2025 NBA Draft Prospect Part 2

[Jstock12]

Don't look now, but Bailey's BPM is up to 1.2

[ArthurVandelay]

Why? What about him makes you want the Raptors to draft him?

The passing and defense are bad. He's going to suck at the next level as an empty calories type of scorer. I would rather take Edgecombe if it's between him and Ace.

Just say you have not watched Rutgers play. Ace plays defense and has the potential to be a good defender. Kid is 18 and folks are expecting a complete player. He plays off ball hence low assist. He has a very high ceiling. I would swing for the fences.

I’ve seen a few nice passes. I question what Rutgers is running. Outside Harper, who else do they have? Admittedly I haven’t seen games, but I’m always looking for the highlights that shows every touch.

One thing I read/heard is he has always been the best player on his team with ball in his hands. Now he’s playing with another ball dominant player in Harper who is a guard. Seems he’s often watching standing in the corner.

I haven’t left the ace train. I think he’s going to be a way better pro than college player with better spacing and less clutching/grabbing.

[TNRaps4life]

Don't look now, but Bailey's BPM is up to 1.2

Thank ya. And he started injured. Folks worried about an 18 y o bpm after 8 games.

[TNRaps4life]

The passing and defense are bad. He's going to suck at the next level as an empty calories type of scorer. I would rather take Edgecombe if it's between him and Ace.

Just say you have not watched Rutgers play. Ace plays defense and has the potential to be a good defender. Kid is 18 and folks are expecting a complete player. He plays off ball hence low assist. He has a very high ceiling. I would swing for the fences.

I’ve seen a few nice passes. I question what Rutgers is running. Outside Harper, who else do they have? Admittedly I haven’t seen games, but I’m always looking for the highlights that shows every touch.

One thing I read/heard is he has always been the best player on his team with ball in his hands. Now he’s playing with another ball dominant player in Harper who is a guard. Seems he’s often watching standing in the corner.

I haven’t left the ace train. I think he’s going to be a way better pro than college player with better spacing and less clutching/grabbing.

Appreciate the honesty. I have watched every game live. Is Ace a finished product, heck no. He is just 18. He missed the first 2 games with Hip Injury and it was obvious the college game was a different beast for him. Then he went home (Atlanta) for a game in front of home crowd and struggled mightily.. nervousness? Maybe..

Then they went to Vegas and it took him 2 games to recover. Overall, you can see the improvements in every game. He is the best rebounder on the team. He plays a lot off ball because Harper is very ball dominant.

You can tell that after the Christmas break, they are beginning to play team ball instead of ISOs.

The upside is really high.

My question for everyone is to name 3 players on our team that had higher potential?

A coach sent this to me...


Don’t put their weaknesses under a microscope. Instead, focus on their strengths and praise what they’re good at. Watch them grow. See their weaknesses improve. Positive Coaching works!!

[DreamTeam09]

Ace today

— 24 PTS
— 8 REB
— 1 AST
— 1 STL
— 2 BLK
— 11/18 FG
— 1/4 3P
— 1/2 FT

Plz let us draft this guy

Why? What about him makes you want the Raptors to draft him?

How do you look at that and ask y is my ?
.1st he's 6'8+, all the best players in the league are around that height, minus a few
2. He shoots the ball or has great form, so he can space the floor for us and be a zone buster like that clip displays.
3. His strengths are our weaknesses
4. You guys are looking for a finish product in a college freshman? Why?
5. The fit to me is perfect.

Walter had horrible stats last year, a few of us knew he was better than his stats.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Plz let us draft this guy

Why? What about him makes you want the Raptors to draft him?

How do you look at that and ask y is my ?
.1st he's 6'8+, all the best players in the league are around that height, minus a few
2. He shoots the ball or has great form, so he can space the floor for us and be a zone buster like that clip displays.
3. His strengths are our weaknesses
4. You guys are looking for a finish product in a college freshman? Why?
5. The fit to me is perfect.

Walter had horrible stats last year, a few of us knew he was better than his stats.

1) Walter has horrible stats this year!
2) Walter's stats last year were several measures better than Bailey's
3) Walter wasn't taken with a top 5 pick, so expectations are not as high.
4) Lots of prospects have great form.
5) No one looks for a finished product in a college freshman. They can see glaring holes and decide if it's worth the risk, when the selection base is a lot better. That's a significant part of how people rank prospects.
6) Niche fit is the worst way to look at a top 5 pick. Consider the need of the team, and how this prospect could conceivably be the franchise player that everyone gets moved to fit.
7) Our weaknesses are more than just lack of tall shooters. Two straight years of toilet level defense.
8) Ace has plenty of time to recover but if his BPM remains low at the end of the year he should go back to school and prove he can improve.

