2025 NBA Draft Thread, part 1 – Capture the Flagg

[Hal14]

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When he first came stateside almost everything was "Big Dunkah" for Flory. Such a great kid... really rooting for him to do well as he's also been adopted into my hometown and played for my old HS winning back to back Indiana Gatorade POTY honors.

There's some folks on draft twitter who are very high on Bidunga and see him as a 1st round pick - or even potential lottery pick in 2025.

I'm not sure about him going that high. It'll be hard to get a ton of playing time this season, as the backup center for Hunter Dickinson who plays a lot. I think more realistically he is the backup big this season, then Dickinson is gone next season so Bidunga can take over as the starting C as a sophomore and then maybe get drafted in 2026.

But you never know..

Good to hear he's a good kid though. And he's got a very cool name.

[shackles10]

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When he first came stateside almost everything was "Big Dunkah" for Flory. Such a great kid... really rooting for him to do well as he's also been adopted into my hometown and played for my old HS winning back to back Indiana Gatorade POTY honors.

There's some folks on draft twitter who are very high on Bidunga and see him as a 1st round pick - or even potential lottery pick in 2025.

I'm not sure about him going that high. It'll be hard to get a ton of playing time this season, as the backup center for Hunter Dickinson who plays a lot. I think more realistically he is the backup big this season, then Dickinson is gone next season so Bidunga can take over as the starting C as a sophomore and then maybe get drafted in 2026.

But you never know..

Good to hear he's a good kid though. And he's got a very cool name.

Yeah it's going to be tough for him. I wonder if he would have recruited differently if he thought Dickinson was staying. He announced very early because he didn't want to be a distraction to his teammates and himself (part of him being a good kid and team player), but if he had waited who knows if he'd change his mind or not. He's loyal so I'm inclined to say he would not have (e.g. he chose to stay at an Indiana public school because they first believed in him and he started there when there were plenty of academies coming after him to go play there instead).

I'm not sure I'm that high on him professionally either. His size was amazing in HS, but that shrinks in college and basically a non-existent advantage in the NBA. He's not got a lot of perimeter skills either to make up for it. He has improved each year though and really hasn't played basketball very long at all so maybe he develops them. Passing and his handle along with quickness improved in the 3 years I saw him so it's possible. He's not a good ft shooter though (although the entire team stunk and cost themselves at least 1 state title with the poor shooting) so I'm hesitant to say he can be a stretch big at all. Maybe a Capella type rim runner or Timelord-lite if he can continue developing the passing. Honestly I feel bad saying anything negative about the kid though and if the Celtics somehow got him it'd realistically be the coolest thing in the world and would have his jersey ordered before he even made it to the stage.

[redslastlaugh]

OKC accumulating half the leagues draft picks is crazy… they have like 12 seconds in 28, 29, 30 …

This affects us because so many teams now are out of or low on future 2nds because bloody Sam Presti sniped them all… if we want to move off some guys to acquire future 2nds, it’s actually becoming a challenge.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

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Nolan Traoré doing Nolan Traoré things.

Good thing the Nets project to have a high draft pick and they love giving those away to the Celtics.

[165bows]

Pretty amped to see if the Celtics fan and local boy can be the number one pick ngl.

[redslastlaugh]

Did a deep dive on DARKO analytics, looking up every 2nd round pick in the Danny/Brad era.

https://apanalytics.shinyapps.io/DARKO/

Of all the second round picks, from Brandon Hunter to Jordan Walsh, only four players got to a positive rating at any point in their career:

Leon Powe
E’Twan Moore
Marcus Thornton
JD Davison

https://image.upilink.in/en/bkOR2QqdFM6G1HY

Just thought it was interesting.

EDIT: pulled up the DARKO on the 2019 Celtics draft, lol, those picks did NOT pan out.

https://image.upilink.in/en/VqSjd1nCnqMjwre

EDIT: pulled up the DARKO on the young players in this Brad Stevens era, with sample size caveats, it’s lookin pretty good.

https://image.upilink.in/en/CwZdfPiWMr6N1Jq

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Did a deep dive on DARKO analytics, looking up every 2nd round pick in the Danny/Brad era.

https://apanalytics.shinyapps.io/DARKO/

Of all the second round picks, from Brandon Hunter to Jordan Walsh, only four players got to a positive rating at any point in their career:

Leon Powe
E’Twan Moore
Marcus Thornton
JD Davison

https://image.upilink.in/en/bkOR2QqdFM6G1HY

Just thought it was interesting.

