And Then There Was One: Thank Nation 2. Raps pick 23rd

[OakleyDokely]

I'd love John Collins to fall to us. Unlikely though. He probably goes late lottery.

I like Thornwell as a sleeper. He does a lot of things so well. Good size and wingspan for the guard position. Like Norm, he could be overlooked because of his age, and thus "lack of potential"

[OAKLEY_2]

I looked up some numbers on Semi and Devin Robinson and when comparing them to the kind of small forwards we seem to want(guys who can shoot and defend with potential to be more aka. Kawhi, Butler etc.)
there seems to be an obvious trend that we haven't discussed. Great defenders DO put up numbers in college. Specifically they all average a good steal total. Kawhi and Butler for example both averaged 1.4 steals a game in their final college season. Kawhi also averaged 10 rebounds which is beastly for a small forward. Semi averages 0.4 steals a game in 36 minutes which is simply terrible. He's more Joey Graham than anything statistically speaking. I've read about the steal correlation to pro defense before and intuitively figured it was correct, but never looked up numbers for these prospects.
I think it's easier to teach offense than defense and Semi seems to lack something.
As for Devin Robinson, he is very limited on offense. He is strictly a catch and shoot guy and was shut down when forced off the 3 point line. However, his defensive numbers were very encouraging. In only 26 minutes a game he averaged almost 1 steal and 1 block a game. He was also a better rebounder per 40 minutes than Semi by a good margin.
Again Robinson is very flawed on offense. He hasn't shown an ability to put the ball on the floor and isn't much of a passer either. But I'll take defense over offense more often than not.

Why not trade Cory for cap space and a second rounder. Then go with the tandem of Gamecocks Dozier and Thornwell. Park them a whole season in 905. Did wonders for Delon and Norm. Cannot think of a better strategy and last year was wanting to go Marquis Chriss and Dejounte Murray until it became clear Chriss was unlikely to be there and Jakob became the obvious pick.

[BoyzNTheHood]

How do people feel about Theo Pinson? Underwhelming scorer, but a jack of all trades for UNC. Could become a super high end role player.

[S ID]

Jonah Bolden

Watch on YouTube

[OAKLEY_2]

I'd love John Collins to fall to us. Unlikely though. He probably goes late lottery.

I like Thornwell as a sleeper. He does a lot of things so well. Good size and wingspan for the guard position. Like Norm, he could be overlooked because of his age, and thus "lack of potential"

Got slammed for promoting Dejounte last year. Then Pops & Co. took him same as they took a flyer on Joseph. I think Thornwell has the will and mindset to be a solid rotation player. He is the Norm overlooked proposition so we would have trade down or acquire him in a draft night trade.

[OakleyDokely]

I'd love John Collins to fall to us. Unlikely though. He probably goes late lottery.

I like Thornwell as a sleeper. He does a lot of things so well. Good size and wingspan for the guard position. Like Norm, he could be overlooked because of his age, and thus "lack of potential"

Got slammed for promoting Dejounte last year. Then Pops & Co. took him same as they took a flyer on Joseph. I think Thornwell has the will and mindset to be a solid rotation player. He is the Norm overlooked proposition so we would have trade down or acquire him in a draft night trade.

It would depend on what's available, but I wouldn't mind taking Thornwell at 23.

[Tortiglioni]

I'd take:

Harry Giles
OG
Ike Anigbogu
Terrance Ferguson
Hamidou Diallo

[CoachJReturns]

I looked up some numbers on Semi and Devin Robinson and when comparing them to the kind of small forwards we seem to want(guys who can shoot and defend with potential to be more aka. Kawhi, Butler etc.)
there seems to be an obvious trend that we haven't discussed. Great defenders DO put up numbers in college. Specifically they all average a good steal total. Kawhi and Butler for example both averaged 1.4 steals a game in their final college season. Kawhi also averaged 10 rebounds which is beastly for a small forward. Semi averages 0.4 steals a game in 36 minutes which is simply terrible. He's more Joey Graham than anything statistically speaking. I've read about the steal correlation to pro defense before and intuitively figured it was correct, but never looked up numbers for these prospects.
I think it's easier to teach offense than defense and Semi seems to lack something.
As for Devin Robinson, he is very limited on offense. He is strictly a catch and shoot guy and was shut down when forced off the 3 point line. However, his defensive numbers were very encouraging. In only 26 minutes a game he averaged almost 1 steal and 1 block a game. He was also a better rebounder per 40 minutes than Semi by a good margin.
Again Robinson is very flawed on offense. He hasn't shown an ability to put the ball on the floor and isn't much of a passer either. But I'll take defense over offense more often than not.

