The Official 2023 Draft Thread

[Rafael122]

Thompson twins essentially checked in at 6'5 214/218 with a 7 foot wingspan without shoes.

Black - 6'5, 6'7'' wingspan

Whitmore - 6'5 with a 6'8 wingspan. Not going to lie, this is a bit disappointing. Hand size is also an issue. He's listed as a forward, IDK....

At this point I'm completely fine with a top 5 pick. I'm good with Victor, Miller, Scoot or one of the Thompson twins.

[Devils_Advocate]

Not getting my hopes up but getting #1 pick tonight would be absolutely franchise changing

[doclinkin]

Oscar Tshiebwe has inhuman measurements. 6'7", 2nd longest wingspan at 7' 3.5", 2nd biggest hands, 3rd heaviest player at 254 lbs. No wonder he outrebounds everybody in the world. You can't get leverage on him, he is an anvil with tentacles for arms.

He's one whose stock has suffered with familiarity, but any team that struggles to rebound has no business being in the league if they don't use a late 2nd rounder on this guy.

[TGW]

Where are you guys getting the measurements from?

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Hi friends. Welcome to have our hearts broken again day.

[Rafael122]

Where are you guys getting the measurements from?

https://www.nba.com/stats/draft/combine-anthro?SeasonYear=2023-24

[Frichuela]

Thompson twins essentially checked in at 6'5 214/218 with a 7 foot wingspan without shoes.

Black - 6'5, 6'7'' wingspan

Whitmore - 6'5 with a 6'8 wingspan. Not going to lie, this is a bit disappointing. Hand size is also an issue. He's listed as a forward, IDK....

At this point I'm completely fine with a top 5 pick. I'm good with Victor, Miller, Scoot or one of the Thompson twins.

Yes, his hands are quite small for his size...No player in the combine has smaller hands than Cam, and that includes much shorter PGs...

[Frichuela]

So Anthony Black, despite being 6'5.75" (without shoes), has only 1.5" more in standing reach than Cason Wallace (6'2.5" height w/o shoes) due to the longer wingspan of the latter (6'8.5" vs. 6'7.5" wingspan).

Hollinger at the Athletic raised caution about Wallace's injury proneness, mentioning back issues last season. Other than that, he could not say anything negative about Cason. Some may disagree but, if his medical exams are positive, I rather pick Wallace than Black at the draft, his shooting is much better while his D is comparable.

[TGW]

I read that podzimeski had a 39" vert? If so, wow. That's pretty impressive for an "unatheletic" guard.

[AFM]

9 hours until a likely disastrous lottery (preparing myself mentally)

[Frichuela]

By the way, very disappointing to see that many prospects have missed the combine: Henderson, Miller, Coulibaly, Wembanyama, George, Howard, Lively, Sensabaugh and Smith Jr.

Didn't they make this mandatory? Maybe is from next year...

[pcbothwel]

Man. I like Walker, but you cant take a <6'7 small ball 5 in the top 10 and feel good about it. Trade back and give me Hawkins, Cissoko, and Edey.
Walker, Whitmore, Hendricks, Dick, Wallace... all intriguing in their own right, but doesnt scream top 8 pick to me. My rule of thumb is if a higher tier player doesnt fall to you, then you really need to try and trade down.
Also, I anticipate a lot of trades this offseason, so we could see some picks flying around.

[NatP4]

Thompson twins essentially checked in at 6'5 214/218 with a 7 foot wingspan without shoes.

Black - 6'5, 6'7'' wingspan

Whitmore - 6'5 with a 6'8 wingspan. Not going to lie, this is a bit disappointing. Hand size is also an issue. He's listed as a forward, IDK....

At this point I'm completely fine with a top 5 pick. I'm good with Victor, Miller, Scoot or one of the Thompson twins.

Wow. Picking Whitmore over a Thompson twin would be one of the worst decisions in draft history.

That is literally SG size, and we’re talking about a guy that averaged 1 assist and 2.4 turnovers per 40 minutes. I can’t believe we’re even discussing him as a top 10 candidate.

[Rafael122]

Man. I like Walker, but you cant take a <6'7 small ball 5 in the top 10 and feel good about it. Trade back and give me Hawkins, Cissoko, and Edey.
Walker, Whitmore, Hendricks, Dick, Wallace... all intriguing in their own right, but doesnt scream top 8 pick to me. My rule of thumb is if a higher tier player doesnt fall to you, then you really need to try and trade down.
Also, I anticipate a lot of trades this offseason, so we could see some picks flying around.

Said this awhile back. I rarely watch college ball, I go by DX/KOC, etc, and just eye tests and in reading KOC's big board, all of these guys have question marks and flaws, but it becomes really important if you're picking 7th or 8th and I feel like at that point, you're just picking a dude just to pick him. Teams aren't going to be banging the door wanting to trade up b/c they see the exact same thing we're all seeing, that after 5, there's no significant difference between the guy being picked 6th and the guy being picked 18th.

[DCZards]

By the way, very disappointing to see that many prospects have missed the combine: Henderson, Miller, Coulibaly, Wembanyama, George, Howard, Lively, Sensabaugh and Smith Jr.

Didn't they make this mandatory? Maybe is from next year...

Yes, mandatory beginning next year.

[NatP4]

I read that podzimeski had a 39" vert? If so, wow. That's pretty impressive for an "unatheletic" guard.

Podziemski is a better prospect than all of the guys being discussed around the 8th pick on this board.

Shooting the lights out in all of the drills, measured 6’4 without shoes, 6’6 wingspan, 39” vertical.

I’m sure he’ll light up the scrimmages on Wednesday/Thursday and end up a lottery pick.

[Frichuela]

OK, I am not saying that Cason Wallace will get to the level of Jrue Holiday...who knows! but many pundits have projected Wallace as potentially Holiday-light in terms of playing style.

Now, if we look at the combine measurements and agility they look deceptively similar (Wallace goes first):

Height: 6'2.5" vs. 6'3.25"
Wingspan: 6'8.5" vs. 6'7"
Standing reach: 8'5" vs. 8'4.5"
Weight: 195 vs. 199 lbs.
Lane agility: 10.82 vs. 10.64 secs
Max Vert: 36" vs. 34"

[DCZards]

If the Zards are picking in the 8-10 range and none of the projected top 5 or 6 have fallen, then my preference would be either Cason Wallace or Anthony Black. Either would be a solid (and justifiable) pick, imo, and both fill a critical need for a playmaker.

Wallace is probably the safer pick, but I love Black’s upside. He’s smart, unselfish, an excellent passer and ballhandler, and has great size (both height & length) for a PG. He’ll make the players around him better.

Black is also an above average defender. Uses his length well on D. Had more than 2 steals a game.

Yes, he needs to improve his shooting. But that’s often one of the easiest things to improve upon. Meanwhile, all the intangibles, stuff you can’t coach, are there.

[gambitx777]

I really believe Wallace is gonna be one of these better guard in the draft of we could come away with him and another under the radar guy winwin

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[FAH1223]

No team has won the NBA lottery with longer odds than Orlando in 1993, when the Magic had only a 1.52% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick and won the right to select Chris Webber (whom they traded to Golden State for the rights to Penny Hardaway and three future first-round picks). Chicago (Derrick Rose in 2008) and Cleveland (Anthony Bennett in 2014) have also won the lottery with less than a 2% chance of success (1.7% in both cases).