2025 NBA Draft Discussion Part 5

[HumbleRen]

Ren you're more cooked without DelAbbot than Lively is without Luka. Lively will be fine.

He’s as cooked as you are.

You don’t draft lob catchers with a top 7 pick.

[Brinbe]

lol the convo on fears is funny because it shows who clearly didn't watch him.

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now uconn's defense clearly wasn't what it was in their previous years but they were still the defending champs, it was the tourney and fears should be in high school and he diced them up as an 18-year-old.

[HumbleRen]

Crazy how much of a debate there is around Maluach, the dude is pretty raw from everything we've seen unless you only look at highlight reels.

I'm only speaking for myself when I say this but I'd rather not use one of the only lottery draft picks we'll get in a while on someone as offensively limited and charmin soft for a 7+ footer.

I'd rather another team take the risk than us at the 7/8/9 pick.

People are trying to convince themselves that he’s a Mobley Lite lmao.

[ciueli]

To be fair, Embiid was 20, while Maluach is 18.
However, those skills where you got good footwork with counters (bags) may not be a year of development. And his block rate isn't even good, meaning his focus may just be on defense.

Personally, I don't think he will be a bust, but I am not very high on him. Perhaps just a starting C.

His block rate is low because Duke aggressively switched him onto perimeter players, it's very hard to get good rebound and block numbers when you are a switch defender as you are pulled away from the basket on defence. They also did nothing to develop or take advantage of his perimeter game, this is why I really dislike college as a developmental path for young players, the coach and organization is 100% focused on winning a title each year and players are not developed they way they are in the NBA, they're just told to do the narrow thing they do well or the team needs them to do to maximize the chance of winning as everyone knows they are gone after 1 year.

[Psubs]

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He's my #3 PG prospect after Harper and Fears. Fears might just be a combo guard though.

Fears with around 28% passing rate is definitely near the top in passing as a PG, his vision is also being praised by multiple scouting reports I read.
As for De Larrea, if his quickness with the ball is good, he could be Herro lite.

Ya, Herro is a good comp. Might be slightly either taller or stronger finisher? Herro as a SG/PG and deLarrea as a PG/SG.

Sergio has a nice hesi, can go left, transition 3, step back 3, and finish with contact and dunk in the half court like Harper. I guess they don't play against too many really big interior defenders from the highlights. At least he can already hit the international 3 over 40%. He's a better prospect than Nikola Topic.

[Tha Cynic]

Based on Masai’s exit interview, his biggest disappointment this year was the Chomche injury and he made a point to mention that he thinks Chomche is the dark horse in the players they drafted.

I don’t think it’s so clear cut that they’ll draft Maluach. The issue is that a lot of players in our range either have poor athleticism, size or don’t project as great defenders.

This isn’t going to be easy. A lot of players have good skills but will they actually be elite or even great winning players. They’re going to have to weight raw potential and size against established skills on offence with poor defense and lack of size/athleticsm.

The other thing is, there seem to be a few very intriguing role players in the 10-15 range. Man, if they can just find a way to get someone to take RJ for one of those picks.

[Clutch0z24]

To be fair, Embiid was 20, while Maluach is 18.
However, those skills where you got good footwork with counters (bags) may not be a year of development. And his block rate isn't even good, meaning his focus may just be on defense.

Personally, I don't think he will be a bust, but I am not very high on him. Perhaps just a starting C.

His block rate is low because Duke aggressively switched him onto perimeter players, it's very hard to get good rebound and block numbers when you are a switch defender as you are pulled away from the basket on defence. They also did nothing to develop or take advantage of his perimeter game, this is why I really dislike college as a developmental path for young players, the coach and organization is 100% focused on winning a title each year and players are not developed they way they are in the NBA, they're just told to do the narrow thing they do well or the team needs them to do to maximize the chance of winning as everyone knows they are gone after 1 year.

