2023 NBA Draft – Thurs, 8PM, June 22

[Hal14]

We need a big who can protect the rim and finish easy ones inside.
We need Wembanyama.

He's a freak. 7'5", only 19 and doing this in a playoff game in one of the top pro leagues in the world.

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I'm just glad he's going to a team in the west, and also a team that isn't loaded with other talent..

[Half-Full]

Future Celtic:

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Good interview. I think his game is still developing, and he seems like he is a hard worker. My inclination, however, would be to draft someone who has been playing longer, and who has a better chance of making the team.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Cissoko is VERY interesting. I think it'd be hard to pass him up, if he's still there. He checks a lot of boxes, when you look at the other 2 guys Brad has drafted in the 2nd round since taking over (Begarin, Davison)

-Only 19 yrs old (JD was 19 when we drafted him, Begarin turned 19 shortly after the draft)
-From France (so is Begarin)
-Good athleticism, has some crazy highlight reel dunks (obviously JD and Begarin have that, too)
-Wing (Begarin is a wing too. But with Cissoko being 1" taller, at least 10 lbs heavier and being more of a 3/4 combo than Begarin who's more of a 2/3 combo, I don't think the overlap with them is that bad
-Has shown some really impressive playmaking flashes (so did Begarin and JD)
-A guy who slips later in the draft (partly due to a low 3 pt %, partly due to being kind of raw with high turnovers) but has the long term upside to end up being a top 20 player form his draft class

I mean, for crying out loud, most people are now saying Bilal Coulibaly is gonna be a lottery pick. But IMO, Cissoko has a case for being the better prospect. One might say that:

-Cissoko can do everything that Coulibaly does, they're similar in age, both about the same height
-Cissoko has a much stronger/sturdier build so he'd be able to better withstand the pounding/physicality of a long NBA season than Coulibaly. Coulibaly could certainly get stronger over time, but as of now one might say Cissoko is the better prospect.
-Coulibaly started off the season in a really easy league. If you just look at his stats once he got moved up to a tougher league (on Wembanyama's team), he averaged just 5.5 PPG and 19 MPG in 32 games. Meanwhile, Cissoko, playing in the G-League (with the NBA 3 pt line, and facing competition that was arguably better than the comp Coulibaly faced), Cissoko put up 11.5 PPG and 29 MPG, while playing in 43 games.
-The 2 of them were teammates on the France team last summer at the U18 European championships. Cissoko started over Coulibaly and put up better numbers than him
-I think the only reason why most people are ranking Coulibaly higher now, is because his season is still going. It's recency bias. There's no other games left to watch right now, except the NBA finals and Metro 92. And all the draft people are watching Metro 92, since they have Wembanyama on the team. Meanwhile, Cissoko's G League Ignite season ended awhile ago, so people are forgetting about him..
-They're both top 20 prospects in this draft, imo. So if the Celtics can get 1 of them at pick 35, it's a great pick

Here's a closer look at Cissoko:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Only reason why I haven't been hyping up Cissoko more is because I assumed he'd be go before our pick. Most of the mocks I've seen have had him going somewhere in the mid to late 1st round, with maybe a couple mocks where he goes early 2nd round, before pick 35. But if he somehow falls to 35, I'd be all over that.

My Coulibaly dream died a while ago but if teams are dumb enough to let Cissoko fall to 35, the Celtics should be all over that. That being said, there's no way Cissoko is remotely close as a prospect. Cissoko can't do everything Coulibaly does, he doesn't shoot nearly as well for starters. That's kind of a big deal for guys that project at least initially as 3&D role players. Coulibaly is also significantly longer. The U18 thing isn't super relevant considering how fast Coulibaly is improving and getting used to his new body. We are talking about a guy that was a 5'6 point guard just three_four years ago.

Coulibaly's PPG is meaningless. He spent most of the season playing for the U21 team in the afternoon and then being the wing stopper for the pros in the evening. Of course he wasn't going to be jacking up a bunch of shots, he must have been absolutely gassed. There's literally an instance where he played 34 minutes with the U21 dropping 37 points on 14/20 shooting with 11 boards before playing 22 minutes with the pros a few hours later. What you are seeing right now with him full time with the pro squad is a lot closer to who he really is than what his season average would have you believe.

