2024-2025 College Basketball / NBA Draft

[Negrodamus]

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This is who we should actually draft, but we have a logjam and I don't think Morey has the gall to move on from Maxey right now.

Numbers look great but his measurements have been disappointing. He's stuck at PG only.

And you're right, I don't think he's good enough to push Morey to ship out Maxey.

He's also the only guy not named Flagg or Harper in the top ten who has serious juice with the ball in his hands. If we're looking for star potential, he's one of them. I also think him being 6'4 with shoes on is pretty positive as a PG.

[Negrodamus]

I need to know what happened to Jakucionis from January all the way to March. I know he injured his arm against Michigan State and was a 41% 3FG shooter up until that point. His game kinda went to the crapper in March. I read he had the flu then too.

Bailey also had a hot start and completely came apart. Less information there to explain the downfall. Like Dec he was a 42% FT shooter. Feb and March were brutal months for him.

Edgecombe started slow, peaked in January, then regressed massively as an outside shooter.

Tre started hot, peaked in February but then had such a brutal 2FG% month in March.

[Negrodamus]

I won't even get into how Queen had incremental improvements as a scorer which culminated in March, when it matters most.

[Mik317]

Was Embiid the last prospect we took that you were banging the drum for Negro lol

feels like they never take your guy lol

[76ciology]

I need to know what happened to Jakucionis from January all the way to March. I know he injured his arm against Michigan State and was a 41% 3FG shooter up until that point. His game kinda went to the crapper in March. I read he had the flu then too.

This.

If his poor play was really due to injury, then Dylan Harper and Kasparas should be considered 2A and 2B in this draft. That would also line up with what Nurse said about targeting two players and if he’s taken with the 2nd pick then they’ll just draft the other one.

[Negrodamus]

Was Embiid the last prospect we took that you were banging the drum for Negro lol

feels like they never take your guy lol

I was settling for McCain towards the end of last year's predraft process. When we took him, I was definitely happy because he fit what I look for in a prospect (he's just small).

I don't think Embiid was even my diehard guy back then after the injury. Sure, I loved his highlight tape, but after the Nerlens situation the year before, I was ready to settle with Exum since I was starving to watch a top flight draft pick.

The inconvenient truth about this draft is everyone outside of Harper and Flagg have terrible warts as a top prospect in the draft, so it's hard for me to truly love any of these guys. I'd rather trade back with the Nets, rebuild our draft stockpile, get Yaxel Lendeborg and/or Nique Clifford and call it a day. I'm dead serious too. I don't feel confident any of these guys we're talking about will be a big time star other than maybe Fears.

[Mik317]

i am going to cope with whoever we take honestly

I am in that same Exum space of just give me a guy who I can lie to myself for a bit

[Negrodamus]

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This guy has a better 2 way game than any of these freshmen even though he's already collecting social security. You can see the IQ in the way he plays defense and how he distributes the ball to his ass teammates. At a shade under 6'7 with shoes on, I'm all in on this guy.

Pair him with Miles Byrd and we'd have ourselves some interesting role players for next year.

[FireMorey]

Givony seems to like Bailey a lot.

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[76ciology]

Givony seems to like Bailey a lot.

Read on Twitter

Thats like a Nissan and a Ferrari having same measurements and telling some people to pay your Nissan with the price of a Ferrari because they have same measurements

[FireMorey]

In fairness to Givony a lot of people had a lot of questions about Tatum headed into that draft. This isn't comparing them now, it's comparing them when they entered the draft. Tatum wasn't considered a substantially better prospect when he came out than Bailey is now. Maybe a little better, but not a lot.

[76ciology]

How to make millions of dollars…

Go to Burger King. Find someone who fits the mold of a lengthy wing. Have him watch Kobe highlights every morning, practice those shots every afternoon, enroll him in college, and convince the coach to give him the green light to take any shot he wants. If he wont agree, tell him you’ll give him a % of your share. Just like that you’ve got the kind of dreamy prospect draft nerds drool over.

But here’s the plot twist:

His length? Not as advertised. It was all smoke and mirrors, just enough to keep the draft nerds covering him all season. Meanwhile, the internet flooded with glowing articles like it was gospel. Say a lie enough times and it becomes the truth.

By the time the draft combine revealed he wasn’t actually that long, it didn’t matter. The myth was already cemented. He had “elite length” in everyone’s mind and that was enough to get him drafted high in the lottery.

Now you cash in on a percentage of that rookie salary… maybe toss a little to the coach and the media folks who played along.

