NBA Draft Discussion Part 10

[billy_hoyle]

If we want a situational big, I would be looking at Zikarsky. He's massive and looks physical/gritty.

Regression this year from a projected lottery pick, but maybe there's some unknown reason for that.

As always, I trust the front office.

It would be nice to have a backup C with actual C size.

[raptor jesus]

I'm galaxy-braining this one, but I remember Darko praising Bane, saying he was one of the best players he's coached. Lanier has some Bane in him with his ability to shoot on the move. I predict Lanier is the pick.

[Thaddy]

If we want a situational big, I would be looking at Zikarsky. He's massive and looks physical/gritty.

Regression this year from a projected lottery pick, but maybe there's some unknown reason for that.

As always, I trust the front office.

It would be nice to have a backup C with actual C size.

We need size and skill. Rocco isn't that. The ideal pick would be Fleming if he's there. If not I'd go with Kalkbrenner. We have a lot of defense that isn't from the 5 so we could take a hit on our 5 man's defense as long as there's consistency from range.

[billy_hoyle]

If we want a situational big, I would be looking at Zikarsky. He's massive and looks physical/gritty.

Regression this year from a projected lottery pick, but maybe there's some unknown reason for that.

As always, I trust the front office.

It would be nice to have a backup C with actual C size.

We need size and skill. Rocco isn't that. The ideal pick would be Fleming if he's there. If not I'd go with Kalkbrenner. We have a lot of defense that isn't from the 5 so we could take a hit on our 5 man's defense as long as there's consistency from range.

I'm all for size and skill. Are those guys expected to be available at 39?

[LoveMyRaps]

I'm galaxy-braining this one, but I remember Darko praising Bane, saying he was one of the best players he's coached. Lanier has some Bane in him with his ability to shoot on the move. I predict Lanier is the pick.

I want it to be a big but I can easily see it being Thiero or Proctor.

[LoveMyRaps]

Raynaud is who we need.

[WuTang_CMB]

As Tom Petty once said, “The waiting is the hardest part.”

That’s never more true than on draft night. With five minutes between picks and, often, not a whole lot to do in between them, it can be torture for executives who are fixated on a particular player.

And it can cause ruinously short-term thinking, as well. Value propositions a team would never, ever even consider in the cold calculus of a mid-April mock draft start looking more reasonable when teams have done interviews and workouts and built up a certain target as that guy, the one they must have. That’s even when they know what history says about drafts and trading up, and that every other team that has done it has also thought they were getting that guy.

Once in a while, they’re right: The 2018 draft saw trade-ups for Luka Dončić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, for instance. Often, however, they’re disastrously wrong, and incredibly expensive to boot. Teams paying with a present or future first to move up a few spots outside the lottery is an incredibly poor allocation of scarce assets.

Which takes us to the 2025 draft, and the standout takeaway from it: The incredible price a few teams were willing to pay just to move up a few picks.

What You Should Read Next
Analysis, fits for every NBA Draft pick from John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie
Analysis, fits for every NBA Draft pick from John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie
From Cooper Flagg to the end of the second round, our experts will break down every draft pick as it happens.
The most obvious and notable one, which had execs around the league already chortling in the moments after the draft, was New Orleans’ decision to trade a 2026 “superfirst” to the Hawks to move up from 23 to 13 on draft night and select Maryland big man Derik Queen.

This followed the decision to trade a top-four protected 2026 Pacers pick to grab the 23rd pick this year while Indiana was still playing games, an already iffy decision that looked spectacularly worse once Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles in Game 7.

But the Queen trade was on a completely different level, and the talk of the league. For instance, I texted one exec from another team not involved in the deal after the draft, congratulating him on what I thought was a solid move by his club.

The reply: “Thanks, but I’d rather be the team that traded Derik Queen for AJ Dybantsa.”

The pick New Orleans sent to Atlanta is a so-called “superfirst” because it is completely unprotected, and it is the better of either Milwaukee’s pick or the Pelicans’. In other words, the Hawks have a strong chance of generating a high lottery pick out of this, because A) the Pelicans are the Pelicans, B) Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard tore his Achilles, and C) only one of the two teams needs to be bad for the Hawks to reap a huge payoff.

Set aside the wobbly logic of the Pelicans falling into this thirst trap because they wanted Queen at No. 13, and think of how awful this asset management is. New Orleans could have protected this pick, for starters; in a similar deal with the Hawks a year ago, they protected an outbound pick Nos. 1 through 4.

Also, um … can we set the bar a little higher than 13 here? Execs I talked to thought New Orleans could have moved up much higher than 13th if they had made that pick more widely available, perhaps even into the top 5.

The Pels also could have just offered a different pick, perhaps coming to Atlanta, dangling a lightly protected future pick like a normal team, probably in 2028 or 2030.

Instead, they recklessly chased a guy who wasn’t good enough for them to take at seven, but still somehow warranted sending out both the 23rd pick and a likely future lottery pick to take at 13. In doing so, by the way, New Orleans took its ability to tank next season off the table … bold stuff from a team that won 21 games a year ago and, though not without talent, still looks like a complete mess.

