that team would get moped. But his effort required it coming down to the last shot...

Not to mention when the game was over he was the ONLY player who stayed after to continue working on his game and all the Intel they get on Carter is how he's such a hard worker. Between how well spoken & intelligent he is, his willingness to accept whatever role he's given in combination with this unbelievable work ethic, he really sounds like he'd be a fantastic fit with the franchise. If Maluach isn't there, personally I think Bryant might be the top of my board...but I'll say I won't be too upset if they chose Coward either although I very slightly favor CB.

Carter Bryant I could be okay with as he at least looks like he could be a good 4th/5th option in a starting lineup, maybe being a poor man's OG. He's athletic, a good defender and has at least an okay bbiq. I wouldn't love it though as I view him as having limited upside due to how far he is away from having any creation skills or being able to finish around the rim and all his shooting is standstill.

Coward I would be furious with, he moves slowly on the court and seems to lack any sort of feel for the game. He projects purely as a 3pt shooter.

Yeah I’m sorta hot & cold with Coward because like you said I do find he moves slowly. In fact it was noticeable to me how much slower both he & his level of competition moved in comparison to Bryant’s. Carter is MUCH quicker which is obv more effective to cover ground when the ball swings but also to shuffle his feet at the POA. I think he’s gonna be a substantially better defender than CC overall. I also think he showed a bit more creation ability in high school whereas Arizona really seemed to command him to play the OG role for them but he also looks like a better off ball mover and cutter than CC. So that’s why I like him more.

Plus I think people blur their eyes to want to see Kawhi with Coward because of the big hands, long arms and shooting ability with some post game. But he doesn’t have the handle or balance to pull off the vast majority of what Kawhi does from the midrange or off the dribble nvm the ability to play at his own pace or unbelievable focus to hit tough contested shots from those as well. He’s much more a stationary scorer like Glen Rice and since he’s slow like the older Kawhi, he has to rely more on his timing and strength defensively. That can work for Kawhi as a forward. Coward will be on guards and I don’t think his POA defence is that great nevermind multiple efforts or rotating/moving quickly defensively where with all the ball movement and shooting of the NBA that won’t be enough to be elite, Bryant on the other hand is great at all of those things.

I like both their attitudes/personalities to get better but I just think Carter has a bit more to work with personally and he’s also a better passer which should add more value in Darko's system.

[MEDIC]

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Good synopsis of Kon. From the 50 minute mark on, they summarize who they think he is/ could be.

Desmond Bane/ Buddy Heild type who has an outside shot at making an allstar game. I personally think he is a better team connector than those two & probably has a better motor, but size wise & shooting wise, I can see the comp. I also like their Austin Reeves comp.

Austin Reeves game with Banes strength/ bulk?

Interesting that his standing reach was higher than Gradeys. I guess GD kinda has a longish neck.

[Yallbecrazy]

The numbers might improve early on, as guys take a chance at attacking the rim, but then I think it'll drop-off because less players will try to attack the paint.

I also think guys might lose their handle in the paint, before they can even get to the rim.

Rim deterrence is better than block percentage.

I expect he'll be so bad as a rookie that he doesn't see the floor much at all unless it is a blowout or the season has gone really wrong.

Maluach was a 5-star recruit and the #4 prospect entering college. He played professionally against grown men at 16 & 17 years old, and didn’t look out of on the court against NBA players during Olympic qualifiers.

He was the starting centre for one of the best NCAA teams in the country as an 18 year-old. He’s a projected Top 10 pick.

I get not believing in his ceiling or wanting the Raps to draft him. But writing him off to the point of projecting that him getting minutes means your teams season has “gone horribly wrong” is super weird to me. I don’t see any other prospect, especially one with his pedigree, get talked about like this.

I think his feel for the game is severely lacking currently and if he develops it will take at least a couple years, but his feel will be very poor as a rookie such that his impact will be quite a negative.

[Mark_83]

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People should listen to the Carter Bryant section but the short of it is he sounds like an obsessive worker and they reference a story where he as a junior played with basically the B-Squad on the Portland Generals at the Nike Hoops Summit against a bunch of top recruits at the time (ie/ Holland, Risacher, Bronny, Dillon Jones etc) and usually that team would get moped. But his effort required it coming down to the last shot...

Not to mention when the game was over he was the ONLY player who stayed after to continue working on his game and all the Intel they get on Carter is how he's such a hard worker. Between how well spoken & intelligent he is, his willingness to accept whatever role he's given in combination with this unbelievable work ethic, he really sounds like he'd be a fantastic fit with the franchise. If Maluach isn't there, personally I think Bryant might be the top of my board...but I'll say I won't be too upset if they chose Coward either although I very slightly favor CB.

Was just gonna post this. He sounds like a great kid and a hard worker. I have no doubt he'll squeeze every bit of potential out of his talent that there is. I do agree with the second guy's criticism too though. As I said prior to the season after having watched his high school games he needs to be more selfish. He was by far the best player on his high school team, and he should have been more aggressive scoring the ball, but preferred to play within the flow of the offense when he could have easily scored every time down the floor.

[djsunyc]

I expect he'll be so bad as a rookie that he doesn't see the floor much at all unless it is a blowout or the season has gone really wrong.

Maluach was a 5-star recruit and the #4 prospect entering college. He played professionally against grown men at 16 & 17 years old, and didn’t look out of on the court against NBA players during Olympic qualifiers.

He was the starting centre for one of the best NCAA teams in the country as an 18 year-old. He’s a projected Top 10 pick.

I get not believing in his ceiling or wanting the Raps to draft him. But writing him off to the point of projecting that him getting minutes means your teams season has “gone horribly wrong” is super weird to me. I don’t see any other prospect, especially one with his pedigree, get talked about like this.

