SI.com Big Board 1.05. Deni Avdija, G, Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Height: 6’8” | Weight: 210
Avdija is an exceptionally gifted playmaker who cemented his worth as a top prospect in this class with a strong showing at Basketball Without Borders back in February, winning MVP of the event and demonstrating an extremely advanced feel for passing, particularly for an 18-year-old. The hope is that he’ll get a bigger role with Maccabi’s senior team next season, and a better platform and greater challenge, but he’s good enough off the dribble at his size that it feels like point guard might be his best long-term position on offense. Avdija can pass with both hands and at different angles on the move, understands how to use ball screens, facilitates transition play naturally, and seems to be coming along at the right time, with NBA offenses fully embracing bigger, unorthodox playmakers, and with an emphasis on skill sets over traditional position structures.
Although Avdija isn’t a high-end athlete, he should at least be able to add a significant amount of upper body strength, and he has a good enough feel for team defense that he should be able to hold his own. He will have to improve as a finisher in traffic, but he’s good operating in space and can knock down set threes comfortably. He’ll have to continue improving his already-solid craft and change of pace off the dribble to survive in the faster-paced NBA, as he won’t get by purely on size or athletic ability. Regardless, Avdija is clearly one of the best players in his age group anywhere, and has the ability to be a strong all-around contributor at the NBA level down the line. In what’s shaping up to be a thin draft at the top, he has a chance to be one of the bigger prizes available if his growth continues.
2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
- Jamaaliver
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Re: 2020 Draft
An intriguiing prospect for next summer:
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
I guess I'll repost this here since we already had a thread: 2020 Draft Primer
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A quick primer: so , it’s been said that there’s no “Zion” or generational prospect at the top of the 2020 draft, but generally speaking it’s considered a slightly deeper class than 2019. The domestic talent is about the same, but there is a much deeper pool of international prospects likely to declare which makes the draft higher in quality .
In general there seems to be a run on combo guards/lead initiators at the top of this years draft boards so the Wiz could be looking at potentially adding a dynamite talent 3rd guard or possibly a future Wall/Beal replacement.
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Below is Sam Vecenie’s current top 30 Big board (I can provide a blurb about any of the prospects upon request)
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A quick primer: so , it’s been said that there’s no “Zion” or generational prospect at the top of the 2020 draft, but generally speaking it’s considered a slightly deeper class than 2019. The domestic talent is about the same, but there is a much deeper pool of international prospects likely to declare which makes the draft higher in quality .
In general there seems to be a run on combo guards/lead initiators at the top of this years draft boards so the Wiz could be looking at potentially adding a dynamite talent 3rd guard or possibly a future Wall/Beal replacement.
____________________________________________
Below is Sam Vecenie’s current top 30 Big board (I can provide a blurb about any of the prospects upon request)
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Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
Came to post Deni Avdija but it looks someone already got around to him. If Wall indeed comes back and can be a solid player for us, I like him a lot to fill out the other forward spot with Rui
Re: 2020 Draft
- closg00
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Re: 2020 Draft
Evidently, FO's are salivating at the 2022 draft class
https://sports.yahoo.com/why-the-2022-nba-draft-will-be-generationally-loaded-022747270.html
https://sports.yahoo.com/why-the-2022-nba-draft-will-be-generationally-loaded-022747270.html
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
Tyrese Haliburton from Iowa State is another sophomore guard, like Dosunmu.
7/3/4 on 33mpg, 9% usage, 67 TS%, 4.46 AST/TO ratio, 43 3P% on 3 attempts per game. 10.3 BPM compared to Horton-Tuckers 4.6 BPM. 138 ORtg 102 DRtg. Previous year Iowa State went 13-18, this season went 23-12 and won the Big 12 Championship game against Kansas. Haliburton was with the u19 team this summer that won the FIBA world cup gold and he was named to the all-star five of the tournament. He's listed at 6'5, 170 lbs so he's lithe. Reminds me of a mix of Otto Porter and Tomas Satoransky.
