2024 NBA DRAFT THREAD

[Indeed]

Yep, this is my thinking as well.

McCullar is theoretically a two-way high floor, low ceiling plug and play senior and Ware could be Myles Turner-esque. I'd much rather swing on those guys.

Not sure why anyone would want McCullar with the Indiana pick.

McCullar - a man playing against kids. Ugly looking shot. Questionable if it'll work in the NBA. He's not even hitting three's at an exceptionally high rate (36%). Jack of all trades, master of none. If the stars align, maybe he'll be a two-way role player. If you look at another older rookie, Kobe Brown, he shot 45.5% from 3 in his final year after three years of bricks in college. Brown is shooting 28% in the NBA and G-league now (although rookies should get some leeway, older rookies are on a shorter timeline and should be near NBA-ready). McCullar's history of bricks, weird form, being comparatively old as hell, low upside and low floor makes him a 2nd rounder for me. I'd rather just swing at a high upside player with the second though.

Dunn - draftable at the OKC/LAC pick and onwards. Gotta bank on him developing his offense or 3 point shooting, which is a risk. A Caruso/OG type player is very valuable, but you could end up with an unplayable player, which makes his floor very low. When things don't work out for these type of players, they end up like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (although MKG had one of the worse shooting forms I've ever seen).

Ware - supposedly has motor issues, but it seems like to me it's low IQ issues. Turner's shot blocking rate was over 2 times greater than Ware's in college. I see him being closer to Bobby Portis than Turner. He has a higher floor than Dunn/McCullar imo, but I'd still pass at the Indiana pick.

Which players are you high on enough to warrant selections around end of lottery range? Honestly it's hard figuring it out because of the massive amount of players with holes in their games. This entire draft is a circus of apparent mediocrity after a certain point.

Indeed, the draft is so sad that the mid-1st are the high 2nd in a regular draft (and some people argue with me that this draft is deep, meh).

McCullar gets to the line more often, but he would be closer to bottom 1st in a normal draft, where playoff teams maybe interested in him for an end of rotation role. Pretty much same for Dunn in hope of his 3 point shooting being better, but bottom 1st in a normal draft for a playoff team to pick on.

[grant101]

Yep, this is my thinking as well.

McCullar is theoretically a two-way high floor, low ceiling plug and play senior and Ware could be Myles Turner-esque. I'd much rather swing on those guys.

Not sure why anyone would want McCullar with the Indiana pick.

McCullar - a man playing against kids. Ugly looking shot. Questionable if it'll work in the NBA. He's not even hitting three's at an exceptionally high rate (36%). Jack of all trades, master of none. If the stars align, maybe he'll be a two-way role player. If you look at another older rookie, Kobe Brown, he shot 45.5% from 3 in his final year after three years of bricks in college. Brown is shooting 28% in the NBA and G-league now (although rookies should get some leeway, older rookies are on a shorter timeline and should be near NBA-ready). McCullar's history of bricks, weird form, being comparatively old as hell, low upside and low floor makes him a 2nd rounder for me. I'd rather just swing at a high upside player with the second though.

Dunn - draftable at the OKC/LAC pick and onwards. Gotta bank on him developing his offense or 3 point shooting, which is a risk. A Caruso/OG type player is very valuable, but you could end up with an unplayable player, which makes his floor very low. When things don't work out for these type of players, they end up like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (although MKG had one of the worse shooting forms I've ever seen).

Ware - supposedly has motor issues, but it seems like to me it's low IQ issues. Turner's shot blocking rate was over 2 times greater than Ware's in college. I see him being closer to Bobby Portis than Turner. He has a higher floor than Dunn/McCullar imo, but I'd still pass at the Indiana pick.

Which players are you high on enough to warrant selections around end of lottery range? Honestly it's hard figuring it out because of the massive amount of players with holes in their games. This entire draft is a circus of apparent mediocrity after a certain point.

I find the draft thins out quite a bit after around pick 10. Castle is the only star upside pick I see anywhere approaching that area, and I think he ultimately goes top 7 when it's all said and done. That said, people are hung up on the shooting, and there's a chance that spooks teams enough to stay away

I'd rather swing on Hansen Yang's upside or DaRon Holmes' high floor and production than any of the bigs that you find around 15, and I think you can get Knecht or Smith's shooting later in the draft.

Some of my other guys seem to be pegged as second rounders or undrafted (Wooga, Hall, Malique Lewis, Devin Carter, etc.)

Ideally, you explore packaging our two later frp picks to try to find someone we like earlier in the draft. Again, I'd love Castle (perfect pairing with Quickly). If we can walk away with a top 6 pick (Williams, Rissacher or Topic), Castle and Holmes, I'd be ecstatic.

