2024 NBA DRAFT THREAD

[Karanpal]

Devin Carter seems really interesting

[BoyzNTheHood]

Is there a more elite defender in this draft than Ryan Dunn? The kid is a stud. He reminds me of Thybuille right now in that he’s just an elite defense and not much more, but if he can learn to shoot 3’s he’ll become a HUGE plus for whoever drafts him.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Is there a more elite defender in this draft than Ryan Dunn? The kid is a stud. He reminds me of Thybuille right now in that he’s just an elite defense and not much more, but if he can learn to shoot 3’s he’ll become a HUGE plus for whoever drafts him.

He's one of my favorite players in the draft.

I believe in his shooting coming around, I don't think the shot is broken. Not only is he an elite defender he is a hardcore rebounder. He's also taller and longer than Thybulle, imagine. Would 100% use a draft pick on him and he can put the ball on the floor and drive and finish at a sufficiently high level. If the shooting comes around we are talking about someone who can actually live up to the dozens of Shawn Marion comps thrown around every year.

[Jerry Lucas]

DeanOnDraft pretty much thinks that Nikola Topic has SGA level upside (also threw out a Doncic-lite upside comp):

https://deanondraft.substack.com/p/how-good-is-nikola-topic

Stylistically, he is most similar to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a long and skinny guard with smooth penetration ability. Topic thus far seems a bit better than Shai in terms of pre-draft, as he is 13 months younger now than Shai was an an NCAA freshman. Shai has progressed about as well as possible in the NBA, but again is a favorable sign that smooth but non-explosive penetration translates to higher levels.

His D also didn't look good from the little I have watched, so I would be worried he is going to be something like -2 defense on average.

That said, still has upside to be best offensive player in the NBA if his 3P Shooting catches up to hit FT%. So I'd still take him #1 in this horrible class. But in a stronger year, not sure I would take him top 5.

[OAKLEY_2]

DeanOnDraft pretty much thinks that Nikola Topic has SGA level upside (also threw out a Doncic-lite upside comp):

https://deanondraft.substack.com/p/how-good-is-nikola-topic

Stylistically, he is most similar to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a long and skinny guard with smooth penetration ability. Topic thus far seems a bit better than Shai in terms of pre-draft, as he is 13 months younger now than Shai was an an NCAA freshman. Shai has progressed about as well as possible in the NBA, but again is a favorable sign that smooth but non-explosive penetration translates to higher levels.

His D also didn't look good from the little I have watched, so I would be worried he is going to be something like -2 defense on average.

That said, still has upside to be best offensive player in the NBA if his 3P Shooting catches up to hit FT%. So I'd still take him #1 in this horrible class. But in a stronger year, not sure I would take him top 5.

Def the pick with our lotto pick. Pacers pick should grab Adem Bona. Late first or early second grab Zac Edey. Imagine if we walked away with Hot Topic, Big Bona, Zed Edey and Bronny J. Out is OPjr., Thad, Temple and Boucher.

[OAKLEY_2]

Roster: Scottie, Poetl, IQ, RJ Baŕett, Jalen McDs, Brown, Trent jr., Dennis, Dick, Nwora, Kira, Nikola Topic, Adem Bona, Zac Edey, Bronny, Jontay.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

DeanOnDraft pretty much thinks that Nikola Topic has SGA level upside (also threw out a Doncic-lite upside comp):

https://deanondraft.substack.com/p/how-good-is-nikola-topic

Stylistically, he is most similar to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a long and skinny guard with smooth penetration ability. Topic thus far seems a bit better than Shai in terms of pre-draft, as he is 13 months younger now than Shai was an an NCAA freshman. Shai has progressed about as well as possible in the NBA, but again is a favorable sign that smooth but non-explosive penetration translates to higher levels.

His D also didn't look good from the little I have watched, so I would be worried he is going to be something like -2 defense on average.

That said, still has upside to be best offensive player in the NBA if his 3P Shooting catches up to hit FT%. So I'd still take him #1 in this horrible class. But in a stronger year, not sure I would take him top 5.

I think Topic would have gone top 5 in 2023. In terms of upside yeah, if he starts nailing 3's and developing a deeper bag, which he should be able to do given what he has shown in terms of FT shooting, ballhandling and body control, we should see him gradually start filling it up and producing at an elite level offensively. I never really worked out the conclusions of that in my mind but Dean is right in that they do lead to an elite offensive player. Topic is an absolute menace driving to the rim and we were just talking about FTR + FT% being strong prerequisites for hyper efficiency.

A guy like RJ Barrett lumbers to the rim whereas Topic glides there and I disagree with Dean in that Topic has shown genuine explosion as a driver at times depending on the angles he takes and the situation. Raps need a guy who can keep a defense on their heels like that.

Furthermore Topic plays with pace and can collapse a defense, he carries gravity with him and because of his skill as a passer he frequently creates high % looks for teammates.

I agree he is clearly the top dog this year.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

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[Purple+Black]

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Seems pretty mid to me, hope he proves me wrong once in the league

[Ell Curry]

Last year I called Filipowski soft after watching him get abused by players with size and strength. This season he has still struggled with size/strength so my mind hasn't been changed and his struggles aren't because of his body, the guy is 7' 250 lbs. He has done a great job improving his game and by all accounts he is a really hard worker. There are some people who say he's Kristaps Porzingis and others who say Kelly Olynyk and I'd have to gravitate towards the Olynyk comps, the Porzingis stuff is way too bullish. I'm glad you can also see that he's an oversized PF and not a C.

