2025 NBA Draft Prospect Part 2

[Psubs]

not exactly a banner weekend for a lot of top prospects outside of the duke guys... jak struggling with his shot today too.

luka trade kinda taking the fun out of this a bit because it's like, what's the point?

Jak continues to have high turnover numbers.

[Clutch0z24]

I feel we need to luck out and get a top 3 pick at least....If we fall to 7/8 in this draft i have a bad feeling about it....I feel we need one of Flagg/Bailey/Harper....We don't have enough high end talent to be excited about this current core with just another meh draft prospect added....No one on our current roster makes me feel confident we will be a legit threat.

[Yallbecrazy]

not exactly a banner weekend for a lot of top prospects outside of the duke guys... jak struggling with his shot today too.

luka trade kinda taking the fun out of this a bit because it's like, what's the point?

CMB had a standout performance yesterday.

[PhilBlackson]

Y’all need to start deciding who out of Noa, CMB or Rasheer do you like most?!

Because the dreams of Ace, VJ, Jak etc are dead lol

I keep telling you “with the 11th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft the Toronto Raptors select…” and believe it or not, it might actually be worse.

But without a blatant commitment to the tank ie/ all vets traded and top players rested, we’re not sniffing top 5 without a miracle fluke into the top 4.

[PhilBlackson]

I feel we need to luck out and get a top 3 pick at least....If we fall to 7/8 in this draft i have a bad feeling about it....I feel we need one of Flagg/Bailey/Harper....We don't have enough high end talent to be excited about this current core with just another meh draft prospect added....No one on our current roster makes me feel confident we will be a legit threat.

We’ll be INCREDIBLY fortunate to stay top 7-8 and I’ll rejoice if we do.

[Psubs]

Y’all need to start deciding who out of Noa, CMB or Rasheer do you like most?!

Because the dreams of Ace, VJ, Jak etc are dead lol

I keep telling you “with the 11th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft the Toronto Raptors select…” and believe it or not, it might actually be worse.

But without a blatant commitment to the tank ie/ all vets traded and top players rested, we’re not sniffing top 5 without a miracle fluke into the top 4.

Gotta start making trades. They look just fine with IQ and Jakobe without Davion. Heck even Shead is out but they are okay.

It looks like IQ is still only like 85% and his minutes are being limited.

[PhilBlackson]

Y’all need to start deciding who out of Noa, CMB or Rasheer do you like most?!

Because the dreams of Ace, VJ, Jak etc are dead lol

I keep telling you “with the 11th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft the Toronto Raptors select…” and believe it or not, it might actually be worse.

But without a blatant commitment to the tank ie/ all vets traded and top players rested, we’re not sniffing top 5 without a miracle fluke into the top 4.

Gotta start making trades. They look just fine with IQ and Jakobe without Davion. Heck even Shead is out but they are okay.

It looks like IQ is still only like 85% and his minutes are being limited.

Pending a draft miracle, this deadline will define whether this franchise will be a pretender or contender for the next 4-5 years until Scottie's option to walk or stay comes to pass (and if we're not a contender by then you can book it now that he goes back to one of the Florida teams). They're playing a very risky game right now that hopefully pays off...

[Psubs]

Sergio de Larrea is up to #21 on Tankathon.

He only played 11 mins yesterday with 4 points (2 for 3, 0 for 1 from deep), 4 rebs, 1 ast (1to), 1 stl, 1 blk.

I think he was a #23, 2 days ago. Micro-scouting.

[Syd-TK3]

I feel we need to luck out and get a top 3 pick at least....If we fall to 7/8 in this draft i have a bad feeling about it....I feel we need one of Flagg/Bailey/Harper....We don't have enough high end talent to be excited about this current core with just another meh draft prospect added....No one on our current roster makes me feel confident we will be a legit threat.

I think I got VJ locked at 4 and I'm really impressed with him rn so anything top 4 is good.
You never draft based on fit but it is a lil unfortunate weve got so many shooting guards tho

The real problem is at this pace it's very unlikely we not picking 7-10

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Of course we're going to not commit to tank in a 5-6 player draft.

Get ready for Ingram boys

[BoyzNTheHood]

Of course we're going to not commit to tank in a 5-6 player draft.

Get ready for Ingram boys

Getting Ingram is committing to the tank in my opinion. You give up winning role players for a guy who could sit out the rest of the season. Literal addition by subtraction.

[RoteSchroder]

Of course we're going to not commit to tank in a 5-6 player draft.

Get ready for Ingram boys

Getting Ingram is committing to the tank in my opinion. You give up winning role players for a guy who could sit out the rest of the season. Literal addition by subtraction.

Dude's not that good of a player even when healthy.

