The 2025 Rookie Class

[closg00]

The kid is special and plays like a vet.

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[Tyrone Messby]

Ace with a really impressive performance tonight.

[closg00]

Almost, we almost got him.

Watch on YouTube

[badinage]

It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts.

No slight to Tre.

But he was angling to be here. Angling. A player of immense promise, a deadass big-time scorer — angling.

And … ugh.

[doclinkin]

It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts.

No slight to Tre.

But he was angling to be here. Angling. A player of immense promise, a deadass big-time scorer — angling.

And … ugh.

Right. Nice that players actually want to come here now. But would’ve been good to get him. That said TJ is a fine consolation prize. Lesser physical tools but the mental make up is a gift itself. Basketball obsessives like Kobe, Ray Allen, KD, Stef, Dame all show you can forge a HOF career out of will, focus, and want-to. None were the hands down the most athletic guy on the floor but they simply out worked everyone else. TJ has that quality in spades.

Sour grapes wise. I wonder about the volatility of a team that had both Ace and Whitmore. I like surrounding Cam with passers and glue guys more than ‘watch me’ showboats. Neither Cam nor Ace are notable passers. So, however good Ace is maybe the combo of Tre + Cam is better?

[closg00]

It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts.

No slight to Tre.

But he was angling to be here. Angling. A player of immense promise, a deadass big-time scorer — angling.

And … ugh.

Here-here, I predict that Ace will be more impactful than Cooper, the true #1, and Cooper will be outstanding.

[AFM]

I expect Tre to be a better player, so it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

[tontoz]

We are just lucky that the Hornets drafted Kon. If they had taken Ace or Tre then we would have been screwed.

[nate33]

It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts.

No slight to Tre.

But he was angling to be here. Angling. A player of immense promise, a deadass big-time scorer — angling.

And … ugh.

Here-here, I predict that Ace will be more impactful than Cooper, the true #1, and Cooper will be outstanding.

Meh, I watched the highlights. Ace took and made a ton of midrange shots and did nothing off the bounce. I don't have confidence in that type of shot diet as an efficient offense generator.

I have no regrets about landing Tre instead of Bailey.

[nate33]

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[DCZards]

Sour grapes wise. I wonder about the volatility of a team that had both Ace and Whitmore. I like surrounding Cam with passers and glue guys more than ‘watch me’ showboats. Neither Cam nor Ace are notable passers. So, however good Ace is maybe the combo of Tre + Cam is better?

Or maybe the combo of Tre + Bub is better. I think they're going to become an excellent backcourt in the not so distant future.

[closg00]

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I don't recall who, but a couple of guys wanted Ware > Bub, I wonder if he was matched-up against Wemby...

[dobrojim]

just to stir up trouble...

Don't forget Edgecomb

[tontoz]

I don't recall who, but a couple of guys wanted Ware > Bub, I wonder if he was matched-up against Wemby...

Yeah i was one of them

[Kanyewest]

Kon highlights

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[tontoz]

The Ace highlights missed a play. I expect to see more of this in the pros. The spacing sucked at Rutgers.

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[doclinkin]

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I don't recall who, but a couple of guys wanted Ware > Bub, I wonder if he was matched-up against Wemby...

Yeah me. I like Bub now. But knew Ware had the goods. He was my target there.

[The Consiglieri]

Ace with a really impressive performance tonight.

Seriously pissing me off. He was ours, grrrr. Idiot and all, he was ours (at least he fired the homicidal agent though).

I don't know how to think of this group, I do not think this was a five team draft, but I think Tre did enough during the stretch run to convince people that he might have belonged in the tier below Flagg, I just don't know if that's late in the process b.s., like the stupidity that suckered Charlotte into totally blowing their pick on an all hype, good all around, zero chance of being great prospect.

Going in to the season it feels (to me) like:

Flagg:
Superstar Possibility: 15-20%
All Star, borderline all star ability: 50-60%
Bust: 3%

Harper:
Superstar Ability: 25-35%
All Star, Borderline All Star ability: 35-40%
Bust: 5-10%

Bailey:
Superstar Possibility: 25%
All Star, Borderline All Star Ability: 25-35%
Bust: 25%

VJ:
Superstar Ability: 15%
All Star, Borderline All Star Ability: 25-30%
Bust: 15%


Kon Kuh-busted Pick
Superstar Ability: 1%
All Star, Borderline All Star Ability: 5-10%
Bust: 20%

Tre:
Superstar Ability: 10%
All Star, Borderline All Star Ability: 15-30%
Bust: 10-15%

Other Guys I think have really high upside potential: Maluach, Fears, Carter Bryant, one of the French Bigs, Traore, I'm trying to remember if the other guy was McNeely or someone else.

