Darius Acuff Jr.

[SeattleJazzFan]

Acuff isn't nearly the athlete compared to the dudes he's being comped to. He is nowhere remotely close to the level of quickness/explosion of an Iverson or Dame. He's strongly built though.

best comp is kyrie.

[SeattleJazzFan]

it's debatable. Fox was the much better defender and he wasn't given the green light and usage like Acuff is. He went #5 in a loaded draft for a reason and I'm guessing Acuff goes around there in this loaded draft.

Acuff has fewer turnovers in spite of a higher usage. The usage isn't that different anyway, 27.5% compared to 29% for Acuff.

If Fox took more shots then his shooting efficiency would have probably been even worse.

Fox can play good defense when he wants. That doesn’t seem to the case with Acuff.

but it is the case.

[mattg]

Acuff isn't nearly the athlete compared to the dudes he's being comped to. He is nowhere remotely close to the level of quickness/explosion of an Iverson or Dame. He's strongly built though.

best comp is kyrie.

Don't see that level of skill with Acuff. His handle isn't like Kyrie's. The way he finishes layups is very different too, Acuff muscles through college defenders and isn't acrobatic in the same way Kyrie is. Also don't think he's a Kyrie level shooter at all, the FT% is telling. The fact that Acuff topped out as a 32% 3pt shooter in HS leads me to believe he won't be the same level high volume super high efficiency 3pt shooter like he is in college.

Poor man's Dame Lillard is fine as a comp, Dame but less athletic, not as good a shooter, and a worse defender. Still a good player, especially on a rookie deal, but not a franchise player by any means IMO. Just a very tough archetype to build around in the NBA and be successful. However a team that already has their foundational pieces might fall in love with him.

[nbafan781]

Acuff isn't nearly the athlete compared to the dudes he's being comped to. He is nowhere remotely close to the level of quickness/explosion of an Iverson or Dame. He's strongly built though.

best comp is kyrie.

Don't see that level of skill with Acuff. His handle isn't like Kyrie's. The way he finishes layups is very different too, Acuff muscles through college defenders and isn't acrobatic in the same way Kyrie is. Also don't think he's a Kyrie level shooter at all, the FT% is telling. The fact that Acuff topped out as a 32% 3pt shooter in HS leads me to believe he won't be the same level high volume super high efficiency 3pt shooter like he is in college.

Poor man's Dame Lillard is fine as a comp, Dame but less athletic, not as good a shooter, and a worse defender. Still a good player, especially on a rookie deal, but not a franchise player by any means IMO. Just a very tough archetype to build around in the NBA and be successful. However a team that already has their foundational pieces might fall in love with him.

How is Acuff anything like Lillard if he’s a significantly better passer and more efficient? Acuff looks like the second coming of CP3 offensively, look at his ast to . Also Lillard was one of the worst defenders in the leagu

[Hook_Em]

Never seen a worse defensive guard that is athletic but the whole team stinks on D so that exacerbates it a bit.

[mattg]

best comp is kyrie.

Don't see that level of skill with Acuff. His handle isn't like Kyrie's. The way he finishes layups is very different too, Acuff muscles through college defenders and isn't acrobatic in the same way Kyrie is. Also don't think he's a Kyrie level shooter at all, the FT% is telling. The fact that Acuff topped out as a 32% 3pt shooter in HS leads me to believe he won't be the same level high volume super high efficiency 3pt shooter like he is in college.

Poor man's Dame Lillard is fine as a comp, Dame but less athletic, not as good a shooter, and a worse defender. Still a good player, especially on a rookie deal, but not a franchise player by any means IMO. Just a very tough archetype to build around in the NBA and be successful. However a team that already has their foundational pieces might fall in love with him.

How is Acuff anything like Lillard if he’s a significantly better passer and more efficient? Acuff looks like the second coming of CP3 offensively, look at his ast to . Also Lillard was one of the worst defenders in the leagu

Acuff is absolutely awful defensively. He doesn't keep anyone in front of him, doesn't get back defensively in transition at all, and constantly is asleep off the ball. Dame is also bad defensively, but has better physical tools. Acuff is more advanced at a younger age than Dame was sure, but that doesn't mean he's going to exceed what Dame was as a pro, even in a best case scenario the chance that Acuff is better than Dame was is slim to none. You're projecting that Acuff is going to have more than 9 all star appearances, 4 2nd team all-nbas, 2 3rd team all-nbas, and a 1st team all nba? In a league that is filled to the brim with guards who can do these things that's beyond optimistic.

