2023 Draft Discussion Part III

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

I'm all in on Bufkin as it stands. Would fit perfectly with what the team needs and all the numbers you want to see are there given his role at Michigan.

[Yallbecrazy]

Cissoko is playing against NBA tryouts in a non-competitive environment on a losing team. So the players are more athletic and bigger than what he was facing in Spain, but there's no stakes. If Rupert makes the same mistake twice in Australia, he's getting benched. Not the same for Cissoko, so that has to be factored in. I don't see much of a difference in athleticism, personally.

If we're going by functional athleticism Cissoko has a much higher FTr than Rupert, he's a worse shooter from the FT line but he's shown glimpses where he's been on fire from 3.

Rupert has a huge wingspan which gives him a lot of advantages on defense but Cissoko is still a very big guard and has an OG build. I would say although Cissoko has lesser tools and similar athleticism he's able to use it a lot better.

Watch on YouTube

Idk man this guy looks like a top ten pick

Cissoko in the Top 10? Wowzers

He's hard to compare, but this draft is weak and I have him way ahead of other 'top 10' guys *cough* Thompson twins *cough* so why not?

Two outlier skills (passing and drawing free throws) and no big red flags except maybe rebounding.

[Psubs]

Rupert is 6'6 with a 7'3 wingspan

What are we debating here guys? You think Masai will ever pass up this type of prospect? lmfao

(I actually do like him a lot)

Coulibaly is also 6'6 with 7'3 wingspan... maybe the one with bigger hands wins.

[Psubs]

If we're going by functional athleticism Cissoko has a much higher FTr than Rupert, he's a worse shooter from the FT line but he's shown glimpses where he's been on fire from 3.

Rupert has a huge wingspan which gives him a lot of advantages on defense but Cissoko is still a very big guard and has an OG build. I would say although Cissoko has lesser tools and similar athleticism he's able to use it a lot better.

Watch on YouTube

Idk man this guy looks like a top ten pick

Holy cr@p, this is the game with the clip I posted of the behind the back dribble then down the court for the cramming. Thanks for posting as the announcer says it's an offensive foul. Soooooooo the defender was outside the restricted area AND he finished the dunk!

BTW, #36 is 6'11, 270 lbs Jordy Tshimanga of the Iowa Wolves.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Iowa Wolves 3-13 road record, one of the worst teams in the g-league and the worst defensive team with a 126.5 defRTG which was even worse on the road

[Rapsfan07]

If we're going by functional athleticism Cissoko has a much higher FTr than Rupert, he's a worse shooter from the FT line but he's shown glimpses where he's been on fire from 3.

Rupert has a huge wingspan which gives him a lot of advantages on defense but Cissoko is still a very big guard and has an OG build. I would say although Cissoko has lesser tools and similar athleticism he's able to use it a lot better.

Watch on YouTube

Idk man this guy looks like a top ten pick

Cissoko in the Top 10? Wowzers

He's hard to compare, but this draft is weak and I have him way ahead of other 'top 10' guys *cough* Thompson twins *cough* so why not?

Two outlier skills (passing and drawing free throws) and no big red flags except maybe rebounding.

This may be crazy for me to say but I don't know that I'd take him over Ausar. I definitely wouldn't take him ahead of Amen though, I can tell you that.

I would take him over Sensabaugh though.

[niQ]

Not going to claim to have seen all the prospects, but here are some I like so far that should be within our range:
(No particular order. I didn't list some players that I think will be gone by our pick. Or just I haven't watched tape of them yet.)

Keyonte George
Jordan Hawkins
Kobe Bufkin
Bilal Coulibaly
Sidy Cissoko

Maybe
Dariq Whitehead
Nick Smith
Leonard Miller

High risk, high reward?
GG Jackson

[UnbelievablyRAW]

If we can ship Boucher and Otto for seconds I would love to grab Strawher and Podzimski if he falls. Sasser is a good option too if he falls

Also, no one talk about it because we have Koloko, but Lively looks like a better version of him defensively and has more meat on his bones already. Imagine we just kept the pick and drafted Nembhard

We should be able to get a better player than Nembhard at 13.

