2023 Draft Discussion Part 4

[Morse Code]

Jimmy Butler has been incredible in these playoffs. Yet how many of these prospects can you say have a similar style? Not many.

Sensabaugh is kind of like Butler without the defense. A strong, below the rim athlete, scorer, and difficult shot maker. On the plus side, his distance shooting is much better.

I was never a fan until recently when I started digging more into him and wow, what a player. I really think he's going to have a long career and at least 1 all star season. He has Joe Johnson mixed with DeMar mixed with Paul Pierce all over him IMO. Thing is, even if the other stuff doesn't translate as well, or takes several years to really be effective, he's still a big body that can knock it down on catch and shoot, and create a bit if needed. Like bare minimum, you're getting a great floor spacer who isn't Steve Novak with the ball in his hands.

He's my ideal pick at 13 now.

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[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

The more I watch the style of play of these teams in the playoffs the more I can envision Kobe Bufkin becoming a hell of an NBA player. Every day I like this kid more and more. When I think about what he could be in 3-4 years when he's been able to work on his craft and when his body fills out a bit more I really like what that looks like.

[HumbleRen]

The more I watch the style of play of these teams in the playoffs the more I can envision Kobe Bufkin becoming a hell of an NBA player. Every day I like this kid more and more. When I think about what he could be in 3-4 years when he's been able to work on his craft and when his body fills out a bit more I really like what that looks like.

He’s my #1 choice right now.

I really hope Orlando and OKC don’t pick him.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

The more I watch the style of play of these teams in the playoffs the more I can envision Kobe Bufkin becoming a hell of an NBA player. Every day I like this kid more and more. When I think about what he could be in 3-4 years when he's been able to work on his craft and when his body fills out a bit more I really like what that looks like.

He’s my #1 choice right now.

I really hope Orlando and OKC don’t pick him.

He's been my #1 since Cason Wallace opened a lot of eyes with his game against Kansas State and it started to kick in that we probably can't get him as he has seemingly established himself in the top 10. I still think there's a somewhat decent chance Wallace falls to #13 but likely not.

If OKC takes Bufkin I will mald.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Honestly regardless of Wallace's ability I feel like the Raps could just overall use a kid with Bufkin's skillset more than Wallace's skillset. Also like what a properly coached and utilized Scottie Barnes could look like with a player like Bufkin.

[Kevin Willis]

Harper is 23 already. If he hasn't progressed after a full year, cut him loose. New guys are available every year, so don't get attached. I think he's got a decent game but slow feet so he needs to be very efficient in everything he does. Don't really care to use this franchise as post-college training program. Come in ready to contribute.

Harper had a great year in the G-League, maybe you were thinking of someone else? He should've played more for the big club but Nurse had a tight rotation. You're probably thinking of Johnson. The biggest issue with Harper Jr. is he's tubby, besides that he's a scorer that can defend 3 positions.

[DreamTeam09]

Kobe over NSJ and his potential upside?

[BoyzNTheHood]

Jimmy Butler has been incredible in these playoffs. Yet how many of these prospects can you say have a similar style? Not many.

Sensabaugh is kind of like Butler without the defense. A strong, below the rim athlete, scorer, and difficult shot maker. On the plus side, his distance shooting is much better.

I was never a fan until recently when I started digging more into him and wow, what a player. I really think he's going to have a long career and at least 1 all star season. He has Joe Johnson mixed with DeMar mixed with Paul Pierce all over him IMO. Thing is, even if the other stuff doesn't translate as well, or takes several years to really be effective, he's still a big body that can knock it down on catch and shoot, and create a bit if needed. Like bare minimum, you're getting a great floor spacer who isn't Steve Novak with the ball in his hands.

He's my ideal pick at 13 now.

Sent from my LG-H873 using RealGM mobile app

I don’t see the Joe Johnson comparisons with Sensabaugh at all besides the big body. The same goes for Pierce. Maybe offensively they could be comparable if Sensabaugh pans out, but Paul Pierce could also defend. The best comparison is a bigger Derozan. All offense, no defense.

[Dalek]

I am way behind on Jordan Walsh from Arkansas. Not huge numbers in college but he is a five star recruit and when you watch his AAU to college tape he is an elite athlete with an elite motor. He fouls too much and wants to dunk everything, but it is a good aggression and a guy that will make the NBA and possibly start on a good team - the switch defense is that good.

