NBA Draft and NCAA Basketball

[thamadkant]

Suns going into 2018-2019 season with 3-5 more rookies would be terrible, it'll be more 30 point plus losses.... Booker wont be happy with that.

i would consolidate and move up.... but if Suns get Pick 1, I would trade those 2 late lotteries (if so) for veterans... package a player or 2 with them and get legit help for Booker, Warren/Jackson and the rest.

Im with you, i would love to package and trade up to that 7 spot. My dream scenario is Ayton and Porter falls to us at 7, but i wouldnt lose any sleep if JJJ, Bamba or Young fall to us at that spot.

I think our big off season splash will be an attenpt to sign aaron gordon....im cool with that for the right price!

A 2, 3, 4, 5, consisting of booker, porter, gordon and Ayton would be impressive! ...with a solid young bench.

My dream scenario is that we win the lottery and we can trade the Miami pick and Ulis/Reed for #2.

My dream scenario is the lottery system malfunctioning and Suns somehow get pick 1 to 3


Now that's dreaming... Dream big now

[NavLDO]

Heck, Bagley and Carter have played well together, right? Why break that up?

Elfrid / Booker / JJ / Bagley / Carter

While rotating in serious minutes to Warren, Bender, Chriss, and BK, I guess (ugh...), plus, getting our new 2nd Rd PG into the mix as much as possible, and if Reed is GTG as well. Who needs FA at that point?

Duke plays better on D when they break it up...from the article just posted...

Duke has been far better on defense without its star big man
By Ben Leonard | 02/20/2018

Marvin Bagley III is a truly special talent—on offense. But as it has shown recently, Duke is better served without him on defense.
In their last three games, the Blue Devils have been locked in on defense in a way few thought would be possible. Certainly, its offense has taken a hit, but overall, Duke has netted nearly four points per game better without him in conference play. After downing Virginia Tech and Clemson, the Blue Devils have held two straight conference opponents to fewer than 60 points for the first time since 2015.

Bagley is worse than frontcourt mates Wendell Carter Jr. and Javin DeLaurier in defensive rating, and he has looked overmatched defensively for much of the year. Although he is a transcendent offensive talent, he hasn’t been able to protect the rim for much of the season. He has a putrid 3.2 percent block rate—that’s five times worse than the national leader.

And though Bagley has strong post moves on offense, he hasn’t been able to translate that to the defensive end of the floor. He has struggled in particular when he plays against someone his own size—take Wake Forest’s Doral Moore, for example. The 7-foot-1 Demon Deacon center embarrassed Bagley, throwing down dunk after dunk and scoring 14 points in the first half. Krzyzewski says the only way Duke could guard him was fouling him, a strategy that eventually worked, but not without a cost—Bagley got into foul trouble and DeLaurier fouled out after just 12 minutes.

Thanks for posting. But I think all that says is Bagley is not a defensive talent...regardless of who plays next to him. If we were to draft him, we'd have to have a strong Center who can block, which actually, as you can see, Ayton would not be a good choice, either...

I don't know who the Nat'l leader is, but 1.2 x 5 = 6, and Ayton is on 2.0 per 36, which is three times worse than the National Leader. I just think this is overblown, a bit.

I mean, look at this comparison:

http://www.tankathon.com/players/compare?players=deandre-ayton--marvin-bagley--mohamed-bamba--wendell-carter

It shows that Ayton has a worse DWS than Bagley! His DBPM is 3.6 vs Bagley's 2.8...hardly stellar. This author is sensationalizing a bit, is all.

That said, he's not wrong. We would need a defensive force next to Bagley if we drafted him.

http://www.tankathon.com/players/compare?players=mohamed-bamba--daniel-gafford--brandon-mccoy--chimezie-metu--robert-williams

It looks like Gafford, Bamba, or Williams being the optimal choices. I do not know enough about the Euro guys (Yurtseven, Bitadze) or Mitchell Robinson, or Austin Wiley, who I've seen his name in Mocks, but Wiley appears to be defensively minded.

OOORRR...we could just not bother drafting Bagley, but if I'm McD, I'm not picking a lesser prospect because Bagley is more offensively gifted than defensively gifted. I'm just going to cover him up with a defensive force, because their are plenty to be had.

[thamadkant]

Bagley is a fine pick up if you have a Gobert or a Deandre Jordan or even a motivated Drummond to help him.

He's Bosh version 2 in my opinion.

[Blonde]

Bagley is a fine pick up if you have a Gobert or a Deandre Jordan or even a motivated Drummond to help him.

He's Bosh version 2 in my opinion.

I actually think Bagley would be best next to a stretch 5 like Horford, Porzingis, or Gasol. Would give him spacing so he can crash to the hoop and play quasi-center. I wouldn't want him next to a center who can't space the floor. For those reasons I think he would be a good fit next to Bender if Bender continues progressing like he has.

