Ace Bailey

[SeattleJazzFan]

Hard to believe he doesn't have his own thread yet. If he does and I missed it, sorry.

anyway, he showed some stuff last night that if he can keep it up, he can be a pretty special prospect. it will be interesting to see if he can keep it up and build on it in particular against better competition. but the combination of size, shotmaking and athleticism is what superstars are made of. even his passing and defense exceeded my expectations.

I'd heard some stuff about attitude, motor, etc - at least for that one game, i didn't see any of those issues. he played hard, defended, his demeanor seemed solid, etc. but just a dude oozing talent. going to be fun to watch over the course of the year.

after seeing dylan harper again, it's clear he's really good at basketball, but the long range shot looks flat. it will be interesting to see if he can fix that at at some point. i have to think he's going to be inconsistent all season until/unless that gets worked out.

[clyde21]

i mean it's hard not seeing him *at least* being Minnesota Wiggy level player at his size with his physical traits and baseline skills. he'd have to be a complete buffoon not to reach that in the NBA. real question is the type of impact he'll have on winning and what the connective tissue skills he's still developing will be but physically and from an archetype standpoint it's all there.

[JMAC3]

I think he has shown more shot creation ability in 2 games then Jabari Smith did his entire college season and rookie year combined. Cooper Flagg reclassified and is only 4 months younger than Ace Bailey. Ace is one of the youngest players in the draft, a full year younger than Liam, VJ, Kneuppel... basically a 1.5 years younger than Queen.

Just two games in but I really haven't seen anything that makes me worry about him being outside my top 3-5 players. Think people are just ready to jump off the boat for one of these top prospects and him missing the first few games had people licking their chops.

[azcatz11]

I think he has shown more shot creation ability in 2 games then Jabari Smith did his entire college season and rookie year combined. Cooper Flagg reclassified and is only 4 months younger than Ace Bailey. Ace is one of the youngest players in the draft, a full year younger than Liam, VJ, Kneuppel... basically a 1.5 years younger than Queen.

Just two games in but I really haven't seen anything that makes me worry about him being outside my top 3-5 players. Think people are just ready to jump off the boat for one of these top prospects and him missing the first few games had people licking their chops.

Do you agree with my RJ Barrett comp?

[JMAC3]

I think he has shown more shot creation ability in 2 games then Jabari Smith did his entire college season and rookie year combined. Cooper Flagg reclassified and is only 4 months younger than Ace Bailey. Ace is one of the youngest players in the draft, a full year younger than Liam, VJ, Kneuppel... basically a 1.5 years younger than Queen.

Just two games in but I really haven't seen anything that makes me worry about him being outside my top 3-5 players. Think people are just ready to jump off the boat for one of these top prospects and him missing the first few games had people licking their chops.

Do you agree with my RJ Barrett comp?

I haven't watched enough tbh. Initally I don't see it though Barrett is bull in the china shop and going to get it done ugly more often than not. From what I have seen from Ace it is much more finesse and he will win more so with skill then physicality.

Ace also just seems like a much better shooter of the basketball than young RJ.

I need to see how he looks vs more physical teams but I wouldn't rule him out going #1 at this point.

[SeattleJazzFan]

if you draft Bailey, you have to hope he's better than Barrett in terms of his scoring efficiency.

It's so early, but he looks to be a better pure shooter than Barrett.

Barrett is shooting 33% from three this year and is a career 34% 3pt shooter. He's also just an inefficient chucker in general. 43% career FG%, 52.7% TS. 42% and 51.4% currently. That is just so bad and it's why Barrett is an empty stats guy. You just can't be that inefficient and hope to win as a #1 option. And ftr, it was the same story at Duke.

With Bailey, you draft him hoping you're getting a guy closer to that 38-42% range consistently from three and closer to 47-52% FGs and 58-63% TS. That's what I hope to see from him this year at Rutgers - a guy that gives me hope that he can be an efficient scorer. that's the biggest thing that separates the truly great players who win, and empty stats chuckers.

[Chi town]

if you draft Bailey, you have to hope he's better than Barrett in terms of his scoring efficiency.

It's so early, but he looks to be a better pure shooter than Barrett.

Barrett is shooting 33% from three this year and is a career 34% 3pt shooter. He's also just an inefficient chucker in general. 43% career FG%, 52.7% TS. 42% and 51.4% currently. That is just so bad and it's why Barrett is an empty stats guy. You just can't be that inefficient and hope to win as a #1 option. And ftr, it was the same story at Duke.

With Bailey, you draft him hoping you're getting a guy closer to that 38-42% range consistently from three and closer to 47-52% FGs and 58-63% TS. That's what I hope to see from him this year at Rutgers - a guy that gives me hope that he can be an efficient scorer. that's the biggest thing that separates the truly great players who win, and empty stats chuckers.

Barret isn’t nearly the athlete that Ace is. Ace is crazy good vertical athlete and better height. Barret is def stronger.