He had some major flashes of being a boxscore filler. This game earlier in the year shows his chaos on court:

Read on Twitter

If I would comp him his closest is Jeremy Sochan, who went lottery in his year after poor shooting splits like Walsh. Sochan was 6'9 and 230 lbs coming out, so quite a bit bigger than Walsh who is at 6'7 and 205 lbs, but you can see the same hustle and energy and probably Walsh is a better athlete. I hear his vertical is over 41 inches and watching him he uses everything he has to board or dunk or defend. He has that early career Pascal energy and killer mentality. I am kind of curious who this guy becomes in time given his motor and competitiveness.

Watch on YouTube

;t=25s&ab_channel=OvertimeNXT

He can get onto an NBA court with his defense. He will be a connective passer and I think will have some ability as a slasher. No idea why he isn't a first on any board given his upside.

[BoyzNTheHood]

I am way behind on Jordan Walsh from Arkansas. Not huge numbers in college but he is a five star recruit and when you watch his AAU to college tape he is an elite athlete with an elite motor. He fouls too much and wants to dunk everything, but it is a good aggression and a guy that will make the NBA and possibly start on a good team - the switch defense is that good.

He had some major flashes of being a boxscore filler. This game earlier in the year shows his chaos on court:

Read on Twitter

If I would comp him his closest is Jeremy Sochan, who went lottery in his year after poor shooting splits like Walsh. Sochan was 6'9 and 230 lbs coming out, so quite a bit bigger than Walsh who is at 6'7 and 205 lbs, but you can see the same hustle and energy and probably Walsh is a better athlete. I hear his vertical is over 41 inches and watching him he uses everything he has to board or dunk or defend. He has that early career Pascal energy and killer mentality. I am kind of curious who this guy becomes in time given his motor and competitiveness.

Watch on YouTube

;t=25s&ab_channel=OvertimeNXT

He can get onto an NBA court with his defense. He will be a connective passer and I think will have some ability as a slasher. No idea why he isn't a first on any board given his upside.

I wouldn’t compare him to Sochan who is more of a Scottie Barnes type. Walsh is closer to Vanderbilt or Renaldo Balkman. His style of player doesn’t stick in the NBA unless they can do a bunch of defensive things at an elite level like Vanderbilt, or if he can add a 3 to his game at at least 35% to play in a PJ Tucker style of role. You can’t just play defense these days. Tony Allen types are going out of style.

[Morse Code]

Sensabaugh is kind of like Butler without the defense. A strong, below the rim athlete, scorer, and difficult shot maker. On the plus side, his distance shooting is much better.

I was never a fan until recently when I started digging more into him and wow, what a player. I really think he's going to have a long career and at least 1 all star season. He has Joe Johnson mixed with DeMar mixed with Paul Pierce all over him IMO. Thing is, even if the other stuff doesn't translate as well, or takes several years to really be effective, he's still a big body that can knock it down on catch and shoot, and create a bit if needed. Like bare minimum, you're getting a great floor spacer who isn't Steve Novak with the ball in his hands.

He's my ideal pick at 13 now.

Sent from my LG-H873 using RealGM mobile app

I don’t see the Joe Johnson comparisons with Sensabaugh at all besides the big body. The same goes for Pierce. Maybe offensively they could be comparable if Sensabaugh pans out, but Paul Pierce could also defend. The best comparison is a bigger Derozan. All offense, no defense.

Yeah, I don’t particularly like player comparisons because, as you just showed, it’s really easy to find things that don’t match. I was referring more to his offensive style and his strengths and where he gets his shots etc. He’s way more fluid than DeMar though, and bigger, and shoots the 3. If you gave me Demar with a 3 ball and better non-post offensive bag, I’d take that at 13 all day.

Obviously there’s playmaking and FTr among other things that are discrepancies as well, but there’s no reason he can’t improve in those areas or other equally valuable areas that DeMar hasn’t improved in.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Some of the weirdness with him is he's big and strong and doesn't draw contact and doesn't take a lot of paint shots. He's just a straight high volume high usage black hole jump shooter. More of a weapon than a hub.