[thamadkant]

Bagley is a fine pick up if you have a Gobert or a Deandre Jordan or even a motivated Drummond to help him.

He's Bosh version 2 in my opinion.

I actually think Bagley would be best next to a stretch 5 like Horford, Porzingis, or Gasol. Would give him spacing so he can crash to the hoop and play quasi-center. I wouldn't want him next to a center who can't space the floor. For those reasons I think he would be a good fit next to Bender if Bender continues progressing like he has.

Yes that too.

But I'm more worried about defensively.

Bagley only has 8'11 standing reach.. Similar to Markieff and Chriss

But we'll see come combine time

[darealjuice]

We probably won't ever know Bagley's real measurements, since it's a safe bet he follows suit with top prospects from the last few years and doesn't attend the combine. I doubt any measurements you find on him online are going to be accurate either though. The only measurements I've found are from when he was measured at 6'10.5" in shoes with a 7' wingspan, but that was 4 years ago at a USA camp. He may not have grown a ton, but I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't get any taller/longer since turning 15. Never know though.

[Damkac]

Bagley is a fine pick up if you have a Gobert or a Deandre Jordan or even a motivated Drummond to help him.

He's Bosh version 2 in my opinion.

I actually think Bagley would be best next to a stretch 5 like Horford, Porzingis, or Gasol. Would give him spacing so he can crash to the hoop and play quasi-center. I wouldn't want him next to a center who can't space the floor. For those reasons I think he would be a good fit next to Bender if Bender continues progressing like he has.

I was going to say that if Bender would add muscles so he can guard centers, he and Bagley may be a good fit. Bender gives shooting and defense, Bagley gives rebounding and inside scoring.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Need to get shooters around Bagley let him work in the paint.

[darealjuice]

I still haven't quite jumped on board the "JJJ as a Top 3 Prospect" train yet. It feels like we'd be taking another project on. His efficiency on offense has been elite, it's just the way he scores doesn't make me feel like he has a very developed game on that end. I also feel like he hasn't done it against top competition, as he has scored 5 points or under in 3 of their 4 matchups against ranked teams this year, and the game he scored 19 against #1 Duke was a pre-season tournament game where Bagley got injured mid-way through the first half.

The release on his shot isn't too bad, but I think he's only going to be a spot-up shooter until he figures out how to shoot without leaning and jumping forward like 2 feet. He gets a ton of wide open shots with that team, and I've seen his form get really thrown off when he doesn't have a good amount of space to shoot. He's also only made 3 unassisted jump shots all season according to hoop-math, so he probably isn't the most comfortable pulling up off the dribble when he gets chased off the 3 point line. I do like that he's shown a little bit of handle and slashing from the mid-range/perimeter, but I've rarely seen him do anything that wasn't straight line driving left with a spin back to his right to shoot when he can't get directly to the rim. I don't doubt that he can develop an offensive game, just that he's probably going to be more spot up shooting and energy plays for the first few years on that end.

His upside on defense is huge though. That combination of length, mobility, and shot blocking is only matched by Bamba for potential centers. However, his rebounding rate worries me compared to the other big men, especially considering our big men aren't great rebounders either, and I don't like that his foul problems have been a big reason why he's not able to be on the court more than 22 minutes per game. I like him a lot for a project and wouldn't shy away from drafting him if he was the best option left on the board, but sometimes it almost seems like people here feel like JJJ will have a smooth transition because his dad was a pro and Booker's dad was also a pro.

[darealjuice]

Read on Twitter

Exciting news, Porter cleared for all basketball activities. Hope we get to see him on the court this season!

[thamadkant]

I still haven't quite jumped on board the "JJJ as a Top 3 Prospect" train yet. It feels like we'd be taking another project on. His efficiency on offense has been elite, it's just the way he scores doesn't make me feel like he has a very developed game on that end. I also feel like he hasn't done it against top competition, as he has scored 5 points or under in 3 of their 4 matchups against ranked teams this year, and the game he scored 19 against #1 Duke was a pre-season tournament game where Bagley got injured mid-way through the first half.

The release on his shot isn't too bad, but I think he's only going to be a spot-up shooter until he figures out how to shoot without leaning and jumping forward like 2 feet. He gets a ton of wide open shots with that team, and I've seen his form get really thrown off when he doesn't have a good amount of space to shoot. He's also only made 3 unassisted jump shots all season according to hoop-math, so he probably isn't the most comfortable pulling up off the dribble when he gets chased off the 3 point line. I do like that he's shown a little bit of handle and slashing from the mid-range/perimeter, but I've rarely seen him do anything that wasn't straight line driving left with a spin back to his right to shoot when he can't get directly to the rim. I don't doubt that he can develop an offensive game, just that he's probably going to be more spot up shooting and energy plays for the first few years on that end.

