2025 NBA Draft Prospect Part 2

[ATLTimekeeper]

Is Harper considered athletic?

This draft is deeper than most, but I just disagreed with Givony's early take on the quality at the top. There are a lot of really strong prospects that I think can contend for best players down the road.

Remember in 2009 when there was a legit tank for Rubio craze. Then it shifted to the "Blake Griffin" draft. Rubio still ended up with a top 7-8 career in that draft class but peaked at solid starter. Rookie of the year was Tyreke Evans. DeMar ends up a top 5 player from that draft class, and the best player went 7th. I don't have the confidence to really say who will be the best (I didn't want us to take Curry or DeMar, lol), but Blake was the best prospect and deserved to go first. That's how I see this one, Flagg is the best prospect and I can easily picture many prospects having better careers.

[Brinbe]

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This is my pick for who ends up being the guy that people overthought being good in the NBA. Numbers are insane and he has size. Would love to see him as a Raptor

Hes the one in the top 5 im a little worried about in terms of superstar potential.....I seen too many times players with the lack of speed/athletic ability have great college years but take a big step back in the NBA....But maybe his size can help him....Still would take Harper 10/10 over this guy but if im in the top 5 i think there might be better options....Id only want Jak if i fall to 6-7 and hes there to take.

Exactly where I'm at too. It's the Stauskas/Sauce Castillo vibes. Skilled player but not sure if he can replicate the same production at the next level.

[ATLTimekeeper]

This is my pick for who ends up being the guy that people overthought being good in the NBA. Numbers are insane and he has size. Would love to see him as a Raptor

Hes the one in the top 5 im a little worried about in terms of superstar potential.....I seen too many times players with the lack of speed/athletic ability have great college years but take a big step back in the NBA....But maybe his size can help him....Still would take Harper 10/10 over this guy but if im in the top 5 i think there might be better options....Id only want Jak if i fall to 6-7 and hes there to take.

Exactly where I'm at too. It's the Stauskas/Sauce Castillo vibes. Skilled player but not sure if he can replicate the same production at the next level.

I think those vibes are just due to a Lithuanian name. They really have different games.

From what I can tell usually a ballhandling guard that busts has some kind of trouble shooting in the NBA that was somewhat evident at the lower level, or a freak thing (like Markelle Fultz changing his form and getting the yips." It's typically one of the safer pocks, but there's a 'athlete/speed demon' archetype that is more prone to busting.

I think Jak is one of the better bets in the lottery to be good. Intangibles seem excellent, too. I would be thrilled if he's a Raptor next year but I do see the obvious conflict with IQ.

[Brinbe]

Hes the one in the top 5 im a little worried about in terms of superstar potential.....I seen too many times players with the lack of speed/athletic ability have great college years but take a big step back in the NBA....But maybe his size can help him....Still would take Harper 10/10 over this guy but if im in the top 5 i think there might be better options....Id only want Jak if i fall to 6-7 and hes there to take.

Exactly where I'm at too. It's the Stauskas/Sauce Castillo vibes. Skilled player but not sure if he can replicate the same production at the next level.

I think those vibes are just due to a Lithuanian name. They really have different games.

From what I can tell usually a ballhandling guard that busts has some kind of trouble shooting in the NBA that was somewhat evident at the lower level, or a freak thing (like Markelle Fultz changing his form and getting the yips." It's typically one of the safer pocks, but there's a 'athlete/speed demon' archetype that is more prone to busting.

I think Jak is one of the better bets in the lottery to be good. Intangibles seem excellent, too. I would be thrilled if he's a Raptor next year but I do see the obvious conflict with IQ.

lol nope. he is athletically limited. no one is casting doubt on cooper are they? that's the entire point. has nothing to do with his name or nationality/ethnicity. y'all nitpick ace but let jak slide, i see y'all for who you are.