Or people are just wow'd by the Size and measurements and maybe these college coaches know more than us real gm users.....Maybe they don't want to put Maluach in a position to potentially make himself look bad as a player to scouts by putting him in positions he would most likely fail in.....I would not be upset if Masai goes Maluach because i also see the upside but i don't like how people try and convince people that Maluach is more than just a P&R Lob threat on offense....Because im pretty sure thats all he will be....He can't pass, Can't Dribble, Can't really shoot (I watched tape of him and his jumpshots brick badly or air ball alot) Can't really make a post up move or beat a defender with a go to move...

Yes he can develop but the chances of him being the player everyone thinks he can become one day are prolly 30 percent.....He prolly would need a Luka/CP3 level PG to play with to really maximize him....We do not have that kind of a player to really showcase Maluach if we draft him so it might look ugly for a few years till we find a guy to pair with him.

Problem for me with Maluach is he is the type of player you add to a team if you already have a Luka Doncic type player you are building around....Some people will say thats Barnes....Which i disagree....I think Queen will be the better player than Maluach at the end of the day....But we shall see.

[TrustFundBaby]

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Think this is what's happening on the board right now, many guys are overthinking this.

7'2 with a 7'8 wingspan, fluid on the perimeter and pretty decent on switches for being 7'2. only 18, has around 5 years of basketball experience. Soft hands, hyper-efficient with 74% TS. Willing to go out to the 3 and take shots there, but even if that doesn't develop he would at minimum be a dominant lob threat.

Khaman-Scottie-Ingram as an FC is massively long, it would give opposing offences fits driving into that. Not to mention, you have to look at where the league is going. Wembenyama, Jokic, Giannis, and after them are guys like AD, JJJ, Mobley, Gobert, Chet. Many are huge C's that can protect the paint and most of them can step out to the 3.

This guy is super raw, I take this bet every day, and I bet Masai does too. BAL's best product is coming home to TOR. I would go as far as saying I'd take him at #2.

[Godaddycurse]

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Think this is what's happening on the board right now, many guys are overthinking this.

7'2 with a 7'8 wingspan, fluid on the perimeter and pretty decent on switches for being 7'2. only 18, has around 5 years of basketball experience. Soft hands, hyper-efficient with 74% TS. Willing to go out to the 3 and take shots there, but even if that doesn't develop he would at minimum be a dominant lob threat.

Khaman-Scottie-Ingram as an FC is massively long, it would give opposing offences fits driving into that. Not to mention, you have to look at where the league is going. Wembenyama, Jokic, Giannis, and after them are guys like AD, JJJ, Mobley, Gobert, Chet. Many are huge C's that can protect the paint and most of them can step out to the 3.

This guy is super raw, I take this bet every day, and I bet Masai does too. BAL's best product is coming home to TOR. I would go as far as saying I'd take him at #2.

I was with you until the last sentence

[TrustFundBaby]

Based on Masai’s exit interview, his biggest disappointment this year was the Chomche injury and he made a point to mention that he thinks Chomche is the dark horse in the players they drafted.

I don’t think it’s so clear cut that they’ll draft Maluach. The issue is that a lot of players in our range either have poor athleticism, size or don’t project as great defenders.

This isn’t going to be easy. A lot of players have good skills but will they actually be elite or even great winning players. They’re going to have to weight raw potential and size against established skills on offence with poor defense and lack of size/athleticsm.

They’re other thing is, there seem to be few very intriguing role players in the 10-15 range. Man, if they can just find a way to get someone to take RJ for one of those picks.

I like Chomche and Mogbo, especially from where we picked them at. But I think realistically, we're happy if Chomche is just a rotation big and Mogbo is a solid backup PF/C.

Khaman is just another level than these guys, I doubt MU thinks of them when considering this pick.

[Tha Cynic]

Based on Masai’s exit interview, his biggest disappointment this year was the Chomche injury and he made a point to mention that he thinks Chomche is the dark horse in the players they drafted.

I don’t think it’s so clear cut that they’ll draft Maluach. The issue is that a lot of players in our range either have poor athleticism, size or don’t project as great defenders.

