Higher Draft Prospect: Scoot Henderson, CP3, Kyrie Irving or John Wall

[mdonnelly1989]

Out of these PGs who do you think is the highest NBA prospect.

Remember we don't know how their NBA careers play out yet.

[One_and_Done]

Wall. 2 of these guys didn't even go 2nd, and Kyrie was seen as the #1 pick by default because it was incorrectly seen as a weak draft.

[rk2023]

CP3 or Scoot imo.

[penbeast0]

CP3 or Scoot imo.

In hindsight, looking forward, probably Wall despite how it turned out. Kyrie hadn't played due to injuries, there were questions about whether Paul was too small, and Scoot isn't seen as quite the potential superstar that Wall was.

My favorite year for wrong predictions had Kwame Brown going first, supposedly because of his Kevin Garnett style offensive game, Tyson Chandler second as a potential NBA small forward because he was too thin to play center and had such a great versatile skills set, then Pau Gasol (they got that one right), then Eddie Curry for his physicality and rebounding. Could anyone have been more wrong about 3 top 5 in the NBA draft HS big men than that?

[giberish]

Probably Wall/Kyrie/Scoot/Paul

Wall was a slightly higher #1 pick over Kyrie (though neither one were one of the elite #1 guys). Scoot was behind an elite #1 guy in Wemby, but still even (or eventually below) Miller. Paul was behind a non-elite #1 guy in Bogut and even picked behind two Williams.

[Dr Positivity]

I'd put Wall first, I believe people were slightly higher on him than pre draft Rose. Irving didn't play enough games, Scoot was in G league and I wasn't paying attention to the Paul draft but getting taken 4th speaks for itself.

[Colbinii]

1) John Wall

Not remotely close to the other 3. He could be the GOAT level PG prospect next to Magic. S-tier Athleticism coupled with a huge frame, handles, playmaking and an ability to get to the rim at will. Defensively he projected to be insane as well.

2) Chris Paul

He was a do-it-all PG with excellent command at the position, an elite first step and shot 47% from 3 leasing up to the draft. He was a much better prospect than both Deron Williams and Marvin Williams (They went 2 and 3 in this draft)

3) Scoot Henderson

I have him in the Fultz/Ja/CP3 tier of PG prospects (basically the best except for generational prospects like Wall, Wemby, AD).

4) Kyrie

[One_and_Done]

How can CP3 be 2nd when he was drafted 4th.

[Colbinii]

How can CP3 be 2nd when he was drafted 4th.

Well, a few reasons.

For starters, both Deron Williams and Marvin Williams were worse prospects objectively than CP3.

Deron had worse tools and was far less athletic than CP3.

Marvin was a 6' 9" wing without an actual NBA skill-set.

Luka was taken after Bagley. Bagley isn't a better prospect than Luka. Maybe the Kings thought he was, but objectively speaking, Luka was a much better prospect than Bagley.

If I remember right I had Scoot an entire tier ahead of Miller as a prospect for the 2023 Draft yet Miller was taken ahead of Scoot.

[NO-KG-AI]

How can CP3 be 2nd when he was drafted 4th.

More people thought CP3 was the best player in the draft than they thought he was #4. It’s a weird one looking back, everyone knew the Hawks biggest need was CP3 and that they were also gonna blow it.

[One_and_Done]

Some revisionist history here. CP3 wasn't taken 4th behind Wemby and Lebron. He was taken behind Bogut & Marvin Williams. Indeed, for the early part of their careers many argued Deron was better than Paul. The Bucks thought they didn't need Paul because TJ Ford would be comparably good, and the majority view was the Hawks were taking M.Will because he was a higher upside play.

It's not like draft day rolled around and everyone was shocked. The #1&2 picks had been all but locked in by that point, every mock had those 2 going first.

[HeartBreakKid]

How can CP3 be 2nd when he was drafted 4th.

You can be a highly rated prospect and not get drafted high. They're not binary or mean the same thing.

Michael Jordan was drafted #3. Kyrie Irving was drafted #1. The guy who went over Jordan wasn't some crazy generational prospect. It isn't that difficult to parse through.

Ricky Rubio was drafted at #5 and he was a much bigger deal than many top 3 draft picks including #1s. Kobe and Garnett were all very highly rated prospects and they were not drafted in the top ten. Joel Embiid was not the 3rd best prospect of his draft.

A prospect is how good someone thinks they will be as a pro. A draft pick is the right to take who they want for a few years. No, they are not the same thing, and no, just because a GM drafts one player does not mean "all GMs" would draft that same player in that same position. Also, GMs are not the sole decider of prospect quality, nor is it their primary job to do so.