EDIT: pulled up the DARKO on the 2019 Celtics draft, lol, those picks did NOT pan out.

https://image.upilink.in/en/VqSjd1nCnqMjwre

EDIT: pulled up the DARKO on the young players in this Brad Stevens era, with sample size caveats, it’s lookin pretty good.

https://image.upilink.in/en/CwZdfPiWMr6N1Jq

Moore stuck around longer than I remembered. Sticking in the league for a decade at his size is an accomplishment in itself.

[redslastlaugh]

Did a deep dive on DARKO analytics, looking up every 2nd round pick in the Danny/Brad era.

https://apanalytics.shinyapps.io/DARKO/

Of all the second round picks, from Brandon Hunter to Jordan Walsh, only four players got to a positive rating at any point in their career:

Leon Powe
E’Twan Moore
Marcus Thornton
JD Davison

https://image.upilink.in/en/bkOR2QqdFM6G1HY

Just thought it was interesting.

EDIT: pulled up the DARKO on the 2019 Celtics draft, lol, those picks did NOT pan out.

https://image.upilink.in/en/VqSjd1nCnqMjwre

EDIT: pulled up the DARKO on the young players in this Brad Stevens era, with sample size caveats, it’s lookin pretty good.

https://image.upilink.in/en/CwZdfPiWMr6N1Jq

Moore stuck around longer than I remembered. Sticking in the league for a decade at his size is an accomplishment in itself.

Yea, E’Twaun did way more than our first round pick that same draft, JaJuan Johnson. E’Twaun was, I think, the 54th pick and of course IT was the 60th and last pick that year.

Edit: I also graphed the DARKO for some of the big superstars of the 2000s, Pierce, Dirk, AI, Carmelo, TD and the results were interesting, if expected:
https://image.upilink.in/en/QT3yoF8uxDvJcp7

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

Celtics starting center in 2030...

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[Hal14]

My current top 60:

Rank Player
1 Cooper Flagg
2 Dylan Harper
3 Ace Bailey
4 VJ Edgecombe
5 Nolan Traore
6 Tre Johnson
7 Kasparas Jakucionis
8 Ben Saraf
9 Rocco Zikarski
10 Will Riley
11 Liam McNeeley
12 Khaman Maluach
13 Egor Demin
14 Jalil Bethea
15 Dink Pate
16 Collin Murray-Boyles
17 Asa Newell
18 Paul McNeil
19 Noa Essengue
20 Kon Knueppel
21 Jamir Watkins
22 Alex Toohey
23 Hugo Gonzalez
24 Kwame Evans Jr
25 Keshon Gilbert
26 Hunter Sallis
27 Kam Jones
28 Derik Queen
29 Ian Jackson
30 Drake Powell
31 Boogie Fland
32 JT Toppin
33 Johni Broome
34 Joson Sanon
35 Milan Momcilovic
36 Alex Karaban
37 Donavan Freeman
38 Kanon Catchings
39 Jaxson Robinson
40 Terrence Edwards
41 Zacharie Perrin
42 Vit Hrabar
43 Bryson Tucker
44 Carter Bryant
45 Jarin Stevenson
46 Michael Ruzic
47 Trent Perry
48 Jeremiah Fears
49 Mark Sears
50 Tomislav Ivisic
51 Zvonimir Ivisic
52 Annor Boateng
53 Noah Penda
54 Danny Wolf
55 Lachlan Olbrich
56 Norchad Omier
57 Rakease Passmore
58 Mario Saint-Supery
59 Trevon Brazile
60 Isaiah Abraham

[redslastlaugh]

Hal, are you a believer in the notion that 2025 looks like a particularly strong draft? If so, how good a draft is it?

I was looking at past drafts on tankathon, and it’s really shocking how much worse a draft was 2019 compared to ‘18 and 2020.

