2025 Draft Thread

[emunney]

I've overall been surprised by how much I don't love this draft class. Very light on star power. I certainly think he's got a shot.

This is the first draft in years that I've paid some attention to and I was also surprised how quickly it fell off. Like, I wouldn't want to be the team that gambles on Ace Bailey. And the new Ringer mock has Knueppel at #5, which is wild. I think he's a solid player, but not someone I'd normally take in the lottery. Jakucionis disappeared in every game I watched. Wolf never struck me as an NBA guy. Coward actually seems like a better bet than any of those dudes.

I got lightly roasted for having Knueppel 4th on my board but again, he's got the high floor thing going in a light light year. High odds he's a 10 year two way plus starter.

RE: Bailey

As someone else pointed out I'm skeptical on both him and to a lesser degree Harper. How do you pair those two together and have a losing record? Big time scarlet flag (see what I did there?)

The consensus #1 center is someone I can see struggling to average double digit points in the league.

Knueppel's got that freaky Andre Miller gene where he can get a step on seemingly anybody despite being having very little explosion. Really solid, functional handle and uses his body and feet extremely well. He could be like a healthy Brogdon with a high shot release. That's a very, very good player. Not the kind of player that typically goes top 5, but the kind who justifies the pick wherever it is.

[bucksfansince88]

Derik Queen is going to be good!

[German Athens]

I hate how slowly the NBA updates the combine results.

[Bernman]

Scrimmage(s) standouts:

*Jamir Watkins - Long wing, defensive stopper w/ some offensive skill, tenacity. Needs to improve shot. Evolved Ajax. Proj.: early 2nd
*Maxime Reynaud - Smooth, fundamental, inside-outside C. Knows where to be. Mediocre athleticism. Proj.: late 1st-early 2nd
*Sion James - Strong, defensive stopper guard. Handle, facilitate, solid shooter. Sort of in Indy 2-way mold. Safe, good fit for us. Proj.: mid 2nd
*Yaxel Lendeborg - Banchero-style. Had flashes, but didn't consistently impact. Could make or break GM's career. Proj.: mid 1st to early 2nd
*Tahaad Pettiford - Evocative of Jeff Teague. Star of the 1st day. 2nd got clamped by Watkins. The youth should sneak him into 1st like AJJ.

HM:
*Koby Brea - Struggled 1st game, good 2nd. Elite j. Thought he was a long wingspan guy, but is a t-rex. Would like to sneak on a 2-way ala Green.

Read on Twitter

[ShootingtheJ]

Tre Johnson is the 2nd best prospect in this draft.

[drone3]

Miles Byrd would be awesome. Wouldn't be surprised if he goes 1st round

[GoldenAntlers]

The lottery needs to go

I've proposed this before: tournament during the playoffs with all the 'lottery' teams. Take out the play in games, put those teams in the draft tournament. Not sure what the algorithm would be. Here's an idea:

Worst 9 teams host the opening round and must lose twice before they're out.
Best 9 teams are one and done.
In addition to receiving higher picks, winning teams make good money so players are motivated.
Choose an MVP or an all-lottery team so some players have something for the free agent resume.

Something like this would be awesome.

[German Athens]

12 Foot Club

PLAYER-------------------------POS--------Max Vertical Reach
Yanic Konan Niederhauser--C-----------12'4"
Drake Powell------------------SF-PF------12'2"
Rocco Zikarsky----------------C-----------12'2"
Carter Bryant------------------SF-PF------12'1.5"
Ryan Kalkbrenner-------------C-----------12'1"
Cedric Coward-----------------PG-SG-----12'0.5"
Asa Newell---------------------SF-PF------12'
Khaman Maluach--------------C-----------12'

Last year there were 6 more players who made the club, but 11 of those were listed as C's and 3 PF's. This year having someone marked as a guard is absolutely absurd - Team Coward.

[paulpressey25]

Media loves touting that 2nd overall pick for Giannis.

Can you guys sell me on Dylan Harper? I’m just not there. And who are his comps?

[German Athens]

Honestly, the way Cedric moves on offense reminds me a ton of Kawhi.

Kawhi had some absolute outlier skill development when he got to the league. He went from a questionable shooter to one of the two best midrange shooters of his generation, so comparisons to him are difficult. He was also almost a full two years younger than Cedric.

Cedric, though, has very similar length, a similar rigidity in some of his movements, composure getting to his spots, and then the ability to just rise over the top of the defense as if there’s not even a contest. I don’t know what kind of defender he is, but some of his blocks were also completely jaw dropping.

I’m not saying he’ll be Kawhi, because that’s stupid, but, also, he looks like Kawhi.

[Bernman]

Media loves touting that 2nd overall pick for Giannis.

Can you guys sell me on Dylan Harper? I’m just not there. And who are his comps?

