2024 NBA Draft Thread

[peZt]

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That's the first time I'm seeing him and just based on this short video, I would definitely put him in the top 5.
I've never seen a 7'2 run down the court WITH the ball that fast

[Chi town]

I like this draft. Doesn’t seem like there is a Wemby scoot or Zion Ja but lots of quality talent with diverse skill, size and game.

I like the international talent a lot. Darken and Sarr.

Like Mgbako as a PF ala Jarace Walker

[Pokuokic]

Ivisic hopefully will get consistent playing time this year at Derby, in the playoffs against the eventual champs he nearly beat them with his impact which would be like a G-League team beating the Nuggets over a 3 game series. I can't believe his brother gets more playing time than him and he's like 1/10th of the talent.

[MemphisX]

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That's the first time I'm seeing him and just based on this short video, I would definitely put him in the top 5.
I've never seen a 7'2 run down the court WITH the ball that fast

The movement alone puts him there. If he produces at all, he will be in the talk for #1.

[Duke4life831]

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That's the first time I'm seeing him and just based on this short video, I would definitely put him in the top 5.
I've never seen a 7'2 run down the court WITH the ball that fast

The movement alone puts him there. If he produces at all, he will be in the talk for #1.

Ya I’ve never seen this guy either than this video and see him nowhere on mock drafts.

I guess my first question, is he a legit 7’2? If so then ya you gotta take this dude lotto minimum because if he’s a legit 7’2 and moving like that, that’s just straight up insane. But again I see his name nowhere on any boards or mocks. Just seems weird.

[Hal14]

That's the first time I'm seeing him and just based on this short video, I would definitely put him in the top 5.
I've never seen a 7'2 run down the court WITH the ball that fast

The movement alone puts him there. If he produces at all, he will be in the talk for #1.

Ya I’ve never seen this guy either than this video and see him nowhere on mock drafts.

I guess my first question, is he a legit 7’2? If so then ya you gotta take this dude lotto minimum because if he’s a legit 7’2 and moving like that, that’s just straight up insane. But again I see his name nowhere on any boards or mocks. Just seems weird.

Who cares if he's not on other boards or mocks? That shouldn't factor in at all to your evaluation.

And yes, from what I have gathered, he is 7'2".

[MemphisX]

Yeah, there are usually 4-5 guys a year that are mentioned here that are nowhere in the preseason mocks but end up in them.

[clyde21]

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[Jamaaliver]

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[BostonCouchGM]

I like this draft. Doesn’t seem like there is a Wemby scoot or Zion Ja but lots of quality talent with diverse skill, size and game.

I like the international talent a lot. Darken and Sarr.

Like Mgbako as a PF ala Jarace Walker

yeah, I was laughed at for suggesting this could be an all-time international draft class. If do even a modicum of research it should be obvious it's loaded.

[Pokuokic]

I guess my first question, is he a legit 7’2? If so then ya you gotta take this dude lotto minimum because if he’s a legit 7’2 and moving like that, that’s just straight up insane. But again I see his name nowhere on any boards or mocks. Just seems weird.

I don't get why for the past two seasons no team told him to stay in the draft and they would pick him in the 1st round and now he's a lottery pick he had all the same talent before just slightly skinner. He withdrew from the draft twice. He has way bigger upside than Vukcevic (played as little if not less than Ivisic) who went in the early 40's this year. Ivisic and Djurasic are criminally underrated the ABA is not a easy league to play well in as a youngster.

[sisibilio]

That's the first time I'm seeing him and just based on this short video, I would definitely put him in the top 5.
I've never seen a 7'2 run down the court WITH the ball that fast

The movement alone puts him there. If he produces at all, he will be in the talk for #1.

Ya I’ve never seen this guy either than this video and see him nowhere on mock drafts.

I guess my first question, is he a legit 7’2? If so then ya you gotta take this dude lotto minimum because if he’s a legit 7’2 and moving like that, that’s just straight up insane. But again I see his name nowhere on any boards or mocks. Just seems weird.

Those pull ups, side step 3s are pretty dang nasty for a guy that size.

[Duke4life831]

The movement alone puts him there. If he produces at all, he will be in the talk for #1.

Ya I’ve never seen this guy either than this video and see him nowhere on mock drafts.

I guess my first question, is he a legit 7’2? If so then ya you gotta take this dude lotto minimum because if he’s a legit 7’2 and moving like that, that’s just straight up insane. But again I see his name nowhere on any boards or mocks. Just seems weird.

Who cares if he's not on other boards or mocks? That shouldn't factor in at all to your evaluation.

And yes, from what I have gathered, he is 7'2".

I don’t evaluate euro guys so that doesn’t matter to me. I’m just curious why a guy who has been draft eligible who looks like this hasn’t been drafted (I would think some front office would’ve seen this guy and promised him a 1st round pick) or isn’t even being talked about anywhere as a legit prospect.

