The (way too early) 2024 Draft thread. Woo! Tanking!

doclinkin · Post #181 » by **doclinkin** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 5:29 pm

Topić is funny to watch though. Looks like he's got a long torso and short little legs. Like if he had Grayson Allen's upper body on top of JJ Barea's legs. Means he dribbles low to the ground and can change direction quickly. And his passes come from surprising angles. Also means he looks a little like a cartoon character.

His jumper comes from his chin though, that will get blocked all the time at the NBA level unless he can doctor it.

WallToWall · Post #182 » by **WallToWall** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 6:03 pm

I wonder if this is the draft where we should try to get 3 picks in the 1st round. There seems to be a lot of talent in the top 12 or so before a major drop off.
Who would be the 3 players you’d like to see as a Wizards?

Post #183 » by **nate33** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 6:11 pm

WallToWall wrote:I wonder if this is the draft where we should try to get 3 picks in the 1st round. There seems to be a lot of talent in the top 12 or so before a major drop off.
Who would be the 3 players you’d like to see as a Wizards?

How would we be getting these 3 picks?

If anything, I'd be looking for more picks in the 2025 or 2026 drafts which figure to be stronger.

pancakes3 · Post #184 » by **pancakes3** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:23 pm

WallToWall wrote:I wonder if this is the draft where we should try to get 3 picks in the 1st round. There seems to be a lot of talent in the top 12 or so before a major drop off.
Who would be the 3 players you’d like to see as a Wizards?

Topic, Sheppard, Filipowski.

The floor would be Sato, Hinrich, Cody Zeller.
The ceiling could be Luka, Steph, Brook Lopez.

doclinkin · Post #185 » by **doclinkin** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 9:36 pm

nate33 wrote:
WallToWall wrote:I wonder if this is the draft where we should try to get 3 picks in the 1st round. There seems to be a lot of talent in the top 12 or so before a major drop off.
Who would be the 3 players you’d like to see as a Wizards?

How would we be getting these 3 picks?

If anything, I'd be looking for more picks in the 2025 or 2026 drafts which figure to be stronger.

I'd agree, but for the purposes of content and filler, let's say you could swap our top 5 pick for the NYK 18, 19, and 31.

Based on the Tankathon big board I'd be looking at:

18. Izan Almansa -- stats suppressed by poor fit in the G League, but another smart passing Big who plays the right way, needs strength
19. Kevin McCullar -- strong smart experienced guard from a big time program, plays big for the position
31. Juan Nuñez -- discount Nikola Topić as a 6'4" PG in Europlay-- but with an outside shot and more high level experience.
42. Zach Edey -- my usual rant about the increasing importance of getting truly Big across the front line.

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NatP4 · Post #186 » by **NatP4** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 9:37 pm

pancakes3 wrote:
WallToWall wrote:I wonder if this is the draft where we should try to get 3 picks in the 1st round. There seems to be a lot of talent in the top 12 or so before a major drop off.
Who would be the 3 players you’d like to see as a Wizards?

Topic, Sheppard, Filipowski.

The floor would be Sato, Hinrich, Cody Zeller.
The ceiling could be Luka, Steph, Brook Lopez.

Same exact 3 for me. Dreaming of a scenario in which we land a top 3 pick and trade down for Topic&Sheppard, and trade Kuzma for the other pick to take Filipowski, who is a better prospect than Sarr.

Post #187 » by **nate33** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 9:44 pm

doclinkin wrote:
nate33 wrote:
WallToWall wrote:I wonder if this is the draft where we should try to get 3 picks in the 1st round. There seems to be a lot of talent in the top 12 or so before a major drop off.
Who would be the 3 players you’d like to see as a Wizards?

How would we be getting these 3 picks?

If anything, I'd be looking for more picks in the 2025 or 2026 drafts which figure to be stronger.

I'd agree but for the purposes of content and filler, let's say you could swap our top 5 pick for the NYK 18, 19, and 31.

Based on the Tankathon big board I'd be looking at:

18. Izan Almansa -- stats suppressed by poor fit in the G League, but another smart passing Big who plays the right way, needs strength
19. Kevin McCullar -- strong smart experienced guard from a big time program, plays big for the position
31. Juan Nuñez -- discount Nikola Topić as a 6'4" PG in Europlay-- but with an outside shot and more high level experience.
42. Zach Edey -- my usual rant about the increasing importance of getting a playable Big.

#1 for #18, #19 and #31 seems like terrible value to me.

If we could trade #1 for something like #7 and #13, then I might be interested. The most plausible trade partner would be Portland, who have their own pick and the Golden State pick.

doclinkin · Post #188 » by **doclinkin** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 10:01 pm

nate33 wrote:#1 for #18, #19 and #31 seems like terrible value to me.

If we could trade #1 for something like #7 and #13, then I might be interested. The most plausible trade partner would be Portland, who have their own pick and the Golden State pick.

Agreed in most draft years. This year, meh? Right though, I'd be looking for future incentives as well. It is often the case that teams underrate their future picks. The knicks figure to be good so they might not mind swapping out additional 1RPs in future years.

