2025 Draft Prospect Thread

[Bassman]

I really do not want to take any chances on Zion. He would have to radically change his approach to training, eating, personality, while magically altering his bad injury tendencies. THAT AIN’T HAPPENING.

I do want a major talent pick in this year’s draft. We need that one additional infusion of draft quality. Then go get a real PF via trade.

[JustBuzzin]

Tank for Dylan Harper

Yeah but our luck we don't get him or flagg. Who do you like more Bailey or Edgecombe?

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Bailey. He's raw, but once he gets his grown man body he's gonna be a problem. Reminds me of a more athletic Rashard Lewis.

[MasterIchiro]

I really do not want to take any chances on Zion. He would have to radically change his approach to training, eating, personality, while magically altering his bad injury tendencies. THAT AIN’T HAPPENING.

I do want a major talent pick in this year’s draft. We need that one additional infusion of draft quality. Then go get a real PF via trade.

Dylan Harper - SG
Keegan Murray - PF

My preferences.

[GiggitySmalls]

I really do not want to take any chances on Zion. He would have to radically change his approach to training, eating, personality, while magically altering his bad injury tendencies. THAT AIN’T HAPPENING.

I do want a major talent pick in this year’s draft. We need that one additional infusion of draft quality. Then go get a real PF via trade.

Dylan Harper - SG
Keegan Murray - PF

My preferences.

I like both sign me up

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[Braggins]

Ace Bailey has a -5.5 net rating on sportsref, box +/- is only +0.3, and hes averaging 0.9 assists per75 with a 4.4% ast%. Thats disaster level for a guy thats supposed to be a high level NBA wing prospect. I hate to be too hard on someone Ive never watched play, but those numbers are closer to what you would expect from someone that should fall out of the lottery completely.

[KembaWalker]

Keegan Murray is closer to PJ than he is being a legitimate piece. This team needs to be taking shots on top players and worrying about the fringe talent later. I still think we need 2 players better than LaMelo to have a chance of making any noise. This draft pick has a small chance of being one, Zion has a small chance of being one. Brandon Miller has a small chance of being one. Keegan Murray has no chance. We gotta be taking those shots wherever we can find them

Probably sounds greedy based on the product we usually get with this team but I have no interest in trying to watch some scrappy “organically built” ensemble team get smoked for a couple years and endure another 5 year rebuild

[Lwcasu]

I really do not want to take any chances on Zion. He would have to radically change his approach to training, eating, personality, while magically altering his bad injury tendencies. THAT AIN’T HAPPENING.

I do want a major talent pick in this year’s draft. We need that one additional infusion of draft quality. Then go get a real PF via trade.

I think the reality is we pick around 10 in this draft. Yes we are 4th right now but this team is too talented to keep losing unless players get season ending injuries. I also don’t want to count on us winning the lottery as it’s always a crapshoot. So in reality if you don’t want Zion you must also accept the fact most likely we don’t win the lottery and get a major talent. I’d like to know if bringing Zion back to NC might influence his diet/work ethic, etc. If so, is there is a trade Center Ed around Miles and an unprotected first plus salary filler for Zion, do we not consider it?

If we stand pat and end up at ten I like Asa Newell right now. For the record last year I was in the Knecht group but I’ve been a big TJ fan so far this year. And, of course it would be fun if we win the lottery.

[MasterIchiro]

Keegan Murray is closer to PJ than he is being a legitimate piece. This team needs to be taking shots on top players and worrying about the fringe talent later. I still think we need 2 players better than LaMelo to have a chance of making any noise. This draft pick has a small chance of being one, Zion has a small chance of being one. Brandon Miller has a small chance of being one. Keegan Murray has no chance. We gotta be taking those shots wherever we can find them

Probably sounds greedy based on the product we usually get with this team but I have no interest in trying to watch some scrappy “organically built” ensemble team get smoked for a couple years and endure another 5 year rebuild

I disagree.

LaMelo, though inefficient, is a number one option on most teams, given he's a top scorer in the whole entire NBA.

Miller is a strong second option.

Our next big addition (other than a draft pick) will be a third option. We will monitor the progress of LaMelo and Miller as top options because:

1) They're young
2) They have upside
3) We control their contracts for years and years

Adding a number one option would gouge the budget. You need a max slot and 50 million annually to add a star number one option like Lillard. And that player is old.

Celtics drafted Tatum and Brown.

They traded for 3rd options almost exclusively: Jrue, White, Porzingis. Their depth matters just as much as their top-end talent panning out.

