2025 General Draft Discussion 2

[amcoolio]

VJ has elite traits to go along with an Adonis body. There’s a path for him. Just take a player with a path. Please for the love of god. Tre, VJ, Ace two of which will be there

[fatlever]

Watch on YouTube

;t=1305s
watching this now. wass has some thoughts on ace rumors - good/bad. worth a listen.

[Diop]

I'm still trying to talk myself into Kon being good, because I can see us picking him.

Does the success of TJ whose draft profile of a hard nosed unathletic guard show that Kon can be good?

Could he be a bigger, better shooting CJ?

[Diop]

My ranking for now is

Flagg
Harper

VJ
Tre
Ace
Kon, Fears

My brown frown is Malauch.
Take the best big in the 2nd round

[Bassman]

I'm still trying to talk myself into Kon being good, because I can see us picking him.

Does the success of TJ whose draft profile of a hard nosed unathletic guard show that Kon can be good?

Could he be a bigger, better shooting CJ?

Yes he could. People naturally assign comps to draft prospects, to project what their game will look like. Kon will hit barriers, but still think he’s a valuable strong connective piece to a really good team. Not the ideal fit here, but really what player is other than Flagg?
Biggest gripe is his athleticism, and it’s a legit concern. He will at times look bad, especially quick guarding 2’s. But also think his defense is better than some, certainly better than Tre at this point. Might be fundamentally better than Ace but Kon can’t recover with speed nearly as well. Kon also will have a bit harder time finishing at the basket than in college. He doesn’t have great hops. Here is where VJ feels like the better pick with his elevation & quickness, even as his shooting is much more a concern than with Tre or Kon.

[fatlever]

Watch on YouTube

;t=1305s
watching this now. wass has some thoughts on ace rumors - good/bad. worth a listen.

oof...
he's not a fan of fears
or tre
has vj 3rd
neutral on kon

[fatlever]

wass ends the interview by clowning the tiddy pick. lol he goes... "oof [shakes head]. that was not a good pick" lol

[Diop]

He's not wrong but I can still see Tiddy lasting in the league longer than Bouknight and Kai, so it's not even our worst.

[Snidely FC]

Someone give me a mid to late 20s trade up candidate to be pulling for

Keep an eye on Hugo Gonzalez. Of course people will conflate him as a euro pick with Tiddy but playing for arguably the best team in Europe Hugo has been limited for playing time after being seen preseason as a lottery pick so he will represent a bargain in the 20s.

Gonzalez has seen an increase in playing time over the past month, averaging nearly 20 minutes per game and delivering impressive moments on both ends of the floor. Gonzalez is enjoying a little more freedom offensively, allowing him to show off his explosiveness, passing and finishing prowess, while making a major impact defensively, flying all over the court and making plays on and off the ball. It's been a stark reminder for why Gonzalez started the season as a projected lottery pick, leading some scouts to wonder where his draft stock would be if he were in a more favorable playing situation. - Givony.

https://youtu.be/heB-jqYUOEM?si=icISQHDMI_vy8G0D

Note: KOC and Wasserman both project Boston to pick Hugo and Knicks linked with move up interest in him
https://youtu.be/n2OBitXmLl8?si=xq-8QJu3eekBvETI

[Bassman]

wass ends the interview by clowning the tiddy pick. lol he goes... "oof [shakes head]. that was not a good pick" lol

Yeah Hornets rightly held up as an example of what happens when teams make poor decisions.

His take on Tre is pretty brutal, and reignites my concerns mightily. Has him 11th on his board.
VJ or trade back is my mantra now.

[Braggins]

The only prospect that matters is Hansen Yang.

[KingCat]

Kon is so underwhelming. I would be so pissed off

I don't understand why Kon is projected to be higher in most mocks than Tre Johnson. Tre has far more strengths than Kon, while having much higher potential. Kon is this year's Reed Sheppard

This is what's bugging me about taking Kon also.

Like if this was last year in a crap draft and we took Kon, I wouldn't bat an eye. But this year there are like 3 or 4 potential allstar prospects within our range, yet you settle for a guy who has a 80% chance of just being Max Strus?

[fatlever]

Kon is so underwhelming. I would be so pissed off

I don't understand why Kon is projected to be higher in most mocks than Tre Johnson. Tre has far more strengths than Kon, while having much higher potential. Kon is this year's Reed Sheppard

This is what's bugging me about taking Kon also.

Like if this was last year in a crap draft and we took Kon, I wouldn't bat an eye. But this year there are like 3 or 4 potential allstar prospects within our range, yet you settle for a guy who has a 80% chance of just being Max Strus?

