2021 NBA Draft Thread

[amcoolio]

What? So early?

Well...the 2021 draft is projected to be in July, so its not actually that far off.

Players to look out for over the next 6 months and my projected range as of now:

(1-2) Cade Cunningham PG – Oklahoma State – Ht – 6-7 – Wt – 213 – Wingspan – 6-11 1/2 - Two-way point forward with great passing and scoring ability. Good defender. Shades of Ben Simmons with a 3 point shot.

(1-3) Jalen Green SG – G League – Ht – 6-6 – Wt – 180 – Wingspan – 6-7 1/2 - Pure shooting guard with go-to offensive moves and consistent 3 point shot. Competitive, fierce, takes pride in defense. Shades of Kobe Bryant and Clyde Drexler

(1-5) Evan Mobley C – USC – Ht – 7-0 – Wt – 195 – Wing – 7-4 - Tall, lanky modern center with two way ability, flashes playmaking, shooting, and rim protection. Rapidly improving. Huge wingspan. Shades of Bam Adebayo, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett

(2-7) Brandon Boston Jr. SF – Kentucky – Ht – 6-6 3/4 – Wt – 185 – Wingspan – 6-11 1/2 - Buttery smooth scoring wing with the best 3 point stroke since Ben McLemore but can consistently hit them, and handles like Kyrie Irving. Frame and defense are concern. Shades of Brandon Ingram and Jeremy Lamb

(2-7) Jalen Johnson SF – Duke – Ht – 6-8 – Wt – 215 – Wingspan – 6-10 1/2 - Another point forward with excellent athleticism, passing and rebounding skills. Triple double threat from day 1. Needs to work on jumper. Shades of Paul Pierce and Ben Simmons

(lottery) Jonathan Kuminga SF – G League – Ht – 6-7 – Wt – 217 – Wingspan – 6-11 - Best athlete in the draft with raw skills but ridiculous agility and body control. Presumingly still growing. Flashes playmaking potential but needs to hone skills. Shades of Shawn Marion and Jaylen Brown

(lottery) Ziaire Williams SF – Stanford – Ht – 6-7 – Wt – 175 – Wingspan – 6-10 1/2 - Defensive forward who is improving on offensive side of the ball. Smooth jumper with 3 point range and fluid athleticism but raw ball handling and playmaking skills. Shades of Paul George and Rudy Gay

(lottery) Scottie Barnes PF – Florida State – Ht – 6-8 – Wt – 210 – Wingspan – 7-2 - Excellent defensive modern forward with NBA body similar to 2020 FSU draft pick Patrick Williams, but bouncy with high-level intensity and fierce competitiveness. Can guard all 5 positions. Shows point forward skills but raw and needs work on shooting. Shades of ??? (there really isn't a player like him before)

[HornetJail]

When does that Webnamya guy come out? I probably butchered his name so bad that Google couldn't even help me

[wilson115]

When does that Webnamya guy come out? I probably butchered his name so bad that Google couldn't even help me

Heard 2023. Bring on the tank.

Read on Twitter

[HornetJail]

cool thanks

[Braggins]

This draft is perfect for the Hornets. Its a bunch of athletic two-way wings and a super long two-way center. Any pick in the top 5 should help this team tremendously. Please just throwaway this shortened chaos season and then hard pivot to trying to win game after adding a top 5 pick and a big splash in next years free agency.

Cade Cunningham definitely seems to be the top prize in this draft, but Jalen Green is also disgusting and is a perfect compliment to Lonzo.

[stinger14]

This draft has some serious talent as noted above, but it is nothing compared to what 2022 could be. Bates and Wembanyama could be in 2022 if the one and done rule is eliminated.

Victor Wembanyama
Emoni Bates
Chat Holmgren
Patrick Baldwin
Jaden Hardy
Adrian Griffin
Paolo Panchero
Daimion Collins
Ousmane Dieng
Jalen Duran
Yannick Nzosa
Jabari Smith

[UNCNYC]

These are players I like as of now. Most are sleepers but good value. I will be adding some lol. Many of these are from last year.

PG -
Arturs Zagars

SG -
James Bouknight, Ayo Dosunmu, Jared Butler, Both Gache, Tre Mann, Macio Teague

SF -
Isaiah Livers, Aaron Wiggins, Toumani Camara

PF -
Azuolas Tubelis, Amar Sylla, Trendon Watford, Chris Smith

C -

I like Azuolas Tubelis game a lot. Very fluid big man.

Watch on YouTube

[BigSlam]

That Mobley kid looks painfully thin.

[amcoolio]

As of now I think this draft has four #1 overall, Zion or KAT-like draft picks. A huge difference from the 2020 draft. We just need to get in the top 4.

[JMAC3]

I am sure there will be one or two guys everyone is excited for, but I also tend think by the time this class is being drafted it will look a lot weaker.

