2024 Draft Thread - Part III

[closg00]

Fwiw in their final mock No Ceilings had George at 14 and Carrington at 18.

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/final-2024-nba-mock-draft-v8?utm_campaign=post

The assessment of George is kinda brutal actually

Albert: Kyshawn George is one of the more divisive prospects in this class because his strengths and weaknesses are so clear. George shot 40.8% from three on over four attempts per game and showcased some deep range on his jumper. George is also a very underrated passer who didn’t get to flash a ton of it because of the roster he played on last season. George is a ground-bound athlete, is still developing as a defender, and has to continue adding mass to his frame. George also had some trouble finishing around the rim due to his lack of strength and vertical pop. Even with those concerns, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Blazers take a chance on George here because of his arsenal on the offensive side of the ball. This may seem high to some, but the Blazers like players of his size, and the outside shooting and feel set him apart.

[DCZards]

Fwiw in their final mock No Ceilings had George at 14 and Carrington at 18.

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/final-2024-nba-mock-draft-v8?utm_campaign=post

The assessment of George is kinda brutal actually

Albert: Kyshawn George is one of the more divisive prospects in this class because his strengths and weaknesses are so clear. George shot 40.8% from three on over four attempts per game and showcased some deep range on his jumper. George is also a very underrated passer who didn’t get to flash a ton of it because of the roster he played on last season. George is a ground-bound athlete, is still developing as a defender, and has to continue adding mass to his frame. George also had some trouble finishing around the rim due to his lack of strength and vertical pop. Even with those concerns, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Blazers take a chance on George here because of his arsenal on the offensive side of the ball. This may seem high to some, but the Blazers like players of his size, and the outside shooting and feel set him apart.

Brutal? Points out that George shot almost 41% from 3 on 4 attempts per game and calls him a “very underrated passer.”

Predicts that he could be a lottery pick “because of his arsenal on the offensive side of the ball,” and says that his “outside shooting and feel for the game set him apart.”

Yes, there are concerns about his athleticism and D, and his need to get stronger to improve his ability to finish at the rim. But overall that was a very positive assessment of George.

[closg00]

Fwiw in their final mock No Ceilings had George at 14 and Carrington at 18.

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/final-2024-nba-mock-draft-v8?utm_campaign=post

The assessment of George is kinda brutal actually

Albert: Kyshawn George is one of the more divisive prospects in this class because his strengths and weaknesses are so clear. George shot 40.8% from three on over four attempts per game and showcased some deep range on his jumper. George is also a very underrated passer who didn’t get to flash a ton of it because of the roster he played on last season. George is a ground-bound athlete, is still developing as a defender, and has to continue adding mass to his frame. George also had some trouble finishing around the rim due to his lack of strength and vertical pop. Even with those concerns, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Blazers take a chance on George here because of his arsenal on the offensive side of the ball. This may seem high to some, but the Blazers like players of his size, and the outside shooting and feel set him apart.

Brutal? Points out that George shot almost 41% from 3 on 4 attempts per game and calls him a “very underrated passer.”

Predicts that he could be a lottery pick “because of his arsenal on the offensive side of the ball,” and says that his “outside shooting and feel for the game set him apart.”

Yes, there are concerns about his athleticism and D, and his need to get stronger to improve his ability to finish at the rim. But overall that was a very positive assessment of George.

There’s a reason the first sentence is:

Kyshawn George is one of the more divisive prospects in this class because his strengths and weaknesses are so clear.

He covered the pluses and minuses, I am little surprised they took a slow, floor-bound prospect because it doesn’t seem to fit the gazelles we have on Sarr/Bilal. However, his 3-point shooting % in a limited sample size is eye-popping, can’t wait to see what he actually looks like in SL.

[smoothSeph]

The assessment of George is kinda brutal actually

Brutal? Points out that George shot almost 41% from 3 on 4 attempts per game and calls him a “very underrated passer.”

Predicts that he could be a lottery pick “because of his arsenal on the offensive side of the ball,” and says that his “outside shooting and feel for the game set him apart.”

Yes, there are concerns about his athleticism and D, and his need to get stronger to improve his ability to finish at the rim. But overall that was a very positive assessment of George.

There’s a reason the first sentence is:

Kyshawn George is one of the more divisive prospects in this class because his strengths and weaknesses are so clear.

He covered the pluses and minuses, I am little surprised they took a slow, floor-bound prospect because it doesn’t seem to fit the gazelles we have on Sarr/Bilal. However, his 3-point shooting % in a limited sample size is eye-popping, can’t wait to see what he actually looks like in SL.