A good statistical comparison for Cissoko is JD Davison actually. They both played in the same league, had the exact same usage (18.3%) and similar efficiency (59.5 TS% for JD, 57.4 TS% for Sidy). Davison was the much better playmaker but Cissoko was no slouch and posted a very solid 1.8 assist to turnover ratio. Cissoko is also much bigger and longer and a year and a half younger. Either of those guys sort out their three point shot, they'll be in the league for a while.

Vecenie's pre combine Mock had everyone's favorite Bobi Klintman at 35. I'm in: "The 20-year-old Klintman is a still-developing prospect. As you just read, he knows that. He doesn’t have the kind of body of work most NBA prospects do at this stage for a potential top-40 pick. He averaged five points and four rebounds per game over the entirety of last season. But most players don’t possess the tools Klintman does. At 6-foot-10, he has legitimate guard skills. He can grab and go on the break and lead the offense. His feel for the game is outstanding. At youth levels in Sweden, including in last summer’s U20 European Championships, he showcased high-level passing ability, averaging 5.1 assists per game. He hit 36 percent of his 3s in his freshman season at Wake. The idea of Klintman is everything NBA teams are looking for in a future-facing prospect.

https://theathletic.com/4382121/2023/04/06/bobi-klintman-nba-draft/

Cr: Chilidawg

6'10 guys with NBA guard skills don't average 5 points in college. If he had even D1 guard skills he sure didn't show it in games. He put up a 16.1 TOV% and 6.7 AST% and those kind of numbers would make Jaylen Brown look like a great playmaker in comparison.

[Hal14]

Kevin O'Connor's updated big board:
https://nbadraft.theringer.com/

If these are the first 34 picks, we'd be able to choose from:
-James Nnaji
-Mo Gueye
-Kobe Brown
-Andre Jackson Jr
-Jordan Walsh
-Amari Bailey
-Julian Strawther
-Rayan Rupert
-Brandin Podziemski

My pick would be Nnaji. But I think you could make a case for Gueye. I'm very high on both. As of now, I have Nnaji ranked 21 and Gueye ranked 22 on my personal big board so I'd be very happy with either.

[djFan71]

Kevin O'Connor's updated big board:
https://nbadraft.theringer.com/

If these are the first 34 picks, we'd be able to choose from:
-James Nnaji
-Mo Gueye
-Kobe Brown
-Andre Jackson Jr
-Jordan Walsh
-Amari Bailey
-Julian Strawther
-Rayan Rupert
-Brandin Podziemski

My pick would be Nnaji. But I think you could make a case for Gueye.

Would/could you stash Nnaji a year or so?

[Hal14]

Kevin O'Connor's updated big board:
https://nbadraft.theringer.com/

If these are the first 34 picks, we'd be able to choose from:
-James Nnaji
-Mo Gueye
-Kobe Brown
-Andre Jackson Jr
-Jordan Walsh
-Amari Bailey
-Julian Strawther
-Rayan Rupert
-Brandin Podziemski

My pick would be Nnaji. But I think you could make a case for Gueye.

Would/could you stash Nnaji a year or so?

It would certainly be an option. I think you could go either way with it.

You could say let's wait to start the clock on his rookie deal for a year. Let him develop overseas for another year. And we just roll with rob and al for another year w/ grant/muscala/gallo and possibly griffin/kornet off the bench, maybe you make a trade for another big.

Plus, Nnaji is only 18 yrs old, only average 9 MPG this season. So it might be too much to ask of him to throw him in there in the NBA and try to get minutes for a contender like the celtics.

So yeah, I would say 1 stash year would probably be the likely scenario.

BUT he is really good. And since he's so young, he's in a stage of his development where he's getting better pretty rapidly. By the time October rolls around, fans might be begging to see him on the roster - especially if he looks good in summer league - and especially if rob (injuries) and/or al (age) aren't looking so great heading into training camp.

With Nnaji, he's so young (and kind of raw on both ends of the floor) that you're not really drafting him for what he does next season. You're morseo taking the swing that you could potentially have one of the league's most dominant bigs when he's age 23-31.

