2025 NBA Draft Discussion Part 6

[djsunyc]

Tired of our FO drafting non shooters and trying to make them shooters. Those guys are reliable in high pressure situations because they aren’t confident in their shots.

CMB won’t be playable on our roster

drafted dick - shooter
drafted jakobe - scorer
traded 29 for ochai - 3&d shooter

Also Mogbo, Shead, Scottie and traded for RJ.

Dick was the only “shooter” you listed and ironically he’s shooting the worst out of the bunch.

Our team is factually one of the worst shooting teams in the league. If you’re implying they won’t draft a non shooter because of Gradey and Jakobe then great, we’re all in agreement on who we shouldn’t take

you made a big claim and i refuted it.

[earthtone]

They could just draft Bailey who they might like even more than Harper but who knows...I doubt they move a valuable asset like #2 for a worse pick that would be foolish of them....You move it for a legit superstar or you draft either Bailey/Harper at #2.

Read on Twitter

Posted this a few pages ago, makes alot of sense. Lets get more picks

We are running low on roster spots and are trying to win next season. I doubt Masai is looking for more rookies.

Yah, definitely a strategy that makes more sense when you're trying to fill a 53-man NFL roster rather than a 10-man NBA rotation.

This could be the perfect draft for that philosophy, I think a lot of the talent is pretty similar from top 6/7ish right until the late teens/early 20s. Wouldn't be against trading 9 & 38 to the Hawks for 13 & 22 or to the Thunder for 15 & 25, but I can't see much of a reason either team would be motivated to move up

[RomaniaLuvTR]

Team Traore here, has 20/5 potential if pans out right. His combination of speed and scoring ability are rare to find in nba.

Seeing others join the Traore-train makes me a happy man.

I am also on team Traore..he would be a great fit with this team and our pg of the future

[Grew]

Bryant, Traore, Essengue

[UnbelievablyRAW]

drafted dick - shooter
drafted jakobe - scorer
traded 29 for ochai - 3&d shooter

Also Mogbo, Shead, Scottie and traded for RJ.

Dick was the only “shooter” you listed and ironically he’s shooting the worst out of the bunch.

Our team is factually one of the worst shooting teams in the league. If you’re implying they won’t draft a non shooter because of Gradey and Jakobe then great, we’re all in agreement on who we shouldn’t take

you made a big claim and i refuted it.

I mean the presence of Mogbo, Shead, picking up McDaniels, Mitchell, etc in the last few years are what I based my comment on.

Them picking up a few guys that can shoot doesn’t mean the track record doesn’t exist?

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Posted this a few pages ago, makes alot of sense. Lets get more picks

We are running low on roster spots and are trying to win next season. I doubt Masai is looking for more rookies.

Yah, definitely a strategy that makes more sense when you're trying to fill a 53-man NFL roster rather than a 10-man NBA rotation.

This could be the perfect draft for that philosophy, I think a lot of the talent is pretty similar from top 6/7ish right until the late teens/early 20s. Wouldn't be against trading 9 & 38 to the Hawks for 13 & 22 or to the Thunder for 15 & 25, but I can't see much of a reason either team would be motivated to move up

I think we could offer Gradey or Ochai for that 15 pick. I don’t think they want more rookies

[720]

Bro, Cooper and AD are gonna be monsters on defense.

[Appostis]

Bro, Cooper and AD are gonna be monsters on defense.

And when AD spends half the time in street clothes?

[DreamTeam09]

The draft starts with Washington - I have Tre J going 5th to Utah.
Washington probably goes Queen at 6 with Maryland & all
Pelicans and BK up next, Kon makes sense next to Zion if the plan is stick with him, fears or Kasp makes sense if you want replace Murray.
I don't see BK taking a big with Claxton there, even if the plan is to trade Claxton at some point. One of Fears or Kasp will be there

[Tripod]

They could just draft Bailey who they might like even more than Harper but who knows...I doubt they move a valuable asset like #2 for a worse pick that would be foolish of them....You move it for a legit superstar or you draft either Bailey/Harper at #2.

Read on Twitter

Posted this a few pages ago, makes alot of sense. Lets get more picks

nba draft is unlike any other sport tho.

Yeah bbal doesn't have tons of spots like NFL or a development system like NHL where guys can just go back to the league they were drafted in.

Reality is, we just had a good draft adding depth.

IQ, RJ, BI, Barnes, Yak
Shead, JKW, Ochai, Gradey, Battle, Mogbo, #9

That's presumably 11 playable rotation guys to varying degrees. Good for when injuries occur and internal competition but if healthy, some are gonna sit and be unhappy.

Fill the hole at backup C and have a good #9 pick and I will be happy this offseason. But I still gave a feeling Masai makes a sneaky trade few see coming.

[PhilBlackson]

Praying for..

9 - Maluach
16 - Fleming (trade Dick)
39 - Byrd

Load up on size & defence....then Let's NBA!

IQ/Shead/Byrd
RJ/JaKobe/Ochai/Battle
BI/Fleming/Lawson
Barnes/Mogbo/Boucher
Maluach/Poeltl/Chomche

[niQ]

KM, Traore, Carter.

[billy_hoyle]

Somebody will likely drop to us.

I think it will be Maluach or Queen.

If not, I think we are choosing between Kas Jak, Traore and Demin.

All these guys were rated top 10 ish for most of the year, all played well, and I bet there's some star upside here.

It would be nice to grab a star playmaker.

Hope for Condon to drop in the second round

[LoveMyRaps]

Bro, Cooper and AD are gonna be monsters on defense.

Ya for a solid 35 games.

[PhilBlackson]

If Maluach isn't there, I hope we trade down or out.

As for the talk of Traore, to me he reminds of an Andrew Nembhard type of player which is very solid player to have but I'd look to trade down if possible with KM off the board then see if you can nab 2 of Traore/Bryant/Fleming/Noa. Maybe someone will be willing to package something to move up and get Kon.

[treerollins]

if they can't get clarification on the maluach visa issue he might not even be a viable pick. i'd be open to trading down but who tf is even offering value for 9. gross to see philly, spurs and dallas all move up. altogether an ugly lottery result for us and many others.

[Reeko]

Bryant, Traore, Essengue

I don't see it with Essengue.

[bballsparkin]

ok, so who is definitely gone at 9?
Flagg/Harper/VJ/Ace/Tre/Fears?

Which means we're likely looking at a mix of guys like Kon/Maluach/Queen/Bryant/Fleming/Essengue/Traore/CMB/Kasp/Demin/Sorber at 9.

I wonder if Utah might consider Kon as a Cooper fall back plan.

[LoveMyRaps]

Team Traore here, has 20/5 potential if pans out right. His combination of speed and scoring ability are rare to find in nba.

Seeing others join the Traore-train makes me a happy man.

I want to like him but he doesn't seem to shoot/score very well and doesn't go left often. I wonder if this is something that can be fixed over time or will he be too easy to guard at the next level.

Yes, he doesn't go left often but he HAS the ability to do so if he wants. He's just so quick that he's able to pick which route to take to the rim, which more often than not is his dominant side.

Examples of him going left:

As for his shooting, a couple things to note:
Firstly: He's shooting 45% from the field and 39% from deep in his last 14 games - finishing the season strong
Secondly: Traore plays against much tougher competition and in a league which has a 3pt line further from the basket compared to the NCAA

Spoiler:

[bballsparkin]

I like that he does his work off-ball without needing razzle dazzle dribbles.

I get Glen Rice vibes from Fleming on how he scores. Better defender than Rice too.

But can he shoot like Rice? Top 5 pick if so.