2026 Draft Thread Part II

[nate33]

Continued from here:

[tontoz]

Acuff is finally sitting out with that ankle injury.

Mikel out too after aggravating his back.

[awolfinwater]

​I'm officially on the Boozer train and have moved him to #1 on my board. Offensively, he's just incredibly fluid.
​
When he draws a double team, he consistently makes the right skip pass, usually generating an open look from three. In single coverage, he demands the ball and is straight money in the post. That play against Veesar where he hit him with the drop step for the finish was beautiful.
​On top of all that, he is shooting 40%+ from deep on solid volume. He makes the right read every time he touches the ball, and off the ball, his screening and gravity are elite.
​
Watching his play against UNC just reminded me of Trae Young's first game. It was wonderfully odd to see our team consistently getting wide open 3 point shots simply because we had someone who could make the right pass. I would love to see us get more of those high percentage looks on offense that translate directly into wins.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Boozer is a much better prospect than Dybantsa.

AJ shoots wildly inconsistently from three-point range,
Cameron is an excellent three-point shooter.

Boozer is a plus plus positional rebounder with supreme hands.
Dybantsa is acrobatic with pedestrian rebounding skills.

Cameron Boozer processes phenomenally. His pocket passes are on point. He cuts backdoor and eats on layups and tip ins. He rarely nakes mistakes.

A.J. is an electrifying open-court finisher. He scores over defenses. He works outside in.

I am not worried about Boozer's athleticism. Throwbacks owned the game years ago, and they’re on the way back. Cameron isn't a bully ball player. He's nuanced.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[nate33]

Boozer is a much better prospect than Dybantsa.

AJ shoots wildly inconsistently from three-point range,
Cameron is an excellent three-point shooter.

Boozer is a plus plus positional rebounder with supreme hands.
Dybantsa is acrobatic with pedestrian rebounding skills.

Cameron Boozer processes phenomenally. His pocket passes are on point. He cuts backdoor and eats on layups and tip ins. He rarely nakes mistakes.

A.J. is an electrifying open-court finisher. He scores over defenses. He works outside in.

I am not worried about Boozer's athleticism. Throwbacks owned the game years ago, and they’re on the way back. Cameron isn't a bully ball player. He's nuanced.

Boozer is currently a much better player than Dybantsa.

That does not mean he is a much better prospect.

[nate33]

Watch on YouTube

It was real nice to see him be aggressive again. He went several games where he was very passive, as if he was dealing with an injury or something.

If the medicals check out, he is still the best prospect on the board. The game is so easy for him.

[tontoz]

Boozer looks better when Caleb isn't playing. Funny how that works.

A big that doesn't protect the rim and struggles to defend in space is a problem. Ask Houston how that is going with Sengun. Their coach Udoka was asked about Sengun getting targeted on D and he said 'it's been that way as long as I've been here.'

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Boozer is a much better prospect than Dybantsa.

AJ shoots wildly inconsistently from three-point range,
Cameron is an excellent three-point shooter.

Boozer is a plus plus positional rebounder with supreme hands.
Dybantsa is acrobatic with pedestrian rebounding skills.

Cameron Boozer processes phenomenally. His pocket passes are on point. He cuts backdoor and eats on layups and tip ins. He rarely nakes mistakes.

A.J. is an electrifying open-court finisher. He scores over defenses. He works outside in.

I am not worried about Boozer's athleticism. Throwbacks owned the game years ago, and they’re on the way back. Cameron isn't a bully ball player. He's nuanced.

Boozer is currently a much better player than Dybantsa.

That does not mean he is a much better prospect.

Nice! Who was the better prospect?
Emeka Okafor/Dwight Howard
Joe Smith&Rasheed Wallace/Kevin Garnett

Timeliness?
How many years did it take the prospect?
Toronto's Tracy McGrady <<<Orlando's
Rasheed or KG?

Boozer will be good a long, long time starting right away.

Dybantsa will be great in 3-5 years by his second contract and likely after his coach and GM are fired.

One other thing: nate33, Cameron Boozer could evolve and improve, also. His athleticism has a much lower ceiling, but he's nowhere near a grown assed man.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Boozer looks better when Caleb isn't playing. Funny how that works.

A big that doesn't protect the rim and struggles to defend in space is a problem. Ask Houston how that is going with Sengun. Their coach Udoka was asked about Sengun getting targeted on D and he said 'it's been that way as long as I've been here.'

No one was talking about Caleb.

(tontoz, you should recall why I responded like that)

How would I compare Wilson vs. Dybantsa?

[doclinkin]

Boozer looks better when Caleb isn't playing. Funny how that works.

A big that doesn't protect the rim and struggles to defend in space is a problem. Ask Houston how that is going with Sengun. Their coach Udoka was asked about Sengun getting targeted on D and he said 'it's been that way as long as I've been here.'

Cool but tell me why Boozer is among the tops in the NCAA in defensive box plus minus. Offense too, where he’s off the charts, but no. On defense he’s good for 7 points better in the box score at that end of the court. And that number has gone up in conference play, not down. Only Yaxel and Aday Mara are better in that def rating this year. Though Boozer is years younger. Whatever his flaws they’re not showing up in the box score and win/loss column.