[djFan71]

Kevin O'Connor's updated big board:
https://nbadraft.theringer.com/

If these are the first 34 picks, we'd be able to choose from:
-James Nnaji
-Mo Gueye
-Kobe Brown
-Andre Jackson Jr
-Jordan Walsh
-Amari Bailey
-Julian Strawther
-Rayan Rupert
-Brandin Podziemski

My pick would be Nnaji. But I think you could make a case for Gueye.

Would/could you stash Nnaji a year or so?

It would certainly be an option. I think you could go either way with it.

You could say let's wait to start the clock on his rookie deal for a year. Let him develop overseas for another year. And we just roll with rob and al for another year w/ grant/muscala/gallo and possibly griffin/kornet off the bench, maybe you make a trade for another big.

Plus, Nnaji is only 18 yrs old, only average 9 MPG this season. So it might be too much to ask of him to throw him in there in the NBA and try to get minutes for a contender like the celtics.

So yeah, I would say 1 stash year would probably be the likely scenario.

BUT he is really good. And since he's so young, he's in a stage of his development where he's getting better pretty rapidly. By the time October rolls around, fans might be begging to see him on the roster - especially if he looks good in summer league - and especially if rob (injuries) and/or al (age) aren't looking so great heading into training camp.

Yeah, depends on how other moves shake out for sure, but I'd love to not start the clock and get him some seasoning for another year. I just wasn't sure if he'd be amenable. Given age and PT you listed, I think he'd almost have to be. Which I guess doesn't matter as much with a 2nd round pick anyways.

But, I was thinking of stashing him at 30 in some of my crazy/notgonnahappen trade scenarios.

[Hal14]

Celtics brought in Charles bediako for a workout. I mentioned previously that he could be a solid UDFA pickup.

Nothing flashy about Bediako. But he's 7'0", put up some good numbers this season for an Alabama team that was #1 ranked in the country for a chunk of the season. Had some good advanced stats, too. Good rebound and block %.

He's just a solid big, who can set screens, roll to the basket, catch lobs, make some put-backs, score out of dunker's spot, rebound, get boards, play solid D in drop coverage.

Could have a solid career as a backup big man. Quite a few folks on twitter are saying they would take him late 2nd round. On my big board, I have him ranked 65. But a lot of the guys in that 55-70 range are pretty much interchangeable.

So he could be a solid UDFA pickup if he's available.

Perhaps you grab a wing with pick 35 and you snag Bediako as an UDFA.

One thing to keep in mind - we did not work out Davison last year. What I read was, our staff watched him quite a bit on film and attended some of his games so had a good feel for him that way. But we could end up drafting/signing a guy who is not on the list of players we worked out prior to the draft.

Lastly, Bediako and Davison are buddies. They were teammates and both freshman for Alabama 2 years ago.

[playa-hater]

I don't mind drafting a guy who has a high ceiling but low floor due to age experience level etc.. But I damn don't want someone who is 2 years away from being 2 years away. too many of those guys.

one example I have is Poku from OKC. he even went first rd. Yet after 2 seasons it looks like he hasn't gained a pound of muscle. But he has such a high ceiling they said.

I also don't want any shooting projects. Thery rarely work out. I already hate that Begarin hasn't shown any or very little improvement in shooting after 2 seasons.

Would also love if Boston drafted a player who had better "feel for the game" signs than just someone's age and standing reach/vertical/wingspan etc that the NBA seems to put too much weight on..

[Hal14]

I don't mind drafting a guy who has a high ceiling but low floor due to age experience level etc.. But I damn don't want someone who is 2 years away from being 2 years away. too many of those guys.

one example I have is Poku from OKC. he even went first rd. Yet after 2 seasons it looks like he hasn't gained a pound of muscle. But he has such a high ceiling they said.

I also don't want any shooting projects. Thery rarely work out. I already hate that Begarin hasn't shown any or very little improvement in shooting after 2 seasons.

Would also love if Boston drafted a player who had better "feel for the game" signs than just someone's age and standing reach/vertical/wingspan etc that the NBA seems to put too much weight on..

So you want Jaime Jaquez.

-Older prospect so less of a project. More plug and play
-Respectable shooter (34.9% on C&S 3's, 41.7% on unguarded C&S 3's, Last 2 years his FT% has been 76% and then 77% which is solid)
-High feel for the game, good passer, high IQ

Kobe Brown would also fit that criteria.