I don't see CP3 at all stylistically with Acuff, just don't see their playstyles as similar and definitely not in how they run the PnR.

[CptCrunch]

This whole defense on small guard thing is difficult to project. Acuff and Arkansas isn't playing defense right now.

In the NBA
Can he? Yes
Will he? Not sure
Will be good defender? Not sure

This is my subjective ranking of these guards and how likely they'll defend in the NBA.

Probably positive defender for position
Flemings

Probably okay defender
Tanner

Probably won't play defense
Mikel, Acuff. Philon

[DirtyDez]

Calipari hasn’t had a top-10 defensive team since 2019 according to Kenpom. I don’t think he’s been spending too much time on it.

[nbafan781]

Don't see that level of skill with Acuff. His handle isn't like Kyrie's. The way he finishes layups is very different too, Acuff muscles through college defenders and isn't acrobatic in the same way Kyrie is. Also don't think he's a Kyrie level shooter at all, the FT% is telling. The fact that Acuff topped out as a 32% 3pt shooter in HS leads me to believe he won't be the same level high volume super high efficiency 3pt shooter like he is in college.

Poor man's Dame Lillard is fine as a comp, Dame but less athletic, not as good a shooter, and a worse defender. Still a good player, especially on a rookie deal, but not a franchise player by any means IMO. Just a very tough archetype to build around in the NBA and be successful. However a team that already has their foundational pieces might fall in love with him.

How is Acuff anything like Lillard if he’s a significantly better passer and more efficient? Acuff looks like the second coming of CP3 offensively, look at his ast to . Also Lillard was one of the worst defenders in the leagu

Acuff is absolutely awful defensively. He doesn't keep anyone in front of him, doesn't get back defensively in transition at all, and constantly is asleep off the ball. Dame is also bad defensively, but has better physical tools. Acuff is more advanced at a younger age than Dame was sure, but that doesn't mean he's going to exceed what Dame was as a pro, even in a best case scenario the chance that Acuff is better than Dame was is slim to none. You're projecting that Acuff is going to have more than 9 all star appearances, 4 2nd team all-nbas, 2 3rd team all-nbas, and a 1st team all nba? In a league that is filled to the brim with guards who can do these things that's beyond optimistic.

I don't see CP3 at all stylistically with Acuff, just don't see their playstyles as similar and definitely not in how they run the PnR.

I’m not saying they play similar stylistically. I’m saying Acuff’s ceiling is Chris paul type impact offensively. Acuff’s asst to turnover ratio eliminates the Lillard comparison immediately. He’s putting up numbers that frankly we have never seen from a guard ever. Elite scoring on elite efficiency and elite passing with low turnovers. That is Chris paul offensively. And draft is about potential. Lillard won nothing, I think Acuff can be more successful than Lillard and more efficient, yes. A 20/10 PG who has extremely low turnovers and elite efficiency is better than Lillard. All I’m going to say the way that some of yall talk about Peterson, if he were actually putting up Acuff numbers or what Dybantsa had put up, he would be called the best prospect since Jordan. Clear bias here

[FarBeyondDriven]

he has "it", he's a killer, he's a bucket and in today's NBA where very few point guards play defense he's bound to be a superstar. I think if he fell to the Mavs the two-man game between him and Flagg would be electric but tbh he'd be starting day 1 on most of the teams picking in the lottery and would ball out. You can win a playoff series or two with him provided he's got length around him similar to Brunson. There's real possibility he goes before Boozer and Wilson

[King Ken]

Iverson comp is really fair on the ball scoring but he's just nowhere close the level of athlete or natural skill. Mike Bibby is really the best in terms of floor game and feel but he's a superior scorer and shooter to Mike. He's special man. Like really really special.

