2024 Draft Prospects

[Chapelchilla]

We definitely could use another PF. Other then Sarr, I do not see a lottery PF in this draft. Maybe we can buy one in FA. I do think Mark's health is the key. IF we know his injury was not a lasting one maybe a decent FA vet back up is fine. If not, I think we have to pick Clingan or Edey. Edey seems like a freak talent so if he can actually move decently maybe you go with that.
The other question mark is Melo. Is he ever going to play consistently going forward? They probably know more about the ankles. If he is not fixable then PG (Topic?) or a combo guy (Reed?) is a need too.
Many directions we could go....at least we have a pick and some $ to spend!

[JMAC3]

For those wanting to draft Clingan.

This is basically the best case scenario. We draft him, at 6 he is a good defensive starting center. Which is very high to take such a player if you look at recent draft history. Then Mark becomes your backup center at pick 15, again kind of a high asset for a reserve. You could try to flip Mark but likely nobody is giving you more than a lottery protected first for a center.

Basically both guys have the same strengths and weaknesses so you aren't able to play them together or get a different look for a matchup.

Vs you could just sign a decent reserve center in FA like Valanciunas, Wagner or Goga and draft for more upside at 6.

[KingCat]

Yeah I don't see any reason to want Clingan. Sure you could bring up Mark's back scare, but Clingan probably won't exactly be the picture of health with his foot history and play style.

[NMBSurfin]

Espn's latest mock has us taking Clingan

Read on Twitter

[wilson115]

Reed is more of a LaMelo type of defender.. he can make the miracle steal, cheats off his man to run through passing lanes.. but he isn't the type of guy that can survive on an island. Kentucky knew this and that is why Sheppard and Dillingham didn't start, Coach Cal mentioned it several times. Kentucky was one of the worst defenses in the country with one of the best offenses.

Kentucky often times hid Sheppard on the worst offensive players. He wasn't ever assigned to the other team's best offensive player and when he did get switched onto them, he was toast. Knecht specifically called for a clear out every time and Sheppard was getting blown by.

Let's get some context in here, is it his fault or is the roster just that bad defensively?

Read on Twitter

By every metric, Sheppard is an elite defender. Kentucky’s defensive rating goes from 95.5 (26th) when he’s on the court to 116 (344th) when he’s off the court. He’s also just one of five players, and the only freshman, since 2014 from a true high major conference with a block rate of at least 3.0 and a steal rate of at least 4.5. The others to achieve that are Tari Eason, Gary Payton II, Josh Reaves, and Matisse Thybulle (2x). Despite all of that, there are still concerns that continue to pop up.

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/reed-sheppards-numbers-are-still

[Diop]

We need to sign or trade for size at forward, not draft someone and hope he’s good enough for rotation minutes

[Liver_Pooty]

Reed is just fine as a defender. I'm worried about his ability to take athletic defenders off the ball at the next level. The shot and athleticism is there. And he's short.

[luciano-davidwesley]

I'm probably picking Topic over Sheppard anyway if they are both there at 6.

There is more to being a basketball player than just measurables though. We get a bit carried away with it during measurements season.

Kai Jones had great measureables but no ability to process a game. What's between the ears is always going to be more important than measurements.

Size isn't everything, but the best way to limit your teams success in the NBA today is to constantly be playing a small backcourt that gets hunted in switches.

We have seen it with Dame/CJ... Garland/Mitchell... Conley/Mitchell...
We just experienced it with Ball/Terry

Why knowingly put us into that situation again? Sheppard is a good shooter, but he is also a pretty poor defender which will probably be even more of an issue in the NBA than it was in college. He also really struggled to get to the rim in college, majority of games he was a complete non-factor inside of 20 feet.

Reed is more of a LaMelo type of defender.. he can make the miracle steal, cheats off his man to run through passing lanes.. but he isn't the type of guy that can survive on an island. Kentucky knew this and that is why Sheppard and Dillingham didn't start, Coach Cal mentioned it several times. Kentucky was one of the worst defenses in the country with one of the best offenses.