[God Squad]

Just say you have not watched Rutgers play. Ace plays defense and has the potential to be a good defender. Kid is 18 and folks are expecting a complete player. He plays off ball hence low assist. He has a very high ceiling. I would swing for the fences.

He's got a near negative BPM. What are you watching lol

He’s likely an agent or something, Ace is the only guy he ever talks about and he gets offended when anyone talks about his game or post his stats

It's weird because we all want Ace to be good. We understand he fits like a glove, but the advanced stats don't look good.

My concerns
- Shaky handle
- nonexistent passing game
- Can't get downhill / settles for jumpers
- Shot Diet can be iffy - IQ?
- Less of a creator, more of a shot maker

Pros
- 3pt shooting - only shooting 32%, but I believe long-term
- Good frame - should add good weight over time.
- Makes/takes tough shots
- Defense - this is subjective, but I think he'll round out here
- Potential at 18, lots of development left for him

He's going to be a very divisive prospect IMO. ATM I think he's closer to a MPJ/Harrison Barnes type than a BMiller/Paul George or whichever shot creator most will name.

I hope I'm wrong though, and he takes a leap throughout the year. The fit really is seamless.

[God Squad]

Don't look now, but Bailey's BPM is up to 1.2

Still awful, but lots of games left from now until the draft. He can easily increase his numbers, he just needs to lock in.

[DreamTeam09]

Why? What about him makes you want the Raptors to draft him?

How do you look at that and ask y is my ?
.1st he's 6'8+, all the best players in the league are around that height, minus a few
2. He shoots the ball or has great form, so he can space the floor for us and be a zone buster like that clip displays.
3. His strengths are our weaknesses
4. You guys are looking for a finish product in a college freshman? Why?
5. The fit to me is perfect.

Walter had horrible stats last year, a few of us knew he was better than his stats.

1) Walter has horrible stats this year!
2) Walter's stats last year were several measures better than Bailey's
3) Walter wasn't taken with a top 5 pick, so expectations are not as high.
4) Lots of prospects have great form.
5) No one looks for a finished product in a college freshman. They can see glaring holes and decide if it's worth the risk, when the selection base is a lot better. That's a significant part of how people rank prospects.
6) Niche fit is the worst way to look at a top 5 pick. Consider the need of the team, and how this prospect could conceivably be the franchise player that everyone gets moved to fit.
7) Our weaknesses are more than just lack of tall shooters. Two straight years of toilet level defense.
8) Ace has plenty of time to recover but if his BPM remains low at the end of the year he should go back to school and prove he can improve.

There aren't 5 players in college better than Ace right now
Every prospect is going to have holes to fills, they're college freshman.
Ace is more than just a tall shooter offensively, he's one of the best iso scorers.
He's not a niche fit for us, we've been looking for a go-to shooting SF to pair next to our point-fwd PF, who can space the floor for our non-shooting but productive SG.

There's Harper Cooper Denim Tre and I guess VJ who are top5 worthy in my books. Cooper and Ace are the best fits for us. Ace going back to school isn't even a question lol

[ATLTimekeeper]

How do you look at that and ask y is my ?
.1st he's 6'8+, all the best players in the league are around that height, minus a few
2. He shoots the ball or has great form, so he can space the floor for us and be a zone buster like that clip displays.
3. His strengths are our weaknesses
4. You guys are looking for a finish product in a college freshman? Why?
5. The fit to me is perfect.

Walter had horrible stats last year, a few of us knew he was better than his stats.

1) Walter has horrible stats this year!
2) Walter's stats last year were several measures better than Bailey's
3) Walter wasn't taken with a top 5 pick, so expectations are not as high.
4) Lots of prospects have great form.
5) No one looks for a finished product in a college freshman. They can see glaring holes and decide if it's worth the risk, when the selection base is a lot better. That's a significant part of how people rank prospects.
6) Niche fit is the worst way to look at a top 5 pick. Consider the need of the team, and how this prospect could conceivably be the franchise player that everyone gets moved to fit.
7) Our weaknesses are more than just lack of tall shooters. Two straight years of toilet level defense.
8) Ace has plenty of time to recover but if his BPM remains low at the end of the year he should go back to school and prove he can improve.

