2025 NBA Draft Discussion Part 6

[dohboy_24]

what makes Maluach a better prospect than Mo Bamba was when he was drafted? I worry that the benefits of drafting him are theoretical based on his physical tools and are baking in the assumption that he will develop his skills and ability to read the game without really having demonstrated that so far. Where in the draft is that risk/reward worth it?

While I would agree that drafting players like Khaman Maluach or Mo Bamba has more to do with their physical profile than their actual abilities on the court at this point in their development, players standing 7' feet or more with a plus wingspan and standing reach close to 9 feet are a valuable asset to have on your team - especially if they have room for growth.

While you can strike out from time to time, a quick review of the prospects who've been drafted in the first round during the past decade who fit such a physical profile would suggest the reward is probably going to be worth the risk when you consider how many of these players would either start ahead of Yak on the Raptors or be able to back him up quite serviceably for about 20 minutes per game.

Alex Sarr - #2 pick (2024)
Donovan Clingan - #7 pick (2024)
Zach Edey - #9 pick (2024)
Kel'el Ware - #15 pick (2024)
Yves Missi - #21 pick (2024)
Wemby - #1 pick (2023)
Derek Lively II - #12 pick (2023)
Chet Holmgren - #2 pick (2022)
Mark Williams - #15 pick (2022)
Walker Kessler - #22 pick (2022)
Evan Mobley - #3 pick (2021)
James Wiseman - #2 pick (2020)
Aleksej Pokusevski - #17 pick (2020)
DeAndre Ayton - #1 pick (2018)
Mo Bamba - #6 pick (2018)
Lauri Markkanen - #7 pick (2017)
Zach Collins - #10 pick (2017)
Anzejs Pasecniks - #25 pick (2017)
Dragan Bender - #4 pick (2016)
Jakob Poeltl - #9 pick (2016)
Thon Maker - #10 pick (2016)
Georgios Papagiannis - #13 pick (2016)
Kristaps Porzingis - #4 pick (2015)
Willie Cauley-Stein - #6 pick (2015)
Frank Kaminsky - #9 pick (2015)
Nikola Milutinov - #26 pick (2015)

If the Raptors have the chance to draft Khaman Maluach, he is exactly the type of risk you'd want to take for the reward you're likely to get after he fully grows into his abilities during the next 5 years of his development - by which time he will be the same age as Scottie is today.

[WuTang_CMB]

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[ciueli]

what makes Maluach a better prospect than Mo Bamba was when he was drafted? I worry that the benefits of drafting him are theoretical based on his physical tools and are baking in the assumption that he will develop his skills and ability to read the game without really having demonstrated that so far. Where in the draft is that risk/reward worth it?

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Here's a scouting report from that time:

https://www.nbadraft.net/players/mohamed-bamba/

As obvious is as length is, it’s also not hard to notice he’ll need to continue to add strength to play the paint in the next level … At the 2017 Hoop Summit, he only weighed in at 216 pounds … Ideally, you’d like to see Bamba at least around 240 in a year or two, or possibly 250 … I think those weights are achievable for him judging by his length, and how he’s added muscle since high school … His awareness with his back to the basket and in the paint on offense is a work in progress too … He’ll need to continue to work on his awareness of spacing and cutting players, as well as adjusting to double teams and pressure from guards … When he’s feeling it offensively, he could take over a game at the college level, but he could also be too passive when he’d get bothered … Restraint is good from a team game perspective, but with his physical tools he should have been more aggressive at times while playing for the Longhorns … A solid athlete, but much of his wow factor is due to length and not explosiveness or leaping ability …

And this is a Reddit thread about why Mo didn't turn into a good NBA player:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrlandoMagic/comments/1dgbcy1/what_went_wrong_with_mo_bamba/

There's a lot of good reasons here, sounds like he couldn't do the basic things you want a big man to be good at, not a screen setter, not willing to fight for rebounds around the basket, didn't care enough to develop into a player that could be an NBA starter as he didn't gain the weight and strength needed to match up well with the other top NBA centres (an area he needed to work at coming into the NBA).

The overall comparison is bad because you're comparing a player who already has NBA level size and strength in Maluach to a guy who was underweight to be an NBA centre at 225lbs when drafted. Maluach is a vastly superior finisher at the rim on lobs which is also a big weakness of Bamba's, and Maluach is already good at setting screens, has a high motor and plays aggressive defence, it's really just comparing two completely different prospects when you look more closely beyond "tall guy with long arms who was good in college".

[Indeed]

what makes Maluach a better prospect than Mo Bamba was when he was drafted? I worry that the benefits of drafting him are theoretical based on his physical tools and are baking in the assumption that he will develop his skills and ability to read the game without really having demonstrated that so far. Where in the draft is that risk/reward worth it?

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Valid question, but you can play that game with any lotto bust.

What makes VJ Edgecombe a better prospect than Kris Dunn? What makes Dylan Harper a better prospect than RJ Barrett? What makes Tre Johnson a better prospect than Coby White?

No matter where you’re picking from 1-60, you’re betting on potential and on your organization’s ability to develop skills at the NBA level

That is not true, and we had better success with developed players. Senior players in Siakam, VanVleet and Powell ended up much better than the raw players we drafted. Even Poeltl was ranked higher, but he didn't improve much in our organization.