[europeannbafan]

Both in 2022 and 2023 he came to the States before the drafts to conduct workouts
This June he conducted a workout for the Pacers for example
In the last 2 years, mock drafts had him as a late second rounder
I guess his low production in Europe hasn't helped but he is only 20 years old and based on his potential it seems weird that no team promised him a selection on the last draft
As for the mock drafts we all know how untrustworthy they a lot of times in truly evaluating players
And yes he is a legit 7'2'' without shoes

[Hal14]

Ya I’ve never seen this guy either than this video and see him nowhere on mock drafts.

I guess my first question, is he a legit 7’2? If so then ya you gotta take this dude lotto minimum because if he’s a legit 7’2 and moving like that, that’s just straight up insane. But again I see his name nowhere on any boards or mocks. Just seems weird.

Who cares if he's not on other boards or mocks? That shouldn't factor in at all to your evaluation.

And yes, from what I have gathered, he is 7'2".

I don’t evaluate euro guys so that doesn’t matter to me. I’m just curious why a guy who has been draft eligible who looks like this hasn’t been drafted (I would think some front office would’ve seen this guy and promised him a 1st round pick) or isn’t even being talked about anywhere as a legit prospect.

I didn't really watch him much during the 2023 draft cycle, but the year before that he didn't have this type of fluidity. He looked kind of goofy and uncoordinated out there, looked like he was gonna trip over his own feet all the time, weird looking shot. Didn't shoot a great % from 3 last season overseas. Really skinny. Would occasionally hit a 3 or make a decent looking drive to the basket but looked like a project who was a long ways away from contributing on an NBA court. And was a guy who looked like someone you could just put him in high screen PnR action, or hunt him on switches and score easily on him every possession.

Seems like he might be really starting to turn the corner now, though. He's still only 19 yrs old right now - guys that big often take longer to develop so he still could turn out to be a really good player..

[BostonCouchGM]

I guess my first question, is he a legit 7’2? If so then ya you gotta take this dude lotto minimum because if he’s a legit 7’2 and moving like that, that’s just straight up insane. But again I see his name nowhere on any boards or mocks. Just seems weird.

I don't get why for the past two seasons no team told him to stay in the draft and they would pick him in the 1st round and now he's a lottery pick he had all the same talent before just slightly skinner. He withdrew from the draft twice. He has way bigger upside than Vukcevic (played as little if not less than Ivisic) who went in the early 40's this year. Ivisic and Djurasic are criminally underrated the ABA is not a easy league to play well in as a youngster.

It takes longer for bigs to develop an these talent evaluators fail to project 3-4 years down the road and maybe they just don't have the confidence they'll be able to develop them before their first contract is up. Being two years away from being two years away scares these guys apparently. Of course, we don't know if he's telling teams he won't accept being stashed or being drafted in the 2nd round either. I'm guessing this draft cycle will go much differently than the previous ones.

[EvanZ]

Do bigs actually take longer to develop when you control for age, opportunity and selection bias? I hear this all the time but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hard evidence. Mostly just anecdotes and cherry picking of data points.


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[BostonCouchGM]

Do bigs actually take longer to develop when you control for age, opportunity and selection bias? I hear this all the time but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hard evidence. Mostly just anecdotes and cherry picking of data points.


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it's based off the notion that the taller you are, the higher your center gravity is resulting in poorer balance. It takes longer to adjust to this and to grow into your body i.e. coordination to catch up and account for it. There's a reason why as NBA players by position, go taller (PG->SG->SF->PF->C) their coordination and skillset for the most part gets worse. Longer limbs usually means less muscle and longer paths of travel. It's just basic common sense.

[EvanZ]

Do bigs actually take longer to develop when you control for age, opportunity and selection bias? I hear this all the time but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hard evidence. Mostly just anecdotes and cherry picking of data points.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

it's based off the notion that the taller you are, the higher your center gravity is resulting in poorer balance. It takes longer to adjust to this and to grow into your body i.e. coordination to catch up and account for it. There's a reason why as NBA players by position, go taller (PG->SG->SF->PF->C) their coordination and skillset for the most part gets worse. Longer limbs usually means less muscle and longer paths of travel. It's just basic common sense.

Only problem with your logic is that as is often the case with "common sense" it's completely wrong or unproven. There's really not much evidence to point to bigs taking longer to develop.

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/34848832/nba-mailbag-point-guards-developing-faster-used-luka-ja-indication

If you have any evidence that backs up the claim of bigs taking longer to develop, by all means, please drop a link. I haven't really seen a good empirical case for it. Mostly just anecdotes and old heads talking.

[clyde21]

this is the first year in a while i won't do preliminary rankings, just no clue who to put on there or even how to rank them at this point outside Buzelis. usually I can come up with a strong 4-6 names im confident in but this year I can't.

last two years for example I had:

Wemby
Scoot
Whitehead
Keyonte
Black
B Miller

and

Chet
Paolo
Jabari
Brown
Jovic

but maybe it's a good thing anyways not to do to avoid any early rank bias.