2026 NBA Draft (Part I)

[Hal14]

I really like that Avdalas kid out of VTech, but I am not sure how he would fit with Tatum and Brown.

To clarify I think he fits brilliantly with Tatum and White as a point/forward taking that pressure off those guys a bit, and Tatum and White both as a more secondary creator.

Just can NEVER see brown not getting all Brown about someone other than him controlling the play. He defers some to Tatum, a little, not a chance he will with a rookie who 100% needs the ball in his hands.

We all know this as well, Brown gets sever "my time" and goes 1 on 4 frequently.

Between Tatum, Brown, White and Pritchard (plus Simons if he resigns here but I know how you feel about him so we won't go there lol) I don't think it would make sense to add another guard/wing type of prospect who would need the ball in their hands - especially if we'd be burning a top 20 or so pick on them.

The main sell with Avdalas is that he can handle the ball and pass well for a guy who's like 6'8". I don't think those skills would get used enough here to be worth drafting him as high as he would likely go.

And his defense is not very good.

[djFan71]

I really like that Avdalas kid out of VTech, but I am not sure how he would fit with Tatum and Brown.

To clarify I think he fits brilliantly with Tatum and White as a point/forward taking that pressure off those guys a bit, and Tatum and White both as a more secondary creator.

Just can NEVER see brown not getting all Brown about someone other than him controlling the play. He defers some to Tatum, a little, not a chance he will with a rookie who 100% needs the ball in his hands.

We all know this as well, Brown gets sever "my time" and goes 1 on 4 frequently.

Between Tatum, Brown, White and Pritchard (plus Simons is he resigns here but I know how you feel about him so we won't go there lol) I don't think it would make sense to add another guard/wing type of prospect who would need the ball on their hands - especially if we'd be burning a top 20 or so pick on them.

The main sell with Avdalas is that he can handle the ball and pass well for a guy who's like 6'8". I don't think those skills would get used enough here to be worth drafting him as high as he would likely go.

And his defense is not very good.

I've definitely embraced that theory that tall playmakers look sexy, but need to be absolutely elite at it - or have other things they can do. If they're not going to be your primary playmaker, what else can they do for you? It's great if they have those skills and use them secondary to other things, but if that's their main draw, it's tough unless they're truly elite and you wanna just hand them the ball like Luka or something.

[redslastlaugh]

IN Bleacher Reports mock from 11/18, Wasserman had us taking Ngongba with our early 2nd we get from New Orleans.

If I remember, Hal, you were also pretty interested by Zuby Ejiofor from St. John's, Wasserman had him going 1st round (25) and Aday Mara, who I kind of wrote off and forgot about, was another center going first round in the mock.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25262746-2026-nba-mock-draft

We all know that C is the biggest position of need for us.

Here's the bigs I have currently in the top 20 on my big board, with the ranking I have for them in parenthesis:

Cam Boozer (1)
Jayden Quaintance (7)
Patrick Ngongba (18)

Then I've got Koa Peat, Thomas Haugh and Hannes Steinbach at 19, 20 and 21. Peat and Haugh are probably more of a forward than a big at the NBA level, though..

The grand prize is Boozer. Good consolation prize is Quaintance. Good fallback option is Ngongba.

Others I see as worth consideration late in the 1st round - Cenac, Toombs, Toppin

[Hal14]

IN Bleacher Reports mock from 11/18, Wasserman had us taking Ngongba with our early 2nd we get from New Orleans.

If I remember, Hal, you were also pretty interested by Zuby Ejiofor from St. John's, Wasserman had him going 1st round (25) and Aday Mara, who I kind of wrote off and forgot about, was another center going first round in the mock.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25262746-2026-nba-mock-draft

We all know that C is the biggest position of need for us.

Here's the bigs I have currently in the top 20 on my big board, with the ranking I have for them in parenthesis:

Cam Boozer (1)
Jayden Quaintance (7)
Patrick Ngongba (18)

Then I've got Koa Peat, Thomas Haugh and Hannes Steinbach at 19, 20 and 21. Peat and Haugh are probably more of a forward than a big at the NBA level, though..

The grand prize is Boozer. Good consolation prize is Quaintance. Good fallback option is Ngongba.

Others I see as worth consideration late in the 1st round - Cenac, Toombs, Toppin

I see both of them (Ejiofor and Mara) as 2nd round type guys.

And Mara is only a junior so guys who are non-seniors who are not locks for the 1st round, there's a good chance they will return for their senior season to get that guaranteed NIL money, as we saw last season.

If Ngongba is projected 2nd round, I suppose it's possible he returns as well. But personally, I see him as a top 20 prospect in this class.

Toombs is out with a wrist injury..hasn't played yet this season..really eager to see how he looks when he starts playing for SMU. He could rise up my board..or fall, we'll see..