[NotMyKawhi]

Most mocks have these guys as the top 13

Wemb
scoot
miller
twin
twin
whitemore
black
Walker
Dick
Wallace
smith jr
George
Hendricks

take what is left.

[Rapsfan07]

Kobe over NSJ and his potential upside?

Absolutely. I've been on the Bufkin train for a while, glad to see he's getting the respect he deserves.

I don't know if he ends up in the lottery but I think he has the tools and skills to be a good player at the next level.

Was hoping to scoop him up in the 20s but that might not be possible anymore.

[gha4life]

I was never a fan until recently when I started digging more into him and wow, what a player. I really think he's going to have a long career and at least 1 all star season. He has Joe Johnson mixed with DeMar mixed with Paul Pierce all over him IMO. Thing is, even if the other stuff doesn't translate as well, or takes several years to really be effective, he's still a big body that can knock it down on catch and shoot, and create a bit if needed. Like bare minimum, you're getting a great floor spacer who isn't Steve Novak with the ball in his hands.

He's my ideal pick at 13 now.

Sent from my LG-H873 using RealGM mobile app

I don’t see the Joe Johnson comparisons with Sensabaugh at all besides the big body. The same goes for Pierce. Maybe offensively they could be comparable if Sensabaugh pans out, but Paul Pierce could also defend. The best comparison is a bigger Derozan. All offense, no defense.

Yeah, I don’t particularly like player comparisons because, as you just showed, it’s really easy to find things that don’t match. I was referring more to his offensive style and his strengths and where he gets his shots etc. He’s way more fluid than DeMar though, and bigger, and shoots the 3. If you gave me Demar with a 3 ball and better non-post offensive bag, I’d take that at 13 all day.

Obviously there’s playmaking and FTr among other things that are discrepancies as well, but there’s no reason he can’t improve in those areas or other equally valuable areas that DeMar hasn’t improved in.

I always see joe johnson with him without Joe's elite ball handling, he is a bucket getter and the same size and unlike demar a 3 point shooter

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[HumbleRen]

Bufkin averaged 17 points on 50/40/90 splits when the team gave him the keys to the offence in late January to March.

[PhilBlackson]

I'm still sticking with...

Bilal
Cissiko
George

..as my picks unless someone comes to the combine that shocks & looks like a monster (but my guess if that happens it will be Coulibaly...or possibly Sidy). But I like the upside of either of Bilal or Sidy but if we're sticking with more so a "need", then I find a bucket getter like Keyonte so teams can't key into Pascal come Playoff time (as easily) and just George's swagger/confidence - he just doesn't strike me as a kid scared of any moment. The team needs someone like that, badly.

BUT we SHOULD move Fred if we drafted KG, no more mini-backcourt crap. Use Keyonte with Scottie something like how Bron played alongside Kyrie and Jokic with Murray. Use Gary or Fred for a mid-1st, grab one of Hawkins, Murray or maybe you want another scorer, pray Bufkin falls, take a gamble on Maxwell Lewis or Whitehead. Either way this team needs to move on from this so-called "core". At minimum get rid of the mini-backcourt that clearly gets hunted in the PnRs and personally I would move Pascal & OG in some packages that get POR's pick & DAL's pick take another couple swings on guys like Ausar, Whitmore at 5 and then one Walker or Hendricks at 10, if they're not there I'm sure Black would be.

But anyways I realise that's a likely pipe dream with Masai's over attachment to these guys so at least trade Gary. My actual strategy (assuming OKC doesn't draft Bilal before us), would be draft George first since he's the most likely to be drafted first of anyone. Then trade Gary to a mid-lotto type team and take whichever one of Bilal or Cissiko are available.

[Dalek]

I am way behind on Jordan Walsh from Arkansas. Not huge numbers in college but he is a five star recruit and when you watch his AAU to college tape he is an elite athlete with an elite motor. He fouls too much and wants to dunk everything, but it is a good aggression and a guy that will make the NBA and possibly start on a good team - the switch defense is that good.