I'm not saying it's right but if you want to hear at least one draft experts opinions why some teams would have kon ranked ahead of tre, then watch that Jonathan Wasserman interview I posted last night and just go to the sections and watch the tre and kon sections. Now he may be wrong but he at least provides Intel from teams that he's hearing as to why they like or dislike those prospects plus he's been scouting these guys on his own since they were in high school. And he's coming from someone who is neutral on kon. Not one of the people that has him ranked third or fourth he said it makes sense for him anywhere 5 to 10 but he has Tre ranked 11.

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[MasterIchiro]

Kon is so underwhelming. I would be so pissed off

I don't understand why Kon is projected to be higher in most mocks than Tre Johnson. Tre has far more strengths than Kon, while having much higher potential. Kon is this year's Reed Sheppard

This is what's bugging me about taking Kon also.

Like if this was last year in a crap draft and we took Kon, I wouldn't bat an eye. But this year there are like 3 or 4 potential allstar prospects within our range, yet you settle for a guy who has a 80% chance of just being Max Strus?

Kon is truly an imposter in these draft conversations. Any mock that has Charlotte taking him 4 should be immediately discarded. Who cares if a team like the Spurs likes him? San Antonio also liked Salaün.

Even Presti makes bust picks. He took Ousmaine Dieng 11. He took Poku 17.

That's the same draft range as Bouknight (11) and Kai Jones (19) in Kupchak's lone bust draft. None of his other 1st round picks busted.

Ignore other teams and decide if you want a surefire glue guy vs a potential All-Star.

Kon has absolutely zero AS potential.

If he didn't play alongside Flagg at Duke University...

If he played alongside Harper and Ace at Rutgers, we'd be talking about Kon falling, not Ace. Pick on Rutgers, glorify Duke.

Bilas runs his mouth too much for my taste.

And UConn > Duke always and forever.

Would we be talking about Liam McNeeley in the top-4 if he played for Duke and never got injured?

God, I hope not. Some of these hese mofos with their mocks have McNeely dropping out of the 1st round. Is Kon really that much more talented where you take him 4 but McNeeley goes 31?

At some point it becomes absurd.

Do any of these mofos know how to use the eye test better than all of the fans out there?

They're fans too. No better.

[fatlever]

Read on Twitter

?t=_AtiUyySTyquR-aXiuFYfA&s=19



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[driveandkick]

I don't understand why Kon is projected to be higher in most mocks than Tre Johnson. Tre has far more strengths than Kon, while having much higher potential. Kon is this year's Reed Sheppard

This is what's bugging me about taking Kon also.

Like if this was last year in a crap draft and we took Kon, I wouldn't bat an eye. But this year there are like 3 or 4 potential allstar prospects within our range, yet you settle for a guy who has a 80% chance of just being Max Strus?

Kon is truly an imposter in these draft conversations. Any mock that has Charlotte taking him 4 should be immediately discarded. Who cares if a team like the Spurs likes him? San Antonio also liked Salaün.

Even Presti makes bust picks. He took Ousmaine Dieng 11. He took Poku 17.

That's the same draft range as Bouknight (11) and Kai Jones (19) in Kupchak's lone bust draft. None of his other 1st round picks busted.

Ignore other teams and decide if you want a surefire glue guy vs a potential All-Star.

Kon has absolutely zero AS potential.

If he didn't play alongside Flagg at Duke University...

If he played alongside Harper and Ace at Rutgers, we'd be talking about Kon falling, not Ace. Pick on Rutgers, glorify Duke.

Bilas runs his mouth too much for my taste.

And UConn > Duke always and forever.

Would we be talking about Liam McNeeley in the top-4 if he played for Duke and never got injured?

God, I hope not. Some of these hese mofos with their mocks have McNeely dropping out of the 1st round. Is Kon really that much more talented where you take him 4 but McNeeley goes 31?

At some point it becomes absurd.

Do any of these mofos know how to use the eye test better than all of the fans out there?

They're fans too. No better.

You keep doing this man. I can just as easily flip that argument on you. What if Kon did go somewhere else where he wasn’t playing with four other NBA draft picks and he was on a team where everything was being run for him and through him? Maybe like in the ACC Tournament when Flagg was out and he went from averaging 14 PPG to nearly 20 with hardly a dip in efficiency? Idk, say he stayed home and played at Wisconsin where he’s the undisputed best player on the team. He’s probably entering the draft as a 20 PPG scorer while shooting close to like 50/40/90 splits. This is so outrageously rare man.

This Liam McNeeley thing is outrageous. I’ve seen you bring it up numerous times. McNeeley was 38/31. Almost 10 whole percentage points behind Kon in both!! What on earth are you talking about man.

I totally totally totally get feeling like we should take someone like Tre/Ace/VJ over Kon. But you are wildly discrediting him and have been for awhile. Questioning his ceiling due to his athletic capabilities is fine, saying his stock is only because he played on a super team is stupid though.

