2025 NBA Draft Discussion Part 6

[Indeed]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Maluach falls outside of the lottery if the Raptors don’t take him.

The bust factor is quite high with raw 7 footers taken in the top 10. For every Poetl, there are twice as many Radjovics, Araujos, etc.

We already have Chomche. Why not just trade one of our glut of guards for a backup center if we are looking for that missing piece to turn us into a playoff contender?

People every draft fall in love with measurements and raw hidden potential, myself included and that outweighs for them the risk of bust potential.

But considering this "might" be our last lottery pick in a very long while, I'd rather not spend it on someone not raw in many areas. Thats why I hope we luck out with a top 4 pick, so we dont have to have this awkward conversation on the merits of selecting a raw big middle of the lottery and hope they develop into what we need.

I can agree taking on Carter Bryant and hope he can be better than Franz Wagner, which I feel Bryant can have that ceiling. However, Maluach is more limited as a 3 and D centre (big Boucher). You are not going to ask him to drive or faceup or postup to create for his own shot.

[NinjaBro]

I'd rather Masai not go after Maluach. Every time Masai drafts based on a hail mary, it ends up working out badly. The bust potential here is quite high and Masai doesn't have a good track record with these kinds of picks. We need to draft smartly, could be our last lottery pick in a long long while.

[DreamTeam09]

I'd rather Masai not go after Maluach. Every time Masai drafts based on a hail mary, it ends up working out badly. The bust potential here is quite high and Masai doesn't have a good track record with these kinds of picks. We need to draft smartly, could be our last lottery pick in a long long while.

Why is a starting C for DUKE a hail Mary? I don't see what bust potential is there, he's 7'2 - not many NBA players are his size, the few at his size, only a few move like him. We are asking him to do the things he does already, he'll expand his game incrementally over the yrs but his floor as a player are the exact traits this teams needs

[Brinbe]

I'd rather Masai not go after Maluach. Every time Masai drafts based on a hail mary, it ends up working out badly. The bust potential here is quite high and Masai doesn't have a good track record with these kinds of picks. We need to draft smartly, could be our last lottery pick in a long long while.

Why is a starting C for DUKE a hail Mary? I don't see what bust potential is there, he's 7'2 - not many NBA players are his size, the few at his size, only a few move like him. We are asking him to do the things he does already, he'll expand his game incrementally over the yrs but his floor as a player are the exact traits this teams needs

Yep. And though of course you'd want some early production, but the major point of drafting him would be driving control of his development as a pro/getting him immersed in the culture of the city/team/organization and ultimately reaping the rewards of what he could be from roughly age 23/24 to his early 30s.

[Yallbecrazy]

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/44888875/nba-draft-2025-projecting-30-best-prospects

8. Noa Essengue, PF, Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)
Top 100: No. 14
Stats: No. 8

Consensus: 2.6 WARP

Now that Essengue has moved into lottery territory, it's hard to call him a sleeper, but he's still not quite as high as his stats-only projection would suggest as the top international prospect in the draft. In the competitive EuroCup, Essengue has averaged 14.4 PPG and 5.3 RPG in just 23.7 MPG, shooting 66% on 2-point attempts. That's come against much older competition. Essengue won't turn 19 until December, making him the second-youngest prospect in the top 100 after Flagg.

Essengue being the only non-NCAA prospect in the top 30 of the stats-only model is very interesting.

29. Thomas Sorber, C Georgetown
Top 100: No. 24
Stats: No. 32

Consensus: 1.6 WARP


Would you believe that no Georgetown product has been drafted since Otto Porter Jr. in 2013? Sorber will assuredly break that streak if he stays in the draft after averaging 14.5 PPG, 8.5 RPG and 2.0 BPG as a freshman. As good as that sounds, the bar for center production at the NCAA level is high, which particularly works against fellow DMV freshman Derik Queen of Maryland. By contrast to Queen, who doesn't rate in my top 30 despite being 10th in the top 100, Sorber was a much more effective shot blocker.

Also pretty surprising to see Queen ranked outside his top 30.

Essengue has been the one international player I'm quite open minded on. I can't get too high since the stats aren't near the level of Doncic or Sengun and I don't really know how to evaluate international players.

Also looks like Duke being so dominant in such a weak conference broke the stats portion of his model.

[Yallbecrazy]

I'd rather Masai not go after Maluach. Every time Masai drafts based on a hail mary, it ends up working out badly. The bust potential here is quite high and Masai doesn't have a good track record with these kinds of picks. We need to draft smartly, could be our last lottery pick in a long long while.

