2025 Draft Thread - Part 2

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

One for CCJ.

Dude LOVES Queen at 6 (at the 3:40 mark).

Watch on YouTube

If you jigsaw and your puzzle is the Wizards roster, Queen seems like he could be a perfect fit.

A corner piece.

Thanks for the link! Keep hope (Queen to the Wizards) alive!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I dont understand the dislike of Tre or why so many people have him late lottery or lower. What am I missing? Best volume shooter in the draft. Can hit you off the bounce, or with a stepback, or a sidestep and then relocate, shoot on the move coming of screens/curls/pindowns. The man shoots equally well in all aspects and also excels from mid-range. He can read the floor and make correct decisions so he's capable of setting up others. The 6-11 1/2 wingspan tells you he can at least be a passable defender. 4th best player in the draft to me.

Look at all his non-shooting numbers overall: bad.
As to his shooting, both his FT% & 3pt.% are good, but his 2pt % is .44, & his overall EFG% 51.1% -- not good.

He may turn out great -- no doubt about it. But there's not enough in his actual performance that I could take a chance at 6.

Payitforward sums up my thoughts, also.

Tre Johnson is definitely going to be a scorer, maybe an elite one. However, is he a complete player and the best pick at 6?

Maybe.

I think Jase Richardson will be a better player.

[9 and 20]

Consensus seems to be that we should trade everyone on the team for a pick in this year's draft and that we need every pick from 6-15 to grab all these guys.

[TheBlackCzar]

Consensus seems to be that we should trade everyone on the team for a pick in this year's draft and that we need every pick from 6-15 to grab all these guys.

I think we should focus on Fears and Queen... We get our big and our lead guard in one draft and with room to add our PF in AJ or Nate Ament next draft or even Alijah Arenas .....

[closg00]

A new travel ban has been enacted for more African countries, I have abandoned any thought of drafting Maluach now

[Benjammin]

I'm riding and dying with Doc on Maluach.

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[closg00]

I'm riding and dying with Doc on Maluach.

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Doc nearly had me sold.

[Northwest Roddy]

I'm revisiting Jase Richardson. Most had written him off after he measured just 6'-0.5" in height at the combine, but it's worth noting that he has a 6'-6" wingspan, giving him the same exact standing reach as Jeremiah Fears. He is also the same exact age (18.68 on draft day).

Richardson is unusual in that he started out as a bench player until Izzo finally decided to start him halfway through the year. The moment he moved to the starting lineup, he became the offensive engine of that team.

Here is the Tankathon comparison of Richardson, Fears, and I included Harper for the heck of it. I added a 4th column using my elite photoshop skills to incorporate Richardson's per 36 numbers after becoming a starter.



A couple of observations:
- Richardson scored basically just as much as Harper and Fears, only much more efficiently and with an incredibly low turnover rate. Richardson didn't have much playmaking responsibility though.
- Richardson got to the line almost as much as the other guys
- Richardson is 9 months younger than Harper
- Richardson blows both guys away in advanced stats.

I really think Richardson deserves a second look here. The big thing is his utter lack of turnovers. It doesn't seem like much in a box score, but low turnovers are extremely important to winning basketball games.

Exactly.

Closg00 asked me to play Nostradamus.

tankathon led me to Jase Richardson (along with Dat2U's analysis)

All that and his dad was a very good NBA player.

I recall Jason Richardson working out in Hawaii at the Big Man Camp (2002) against players mostly over 6'9".

Playing for Coach Izzo, having a terrific work ethic, and a strong dad will make Jase a great pick.

I remember Nate saying last year that one of the highest correlations with success in the NBA was being the son of an NBA player. Hasn't worked out for Reed Sheppard yet, but seems to be another positive factor in Jase's favor. I'm hoping for Maluach and Richardson fwiw.

[DCZards]

A new travel ban has been enacted for more African countries, I have abandoned any thought of drafting Maluach now

The ban exempts athletes participating in the World Cup and “other major sporting events.” That might end up including Malauch and other NBA players.