I'll do back flips if we somehow get lucky in the lottery and draft Boozer..my god..he's so good and the fit here would be amazing. Seems like a decent chance we'll be in the playoffs though rather than the lottery - darn..

[Hal14]

I really like that Avdalas kid out of VTech, but I am not sure how he would fit with Tatum and Brown.

To clarify I think he fits brilliantly with Tatum and White as a point/forward taking that pressure off those guys a bit, and Tatum and White both as a more secondary creator.

Just can NEVER see brown not getting all Brown about someone other than him controlling the play. He defers some to Tatum, a little, not a chance he will with a rookie who 100% needs the ball in his hands.

We all know this as well, Brown gets sever "my time" and goes 1 on 4 frequently.

Between Tatum, Brown, White and Pritchard (plus Simons is he resigns here but I know how you feel about him so we won't go there lol) I don't think it would make sense to add another guard/wing type of prospect who would need the ball on their hands - especially if we'd be burning a top 20 or so pick on them.

The main sell with Avdalas is that he can handle the ball and pass well for a guy who's like 6'8". I don't think those skills would get used enough here to be worth drafting him as high as he would likely go.

And his defense is not very good.

I've definitely embraced that theory that tall playmakers look sexy, but need to be absolutely elite at it - or have other things they can do. If they're not going to be your primary playmaker, what else can they do for you? It's great if they have those skills and use them secondary to other things, but if that's their main draw, it's tough unless they're truly elite and you wanna just hand them the ball like Luka or something.

i think that's the case in general - regardless of whether they're a tall playmaker or a short one. You typically have to bring more to the table. But if everything else is equal - taller is better than shorter, of course.

Guys like Giddey and Avdija both took a few years before they really found their groove. Might be the case for Avdalas too..although he will be about a year older and further in his development than them when he enters the league..

But for every Giddey and Avdija, there's also guys like Ousmane Dieng and Vrenz Bleijenbergh..and Dalano Banton who is turning out pretty meh..

I think Avdalas is good enough to take top 20 but not good enough for top 10..11-20 range is where I have him for now. But not a good ft for us that high. He is a good cutter, though btw..

[redslastlaugh]

IN Bleacher Reports mock from 11/18, Wasserman had us taking Ngongba with our early 2nd we get from New Orleans.

If I remember, Hal, you were also pretty interested by Zuby Ejiofor from St. John's, Wasserman had him going 1st round (25) and Aday Mara, who I kind of wrote off and forgot about, was another center going first round in the mock.

I see both of them (Ejiofor and Mara) as 2nd round type guys.

And Mara is only a junior so guys who are non-seniors who are not locks for the 1st round, there's a good chance they will return for their senior season to get that guaranteed NIL money, as we saw last season.

If Ngongba is projected 2nd round, I suppose it's possible he returns as well. But personally, I see him as a top 20 prospect in this class.

Toombs is out with a wrist injury..hasn't played yet this season..really eager to see how he looks when he starts playing for SMU. He could rise up my board..or fall, we'll see..

I'll do back flips if we somehow get lucky in the lottery and draft Boozer..my god..he's so good and the fit here would be amazing. Seems like a decent chance we'll be in the playoffs though rather than the lottery - darn..

So far Brad Stevens hasn't traded up in the draft and he hasn't given a prospect a promise to stay in the draft.
But this year, we could have a really high 2nd (from NOP) and a mid-2nd (from MIL) ... maybe this is the year Brad trades up into the late first and/or maybe this is the year Brad guarantees a player, "if you stay in the draft, you won't get past our pick,"

I can't bring myself to root for losses, but missing the playoffs, even if it just results in a 10-12 pick, would be really helpful for our long term chances to get another title. We could easily redo what the Mavs did, missing the playoffs one year and adding Lively and then making the Finals. But, still, I am rooting for us to win games

[djFan71]

Between Tatum, Brown, White and Pritchard (plus Simons is he resigns here but I know how you feel about him so we won't go there lol) I don't think it would make sense to add another guard/wing type of prospect who would need the ball on their hands - especially if we'd be burning a top 20 or so pick on them.

The main sell with Avdalas is that he can handle the ball and pass well for a guy who's like 6'8". I don't think those skills would get used enough here to be worth drafting him as high as he would likely go.

And his defense is not very good.

I've definitely embraced that theory that tall playmakers look sexy, but need to be absolutely elite at it - or have other things they can do. If they're not going to be your primary playmaker, what else can they do for you? It's great if they have those skills and use them secondary to other things, but if that's their main draw, it's tough unless they're truly elite and you wanna just hand them the ball like Luka or something.

i think that's the case in general - regardless of whether they're a tall playmaker or a short one. You typically have to bring more to the table. But if everything else is equal - taller is better than shorter, of course.

