2025 NBA Draft Discussion Part 7

[Dalek]

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This all stresses me out. Two teams ahead of us looking at PGs. It just makes it more likely we have Maluach fall to us which will be an all-time boring selection and not really advance the team anywhere. I assume he ends up serviceable but I don't see star potential.

[dohboy_24]

To me thats kinda dumb though as well because every player is different.....Just because they play maybe a sim style does not mean they will be the same level of player as the other.....You could say the same thing about anyone we draft at 9....If we draft a big at 9 there could be sim style of bigs in the 2nd....Same if we draft a wing....There could be just as good wings in the 2nd round.....Dumb logic to me...You just draft who you think will be the best pick at 9 ....If Masai thinks it could be Jase....Why not draft him?...

Also Pettiford is not better than Jase...But anyways hes prolly going late first early 2nd prolly can't get him at 39 anyways...Even though that take is a lil bad that you shouldn't draft a player because a player in the 2nd round could be avail i don't think any Gms draft that way ever...

The difference is: The talent gap between the prospects at other positions is arguably much greater than the gap between Jase and Tahaad so I wouldn't hedge my bets that I could get a similarly skilled prospect 30 picks later as I would with Jase at #9.

If you miss out on Jase, there's still a pretty good chance you can grab a similarly talented guard like Tahaad Pettiford, Labaron Philon, Ben Saraf, or Walter Clayton Jr at the top of the second round.

Khaman is projected to go in the top 10. The talent gap between him and other Cs like Maxime Raynaud, Ryan Kalkbreener, Johnni Broome, Hansen Yang, Alex Condon, and Rocco Zikarsky who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad.

If you miss out on Maluach, the likelihood you can grab a similarly talented C at the top of the second round isn't very good.

Same goes with Derik Queen and the talent gap between him and those same players. It is much greater than the gap between Jase and Tahaad so if you miss out on DQ, the chance you can grab a similarly talented C at the top of the second round isn't very likely.

Tre Johnson is projected to go in the top 10. The talent gap between him and other SGs like Chaz Lanier, Drake Powell, Miles Byrd, Sion James, and Koby Brea who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad. If you miss out on Tre Johnson, the chance you can grab a similarly talented SG at the top of the second round isn't very likely.

Kon Knueppel is projected to go in the top 10. The gap between him and other SFs like Noah Penda, Adou Thiero, Alex Toohey, Darrion Williams, Sion James, Karter Knox and Dink Pate who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad.

If you miss out on Kon, the only prospect you could find at the top of the second round who doesn't have as wide of a gap between himself and Kon is Hugo Gonzalez.

[dohboy_24]

This all stresses me out. Two teams ahead of us looking at PGs. It just makes it more likely we have Maluach fall to us which will be an all-time boring selection and not really advance the team anywhere. I assume he ends up serviceable but I don't see star potential.

We already have Scottie, BI3, RJ, and IQ as the top players on our team with the most star potential. Why does the player we select at #9 need to have the same or similar level of star potential as they do for that prospects selection at #9 to be a good one for the long-term success of the team?

[TNRaps4life]

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This all stresses me out. Two teams ahead of us looking at PGs. It just makes it more likely we have Maluach fall to us which will be an all-time boring selection and not really advance the team anywhere. I assume he ends up serviceable but I don't see star potential.

I like it. I want Maluach at 9 or Noa Essengue.

[dohboy_24]

I was not a fan of Dillingham because he measured 164 lbs which is below the acceptable weight for an NBA player. It becomes impossible to attack the paint or defend when players in your position are 40-50 lbs heavier than you.

AI was the bravest/craziest small guard in the history of the NBA. Love him to this day and recognize him as an outlier. You need a little more beef if you want to compete in the modern NBA. The other guys you reference are not who I would build around either (sigh TJ Ford). Maybe the closest modern example is Trae Young but you can see the cap on how far his team's go.

The guards I mentioned where able to attack the paint despite most players being 40 lbs heavier than them. Whether they're good enough to build around or even guard anyone on the floor other than the opposing PG is an entirely different conversation...