Yeah but if we had him the pressure for this 13th pick to solve half of the guard depth problems wouldn't be so severe

[Dalek]

I watched the one full game in the NIT where they played against one of the top defenses in the country apparently and easily the top in that tournament as per the commentators.
They were all over Podz in the 1st half and he struggled, but despite the defense being hyper focused on him in the 2nd he was able to get it going and finished with a decent stat line. Santa Clara really didn't have any other offensive weapons or shooters and down the stretch their offensive strategy was just give it to Podz and hope, while Sam Houston's defense was hyper focused on anyone except Podz beating them.

Sam Houston started running a bunch of screens to get their smaller pg iso'd on Podz late in the game and Podz got blown by the first time, but the 2nd time he was able to focus and get his hand in there to force a jump ball. He's not athletically gifted as a defender, but he does compete and has a good bbiq on the defensive end. Sam Houston may have been trying to iso him as well since I think he played the whole game and they wanted to tire him out.

It's not conceivable to me that Hawkins is a better prospect than Podziemski.

On the general realgm NBA draft board someone asked chatGPT where Podziemski should go in the draft and it said he's a top 14 pick.

edit:
The one thing where I'm a little worried is his ft% and that was brought up by GPT. Given his 3pt shooting his free throw shooting really should be 7-10 percent higher. So there is some likelihood he is running really hot from 3, really cold from the line, or some combination of the two. Considering he has a fairly high volume on both and was an excellent 3pt shooter in high school it is quite the outlier.

Wow I was prepared to be killed here on Podz, and you gave a really fair evaluation. The thing that stuck out from your game scouting was that he adjusted to the Sam Houston game plan and competed on defense. To me, the thing that always stands out with Podz is despite the not perfect athleticism is he is in good condition. High usage, running off screens, and ballhandling with all the efficient shooting is special to me and shows his motor. He doesn't give up defense either which bodes well.

The Chat GPT thing is cool, and honestly, it seems like Draft Twitter loves him too. He pops from in advanced stats. I don't know what is up with the freethrows, but it is a minor nit when you consider his ability to get to the line and overall his floater touch and shooting touch show he can be better in that aspect.

In out range there are a ton of combo guards, and to me Podz has less warts to his game and honestly we need the shooting. II would not take him over Black or Cason Wallace, but I do feel like he should be higher than other in that range like George/Smith/Bufkin

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Would the Heat sign and trade us Struss and 18 for Gary? Might even have to be Robinson and 18 for Gary

[LoveMyRaps]

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=AdamSpinella

[God Squad]

Rupert is 6'6 with a 7'3 wingspan

What are we debating here guys? You think Masai will ever pass up this type of prospect? lmfao

(I actually do like him a lot)

Coulibaly is also 6'6 with 7'3 wingspan... maybe the one with bigger hands wins.

Coulibaly has a totally different shot diet IMO. In terms of creation and shots that he takes. I like Coulibaly more now and in the future. I see more potential offensively, while both project to be good defenders.

[Dalek]

Three weeks ago you wouldn't even let me compare him to Jalen Williams and now you're breaking out Haliburton comps I wonder if mock drafters are freaked out by his Nico Mannion haircut and don't want to look foolish. He should be firmly in the first round by now.

You were the one to put me on him, and it took me a while to get over the "white/non-uber athlete" bias. I do still rate Jalen Wlliams on a different level because he is arguably the second best prospect from a loaded class and again Williams just has freaky arm length and grit that allows him to be a starter in the NBA because he can defend multiple positions.

Podz is going to have to show out in draft workouts and combine to get into the lottery, but I agree with you he is in the first round at this point. My own Haliburton comparison came about because I was looking for the scoring ball handler archetype and they both grew up in Wisconsin and both don't wow you with athleticism, but with craft and deep range shooting.

The jury is still out on Hali and whether he can defend well enough in the NBA to be on a serious playoff team, but you see what Indy is doing by looking to add plus defenders around Hali. They have Myles Turner, want OG desperately, and have Mathurin who is no defensive slouch. The play at Hali's pace and they are an exciting team that isn't just empty points.