Guys like Giddey and Avdija both took a few years before they really found their groove. Might be the case for Avdalas too..although he will be about a year older and further in his development than them when he enters the league..

But for every Giddey and Avdija, there's also guys like Ousmane Dieng and Vrenz Bleijenbergh..and Dalano Banton who is turning out pretty meh..

I think Avdalas is good enough to take top 20 but not good enough for top 10..11-20 range is where I have him for now. But not a good ft for us that high. He is a good cutter, though btw..

Yea, to your first point, I think taller playmakers get more of a pass than shorter ones in scouting. Short ones you know they gotta deliver everywhere or be truly elite on ball. Taller guys get a little more window, but it may not be valid,

All that said, I was low on Demin for that reason, and he’s looking good. Though, if he was on a real team that didn’t hand him the ball, who knows?

[djFan71]

Just for continuity from last draft, I'm adding Kingston Flemings to my list.
I know we want bigs, and I agree, but PG is the 2nd need, imo.

My fingers just need to learn to add the "s" at the end and I'm good to go.

[redslastlaugh]

This draft feels very reminescent of last year's draft in general. We have Fleming with an 's' on the end, lol ... Also just so many guys go back now for the NIL that I already know quote a lot about Yaxel, Labaron, Avdalas, JT Toppin, Thomas Haugh, Bennet Stirtz from last years draft.

I haven't watched almost any college bball this year, but I am not liking this draft as much as last year's (assuming we don't move up to a top 4 lottery luck situation)... All the guys I just mentioned would've been in the mix at #28 and this year they're being talked about in the 10-15 range, some of them ... this draft seems like it's gonna be average after the top 5... but also I've hardly looked into, just that's my gut feeling

Just for continuity from last draft, I'm adding Kingston Flemings to my list.
I know we want bigs, and I agree, but PG is the 2nd need, imo.

My fingers just need to learn to add the "s" at the end and I'm good to go.

[redslastlaugh]

I put on the Tennessee vs Houston game to get a look at some guys, I had a couple things going on so I wasn't locked in on the game, but Tennessee has a top-10 projected freshman Nate Ament, a 6-10, player in the Jabari Smith mold (supposedly)... Anyway, I must've caught him on a bad night because he looked awful, didn't look like a first round talent.

Nate Ament gotta be falling out of scouts' top-10s after this performance, (1/8 FG) & (0/4 FG3) for total of 9 PTS and looking totally outclassed physically.

[djFan71]

I put on the Tennessee vs Houston game to get a look at some guys, I had a couple things going on so I wasn't locked in on the game, but Tennessee has a top-10 projected freshman Nate Ament, a 6-10, player in the Jabari Smith mold (supposedly)... Anyway, I must've caught him on a bad night because he looked awful, didn't look like a first round talent.

Nate Ament gotta be falling out of scouts' top-10s after this performance, (1/8 FG) & (0/4 FG3) for total of 9 PTS and looking totally outclassed physically.

It's OK, you can admit you were mainly checking out Flemings.

[Hal14]

I put on the Tennessee vs Houston game to get a look at some guys, I had a couple things going on so I wasn't locked in on the game, but Tennessee has a top-10 projected freshman Nate Ament, a 6-10, player in the Jabari Smith mold (supposedly)... Anyway, I must've caught him on a bad night because he looked awful, didn't look like a first round talent.

Nate Ament gotta be falling out of scouts' top-10s after this performance, (1/8 FG) & (0/4 FG3) for total of 9 PTS and looking totally outclassed physically.

Didn't look great but he's still a top 10 prospect imo.

-1 game shouldn't change the evaluation too drastically. These guys play 30+ games a year and scouts should be using a sample size of at least 2 seasons (last season of HS ball/EYBL for freshmen) which means like 60+ games to evaluate a player.

-Houston is so good (especially defensively) they can make anyone look bad

-Ament was still able to get to the FT line a fair amount.

-Looking at a larger sample size of games over the past couple of years, his shooting for a player who's only 18 yrs old and is about 6'9"/6'10" is about as good as you'll find.

-He also went head to head last season with possible no. 1 pick Darryn Peterson..Ament's team won the game, Ament was excellent, made some nice passes and had a few possessions where he shut down Peterson defensively

Ament is also one of the younger players in the class so he is earlier in his development.

And projects as more of an off ball player in the NBA but at Tennessee is having to create a lot of their offense so it's not his ideal role but having him play that role should help his long term development.

If we somehow end up with a pick in like the 5-10 range I wouldn't hate it if we took him. He wouldn't have to create much here..we could bring him along slowly..bring him off the bench at first..