I'm not ready to pull the chord on LaMelo as a #1 option in year 1 of a 5 year deal.

I'm also unwilling to discard Miller as a number
2 option while he's still on a rookie scale contract.

[KembaWalker]

I love LaMelo as much as anyone here but having him as 1st option is a road to nowhere even with the most optimistic ensemble casts. If you keep him locked in that role here without taking a shot on anyone else you’re just gonna be spinning your tires in play-in land forever till he leaves to go to a good team and either thrives as a finishing touch piece or becomes another Kemba to Boston dud

To be clear though I’m not talking solely about scoring, I just mean better players in general. LaMelo could easily be our second or third best player and still be our top or 2nd leading scorer. Flagg is a guy that could easily be a better player than LaMelo whilst scoring less. Lots of guys are in the league right now

[MasterIchiro]

I love LaMelo as much as anyone here but having him as 1st option is a road to nowhere even with the most optimistic ensemble casts. If you keep him locked in that role here without taking a shot on anyone else you’re just gonna be spinning your tires in play-in land forever till he leaves to go to a good team and either thrives as a finishing touch piece or becomes another Kemba to Boston dud

To be clear though I’m not talking solely about scoring, I just mean better players in general. LaMelo could easily be our second or third best player and still be our top or 2nd leading scorer. Flagg is a guy that could easily be a better player than LaMelo whilst scoring less. Lots of guys are in the league right now

I do not believe you love him as much as me. Defenses are scheming him and forcing bad shots. He needs better weapons so he can punish the double teams. Miller needs to grow up fast. But Brandon may never excel as even a tertiary ballhandler. The starting lineup needs a secondary ballhandler. We know what happens when the offense runs through Miles or Miller and we see how Green looks handling the ball. He has very limited skills in isolation. LaMelo is the only isolation scorer on the roster other than Mann who plays from the bench, so defenses are swarming and ganging up.

Add someone like Harper who can draw fouls at a similar rate to rookie James Harden, and you have something. Harper also ranks 3rd in the nation in scoring. He's going to get to the rim, find open players, and relieve LaMelo of double teams.

[KembaWalker]

I think LaMelo being forced into bad shots from special defensive attention is something that sounds good and plausible on paper but doesn’t really match what I’ve seen watching him play. He takes so many garbage shots that teams more seem like they feel they can get away with assigning less help than someone like him should be getting. Why double the guy who wants to take a double step back 1 legged 30 foot 3 as his primary shot diet. He’s seen some of that attention in the 4th when we very obviously are using drawn up looks for him but I don’t see it that much for 90% of the games

[JustBuzzin]

I love LaMelo as much as anyone here but having him as 1st option is a road to nowhere even with the most optimistic ensemble casts. If you keep him locked in that role here without taking a shot on anyone else you’re just gonna be spinning your tires in play-in land forever till he leaves to go to a good team and either thrives as a finishing touch piece or becomes another Kemba to Boston dud

To be clear though I’m not talking solely about scoring, I just mean better players in general. LaMelo could easily be our second or third best player and still be our top or 2nd leading scorer. Flagg is a guy that could easily be a better player than LaMelo whilst scoring less. Lots of guys are in the league right now

Man this Flagg hype is getting crazy. What are you actually watching that makes you think he will be more than a 2nd option?

I'm not even sure if he will be the #1 pick. Harper is going to legit challenge him for that spot. If we had the #1 pick I'm taking Harper without question. This offense needs another ball handler. The reason Melo is our 1st option is because he's the only player on the court who can create for himself and others. We basically have to use him like a Prime James Harden just to get a decent offense. Harper allows Melo to play off the ball more and take the pressure off him from making every play. I like Flagg just not over Harper.

[KembaWalker]

I love LaMelo as much as anyone here but having him as 1st option is a road to nowhere even with the most optimistic ensemble casts. If you keep him locked in that role here without taking a shot on anyone else you’re just gonna be spinning your tires in play-in land forever till he leaves to go to a good team and either thrives as a finishing touch piece or becomes another Kemba to Boston dud

To be clear though I’m not talking solely about scoring, I just mean better players in general. LaMelo could easily be our second or third best player and still be our top or 2nd leading scorer. Flagg is a guy that could easily be a better player than LaMelo whilst scoring less. Lots of guys are in the league right now

Man this Flagg hype is getting crazy. What are you actually watching that makes you think he will be more than a 2nd option?