Hard to comp him to CP3 who was miles better on defense but offensively, I don't know any freshman PG as good as Acuff. They don't exist. That includes everyone we named. None of them is as good offensively as Acuff. Even Trae is nowhere close and to think we got Flemings and Wagler who are also in this class as lead guards. Burries too. This class is world class in ridiculous. AJ is one of the best freshman SFs of all time. Darryn is as a SG. Boozer as a PF. Ya'll, this class is utterly the best freshman of all time

[azcatz11]

He clearly has a chance to be the #1 overall pick

[CptCrunch]

Final post on this topic defense, we should stop picking on Acuff and his defense. He isn't that much worse than other guards this year.

I like Acuff his scoring acumen, he is like a De'aron Fox/Derrick Rose style of player with similar realistic ceilings. Unfortunately, this is not enough to have him in my top 6. This year's draft class cis completely yoked beyond imagination.

His size is just too small, I have one small guard in the top 6 that's Flemings, and Wagler if you want him to call him a SG sized guard small.

[BigGargamel]

He clearly has a chance to be the #1 overall pick

No he doesn't. The top 3 is (and should be) set in stone.

Acuff has too many serious concerns to be drafted over those guys.

But he has a great chance to go 4. I personally have him at 7, behind the big 3, Wilson, Flemings and Wagler.

[Chi town]

I was wrong. He’s right there with Trae on D. Maybe worse for not even being near the guys he’s defending.

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[HMFFL]

I was wrong. He’s right there with Trae on D. Maybe worse for not even being near the guys he’s defending.

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Low IQ defender.
He looks lost and clueless.
He has 20/20 vision on offense but he's blind on defense.

[tontoz]

I was wrong. He’s right there with Trae on D. Maybe worse for not even being near the guys he’s defending.

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Low IQ defender.
He looks lost and clueless.
He has 20/20 vision on offense but he's blind on defense.

First of all that was his 3rd game in 3 nights after playing 80 minutes in the previous two games. Of course his energy level won't be that high.

Secondly Tanner shot 3-15 that game and Vanderbilt as a team shot 38%, so I don't think Acuffs D hurt them too much.

[JMAC3]

At a certain point he has to have something special about him, guys don't just score like he does without having either elite quickness or athleticism. Feels like everyone is so quick to discredit him for one reason or another. Maybe he is just this good? Could that not possibly be the conversation?

But then you have guys like Darryn Peterson struggling vs the same levels of competition and also getting whispered about best guard prospect ever... it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Acuff is averaging 29.8 ppg over his last 6 games. Arkansas is 6-0 in that stretch. Clearly he is a major reason why they are winning and people are panicking to tell everyone why he is soooo bad and stanning for Dalyn Swain averaging 12 ppg in the tourney.

[vincecarter4pres]

Iverson comp is really fair on the ball scoring but he's just nowhere close the level of athlete or natural skill. Mike Bibby is really the best in terms of floor game and feel but he's a superior scorer and shooter to Mike. He's special man. Like really really special.

Hard to comp him to CP3 who was miles better on defense but offensively, I don't know any freshman PG as good as Acuff. They don't exist. That includes everyone we named. None of them is as good offensively as Acuff. Even Trae is nowhere close and to think we got Flemings and Wagler who are also in this class as lead guards. Burries too. This class is world class in ridiculous. AJ is one of the best freshman SFs of all time. Darryn is as a SG. Boozer as a PF. Ya'll, this class is utterly the best freshman of all time

Idk if they ultimately translate, but yeah, this is an all time freshman class.

[BigGargamel]

At a certain point he has to have something special about him, guys don't just score like he does without having either elite quickness or athleticism. Feels like everyone is so quick to discredit him for one reason or another. Maybe he is just this good? Could that not possibly be the conversation?

But then you have guys like Darryn Peterson struggling vs the same levels of competition and also getting whispered about best guard prospect ever... it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Acuff is averaging 29.8 ppg over his last 6 games. Arkansas is 6-0 in that stretch. Clearly he is a major reason why they are winning and people are panicking to tell everyone why he is soooo bad and stanning for Dalyn Swain averaging 12 ppg in the tourney.

There is so much hyperbole up and down this post, it's very hard to shovel through the bull crap and take seriously. Man, just take a deep breathe, talk about Acuff, and let the rest go.