[redslastlaugh]

I put on the Tennessee vs Houston game to get a look at some guys, I had a couple things going on so I wasn't locked in on the game, but Tennessee has a top-10 projected freshman Nate Ament, a 6-10, player in the Jabari Smith mold (supposedly)... Anyway, I must've caught him on a bad night because he looked awful, didn't look like a first round talent.

Nate Ament gotta be falling out of scouts' top-10s after this performance, (1/8 FG) & (0/4 FG3) for total of 9 PTS and looking totally outclassed physically.

It's OK, you can admit you were mainly checking out Flemings.

lol...

Have to say, same disclaimer that I wasn't watching very closely, but Flemings was giving me "upgraded JD Davison" vibes, kind of even looked a bit like a slightly lengthier JDD. I saw some really nice explosion from Flemings off the dribble penetration but I also thought, "this is the exact type of player we just had but didn't play."

I also, again same disclaimer, didn't really love Chris Cenac on Houston either, seemed clunky and like his body was a tad out of proportion.

Also, I live in Texas, and it's still sometimes crazy to me what a basketball powerhouse U of H has become, back when I was in high school, University of Houston was not highly regarded, as a school to attend, for academics, for athletics, etc ... really blown up in the last few yrs

[Hal14]

Currently, tankathon has us with the 14th pick.

That's a lottery pick so we would have a chance (yes a small chance but still a chance) at moving up into the top 4 picks.

Yay!

If we're at 14, one name to watch is Flory Bidunga.

Reminds me of Time Lord..not quite the wingspan of Rob but much less injury prone. Especially given our need at C, that could turn out to be a great pick at 14 if we get a guy who can develop into a Time Lord type of guy without the injuries.

Bidunga has been very good over the past few games for Kansas.

His passing has gotten better this season, too..which is key since passing is becoming an important skill for bigs in the modern NBA..especially bigs on the Celtics.

I've got Bidunga in the 11-15 range on my board at the moment.

[redslastlaugh]

double post

[redslastlaugh]

Interesting name. Within our salary structure, if we could get our roster where it's:
two 2-way guards (White, plus someone else)
The two Jays and two backup wings (Hauser, Walsh, maybe)

And then a center by committee within our salary constraints, where we have 3 playable bigs:
1. Big, physical bruiser (Queta)
2. A floor spacing shooter (whoever)
3. An athletic swiss-army knife defensive playmaker

We'd kind of have our bases covered and we could be an upgraded version of the Celtics team that made the Bubble ECF with patchwork center rotation
Kanter, Theis, rookie Grant, and raw Timelord.

With our budget constraints around our team for the next 2-3 years, this is probably the way I'd go, center by committee

Currently, tankathon has us with the 14th pick. That's a lottery pick so we would have a chance (yes a small chance but still a chance) at moving up into the top 4 picks.

Yay!

If we're at 14, one name to watch is Flory Bidunga.

Reminds me of Time Lord..not quite the wingspan of Rob but much less injury prone. Especially given our need at C, that could turn out to be a great pick at 14 if we get a guy who can develop into a Time Lord type of guy without the injuries.

Bidunga has been very good over the past few games for Kansas.

His passing has gotten better this season, too..which is key since passing is becoming an important skill for bigs in the modern NBA..especially bigs on the Celtics.

I've got Bidunga in the 11-15 range on my board at the moment.

[Larry_Russell]

Time to start looking at late First rounders and second rounders because if the team ends up with a pick in the 10-18 range Brad will 1000000% trade down in the draft.

I went to Tankathon this morning and see that they have us taking Yaxel.

I do like that, I think Yaxel can be a special player who could start right away and hopefully ship off Simons at some point for a legit player who can be our starting Center. (Maybe even try to resign KP at a reduced cost to be our bigman ringer in the playoffs)

Thenb maybe we are on to something

White/Pritchard
Brown/Hugo
Tatum/Hauser
Yaxel/Minot
????/Queta

(Maybe even try to resign KP at a reduced cost to be our bigman ringer in the playoffs)

[Hal14]

Tankathon has us with the 16th pick right now.

A couple of bigs I like who could go in that range.Flory Bidunga and Patrick Ngongba..both players I've mentioned before but just reiterating that..

[djFan71]

Tankathon has us with the 16th pick right now.

A couple of bigs I like who could go in that range.Flory Bidunga and Patrick Ngongba..both players I've mentioned before but just reiterating that..

Those 2 and Steinbach if he lasts.

[Hal14]

Tankathon has us with the 16th pick right now.

A couple of bigs I like who could go in that range.Flory Bidunga and Patrick Ngongba..both players I've mentioned before but just reiterating that..

Those 2 and Steinbach if he lasts.

I'm a little lower on Steinbach..have him in the next tier down from Bidunga and Ngongba..I have Bidunga and Ngongba like 10-17 range..and Steinbach like 22-27 range.