The most I would offer are 2nds, Walter, Chomche. No starters, no 1sts. And Ingram/his agent needs to agree to a contract less than ~$35 M/year

Since none of that is realistic, especially the latter part, we likely lose the trade if we get Ingram under any circumstance.

[S.W.A.N]

Y’all need to start deciding who out of Noa, CMB or Rasheer do you like most?!

Because the dreams of Ace, VJ, Jak etc are dead lol

I keep telling you “with the 11th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft the Toronto Raptors select…” and believe it or not, it might actually be worse.

But without a blatant commitment to the tank ie/ all vets traded and top players rested, we’re not sniffing top 5 without a miracle fluke into the top 4.

Not dead but realistic. Those top 4 are all about luck.

I do like your list. Add Fears Kaman and Asa to the list.

Bottom line there are some real interesting talents in the top 10 so even if the tank fails (god I hope we get lucky) we will get something good out of this draft. I like all those guys more than I liked Dillingham and most of last years options outside of guys like Castle and Sarr

[Son Goku 25]

Id rather trade Dick than Walter. I think Walter will be better than him even though if Dick puts it together he can be a 20 pt scorer in the league plus his size etc.

I think you look at the possibility of getting Ingram without giving up any core pieces and sit him out then all of a sudden you have a top 5 pick potentially with Scottie and Ingram (assuming that pick is on par with Scottie) + some decent role players and all of a sudden you've accelerated your rebuild.

[earthtone]

Y’all need to start deciding who out of Noa, CMB or Rasheer do you like most?!

Because the dreams of Ace, VJ, Jak etc are dead lol

I keep telling you “with the 11th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft the Toronto Raptors select…” and believe it or not, it might actually be worse.

But without a blatant commitment to the tank ie/ all vets traded and top players rested, we’re not sniffing top 5 without a miracle fluke into the top 4.

Not dead but realistic. Those top 4 are all about luck.

I do like your list. Add Fears Kaman and Asa to the list.

Bottom line there are some real interesting talents in the top 10 so even if the tank fails (god I hope we get lucky) we will get something good out of this draft. I like all those guys more than I liked Dillingham and most of last years options outside of guys like Castle and Sarr

Yah, one of the best things about this draft class is the quality depth in the lottery. I'll be happy with wherever we land.

[S.W.A.N]

Y’all need to start deciding who out of Noa, CMB or Rasheer do you like most?!

Because the dreams of Ace, VJ, Jak etc are dead lol

I keep telling you “with the 11th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft the Toronto Raptors select…” and believe it or not, it might actually be worse.

But without a blatant commitment to the tank ie/ all vets traded and top players rested, we’re not sniffing top 5 without a miracle fluke into the top 4.

Not dead but realistic. Those top 4 are all about luck.

I do like your list. Add Fears Kaman and Asa to the list.

Bottom line there are some real interesting talents in the top 10 so even if the tank fails (god I hope we get lucky) we will get something good out of this draft. I like all those guys more than I liked Dillingham and most of last years options outside of guys like Castle and Sarr

Yah, one of the best things about this draft class is the quality depth in the lottery. I'll be happy with wherever we land.

There are also some really interesting prospect that are being mocked into the second round. I think we'll get another quality rotation player like we did last year as well.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Of course we're going to not commit to tank in a 5-6 player draft.

Get ready for Ingram boys

Getting Ingram is committing to the tank in my opinion. You give up winning role players for a guy who could sit out the rest of the season. Literal addition by subtraction.

Dude's not that good of a player even when healthy.

The most I would offer are 2nds, Walter, Chomche. No starters, no 1sts. And Ingram/his agent needs to agree to a contract less than ~$35 M/year

Since none of that is realistic, especially the latter part, we likely lose the trade if we get Ingram under any circumstance.

I think he probably gets offered a 2+1 or 1+1 thats inflated and goes down in value annually with non-guaranteed stipulations

A "prove yourself" Gary type deal

Only makes sense for us if its like you say and the buy in is expirings and maybe a protected pick that likely turns into a second. Anything more and we're committed to paying him or we would have lost rotation players for nothing

I was for trading for him last offseason before I saw how bad we'd be, but trading for him now and resigning him blind when he likely doesn't play much with the roster is risky

[RoteSchroder]

I agree with all of this, but shooting is very unpredictable for draft picks and Ace Bailey has a relatively terrible free throw percentage for a shooter, which is often a good predictor for shooting as a pro.

Klay was also a better defender and had much better assists in college.