Ace is Jalen Green / Zach Lavine but 6’9. I like the Brandon Miller comp but he’s smoother with the ball.

In this league of 3s Ace could be a big plus with his ability to raise up and shoot 3s over people. He has a ton to learn about drawing fouls, angles, etc but dude can shoot off movement now.

[clyde21]

don't even know why we're talking about RJ in this thread, RJ's like a 6-6 power guard, Ace is a 6-8 finesse wing and vertical athlete. just two different use cases. Ace is like an Andrew Wiggins or, in a best case scenario, Paul George.

[The-Power]

I said it elsewhere (not verbatim but in essence): he has the ability to hit tough shots and that looks good and makes scouts and fans giddy. But what I want to see from him is the ability to create easier shots so he doesn't always have to hit long jumpers and shots on which he fades away, and I want to see him create easy shots for others, too.

I know the numbers over two games have been great but they haven't done as much for me as they seem to have for others. The same concerns remain obvious. I loved that he had a number of great contests and that he has been willing to move the ball (though his passing skills are really lacking). I still don't expect that he'll end up in my top 5 but it's early and he clearly is talented in some ways, so I'm wait-and-see.

[76ciology]

I have him as the “fake top prospect” in this year’s draft.

[Chi town]

I said it elsewhere (not verbatim but in essence): he has the ability to hit tough shots and that looks good and makes scouts and fans giddy. But what I want to see from him is the ability to create easier shots so he doesn't always have to hit long jumpers and shots on which he fades away, and I want to see him create easy shots for others, too.

I know the numbers over two games have been great but they haven't done as much for me as they seem to have for others. The same concerns remain obvious. I loved that he had a number of great contests and that he has been willing to move the ball (though his passing skills are really lacking). I still don't expect that he'll end up in my top 5 but it's early and he clearly is talented in some ways, so I'm wait-and-see.

His IQ is his biggest weakness right now. He’s a lot like Zach Lavine who can just raise up and shoot. Makes tons of difficult shots so he shoots them instead of taking easier and more open shots.

Ace can’t really take people off the bounce yet. He will need to improve his handle and learn how to ch age speeds and use his body to bump and creat space.

Right now he basically just raises up the moment he touches the ball and shoots it. Not much else. Nearly all C&S.

His D, activity, and off ball movement has been solid though. His ceiling is sky high if he learns the on ball stuff.

[Catchall]

I think he's going to look like Andrew Wiggins with better shooting touch, at least that's probably going to be his role for a while. Maybe he's a richer version of Brandon Miller, but his lack of ability to beat defenders off the bounce is troubling. Needless to say, I'd like to see him pass the ball more than he has.

[The-Power]

I think he's going to look like Andrew Wiggins with better shooting touch, at least that's probably going to be his role for a while. Maybe he's a richer version of Brandon Miller, but his lack of ability to beat defenders off the bounce is troubling. Needless to say, I'd like to see him pass the ball more than he has.

He's not at the level of Miller as a ball handler, though. And he doesn't have the elite athleticism of Wiggins. At this point, I have a hard time projecting as anything but an off-ball scoring Forward. A good one perhaps – if he sets the right priorities – but the archetype is not as appealing as some others in this draft IMO.

[SeattleJazzFan]

i've been pleasantly surprised with his work on the glass and defensively. showing a motor in those areas i didn't expect. he obviously takes too many tough shots, but i think they college game can be tough for that archetype, especially for kids as young as he is. people talk about how young flagg is - bailey is only 4 months older.

[EvanZ]

His feet are great. He can really move on d. He's slithery.

It's the brain that worries me. Like when he throws it into the backcourt to Dylan it makes you wonder what he's thinking.

[babyjax13]

His feet are great. He can really move on d. He's slithery.

It's the brain that worries me. Like when he throws it into the backcourt to Dylan it makes you wonder what he's thinking.

I think a lot of the Carmelo imitation plays into this, he has learned to play the game at a snail's pace and as soon as it speeds up he is prone to bad decisions. I think this can be fixed, so if you believe in the shooting (I do), and off-ball movement (I do), I think he's a pretty clear top-5 pick. If he develops a reasonable handle he becomes really competitive for that second spot, but I don't see that happening in college.

IDK, I see a guy with an offensive role kind of like Rashard Lewis/MPJ, or at the higher end, someone more the caliber of Klay/Lauri. The lowest end outcomes are probably not that bad, barring injury.

[Dat2U]

Ace Bailey has given me R.J. Barrett vibes from day one with the caveat that he's bigger and honestly looks more fluid athletically and has more polish to his shot creation skill.

[vincecarter4pres]

Ace Bailey has given me R.J. Barrett vibes from day one with the caveat that he's bigger and honestly looks more fluid athletically and has more polish to his shot creation skill.

Yeah, he’s like Morant without the handle and speed and highlight reel dunks and first step.

Soooo, basically he’s nothing like RJ Barrett?

[JustBuzzin]

A more athletic Rashard Lewis

[azcatz11]

A more athletic Rashard Lewis

I can honestly see that