[ArthurVandelay]

Exactly where I'm at too. It's the Stauskas/Sauce Castillo vibes. Skilled player but not sure if he can replicate the same production at the next level.

I think those vibes are just due to a Lithuanian name. They really have different games.

From what I can tell usually a ballhandling guard that busts has some kind of trouble shooting in the NBA that was somewhat evident at the lower level, or a freak thing (like Markelle Fultz changing his form and getting the yips." It's typically one of the safer pocks, but there's a 'athlete/speed demon' archetype that is more prone to busting.

I think Jak is one of the better bets in the lottery to be good. Intangibles seem excellent, too. I would be thrilled if he's a Raptor next year but I do see the obvious conflict with IQ.

lol nope. he is athletically limited. no one is casting doubt on cooper are they? that's the entire point. has nothing to do with his name or nationality/ethnicity. y'all nitpick ace but let jak slide, i see y'all for who you are.

I like them both

Jak issue going to be measurements. No way he is 6’6. Bike Summit he was 6’4.5. I’m also struggling to see a 6’8 wing span.

Best comparison I see for him is a larger Brunson. That’s a good player.

[Brinbe]

I think those vibes are just due to a Lithuanian name. They really have different games.

From what I can tell usually a ballhandling guard that busts has some kind of trouble shooting in the NBA that was somewhat evident at the lower level, or a freak thing (like Markelle Fultz changing his form and getting the yips." It's typically one of the safer pocks, but there's a 'athlete/speed demon' archetype that is more prone to busting.

I think Jak is one of the better bets in the lottery to be good. Intangibles seem excellent, too. I would be thrilled if he's a Raptor next year but I do see the obvious conflict with IQ.

lol nope. he is athletically limited. no one is casting doubt on cooper are they? that's the entire point. has nothing to do with his name or nationality/ethnicity. y'all nitpick ace but let jak slide, i see y'all for who you are.

I like them both

Jak issue going to be measurements. No way he is 6’6. Bike Summit he was 6’4.5. I’m also struggling to see a 6’8 wing span.

Best comparison I see for him is a larger Brunson. That’s a good player.

brunson is a unit and has a better bag. I think harper is more of that bigger brunson. I don't know if he's a lead guard at the next level like that, that's my concern. he's gonna be an off-ball shooter with some playmaking

[ATLTimekeeper]

Exactly where I'm at too. It's the Stauskas/Sauce Castillo vibes. Skilled player but not sure if he can replicate the same production at the next level.

I think those vibes are just due to a Lithuanian name. They really have different games.

From what I can tell usually a ballhandling guard that busts has some kind of trouble shooting in the NBA that was somewhat evident at the lower level, or a freak thing (like Markelle Fultz changing his form and getting the yips." It's typically one of the safer pocks, but there's a 'athlete/speed demon' archetype that is more prone to busting.

I think Jak is one of the better bets in the lottery to be good. Intangibles seem excellent, too. I would be thrilled if he's a Raptor next year but I do see the obvious conflict with IQ.

lol nope. he is athletically limited. no one is casting doubt on cooper are they? that's the entire point. has nothing to do with his name or nationality/ethnicity. y'all nitpick ace but let jak slide, i see y'all for who you are.

You just happened to pick the only other Lithuanian guard taken in the lottery, even though they don't play anything like each other. Okay What am I?

[Brinbe]

I think those vibes are just due to a Lithuanian name. They really have different games.

From what I can tell usually a ballhandling guard that busts has some kind of trouble shooting in the NBA that was somewhat evident at the lower level, or a freak thing (like Markelle Fultz changing his form and getting the yips." It's typically one of the safer pocks, but there's a 'athlete/speed demon' archetype that is more prone to busting.

I think Jak is one of the better bets in the lottery to be good. Intangibles seem excellent, too. I would be thrilled if he's a Raptor next year but I do see the obvious conflict with IQ.

lol nope. he is athletically limited. no one is casting doubt on cooper are they? that's the entire point. has nothing to do with his name or nationality/ethnicity. y'all nitpick ace but let jak slide, i see y'all for who you are.