Why is a starting C for DUKE a hail Mary? I don't see what bust potential is there, he's 7'2 - not many NBA players are his size, the few at his size, only a few move like him. We are asking him to do the things he does already, he'll expand his game incrementally over the yrs but his floor as a player are the exact traits this teams needs

I look for bbiq as the main go to in my analysis and Malauch is at the very bottom for it in this draft. You look at busts in the past and the majority of time there were indicators that their bbiq was lacking. Draft gems and sleepers are usually guys with high to elite IQ and lacking either in the skill or measurement/athelticism department.

[mademan]

I'd rather Masai not go after Maluach. Every time Masai drafts based on a hail mary, it ends up working out badly. The bust potential here is quite high and Masai doesn't have a good track record with these kinds of picks. We need to draft smartly, could be our last lottery pick in a long long while.

Why is a starting C for DUKE a hail Mary? I don't see what bust potential is there, he's 7'2 - not many NBA players are his size, the few at his size, only a few move like him. We are asking him to do the things he does already, he'll expand his game incrementally over the yrs but his floor as a player are the exact traits this teams needs

I look for bbiq as the main go to in my analysis and Malauch is at the very bottom for it in this draft. You look at busts in the past and the majority of time there were indicators that their bbiq was lacking. Draft gems and sleepers are usually guys with high to elite IQ and lacking either in the skill or measurement/athelticism department.

+1. Skill and BBIQ are more important than size/length. I doubt we draft a project and thats what Malauch is. And he's the worst kind of project as his upside is a strong role player

[DreamTeam09]

I'd rather Masai not go after Maluach. Every time Masai drafts based on a hail mary, it ends up working out badly. The bust potential here is quite high and Masai doesn't have a good track record with these kinds of picks. We need to draft smartly, could be our last lottery pick in a long long while.

Why is a starting C for DUKE a hail Mary? I don't see what bust potential is there, he's 7'2 - not many NBA players are his size, the few at his size, only a few move like him. We are asking him to do the things he does already, he'll expand his game incrementally over the yrs but his floor as a player are the exact traits this teams needs

I look for bbiq as the main go to in my analysis and Malauch is at the very bottom for it in this draft. You look at busts in the past and the majority of time there were indicators that their bbiq was lacking. Draft gems and sleepers are usually guys with high to elite IQ and lacking either in the skill or measurement/athelticism department.

In your analysis of players, how are you factoring in his inexperience to the game of basketball overall as the leading cause for his precieved lack of of bbiq

[Psubs]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Maluach falls outside of the lottery if the Raptors don’t take him.

The bust factor is quite high with raw 7 footers taken in the top 10. For every Poetl, there are twice as many Radjovics, Araujos, etc.

We already have Chomche. Why not just trade one of our glut of guards for a backup center if we are looking for that missing piece to turn us into a playoff contender?

People every draft fall in love with measurements and raw hidden potential, myself included and that outweighs for them the risk of bust potential.

But considering this "might" be our last lottery pick in a very long while, I'd rather not spend it on someone not raw in many areas. Thats why I hope we luck out with a top 4 pick, so we dont have to have this awkward conversation on the merits of selecting a raw big middle of the lottery and hope they develop into what we need.

I can agree taking on Carter Bryant and hope he can be better than Franz Wagner, which I feel Bryant can have that ceiling. However, Maluach is more limited as a 3 and D centre (big Boucher). You are not going to ask him to drive or faceup or postup to create for his own shot.

If he's a smaller shorter Franz Wagner that can shoot the 3 above average then that's great; Franz shot 29%. Well I guess the SG/SF/PF version of Franz that can guard the POA.

[Psubs]

Why is a starting C for DUKE a hail Mary? I don't see what bust potential is there, he's 7'2 - not many NBA players are his size, the few at his size, only a few move like him. We are asking him to do the things he does already, he'll expand his game incrementally over the yrs but his floor as a player are the exact traits this teams needs

I look for bbiq as the main go to in my analysis and Malauch is at the very bottom for it in this draft. You look at busts in the past and the majority of time there were indicators that their bbiq was lacking. Draft gems and sleepers are usually guys with high to elite IQ and lacking either in the skill or measurement/athelticism department.

In your analysis of players, how are you factoring in his inexperience to the game of basketball overall as the leading cause for his precieved lack of of bbiq

Alex Condon has similar inexperience but high bbiq.

[Indeed]

People every draft fall in love with measurements and raw hidden potential, myself included and that outweighs for them the risk of bust potential.