[EmpireFalls]

You keep doing this man. I can just as easily flip that argument on you. What if Kon did go somewhere else where he wasn’t playing with four other NBA draft picks and he was on a team where everything was being run for him and through him? Maybe like in the ACC Tournament when Flagg was out and he went from averaging 14 PPG to nearly 20 with hardly a dip in efficiency?

I keep seeing this ACC tournament thing repeated and it’s incredibly false and misleading.

You’re basically talking about one game (Georgia Tech), where he hit 12-13 FTs most of which were just bad defense. He had real turnover+ball pressure issues that were on full display in the UNC+Louisville games. He actually had more turnovers than assists in those two games.

Why? because he didn’t “lead the offense” well the rest of the ACC Tournament when he played real competition. The only thing that ‘scaled up’ was his turnovers.

The entire reason UNC made that comeback vs Duke in the ACC Tourney was because Duke didn’t have anyone who could deal with their ball pressure and set the pace. Kon had 3 ASTs+5 TOs vs UNC that game and did not inspire confidence in his ability to be an initiator. If anything that game showed the limitations in his handle and athletic ability and why he should not be a primary option at the next level.

And then when Cooper came back his stats looked basically identical to when he was out. I don’t see this star thing at all. His handle and athleticism mean that him initiating offense will always have a ceiling. Simply put he is going to be a role player at the next level. That’s all he’ll ever be.

Idk, say he stayed home and played at Wisconsin where he’s the undisputed best player on the team. He’s probably entering the draft as a 20 PPG scorer while shooting close to like 50/40/90 splits. This is so outrageously rare man.

Yeah where could we ever find a freshman in an elite conference who was a 20 point scorer on great shooting splits… oh wait Tre Johnson actually did that in reality at Texas.

[driveandkick]

You keep doing this man. I can just as easily flip that argument on you. What if Kon did go somewhere else where he wasn’t playing with four other NBA draft picks and he was on a team where everything was being run for him and through him? Maybe like in the ACC Tournament when Flagg was out and he went from averaging 14 PPG to nearly 20 with hardly a dip in efficiency?

I keep seeing this ACC tournament thing repeated and it’s incredibly false and misleading.

You’re basically talking about one game (Georgia Tech), where he hit 12-13 FTs most of which were just bad defense. He had real turnover+ball pressure issues that were on full display in the UNC+Louisville games. He actually had more turnovers than assists in those two games.

Why? because he didn’t “lead the offense” well the rest of the ACC Tournament when he played real competition. The only thing that ‘scaled up’ was his turnovers.

The entire reason UNC made that comeback vs Duke in the ACC Tourney was because Duke didn’t have anyone who could deal with their ball pressure and set the pace. Kon had 3 ASTs+5 TOs vs UNC that game and did not inspire confidence in his ability to be an initiator. If anything that game showed the limitations in his handle and athletic ability and why he should not be a primary option at the next level.

And then when Cooper came back his stats looked basically identical to when he was out. I don’t see this star thing at all. His handle and athleticism mean that him initiating offense will always have a ceiling. Simply put he is going to be a role player at the next level. That’s all he’ll ever be.

Idk, say he stayed home and played at Wisconsin where he’s the undisputed best player on the team. He’s probably entering the draft as a 20 PPG scorer while shooting close to like 50/40/90 splits. This is so outrageously rare man.

Yeah where could we ever find a freshman in an elite conference who was a 20 point scorer on great shooting splits… oh wait Tre Johnson actually did that in reality at Texas.

Perfectly reasonable stance as well. Personally I’d be very happy with Kon, but I don’t really see him being an offensive initiator at this level. That certainly isn’t what you draft him for. You draft him because he is ELITE at the most valuable skill in basketball these days. I know this is boring stuff to talk about, but Kon would get real minutes on any team in the league next season because he’s so great at what he’s good at. And as I’ve said elsewhere, his desire to win matters to me. That truly is important to me.

I will not complain even a little bit if they draft Tre, but one reason why I slightly lean Kon is because I’m confident he’ll work endlessly to improve on the flaws in his game. And I’m confident that if he comes a Hornets winning and winning here will matter to him.

Do these things matter to Tre? I’m not sure. He was on a bad Texas team that didn’t belong in the tournament, losing sure didn’t seem to bother him last year. He was scoring his points and had a healthy draft stock. In general we’re seen as an organization guys are fine to just come here, worry about themselves and either get their bag or go to a better team in a few years. It could wildly be unfair but I simply think from what we know I believe Kon will care more about purging the loser mentality that’s haunted our team for 20 years than Tre will.

[KembaWalker]

I’m skeptical Kon Knueppel is gonna bring some franchise culture changing energy any more than Seth Curry or Grant Williams did last year. Certainly not something you draft for. We need to draft talent that can give us advantages on the floor

[JustBuzzin]

KD to the Rockets

PHX has 3 sg's Booker/Beal/Green

Y'all want Jalen Green for Bridges/Green?