If the Portland trade were the one:

7. Sheppard.
13. Kel'El Ware.
34. Kobe Johnson or Tyler Kolek (Juan Nuñez is gone at 33 on the tankathon mock).

But I'm not sure that group is that much better than the first set.

payitforward · Post #189 » by **payitforward** » Fri Dec 29, 2023 3:09 am

Because the #1 pick is so valuable, it's really difficult to trade it just for other draft assets.

Even if it were possible, I wouldn't make either doc's deal or nate's.

Goes w/o saying, OTOH, that it might work out fine if the trade were made. After all, the #1 pick is by no means always the best player taken in a given draft -- in fact, it's not even true in the majority of cases I don't think. Wait, let me look....

Wow!
In the 20 drafts from '01-'20 the guy who turned out to be the best player went #! in the draft 2 times: Lebron in '03 & Dwight Howard in '04.

Anthony Davis in '12 would be another example, except Lillard went #6 & is a far better player.

I'd probably add Ben Simmons in '16, which was a historically weak draft. But why bother given the argument that would ensue.

Some Wizards fans might want Wall on the list, but surely Paul George was the best guy taken that year!

Doesn't mean that there weren't a bunch of good picks at #1. Of course there were! But those two are the only clear-cut cases of the best player going #1. Huh, how about that?

NatP4 · Post #190 » by **NatP4** » Fri Dec 29, 2023 7:46 am

Talkathon updated their mock draft. Moved Topic up to #3 and dropped Buzelis to #4, Collier to #8(below Reed Sheppard). Stephon Castle dropped all the way out of the lottery to #15.

NatP4 · Post #191 » by **NatP4** » Fri Dec 29, 2023 8:07 am

Seems like Kwame Evans will gain some lottery hype at some point. Big time recruit. Freshman currently putting up some impressive numbers outside of his 3 ball falling:

12.9 points 8.4 rebounds 2.8 assists 2.0 blocks 2.7 steals 1.3 turnovers. 53.7% TS. 77% free throw shooter.

Just takes a ton of 3s and has a really smooth looking jump shot, just hasn’t gone in yet. Reminds me a ton of Noah Clowney from last year. Plays as a really smart active big with some playmaking skills.

Also seems like Kj Lewis, another freshman at Arizona will gain some 1st round attention. Starting to play a lot more and produce. 5-1 A/To ratio, rebounds really well and gets steals and blocks and plays great defense. 63% TS and 71% on 2pt. Pretty impressive for a freshman.

JT Toppin is also a freshman averaging 21&13 with 3 blocks and 2 steals per 40 on 70% TS. Don’t see him on any mocks. Gonna turn 19 right before the draft. Major upside.

pcbothwel · Post #192 » by **pcbothwel** » Fri Dec 29, 2023 1:27 pm

Agreed Nat... Evans is going to end up in the mid-teens it seems. Too productive in too many areas. shooting projection, defense, IQ, age

DCZards · Post #193 » by **DCZards** » Fri Dec 29, 2023 4:43 pm

payitforward wrote:
Anthony Davis in '12 would be another example, except Lillard went #6 & is a far better player.

Really, PIF? Lillard is a far better player than AD. I don’t think so.

tontoz · Post #194 » by **tontoz** » Fri Dec 29, 2023 8:40 pm

Long vid on Sheppard. These guys are definitely bball junkies.

https://youtu.be/cTUy1AK7fBg?si=WOIzBK4Ry_STA5lK

Post #195 » by **nate33** » Fri Dec 29, 2023 9:21 pm

tontoz wrote:Long vid on Sheppard. These guys are definitely bball junkies.

https://youtu.be/cTUy1AK7fBg?si=WOIzBK4Ry_STA5lK

They came up with the same comp as I did: Mark Price.

EDIT: Alright, this is getting ridiculous. These guys must read this thread. Now they're saying Reed Sheppard is what would happen if Kirk Hinrich and Klay Thompson had a baby. Kirk Hinrich was the other comp I mentioned, and NatP4 mentioned Klay Thompson.

9 and 20 · Post #196 » by **9 and 20** » Sat Dec 30, 2023 12:01 am

We had Mark Price once upon a time. He hated it here and he had some foot disease that kept him out the whole year, then he left. Has nothing to do with Sheppard, just brought to mind another episode of so Wiz.

NatP4 · Post #197 » by **NatP4** » Sat Dec 30, 2023 3:53 am

I’m not convinced that Sheppard isn’t the best player in the draft. Another ridiculous performance today, was all over the place.

He’s just great at every aspect of basketball.

NatP4 · Post #198 » by **NatP4** » Sat Dec 30, 2023 3:58 am

some Reed Sheppard magic:

Read on Twitter

And what he does best:

Read on Twitter

doclinkin · Post #199 » by **doclinkin** » Sat Dec 30, 2023 4:07 pm

The right decision every time with that kid. Ok yeah, I like Reed. BBIQ star.

bsilver · Post #200 » by **bsilver** » Sat Dec 30, 2023 4:40 pm

I think the Wizards will go for size and athleticism. Interesting that Reed's father Jeff was a big star at Kentucky and a washout in the NBA.
Maybe he should not enter the draft until he physically matures a bit and doesn't have to up against such good athletes at an early age. Money isn't a factor in his family.