If you're drafting a pure shooter then those guys aren't really worth lottery picks unless they can contribute in other ways and Bailey's defense doesn't necessarily project as a weakness like Hawkins, but it's not a strength either.
Klay also had high 80s free throw shooting like most shooters. (Bailey is at 67%)

I understand Klay can't create his own shot like Bailey, but I can also see a large percentage of outcomes where Ace becomes a black hole on offense and doesn't even shoot it well enough to justify him being on the floor while also being a negative in the rest of his game. BBIQ is not something that is easily developed, you don't see many guys come into the league without it and suddenly become good at it. Jaylen Brown is one of the few and even then you would say his bbiq is mostly average, and he is apparently an incredibly intelligent guy off the court so that is not really an example to follow.

I understand the outlier skill he has is important and I foresee him being a poor man's Durant some percentage of the time, but I also see a guy who isn't good enough to start on a contender a very large percentage of the time, and a complete bust some percentage of the time too. Even if he becomes a good or great shooter how much of an overall impact will he have if he makes his teammates worse by being a black hole, and projects to be an average defender at best?

Klay ended up hitting well above his 90th percentile outcome as he became an all time great shooter, but if you're expecting or projecting a guy to be an all time great shooter as the reason for taking him high then you are drafting incorrectly as there are many more guys who end up being streaky shooters who top out around average or above average and are negative overalls because of the rest of their game.

I just can't put him in my top 5 in this class, and I lean toward not putting him in my top 10 either. Maybe last year he was worth a top 3 pick as a boom/bust guy, but there are much better options in this draft at the top.

Bailey is honestly not a bad free throw shooter he just doesn't take much. So having a 1/8 and 2/8 game dramatically hurts the averages. In reality he's more likely a mid 70s guy. I'm not sure how you could see him and think he won't be a good overall shooter or isn't already

He projects as a similar shooter to Beasley.
Beasley as a pro was an averagish shooter who didn't do anything else really well and ended up being a rotation player, but was always below league average.

Beasley actually projected to be a much better defender and significantly better rebounder too.

Bailey and Beasley have similar profiles, and while Beasley obviously hit one of his lower end outcomes he was actually a much superior prospect to Bailey.

Assuming you're talking about Michael Beasley?

Beasley had a lot of off-court issues and mental health struggles too, that may have ultimately affected his NBA career. Putting in the work off-court and staying mentally focused plays a large part in the development of young players, they can't just rely on talent alone.

They seem like completely different prospects to me. Beasley was much more of a driver and less of a shooter (2.9 3PA/game, 8.5 FTA/game). Beasley was also 6'7 without shoes. Ace is a very dynamic shooter, but that is essentially his only elite skill..on top of having great height/length/athleticism.

Anyhow, Ace just had a 3/15 game. Funny that every time he does well, a few of the ppl obsessed with him come out to gloat, then when he does poorly, they disappear. In order to reach his potential, he's gonna need to find ways to score when defenses are tight or if his shot is off. I think Darko's a good coach for him.

[RoteSchroder]

Getting Ingram is committing to the tank in my opinion. You give up winning role players for a guy who could sit out the rest of the season. Literal addition by subtraction.

Dude's not that good of a player even when healthy.

The most I would offer are 2nds, Walter, Chomche. No starters, no 1sts. And Ingram/his agent needs to agree to a contract less than ~$35 M/year

Since none of that is realistic, especially the latter part, we likely lose the trade if we get Ingram under any circumstance.

I think he probably gets offered a 2+1 or 1+1 thats inflated and goes down in value annually with non-guaranteed stipulations

A "prove yourself" Gary type deal

Only makes sense for us if its like you say and the buy in is expirings and maybe a protected pick that likely turns into a second. Anything more and we're committed to paying him or we would have lost rotation players for nothing

I was for trading for him last offseason before I saw how bad we'd be, but trading for him now and resigning him blind when he likely doesn't play much with the roster is risky

Under those circumstances (2+1 or 1+1 contract), I'd be ok with that too as long as we don't give up too much value

[Ell Curry]

Of course we're going to not commit to tank in a 5-6 player draft.

Get ready for Ingram boys

Getting Ingram is committing to the tank in my opinion. You give up winning role players for a guy who could sit out the rest of the season. Literal addition by subtraction.

Trying to think this through:

Raptors - Ingram + DET 1st (from NYK)
Pels - Bruce Brown + Mitchell Robinson + PDX 2nd + McBride
Knicks - Poeltl

for example. Pels get a cheap young guard who is alright, Robinson to split center time next year with Missi and a high 2nd. We get a first and Ingram for Poeltl and a high 2nd, basically.

We tank hard without Poeltl and Brown and re-sign Ingram and let him recover slowly. Try to move RJ for a center this summer, or use the last 14M or so we have under the tax after paying Ingram (most of the MLE) on a 1+1 deal and move picks + Olynyk + Grady + 14M MLE guy in January for a center making 30M or so?

I just have a hard time getting to being excited about an Ingram move, even though trading for an injured guy during a tank makes sense.