I'm not even sure if he will be the #1 pick. Harper is going to legit challenge him for that spot. If we had the #1 pick I'm taking Harper without question. This offense needs another ball handler. The reason Melo is our 1st option is because he's the only player on the court who can create for himself and others. We basically have to use him like a Prime James Harden just to get a decent offense. Harper allows Melo to play off the ball more and take the pressure off him from making every play. I like Flagg just not over Harper.

He could be a 2nd or even 3rd “option” if we’re talking about scoring and still be the best player on this team. We need everything of course because we suck badly up and down the roster but we especially need some two way players. While I don’t think Flagg is an Anthony Davis or anything, hes at least going to be someone who brings that identity and something to build around on that end of the floor, something this team has basically neglected even trying at completely after the MKG experiment failed

[JustBuzzin]

I love LaMelo as much as anyone here but having him as 1st option is a road to nowhere even with the most optimistic ensemble casts. If you keep him locked in that role here without taking a shot on anyone else you’re just gonna be spinning your tires in play-in land forever till he leaves to go to a good team and either thrives as a finishing touch piece or becomes another Kemba to Boston dud

To be clear though I’m not talking solely about scoring, I just mean better players in general. LaMelo could easily be our second or third best player and still be our top or 2nd leading scorer. Flagg is a guy that could easily be a better player than LaMelo whilst scoring less. Lots of guys are in the league right now

Man this Flagg hype is getting crazy. What are you actually watching that makes you think he will be more than a 2nd option?

I'm not even sure if he will be the #1 pick. Harper is going to legit challenge him for that spot. If we had the #1 pick I'm taking Harper without question. This offense needs another ball handler. The reason Melo is our 1st option is because he's the only player on the court who can create for himself and others. We basically have to use him like a Prime James Harden just to get a decent offense. Harper allows Melo to play off the ball more and take the pressure off him from making every play. I like Flagg just not over Harper.

He could be a 2nd or even 3rd “option” if we’re talking about scoring and still be the best player on this team. We need everything of course because we suck badly up and down the roster but we especially need some two way players. While I don’t think Flagg is an Anthony Davis or anything, hes at least going to be someone who brings that identity and something to build around on that end of the floor, something this team has basically neglected even trying at completely after the MKG experiment failed

I have never seen a 3rd scoring option be the best player on a team. You can go through the history of the game and I doubt you can find such a player lol.

I like Flagg in that point forward role. Not sure if he's the kind of player that would take the ball out of Melo's hand. Which is why I would favor Harper at the moment. We need another shot creator/ball handler. Nothing is going to change with this team until we get another ball handler who can also create for others.

[KembaWalker]

Man this Flagg hype is getting crazy. What are you actually watching that makes you think he will be more than a 2nd option?

I'm not even sure if he will be the #1 pick. Harper is going to legit challenge him for that spot. If we had the #1 pick I'm taking Harper without question. This offense needs another ball handler. The reason Melo is our 1st option is because he's the only player on the court who can create for himself and others. We basically have to use him like a Prime James Harden just to get a decent offense. Harper allows Melo to play off the ball more and take the pressure off him from making every play. I like Flagg just not over Harper.

He could be a 2nd or even 3rd “option” if we’re talking about scoring and still be the best player on this team. We need everything of course because we suck badly up and down the roster but we especially need some two way players. While I don’t think Flagg is an Anthony Davis or anything, hes at least going to be someone who brings that identity and something to build around on that end of the floor, something this team has basically neglected even trying at completely after the MKG experiment failed

I have never seen a 3rd scoring option be the best player on a team. You can go through the history of the game and I doubt you can find such a player lol.

I like Flagg in that point forward role. Not sure if he's the kind of player that would take the ball out of Melo's hand. Which is why I would favor Harper at the moment. We need another shot creator/ball handler. Nothing is going to change with this team until we get another ball handler who can also create for others.

Rudy Gobert was the best player as a 5th scorer on a 52 win Jazz team in 20-21
Ben Wallace obviously
Jason Kidd on the Suns/Nets
Chris Paul on the 56 win Clips
Joakim Noah on the post Rose injury Bulls

probably plenty others. its certainly rare, but Flagg is also a rare prospect

[JustBuzzin]

He could be a 2nd or even 3rd “option” if we’re talking about scoring and still be the best player on this team. We need everything of course because we suck badly up and down the roster but we especially need some two way players. While I don’t think Flagg is an Anthony Davis or anything, hes at least going to be someone who brings that identity and something to build around on that end of the floor, something this team has basically neglected even trying at completely after the MKG experiment failed

I have never seen a 3rd scoring option be the best player on a team. You can go through the history of the game and I doubt you can find such a player lol.