The 3 pt shooting is what fits. You have gazelles that can get it and go, they need shooters to kick it too. It helps he has the vision to make the extra pass also.

[Benjammin]

George seems like a Kispert replacement to me.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

[closg00]

George seems like a Kispert replacement to me.

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…or Davis replacement, both need to be gone

[Benjammin]

George seems like a Kispert replacement to me.

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…or Davis replacement, both need to be gone

Davis is so inconsequential I don't give any thought as to who would replace him.

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[payitforward]

For the record I would have chosen:

2. pf Alexandre Sarr
14. pg Isaiah Collier
26. sg Pacome Dadiet

I also would have traded a few future 2nds to jump into the 2nd and select Nikola Djurisic.

Well, not "26." Dadiet was gone at 26. In retrospect, of course, it's easy to say you'd have traded our only R2 pick to move up 2 spots, but, obviously, it's not clear that you would have.

IOW, what it's easy to say looking back might not have been possible. Picking at 26, like a lot of us, you might have taken Djurisic, who wound up going 17 picks later.

Especially if, no, you hadn't taken Collier at 14. There he & Dadiet were as 24 approached, meaning that w/0 a trade you had a 67% chance of getting one of them at 26.

Note as well that about 15 NBA GMs passed on Collier from your rating of him at 14 down to where he actually went at 29. Of course, you may turn out to have been right & all those guys wrong. Obviously it wouldn't be the first time that many, or more, in a row made the wrong pick -- 2011 comes to mind.

As to adding R2 picks, I think that might have been hard. No one knows how it'll all turn out of course, but at this point the 2024 draft looks like if featured the strongest, deepest R2 in many many years. 6 of the first 7 picks were mocked in R1 at one time or another (mostly quite a lot). Obviously, we couldn't get Portland to yield even 1 of their pair of picks.

I do like Djurisic, but there were also a lot of other guys I like as well or better. It would have been great to have at least a pair of R2 pick to use in 2024's second round!

[payitforward]

We all hope that George is a stud, of course. But if we hadn't traded 52, we might still have gotten him at 26. & if not we could have taken Isaiah Collier at 26 & then grabbed Chomche at 52. I'd have liked that.

[J-Ves]

The assessment of George is kinda brutal actually

Brutal? Points out that George shot almost 41% from 3 on 4 attempts per game and calls him a “very underrated passer.”

Predicts that he could be a lottery pick “because of his arsenal on the offensive side of the ball,” and says that his “outside shooting and feel for the game set him apart.”

Yes, there are concerns about his athleticism and D, and his need to get stronger to improve his ability to finish at the rim. But overall that was a very positive assessment of George.

There’s a reason the first sentence is:

Kyshawn George is one of the more divisive prospects in this class because his strengths and weaknesses are so clear.

He covered the pluses and minuses, I am little surprised they took a slow, floor-bound prospect because it doesn’t seem to fit the gazelles we have on Sarr/Bilal. However, his 3-point shooting % in a limited sample size is eye-popping, can’t wait to see what he actually looks like in SL.

Outside of his blue chip picks Dawkins has bet on skill and positional size over athleticism every time

[tontoz]

Introductory press conference. Unable to embed.

https://youtu.be/pOww05fXK18?si=8SOAxDaKT6nAl7wO

[AFM]

I’d rather bet on a great shooter hitting the gym rather than athlete learning to shoot. That assessment of George doesn’t sound half bad to me. I am still way more excited about Carrington tho

[payitforward]

Introductory press conference. Unable to embed.

https://youtu.be/pOww05fXK18?si=8SOAxDaKT6nAl7wO

I enjoyed that quite a bit. Each of them gave the distinct impression of being a smart, put-together individual. The whole thing was really rewarding, left me really happy! It'll be easy to root for these guys.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Introductory press conference. Unable to embed.

https://youtu.be/pOww05fXK18?si=8SOAxDaKT6nAl7wO

I enjoyed that quite a bit. Each of them gave the distinct impression of being a smart, put-together individual. The whole thing was really rewarding, left me really happy! It'll be easy to root for these guys.

I like these 3 as a trio coming in together. Helps take the pressure off them individually, and they should fit in well with Coulibaly and Vukcevic.