Sports Illustrated entry about him being ranked their 16th best prospect
He's #4 at FIBA, #22 at Iowa State (low quality gifs)
Driving
Cutting
Passing
Playing passing lanes
Shooting
He's got some uncanny court vision + pinpoint accuracy on his passes. His frame may be an issue in the NBA. His set shot is a lot like Sato's. Haliburton and Dosunmu could end up overlooked sophomores in a freshman/international heavy draft.
7/3/4 on 33mpg, 9% usage, 67 TS%, 4.46 AST/TO ratio, 43 3P% on 3 attempts per game. 10.3 BPM compared to Horton-Tuckers 4.6 BPM. 138 ORtg 102 DRtg. Previous year Iowa State went 13-18, this season went 23-12 and won the Big 12 Championship game against Kansas. Haliburton was with the u19 team this summer that won the FIBA world cup gold and he was named to the all-star five of the tournament. He's listed at 6'5, 170 lbs so he's lithe. Reminds me of a mix of Otto Porter and Tomas Satoransky.
Sports Illustrated entry about him being ranked their 16th best prospect
We first listed Haliburton as a Top-30 player on the Big Board back in January, and while he made a wise choice returning to school to work on his body and his handle, he has legitimate early first-round potential if he can make the transition to being a full-time point guard. He’s an exceptionally intelligent and natural playmaker who facilitates within the flow of the game, and was the key to Iowa State’s offense running smoothly last season despite rarely attempting to score. His shooting mechanics need some work, and it’s unclear how much of a scorer he can be right now, but Haliburton’s innate knack for making decisions, blowing up plays on defense and contributing directly toward winning basketball is extremely rare. This is an optimistic ranking, banking on him taking the necessary steps forward to be more than just a very good role-playing off-guard, but it could also end up being too low if everything clicks. I’m willing to bet that it will.
He's #4 at FIBA, #22 at Iowa State (low quality gifs)
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He's got some uncanny court vision + pinpoint accuracy on his passes. His frame may be an issue in the NBA. His set shot is a lot like Sato's. Haliburton and Dosunmu could end up overlooked sophomores in a freshman/international heavy draft.
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
Bleacher ReportScouting Biggest Weakness of Every Top 2020 Prospect
Deni Avdija (Israel, SF/PF, 2001)
Weakness to monitor: Athletic limitations mixed with erratic shooting touch
Among 2020 prospects, 6'9" combo forward/point wing Deni Avdija has had arguably the best July, as he was named MVP of the U20 European Championships after carrying Israel to a gold medal. From his size to skill versatility and basketball IQ, he checks boxes across the board with statistical production to back them up.
Avdija doesn't have one standout weakness; instead, it's a mix of limited athleticism and up-and-down shooting touch that raise questions about his NBA upside.
At 215 pounds, he's not always adept at finishing through contact inside, and he lacks explosiveness in the lane, leading to lower-percentage finishing attempts or tough pull-ups.
And despite being a dangerous shot-maker around the perimeter, his touch isn't always there. This month, he shot 28.6 percent from three and 60.0 percent from the line. Last year in 51 games with Maccabi Tel Aviv, between pro and junior leagues, he shot 27.7 percent from three and 51.2 percent from the line.
His tools, well-rounded game and success overseas point to a high floor. Whether he settles into the NBA as a role player or blows up into a star may come down to his scoring efficiency in traffic and shooting consistency.
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
prime1time wrote:Also, I might be the outlier, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Wiz make the playoffs. I think Brad is just starting to scratch the surface of his potential. He's already mastered the hard stuff. Improving ball handling, attacking the rim etc. Now he can focus just on the logic of the game. I.E. drawing fouls, shooting more 3's off the dribble like Harden etc. I expect Beal to have a monster year. And as Beal foes, the Wizards go.
Also, one thing we know for sure is that the Wiz want high character, professional hard working guys. So if anyone has questions about work ethic or passion for the game, we can pretty much assume we won't be drafting them.