Not sure exactly where Podz is on the comp. spectrum: Hali or Herro are options. I also like Payton Pritchard as a scrappy shooting ballhandler on a playoff team, although I think Podz is a better athlete than him.

[ArthurVandelay]

Rupert is 6'6 with a 7'3 wingspan

What are we debating here guys? You think Masai will ever pass up this type of prospect? lmfao

(I actually do like him a lot)

Coulibaly is also 6'6 with 7'3 wingspan... maybe the one with bigger hands wins.

Coulibaly could squeeze another inch or two out yet. He doesn’t look like he’s finished growing.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Sign and trade Fred to Brooklyn for Dinwiddie and the 21st pick. Dinwiddie is expiring next year and we get a pick back for Fred that we can use on another guard

The corpse of Gallo for Porter and Boston's early second (32nd pick)

Chris Boucher for Holmes and the Kings second (38th pic) via the Pacers

[Yallbecrazy]

Sign and trade Fred to Brooklyn for Dinwiddie and the 21st pick. Dinwiddie is expiring next year and we get a pick back for Fred that we can use on another guard

The corpse of Gallo for Porter and Boston's early second (32nd pick)

Chris Boucher for Holmes and the Kings second (38th pic) via the Pacers

Can't Brooklyn sign him outright? No one is giving us a 1st for a free agent.

[Thaddy]

I think there's a small chance Wallace will be available at our pick.

No chance any of these guys are available at 13.

Gone(unranked):
Wembyama
Henderson
Miller
Thompson
Thompson
Walker
Hendricks
Black
Whitmore
Dick
Hawkins

Remaining(ranked):

Cissoko
Wallace
Smith Jr
George
Jackson

Cissoko.
Pros: Performs against borderline NBA guys at 18 years old. He had great playmaking stats as a non-primary ball handler along with a high FTr. Improved every month in the Gleague. Effective pick and roll ball handler. Capable rim protector against opposing guards.
Cons: Bad FT shooter and streaky shooting performances, can't create own offense without a pick and roll, lack of burst uses size 1 on 1 against smaller guards to finish. Will have trouble with NBA help defense and adjusting to speed

Wallace.
Pros: Reliable shooter, ball handler, immediately fits as a back up PG on a playoff team.
Cons: Lack of height makes him a target on defense, no vertical pop or burst, no creation ability.

Smith Jr
Pros: Highly touted out of high school. Breaks down defense, effortless offense
Cons: Poor shooting performances, frail, durability issues, vibes of a high volume scorer

George
Pros: movement shooter, creates own offense, shown glimpses of playmaking
Cons: losing player that shot bad percentages, will struggle against more athletic NBA guards, I don't see a difference from Bouknight who is a bust

Jackson
Pros: skilled and has a good size, capable of creating his own offense, good shooting mechanics, got the GLeague experience of being a defacto number 1 option
Cons: Is he capable of playing a team game and fulfiling a role he looks like an AAU player that dominated the offense to inflate stats, seems like a losing player that can't be an effective team player

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Sign and trade Fred to Brooklyn for Dinwiddie and the 21st pick. Dinwiddie is expiring next year and we get a pick back for Fred that we can use on another guard

The corpse of Gallo for Porter and Boston's early second (32nd pick)

Chris Boucher for Holmes and the Kings second (38th pic) via the Pacers

Can't Brooklyn sign him outright? No one is giving us a 1st for a free agent.

Not if they plan on keeping Cam Johnson (Seth is also UFA but they might just let him go) and it allows them to use Dinwiddie's money to pay for Fred's new contract. Spencer is up after this season and I'm assuming they'd rather pay Fred long term whatever bump in salary Spencer will demand. Instead of losing him for nothing they flip him into Fred.

[720]

Bummed out that Black is well out of our range now.

[Psubs]

Sign and trade Fred to Brooklyn for Dinwiddie and the 21st pick. Dinwiddie is expiring next year and we get a pick back for Fred that we can use on another guard

The corpse of Gallo for Porter and Boston's early second (32nd pick)

Chris Boucher for Holmes and the Kings second (38th pic) via the Pacers

Holmes is out of the rotation! Finally can trade for him.