[tontoz]

Boozer looks better when Caleb isn't playing. Funny how that works.

A big that doesn't protect the rim and struggles to defend in space is a problem. Ask Houston how that is going with Sengun. Their coach Udoka was asked about Sengun getting targeted on D and he said 'it's been that way as long as I've been here.'

No one was talking about Caleb.

(tontoz, you should recall why I responded like that)

How would I compare Wilson vs. Dybantsa?

This is the draft thread and Caleb is in the draft.

Could you look up Caleb's stats for me? I am too lazy to do it for myself.

[tontoz]

Boozer looks better when Caleb isn't playing. Funny how that works.

A big that doesn't protect the rim and struggles to defend in space is a problem. Ask Houston how that is going with Sengun. Their coach Udoka was asked about Sengun getting targeted on D and he said 'it's been that way as long as I've been here.'

Cool but tell me why Boozer is among the tops in the NCAA in defensive box plus minus. Offense too, where he’s off the charts, but no. On defense he’s good for 7 points better in the box score at that end of the court. And that number has gone up in conference play, not down. Only Yaxel and Aday Mara are better in that def rating this year. Though Boozer is years younger.

The problem is that I actually watched the games. Against NBA prospects he has been targeted a lot. Many college teams don't have more than 1 or 2 NBA prospects. In the NBA there are 10 of them on the court all the time.

Drtg is a garbage stat when used for individual players. Go look up the formula for individual DRTG and then try to explain it to everyone. Good luck with that.

DRTG is only useful in a team context.

[tontoz]

Burries dropped 31 last night with 5 steals.

Watch on YouTube

[dckingsfan]

Boozer looks better when Caleb isn't playing. Funny how that works.

A big that doesn't protect the rim and struggles to defend in space is a problem. Ask Houston how that is going with Sengun. Their coach Udoka was asked about Sengun getting targeted on D and he said 'it's been that way as long as I've been here.'

Cool but tell me why Boozer is among the tops in the NCAA in defensive box plus minus. Offense too, where he’s off the charts, but no. On defense he’s good for 7 points better in the box score at that end of the court. And that number has gone up in conference play, not down. Only Yaxel and Aday Mara are better in that def rating this year. Though Boozer is years younger.

The problem is that I actually watched the games. Against NBA prospects he has been targeted a lot. Many college teams don't have more than 1 or 2 NBA prospects. In the NBA there are 10 of them on the court all the time.

Drtg is a garbage stat when used for individual players. Go look up the formula for individual DRTG and then try to explain it to everyone. Good luck with that.

DRTG is only useful in a team context.

Yep, DRTG is solid but really only in a team setting. DBPM is clearly a better metric when using it across the league... but even then.

My question is will Boozer be that much better on offense than Caleb? Will Caleb be that much better than Boozer on D? And then the second question - who (in this case) is the better fit next to Sarr both in the short-term and long-term. And do you want more of a 3/4 or a 4/5?

I would say, both - they are both really solid defensive rebounders. Either would be a nice rotation piece next to Sarr and AD. I honestly wouldn't mind either of them. But I can totally see why one would favor one over the other. I almost hope we don't get the 3rd pick

[nate33]

Good video on Boozer:

Watch on YouTube

My gut instinct is to underrate Boozer because I worry that he is already near his ceiling. He already has so few holes in his game, it's hard to see how he can make a huge leap. But videos like this make me reconsider. Damn he is good! He is so incredibly fundamentally sound and he will always make the right play. His offensive numbers at the college level are literally the best in the entire Bartovic database, going back to 2008. He is an efficiency machine.

I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make this decision!

[nate33]

One other thing about Boozer. I think it was Doc who mentioned that defensive aptitude for a big man is highly correlated with assists. Basically, guys who map the floor well on offense typically do so very well on defense too. And that makes them good help defenders with high steals and defensive rebounding rates.

Well, Boozer is one of the best passing big men in college basketball history - so maybe his defense will be considerably better than what one would expect from someone with with his mundane quickness and length.

[dckingsfan]

If the medicals check out, he is still the best prospect on the board. The game is so easy for him.

And he is the best fit. A clear #1 on offense and a true two-way player at his position.

[DCZards]

Boozer looks better when Caleb isn't playing. Funny how that works.

A big that doesn't protect the rim and struggles to defend in space is a problem. Ask Houston how that is going with Sengun. Their coach Udoka was asked about Sengun getting targeted on D and he said 'it's been that way as long as I've been here.'

Doesn't really matter whether Caleb plays or not. Boozer is steady and consistent game in and game out.

Here are the numbers when Boozer and Caleb did play against each other in February.
Boozer (38 minutes) 24pts, 11 rebs.,2 assists, 2-4 on 3s, 0 steals, 0 blks
Wilson (40 minutes) 23pts, 4 rebs., 2 assists, 1-2 on 3s., 2 steals, 2 blks

Wilson scored almost all of his points in the first half--I believe he scored 4-6 pts in the second half. I like Caleb. He's right after Boozer, Peterson and AJ on my board.

Despite his struggles on D, I'm sure most NBA teams would trade for Sengun if given the opportunity.

[DCZards]

The other thing I like about Boozer is that, at the rim, he shoots as easily and comfortably with his left hand as he does with his right hand.