I’m not one to keep score. I’ve had a gazillion bad takes over the year but this is rainbows flying out of a cows backside crazy to me. This team is going to be really bad. The only question is in scale?18-22 wins bad or a more typical 27-33 win type lousy season. I kinda envy your hopefulness, reminds me of that Wilde line: “We all are in the gutter. But some of us are looking at the stars.”
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Re: 2020 Draft
The Consiglieri wrote:prime1time wrote:Also, I might be the outlier, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Wiz make the playoffs. I think Brad is just starting to scratch the surface of his potential. He's already mastered the hard stuff. Improving ball handling, attacking the rim etc. Now he can focus just on the logic of the game. I.E. drawing fouls, shooting more 3's off the dribble like Harden etc. I expect Beal to have a monster year. And as Beal foes, the Wizards go.
Also, one thing we know for sure is that the Wiz want high character, professional hard working guys. So if anyone has questions about work ethic or passion for the game, we can pretty much assume we won't be drafting them.
I’m not one to keep score. I’ve had a gazillion bad takes over the year but this is rainbows flying out of a cows backside crazy to me. This team is going to be really bad. The only question is in scale?18-22 wins bad or a more typical 27-33 win type lousy season. I kinda envy your hopefulness, reminds me of that Wilde line: “We all are in the gutter. But some of us are looking at the stars.”
Well, I think that a team can be greater than the individual sum of their parts when everyone knows their role. I'm high on Rui. I expect Thomas Bryant to come back a tad bit better than he was last year. And the same for Troy. And I love the additions we made in the offseason: IT, Bertans and Isn Smith. In addition, I expect Beal to take another step forward. As I posted in his thread, he's already done the hard part. Now he just needs to refine it. Draw more fouls, take more 3's etc. Add that all together, and I think we can be a playoff team.
To be honest, that really isn't that outlandish. Before we tanked at the end of the season we were only 3 or 4 games out and that included the disastrous start to the season where we were losing to teams that we had no business losing to. The roster we had last year was more talented, but this team fits better and is young and hungry. So like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if the Wiz make the playoffs. Can you really look at a team like the Magic and say that they are clearly better than us? Or the Pistons? Charlotte, Knicks and Cavs will clearly not make it. You have young teams like the Hawks and the Bulls who are talented, but have shown nothing to suggest that they know how to win. Then you have the Wiz, Heat, Pistons and Magic. Wiz will definitely be competing for a playoff spot.
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
I still think this is going to be an draft that has an international flavor as well... I wonder how our international scouts are doing?
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Re: 2020 Draft
prime1time wrote:To be honest, that really isn't that outlandish. Before we tanked at the end of the season we were only 3 or 4 games out and that included the disastrous start to the season where we were losing to teams that we had no business losing to. The roster we had last year was more talented, but this team fits better and is young and hungry. So like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if the Wiz make the playoffs. Can you really look at a team like the Magic and say that they are clearly better than us? Or the Pistons? Charlotte, Knicks and Cavs will clearly not make it. You have young teams like the Hawks and the Bulls who are talented, but have shown nothing to suggest that they know how to win. Then you have the Wiz, Heat, Pistons and Magic. Wiz will definitely be competing for a playoff spot.
If you struggle to defend it helps if you at least rebound the ball at a decent clip.
The Wizards didn't do either last year and they haven't done anything in the offseason to credibly address those issues.
You can make an argument that the Wizards clearly got worse in both of those categories.
It'll take a MIP type season from Bryant and a ROTY type season from Hachimura along with a few more dominos falling to push this squad into 40 win territory.
You're right, the Wizards making the playoffs isn't outlandish, it's absurd.
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
Gonna be a long year for prime1time, I fear.
TBH if Bryant were to qualify for the MIP, you might as well give him the MVP! He can't get significantly better than he was. If you think of him as having been a rookie last year (i.e. despite 72 minutes the previous season), he was the 2d best in the league behind Mitchell Robinson.