Kentucky often times hid Sheppard on the worst offensive players. He wasn't ever assigned to the other team's best offensive player and when he did get switched onto them, he was toast. Knecht specifically called for a clear out every time and Sheppard was getting blown by.

I agree with most of what you are saying but I think you are discounting Sheppard's ability to get to the rim somewhat. I watched him finish well around and through length on quite a few occasions for Kentucky, albeit it wasn't 5 times a game. Whether that can translate to finishing against NBA length is the question. I'm betting it can with his smarts and feel for the game but I could be wrong of course.

NS Jr just showed you can make an impact offensively in the NBA without having any ability to get to the rim if you can shoot the lights out. I think Sheppard will basically be a significantly better version of him on both sides of the ball as a rookie, though I think both can improve a lot on what they've flashed so far.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Terry Rozier was also a chucker who had zero inclination to even try on defense, so there's that too.

Why don't we just go sign the tallest person in the world because they'll clearly be the best player in the world? Well at least during measurements season anyway.

Terry was bad for us because he needed to dominate the ball to be effective. Without the ball, he wasn't a good spot up shooter or defender. That type of basketball is difficult to win with unless you have a dominating front court (which we have basically never had since like 1998).

but why not just go draft a 3D shooter who can actually defend if we have the opportunity?

Adding a small SG to go with playing 2 guys that are 6-6 at PF doesn't really feel like the best way to improve our defense.

That sounds good and all but who are these proven 3 & D wings in this draft? It feels like all the wings in this draft are currently 3 OR D, not both. Barring some miraculous unexpected Lamelo-esque shooting improvements as a rookie of course.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Beating a dead horse here, but if Reed had Caruso size then yeah maybe I could get more on board.
 
Alex Caruso is 3 inches taller than Reed.
His standing reach is 8-6, Sheppard is 7'-9.5... 8.5 inches higher
Caruso also has a 44 inch vert, Sheppard had 42 inch after cheating on standing reach.

So then his standing reach is higher that 7'9.5 right? You can't have your cake and eat it too with manipulating the measurements.

Also Alex Caruso is a laughably inferior offensive ceiling than Reed and is also an outlier NBA defensive player.

I doubt scouts are comparing all the guard prospects to Caruso defensively and if they aren't as good saying "damn can't draft that guy cos he's not as good a defender as one side of the ball only Caruso" lol

Will we be comparing all wings defensively to Matisse Thybulle next regardless of what they do offensively? lol

[Liver_Pooty]

We need to sign or trade for size at forward, not draft someone and hope he’s good enough for rotation minutes

Call me stupid. I know a lot of you will. I think Thor will be a solid rotation player next season. Physical attributes are there.

[luciano-davidwesley]

We need to sign or trade for size at forward, not draft someone and hope he’s good enough for rotation minutes

Call me stupid. I know a lot of you will. I think Thor will be a solid rotation player next season. Physical attributes are there.

I'd be surprised if we even pick up his option, stupid

[luciano-davidwesley]

My Big Board of players semi-plausably in our range (fit not considered)
1 Sarr
2 Topic

3 Sheppard
4 Holland
5 Risacher

6 Castle
7 Edey
8 Clingan
9 Buzelis
10 Williams
11 Carrington
12 Da Silva
13 Knecht
14 Dillingham

I have not ranked Salaun as I haven't seen enough of him.

[GoBobs]

We need to sign or trade for size at forward, not draft someone and hope he’s good enough for rotation minutes

Call me stupid. I know a lot of you will. I think Thor will be a solid rotation player next season. Physical attributes are there.

Maybe he will have a big summer. After the trades there was a period where Thor and Nick Smith couldn't make it off the bench. When they finally got back in a game they played a little better. Hopefully Thor realizes he need to play harder than a normal player to carve out a role. He isn't good enough to not be an energy guy.

[JMAC3]

Beating a dead horse here, but if Reed had Caruso size then yeah maybe I could get more on board.
 