Cole Anthony was guy people compared to Westbrook and he went 15th

Jalen Green went to GLeague... RJ Hampton was a top 5 senior and went to Australia and we saw what that did for stock.

Jaden McDaniels was supposed to have number 1 pick hype.

All this along with Wiseman supposedly being a cant miss prospect, so pardon me if I can't get super hype about it right now.

[BlackOutBuzz]

I am sure there will be one or two guys everyone is excited for, but I also tend think by the time this class is being drafted it will look a lot weaker.

I agree. Every draft looks stronger the further away you are. The 2013 vibes from this class continue.

"Anteto... what?"
"Next year is stacked! Wiggins! Parker! Randle! Exum!"

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[UNCNYC]

I don't like to over research too early because there are always shakeups. The majority of guys I posted were from a year ago. I do peak at it tho (so I appreciate you creating the thread early). I just dont become your bootleg GM until around 3 months to go haha

[Braggins]

I am sure there will be one or two guys everyone is excited for, but I also tend think by the time this class is being drafted it will look a lot weaker.

Cole Anthony was guy people compared to Westbrook and he went 15th

Jalen Green went to GLeague... RJ Hampton was a top 5 senior and went to Australia and we saw what that did for stock.

Jaden McDaniels was supposed to have number 1 pick hype.

All this along with Wiseman supposedly being a cant miss prospect, so pardon me if I can't get super hype about it right now.

Im sure a couple of the top guys will disappoint, but you'll also see a couple guys that aren't quite as highly touted right now emerge as well. Cade Cunningham is definitely the real deal and I also feel pretty strongly that Jalen Green is going to be a beast as well. After them there are a bunch of very highly rated wings and that Mobley guy, if only 2-3 of them pan out by next year then you're still looking at a very nice top of the class.

[Braggins]

Mobley reminds me Jaren Jackson Jr.

[amcoolio]

I am sure there will be one or two guys everyone is excited for, but I also tend think by the time this class is being drafted it will look a lot weaker.

I agree. Every draft looks stronger the further away you are. The 2013 vibes from this class continue.

"Anteto... what?"
"Next year is stacked! Wiggins! Parker! Randle! Exum!"

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

The main thing with this class vs. that one is that these kids all can shoot and play defense, like they've adapted to the current NBA trends

[JMAC3]

Blah Blah Blahhhh we hear it every year. Sorry if I am not a believer, but I side with history more so than the every year hype.

[Braggins]

Blah Blah Blahhhh we hear it every year. Sorry if I am not a believer, but I side with history more so than the every year hype.

Who was hyping this years draft?

[BlackOutBuzz]

I am sure there will be one or two guys everyone is excited for, but I also tend think by the time this class is being drafted it will look a lot weaker.

I agree. Every draft looks stronger the further away you are. The 2013 vibes from this class continue.

"Anteto... what?"
"Next year is stacked! Wiggins! Parker! Randle! Exum!"

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

The main thing with this class vs. that one is that these kids all can shoot and play defense, like they've adapted to the current NBA trends

FWIW, I'm sure it'll continue to be more highly regarded than this year. And like you said, it's really not that far away.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[JMAC3]

Blah Blah Blahhhh we hear it every year. Sorry if I am not a believer, but I side with history more so than the every year hype.

Who was hyping this years draft?

Nobody the last 6 months, but rewind 12-18 months and it was supposed to be a great draft just like this one coming up or the Parker/Wiggins draft or the Harrison Barnes draft.

I am not saying it will be a bad draft, but this hype of having 4 potential Zions or 4 players worthy of the number 1 pick is Horse Poo haha.

[Braggins]

Blah Blah Blahhhh we hear it every year. Sorry if I am not a believer, but I side with history more so than the every year hype.

Who was hyping this years draft?

Nobody the last 6 months, but rewind 12-18 months and it was supposed to be a great draft just like this one coming up or the Parker/Wiggins draft or the Harrison Barnes draft.

I am not saying it will be a bad draft, but this hype of having 4 potential Zions or 4 players worthy of the number 1 pick is Horse Poo haha.

This is from 11 months ago.

https://deanondraft.com/2019/12/10/2020-draft/

This draft is brutally bad. Last year’s draft was bad, but this year is worse as there is no prospect near the level of Ja Morant, let alone Zion Williamson. And it’s not dense with interesting guys after the top either.

But it’s nevertheless an interesting challenge to dive in and see if there are a few hidden gems in the mix, so here’s my top 30:

This is from a year before the 2019 draft.

https://deanondraft.com/2018/06/23/2019-draft-preview/

Here’s my quick and dirty preview of next season (not including internationals). It looks like a relatively weak freshman class outside of Barrett, although there are some interesting weirdos and under-hyped returning players. There are also some fraudulent hype trains that I want to debunk so here we go: