2023 Draft Discussion Part 4

[will]

What's that Emoni Bates draft stock looking like?

Looking like a 2nd or undrafted.

Damn. He really fell off that bad after leaving Memphis?

That legal incident was a bad look though.

[Psubs]

I have a feeling Bilal will be firmly on Masai's radar. He just seems like a Masai prospect, but in a guard's body instead of a forward.

Another shot at Bruno 2.0?

This board can't arrive at a consensus that Bilal should be the pick. That's almost a guarantee he'll suck

I feel like Bilal is becoming overrated like the Thompson twins but can shoot. Though I'd draft Bilal over either Thompson Twin.

If Zach Lavine was drafted #13 then the Thompsons should be drafted in the teens too.

[Jadoogar]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

[niQ]

I have a feeling Bilal will be firmly on Masai's radar. He just seems like a Masai prospect, but in a guard's body instead of a forward.

Another shot at Bruno 2.0?

This board can't arrive at a consensus that Bilal should be the pick. That's almost a guarantee he'll suck

It was like yesterday the whole board was sold on Jalen Suggs. Though, I hear his defense is pretty good.

[HumbleRen]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

Brothers and sisters spent the whole year watching big wings with 0 guard skills and still want to draft another player like that lol.

We're cooked.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

At this point we all know who we want the Raptors to pick, but who do we think they actually will assuming no roster changes?
Masai tends to prefer athletic guys with good BPMs (especially dBPM)and Bobby mentioned in an article before they like guys who rebound well.
In the end of season press conference he talked about shooting too.
Historically Masai hasn't traded back or up, he's just picked the guy at the top of the board when it's their turn.

Cason Wallace is definitely a guy that checks all the boxes although not a shooter, he isn't bad at it, but he probably won't be available.
Hendricks might also be the pick, but we'd have to trade a 4 so he would get playing time and his dBPM isn't very high (below 3).

Lively fits as an impactful athlete, but he can't shoot and we don't have room for a centre unless we trade Koloko.

I'm at a loss for anyone else in this draft that might fit the criteria I listed. Leonard Miller perhaps, but again I think Masai steers clear of a 4/5 and it's tough to evaluate G league guys impact. It would also be quite the reach for Miller as I haven't really seen anyone rate him in the top 20.

We have enough rebounding on this roster, Masai and Bobby can say all they want but they clearly just change their minds and adapt on a whim so it's anybody's guess. They will obviously continue to target players whose games are backed by advanced stats but will likely be a lot more lenient in favor of adding someone with some kind of combination of shooting ability/handles/dribble penetration at the expense of very good rebounding/stocks statistics.

Or they address that via trade of OG and/or Pascal and continue with their draft model. Something has got to give in terms of roster construction and they are well aware of it. Wallace, if available, has enough offensive upside as a glue guy and would make sense if they get another glue guy like OG out of here and trade him for a SG/SF with self-creation ability.

[Psubs]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

He was on the French national junior team that finished 5th last summer which also had Sidy Cissoko and Rayan Rupert.

Bilal apparently grew 2 inches to be 6'8 with a 7'2 wingspan. Bilal may be the better 3pt shooter of the trio but Cissoko has been shooting from the NBA 3 all season.

I also wonder how much playing with Wembenyama has defenses focusing on him and Bilal being more free. Bilal does look smooth and athletic but will it translate to a much tougher league. I guess the GLeague and the NBL might be on par now.

I terms of prospect level, I would put Bilal at a riser liek Ousmane Dieng. Ultimately his floor is prime Bruno but he could be Nicolas Batum 2.0 with less playmaking.

[niQ]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

Like others have said, nothing really special in our range. Can shoot, can't defend, or can defend, can't shoot, scorers with low efficiency. Bilal seems like he can shoot, pass, defend, has the wingspan that Masai covets... Dunno, he just seems like a prospect with higher floor than others with still room for upside. But hey, we've all been wrong before like I said about how everyone was all-in on Suggs.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Wallace makes sense if OG is out of here for like #10 and Hardy (and whatever else) and go with Wallace/Hardy/Barnes/Siakam/Poeltl, add some shooters to the bench and then wait and see the fit with Barnes/Siakam and if it doesn't work eventually move Barnes to PF and work on getting a creator at SF. This gives us the young backcourt with a relatively high ceiling that we need. I would be very comfortable with that lineup in 2-3 years Wallace/Hardy/-----/Barnes/Poeltl. It's a lineup with a lot of room for growth to make deeper playoff runs by the year IMO. Our future is contingent on Barnes development regardless, so we might as well have other young players developing with him ASAP. We're not going to solve all our problems overnight.

[Clutch0z24]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

Yeah its weird....Dude looks so Raw and on the offensive end has limited upside....If we had a 25-30 pick sure take the flyer but at 13...Hell no lol

[ATLTimekeeper]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

Nah a bunch of us knew Skal was bad. Coulibaly doesn't have any warts like that, but he also didn't play very much against the best competition so he's more of a mystery box. It would be closer to fans still rooting for Nick Smith Jr.

[Yallbecrazy]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

Yeah its weird....Dude looks so Raw and on the offensive end has limited upside....If we had a 25-30 pick sure take the flyer but at 13...Hell no lol

I guess the upside is that he's young, a freak athlete apparently, and statistically doesn't have any warts in his game.

The downside is that he doesn't have any stats that are a positive except a good steal rate.

His shooting seems poor, but not awful, his passing is mediocre at best, his rebounding is okay. He also is only getting 16 minutes a game so he may be putting up those stats vs other bench players.
I don't see him being any good in his first year or two in the NBA so I would avoid him until that 25+ range as well.

Skal put up a 2.7 bpm in college with a -1.3 obpm.
It was fairly obvious he wasn't good...but hey that's better than Nick Smith and GG Jackson.

[Jadoogar]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

Like others have said, nothing really special in our range. Can shoot, can't defend, or can defend, can't shoot, scorers with low efficiency. Bilal seems like he can shoot, pass, defend, has the wingspan that Masai covets... Dunno, he just seems like a prospect with higher floor than others with still room for upside. But hey, we've all been wrong before like I said about how everyone was all-in on Suggs.

Yea but it wasn't just our board that was on Suggs, he was ranked 4th on pretty much every board. And we didn't reach super far for Scottie, he was ranked 4-6th on most boards.
This guy would be a pretty massive reach at 13. Our last 2 big reaches (Bruno, Arujo) haven't worked out too well.

[niQ]

Am i missing something with this Bilal guy? He's ranked in the 30s i know mock drafts aren't gospel but this is feeling like this board's hard on for Skal Labissere.

Like others have said, nothing really special in our range. Can shoot, can't defend, or can defend, can't shoot, scorers with low efficiency. Bilal seems like he can shoot, pass, defend, has the wingspan that Masai covets... Dunno, he just seems like a prospect with higher floor than others with still room for upside. But hey, we've all been wrong before like I said about how everyone was all-in on Suggs.

Yea but it wasn't just our board that was on Suggs, he was ranked 4th on pretty much every board. And we didn't reach super far for Scottie, he was ranked 4-6th on most boards.
This guy would be a pretty massive reach at 13. Our last 2 big reaches (Bruno, Arujo) haven't worked out too well.

Maybe you're right. Though, I just feel like Bilal will slowly rise in mock drafts in the upcoming weeks. Jalen Williams rose pretty fast after combine measurements.

Perhaps not high enough for 13. I don't know, all the other players in the 11-15 range aren't really exciting. Everyone's got some flaws in one way or another. Is there a player you like a lot?

[WuTang_CMB]

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[niQ]

Honestly, I just want someone who won't be a project in shooting.

[Jadoogar]

Like others have said, nothing really special in our range. Can shoot, can't defend, or can defend, can't shoot, scorers with low efficiency. Bilal seems like he can shoot, pass, defend, has the wingspan that Masai covets... Dunno, he just seems like a prospect with higher floor than others with still room for upside. But hey, we've all been wrong before like I said about how everyone was all-in on Suggs.

Yea but it wasn't just our board that was on Suggs, he was ranked 4th on pretty much every board. And we didn't reach super far for Scottie, he was ranked 4-6th on most boards.
This guy would be a pretty massive reach at 13. Our last 2 big reaches (Bruno, Arujo) haven't worked out too well.

Maybe you're right. Though, I just feel like Bilal will slowly rise in mock drafts in the upcoming weeks. Jalen Williams rose pretty fast after combine measurements.

Perhaps not high enough for 13. I don't know, all the other players in the 11-15 range aren't really exciting. Everyone's got some flaws in one way or another. Is there a player you like a lot?

Yea that's fair, no one i love. I haven't dug in super deep yet but guys I'm partial to right now: Anthony Black (probably out of our range), Gradey Dick & Taylor Hendricks (shooting) and Jordan Hawkins.

But who knows, i ranked Scottie 6th in 21.

[DG88]

Honestly, I just want someone who won't be a project in shooting.

Yeah we need someone who has or will have a projectable NBA 3 point shot. We always seem to draft players with upside and because this draft isn't star heavy but potential solid starters I'm ok with going with high potential player at 13.

[niQ]

Yea but it wasn't just our board that was on Suggs, he was ranked 4th on pretty much every board. And we didn't reach super far for Scottie, he was ranked 4-6th on most boards.
This guy would be a pretty massive reach at 13. Our last 2 big reaches (Bruno, Arujo) haven't worked out too well.

Maybe you're right. Though, I just feel like Bilal will slowly rise in mock drafts in the upcoming weeks. Jalen Williams rose pretty fast after combine measurements.

Perhaps not high enough for 13. I don't know, all the other players in the 11-15 range aren't really exciting. Everyone's got some flaws in one way or another. Is there a player you like a lot?

Yea that's fair, no one i love. I haven't dug in super deep yet but guys I'm partial to right now: Anthony Black (probably out of our range), Gradey Dick & Taylor Hendricks (shooting) and Jordan Hawkins.

But who knows, i ranked Scottie 6th in 21.

Yea, I feel like Black, Gradey, and Hendricks could all be gone by 13. I do like Hawkins though. I feel like his movement shooting could bode well with Barnes.

[OakleyDokely]

Masai has gone the NCAA route every time since Bruno. I'd still lean towards him picking a NCAA player just because there's more date available to him.