[DreamTeam09]

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This all stresses me out. Two teams ahead of us looking at PGs. It just makes it more likely we have Maluach fall to us which will be an all-time boring selection and not really advance the team anywhere. I assume he ends up serviceable but I don't see star potential.

I like it. I want Maluach at 9 or Noa Essengue.

I'm locked into those two as well as my selections. I like Flemming and Ego as well after those 2

[Dalek]

AI was the bravest/craziest small guard in the history of the NBA. Love him to this day and recognize him as an outlier. You need a little more beef if you want to compete in the modern NBA. The other guys you reference are not who I would build around either (sigh TJ Ford). Maybe the closest modern example is Trae Young but you can see the cap on how far his team's go.

The guards I mentioned where able to attack the paint despite most players being 40 lbs heavier than them. Whether they're good enough to build around or even guard anyone on the floor other than the opposing PG is an entirely different conversation...

I don't want to bother digging up details on their paint finishing but we know from TJ Ford firsthand and to lessor extent with Schroeder that they were not good at the rim finishers.

[canada_dry]

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This all stresses me out. Two teams ahead of us looking at PGs. It just makes it more likely we have Maluach fall to us which will be an all-time boring selection and not really advance the team anywhere. I assume he ends up serviceable but I don't see star potential.

Idk bro. All I've heard from a couple users is maluach most likely won't be available at 9th and they'd repeat that again and again since the lottery to anyone that would listen. They seemed so sure!

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[GIZMO]

I wouldn't be happy coming out of this draft with a 6' PG/SG. I think we need more size on the team not get smaller.
If Jase is the consensus pick at 9, then I'd look at trading down and get an asset in return.

[Dalek]

This all stresses me out. Two teams ahead of us looking at PGs. It just makes it more likely we have Maluach fall to us which will be an all-time boring selection and not really advance the team anywhere. I assume he ends up serviceable but I don't see star potential.

We already have Scottie, BI3, RJ, and IQ as the top players on our team with the most star potential. Why does the player we select at #9 need to have the same or similar level of star potential as they do for that prospects selection at #9 to be a good one for the long-term success of the team?

I don't think any of them outside BI have star potential and he is a bit broken. We should be in talent acquisition mode not filling out around the edges. This was a 30 win team that was a poor three point shooting team overall.

I think we have to draft based on talent and culture fit and I see something in Jase that I don't see in KM. It's feel for the game and poise that shows for him, while KM it's mainly his size that people love. If he had better feel for the game he might be number 2 in the draft.

Conversely if Jase had two more inches he might be top 3 but at 9 he is great value.

[OhCanada]

To me thats kinda dumb though as well because every player is different.....Just because they play maybe a sim style does not mean they will be the same level of player as the other.....You could say the same thing about anyone we draft at 9....If we draft a big at 9 there could be sim style of bigs in the 2nd....Same if we draft a wing....There could be just as good wings in the 2nd round.....Dumb logic to me...You just draft who you think will be the best pick at 9 ....If Masai thinks it could be Jase....Why not draft him?...

Also Pettiford is not better than Jase...But anyways hes prolly going late first early 2nd prolly can't get him at 39 anyways...Even though that take is a lil bad that you shouldn't draft a player because a player in the 2nd round could be avail i don't think any Gms draft that way ever...

The difference is: The talent gap between the prospects at other positions is arguably much greater than the gap between Jase and Tahaad so I wouldn't hedge my bets that I could get a similarly skilled prospect 30 picks later as I would with Jase at #9.

If you miss out on Jase, there's still a pretty good chance you can grab a similarly talented guard like Tahaad Pettiford, Labaron Philon, Ben Saraf, or Walter Clayton Jr at the top of the second round.

Khaman is projected to go in the top 10. The talent gap between him and other Cs like Maxime Raynaud, Ryan Kalkbreener, Johnni Broome, Hansen Yang, Alex Condon, and Rocco Zikarsky who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad.

If you miss out on Maluach, the likelihood you can grab a similarly talented C at the top of the second round isn't very good.

Same goes with Derik Queen and the talent gap between him and those same players. It is much greater than the gap between Jase and Tahaad so if you miss out on DQ, the chance you can grab a similarly talented C at the top of the second round isn't very likely.