I think his feel for the game is severely lacking currently and if he develops it will take at least a couple years, but his feel will be very poor as a rookie such that his impact will be quite a negative.

koloko was able to be a plus on the court. i think khaman will too against 2nd units immediately. we have a bench mob next year and he can be the rim running lob threat for it.

i would actually say selecting khaman is masai thinking long term despite the 1 year left on his deal.

[mihaic]

The numbers might improve early on, as guys take a chance at attacking the rim, but then I think it'll drop-off because less players will try to attack the paint.

I also think guys might lose their handle in the paint, before they can even get to the rim.

Rim deterrence is better than block percentage.

I expect he'll be so bad as a rookie that he doesn't see the floor much at all unless it is a blowout or the season has gone really wrong.

Maluach was a 5-star recruit and the #4 prospect entering college. He played professionally against grown men at 16 & 17 years old, and didn’t look out of on the court against NBA players during Olympic qualifiers.

He was the starting centre for one of the best NCAA teams in the country as an 18 year-old. He’s a projected Top 10 pick.

I get not believing in his ceiling or wanting the Raps to draft him. But writing him off to the point of projecting that him getting minutes means your teams season has “gone horribly wrong” is super weird to me. I don’t see any other prospect, especially one with his pedigree, get talked about like this.

Edey says hi. The experts here told me last year that Edey will be unplayable in NBA, and they wouldn't even draft him with the 2nd round pick.

I don't claim I know how Maluach will turn out, he could be a star, or bust, but some people here are soooo opinionated right?

[billy_hoyle]

I expect he'll be so bad as a rookie that he doesn't see the floor much at all unless it is a blowout or the season has gone really wrong.

Maluach was a 5-star recruit and the #4 prospect entering college. He played professionally against grown men at 16 & 17 years old, and didn’t look out of on the court against NBA players during Olympic qualifiers.

He was the starting centre for one of the best NCAA teams in the country as an 18 year-old. He’s a projected Top 10 pick.

I get not believing in his ceiling or wanting the Raps to draft him. But writing him off to the point of projecting that him getting minutes means your teams season has “gone horribly wrong” is super weird to me. I don’t see any other prospect, especially one with his pedigree, get talked about like this.

I think his feel for the game is severely lacking currently and if he develops it will take at least a couple years, but his feel will be very poor as a rookie such that his impact will be quite a negative.

He's going to be asked to do very simple things as a rookie. Rebound, set picks, rim run, play very hard on D. He will be playing against second units. His physical advantages (he's big even by NBA terms) will still allow him to do these simple things at a reasonably high level IMO. I think he translates immediately as a decent back up big.

[CazOnReal]

Let's say the Suns want to rope in a 3rd team and use that 10th pick to acquire an impact player right now in the KD trade

Who would you be willing to give up to get back-to-back Top 10 selections or potentially use that to move up?

[S.W.A.N]

Maluach was a 5-star recruit and the #4 prospect entering college. He played professionally against grown men at 16 & 17 years old, and didn’t look out of on the court against NBA players during Olympic qualifiers.

He was the starting centre for one of the best NCAA teams in the country as an 18 year-old. He’s a projected Top 10 pick.

I get not believing in his ceiling or wanting the Raps to draft him. But writing him off to the point of projecting that him getting minutes means your teams season has “gone horribly wrong” is super weird to me. I don’t see any other prospect, especially one with his pedigree, get talked about like this.

I think his feel for the game is severely lacking currently and if he develops it will take at least a couple years, but his feel will be very poor as a rookie such that his impact will be quite a negative.

He's going to be asked to do very simple things as a rookie. Rebound, set picks, rim run, play very hard on D. He will be playing against second units. His physical advantages (he's big even by NBA terms) will still allow him to do these simple things at a reasonably high level IMO. I think he translates immediately as a decent back up big.

Exactly. And the fact baring significant trades, he's only going to be getting limited minutes. Yak will take his 30 mins a game, and we'll have some small ball lineups with Scottie or Mogbo at the 5

Maluach is a perfectly fine backup in the short-term and the bet is he's an excellent long-term option. The question isn't if we should draft him, the question is are other prospects better. Fit wise Maluach is perfect, but guys like Kon, Fears, Carter, etc might have higher upside and get picked based on that.

[ImaBeatDatAzz]

In an ideal world, I would want that we get Giannis without giving up the 9th. Just Scottie, Ochai, and Gradey, + 2 1st round picks

And then with the 9th Masai drafts Kon (if he falls). Good shooter and the most ready to contribute. Perfectly fills in the hole in our bench post Giannis trade

That’s a solid playoff squad:
IQ/Shead
RJ/Walter
Ingram/Kon
Giannis/Mogbo
Poeltl/Boucher

[WuTang_OG]

Samson again mentioning raps are high on fears

Stupid lottery

[Son Goku 25]

Samson again mentioning raps are high on fears

Stupid lottery

Makes sense how mad Masai looked when we got dropped to 9th lol probably felt we could have gotten him if we jumped to 4 or stayed at 7.

[DG88]

Samson again mentioning raps are high on fears

Stupid lottery

I have a feeling he might slip a bit because some other players like Essengue move up draft boards or someone slated higher falls down. It's possible that Fears could be there at 9. It all depends on Washington and Brooklyn.

[WuTang_OG]

Samson again mentioning raps are high on fears

Stupid lottery

I have a feeling he might slip a bit because some other players like Essengue move up draft boards or someone slated higher falls down. It's possible that Fears could be there at 9. It all depends on Washington and Brooklyn.

Let’s hope. But all points to BRK having him tops on their board. Maybe they go Essengue if he’s not there. That seems to be the buzz now.