This takes us, inevitably, to larger questions about the Pelicans. After their postseason non-search for a new GM led them to Joe Dumars, and only Joe Dumars, the stories leaking out of New Orleans already are generating smirks around the league. They have a coach none of the players like, that they somehow can’t fire, a star player nobody wants around but they can’t get rid of, and, as the last 48 hours showed, a new front office throwing spaghetti at the wall.

One of the giant mysteries of Dumars’ already, um … interesting … tenure is that the Pelicans have seemingly gone all-in on the Troy Weaver Experience despite the four years of ruin it brought to Detroit. (Ironically, it took the arrival of former Pelicans executive Trajan Langdon to pull that franchise out of the ditch.)

While Dumars is in charge, sources say he’s leaned heavily on Weaver, along with some of the other ex-Detroit staffers Dumars recently hired, to run things — especially the draft. Just in the last three days, the Pels traded for Jordan Poole, who was with Weaver in Washington. They traded for Saddiq Bey, whom Weaver drafted in Detroit and then had again in Washington last season. And, in Wednesday’s trade for Queen, they brought in a big guy from the Maryland-D.C. area, combining the two go-to defaults for virtually every decision Weaver made in Detroit.

The trade for Yang was the biggest surprise of an evening filled with more shock from trades than from draft picks.
Look, maybe Queen becomes a player. But the process here is awful. The odds of him being better than the guy the Hawks get next year aren’t great, and with two potential stars at the top of the draft (Dybantsa and Kansas commit Darryn Peterson), the differential could be spectacular. Meanwhile, Atlanta still got a big man at 23 (Asa Newell) who might match Queen, too.

OK, enough about the Pels. They’re not alone. Memphis raised eyebrows when it once again traded up on draft night, this time surrendering a future unprotected first from Orlando in 2028 and two seconds just to move up five spots from 16 to 11 and select Cedric Coward. In doing so, Grizzlies spent two of the four picks they got from the Magic in the Desmond Bane trade.

Yes, they acquired those picks to trade, not wait until 2028 draft night, but think of the opportunity cost of other future moves that could have been made with the same picks. Does the difference between Coward and the guy they would get at 16, just five picks later, really offset those?

Similarly, Utah paid to move up just three spots with Washington from No. 21 to 18 and select a player who may very well have lasted ’til pick 21, surrendering three seconds (the 43rd pick in Thursday’s second round, and seconds in 2031 and 2032). While this wasn’t as expensive as some recent move-up trades (such as teams trading two picks in the 20s just to move up into the late teens), you wouldn’t say they got great value either.

In fact, trade-ups virtually always involve a pretty hefty overpay from what would nominally be “fair,” because the other team is just as caught up in hot, sweaty panting over the next guy on the draft board.

I wrote earlier this year that patience is the most important attribute for NBA front offices, and Wednesday’s first round was another great example. Organizations that can’t pass the marshmallow test rarely build themselves to a point of contending, because they’re continually stepping on rakes as they chase shiny objects. A year from now, Atlanta will reap the reward of their draft night patience, and New Orleans will wonder what might have

[Yeezus_]

Have people who are clamouring for fleming actually watched him play a full game? This board would turn on him so fast with his lack of awareness and basketball iq

People for some reason want to give up Ochai, who’s become a really good 3&d player for Fleming. Its wild and makes absolutely no sense. The likelihood Fleming becomes close to the level of player Ochai is unlikely.

Ochai is due for an increase in pay. We can only afford so many players.

Yeah Masai and Bobby will figure that out but trading him for second rounders like Fleming make zero sense.

[Bruin]

Anyone have a list of the guys left that have worked out/interviewed with the Raptors?

[WuTang_CMB]

Thiero we wouldnt pass on

39. Toronto Raptors (via Portland)
Alijah Martin | 6-2 guard | 23 years old | Florida
Martin is a monster on the court, an athletic freak who plays with serious power and explosiveness while also letting his motor run at 100 percent all the time. He’s one of the best perimeter defenders in the class and is tough and physical at the point of attack while also providing a weakside rim-protection presence. Offensively, Martin is a bit small for someone who isn’t a lead guard, but he’s hit 36 percent of his 3s over his college career, and teams are interested in him as a defensive stopper.

40. New Orleans Pelicans (via Phoenix)
Adou Thiero | 6-6 wing | 21 years old | Arkansas
I don’t know what the Pelicans are doing, but if the Troy Weaver experience has taught us one thing, it’s that shooting is optional. Thiero is a monster athlete and a tremendous defender who creates serious force on the rim in transition. But he’s a non-shooter, and teams are worried about him being able to consistently provide value on offense. Thiero is in my top-five remaining players, though, so I would approve of this.

41. Golden State Warriors (via Miami)
Koby Brea | 6-6 wing | 23 years old | Kentucky
Brea is this class’ best shooter off the catch, having drilled 45 percent of his nearly six 3-point attempts per game over the last two years. He is a historically relevant shooter. Having said that, Brea is also not quite at the level of most other NBA skills at this point. He’ll need to work on his defensive ability to stick in the NBA.