You just happened to pick the only other Lithuanian guard taken in the lottery, even though they don't play anything like each other. Okay What am I?

lol, what the hell? I seriously had zero clue he was lithuanian. he's simply canadian to me. and it wasn't a stylistic one to one comparison. it was comparing someone who is a similar size who was also able to get his game off really well at the NCAA level but struggled to do the same in the NBA and that's my concern. not to say Jak is gonna be a total bust too or that jak isn't playing well but we're trying to project these guys for the next level and everyone should get scrutanized like y'all do with Ace. acting like he's for sure gonna be great is like people slobbing all over podz. how is that working out now?

[720]

Funny little thing I found on twitter, if we draft Ace we’ll have four guys a part of our core that wore number 4 in college.

[ATLTimekeeper]

lol nope. he is athletically limited. no one is casting doubt on cooper are they? that's the entire point. has nothing to do with his name or nationality/ethnicity. y'all nitpick ace but let jak slide, i see y'all for who you are.

You just happened to pick the only other Lithuanian guard taken in the lottery, even though they don't play anything like each other. Okay What am I?

lol, what the hell? I seriously had zero clue he was lithuanian. he's simply canadian to me. and it wasn't a stylistic one to one comparison. it was comparing someone who is a similar size who was also able to get his game off really well at the NCAA level but struggled to do the same in the NBA and that's my concern. not to say Jak is gonna be a total bust too or that jak isn't playing well but we're trying to project these guys for the next level and everyone should get scrutanized like y'all do with Ace. acting like he's for sure gonna be great is like people slobbing all over podz. how is that working out now?

1) Podziemski is...good? Top 6 player on the Warriors this year and the primary prospect Utah asked for in a potential Markannen trade. His 3PT shooting fell off this year, but it was good last year for a rookie. When people 'slobbered all over Podz' it was because they knew he was undervalued in the draft, and imo he's still on track to be a top 10 player in the 2023 draft.

2) Fine, I accept you didn't know Stauskas was Lithuanian. Still, I don't know why anyone would compare players of a similar size from the NCAA. That's a very broad connection.

3) Can't speak for anyone else but Ace gets scrutinized because some of his numbers are weak to the point where very few players become stars in the NBA. It's not really nitpicking for me but just viewing it in terms of where the player should be taken. GG Jackson had even worse stats and looked very good in his rookie year, but he went 45th. If I'm throwing a season I want better odds. By contrast, there are plenty of stars in the NBA who had their athleticism questioned before the draft. It's one of those things that is just hard to gauge, and NBA types get it wrong a lot.

[Ell Curry]

Flagg with 24 pts, 11 rebs, 3 ast, 1 stl and 2 blks, shooting 7 for 12 (8 for 8 FT and 2 for 2 from deep)

Watch on YouTube

Is he a very athletic Christian Laettner with bigger wingspan?

Rich man's Franz Wagner on defense, poor man's Franz Wagner on offense

Michigan didn't ask Franz to do anything near this much on O as a similar aged freshman* or even as a sophomore. Both teams had really nice 6 to 8 man rotations where pretty much everyone was around 20 usage. Franz had a lot of games where his only real offensive contribution was using his length to go right and finish off of curl screens/cuts/pick and rolls and usual run the floor/hit 3s on meh percentages athletic SF stuff. Flagg's advanced numbers would have been better and his raw stats weaker in the same setup.

His numbers would have plummeted if he had to do a bunch of mid-range stuff. It looks like if you take out garbage time, then Flagg is taking as many "far 2s" as the rest of his entire team combined! That's insane. Franz was like 8th in long 2s attempted as a freshman and in a group with 2 other wings about tied for 3rd through 5th. Both years the main long 2/halfcourt kinda mid to late in possession guys on Michigan were the PG and a pick and pop type center.