Why not trade Cory for cap space and a second rounder. Then go with the tandem of Gamecocks Dozier and Thornwell. Park them a whole season in 905. Did wonders for Delon and Norm. Cannot think of a better strategy and last year was wanting to go Marquis Chriss and Dejounte Murray until it became clear Chriss was unlikely to be there and Jakob became the obvious pick.

I get why you want Thornwell, but why the heck would we want Dozier? He's another shooting guard who can't shoot and we have a couple of those already. I mean guys improve, but 28 percent from 3 in college as a sophomore is atrocious and it was a large sample size as he took 3 a game. He also shot 59 percent at the line, which any scout would be foolish to ignore. Dozier is a real possibility to go undrafted, so there's no sense in giving up anything of value to draft him. Just invite him to camp and sign him to a D League 2 way contract at most.
I wouldn't be mad about taking Thornwell though. Scouting reports suggests he lacks some quickness and explosiveness, but his rebounding and steal numbers are encouraging and his 3 point shooting was solid if not great. He also had some impressive performances in the NCAAs which is never a bad thing.
I still lean toward Evans and Robinson right now, but I wouldn't be mad about drafting Thornwell.

I also could live with LonzoBallin's choice of drafting Swanigan, though I don't think we're the best team for him. Casey has his strengths, but figuring out how to mazimize the talents of guys who aren't good defenders and aren't guards is not one of them. But he can post up, shoot, pass and rebound, so at least we know he can play.

[CoachJReturns]

How do people feel about Theo Pinson? Underwhelming scorer, but a jack of all trades for UNC. Could become a super high end role player.

Another guy that could go undrafted, or will be taken in the mid-late second round. A wing who can't shoot isn't really an in demand commodity these days. He can pass though, by the look of it.
I think among the small forwards left on the board with our pick I'd just stick with Devin Robinson. He put up solid numbers as a junior and would be arguably our most athletic player. He's flawed as well with his lack of a handle, but everyone in our range will be flawed in some way, shape or form. At least this one has NBA 3 point range(he hit some very deep 3s in college), can defend multiple positions and may still have a lot of upside left due to his length and explosiveness.

[OAKLEY_2]

I looked up some numbers on Semi and Devin Robinson and when comparing them to the kind of small forwards we seem to want(guys who can shoot and defend with potential to be more aka. Kawhi, Butler etc.)
there seems to be an obvious trend that we haven't discussed. Great defenders DO put up numbers in college. Specifically they all average a good steal total. Kawhi and Butler for example both averaged 1.4 steals a game in their final college season. Kawhi also averaged 10 rebounds which is beastly for a small forward. Semi averages 0.4 steals a game in 36 minutes which is simply terrible. He's more Joey Graham than anything statistically speaking. I've read about the steal correlation to pro defense before and intuitively figured it was correct, but never looked up numbers for these prospects.
I think it's easier to teach offense than defense and Semi seems to lack something.
As for Devin Robinson, he is very limited on offense. He is strictly a catch and shoot guy and was shut down when forced off the 3 point line. However, his defensive numbers were very encouraging. In only 26 minutes a game he averaged almost 1 steal and 1 block a game. He was also a better rebounder per 40 minutes than Semi by a good margin.
Again Robinson is very flawed on offense. He hasn't shown an ability to put the ball on the floor and isn't much of a passer either. But I'll take defense over offense more often than not.

Why not trade Cory for cap space and a second rounder. Then go with the tandem of Gamecocks Dozier and Thornwell. Park them a whole season in 905. Did wonders for Delon and Norm. Cannot think of a better strategy and last year was wanting to go Marquis Chriss and Dejounte Murray until it became clear Chriss was unlikely to be there and Jakob became the obvious pick.

I get why you want Thornwell, but why the heck would we want Dozier? He's another shooting guard who can't shoot and we have a couple of those already. I mean guys improve, but 28 percent from 3 in college as a sophomore is atrocious and it was a large sample size as he took 3 a game. He also shot 59 percent at the line, which any scout would be foolish to ignore. Dozier is a real possibility to go undrafted, so there's no sense in giving up anything of value to draft him. Just invite him to camp and sign him to a D League 2 way contract at most.
I wouldn't be mad about taking Thornwell though. Scouting reports suggests he lacks some quickness and explosiveness, but his rebounding and steal numbers are encouraging and his 3 point shooting was solid if not great. He also had some impressive performances in the NCAAs which is never a bad thing.
I still lean toward Evans and Robinson right now, but I wouldn't be mad about drafting Thornwell.