[RoteSchroder]

Which players are you high on enough to warrant selections around end of lottery range? Honestly it's hard figuring it out because of the massive amount of players with holes in their games. This entire draft is a circus of apparent mediocrity after a certain point.

Haven't finished looking at all the players yet, but if there are no good prospects available, I'd either go for players with higher floors or players with higher upside (but with bust potential). Masai could also have some interesting prospects lined up. Bruno, Scottie and Siakam weren't really players that fans were considering.

Someone may also drop. I'm guessing 16 of the top 20 will consist of something like:

Topic, Sarr, Cody, Risacher, Salaun, Holland, Ja'Kobe, Buzelis, Castle, Sheppard, Dillingham, Filipowski, Castle, Knecht, Furphy, Collier

There are a couple of large guards that may also go top 20 that I haven't looked at yet (hard to say, not even in the 1st round in some mocks):
Carrington
Dillon Jones
Ajay Mitchell

Then some teams may take a flier on Edey, Clingan, Yves Missi, Ware, Dunn.

For the Indiana pick, I'd see if any player drops. In the 20-30 range, I'd take a look at:

Dunn (elite D, maybe no O)
Melvin Ajinca (3+D)
Devin Carter (high floor defensive back up guard)
Chomche (Bruno type project that's proven more than Bruno)

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

New Mexico has really impressed me this year they've been dominant and could make some noise in the tourney and it seems like nobody has spoken about JT Toppin, probably because he's more of a 210 lb power forward for them whose game doesn't really translate but I wonder if his name is going to pop up in draft circles more now that New Mexico is ranked and playing high-level basketball.

6'9 210 freshman

65/33/53 splits

.658 TS%
4.3 stocks per 36
4.6 ORB per 36
9.6 BPM

Needs to work on his shooting but who doesn't. Once he packs on more weight he could be even more beastly on the glass and on D. Almost everything he gets is at the rim but he's hyper-efficient and consistent at what he does. Could be a better version of Montrezl Harrell. Will also only turn 19 around draft.

Probably deserves a look at some point as a bench player.

[PhilBlackson]

Personally I would draft Ulrich Chomche with the IND pick.

I know some may say that’s too early but I don’t think he’s making it to the end of the 1st round. Quite frankly it wouldn’t shock me if Presti rolled the dice on him with one of his picks before us.

I know it’s somewhat of a gamble but if you connect on it you can see Chomche has the physical tools and good awareness to be a really good rim protector/lane intimidation with some signs of being able to shoot. But if you develop him anything near some of the players of our recent past (OG, Pascal - I know UC isn’t a wing but I think he could be a high impact player ) , he could be a serious steal if developed right.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Which players are you high on enough to warrant selections around end of lottery range? Honestly it's hard figuring it out because of the massive amount of players with holes in their games. This entire draft is a circus of apparent mediocrity after a certain point.

Haven't finished looking at all the players yet, but if there are no good prospects available, I'd either go for players with higher floors or players with higher upside (but with bust potential). Masai could also have some interesting prospects lined up. Bruno, Scottie and Siakam weren't really players that fans were considering.

Someone may also drop. I'm guessing 16 of the top 20 will consist of something like:

Topic, Sarr, Cody, Risacher, Salaun, Holland, Ja'Kobe, Buzelis, Castle, Sheppard, Dillingham, Filipowski, Castle, Knecht, Furphy, Collier

There are a couple of large guards that may also go top 20 that I haven't looked at yet (hard to say, not even in the 1st round in some mocks):
Carrington
Dillon Jones
Ajay Mitchell

Then some teams may take a flier on Edey, Clingan, Yves Missi, Ware, Dunn.

For the Indiana pick, I'd see if any player drops. In the 20-30 range, I'd take a look at:

Dunn (elite D, maybe no O)
Melvin Ajinca (3+D)
Devin Carter (high floor defensive back up guard)
Chomche (Bruno type project that's proven more than Bruno)

I could see Ajay Mitchell rising around combine and workout time. Even though he is going against awful college competition when you watch him on film his movement looks good and if he passes the eye test then level of competition doesn't really matter. I'd put my money on him over Carrington or Jones, I think he's the superior player among the three. That said there's no way Mitchell would have been able to come close to cracking top 20 in 2023 and he could actually be a threat to do it this year

[Bruin]

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[Bruin]

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[Bruin]

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[Psubs]

New Mexico has really impressed me this year they've been dominant and could make some noise in the tourney and it seems like nobody has spoken about JT Toppin, probably because he's more of a 210 lb power forward for them whose game doesn't really translate but I wonder if his name is going to pop up in draft circles more now that New Mexico is ranked and playing high-level basketball.