[nate33]

A new travel ban has been enacted for more African countries, I have abandoned any thought of drafting Maluach now

The ban exempts athletes participating in the World Cup and “other major sporting events.” That might end up including Malauch and other NBA players.

It almost surely will exempt them. Politicians are evil, not stupid. People care a lot more about sports than minutia on foreign policy. They will surely exempt athletes to keep their sport-watching constituents happy.

[nate33]

I have Jase Richardson firmly above Jeremiah Fears on my board. At #6, I'm fine if they choose to go big (Maluach) or high upside (Essengue) or even a can't-miss role player (Bryant), but if they draft a shot-creating guard, I want Richardson, not Fears.

[The Consiglieri]

Who is your pick for player that will have a greater impact for draft position 5 years from now? It would be fair to wait until the end of the next season, but if you really want to be Nostradamus

Neither Fears nor Johnson are worth the hype.

Jase Richardson will be far better than Fears or Tre. He's got the bloodlines and the grit from Michigan State.

Kon Knueppel will be a solid starterstar in 5 years.

Cameron Murray-Boyles will be a tremendous defender.

Rasheer Fleming will be the if the draft.

Nique Clifford is worth a mid first despite his age. I can't see him not being a Derrick White.

Kameron Jones will start early in his career.

Cedric Coward has FUTURE ALL STAR numbers. Relative to where he's mocked he would be a tremendous pick.

There you are: Jase Richardson and Cedric Coward.

I dont understand the dislike of Tre or why so many people have him late lottery or lower. What am I missing? Best volume shooter in the draft. Can hit you off the bounce, or with a stepback, or a sidestep and then relocate, shoot on the move coming of screens/curls/pindowns. The man shoots equally well in all aspects and also excels from mid-range. He can read the floor and make correct decisions so he's capable of setting up others. The 6-11 1/2 wingspan tells you he can at least be a passable defender. 4th best player in the draft to me.

Every single critique I've seen of him by the scouting/media side of the internet is on his actual defending, rather than his potential, and on his disinterest with driving into the lane/layups, yarda yada, basically, a sense that he's defensively disinterested and similarly challenged as Bub is in terms of driving to the hoop. That's the critique. Summed up. I think people pretty consistently compliment the rest of his game. I've also gotten the vague sense, w/o it being spoken specifically, that people may not like his BBIQ, but I may just be reading into subtext in write ups that isn't really there.

I will definitely add one other thing that nobody mentions as a positive, like Flagg, Ace, and Harper, Tre was consensus top 4-5 on pretty much ALL recruiting boards based upon what college scouts were seeing at the high school level from him circa '22-'24, so he's not just good in the college sense, his body of work in high school had him right there with Ace, and Harper, I think neck and neck with high school harper, and a bit behind Ace and Flagg.

So he's definitely been regarded as a stud for YEARS plural, he's not a fast riser like some guys, he's got multiple years of impressive work, which makes the write ups in season so odd (apparently lots of scouts really liked him, and lots of scouts really, really, really didn't like him). When I hear a breakdown like that, pre-combine, the sense I get is the like people are focused on what he can do, and projecting growth in area's of concern, and the people negging him are saying: college underlined his weaknesses, rather than disabused concerns over them.

[closg00]

A new travel ban has been enacted for more African countries, I have abandoned any thought of drafting Maluach now

The ban exempts athletes participating in the World Cup and “other major sporting events.” That might end up including Malauch and other NBA players.

The context is that is that Maluach is a South Sudan national on a student Visa, he cannot leave and re-enter the U.S., and he is already out of status as a student. I don’t see how there can be a crackdown on Visas to people from African countries, while allowing an exemption for Malauch, that’s what we’re talking about, Maluach is currently a visa overstayer and can be tossed out at any time to be made an example out of.

[The Consiglieri]

A new travel ban has been enacted for more African countries, I have abandoned any thought of drafting Maluach now

All the better for the multi-year Tank to '27!!