Tre Johnson is projected to go in the top 10. The talent gap between him and other SGs like Chaz Lanier, Drake Powell, Miles Byrd, Sion James, and Koby Brea who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad. If you miss out on Tre Johnson, the chance you can grab a similarly talented SG at the top of the second round isn't very likely.

Kon Knueppel is projected to go in the top 10. The gap between him and other SFs like Noah Penda, Adou Thiero, Alex Toohey, Darrion Williams, Sion James, Karter Knox and Dink Pate who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad.

If you miss out on Kon, the only prospect you could find at the top of the second round who doesn't have as wide of a gap between himself and Kon is Hugo Gonzalez.

I disagree with just about everything you said here. Heres what I can offer you. The assumed "talent gap" you keep proposing is more of a consensus opinion on these players projected impact in the NBA. So my point is we currently do not know how any of these players will do in the NBA, especially the bigs. Everybody's opinion is different.

Personally I have Raynuad going 14th to the Spurs. Hansen Yang probably goes 1st round as well. And you wanna talk about "talent" Kalkbrenner is a 4x Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East, he only missed 5 of his 143 games in the past 4 seasons and has a 2 to 1 block to foul ratio with only 1.4 fouls playing 35 minutes per game. So he plays the entire game and doesn't even average 2 fouls yet still managed to be the defensive player of the conference 4 times. Look I'm a supporter of Maluach and actually hope we draft him but in reality Khaman Maluach is not that good and he might never be.

So as far as talent gaps go and whos available at 39, listen I doubt any of those guys are available at 39 and the "skill gap" between Maluach and Kalkbrenner, Yang, Raynaud and Broome is 100% not in Maluach's favor.

And your assuming that Pettiford has already been selected in the 2nd round and Richardson in the lottery. I agree there is no talent gap between those two, but don't assume Pettiford isn't gonna be picked top 20 just because the mock drafts arent saying that. If your able to tell the talent gap is very small between those two you can also probably tell he wont fall to the 2nd round.

[Yallbecrazy]

To me thats kinda dumb though as well because every player is different.....Just because they play maybe a sim style does not mean they will be the same level of player as the other.....You could say the same thing about anyone we draft at 9....If we draft a big at 9 there could be sim style of bigs in the 2nd....Same if we draft a wing....There could be just as good wings in the 2nd round.....Dumb logic to me...You just draft who you think will be the best pick at 9 ....If Masai thinks it could be Jase....Why not draft him?...

Also Pettiford is not better than Jase...But anyways hes prolly going late first early 2nd prolly can't get him at 39 anyways...Even though that take is a lil bad that you shouldn't draft a player because a player in the 2nd round could be avail i don't think any Gms draft that way ever...

The difference is: The talent gap between the prospects at other positions is arguably much greater than the gap between Jase and Tahaad so I wouldn't hedge my bets that I could get a similarly skilled prospect 30 picks later as I would with Jase at #9.

If you miss out on Jase, there's still a pretty good chance you can grab a similarly talented guard like Tahaad Pettiford, Labaron Philon, Ben Saraf, or Walter Clayton Jr at the top of the second round.

Khaman is projected to go in the top 10. The talent gap between him and other Cs like Maxime Raynaud, Ryan Kalkbreener, Johnni Broome, Hansen Yang, Alex Condon, and Rocco Zikarsky who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad.

If you miss out on Maluach, the likelihood you can grab a similarly talented C at the top of the second round isn't very good.

Same goes with Derik Queen and the talent gap between him and those same players. It is much greater than the gap between Jase and Tahaad so if you miss out on DQ, the chance you can grab a similarly talented C at the top of the second round isn't very likely.

Tre Johnson is projected to go in the top 10. The talent gap between him and other SGs like Chaz Lanier, Drake Powell, Miles Byrd, Sion James, and Koby Brea who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad. If you miss out on Tre Johnson, the chance you can grab a similarly talented SG at the top of the second round isn't very likely.

Kon Knueppel is projected to go in the top 10. The gap between him and other SFs like Noah Penda, Adou Thiero, Alex Toohey, Darrion Williams, Sion James, Karter Knox and Dink Pate who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad.