He had some major flashes of being a boxscore filler. This game earlier in the year shows his chaos on court:

Read on Twitter

If I would comp him his closest is Jeremy Sochan, who went lottery in his year after poor shooting splits like Walsh. Sochan was 6'9 and 230 lbs coming out, so quite a bit bigger than Walsh who is at 6'7 and 205 lbs, but you can see the same hustle and energy and probably Walsh is a better athlete. I hear his vertical is over 41 inches and watching him he uses everything he has to board or dunk or defend. He has that early career Pascal energy and killer mentality. I am kind of curious who this guy becomes in time given his motor and competitiveness.

Watch on YouTube

;t=25s&ab_channel=OvertimeNXT

He can get onto an NBA court with his defense. He will be a connective passer and I think will have some ability as a slasher. No idea why he isn't a first on any board given his upside.

I wouldn’t compare him to Sochan who is more of a Scottie Barnes type. Walsh is closer to Vanderbilt or Renaldo Balkman. His style of player doesn’t stick in the NBA unless they can do a bunch of defensive things at an elite level like Vanderbilt, or if he can add a 3 to his game at at least 35% to play in a PJ Tucker style of role. You can’t just play defense these days. Tony Allen types are going out of style.

You are right. The modern NBA requires a jumper. Form wise he looks good so I think with high level training he gets there. He will be a developmental guy.

He just seems like a guy who does a lot of good on the court with his defense being able to be POA worthy at 6'7. Also he is a slasher who had to sit in the corners in Arkansas so he wasn't in a great role.

[PhilBlackson]

I am way behind on Jordan Walsh from Arkansas. Not huge numbers in college but he is a five star recruit and when you watch his AAU to college tape he is an elite athlete with an elite motor. He fouls too much and wants to dunk everything, but it is a good aggression and a guy that will make the NBA and possibly start on a good team - the switch defense is that good.

He had some major flashes of being a boxscore filler. This game earlier in the year shows his chaos on court:

Read on Twitter

If I would comp him his closest is Jeremy Sochan, who went lottery in his year after poor shooting splits like Walsh. Sochan was 6'9 and 230 lbs coming out, so quite a bit bigger than Walsh who is at 6'7 and 205 lbs, but you can see the same hustle and energy and probably Walsh is a better athlete. I hear his vertical is over 41 inches and watching him he uses everything he has to board or dunk or defend. He has that early career Pascal energy and killer mentality. I am kind of curious who this guy becomes in time given his motor and competitiveness.

Watch on YouTube

;t=25s&ab_channel=OvertimeNXT

He can get onto an NBA court with his defense. He will be a connective passer and I think will have some ability as a slasher. No idea why he isn't a first on any board given his upside.

I wouldn’t compare him to Sochan who is more of a Scottie Barnes type. Walsh is closer to Vanderbilt or Renaldo Balkman. His style of player doesn’t stick in the NBA unless they can do a bunch of defensive things at an elite level like Vanderbilt, or if he can add a 3 to his game at at least 35% to play in a PJ Tucker style of role. You can’t just play defense these days. Tony Allen types are going out of style.

You are right. The modern NBA requires a jumper. Form wise he looks good so I think with high level training he gets there. He will be a developmental guy.

He just seems like a guy who does a lot of good on the court with his defense being able to be POA worthy at 6'7. Also he is a slasher who had to sit in the corners in Arkansas so he wasn't in a great role.

I know most of you guys are probably too young to remember or to have seen Ron Harper Sr (which is more me pointing out how old I'm getting smh lol) but said it awhile ago that I think that's who Walsh reminds me of (defensively lol young Harper was on a different level offensively). But if anyone is old enough to remember the way he defends, it reminds me a ton of him and they're the same size and everything.

He'd be a great pickup in the 2nd rd if we can find a team to part with one but I'd also be really interested in targeting Adem Bona there IF he's still around then - Yak seems like almost the perfect guy to learn from as a rim runner with quick feet around the basket. Obviously has his flaws but could try to develop him in the mold of RW III as an athletic rim protector.

Watch on YouTube

[DreamTeam09]

Kobe over NSJ and his potential upside?

Absolutely. I've been on the Bufkin train for a while, glad to see he's getting the respect he deserves.

I don't know if he ends up in the lottery but I think he has the tools and skills to be a good player at the next level.

Was hoping to scoop him up in the 20s but that might not be possible anymore.

The raps have the 13th pick and it definitely looks like Kobe Bufkin is in play. The way you worded your response makes it seem like we have no shot at him.