We should pick someone who is more developed based on our success historically.

[Indeed]

what makes Maluach a better prospect than Mo Bamba was when he was drafted? I worry that the benefits of drafting him are theoretical based on his physical tools and are baking in the assumption that he will develop his skills and ability to read the game without really having demonstrated that so far. Where in the draft is that risk/reward worth it?

Watch on YouTube

Here's a scouting report from that time:

https://www.nbadraft.net/players/mohamed-bamba/

As obvious is as length is, it’s also not hard to notice he’ll need to continue to add strength to play the paint in the next level … At the 2017 Hoop Summit, he only weighed in at 216 pounds … Ideally, you’d like to see Bamba at least around 240 in a year or two, or possibly 250 … I think those weights are achievable for him judging by his length, and how he’s added muscle since high school … His awareness with his back to the basket and in the paint on offense is a work in progress too … He’ll need to continue to work on his awareness of spacing and cutting players, as well as adjusting to double teams and pressure from guards … When he’s feeling it offensively, he could take over a game at the college level, but he could also be too passive when he’d get bothered … Restraint is good from a team game perspective, but with his physical tools he should have been more aggressive at times while playing for the Longhorns … A solid athlete, but much of his wow factor is due to length and not explosiveness or leaping ability …

And this is a Reddit thread about why Mo didn't turn into a good NBA player:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrlandoMagic/comments/1dgbcy1/what_went_wrong_with_mo_bamba/

There's a lot of good reasons here, sounds like he couldn't do the basic things you want a big man to be good at, not a screen setter, not willing to fight for rebounds around the basket, didn't care enough to develop into a player that could be an NBA starter as he didn't gain the weight and strength needed to match up well with the other top NBA centres (an area he needed to work at coming into the NBA).

The overall comparison is bad because you're comparing a player who already has NBA level size and strength in Maluach to a guy who was underweight to be an NBA centre at 225lbs when drafted. Maluach is a vastly superior finisher at the rim on lobs which is also a big weakness of Bamba's, and Maluach is already good at setting screens, has a high motor and plays aggressive defence, it's really just comparing two completely different prospects when you look more closely beyond "tall guy with long arms who was good in college".

Maluach has a pretty bad defensive rebounding rate at less than 20%
Mamba has a 28% defensive rebounding rate.

And your claim of Bamba is not as good finisher is false. Stats has Bamba with higher dunk percentage, and the around the same at rim percentage at 76% (their difference is just 0.5% FG)

This is the reason people has Maluach more red flag than Bamba, his stats is even worse.

Said it many times, showed these stats many times, people still don't want to believe, eh.
https://barttorvik.com/playerstat.php?year=2018&p=Mohamed%20Bamba&t=Texas
https://barttorvik.com/playerstat.php?year=2025&p=Khaman%20Maluach&t=Duke

And stop referencing that garabage nbadraft.net, just because it has the domain name and Google ranked it higher, it doesn't mean it has quality.

[WuTang_CMB]

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[LoveMyRaps]

My Final Sim:



Lmao. This might be one of the most unrealistic outcomes.

[Bruin]

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?s=46

[Brinbe]

Flagg with the Barnes measurements

[Bruin]

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I thought he was taller than that

[WuTang_CMB]

Lol not 6’10

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?s=46&t=0YpMScWXY2zRUqR8fH-usg

[Brinbe]

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Nothing too crazy. These next few months are gonna be crucial for Bailey in terms of convincing these lotto teams

[PushDaRock]

Lol not 6’10

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?s=46&t=0YpMScWXY2zRUqR8fH-usg

lol yikes, measuring out about the same as Flagg isn't good for his stock

[mtcan]

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Nothing too crazy. These next few months are gonna be crucial for Bailey in terms of convincing these lotto teams

6'8 in shoes?

That's going to drop his stock a bit.

[PushDaRock]

Edgecombe coming in at 6"4 without shoes and a 6"7 1/2 wingspan is good for him I think, I expected worse measurements for both, especially the wingspan.

[mtcan]

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I thought he was taller than that

Ooof...I was hoping 6'10 in shoes.

And not surprised that Dylan Harper is sub-6'6.

What's VJ's measurements?

[Brinbe]

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Nothing too crazy. These next few months are gonna be crucial for Bailey in terms of convincing these lotto teams

6'8 in shoes?

That's going to drop his stock a bit.

Def doesn't help. He's gonna have to shoot the lights out at these workouts. The gap between him and Carter Bryant isn't wide at all.

[PushDaRock]

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I thought he was taller than that

Ooof...I was hoping 6'10 in shoes.

And not surprised that Dylan Harper is sub-6'6.

What's VJ's measurements?

6"4 and 6"7 1/2 wingspan, pretty decent

Flagg has never been listed 6"10 anywhere, typically 6"9 sometimes 6"8

[mtcan]

I thought he was taller than that

Ooof...I was hoping 6'10 in shoes.

And not surprised that Dylan Harper is sub-6'6.

What's VJ's measurements?

6"4 and 6"7 1/2 wingspan, pretty decent

Flagg has never been listed 6"10 anywhere, typically 6"9 sometimes 6"8

Ya I thought 6'9 barefoot...and then round up to 6'10. Oh wells....

[PushDaRock]

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Not a great measurement for Fears