For me, the great news for us coming out of this draft after getting repeatedly kicked in the nuts, and getting our heads shoved into a toilet was that Charlotte bought the Kon Kuhstupidity, leaving two of Bailey, Tre or Maluach to fall to us, guaranteeing us, at bare minimum, either a high upside confusing player with potentially horrid judgement (Bailey), a reasonably high upside, very high floor guy (Tre), or a really high upside, but pretty high downside guy in Maluach. Rather than a low floor moderate ceiling wtf pick like Kon.

So I'm not super pissed. I think down the line, 3 or 5 years from now, we've got one of the top 3-5 players out of the top 10 selections (I'm sure someone maybe multiple someones outside the top 10 will climb into the top 5 of the class, but Tre has a real strong chance of climbing into the top 5 from 6th overall as well), so that will have to do. I hated the pick in round 2 and still do, the late round 1 pick is a developmental pick with a lot of upside and a low floor. We'll see.

As I said after lottery night, though, everything turns on the Suns season, our season and our lottery luck in May. If we get lucky in May, we are probably playoff bound in '27, if we get ----ed again, they will have to depend upon the pile up of swaps, and extra picks they have in the second half of this decade to fix getting screwed in '25 and '26, perhaps for now, 2 of the top 3 classes of the past 7 or 8 years. So we've absolutely positively got to get lottery luck AND take the right guy next spring.

The good news, for now anyway, is that next years draft is deeper in top end talent than last June's, and higher in individual potential too. At least 3 mega studs, possibly 4-6 (I think there's 4, with 2 or 3 guys who could rise). It will be an interesting wait through May. We'll find out, probably, what Sarr and Bub will be, and we'll find out if Tre has star potential and we'll find out if the NBA just doesn't want basketball to ever grow in DC, period lol, with their dumb---, utterly pointless, lottery come May. Last May was big, but this May will largely be defining, while the season will tell us if we have the horses to surround a potential star out of that '26 class. Probably should also note, I believe 3 of the top 5 prospects going into the '26 draft season are wings lol, so we've got Boozer as a big, stretch 4 kind of, a bunch of wings, and 1 PG, so we may end up making a trade or trades if we get lucky. If Mikel Brown has a star turn in the college season, that would give us 2 PG's in the top 5 or 6.

Seems like Peterson a Combo/PG at #1, Boozer, Ament and Dybantas (PF, 3/4, and a 3) as the other guys, and then Koa Peet appears to be climbing charts (he's a 3/4 I guess?), I see Quaintance back up again, another big, but I don't see that holding up, as he's a 2nd year dude, coming off an injury.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Ace with a really impressive performance tonight.

Almost, we almost got him.

Watch on YouTube

Remember when I said Tre Johnson would win rookie of the year?

I wish I hadn't said that.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts.

No slight to Tre.

But he was angling to be here. Angling. A player of immense promise, a deadass big-time scorer — angling.

And … ugh.

Right. Nice that players actually want to come here now. But would’ve been good to get him. That said TJ is a fine consolation prize. Lesser physical tools but the mental make up is a gift itself. Basketball obsessives like Kobe, Ray Allen, KD, Stef, Dame all show you can forge a HOF career out of will, focus, and want-to. None were the hands down the most athletic guy on the floor but they simply out worked everyone else. TJ has that quality in spades.

Sour grapes wise. I wonder about the volatility of a team that had both Ace and Whitmore. I like surrounding Cam with passers and glue guys more than ‘watch me’ showboats. Neither Cam nor Ace are notable passers. So, however good Ace is maybe the combo of Tre + Cam is better?

If Tracy McGrady and Ray Allen are in the same draft class, which player goes ahead of the other?

Ace has all the tools to be another McGrady. Tre can shoot it like Ray, but Allen was more athletic, like a V.J. Edgecombe. Like doclinkin says, the Wizards got a good consolation prize.

That said, Ace Bailey is going to be a problem in this league.