I'm not sure how well PJ Hall's game translates to the NBA and I watched Norchad Omier absolutely wreck him recently. That really made me question how legitimate he is despite the stats so I agree here.

Antonio Reeves screwed my bracket last year as Cason Wallace had a masterful performance against K-State and Reeves went 1-15 from the field (1-10 from downtown). It was one of the worst tournament performances I have ever witnessed. He's a massive DND for me for many reasons.

I actually disagree with the bolded. Filipowski looks like a 5 to me in the modern NBA, he's just not quick enough to be a 4. I meant he's probably a backup 5 because he isn't good enough defensively to start. Olynyk was lighter and just a crazy efficient scorer in college. Filipowski I think will be better defensively at the 5 than Olynyk, but it would be tough to see him starting at center for a good team unless they have really good defense from 1-4 and some help inside at the 4. We could use a stretch 5 to help open things up, so I wouldn't rule out us looking at him as a backup to Poeltl. Definitely higher on him than a guy like Hall because Barnes should be playing 33-35 minutes a night at the 4, so getting a center who can create space for him and Barrett to drive just fits better than a stretch 4 playing at most 15 minutes a night who can't really defend much anyways or bully smaller guys. Guys like that seem to mostly lose minutes to bigger 3s anyways as teams aren't as worried about the post game of an opposing 4 compared to defensive foot speed.

Reeves is old and can only shoot, so I just assume he won't (and shouldn't be) drafted, but I'd be good with seeing him get a chance with the 905 to see if he can be a guy who eventually plays 15 minutes a night, which I guess is like an Isaiah Joe role (similarly meh college stats apart from the 3s, though Joe had a better steal rate so maybe that's a sign that Reeves can't compete defensively the way Joe has now found a way to). We have to find a way to get our 3pt attempt rate up, though Dick will hopefully be putting up a ton of 3s in his 20-30 minutes a night in a year or 2.

In general, I'm not super impressed with the prospects I've seen, so very ready and even hopeful that our picks look a little surprising like the Siakam one, since this doesn't strike me as a draft where a guy I feel good about could fall to us. I know Grady has struggled, but I was surprised he fell to us as I expected him to go at #11 to Orlando instead of Jett Howard, whose size and shooting combo are promising, but was otherwise just a complete negative for Michigan - the only team I watch more than 5-6 games of a year - and just did not look like a guy with the compete level or bball IQ to be a good NBA rotation guy. Though to be fair, I wouldn't have said that about Stauskas, who was a great shooter and looked quite promising as a pick and roll creator (teams were worried about the shot and it led to to them going over picks aggressively and he could parlay that into decent passes and drives) and turned out to be a bust. The draft is tough.

[Mark_83]

Devin Carter seems really interesting

Arguably the best defensive guard in this draft.

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[Indeed]

Devin Carter seems really interesting

Arguably the best defensive guard in this draft.

Watch on YouTube

Cole Anthony?

[Mark_83]

Devin Carter seems really interesting

Arguably the best defensive guard in this draft.

Watch on YouTube

Cole Anthony?

I'm seeing more shades of Cason Wallace and De'Anthony Melton. Not the natural shooter that Wallace is and not quite as athletic as Melton but something in between both guys.

[WuTang_CMB]

If Ryan Dunn is staring at us with the Indiana pick, Raps will be all over him. Team need to replenish length and defensive versatility

[Yallbecrazy]

Watch on YouTube

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Seems pretty mid to me, hope he proves me wrong once in the league

Sarcasm? He dropped 39 on Real Madrid.

Also, what has Topic been up to of late? That Dean article was 3.5 months ago.

[Bruin]

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Seems pretty mid to me, hope he proves me wrong once in the league

Sarcasm? He dropped 39 on Real Madrid.

Also, what has Topic been up to of late? That Dean article was 3.5 months ago.

That’s against the Real Madrid u18 team, not the main pro team

He’s been out with a knee injury for almost a month but should be back within a couple weeks now

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

I don't know why people are so focused on level of competition when looking at video. It's important to take into consideration when looking at raw stats but when I watch video I look for movement skills and mechanics and not much else. How does the player move and how will it translate to the NBA.

It's why I was confidently able to state that the Thompson twins were 100% worth being evaluated when many people, including "Dean on Draft" automatically made them DND and not due to their abysmal shooting but the fact that their footage was against "high school competition".

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Gonna be interesting to see if Clifford Omoruyi can slow down Zach Edey today and give Rutgers a chance to stay in the game, he has had great success over his college career making life miserable for elite big men.

[Mark_83]

Calipari lowkey helping us out by playing Ivisic fewer minutes in consecutive games. Went from 16 in his debut, to 10, now to 3.

[SpezNc]

If Ryan Dunn is staring at us with the Indiana pick, Raps will be all over him. Team need to replenish length and defensive versatility

Tankathon : 15
Ringer : 14
No ceilings : 9
ESPN : 12

The earky consensus is that he *might* be gone but in the same it’s indeed somewhat close to where we could draft should he drop a couple spots.