Someone who's seen Duke way more than I have should weigh in here, but why are Proctor and Knueppel not running more stuff and Maluach not mixing things up and taking the odd pick and pop jumper/getting more roll catches to finish? Their offensive distribution looks like what you'd expect if Flagg was playing at a mid-major.

*Franz was 5 or 6 months older than Flagg, but also coming over from Germany, so I'd say that's a slight point in Franz's favor., harder to switch continents/primary on court-language.

[Psubs]

Funny little thing I found on twitter, if we draft Ace we’ll have four guys a part of our core that wore number 4 in college.

The 4 Horseman of the Championships

[Ell Curry]

Uhhh, why white comparisons? Poor man's Lebron is probably the best comparison I can think of.

I guess Lebron but who else besides him? Banchero? I did make a Blake Griffin comp before.

I would probably prefer the Blake Griffin comp. Flagg doesn't have LeBron's fluiditity/dexterity. He's got more of a Blake Griffin type of athleticism/physical tools package - great vertical, but also doesn't have great wingspan nor large hands. Better footwork and lateral quickness than Blake though. There's never a perfect comp...

I dunno, Blake's athleticism was insane in college. Zion is the only guy I've seen who compares as a forward in college.

[CanadaB-Ball]

Exactly where I'm at too. It's the Stauskas/Sauce Castillo vibes. Skilled player but not sure if he can replicate the same production at the next level.

I think those vibes are just due to a Lithuanian name. They really have different games.

From what I can tell usually a ballhandling guard that busts has some kind of trouble shooting in the NBA that was somewhat evident at the lower level, or a freak thing (like Markelle Fultz changing his form and getting the yips." It's typically one of the safer pocks, but there's a 'athlete/speed demon' archetype that is more prone to busting.

I think Jak is one of the better bets in the lottery to be good. Intangibles seem excellent, too. I would be thrilled if he's a Raptor next year but I do see the obvious conflict with IQ.

lol nope. he is athletically limited. no one is casting doubt on cooper are they? that's the entire point. has nothing to do with his name or nationality/ethnicity. y'all nitpick ace but let jak slide, i see y'all for who you are.

Maybe because Jak has a very promising statistical profile and Bailey’s is awful?

[ATLTimekeeper]

Flagg with 24 pts, 11 rebs, 3 ast, 1 stl and 2 blks, shooting 7 for 12 (8 for 8 FT and 2 for 2 from deep)

Watch on YouTube

Is he a very athletic Christian Laettner with bigger wingspan?

Rich man's Franz Wagner on defense, poor man's Franz Wagner on offense

Michigan didn't ask Franz to do anything near this much on O as a similar aged freshman* or even as a sophomore. Both teams had really nice 6 to 8 man rotations where pretty much everyone was around 20 usage. Franz had a lot of games where his only real offensive contribution was using his length to go right and finish off of curl screens/cuts/pick and rolls and usual run the floor/hit 3s on meh percentages athletic SF stuff. Flagg's advanced numbers would have been better and his raw stats weaker in the same setup.

His numbers would have plummeted if he had to do a bunch of mid-range stuff. It looks like if you take out garbage time, then Flagg is taking as many "far 2s" as the rest of his entire team combined! That's insane. Franz was like 8th in long 2s attempted as a freshman and in a group with 2 other wings about tied for 3rd through 5th. Both years the main long 2/halfcourt kinda mid to late in possession guys on Michigan were the PG and a pick and pop type center.

Someone who's seen Duke way more than I have should weigh in here, but why are Proctor and Knueppel not running more stuff and Maluach not mixing things up and taking the odd pick and pop jumper/getting more roll catches to finish? Their offensive distribution looks like what you'd expect if Flagg was playing at a mid-major.