If you miss out on Kon, the only prospect you could find at the top of the second round who doesn't have as wide of a gap between himself and Kon is Hugo Gonzalez.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have Condon ahead of Queen and Maluach.

[Yallbecrazy]

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This all stresses me out. Two teams ahead of us looking at PGs. It just makes it more likely we have Maluach fall to us which will be an all-time boring selection and not really advance the team anywhere. I assume he ends up serviceable but I don't see star potential.

Idk bro. All I've heard from a couple users is maluach most likely won't be available at 9th and they'd repeat that again and again since the lottery to anyone that would listen. They seemed so sure!

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

We should then swap with the Pelicans to screw over the Wizards.

[Psubs]

To me thats kinda dumb though as well because every player is different.....Just because they play maybe a sim style does not mean they will be the same level of player as the other.....You could say the same thing about anyone we draft at 9....If we draft a big at 9 there could be sim style of bigs in the 2nd....Same if we draft a wing....There could be just as good wings in the 2nd round.....Dumb logic to me...You just draft who you think will be the best pick at 9 ....If Masai thinks it could be Jase....Why not draft him?...

Also Pettiford is not better than Jase...But anyways hes prolly going late first early 2nd prolly can't get him at 39 anyways...Even though that take is a lil bad that you shouldn't draft a player because a player in the 2nd round could be avail i don't think any Gms draft that way ever...

The difference is: The talent gap between the prospects at other positions is arguably much greater than the gap between Jase and Tahaad so I wouldn't hedge my bets that I could get a similarly skilled prospect 30 picks later as I would with Jase at #9.

If you miss out on Jase, there's still a pretty good chance you can grab a similarly talented guard like Tahaad Pettiford, Labaron Philon, Ben Saraf, or Walter Clayton Jr at the top of the second round.

Khaman is projected to go in the top 10. The talent gap between him and other Cs like Maxime Raynaud, Ryan Kalkbreener, Johnni Broome, Hansen Yang, Alex Condon, and Rocco Zikarsky who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad.

If you miss out on Maluach, the likelihood you can grab a similarly talented C at the top of the second round isn't very good.

Same goes with Derik Queen and the talent gap between him and those same players. It is much greater than the gap between Jase and Tahaad so if you miss out on DQ, the chance you can grab a similarly talented C at the top of the second round isn't very likely.

Tre Johnson is projected to go in the top 10. The talent gap between him and other SGs like Chaz Lanier, Drake Powell, Miles Byrd, Sion James, and Koby Brea who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad. If you miss out on Tre Johnson, the chance you can grab a similarly talented SG at the top of the second round isn't very likely.

Kon Knueppel is projected to go in the top 10. The gap between him and other SFs like Noah Penda, Adou Thiero, Alex Toohey, Darrion Williams, Sion James, Karter Knox and Dink Pate who might be available at #39 is much larger than the gap between Jase and Tahaad.

If you miss out on Kon, the only prospect you could find at the top of the second round who doesn't have as wide of a gap between himself and Kon is Hugo Gonzalez.

I disagree with just about everything you said here. Heres what I can offer you. The assumed "talent gap" you keep proposing is more of a consensus opinion on these players projected impact in the NBA. So my point is we currently do not know how any of these players will do in the NBA, especially the bigs. Everybody's opinion is different.

Personally I have Raynuad going 14th to the Spurs. Hansen Yang probably goes 1st round as well. And you wanna talk about "talent" Kalkbrenner is a 4x Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East, he only missed 5 of his 143 games in the past 4 seasons and has a 2 to 1 block to foul ratio with only 1.4 fouls playing 35 minutes per game. So he plays the entire game and doesn't even average 2 fouls yet still managed to be the defensive player of the conference 4 times. Look I'm a supporter of Maluach and actually hope we draft him but in reality Khaman Maluach is not that good and he might never be.

So as far as talent gaps go and whos available at 39, listen I doubt any of those guys are available at 39 and the "skill gap" between Maluach and Kalkbrenner, Yang, Raynaud and Broome is 100% not in Maluach's favor.