[playa-hater]

I don't mind drafting a guy who has a high ceiling but low floor due to age experience level etc.. But I damn don't want someone who is 2 years away from being 2 years away. too many of those guys.

one example I have is Poku from OKC. he even went first rd. Yet after 2 seasons it looks like he hasn't gained a pound of muscle. But he has such a high ceiling they said.

I also don't want any shooting projects. Thery rarely work out. I already hate that Begarin hasn't shown any or very little improvement in shooting after 2 seasons.

Would also love if Boston drafted a player who had better "feel for the game" signs than just someone's age and standing reach/vertical/wingspan etc that the NBA seems to put too much weight on..

So you want Jaime Jaquez.

-Older prospect so less of a project. More plug and play
-Respectable shooter (34.9% on C&S 3's, 41.7% on unguarded C&S 3's, Last 2 years his FT% has been 76% and then 77% which is solid)
-High feel for the game, good passer, high IQ

Kobe Brown would also fit that criteria.

Haven't watched Kobe. But JJ seems like the opposite. high floor low ceiling.. Somewhere in between I guess. Bobi Klitman is one example. One year of seasoning and I think he can be a rotation player with still some upside to spare.

I will make my top 5 when I have a better idea of who may actually be available. They are still all over the place.

[return2glory]

Kevin O'Connor's updated big board:
https://nbadraft.theringer.com/

If these are the first 34 picks, we'd be able to choose from:
-James Nnaji
-Mo Gueye
-Kobe Brown
-Andre Jackson Jr
-Jordan Walsh
-Amari Bailey
-Julian Strawther
-Rayan Rupert
-Brandin Podziemski

My pick would be Nnaji. But I think you could make a case for Gueye. I'm very high on both. As of now, I have Nnaji ranked 21 and Gueye ranked 22 on my personal big board so I'd be very happy with either.

Nnaji has a lot of upside and a lot to like. I love his footwork on defense, including his lateral movement. I don't think he will get past the 1st round.

I would love Nnaji, Gueye and Podziemki to be there at 35, but don't think they will get past the 1st round. Hopefully two of them might.

There are going to be about 10-15 good players from 25-45 that Brad will have to choose from if he stays at 35.

[Hal14]

Ok, Drew Peterson is growing on me as an UDFA.

Gueye at pick 35, Peterson for an UDFA and call it a day.

[Shak_Celts]

Ok, Drew Peterson is growing on me as an UDFA.

Gueye at pick 35, Peterson for an UDFA and call it a day.

nah, ion like that name... BUST.

[playa-hater]

I think the best potential undrafted player is that big kid Nelson... I think he has way more upside for an undrafted player than people are given him credit for..

[Hal14]

I think the best potential undrafted player is that big kid Nelson... I think he has way more upside for an undrafted player than people are given him credit for..

Grant Nelson? He withdrew from the draft - going back to college.

[playa-hater]

I think the best potential undrafted player is that big kid Nelson... I think he has way more upside for an undrafted player than people are given him credit for..

Grant Nelson? He withdrew from the draft - going back to college.

Hopefully he can. Learn to go left.. He was so heavy right handed

[return2glory]

Ok, Drew Peterson is growing on me as an UDFA.

Gueye at pick 35, Peterson for an UDFA and call it a day.

Peterson is actually of my favorites at 35. I don't think he goes undrafted. I mentioned him on page 51.

[playa-hater]

Ok, Drew Peterson is growing on me as an UDFA.

Gueye at pick 35, Peterson for an UDFA and call it a day.

Peterson is actually of my favorites at 35. I don't think he goes undrafted. I mentioned him on page 51.

Isn't drew peterson a murderer?

Thought he was in gel as wel.

[return2glory]

Ok, Drew Peterson is growing on me as an UDFA.

Gueye at pick 35, Peterson for an UDFA and call it a day.

Peterson is actually of my favorites at 35. I don't think he goes undrafted. I mentioned him on page 51.

Isn't drew peterson a murderer?

Thought he was in gel as wel.

For this killer crossover? Seen here around the 12 second mark.

Watch on YouTube