I also could live with LonzoBallin's choice of drafting Swanigan, though I don't think we're the best team for him. Casey has his strengths, but figuring out how to mazimize the talents of guys who aren't good defenders and aren't guards is not one of them. But he can post up, shoot, pass and rebound, so at least we know he can play.

Powell college:

Career
G
141
PTS
9.8
TRB
3.0
AST
1.5
FG%
46.1
FG3%
31.4
FT%
74.6
eFG%
51.2

Dozier
2016-17
Career
G
70
PTS
13.9
TRB
4.8
AST
2.8
FG%
40.7
FG3%
29.8
FT%
59.7
57.9
eFG%
45.2

[CoachJReturns]

Why not trade Cory for cap space and a second rounder. Then go with the tandem of Gamecocks Dozier and Thornwell. Park them a whole season in 905. Did wonders for Delon and Norm. Cannot think of a better strategy and last year was wanting to go Marquis Chriss and Dejounte Murray until it became clear Chriss was unlikely to be there and Jakob became the obvious pick.

I get why you want Thornwell, but why the heck would we want Dozier? He's another shooting guard who can't shoot and we have a couple of those already. I mean guys improve, but 28 percent from 3 in college as a sophomore is atrocious and it was a large sample size as he took 3 a game. He also shot 59 percent at the line, which any scout would be foolish to ignore. Dozier is a real possibility to go undrafted, so there's no sense in giving up anything of value to draft him. Just invite him to camp and sign him to a D League 2 way contract at most.
I wouldn't be mad about taking Thornwell though. Scouting reports suggests he lacks some quickness and explosiveness, but his rebounding and steal numbers are encouraging and his 3 point shooting was solid if not great. He also had some impressive performances in the NCAAs which is never a bad thing.
I still lean toward Evans and Robinson right now, but I wouldn't be mad about drafting Thornwell.

I also could live with LonzoBallin's choice of drafting Swanigan, though I don't think we're the best team for him. Casey has his strengths, but figuring out how to mazimize the talents of guys who aren't good defenders and aren't guards is not one of them. But he can post up, shoot, pass and rebound, so at least we know he can play.

Powell college:

Career
G
141
PTS
9.8
TRB
3.0
AST
1.5
FG%
46.1
FG3%
31.4
FT%
74.6
eFG%
51.2

Dozier
2016-17
Career
G
70
PTS
13.9
TRB
4.8
AST
2.8
FG%
40.7
FG3%
29.8
FT%
59.7
57.9
eFG%
45.2

Very poor argument. Powell was twice the player he was in his final 2 years of college than his first two. This proves nothing.
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/norman-powell-1.html

[BoyzNTheHood]

How do people feel about Theo Pinson? Underwhelming scorer, but a jack of all trades for UNC. Could become a super high end role player.

Another guy that could go undrafted, or will be taken in the mid-late second round. A wing who can't shoot isn't really an in demand commodity these days. He can pass though, by the look of it.
I think among the small forwards left on the board with our pick I'd just stick with Devin Robinson. He put up solid numbers as a junior and would be arguably our most athletic player. He's flawed as well with his lack of a handle, but everyone in our range will be flawed in some way, shape or form. At least this one has NBA 3 point range(he hit some very deep 3s in college), can defend multiple positions and may still have a lot of upside left due to his length and explosiveness.

I'm not sure I like Robinson as much as you. Admittedly I haven't done enough research on him, but what little I've seen hasn't impressed me. I get an Ariza-at-best vibe from him. If it's between him and a guy like Wesley Iwundu I'd go with Wes all day. Even a guy like Peter Jok intrigues me more.

Jok is so lights out. He also gets his shot off in very little space which bodes well for the NBA. He creates a little too and defends pretty well. Definitely a huge sleeper because he's already 23 iirc.

[DreamTeam09]

Jonah Bolden

Watch on YouTube

Please draft this guy. At his size and length, defensive versatility with a legit jumper. Leaping ability to boot. He has it all.

[RaptorsLife]

Last 4 masai picks. Are turning out to be good. So I trust whatever he does

[CoachJReturns]

Last 4 masai picks. Are turning out to be good. So I trust whatever he does

He's definitely done a better job with later picks than any Raptor GM before him. That's critical for a team with zero cap space.
The only pick the Raptors made later than 9th who was good, before Masai showed up was Mo Pete way back in 2000. As terrible as his first draft was with us(Bruno and Daniels), he's been good since.

