Absurdly early 2018 NBA Draft Thread

[Jamaaliver]

'I Still Believe in Him': NBA Scouts Aren't Giving Up on Slumping Trae Young

Questions about Trae Young's NBA potential have started to arise during his cold-shooting February. Specifically, many wonder how his ongoing slump is affecting his draft stock.

After averaging 30.3 points on 45.2 percent shooting while leading Oklahoma to a 16-5 start, Young has struggled during the Sooners' current six-game skid. He averaged 21.5 points on 33.6 percent shooting over those six outings.

"I still believe in him," another scout said. "Teams are targeting him with their best defender, double-teams and pressure. He needs his teammates to step up, and they're not. Put him with four pros and things are different. I respect that Trae still plays hard and that he still gets assists."

Everyone seems to recognize Young's suspect supporting cast and the enormous workload that forces him to carry, as reflected in his nation-leading 37.8 percent usage rate, per RealGM.com.

"He doesn't have a ton of help around him, and the way Oklahoma plays, so heavily dependent on Trae, it puts crazy pressure on his shoulders," a third scout said.

Young's stock isn't falling—it just isn't climbing. And it isn't likely to move much during the predraft process.

Bleacher Report

[Spud2nique]

As a franchise, we need to go for a homer in this draft..no singles, doubles or triples...I want to be in the spotlight as a franchise for a minute. When is it our turn?

Understandable...I'd be okay with a couple of triples, though. If we don't have a shot at Ayton, trade back for multiple top 12 picks and fill the roster with young studs.

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If it’s Shamet and Brunson I get to punch you in the arm? Deal?

I noticed ur sig quote at the bottom there..am I the new “mace”?

[Jamaaliver]

^This is me changing the topic...

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I noticed ur sig quote at the bottom there...

That wasn't a sig quote, the line simply separated one thought from the next.

[kg01]

^This is me changing the topic...

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Wha? What're we talking about? Your secret love affair with Mace? Just kidding (not really).

On topic though, clearly we're suffering from a case of over-analysis on these guys but - as I've been saying all season - they've all got warts. @macd's boy Young has come back to earth severely.

Although some of that is teams gunning to stop him but a large part of it is a lack of BBIQ on his part. He's a freshman so it's totally excusable IMHO but it illustrates that it's not just a matter of 'get 'im in the league and he'll have all this space, blah, blah, blah ROY MVP!'. He's got a long way to go.

Bagley, as MaceC Gray has been saying, is a guy that relies a lot on being the best athlete out there. His actual game is in need of a lot of development.

[Jamaaliver]

A possible replacement for Dennis?

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[jayu70]

Scandal at school, FBI investigation causing him to withdraw, sigh.

[thr3ep01nte4]

Nice.

Can you look up the collegiate rebounding rates of Horford based on each year?

Did the rebound rate increase from year 1 to year 2 to year 3?

Can you do the same for John Collins

My guess is that each player drastically increased their rebounding rate after their freshman season.

If JJJ were to stay in college and increase his rebounding rate, would that portend a better rebounder in the pros.

For Al Horford, he was 16.9% as a freshman, and 17.2% as a sophomore. The junior year stat is unavailable. John Collins improved from 14.7% to 21.1% from freshman to sophomore. However, he was already an elite offensive rebounder as a freshman with 12.7% on the o-boards as a freshman. The technique was already there and he wasn't playing major minutes in the first year. But I see your point. We can't rule out the possibility of him improving. The another thing I noticed watching JJJ, Ayton, and Bamba is that JJJ doesn't occupy a lot of space in the post. I think it's mainly down to their frames --- Ayton and Bamba are just larger human beings than JJJ.

[Spud2nique]

^This is me changing the topic...

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I noticed ur sig quote at the bottom there...

That wasn't a sig quote, the line simply separated one thought from the next.

[Spud2nique]

^This is me changing the topic...

Read on Twitter

Wha? What're we talking about? Your secret love affair with Mace? Just kidding (not really).

On topic though, clearly we're suffering from a case of over-analysis on these guys but - as I've been saying all season - they've all got warts. @macd's boy Young has come back to earth severely.

Although some of that is teams gunning to stop him but a large part of it is a lack of BBIQ on his part. He's a freshman so it's totally excusable IMHO but it illustrates that it's not just a matter of 'get 'im in the league and he'll have all this space, blah, blah, blah ROY MVP!'. He's got a long way to go.

Bagley, as MaceC Gray has been saying, is a guy that relies a lot on being the best athlete out there. His actual game is in need of a lot of development.

I still don’t know what Jamal and Mace had in the past...I’d actually rather not know...it’s weird I’m sure.


Back on topic, when did Young become Mac’s guy? If that’s the case, do we each represent a prospect? If so, then I got Donkey kick. I called it Bob so back up.

I’d actually add another..Mikal.

[Jamaaliver]

This is the most in-depth scouting report on this kid I've read all year.