My current top 60:

Rank Player
1 Cooper Flagg
2 Dylan Harper
3 Ace Bailey
4 VJ Edgecombe
5 Nolan Traore
6 Tre Johnson
7 Kasparas Jakucionis
8 Ben Saraf
9 Rocco Zikarski
10 Will Riley
11 Liam McNeeley
12 Khaman Maluach
13 Egor Demin
14 Jalil Bethea
15 Dink Pate
16 Collin Murray-Boyles
17 Asa Newell
18 Paul McNeil
19 Noa Essengue
20 Kon Knueppel
21 Jamir Watkins
22 Alex Toohey
23 Hugo Gonzalez
24 Kwame Evans Jr
25 Keshon Gilbert
26 Hunter Sallis
27 Kam Jones
28 Derik Queen
29 Ian Jackson
30 Drake Powell
31 Boogie Fland
32 JT Toppin
33 Johni Broome
34 Joson Sanon
35 Milan Momcilovic
36 Alex Karaban
37 Donavan Freeman
38 Kanon Catchings
39 Jaxson Robinson
40 Terrence Edwards
41 Zacharie Perrin
42 Vit Hrabar
43 Bryson Tucker
44 Carter Bryant
45 Jarin Stevenson
46 Michael Ruzic
47 Trent Perry
48 Jeremiah Fears
49 Mark Sears
50 Tomislav Ivisic
51 Zvonimir Ivisic
52 Annor Boateng
53 Noah Penda
54 Danny Wolf
55 Lachlan Olbrich
56 Norchad Omier
57 Rakease Passmore
58 Mario Saint-Supery
59 Trevon Brazile
60 Isaiah Abraham

[Hal14]

Hal, are you a believer in the notion that 2025 looks like a particularly strong draft? If so, how good a draft is it?

I was looking at past drafts on tankathon, and it’s really shocking how much worse a draft was 2019 compared to ‘18 and 2020.

Hard to tell this early. But it does seem like a very good, deep draft class.

[phincsfan]

Hal, are you a believer in the notion that 2025 looks like a particularly strong draft? If so, how good a draft is it?

I was looking at past drafts on tankathon, and it’s really shocking how much worse a draft was 2019 compared to ‘18 and 2020.

Hard to tell this early. But it does seem like a very good, deep draft class.

19' really bad. The one guy that was the real sleeper was Porter but of course he turned into a DV guy.

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

He's going to be the tallest player to ever play in the NBA...

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[playa-hater]

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Is this for real?? The names on this draft beat any 10 years +

[Hal14]

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Is this for real?? The names on this draft beat any 10 years +

It's for real. However there's a good chance that not all of them will get drafted. There's a chance that only like 2 or 3 of them will get drafted. But all of them at least have a *chance* to get drafted..

[Hal14]

Smart move by Brad. Instead of taking a 12 hour flight with the rest of the team to Abu Dhabi, he decides to make 2 shorter flights, with the first one being in Europe to check out this game..break up the flights, so you're not on a plane for 12 hours.

And get to do some scouting where you can see a few draft eligible prospects (Ben Saraf, Noa Essengue, Michael Ruzic) as well as some older guys who aren't draft eligible but possibly guys you could sign as a FA and bring them over when they're further along in their development and more NBA ready, like what we did with Theis..

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[Smart2Nesmith43]

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[Hal14]

Here's the list of guys we worked out prior to the 2024 draft but they withdrew from the draft prior to the deadline, which means they could get drafted in 2025:

They're roughly in order of where they're at on my 2025 big board:

JT Toppin, Texas Tech
Alex Karaban, UConn
Noah Penda, France
Andrija Jelavic, KK Mega Bemax
Nique Clifford, Colorado State
Coleman Hawkins, Illinois
Payton Sandfort, Iowa
Anthony Dell’Orso, Arizona
Toby Okani, West Virginia

The top 3 guys on that list I am watching pretty closely. Honestly not super high on the rest of them. But those first 3 guys are definitely worth keeping an eye on this season..

[Big Joke Line]

Wow, this forum has come a long way..at least when it comes to draft discussion. I'm impressed!

In October 2022, I went ahead and started the thread for the 2023 NBA Draft on here and made a few posts about prospects, and got laughed at and ridiculed by 2 posters who are no longer on this forum for starting up the draft discussions so early.

Now look at us. We've got the draft thread cooking in mid July for the following year's draft, with plenty of discussion, from lots of different posters..and the thread wasn't even started by me and no one is mocking anyone for talking draft so early..

To add to the discussion..it's obviously very early so this list will likely look *way* different by the time we get closer to the draft..but this is my personal big board for next year..at least just the top 30..



Karaban was discussed quite a bit for the 2024 draft but he returned to UConn. I have him ranked 31st at the moment.

Both Karaban and Toppin worked out for the C's ahead of the 2024 draft but both returned to college so both could be on the team's radar this season. And both could be in that late 1st/early 2nd round range..

Damn, I saw like a third of this top 20 play at the City of Palms last year. Wonder what this year looks like.