I like Flagg in that point forward role. Not sure if he's the kind of player that would take the ball out of Melo's hand. Which is why I would favor Harper at the moment. We need another shot creator/ball handler. Nothing is going to change with this team until we get another ball handler who can also create for others.

Rudy Gobert was the best player as a 5th scorer on a 52 win Jazz team in 20-21
Ben Wallace obviously
Jason Kidd on the Suns/Nets
Chris Paul on the 56 win Clips
Joakim Noah on the post Rose injury Bulls

probably plenty others. its certainly rare, but Flagg is also a rare prospect

At no point was Gobert better than Donovan Mitchell lol
JKidd is a good one I'll give you that.
Chris Paul was a 2nd option on those Clippers teams.
Noah was never better than Butler or Rose.

JKidd and Steve Nash are probably the only players in history who fit that 3rd option best player criteria imo.

[KembaWalker]

I have never seen a 3rd scoring option be the best player on a team. You can go through the history of the game and I doubt you can find such a player lol.

I like Flagg in that point forward role. Not sure if he's the kind of player that would take the ball out of Melo's hand. Which is why I would favor Harper at the moment. We need another shot creator/ball handler. Nothing is going to change with this team until we get another ball handler who can also create for others.

Rudy Gobert was the best player as a 5th scorer on a 52 win Jazz team in 20-21
Ben Wallace obviously
Jason Kidd on the Suns/Nets
Chris Paul on the 56 win Clips
Joakim Noah on the post Rose injury Bulls

probably plenty others. its certainly rare, but Flagg is also a rare prospect

At no point was Gobert better than Donovan Mitchell lol
JKidd is a good one I'll give you that.
Chris Paul was a 2nd option on those Clippers teams.
Noah was never better than Butler or Rose.

JKidd and Steve Nash are probably the only players in history who fit that 3rd option best player criteria imo.

I disagree on Gobert and post-Rose Noah but here are a few more after thinking about it

Bill Russell lol
early-mid career Magic Johnson
Mutombo in Denver
Rondo Celtics post 2010 Celtics
AK47 on Jazz the contant Flagg comp. definitely better than Boozer, probably better than Deron outside of a couple years

[KembaWalker]

anyway, not gonna sit here and pretend like I have some special insight into whos going to be dramatically better between the two top guys compared to ppl that have sat there and followed them since middle school. i'll leave that to the draft board dopamine casino where people go wager on getting to tell people they were right/other people wrong against the risk of getting clowned.

Harper comes in and works out, he moves some guys down the scoring pecking order, theoretically raising their efficiency. Thats great, we still gotta figure out the whole other half of the floor where we are not good. queue up 2 way players in FA and hope LaMelo is actually getting better on defense, and Mark can live up to his billing on that end.

Flagg comes in and works out, we're probably a dramatically improved team on defense and a bit improved on offense but we need someone else to come in and do that pecking order scoring shift. Maybe in this case I go for the Zion trade.

or the most likely option, we get like the 6th pick and we all sit around here and wonder what we just wasted an entire season watching this team for

[MasterIchiro]

The season has been an evaluation at worst. So the data revealed informs who they keep and who they cut.

I really only count 4 keepers: LaMelo - Miller - Mark - Mann. Hopefully the top 5 pick and Salaün can join them as soon as next year.

I think if they can upgrade Miles using draft capital, the core becomes more solvent.

If the Hornets regain control of all 4 picks, plus leverage 2 other 1st rounders, the roster could become robust overnight.

[Lwcasu]

anyway, not gonna sit here and pretend like I have some special insight into whos going to be dramatically better between the two top guys compared to ppl that have sat there and followed them since middle school. i'll leave that to the draft board dopamine casino where people go wager on getting to tell people they were right/other people wrong against the risk of getting clowned.

Harper comes in and works out, he moves some guys down the scoring pecking order, theoretically raising their efficiency. Thats great, we still gotta figure out the whole other half of the floor where we are not good. queue up 2 way players in FA and hope LaMelo is actually getting better on defense, and Mark can live up to his billing on that end.

Flagg comes in and works out, we're probably a dramatically improved team on defense and a bit improved on offense but we need someone else to come in and do that pecking order scoring shift. Maybe in this case I go for the Zion trade.

or the most likely option, we get like the 6th pick and we all sit around here and wonder what we just wasted an entire season watching this team for

I think we are gonna end up higher than the 6th. We’ve been at 60% most of the season if that. I’ll go on the record for 10th unless we have guys sidelined for the season outside GW. We have too much talent. If LaMelo himself plays 90% of the rest of the games we might make the play in.