This isn’t going to be easy. A lot of players have good skills but will they actually be elite or even great winning players. They’re going to have to weight raw potential and size against established skills on offence with poor defense and lack of size/athleticsm.

They’re other thing is, there seem to be few very intriguing role players in the 10-15 range. Man, if they can just find a way to get someone to take RJ for one of those picks.

I like Chomche and Mogbo, especially from where we picked them at. But I think realistically, we're happy if Chomche is just a rotation big and Mogbo is a solid backup PF/C.

Khaman is just another level than these guys, I doubt MU thinks of them when considering this pick.

Yeah, it’s more they have their work cut out because every single player in our range has some major flaw. To be safe you almost have to go into the 10-15 range but you know those guys are all going to at best be solid role players.

[Los_29]

Ren you're more cooked without DelAbbot than Lively is without Luka. Lively will be fine.

Please don't bait.

Do you still believe Lively can be a top 24 player in this league?

I frankly don’t see it.

[BoyzNTheHood]

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[Clutch0z24]

Ren you're more cooked without DelAbbot than Lively is without Luka. Lively will be fine.

Please don't bait.

Do you still believe Lively can be a top 24 player in this league?

I frankly don’t see it.

Lively will never be top 25 because he will always rely on another player to get him baskets....This is the exact reason i am a little hesitant to draft Maluach....Will Maluach be better than Lively? Prolly not or they are prolly the same level of player....Which doesn't really excite me if we do not have a Luka level play maker.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Spoiler:

Duffman you are genuinely mentally (Please Use More Appropriate Word) please go **** yourself

Hey Duff. My jab was a humourous one directed at a friend. Can you rethink your warning?

Sure no problem. Sorry I don't keep track of personal relationships. I have to take posts at face value sometimes. Consider the warning rescinded.

Cool thanks, appreciate it.


Not hard, right?

[Son Goku 25]

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Think this is what's happening on the board right now, many guys are overthinking this.

7'2 with a 7'8 wingspan, fluid on the perimeter and pretty decent on switches for being 7'2. only 18, has around 5 years of basketball experience. Soft hands, hyper-efficient with 74% TS. Willing to go out to the 3 and take shots there, but even if that doesn't develop he would at minimum be a dominant lob threat.

Khaman-Scottie-Ingram as an FC is massively long, it would give opposing offences fits driving into that. Not to mention, you have to look at where the league is going. Wembenyama, Jokic, Giannis, and after them are guys like AD, JJJ, Mobley, Gobert, Chet. Many are huge C's that can protect the paint and most of them can step out to the 3.

This guy is super raw, I take this bet every day, and I bet Masai does too. BAL's best product is coming home to TOR. I would go as far as saying I'd take him at #2.

I don't think he has soft hands lol he has the Ibaka hands but ya only 18 and can obviously improve. I wouldn't be mad about this pick depending on where we land and who's left.

[Jcity08]

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Think this is what's happening on the board right now, many guys are overthinking this.

7'2 with a 7'8 wingspan, fluid on the perimeter and pretty decent on switches for being 7'2. only 18, has around 5 years of basketball experience. Soft hands, hyper-efficient with 74% TS. Willing to go out to the 3 and take shots there, but even if that doesn't develop he would at minimum be a dominant lob threat.

Khaman-Scottie-Ingram as an FC is massively long, it would give opposing offences fits driving into that. Not to mention, you have to look at where the league is going. Wembenyama, Jokic, Giannis, and after them are guys like AD, JJJ, Mobley, Gobert, Chet. Many are huge C's that can protect the paint and most of them can step out to the 3.

This guy is super raw, I take this bet every day, and I bet Masai does too. BAL's best product is coming home to TOR. I would go as far as saying I'd take him at #2.

Selecting Khaman Maluach at #2 is Darko Milicic level of generational fumble.

[ciueli]

i don't like how people try and convince people that Maluach is more than just a P&R Lob threat on offense....Because im pretty sure thats all he will be....He can't pass, Can't Dribble, Can't really shoot (I watched tape of him and his jumpshots brick badly or air ball alot) Can't really make a post up move or beat a defender with a go to move...