[Rafael122]

I’d rather bet on a great shooter hitting the gym rather than athlete learning to shoot. That assessment of George doesn’t sound half bad to me. I am still way more excited about Carrington tho

This. It's why I was down on most of the prospects in the top 10, i.e. Castle. Don't care if you're all world defensively, if you can't shoot, you won't be in the closing lineup or at best, you'll be subbed in/out for defensive purposes.

[Dat2U]

For the record I would have chosen:

2. pf Alexandre Sarr
14. pg Isaiah Collier
26. sg Pacome Dadiet

I also would have traded a few future 2nds to jump into the 2nd and select Nikola Djurisic.

Well, not "26." Dadiet was gone at 26. In retrospect, of course, it's easy to say you'd have traded our only R2 pick to move up 2 spots, but, obviously, it's not clear that you would have.

IOW, what it's easy to say looking back might not have been possible. Picking at 26, like a lot of us, you might have taken Djurisic, who wound up going 17 picks later.

Especially if, no, you hadn't taken Collier at 14. There he & Dadiet were as 24 approached, meaning that w/0 a trade you had a 67% chance of getting one of them at 26.

Note as well that about 15 NBA GMs passed on Collier from your rating of him at 14 down to where he actually went at 29. Of course, you may turn out to have been right & all those guys wrong. Obviously it wouldn't be the first time that many, or more, in a row made the wrong pick -- 2011 comes to mind.

As to adding R2 picks, I think that might have been hard. No one knows how it'll all turn out of course, but at this point the 2024 draft looks like if featured the strongest, deepest R2 in many many years. 6 of the first 7 picks were mocked in R1 at one time or another (mostly quite a lot). Obviously, we couldn't get Portland to yield even 1 of their pair of picks.

I do like Djurisic, but there were also a lot of other guys I like as well or better. It would have been great to have at least a pair of R2 pick to use in 2024's second round!

Oops well no Dadiet for me. I would have drafted Djurisic. Collier & Djurisic would only look like reaches if they do nothing.

I also would have never traded Avdija for the 14th pick so if it was me Collier would have been drafted at 26 and I still would have traded up from 52 to get Djurisic.

pf Kuzma ... Sarr ... Baldwin Jr ... Omoruyi ... Gill
sf Avdija ... Shamet ... J. Davis
c R. Holmes ... Vukcevic ... Bagley III
sg Coulibaly ... Kispert ... Djurisic
pg Poole ... Collier ... J. Butler

[payitforward]

Fair enough, only what would you have traded, taking you to what spot to grab Djurisic?

After all, most of us imagined he might go late in R1 or very early in R2. The #52 would have been little help in getting that high, & we don't exactly have much else that could have figured into a deal.

For that matter, it's easy to be rational & calculating with after-draft information! Let's say pick 18 is on the board. You've got some convos going with your peers. You don't know Collier is going to be there at 26; if anything you're pretty sure he'll be gone. You're eager to move up to, let's say to 20. Conditionally of course. The deal gets done if the guy you want is on the board.

Who are you dealing with, & what are you offering? Maybe 52 is thrown in, but it's not a significant part of the deal. 26 & a next year R2 pick isn't moving you up very far. Besides, you aren't eager to give up what's going to be a very high r2 pick in a very strong draft. You're kinda hamstrung.

So you do what Will did -- you give 26 & 52 for 24, to up your chances of getting a guy you've got pegged significantly higher. Best deal tho still uncertain.

&, lucky you, there Collier is at 24, waiting for you. There's your draft: Sarr & Collier.
Or would it have been Dillingham & Collier? Push come to shove up there at the beginning of the draft. No trade down available. Didn't you really & truly like Dillingham better than Sarr?

Wouldn't you have picked him not Sarr?
Isn't that more likely how your draft turns out? You have Dillingham & Collier, & you still have Deni.

As opposed to Will's draft of Sarr, Carrington & Kyshaun George? But Deni is gone, & instead we have a R1 pick & a couple of R2 picks, all down the line.

Seems likely to me.