Mock drafts are predictions of what teams will do with their draft pick not a ranking of who are the best prospects. So citing "on draft day every mock draft had #1 locked" isn't saying anything. Every mockdraft has #1 and #2 locked by the time draft day starts because everyone knows what the top 2 teams are going to do. Just because everyone knew Wiggins and Parker were going #1 and #2 did not mean that they were superior prospects to Joel Embiid. That is not "revisionist" history that is actually understanding the history.

Chris Paul was a big deal coming into his draft. He dropped to #4, it doesn't mean he was the 4th best prospect. No one really cared about Kyrie Irving.

[One_and_Done]

Your take is offbase from the get go. Jordan wasn't a super hyped prospect. The guy who drafted him, Rod Thorn, talked about how he wished there had been a 5 available at #3. If Thorn had the #2 pick it's clear he would have taken Bowie.

The thread is about where they were rated at the time, not in hindsight, so I again fail to see how Paul at #2 holds up. When he was taken #4 the mainstream NBA reaction was not 'omg what a terrible mistake!' Alot of people didn't even think he was better than Deron early on in his career.

Alot of your other examples are bogus too. Embiid was the #1 prospect... and then he needed major surgery and ppl were worried he might be the next Greg Oden. Before that he was the consensus #1.

Every guy is going to have vocal supporters, the question that is being asked is about the consensus that existed at the time. That consensus did not rate Paul as a future superstar, or he wouldn't have gone 4th.

[Upperclass]

Anyone who knew basketball knew Wall wasn't going to be an impact player. Ranking goes CP3, Kyrie, Wall, Scoot but Scoot is ahead of Wall and could end up ahead of Kyrie as an all around point

[theonlyclutch]

Anyone who knew basketball knew Wall wasn't going to be an impact player. Ranking goes CP3, Kyrie, Wall, Scoot but Scoot is ahead of Wall and could end up ahead of Kyrie as an all around point

I mean, CP3 was literally the 2nd PG taken off his draft class so to consider him a better draft prospect than two clear #1 picks at the time requires one to make a convincing case that the 3 picks taken over CP3 would have been clear #1s ahead of Wall and Kyrie.. I have a hard time seeing that..

[Eagle4]

Anyone who knew basketball knew Wall wasn't going to be an impact player. Ranking goes CP3, Kyrie, Wall, Scoot but Scoot is ahead of Wall and could end up ahead of Kyrie as an all around point

That's just flat out false. Wall had all the tools to be a PG version Wade-like player.

[Colbinii]

Anyone who knew basketball knew Wall wasn't going to be an impact player. Ranking goes CP3, Kyrie, Wall, Scoot but Scoot is ahead of Wall and could end up ahead of Kyrie as an all around point

I mean, CP3 was literally the 2nd PG taken off his draft class so to consider him a better draft prospect than two clear #1 picks at the time requires one to make a convincing case that the 3 picks taken over CP3 would have been clear #1s ahead of Wall and Kyrie.. I have a hard time seeing that..

That isn't how this works, at all.

Not every player taken in a draft is a worse prospects than the player taken before them.

[theonlyclutch]

Anyone who knew basketball knew Wall wasn't going to be an impact player. Ranking goes CP3, Kyrie, Wall, Scoot but Scoot is ahead of Wall and could end up ahead of Kyrie as an all around point

I mean, CP3 was literally the 2nd PG taken off his draft class so to consider him a better draft prospect than two clear #1 picks at the time requires one to make a convincing case that the 3 picks taken over CP3 would have been clear #1s ahead of Wall and Kyrie.. I have a hard time seeing that..

That isn't how this works, at all.

Not every player taken in a draft is a worse prospects than the player taken before them.

Yes I am well aware that oftentimes teams pick for positional need other than BPA in drafts - I am not dinging CP3 as a prospect specifically for not being picked #1. It's just that when the 3rd team of the night came to pick (Jazz) with a clear positional need at PG, they assessed all the PG prospects in the draft... And didn't pick CP3. W/o benefit of hindsight, It's not like you can accuse the Jazz of being terrible PG talent evaluators when a key FO decision maker in the draft (Sloan) just finished off a decade+ working with... John Stockton.

[Bornstellar]

I saw all of these players come into the league and it's definitely Wall. He was incredibly hyped prospect and was touted as the next superstar PG. Especially considering his skillset coming into the league