Senor Chang wrote:One thing people are glossing over with the giannis comps just as they did with the pwill/ kawhi comps is wingspan. Kawhi and giannis have 7’3” wingspans. These are significant in why they’re able to do a lot of what they do. While 6’11” and 7’0” wingspan is good it’s not freakish and kawhi/giannis have freakish wingspans. So let’s compare noa with guys who have wingspans on the same planet.
Also worth noting that if masai had any say in the draft this year for Toronto he decided to pass on essengue. Maybe it means he doesn’t believe his length is freakish enough to overcome some of his deficiencies.
Agreed although Noa has a 7' 1" wingspan, he's still quite long for a PF but not as generationally freakish like Giannis & Kawhi. I believe he also had some of the widest hands measured this year, wider than Maluach's. TBH I did not see any Giannis comps so I wonder if we're just beating on a straw man. I liked the Tayshaun Prince comp, the other "best case" comp was Siakam. I never saw a report or even opinion saying even best case here is an MVP.
Masai didn't have final say, this year, it was Webster. Everyone had Noa mocked to Toronto based on Masai having final call. Webster is definitely not working on project kids, he drafted one of the most NBA ready guys in CMB and double downed on keeping Poeltl for over $100M. I do think a lot of people thought that if Masai was in charge of the draft they would have taken either Noa or Maluach. Even CMB looked shocked the Raptors took him.
I do love wingspan, but it shouldn't be a driving factor. I'm sure wingspan is why Matas dropped and these prospects were drafted ahead of him:
Tidjuane Saluan: 7' 2"
Cody Williams: 7' 1"
Ron Holland: 6' 11"
Buzelis: 6' 10"
Everyone drafting a SF ahead of Buzelis that year blew that draft. Ainge fired his entire draft team over that 2024.
I don't think Noa was a pure, best physical attributes pick. I think that was Joan Beringer, 7' 5" wingspan with better athleticism/agility than Maluach. I think Noa had good physicals but AK also looks for intangibles like his cutting, off-ball movement, connective passing on plays, etc.. These are all the things that Matas had over everyone else even though his stats sucked and his measurements were not elite.