[AFM]

Some high praise from the Athletic--one of their top 4 draft night grades.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5596270/2024/06/28/nba-draft-grades-every-team-2024/

Washington Wizards
• Selected Alex Sarr (No. 2)
• Acquired Bub Carrington (No. 14), a 2029 first-round pick, two future second-round picks, and Malcolm Brogdon for Deni Avdija
• Acquired Kyshawn George (No. 24) for No. 26 and No. 51

The Wizards made two enormous decisions. First, they decided to trade Avdija for an enormous haul from the Portland Trail Blazers. This certainly surprised many around the league, as the impression that I’d gotten from speaking with league sources throughout the draft cycle was that — despite many calls made the Wizards’ direction about the 23-year-old forward — the team saw him as a big part of its core moving forward. Ultimately, it seems like they just got an offer they felt they couldn’t pass up. They received the No. 14 pick, a 2029 first-round pick, two future seconds and a player in Malcolm Brogdon that they can either keep to help facilitate the development of the team’s young players or move on to acquire more asset capital. Front offices sources who spoke with The Athletic didn’t describe the deal as an “overpay,” but they did feel like the Wizards came out exceedingly well. Even though Avdija is quite good and is on one of the best value contracts in the NBA, he probably fits a bit better on a team closer to contending than this one, where his high-level positional defense and well-rounded complementary game can help a team take that next step. More on what the Blazers are getting in Avdija in their section.

From there, the team entered the draft and made the selection that everyone expected over the course of the last month. The team selected high-upside big man Alex Sarr from the Perth Wildcats in the NBL. League sources began telling The Athletic around December that Sarr was seen as the Wizards’ top prospect in the class, so for them to end up with him is a huge win for the organization. Having said that, Sarr is no sure thing to be a star. He is athletic and a terrific defender. He’s long and mobile and has the potential to be the kind of defender that every team is looking for with how much ground he can cover, particularly across the weak side of the court. Offensively, he has potential to shoot, has potential to handle the ball and showed some short-roll passing flashes throughout the year. All of this is theoretical, though. Sarr still has a ways to go developmentally. The Wizards have all the time in the world to give him to develop now, which is great. But don’t expect him to set the world on fire from Day One.

The Wizards had wanted to acquire a second lottery pick throughout the draft cycle, and the Avdija trade allowed them to do just that. Washington used the No. 14 pick on Pittsburgh guard Bub Carrington, who was probably the player that I was highest on compared to the overall consensus this season. I had him at No. 8 on my board and think he’s a tremendous upside swing to fill the team’s need for a lead guard. He is a real dribble-pass-shoot threat with awesome ball-screen instincts as one of the youngest players in the class at just 18. He is a tremendous shot-maker as a pull-up scorer already. As a passer and playmaker, he sees the court well and clearly knows how to read the defense. Defensively, he got better throughout the season. On top of that, he’s on a remarkably positive growth trajectory. He was just 5-foot-8 when he was a sophomore in high school before shooting up to around 6-foot-1 as a senior, and then continuing to grow to 6-4 before playing a game at Pittsburgh. He didn’t have the frame to really attack the rim then, and he’s still learning. Carrington was my favorite home run swing in the class given what he can already do, and what I think he’s capable of down the road.

Finally, the team used its No. 26 overall pick and No. 51 pick to move up two slots to No. 24 and select Kyshawn George. I’m less enthusiastic about George than I am some other players in this class, ranking him at No. 35 on my board. He is another physical late bloomer who just sprouted to 6-foot-8 within the last 18 months after growing up as a lead guard. My issue with George is that despite turning 21 in December, he’s never actually been all that productive. He averaged under three points per game in the professional second division French league in 2022-23, then this year averaged under eight points per game. He is 6-foot-7 with long arms and can shoot, though, so I at least understand the swing.

The key here for me is that the Wizards picked a direction and went for it. They’re all in on the future now, and they’ve maxed out on upside swings between the three prospects here and Bilal Coulibaly last year. On top of that, they’ve positioned themselves nicely for a 2025 NBA Draft that is considered to be quite strong with Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Nolan Traore and Ace Bailey at the top. The ultimate grade here will be dependent on how good Sarr becomes, but he’s a good informed bet for this team to take at this time in terms of process.

Grade: A-

[closg00]

Working on his big weakness, shooting.

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[nate33]

Working on his big weakness, shooting.

Read on Twitter

He really is a perfect fit in Phoenix. They are in desperate need of a big wing who can defend, and they have the shooting around him to compensate for his lackluster outside shot.

They've actually got a pretty deep squad this year with Tyus Jones, Ryan Dunn, Mason Plumlee, Bol Bol and Royce O'Neal to complement their starting five of Grayson Allen, Beal, Booker, Durant and Nurkic.

They'd be so much better off they could move Beal for an equivalent overpaid-but-still-good player at the center position. Imagine if, instead of Beal, they had a guy like Rudy Gobert:

PG Allen/Tyus
SG Booker/Okogie
SF O'Neal/Dunn
PF Durant/Bol Bol
C Gobert/Plumlee