[PhilBlackson]

Praying we can and DO lol draft one of Raynaud or Kalkbrenner tonight or I'm just not liking how we seem to lack a clear vision/roster that makes sense.

[WuTang_CMB]

Anyone have a list of the guys left that have worked out/interviewed with the Raptors?

https://hoopshype.com/lists/2025-nba-draft-workout-tracker-where-are-prospects-working-out/

[ishoy123]

If we want a situational big, I would be looking at Zikarsky. He's massive and looks physical/gritty.

Regression this year from a projected lottery pick, but maybe there's some unknown reason for that.

As always, I trust the front office.

It would be nice to have a backup C with actual C size.

We need size and skill. Rocco isn't that. The ideal pick would be Fleming if he's there. If not I'd go with Kalkbrenner. We have a lot of defense that isn't from the 5 so we could take a hit on our 5 man's defense as long as there's consistency from range.

I'm all for size and skill. Are those guys expected to be available at 39?

It's gonna be someone that no one expected. Don't remember a single time when Masai took a "consensus" guy in the late first, or second.

[pharring]

Just don't waste the 2nd round pick.

Not saying there was gold taken after each of these guys, but I don't want to see another David Johnson, Jalen Harris, Dewan Hernandez, DeAndre Daniels, Uros Slokar... or some Euro-stash trash that was an intentional throw-away (Remon Van de Hare - where you at??). Do the deep dive homework and come up with someone that will make me check 905 box scores.

[pharring]

We need size and skill. Rocco isn't that. The ideal pick would be Fleming if he's there. If not I'd go with Kalkbrenner. We have a lot of defense that isn't from the 5 so we could take a hit on our 5 man's defense as long as there's consistency from range.

I'm all for size and skill. Are those guys expected to be available at 39?

It's gonna be someone that no one expected. Don't remember a single time when Masai took a "consensus" guy in the late first, or second.

Koloko was close. So was Mogbo. I think Masai is starting to assign value to 2nd round picks... not just letting the guy in the back row of the war room take a suprise turn at the com.

[BoyzNTheHood]

Praying we can and DO lol draft one of Raynaud or Kalkbrenner tonight or I'm just not liking how we seem to lack a clear vision/roster that makes sense.

Those two, Fleming and Thiero should be top 4 on our board.

[XTC]

Thiero we wouldnt pass on

39. Toronto Raptors (via Portland)
Alijah Martin | 6-2 guard | 23 years old | Florida
Martin is a monster on the court, an athletic freak who plays with serious power and explosiveness while also letting his motor run at 100 percent all the time. He’s one of the best perimeter defenders in the class and is tough and physical at the point of attack while also providing a weakside rim-protection presence. Offensively, Martin is a bit small for someone who isn’t a lead guard, but he’s hit 36 percent of his 3s over his college career, and teams are interested in him as a defensive stopper.

40. New Orleans Pelicans (via Phoenix)
Adou Thiero | 6-6 wing | 21 years old | Arkansas
I don’t know what the Pelicans are doing, but if the Troy Weaver experience has taught us one thing, it’s that shooting is optional. Thiero is a monster athlete and a tremendous defender who creates serious force on the rim in transition. But he’s a non-shooter, and teams are worried about him being able to consistently provide value on offense. Thiero is in my top-five remaining players, though, so I would approve of this.

41. Golden State Warriors (via Miami)
Koby Brea | 6-6 wing | 23 years old | Kentucky
Brea is this class’ best shooter off the catch, having drilled 45 percent of his nearly six 3-point attempts per game over the last two years. He is a historically relevant shooter. Having said that, Brea is also not quite at the level of most other NBA skills at this point. He’ll need to work on his defensive ability to stick in the NBA.

Thiero is a guy if he learns how to shoot, he could be Herb Jones 2.0

I really hope if hes there we dont pass on him.

[YoungG]

If we want a situational big, I would be looking at Zikarsky. He's massive and looks physical/gritty.

Regression this year from a projected lottery pick, but maybe there's some unknown reason for that.

As always, I trust the front office.

It would be nice to have a backup C with actual C size.

We need size and skill. Rocco isn't that. The ideal pick would be Fleming if he's there. If not I'd go with Kalkbrenner. We have a lot of defense that isn't from the 5 so we could take a hit on our 5 man's defense as long as there's consistency from range.

I'm high on Fleming and Kalkbrenner. For anyone that wanted Maluach, Kalkbrenner had similar or better measurements than Maluach, while also having better results for strength and agility;

Shuttle Run (seconds) - 3.10 vs 3.44.
3/4 Sprint (seconds) - 3.34 vs 3.50
Standing Vert Leap (Inches) - 24 vs 29
Max Vert (Inches) - 30 vs 33

An argument could be made that Kalkbrenner is a better fit because of his age (readiness) and his shooting potential (21/61 at 34.4% for threes in his last season vs Maluach who went 4/16 at 25% in his lone collegiate season).

[LoveMyRaps]

idk why but I'm always more excited about our second round selections than our first

[XTC]

Kam Jones
Amari Williams
Tyrese Proctor
Sion James
Adou Thiero
Ryan Kalkbrenner
Johni Broome

Id be happy with any of these guys at 39.