[CoachJReturns]

How do people feel about Theo Pinson? Underwhelming scorer, but a jack of all trades for UNC. Could become a super high end role player.

Another guy that could go undrafted, or will be taken in the mid-late second round. A wing who can't shoot isn't really an in demand commodity these days. He can pass though, by the look of it.
I think among the small forwards left on the board with our pick I'd just stick with Devin Robinson. He put up solid numbers as a junior and would be arguably our most athletic player. He's flawed as well with his lack of a handle, but everyone in our range will be flawed in some way, shape or form. At least this one has NBA 3 point range(he hit some very deep 3s in college), can defend multiple positions and may still have a lot of upside left due to his length and explosiveness.

I'm not sure I like Robinson as much as you. Admittedly I haven't done enough research on him, but what little I've seen hasn't impressed me. I get an Ariza-at-best vibe from him. If it's between him and a guy like Wesley Iwundu I'd go with Wes all day. Even a guy like Peter Jok intrigues me more.

Jok is so lights out. He also gets his shot off in very little space which bodes well for the NBA. He creates a little too and defends pretty well. Definitely a huge sleeper because he's already 23 iirc.

Frankly, getting an Ariza at 23 would be terrific. There really aren't any guys with supremely high ceilings in our range, so we can't expect a star. If Robinson became an Ariza clone, that's enough to start for us at small forward. We've been historically terrible at that position. lol.
Robinson is basically going to be a good defender who can shoot and will make some highlight reel dunks once in a while. The fact that he blocks shots, gets steals and rebounds all at a decent clip is what I like. That and the improvement in his 3 point percentage as a junior is very encouraging.
He's not Kawhi(nobody is), but he'll be solid I think. I just don't see anyone in our range who will be better, or if they are it won't be by much. When there's a bunch of similar level prospects, I think team fit has to be taken into consideration. We have youth at every position except small forward, so we might as well grab one.

[OakleyDokely]

Senior Year:

Thornwell (SEC): 33.9 minutes, 21.4 points (on 14.2 shots), 7.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.1 steals, .444 FG%, .392 3PT%, .830 FT%
Powell (Pac12): 34.6 minutes, 16.4 points (on 13.0 shots), 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 steals, .456 FG%, .319 3PT%, .751 FT%

Powell is 6'4 with a 6'10 wingspan. Thornwell is 6'5 with a 6'9 wingspan.

Norm is the more explosive player, which translates better at the NBA level, but Thornwell is crafty and he got to the line a lot (averaged over 8 FT attempts per game)

[CoachJReturns]

Senior Year:

Thornwell (SEC): 33.9 minutes, 21.4 points (on 14.2 shots), 7.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.1 steals, .444 FG%, .392 3PT%, .830 FT%
Powell (Pac12): 34.6 minutes, 16.4 points (on 13.0 shots), 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 steals, .456 FG%, .319 3PT%, .751 FT%

Norm is the more explosive player, which translates better at the NBA level, but Thornwell is crafty and he got to the line a lot (averaged over 8 FT attempts per game)

Like I said, Thornwell is fine. Dozier looks like trash.

[DreamTeam09]

Senior Year:

Thornwell (SEC): 33.9 minutes, 21.4 points (on 14.2 shots), 7.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.1 steals, .444 FG%, .392 3PT%, .830 FT%
Powell (Pac12): 34.6 minutes, 16.4 points (on 13.0 shots), 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 steals, .456 FG%, .319 3PT%, .751 FT%

Powell is 6'4 with a 6'10 wingspan. Thornwell is 6'5 with a 6'9 wingspan.

Norm is the more explosive player, which translates better at the NBA level, but Thornwell is crafty and he got to the line a lot (averaged over 8 FT attempts per game)

What on earth are we going to do with another 6'5 sg?

Gimmie a 6'8-6'10 SF Shooter plz

[OakleyDokely]

Senior Year:

Thornwell (SEC): 33.9 minutes, 21.4 points (on 14.2 shots), 7.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.1 steals, .444 FG%, .392 3PT%, .830 FT%
Powell (Pac12): 34.6 minutes, 16.4 points (on 13.0 shots), 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 steals, .456 FG%, .319 3PT%, .751 FT%

Powell is 6'4 with a 6'10 wingspan. Thornwell is 6'5 with a 6'9 wingspan.

Norm is the more explosive player, which translates better at the NBA level, but Thornwell is crafty and he got to the line a lot (averaged over 8 FT attempts per game)

What on earth are we going to do with another 6'5 sg?

Gimmie a 6'8-6'10 SF Shooter plz

Picking late 1st round, you take best player available.