[NatP4]

I have Jase Richardson firmly above Jeremiah Fears on my board. At #6, I'm fine if they choose to go big (Maluach) or high upside (Essengue) or even a can't-miss role player (Bryant), but if they draft a shot-creating guard, I want Richardson, not Fears.

Where are you at with the size stuff?

[doclinkin]

Politicians are evil, not stupid.

Oh hey, you're halfway there. It was good to read that.

That said in the case of Khaman though, while this admin likes to make big reckless messes in foreign policy (and economics etc) they reliably look for ways to line their pockets. Maluach is answering questions as diplomatically as you could expect, saying none of that is up to him, he leaves that question to his agents. As for his agents, reprehensible as it may be, as long as the media does not make a big public mess about it, all his agents will have to do is buy a big chunk of Trump coin or donate to the right fund and an exception will be made. As cited above, with the carve out for sporting events.

Sick that this is even an issue. Some teams may be scared away, but most understand that money talks. Maluach will still be drafted high. I only hoped we could trade back a spot or two to catch him. But there's enough buzz talking that he goes as high as 3 in some evaluations that I think if we want him we take him at 6.

[nate33]

I have Jase Richardson firmly above Jeremiah Fears on my board. At #6, I'm fine if they choose to go big (Maluach) or high upside (Essengue) or even a can't-miss role player (Bryant), but if they draft a shot-creating guard, I want Richardson, not Fears.

Where are you at with the size stuff?

He is definitely small enough to cause concern. But I like that he weighs as much as Fears despite being 2 inches shorter. It likely means he has a stronger base. And at age 18, I think he can build enough strength so that he might not be too much of a liability.

He has the wingspan and standing reach of Andrew Nembhard. (Nembhard was 15 pounds heavier when he was drafted, but he was age 22 by then. I think Jase can put on 15 pounds of muscle in the next 4 years.) Nembhard is an excellent NBA defender, albeit not exactly switch-proof.

[doclinkin]

A new travel ban has been enacted for more African countries, I have abandoned any thought of drafting Maluach now

The ban exempts athletes participating in the World Cup and “other major sporting events.” That might end up including Malauch and other NBA players.

The context is that is that Maluach is a South Sudan national on a student Visa, he cannot leave and re-enter the U.S., and he is already out of status as a student. I don’t see how there can be a crackdown on Visas to people from African countries, while allowing an exemption for Malauch, that’s what we’re talking about, Maluach is currently a visa overstayer and can be tossed out at any time to be made an example out of.

Consistency and fairness are not a hallmark of this policy. So long as Maluach and his team say the right things and line the right pockets it won't be an issue. Now if Trump and the NBA get at odds with each other, then sure he will try to make an example of every possible foreign player. Or if China irks him publicly then bye bye to Hansen Yang. But if so he angers 30 billionaires. Not generally what he is trying to do. That's a lot of real estate deals that are off the table then.

[gesa2]

I can see the argument to not pick Fears at 6. But unless we think Richardson will be a Brunson level outlier as a 6 foot scoring guard I wouldn’t take him either. At 18 go for it, especially if we get a F or C at 6. He’d be the #1 target for every opposing offense in the playoffs, so he’d have to be a bench player when we are actually any good. I need a higher ceiling at 6.

[nate33]

I can see the argument to not pick Fears at 6. But unless we think Richardson will be a Brunson level outlier as a 6 foot scoring guard I wouldn’t take him either. At 18 go for it, especially if we get a F or C at 6. He’d be the #1 target for every opposing offense in the playoffs, so he’d have to be a bench player when we are actually any good. I need a higher ceiling at 6.

Yeah, this is a fair point.

My main thing is that Jase is better than Fears. I'd understand completely if they don't want to gamble a #6 pick on a diminutive PG.

That said, I don't think he needs Jalen Brunson tier success to be worth the pick. If he is merely as good as Darius Garland on offense with a bit more defensive ability, that's also a great pick. Garland went #4 after all.