Alex Caruso is 3 inches taller than Reed.
His standing reach is 8-6, Sheppard is 7'-9.5... 8.5 inches higher
Caruso also has a 44 inch vert, Sheppard had 42 inch after cheating on standing reach.

So then his standing reach is higher that 7'9.5 right? You can't have your cake and eat it too with manipulating the measurements.

Also Alex Caruso is a laughably inferior offensive ceiling than Reed and is also an outlier NBA defensive player.

I doubt scouts are comparing all the guard prospects to Caruso defensively and if they aren't as good saying "damn can't draft that guy cos he's not as good a defender as one side of the ball only Caruso" lol

Will we be comparing all wings defensively to Matisse Thybulle next regardless of what they do offensively? lol

I am not saying he has to be that, but I feel like we are overestimating Reeds impact on defense when there really aren't guys his size who are massive difference makers. Whether it is the difference in vert or standing reach Caruso is 10 inches higher... because if Reeds standing reach was actually 4 inches taller than that would make his vert 4 inches smaller.

[JMAC3]

This is my best guess at the top 25 guys selected, not my big board just think this is how the NBA will view these guys positionally.
Traditional Centers
Clingan- 5
Misi- 5
Edey- 5
Ware - 5

Stretch Bigs
Sarr- 4/5
Filipowski- 4/5
Tyler Smith -4/5

Forwards
Matas- 3/4
cWilliams- 3/4
Tidjane 3/4
Tristian De Silva 3/4


Wings
Risacher- 2/3
Holland- 2/3
Knecht-2/3
Furphy- 2/3
Jakobe- 2
Kyshawn - 2/3

Combo Guards
Topic- 1/2
Castle- 1/2
Bub Carrington -1/2
Devin Carter 1/2

Point Guard
Sheppard- 1
Dillingham- 1
McCain - 1
Collier- 1

[JMAC3]

Would you guys take Lively or Clingan straight up?

[Rich4114]

Would you guys take Lively or Clingan straight up?

Lively because you know for sure what he can do in the NBA, but it wouldn't be an easy decision just a safer one.

[GoBobs]

Would you guys take Lively or Clingan straight up?

That is a tough one. Lively was listed at duke as like 7'1'' and 230. Clingan is 280 so there is going to be a big difference in physicality there. Lively will probably never be great at carving out space and boxing out. He will probably be a lot more moblie.

Clingan is 7'2'' without shoes and has the standing reach of an even taller guy.

Both of them have god awful free throw percentage.

My gut feeling is Lively will always be sort of one dimensional. Clingan will probably be better if he stays healthy. For someone the size of Clingan, Edey or Wamba Wamba, I worry about a foot injury even if they have never had one before. I have serious doubts about Clingan staying heathy with history of a foot injury when he is young and skinny.

[Rich4114]

For those wanting to draft Clingan.

This is basically the best case scenario. We draft him, at 6 he is a good defensive starting center. Which is very high to take such a player if you look at recent draft history. Then Mark becomes your backup center at pick 15, again kind of a high asset for a reserve. You could try to flip Mark but likely nobody is giving you more than a lottery protected first for a center.

Basically both guys have the same strengths and weaknesses so you aren't able to play them together or get a different look for a matchup.

Vs you could just sign a decent reserve center in FA like Valanciunas, Wagner or Goga and draft for more upside at 6.

Your logic makes perfect sense. I'm just looking at it from a fortifying the C position perspective and having multiple swings at a top 20 starting C. Mark has plenty of upside to be a top 20 or better starting C, but he has back issues that could really put that in doubt. Clingan is a Mark-level prospect and having two of them on the roster means C becomes a potential strength. If they both end up being top 20-15 capable starting centers, you could always move one as many teams lack decent C's.

And the point about C's drafted high not having a good track record, that is 100% true but this entire draft is a crap shoot and Clingan may simply be BPA for a team that still needs more top end talent.

In summary, it's another swing even if the position is redundant and I'm content doing that in this draft. I wouldn't have done it in last years draft though or probably any other.