And your assuming that Pettiford has already been selected in the 2nd round and Richardson in the lottery. I agree there is no talent gap between those two, but don't assume Pettiford isn't gonna be picked top 20 just because the mock drafts arent saying that. If your able to tell the talent gap is very small between those two you can also probably tell he wont fall to the 2nd round.

I agree.

Pre-season Maluach was in a battle for #1 with Flagg. As they played games, Maluach dropped to top 5 then top 10 only.

I will say it again, if the big isn't good enough to be a top 5 pick then you might as well get a C in the late teens or 20's. GS got post in the late 2nd round. Raptors got Chomche at the end of the 2nd.

[Rapsfan07]

I understand the logic in getting a supreme defender/high bpm guy and then hoping they could shoot but man that's tough for this team. How are you going to play Scottie, Ingram, CMB, Poeltl together?

I don't know about you guys but for me I'm hoping #9 is at least a starter within 2-3 years. It's fine if its a super role player ceiling but I at least want a starter here.

And I get the premise of BPA, but I dont know how to measure CMB. The lack of size and shot is worrisome when you think long term for this club.

If you guys think Mogbo had trouble scoring last year, CMB will be right there with him and we just drafted Mogbo.

CMB just doesn't make any sense on multiple levels and I've given up trying to understand why people want him.

[dohboy_24]

I don't want to bother digging up details on their paint finishing but we know from TJ Ford firsthand and to lessor extent with Schroeder that they were not good at the rim finishers.

Your original comment did not say anything about their ability to finish in the paint.

While the ability to attack the paint and the ability to finish at the rim are not one and the same, it feels like the goal posts keep getting moved to validate your statement rather than admit being less than 165 lbs can be an acceptable weight for an NBA player.

I would agree it's still the exception rather than the norm and would prefer such prospects added another 10-15 pounds, it's not impossible or improbable for players weighing less than 165 lbs to be successful in the NBA.

[MEDIC]

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This is such a weird draft. Guys like this coming out of the woodwork. What makes KM better than him? Just the fact that he played at Duke & everyone knows his name?

I think there is going to be a a couple of international players picked outside the top 10 that show out in the NBA. They will be slept on because of all of the NCAA kids that have been hyped up all season in this "strong draft".

One of the more interesting drafts I have ever seen.

[Psubs]

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This is such a weird draft. Guys like this coming out of the woodwork. What makes KM better than him? Just the fact that he played at Duke & everyone knows his name?

I think there is going to be a a couple of international players picked outside the top 10 that show out in the NBA. They will be slept on because of all of the NCAA kids that have been hyped up all season in this "strong draft".

One of the more interesting drafts I have ever seen.

Ya, like Markovic may be a taller Nikola Jovic. Ooooh, he's like a shorter Zvonimir but is quicker and has the handles of a SF. He has a slow but effective crossover for use against bigs. Has a hesi too. He can already hit the Euro 3 at 37%.

Maybe he's a taller Matas Buzelis?

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I can see Utah trading #5 for #8 and #19.

#8 Kon Knueppel or if gone, then Egor Demin
#19 Danny Wolf
#21 Bogoljub Markovic

[Basketball_Jones]

Fears seems like such a Brooklyn Nets type of player lol. He’s not going past them.

[RoteSchroder]

Case for Essengue:

1. "Raw" and young 18 year old. 2nd youngest in the draft.
2. 9'3 standing reach
3. 12.4 PPG on 65.9 2FG% / 29.4 3PT% in Eurocup
4. 10.1 PPG on 61.9 2FG% / 23.9 3PT% in German-BBL
5. 3P% improved from 8.3% (U18) to ~20's%
6. Very high FT rate
7. Has some mid-range shooting ability and off-the-dribble mid-range shooting ability (though not used in volume and I'm guessing he's probably not efficient from there yet)
8. Strong off-ball IQ on O, excellent cutter and play finisher
9. Strong motor
10. >90th percentile in winshares, performance index rating and some defensive analytics

Downside: Still raw. Has shown flashes on defense and has versatility, but still needs to improve there. Not a good self-shot creator at the moment. Much better in transition than half court.

If you look at the stats from other international projects, guys like Salaun/Rayan Rupert were shooting like mid-30%'s from the field. Essengue is a project who already has strong on-court production.