NBA Draft and NCAA Basketball

[Mulhollanddrive]

I think Ayton would be our dream pick based on style, upside, position.

[Qwigglez]

Ayton or Doncic is who I want the Suns to grab! I have Bender pegged as our future 4 starter. Could use a C or a PG.

[Mulhollanddrive]

I don't think Doncic can guard PG so he's going to be an interesting positional fit.

[Bogyo]

I don't think Doncic can guard PG so he's going to be an interesting positional fit.

No, he is definatley too slow for that. Which is a shame, but it is what it is. I think he will get a bit quicker and stronger as he develops with age, afterall he is only 18, with some babyfat still on his cheeks. Kinda like Booker was when we drafted him.
Not his fault or anything, it's just an age thing and body type.

[bwgood77]

"I MEAN, HE'S just a different kid," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo tells me. "Zero ego. He's kind of a throwback." Izzo has sat me down in an athletic center conference room on one of those mild late-summer Midwestern mornings, pillowy clouds expanding seemingly forever outside the windows. He is now leaning back to tell me, in his own yarn-spinning way, the story of how Miles Bridges made The Decision.

In his freshman season, Bridges averaged 16.9 points -- the highest for a freshman at the school since Magic Johnson -- and 8.3 rebounds a game. NBA scouts spent much of the season salivating over his guard/forward hybrid game, one that merges size and athleticism with an appetite for perimeter play, ballhandling and shooting. He entered Michigan State as the eighth-best recruit in the country, according to the ESPN 100. He was projected by some to go as high as 12th in the 2017 NBA draft. Millions of dollars were lying in wait for the kid. He was a one-and-done if ever there was one. And everybody wants to be in the NBA, right?

So. Why did he come back? Like the rest of us, Izzo assumed Bridges would leave. In January, he was even making jokes about it.
"So freshmen carry the bags," Izzo begins. "Everybody piles on Miles because he's the star ... and I said, 'Hey, Miles, want to know what the bad news is for you? Next year you're going to get screwed because you're going to be carrying someone else's bags [in the NBA].' I start laughing, and he just looks at me and doesn't say nothing. So a couple of weeks later, I said something similar. And he just says, 'Coach, why you always trying to get rid of me?' And honest to god that was the first time I said, 'What is he doing?' It had never even occurred to me."

As the year wore on, Izzo remained so unequivocally in denial about the potential of a Miles Bridges sophomore season that before the first game of the NCAA tournament, he huddled with Bridges and former Spartan Draymond Green to discuss the protocol of a potential postgame "I'm going pro" announcement, should the Spartans have been eliminated. Bridges said nothing, according to Izzo, but "looked at both of us like we were drunk." It wasn't until the season was over -- Michigan State fell to Kansas in the second round -- that Bridges began to open up to his coach about his trepidations. "I asked Miles, 'Why do you want to stay?' His first answer was, 'I want to get to a Final Four and I want to try to win a national championship,'" Izzo says. "I love you for it," Izzo recalls telling his star player, "but I can't have you stay for that because getting to a Final Four is a 5 percent chance if you're really good." He pushed Bridges to think harder. A week later, Bridges returned to his coach to explain that he wanted to be national player of the year. He wanted a Wooden Award. This too was laudable, Izzo told him, but in a college landscape this crowded, it was also not a guarantee. Still another week passed, and Izzo was driving the campus with Bridges one night. Bridges' mother had learned her son was hedging on going pro and asked the coach to speak with him. Izzo found himself in the unusual position of trying to talk a star out of playing for him. "I asked him, 'Are you getting sick of me yet?'" Izzo recalls. "He said, 'Yeah.'"

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/21275324/why-michigan-state-miles-bridges-decided-return-college

[bwgood77]

This top 100 differs from our mock drafts in one crucial way: The top 100 is an overall ranking of all draft-eligible prospects in the 2018 NBA draft, regardless of whether or not we believe they are likely to enter -- or ultimately stay in -- the draft.

The mock draft attempts to project which players should or will make themselves eligible in April. And down the road, it will also take into account NBA teams' needs, the draft order and things we've learned about front office tendencies.

The same methodology applies to all of the other rankings we will maintain throughout the season: NCAA freshmen, NCAA sophomores, NCAA juniors, NCAA seniors, point guards, shooting guards, small forwards, power forwards, centers and international draft prospects.

Draft rankings: Top 100
Player Pos Team Age Height Wingspan
1. Luka Doncic SG Real Madrid 18.6 6-8 N/A
2. Michael Porter Jr. SF/PF Missouri 19.3 6-10 7-0
3. Marvin Bagley III PF/C Duke 18.6 6-11 7-0½
4. Deandre Ayton C Arizona 19.2 7-0 7-5
5. Mohamed Bamba C Texas 19.4 7-0 7-9
6. Miles Bridges SF/PF Michigan St 19.6 6-6 6-9
7. Robert Williams PF/C Texas A&M 20.0 6-9 7-5½
8. Collin Sexton PG Alabama 18.8 6-2 6-7
9. Jaren Jackson Jr. PF/C Michigan St 18.1 6-10 7-4
10. Wendell Carter Jr. PF Duke 18.5 6-10 7-3
11. Trevon Duval PG Duke 19.2 6-3 6-3½

For more...

http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/21307077/nba-draft-rankings-espn-top-100-prospects-2018

[Mulhollanddrive]

After everything that's happened early this season we've somehow found our way to 5th.

[kennydorglas]

I think we'll trade up again.
Hopefully it'll be for a good player this time.

[Qwigglez]

We'll end up getting shafted and picking 5th or 6th. Alex Len 2.0 here we come!

[gaspar]

Read on Twitter

lol

[kennydorglas]

Read on Twitter

lol

Yeah, that's why LaVar never talks about LiAngelo haha

[Bogyo]

Shoplifting in China???
Jokes aside, there could be some serious punishment for this, I'm not sure the chinese legal system is very forgiving - but they will get out of it being who they are.

Maybe he is sentenced to play in china forever, what would be great news if he took his daddy with him as well.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Good article on Bamba. He might be gobert 2.0.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2742551

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[bwgood77]

[alldayeveryday]

Preseason Big Board Part 4: Prospects 14–1

https://medium.com/@jacksonhoy/preseason-big-board-part-4-prospects-14-1-7c52a725ae44

[WeekapaugGroove]

Preseason Big Board Part 4: Prospects 14–1

https://medium.com/@jacksonhoy/preseason-big-board-part-4-prospects-14-1-7c52a725ae44

Thanks for posting. Good write up. Man there are some solid big men in this upcoming draft.

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[Foliohattu]

Thanks for posting. Good write up. Man there are some solid big men in this upcoming draft.

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Yes there are and I think at least one is bound to drop, so a dream scenario for me is picking Doncic with out own pick and then a rim protector / dive man with Miami´s pick (maybe use our other picks to move up a little if needed).

[bwgood77]

Bagley with 25 and 12, but it was against Elon Phoenix, wherever that is. And Ayton with 19, 12 and 3 blocks. They were so far ahead he must have sat because he had that midway through the 2nd.

[ATTL]

We need a great big so badly. Ayton and Bagley both had great opening games, this will be a fun season to watch.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Top 5 look the real deal with protypical big man numbers from Ayton, Bamba, Bagley tonight and Doncic is continuing at Euroleague MVP level.

Porter injured early.

Outside of that Diallo, Jackson, Knox showed flashes as challengers to the top guys.