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Bagley possesses great hands and has an innate comfort with the basketball. It allows him to catch passes at all angles and catapult himself to finish at the rim. Bagley’s game resembles a star big man from a decade or more ago. He occasionally shoots jumpers and hits 3-pointers. Mostly, he stars in the post and around the basket.

Big men like Deandre Ayton, Jaren Jackson Jr. and even Mohamed Bamba all project as more modern big men. Their shooting ability/potential from the outside pushes them into the forefront.

The concerns about Bagley as a modern big man are...not completely unfounded, but they seem a little overblown. We don’t have a John Collins at Wake Forest situation in which he almost never shot jumpers.

The reason for concerns about Bagley come from the fact that his biggest chunk of scoring happens in the post. Post scoring has received a stigma for some analysts, assuming it has died off. In reality, guys like Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis still use post play effectively and often. Bagley will be afforded that opportunity at the NBA level.

[Jamaaliver]

Luka can expect this type of matchup every game in the NBA. This goes a long way towards how we can expect him to adjust to quicker, stronger defenders in the Association.

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Given the chance to see Luka Doncic perform on one of his biggest stages of the season.

Doncic struggled in Madrid’s 92-90 loss. Madrid got down in the second-quarter thanks to some ice-cold shooting, and needed a big fourth-quarter rally to even make it a game. Much of the cold shooting came from Doncic, who shot just 1-of-8 from the field. However, he still finished with a respectable line, posting 14 points, five rebounds, and three assists in the game. The shot didn’t fall all night, but the game still showed glimpses of what makes Doncic a special prospect, and the struggles can be put in context.

Barca aimed to be incredibly physical with Doncic -- forcing matchups with bigger forwards and trapping Doncic off the dribble. Doncic took more than a few bumps throughout the game.

Barcelona aimed to get the ball out of Doncic’s hands and limit his ability to get to the rim. Doncic spent much of the game being defended by Spurs draft-and-stash forward Adam Hanga, one of Euroleague’s best defenders, and Hanga forced Doncic into one turnover in a one-on-one situation.

Those traps limited Doncic’s ability to get to the rim, and resulted in only three attempts for him inside the paint, far lower than his season average. However, Doncic did get the best of the situation a few times. His strength came into play against the traps, and he drew two fouls on the perimeter in this situation.

Much has been made of Doncic’s lack of burst from the perimeter, hinting at an athleticism problem that could limit his ceiling as an off-the-dribble creator. In addition to trapping Doncic, Barca walled off the paint, and Doncic ended up pulling up on three of his four 2-point attempts.

[atlantabbq99]

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Robert Franks, I first saw him a few weeks ago when he played against Arizona and I have been following him ever since. He is a big body SF who reminds me of Kyle Kuzma. He looks like he would fit perfectly in Budz's system. He could be a good pick up with the 30th pick

[thr3ep01nte4]

Dad bod rules

[jayu70]

Dad bod rules

Retirement Body is the new trend, thanks to Enas Kanter ripping on Jared Dudley.
Twitter Beefs

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[Jamaaliver]

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You won’t find many wing prospects better than Cincinnati’s Jacob Evans.

Evans has been the leader and focal point of a top-five Bearcats team this season. Through 27 games, the junior is averaging 13.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.4 steals and one block per game. He’s shooting from 3 at a 39 percent clip and shooting 67 percent on shots at the rim, per Hoop-Math. Given his team has been as high as fifth in the country, it’s odd he hasn’t gotten more attention.


He’s a physical defensive force at 6’6″, able to guard 1-4 at the college level. In the NBA, he should be able to defend 1-3 and hold his own against some 4s. Evans is a rare wing averaging over one steal and block per game. Between his instincts, toughness and motor, there’s a lot to like on that end of the floor. Evans ranks seventh nationally in defensive rating.

Evans often runs the point for Cincinnati and looks more and more comfortable in the pick-and-roll. Evans assists on over 20 percent of the Bearcats’ field goals when he’s on the floor. He’s not quite a secondary ball-handler, but he can be a playmaker from the wing for his NBA team.

the combination of multi-positional defense, passing and shooting is unique among wing players in this year's draft.

[jayu70]

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[Spud2nique]

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Uh oh..here we go! Kg is gettin excited in the sac!

[kg01]

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Uh oh..here we go! Kg is gettin excited in the sac!

Dang right. Only thing diff'rent is I'm nekked.

[ATL Boy]

I really hope that Porter is healthy and looks like the top prospect we expect him to be.

It would really benefit us for another player to enter that elite tier of prospects alongside Doncic and Ayton. Right now I have Bamba as my number 3, but he doesn't look like a franchise changer.


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[atlantabbq99]

I don't want any part of Michael Porter. He might have one or two good years in him, but he has the same Marvin Williams spinal discectomy injury, and that is something that is just degenerate over time. People wanted to overlook Derrick Rose's and Oden's injury in high school and college because of the hype, but it just ended up hurting both Bulls and Blazers who are still hurting today from those selections.