[Negrodamus]

In fairness to Givony a lot of people had a lot of questions about Tatum headed into that draft. This isn't comparing them now, it's comparing them when they entered the draft. Tatum wasn't considered a substantially better prospect when he came out than Bailey is now. Maybe a little better, but not a lot.

Considered by whom? Statistically and eye test, Tatum was a far superior player at Duke than Ace was this year.

[zaz102]

How to make millions of dollars…

Go to Burger King. Find someone who fits the mold of a lengthy wing. Have him watch Kobe highlights every morning, practice those shots every afternoon, enroll him in college, and convince the coach to give him the green light to take any shot he wants. If he wont agree, tell him you’ll give him a % of your share. Just like that you’ve got the kind of dreamy prospect draft nerds drool over.

But here’s the plot twist:

His length? Not as advertised. It was all smoke and mirrors, just enough to keep the draft nerds covering him all season. Meanwhile, the internet flooded with glowing articles like it was gospel. Say a lie enough times and it becomes the truth.

By the time the draft combine revealed he wasn’t actually that long, it didn’t matter. The myth was already cemented. He had “elite length” in everyone’s mind and that was enough to get him drafted high in the lottery.

Now you cash in on a percentage of that rookie salary… maybe toss a little to the coach and the media folks who played along.

To be fair, that first paragraph could also apply to Embiid. In addition, Ace is about only 1" shorter than his listed measurement.

Not sure if I buy him as a prospect, but it more has to do with all his flaws and not knowing if it's something that he could improve upon if he wasn't at Rutgers.

[FireMorey]

In fairness to Givony a lot of people had a lot of questions about Tatum headed into that draft. This isn't comparing them now, it's comparing them when they entered the draft. Tatum wasn't considered a substantially better prospect when he came out than Bailey is now. Maybe a little better, but not a lot.

Considered by whom? Statistically and eye test, Tatum was a far superior player at Duke than Ace was this year.

A lot of people thought Tatum had a low ceiling in that draft. In this draft a lot of people think Bailey is really raw and has a lot of untapped potential with a high ceiling. So it depends on how they're evaluating the prospect.

I don't think the number of people now talking about where they could see Bailey's ceiling is substantially different than where a lot of people thought Tatum's ceiling would be during his draft process. I'm not sure they are the best comparison, but it's certainly a better comparison than the Durant one people have made, which is asinine.

[76ciology]

Close size comparisons for Tre Johnson (wingspan and standing reach):
Buddy Hield
Caris Levert
Caleb Martin

[Kobblehead]

I’m surprised you’re not all in on Tre Johnson. A bomber like that seems like your type of player.

If we got him, I'd ultimately get hyped. He's exciting to watch. He's one of the best shooting scorers in the class and he'll be a better playmaker in the pros than he was in college.

I just think we already have two 30+ mpg Guards in Maxey and Grimes. And even aside from them, McCain was one of the best bombers in last year's class and was arguably the runaway Rookie of the Year before he got hurt. We could go small and play 3 of them at once, but we'd be even worse defensively and rebounding-wise. Which won't help us win any of these playoff series.

So my preference here is to get a Foward.

[Kobblehead]

Ace's selling point is that wings of his size are the holy grail. You hit on one and you have it made. The issue is that people don't realize how thin the needle is for those guys to make it. The holy grail wing are often great athletes, have great handle, and are great shooters. yeah...Ace is a good athlete. Has bad handle. And is a shooter by rep only atm. HOWEVA, he has one of THE former holy grail wings to learn from as well as hardworkers like Maxey to work with...and won't be tasked to be the guy right away like he would on worse teams.

I agree. Which is why I'm in on taking Ace at #3. If he hits, we've struck gold.

https://www.tankathon.com/players/compare?players=ace-bailey--andrew-wiggins--harrison-barnes

^ Even if he stays the expected course and becomes another Wiggins/Barnes, we've seen those guys contribute in a role on a championship team.

[Kobblehead]

I'd take one of the giant white centers at 35. Thats what we have been missing

One of them or Broome. Broome is lowkey damn near a perfect C. Defense, rebounding, playmaking, scoring, leadership, passion. He's just a geezer.

[Kobblehead]

Someone convince me VJ Edgecombe has star potential because I don't see it. He could be a good two-way player, maybe like Derrick White or Jalen Suggs, but has virtually no star potential.

Anytime you come accross an explosive athlete like this, I think there's boom potential for stardom. I think he's highly likely to be a better defensive version of Jaden Ivey.