There aren't 5 players in college better than Ace right now
Every prospect is going to have holes to fills, they're college freshman.
Ace is more than just a tall shooter offensively, he's one of the best iso scorers.
He's not a niche fit for us, we've been looking for a go-to shooting SF to pair next to our point-fwd PF, who can space the floor for our non-shooting but productive SG.

There's Harper Cooper Denim Tre and I guess VJ who are top5 worthy in my books. Cooper and Ace are the best fits for us. Ace going back to school isn't even a question lol

That's a niche fit. You have your way of looking at it and that's fine, I'm very confident in relying on a few numbers that determine who won't be a good pick and when you throw a season I think it's irresponsible to go against those numbers.

I don't expect Ace to return to school, either.

[PushDaRock]

How do you look at that and ask y is my ?
.1st he's 6'8+, all the best players in the league are around that height, minus a few
2. He shoots the ball or has great form, so he can space the floor for us and be a zone buster like that clip displays.
3. His strengths are our weaknesses
4. You guys are looking for a finish product in a college freshman? Why?
5. The fit to me is perfect.

Walter had horrible stats last year, a few of us knew he was better than his stats.

1) Walter has horrible stats this year!
2) Walter's stats last year were several measures better than Bailey's
3) Walter wasn't taken with a top 5 pick, so expectations are not as high.
4) Lots of prospects have great form.
5) No one looks for a finished product in a college freshman. They can see glaring holes and decide if it's worth the risk, when the selection base is a lot better. That's a significant part of how people rank prospects.
6) Niche fit is the worst way to look at a top 5 pick. Consider the need of the team, and how this prospect could conceivably be the franchise player that everyone gets moved to fit.
7) Our weaknesses are more than just lack of tall shooters. Two straight years of toilet level defense.
8) Ace has plenty of time to recover but if his BPM remains low at the end of the year he should go back to school and prove he can improve.

There aren't 5 players in college better than Ace right now
Every prospect is going to have holes to fills, they're college freshman.
Ace is more than just a tall shooter offensively, he's one of the best iso scorers.
He's not a niche fit for us, we've been looking for a go-to shooting SF to pair next to our point-fwd PF, who can space the floor for our non-shooting but productive SG.

There's Harper Cooper Denim Tre and I guess VJ who are top5 worthy in my books. Cooper and Ace are the best fits for us. Ace going back to school isn't even a question lol

There's a pretty big difference in settling for contested jumpers and being forced to take them because your game is limited. IMO it's the latter with Bailey.

[DreamTeam09]

1) Walter has horrible stats this year!
2) Walter's stats last year were several measures better than Bailey's
3) Walter wasn't taken with a top 5 pick, so expectations are not as high.
4) Lots of prospects have great form.
5) No one looks for a finished product in a college freshman. They can see glaring holes and decide if it's worth the risk, when the selection base is a lot better. That's a significant part of how people rank prospects.
6) Niche fit is the worst way to look at a top 5 pick. Consider the need of the team, and how this prospect could conceivably be the franchise player that everyone gets moved to fit.
7) Our weaknesses are more than just lack of tall shooters. Two straight years of toilet level defense.
8) Ace has plenty of time to recover but if his BPM remains low at the end of the year he should go back to school and prove he can improve.

There aren't 5 players in college better than Ace right now
Every prospect is going to have holes to fills, they're college freshman.
Ace is more than just a tall shooter offensively, he's one of the best iso scorers.
He's not a niche fit for us, we've been looking for a go-to shooting SF to pair next to our point-fwd PF, who can space the floor for our non-shooting but productive SG.

There's Harper Cooper Denim Tre and I guess VJ who are top5 worthy in my books. Cooper and Ace are the best fits for us. Ace going back to school isn't even a question lol

There's a pretty big difference in settling for contested jumpers and being forced to take them because your game is limited. IMO it's the latter with Bailey.

Why not imagine what he'll look like with more age, training, experience, strength, guidance ect ect ect... I mean the things y'all fault him for are things that can and will get better. If he was doing what everyone wants him to do or expects, he'd be #1 for sure....

[Supermann98]

Why? What about him makes you want the Raptors to draft him?

How do you look at that and ask y is my ?
.1st he's 6'8+, all the best players in the league are around that height, minus a few
2. He shoots the ball or has great form, so he can space the floor for us and be a zone buster like that clip displays.
3. His strengths are our weaknesses
4. You guys are looking for a finish product in a college freshman? Why?
5. The fit to me is perfect.