*Franz was 5 or 6 months older than Flagg, but also coming over from Germany, so I'd say that's a slight point in Franz's favor., harder to switch continents/primary on court-language.

fwiw Franz is an outlier in terms of scoring volume. He went from a low scoring volume/40 in college, which is why I thought he would be more of a Battier type pick, to a legit 20+ppg scorer in the NBA. There aren't too many players that averaged < 16/40 that ended up being good scorers in the NBA.

Cooper is at 22.6/40 as a freshman.
Franz was 15.7/40 as a sophomore.

[LoveMyRaps]

Flagg is better than Franz in every way, shape, & form.

[Ell Curry]

fwiw Franz is an outlier in terms of scoring volume. He went from a low scoring volume/40 in college, which is why I thought he would be more of a Battier type pick, to a legit 20+ppg scorer in the NBA. There aren't too many players that averaged < 16/40 that ended up being good scorers in the NBA.

Cooper is at 22.6/40 as a freshman.
Franz was 15.7/40 as a sophomore.

Yeah, in hindsight the Franz indicators compared to say Battier:

-Slightly better athlete than Battier. Slightly longer, definitely lighter on his feet.
-Wagner improved from a meh passer to a pretty good one from FR to SO years. Battier never did.

My point is that Flagg is just doing way too much and Duke's offense is worse (11th) than their D (3rd) and should be more egalitarian. If Franz had to run that many halfcourt possessions as a FR or SO he would have struggled to be efficient too. Everything I've read suggests that Flagg isn't always this ball dominant, so seems like Scheyer is just running the O that way?

[Ell Curry]

VJ Edgecombe vs Iowa State (4 points, 1-9 FG, 0-3 3FG, 7 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals, 36 MIN)
Yikes

He's more of a cerebral glue guy that happens to be a great athlete. Weak handle. Weak scorer. I see him as a top 6 player on a winning team, but not a star.

Andre Iguodala was always a guy that scaled up horribly but eventually found his place on high level winners. Edgecombe looks like he could do that.

Iguodala was longer, but if they're similar types, I'd be on board if we can't get a top 2 pick and Edgecombe is there at #6 or #7 or wherever we might pick. Ideally we get a start, but there are crazier ideas than bringing in a glue guy on the wing and if using both 2026 draft on high upside offensive types, or 1 on one of those, 1 on a young center and we eventually go all-in with an army of picks trade for a scoring wing.

[Jstock12]

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[Clutch0z24]

Exactly where I'm at too. It's the Stauskas/Sauce Castillo vibes. Skilled player but not sure if he can replicate the same production at the next level.

I think those vibes are just due to a Lithuanian name. They really have different games.

From what I can tell usually a ballhandling guard that busts has some kind of trouble shooting in the NBA that was somewhat evident at the lower level, or a freak thing (like Markelle Fultz changing his form and getting the yips." It's typically one of the safer pocks, but there's a 'athlete/speed demon' archetype that is more prone to busting.

I think Jak is one of the better bets in the lottery to be good. Intangibles seem excellent, too. I would be thrilled if he's a Raptor next year but I do see the obvious conflict with IQ.

lol nope. he is athletically limited. no one is casting doubt on cooper are they? that's the entire point. has nothing to do with his name or nationality/ethnicity. y'all nitpick ace but let jak slide, i see y'all for who you are.

Yeah it really has nothing to do with where he is from....I think he has obvious skills that can translate to the NBA but he also has the lowest "Superstar" potential in the top 5 for me....He could maybe be a really good starting PG one day for a team....But i think he will deff have his struggles in the NBA as a lead PG and will need to adjust to the athletic players in the NBA....In College hes bigger and stronger than most of the players hes going up against ....

Its like the Jimmer thing...Great college player who shot better than Curry in college....But in the NBA there were faster/stronger/more atheltic players he had to go against which limited his development...

Jak is also not the best defender....Like i said if we move to 7-9 and hes on the board take him and see how it plays out....But in the top 5 there are just higher upside players available still