But considering this "might" be our last lottery pick in a very long while, I'd rather not spend it on someone not raw in many areas. Thats why I hope we luck out with a top 4 pick, so we dont have to have this awkward conversation on the merits of selecting a raw big middle of the lottery and hope they develop into what we need.

I can agree taking on Carter Bryant and hope he can be better than Franz Wagner, which I feel Bryant can have that ceiling. However, Maluach is more limited as a 3 and D centre (big Boucher). You are not going to ask him to drive or faceup or postup to create for his own shot.

If he's a smaller shorter Franz Wagner that can shoot the 3 above average then that's great; Franz shot 29%. Well I guess the SG/SF/PF version of Franz that can guard the POA.

I would not be surprised they are around the same. The difference is that Wagner is proven to be a movement shooter, while Bryant has only shown flashes of a movement shooter, and with great defense. Even Bryant can be a movement shooter, he still a long way to be a ball handler like Wagner who can attack the basket, which is why he is "raw hidden potential", otherwise, he would be in the Bailey conversation in the top 5 pick.

I have Bryant over Maluach.

[WuTang_CMB]

Been saying this but I would take KM 15+ in this draft. Not taking him top 10 for what he projects as a player at the NBA level. If this was a case of a guy who performed like Embiid did at Kansas then it would be a totally different story and he's likely going top 2 in this draft. But to take a rim running big who is still raw is extremely difficult for me taking him top 10. I understand the upside as a defensive force and a pick and pop type guy ala Serge or Brook Lopez but he's got a long way to go to get there.

[Jcity08]

Praying for a top 4 anyways but also so we don't have to talk in circles about a project big.

[Brinbe]

Guy has been playing ball for how many years and still anchored a final four defense at DUKE as a Frosh but you're worried about IQ.

Yikes... don't think it's his IQ we gotta be worrying about here.

[Son Goku 25]

I'm gonna go back and say Ace will be a top 2 candidate for the Raptors. I think they look at him and see his size and skillset and motor and believe they can work on his weaknesses plus overlook some of them based off who his teammates were. He'd fit in perfectly on our team too.

[Dalek]

Guy has been playing ball for how many years and still anchored a final four defense as a Frosh but you're worried about IQ.

Yikes...

I think there has to be some caveats to that. Playing with a generational defender like Cooper Flagg and an entire team that defends at a high level gave KM an edge. He had a simplified role on a stacked, well-coached team. They did try him out in multiple coverages and he looked okay on the perimeter at times, and there are signs he might be able to be a drop-big, but calling him their anchor is a bit extreme.

I noticed some not so great tendencies on his part. He can be prone to jumping at pump fakes which happens more often given the speed and skill of players. I kind of expect his foul% to go way up which will limit his minutes some.

He also bobbles the ball on rebounds a fair bit. There are times when you want him to just rip down a board and he resorts to tip outs. He just has poor boxout technique. On offensive boards he is really good at anticipating caroms. Honestly, I think his teammates sometimes intentionally missed just to get in close enough for him to dunk it.

I think over the course of a few years those things will iron-out, but the biggest hurdle for me is the passing. I just don't know what to expect there. We play a very heavy motion style offense with ball screens and bigs reversing pick and rolls. For KM, there is no evidence of him making decisions.

[WuTang_CMB]

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[DreamTeam09]

I look for bbiq as the main go to in my analysis and Malauch is at the very bottom for it in this draft. You look at busts in the past and the majority of time there were indicators that their bbiq was lacking. Draft gems and sleepers are usually guys with high to elite IQ and lacking either in the skill or measurement/athelticism department.

In your analysis of players, how are you factoring in his inexperience to the game of basketball overall as the leading cause for his precieved lack of of bbiq

Alex Condon has similar inexperience but high bbiq.

One player is projected lottery, the other player projects as a 2nd round prospect

[mademan]

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There's a decent chance that he's a star in this league and we all ask why we overthought it. If he measures out well, he might be the most surefire thing after Flagg/Harper

[Clutch0z24]

If we stay around 7/8 i am picking skills > raw player with good measurments....At 39 we can go for another big man to develop....Which would make much more sense....At the top of the draft you want to draft a player that can make an impact on the team right away that also has low bust potential.

Potentially Maluach could only be playing 40 games for you and can't travel with the team if we also made a playoff run next year he would be inelidgiable for alot of the games....Which is basically another concern with the already mountains of concerns i have....So to me its not a feasable pick in the top 7/8...