Walter had horrible stats last year, a few of us knew he was better than his stats.

1) Walter has horrible stats this year!
2) Walter's stats last year were several measures better than Bailey's
3) Walter wasn't taken with a top 5 pick, so expectations are not as high.
4) Lots of prospects have great form.
5) No one looks for a finished product in a college freshman. They can see glaring holes and decide if it's worth the risk, when the selection base is a lot better. That's a significant part of how people rank prospects.
6) Niche fit is the worst way to look at a top 5 pick. Consider the need of the team, and how this prospect could conceivably be the franchise player that everyone gets moved to fit.
7) Our weaknesses are more than just lack of tall shooters. Two straight years of toilet level defense.
8) Ace has plenty of time to recover but if his BPM remains low at the end of the year he should go back to school and prove he can improve.

If he's projected top 3 at the end of the year, and he will be, he would not risk guaranteed multi-millions of dollars just to go back to school, maybe have a career ending injury, and just to "prove" he can improve his BPM

[PushDaRock]

There aren't 5 players in college better than Ace right now
Every prospect is going to have holes to fills, they're college freshman.
Ace is more than just a tall shooter offensively, he's one of the best iso scorers.
He's not a niche fit for us, we've been looking for a go-to shooting SF to pair next to our point-fwd PF, who can space the floor for our non-shooting but productive SG.

There's Harper Cooper Denim Tre and I guess VJ who are top5 worthy in my books. Cooper and Ace are the best fits for us. Ace going back to school isn't even a question lol

There's a pretty big difference in settling for contested jumpers and being forced to take them because your game is limited. IMO it's the latter with Bailey.

Why not imagine what he'll look like with more age, training, experience, strength, guidance ect ect ect... I mean the things y'all fault him for are things that can and will get better. If he was doing what everyone wants him to do or expects, he'd be #1 for sure....

If we use rose colored glasses and project massive improvement to every weakness and the absolute best case scenario, every prospect looks way better than they are.

[ATLTimekeeper]

There aren't 5 players in college better than Ace right now
Every prospect is going to have holes to fills, they're college freshman.
Ace is more than just a tall shooter offensively, he's one of the best iso scorers.
He's not a niche fit for us, we've been looking for a go-to shooting SF to pair next to our point-fwd PF, who can space the floor for our non-shooting but productive SG.

There's Harper Cooper Denim Tre and I guess VJ who are top5 worthy in my books. Cooper and Ace are the best fits for us. Ace going back to school isn't even a question lol

There's a pretty big difference in settling for contested jumpers and being forced to take them because your game is limited. IMO it's the latter with Bailey.

Why not imagine what he'll look like with more age, training, experience, strength, guidance ect ect ect... I mean the things y'all fault him for are things that can and will get better. If he was doing what everyone wants him to do or expects, he'd be #1 for sure....

This goes for every prospect, though. Why hold Ace to a higher ceiling than any other freshman? It's only because of his high school ranking, which I've already shown in earlier versions of this thread is not that great at forecasting NBA star talent.

Unfortunately, he will stay in the draft and we might not get much information on his ability to improve. Drafting will always be imperfect, so for me I'd like to cut down as many risks as possible.

[Clutch0z24]

Guys are way too harsh on Ace.....He can do what not many players can do and thats score over any defender because of his height & shooting touch....You guys focus way too much on what he "Can't" do when he is just 18 and has not even developed his game yet....

Ball Handling + Slowing the game down to play at his pace will be the things he needs to work on most....Hes quick and big enough to be a good defender in the league....It will be about work ethic and how good he will want to become....And to me he seems like a basketball junkie so he should develop nicely...

[ArthurVandelay]

I keep looking at Ace through the lens of a high school junior Brandon miller.

Freshman Ace is 2 years younger than freshman Miller.

They aren’t a perfect comparison but a lot of similarities.

[ATLTimekeeper]

But then the same credit should be extended to all the youngest players in the draft who are producing much better than Bailey has so far.

[Jstock12]

There aren't 5 players in college better than Ace right now

I think there are many better college players, but Ace is a freshman, and he's being projected because of his potential. If people projected prospects based on their current production, Ace would go undrafted.

[AbC?]

BYU/Demin playing today at 4pm and starting conference play against good teams. He was mediocre in has last couple games and then got injured. Will be interesting to see how he performs.