6'9 210 freshman

65/33/53 splits

.658 TS%
4.3 stocks per 36
4.6 ORB per 36
9.6 BPM

Needs to work on his shooting but who doesn't. Once he packs on more weight he could be even more beastly on the glass and on D. Almost everything he gets is at the rim but he's hyper-efficient and consistent at what he does. Could be a better version of Montrezl Harrell. Will also only turn 19 around draft.

Probably deserves a look at some point as a bench player.

Obi's other brother Jacob in the GLeague is in the dunk contest.

His steals for turnover is almost = 1!!!

Looks like Precious Achiuwa. Perhaps higher bball IQ and potential to shoot the 3? If he grows 1 more inch to 6'10 he could be able to play C like Clint Capela.

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[Psubs]

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At first seems like less hoppy Jaden Ivey but seems more like Fox.

[Jstock12]

What Risacher is doing on a top Eurocup team is more impressive than what Sengun was doing in Europe. I don't know about Risacher's ceiling, but his floor is certainly very high and he'll be able to contribute to winning basketball in the NBA immediately. Could be the Franz Wagner of this draft. The Spurs are in a great position to pair Wemby with either Risacher or Sarr.

[billy_hoyle]

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At first seems like less hoppy Jaden Ivey but seems more like Fox.

Reminds me of a less stiff Ben Gordon.

[Yallbecrazy]

What Risacher is doing on a top Eurocup team is more impressive than what Sengun was doing in Europe. I don't know about Risacher's ceiling, but his floor is certainly very high and he'll be able to contribute to winning basketball in the NBA immediately. Could be the Franz Wagner of this draft. The Spurs are in a great position to pair Wemby with either Risacher or Sarr.

The Turkish league is probably similar to the French league, although it has better defense and less offense. The Turkish league also had the best or second best team in all of Europe that year Sengun played and that team knocked Sengun's team out of the playoffs that year.
Sengun was 4 months younger at the same time as Risacher and averaged per 36: 24.4pts, 11.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.7 steals, 2.1 blocks, while shooting 64.6% from the field.

Risacher in a worse defense league per 36 is 16.4,5.8,1.6,1.7,0.6, while shooting 46.7%.

I understand Sengun took only 1 3 pointer per 36 as opposed to 5.4, but I couldn't find TS%. Either way Risacher is not within sniffing distance of Sengun in terms of impressiveness in Europe.

[Mark_83]

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Ivisic is my choice at the Pacers pick if he's still there. I fear he may go higher though if he gets actual playing time. I may take him at 6 depending on who's there still.

[WuTang_CMB]

Castle 5th
Tidjane 17

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[Rapsfan07]

Castle 5th
Tidjane 17

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Castle and Knecht are a bit too high for my tastes and Salaun is too low.

I do agree that Williams and Risacher won't fall below 3.

Dillon Jones and Dayron Holmes are growing on me.

Love Devin Carter. He's just got that dawg...I think he could play a Marcus Smart role at the next level.

[WuTang_CMB]

Castle 5th
Tidjane 17

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Castle and Knecht are a bit too high for my tastes and Salaun is too low.

I do agree that Williams and Risacher won't fall below 3.

Dillon Jones and Dayron Holmes are growing on me.

Love Devin Carter. He's just got that dawg...I think he could play a Marcus Smart role at the next level.

Salaun is going top 10 just like Bilal last year

[aminiaturebuddha]

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Ivisic is my choice at the Pacers pick if he's still there. I fear he may go higher though if he gets actual playing time. I may take him at 6 depending on who's there still.

His draft stock seems to be all over the place, especially considering that he hasn't played much for Kentucky this year, so teams are going to have to mostly go off of information that they had on him in Europe, if they scouted him there.

But all it takes is one team to take a chance at the tail end of the lottery.

I'd agree, though. If he's there with the Indiana pick, I'd definitely take a long look at drafting him. He'll need a lot of time to develop, but it looks like he's got the combination of the two things that are often hard to find in a center - shotblocking and 3-pt shooting.

Top 6 might be a bit of a stretch at this point, but it'll all come down to individual workouts (and if he stays in the draft) to see if he might be worthy of a pick that high.

[ArthurVandelay]

Castle 5th
Tidjane 17

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Castle and Knecht are a bit too high for my tastes and Salaun is too low.

I do agree that Williams and Risacher won't fall below 3.

Dillon Jones and Dayron Holmes are growing on me.

Love Devin Carter. He's just got that dawg...I think he could play a Marcus Smart role at the next level.

Salaun is going top 10 just like Bilal last year

Agreed.

I'm starting to really like Salaun, like more than Coulibaly last year....and I LOVED Coulibably last year.

Salaun has better size and better skills. Not the defender like Coulibaly waS but the tools are there.