You just described Jakob Poeltl. Can't dribble, when he does it's a turnover. Can't post up, when he does he gets stuffed at the rim, bricks it, or it's a turnover again. His shooting is all push shots from the foul line at furthest, he's actually an extremely limited 7 foot big who is a pure centre and can't even dunk the ball consistently like Maluach can. Not even a great shot blocker or above average rebounder for his position and our team is completely lost without him because he's the only player with size we have who can actually guard anyone above 6'9". Literally he is the only player 6'9" or taller on the team who is a playable rotation player.

So guess what? True big man Cs don't do most of those things you want him to do. Does Jarrett Allen post up every possession? Does he dribble the ball on the perimeter or shoot 3s? Or even midrange 2s? No, that's not what you get a 7"+ C to do in the modern NBA, I swear this board is obsessed with guards, you can't build an entire team with 6'5" and 6'6" wings and guards, even Scottie is undersized for PF at 6'7", we are one of the most undersized teams in the entire league, it might be ok if we were loaded with 3 point shooting at every position but we aren't.

Yes he can develop but the chances of him being the player everyone thinks he can become one day are prolly 30 percent.....He prolly would need a Luka/CP3 level PG to play with to really maximize him....We do not have that kind of a player to really showcase Maluach if we draft him so it might look ugly for a few years till we find a guy to pair with him.

Problem for me with Maluach is he is the type of player you add to a team if you already have a Luka Doncic type player you are building around....Some people will say thats Barnes....Which i disagree....I think Queen will be the better player than Maluach at the end of the day....But we shall see.

Great, now we need a top 3 superstar to justify having a C who isn't freaking Nikola Jokic, I guess we should just close up the franchise now, since that's not happening. Queen might wind up being a fine player but a) there's a good chance he's off board at 7-9 and b) the one thing you can't be as a C in the NBA is a bad defender. You seem perfectly fine with the idea Queen will learn how to become a good defender, but not with the idea that Maluach will improve when he is younger and hasn't been playing basketball that long.

[HumbleRen]

Ren you're more cooked without DelAbbot than Lively is without Luka. Lively will be fine.

Please don't bait.

Do you still believe Lively can be a top 24 player in this league?

I frankly don’t see it.

Lively will never be top 25 because he will always rely on another player to get him baskets....This is the exact reason i am a little hesitant to draft Maluach....Will Maluach be better than Lively? Prolly not or they are prolly the same level of player....Which doesn't really excite me if we do not have a Luka level play maker.

I’m fine with the Khaman pick if we drop to 8 or below.

I just hate it when people try to sell me on something that isn’t him. He’s not Mobley, he’s not Myles Turner.

He’s an extremely raw basketball player who was blessed with great physical tools.

At the same time, he was spoon fed by a player who had the most scoring gravity in college and I think any competent big would have looked great on that Duke team, in fact they probably win a chip if they had a big who wasn’t afraid of boxing out.

TLDR: I don’t think he will be a bust, he’ll be a very competent player in the league. I just think his archetype is almost always a reach with a top 7 pick.

[Psubs]

Based on Masai’s exit interview, his biggest disappointment this year was the Chomche injury and he made a point to mention that he thinks Chomche is the dark horse in the players they drafted.

I don’t think it’s so clear cut that they’ll draft Maluach. The issue is that a lot of players in our range either have poor athleticism, size or don’t project as great defenders.

This isn’t going to be easy. A lot of players have good skills but will they actually be elite or even great winning players. They’re going to have to weight raw potential and size against established skills on offence with poor defense and lack of size/athleticsm.

They’re other thing is, there seem to be few very intriguing role players in the 10-15 range. Man, if they can just find a way to get someone to take RJ for one of those picks.

I do see him thinking that he stole Chomche with a late 2nd and that they are not that far apart with maybe Chomche having more perimeter skills? He doesn't need to use a top 10 pick to get Maluach. Maybe in the next couple of years use another 2nd pick on another prospect that they know that others don't.