His upside on defense is huge though. That combination of length, mobility, and shot blocking is only matched by Bamba for potential centers. However, his rebounding rate worries me compared to the other big men, especially considering our big men aren't great rebounders either, and I don't like that his foul problems have been a big reason why he's not able to be on the court more than 22 minutes per game. I like him a lot for a project and wouldn't shy away from drafting him if he was the best option left on the board, but sometimes it almost seems like people here feel like JJJ will have a smooth transition because his dad was a pro and Booker's dad was also a pro.

JJJ is a project... He's like Chriss but he's way way longer and higher ceiling But he needs a lot of physical development to get there against big NBA players.


If Suns can get a veteran big FA... JJJ would be ideal to bring off the bench... But he won't be a real impact player until after 2 years in the NBA IMO

[Mulhollanddrive]

Awesome news about Michael Porter hope he gets to play.

[Saberestar]

Read on Twitter

Exciting news, Porter cleared for all basketball activities. Hope we get to see him on the court this season!

He can be the #1 pick in the draft. He has it all. 6'10, long, athletic, great shooter, good ball handler and he plays hard.

I didn't expect to watch him healthy this early, great news for the draft.

[kennydorglas]

Jontay seems like the player to look with MPJr coming back early.
His assists will go way up with an efficient scorer next to him.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Jontay seems like the player to look with MPJr coming back early.
His assists will go way up with an efficient scorer next to him.

We could draft both of them with 4 and 15...

Lon Babby alert!!

[Blonde]

I really believe Michael Porter will be the best player in this class. I'm almost nervous he'll look too good and be off the board when we're picking.

[kennydorglas]

Jontay seems like the player to look with MPJr coming back early.
His assists will go way up with an efficient scorer next to him.

We could draft both of them with 4 and 15...

Lon Babby alert!!

Cant draft the wrong brother if you got both of them.

[sunsbum]

I still haven't quite jumped on board the "JJJ as a Top 3 Prospect" train yet. It feels like we'd be taking another project on. His efficiency on offense has been elite, it's just the way he scores doesn't make me feel like he has a very developed game on that end. I also feel like he hasn't done it against top competition, as he has scored 5 points or under in 3 of their 4 matchups against ranked teams this year, and the game he scored 19 against #1 Duke was a pre-season tournament game where Bagley got injured mid-way through the first half.

The release on his shot isn't too bad, but I think he's only going to be a spot-up shooter until he figures out how to shoot without leaning and jumping forward like 2 feet. He gets a ton of wide open shots with that team, and I've seen his form get really thrown off when he doesn't have a good amount of space to shoot. He's also only made 3 unassisted jump shots all season according to hoop-math, so he probably isn't the most comfortable pulling up off the dribble when he gets chased off the 3 point line. I do like that he's shown a little bit of handle and slashing from the mid-range/perimeter, but I've rarely seen him do anything that wasn't straight line driving left with a spin back to his right to shoot when he can't get directly to the rim. I don't doubt that he can develop an offensive game, just that he's probably going to be more spot up shooting and energy plays for the first few years on that end.

His upside on defense is huge though. That combination of length, mobility, and shot blocking is only matched by Bamba for potential centers. However, his rebounding rate worries me compared to the other big men, especially considering our big men aren't great rebounders either, and I don't like that his foul problems have been a big reason why he's not able to be on the court more than 22 minutes per game. I like him a lot for a project and wouldn't shy away from drafting him if he was the best option left on the board, but sometimes it almost seems like people here feel like JJJ will have a smooth transition because his dad was a pro and Booker's dad was also a pro.

Yea I don't really get how he jumped so high all of a sudden. To be fair I havent really watched him too much yet only because from the highlights that I have actually watched I didn't come away to terribly impressed. For me If we fall outside of the top 4 or so I'm on board with drafting Bamba. I know people are worried about his skinny base but his shot altering is going to be game changing. I like his rebounding, which we are going to have to replace with Len leaving and TC inevitably moving on sometime soon. He will eventually be able to stretch the floor with decent 3pt shooting (I like where his shot mechanics are) and seems to be able to put the ball on the floor. Will he be a project? Of course, but I think from day 1 he can come in and make a defensive impact.

[Kerrsed]

I think this guys mock is pretty spot on for the current standings.

Watch on YouTube

[thamadkant]

I like Michael Porter... And when and if healthy... Is tied with Ayton as safest pick.

Would not be upset at all if Suns draft him. He can be the PF of the future... Hybrid forward anyways.

Would love a Payton, Booker, Jackson, Porter core
With Warren off the bench or traded for a big man. Have Bender OR Chriss backing up the front court... Only if Drummond would be back in the market... He would be perfect next to that 4.