Shot a remarkable 72% in the paint. Uses his body. Is evocative of a large Jalen Brunson. That won't make him such a mark on d.

[MikeIsGood]

Media loves touting that 2nd overall pick for Giannis.

Can you guys sell me on Dylan Harper? I’m just not there. And who are his comps?

Ok, I watched a moderate amount of Rutgers down the stretch last season for the morbid curiosity of two top-five (now likely top-three) picks on the same team...which also happened to kinda suck.

Sell you like make you like it? No. He's a really clear level of excitement and player value below Flagg, obviously. And that makes for a tough pill to swallow as the centerpiece dealing a superstar. I maintain that the "dream" Giannis deal died with how the lotto turned out.

But as far as the appeal goes, I think it's size, IQ, and finishing in the paint. He really does have great moves (and I could see him becoming a FT merchant in the NBA). I saw him dream shake guys a few times. I've seen Cade thrown around as a common comp, but I think that's likely just lazily making the big-PG comparison. I'm not sure I have something better. But I do think it's a really weird fit in SAS with Castle and now Fox there, so I'm sure we're gonna hear a lot about it.

(ETA: I will say that considering he's not a super explosive athlete, but has great ballhandling and smarts to kind of make his way in the lane and finish well regardless...it's a little evocative of Harden in that aspect. Agree Brunson style of play not a bad call either.)

I do not like Ace at all FWIW. These boom/bust, all-offense, tall, super skinnny guys just don't seem to have a great hit rate.

[jakecronus8]

Media loves touting that 2nd overall pick for Giannis.

Can you guys sell me on Dylan Harper? I’m just not there. And who are his comps?

I can not. But if it happens I will go hard on Edgecombe.

[JayMKE]

Lack of explosion for top 5 pick isn’t what you want to hear

[ReasonablySober]

Media loves touting that 2nd overall pick for Giannis.

Can you guys sell me on Dylan Harper? I’m just not there. And who are his comps?

Ok, I watched a moderate amount of Rutgers down the stretch last season for the morbid curiosity of two top-five (now likely top-three) picks on the same team...which also happened to kinda suck.

Sell you like make you like it? No. He's a really clear level of excitement and player value below Flagg, obviously. And that makes for a tough pill to swallow as the centerpiece dealing a superstar. I maintain that the "dream" Giannis deal died with how the lotto turned out.

But as far as the appeal goes, I think it's size, IQ, and finishing in the paint. He really does have great moves (and I could see him becoming a FT merchant in the NBA). I saw him dream shake guys a few times. I've seen Cade thrown around as a common comp, but I think that's likely just lazily making the big-PG comparison. I'm not sure I have something better. But I do think it's a really weird fit in SAS with Castle and now Fox there, so I'm sure we're gonna hear a lot about it.

(ETA: I will say that considering he's not a super explosive athlete, but has great ballhandling and smarts to kind of make his way in the lane and finish well regardless...it's a little evocative of Harden in that aspect. Agree Brunson style of play not a bad call either.)

I do not like Ace at all FWIW. These boom/bust, all-offense, tall, super skinnny guys just don't seem to have a great hit rate.

Am I the only one that sees Brogdon with Dylan Harper? Like he's not an exact comparison of course, but when I see him execute on offense Brogdon's the first one that comes to mind.

[SupremeHustle]

Harper has some Deron Williams in his game, but I do see some of those shades of Cade.

[German Athens]

I’d have a really difficult time not taking Coward in the top 10.

[JRoy]

He looks a little like Roy.

[EasyE31]

Any prospects to like that will be in the Bucks range at 47?

I'm intrigued with Hansen Yang....

[Badgerlander]

This is the first draft in years that I've paid some attention to and I was also surprised how quickly it fell off. Like, I wouldn't want to be the team that gambles on Ace Bailey. And the new Ringer mock has Knueppel at #5, which is wild. I think he's a solid player, but not someone I'd normally take in the lottery. Jakucionis disappeared in every game I watched. Wolf never struck me as an NBA guy. Coward actually seems like a better bet than any of those dudes.

I got lightly roasted for having Knueppel 4th on my board but again, he's got the high floor thing going in a light light year. High odds he's a 10 year two way plus starter.

RE: Bailey

As someone else pointed out I'm skeptical on both him and to a lesser degree Harper. How do you pair those two together and have a losing record? Big time scarlet flag (see what I did there?)

The consensus #1 center is someone I can see struggling to average double digit points in the league.

Knueppel's got that freaky Andre Miller gene where he can get a step on seemingly anybody despite being having very little explosion. Really solid, functional handle and uses his body and feet extremely well. He could be like a healthy Brogdon with a high shot release. That's a very, very good player. Not the kind of player that typically goes top 5, but the kind who justifies the pick wherever it is.

I just wish he had Joe Ingles size. White Devin Booker with better passing and hard nosed defense? Idk