The idea that Hachimura will compete for ROY is also a pipe dream. 25 wins will be a good season. We are starting over. We bring back 5 out of 15 players. One of them is injured, one of them is pretty much useless, & that leaves Troy Brown along w/ Bryant & Beal.
Everyone else is either a young & raw player or guys who are here for a year to fill a spot.
TBH if Bryant were to qualify for the MIP, you might as well give him the MVP! He can't get significantly better than he was. If you think of him as having been a rookie last year (i.e. despite 72 minutes the previous season), he was the 2d best in the league behind Mitchell Robinson.
The idea that Hachimura will compete for ROY is also a pipe dream. 25 wins will be a good season. We are starting over. We bring back 5 out of 15 players. One of them is injured, one of them is pretty much useless, & that leaves Troy Brown along w/ Bryant & Beal.
Everyone else is either a young & raw player or guys who are here for a year to fill a spot.
Breaking News: In a shocking development, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis has sold the NBA franchise to a consortium of participants in a discussion board devoted to the team on realgm.com. Details to follow....
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
payitforward wrote:TBH if Bryant were to qualify for the MIP, you might as well give him the MVP! He can't get significantly better than he was. If you think of him as having been a rookie last year (i.e. despite 72 minutes the previous season), he was the 2d best in the league behind Mitchell Robinson.
Bryant won't really need to improve much on a per minute basis to be in the running for MIP. MIP voters don't look at per minute numbers, they look at per game stats. If Bryant gets 32 minutes a night and produces at the same rate as last year but with modestly better defense, he's definitely an MIP candidate. He would average 16 points and 9.7 boards per game. There were only 11 guys in the league last year who averaged better than 16 and 9.7.
payitforward wrote:The idea that Hachimura will compete for ROY is also a pipe dream.
I don't think it's such a pipe dream, assuming we're not counting Zion. This was a fairly weak draft class, and many of the top players taken were role players like Hunter, Culver and Clarke, or they were very young, underweight, or raw like Morant, Garland, Hayes and Barrett.
It's unlikely that Hachimura pans out to be a top 3 player in this draft 10 years from now, but we're talking about one year from now. The fact that he is already pretty polished and has legit grown man size and strength gives him a leg up over most in this draft class. It also helps that he is likely to be a scorer, and scorers typically get overrated in these types of awards.
payitforward wrote:25 wins will be a good season. We are starting over. We bring back 5 out of 15 players. One of them is injured, one of them is pretty much useless, & that leaves Troy Brown along w/ Bryant & Beal.
Everyone else is either a young & raw player or guys who are here for a year to fill a spot.
I agree with this. Though I think 25 wins will be a little less than what I would consider "good". I'd say 32 wins would be a good season, 28 is about what I would expect, and 25 would be mildly disappointing.
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Re: 2020 Draft
Lol yeah, Rui in the ROY race is not a pipe dream he should be right there in the mix
Did he not just average 20/9 on 60 TS% last season for an elite college team , and land runner-up NPOY behind Zion Williamson?
Rui and Zion are probably the most NBA-ready lotto prospects in this class, in terms of guys who can step in immediately and put up consistent production. Particularly in the ppg category which is historically what the ROY voters look at.
Did he not just average 20/9 on 60 TS% last season for an elite college team , and land runner-up NPOY behind Zion Williamson?
Rui and Zion are probably the most NBA-ready lotto prospects in this class, in terms of guys who can step in immediately and put up consistent production. Particularly in the ppg category which is historically what the ROY voters look at.
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
Real GM2020 NBA Draft Prospects: Point Guards
Anthony Edwards (Ranked 2nd, Georgia, 17 year old, 6’5’’, 225 LBS)
From a superstar-potential standpoint, Edwards will probably be the most appealing prospect in next year’s draft. Given his frame and style of play, he is likely to draw comparisons to Russell Westbrook and James Harden as a strong scoring guard who can be viewed as a lead ball-handler.
Edwards has shown the ability to be a very good isolation scorer with a smooth pull-up package – getting shots up off the dribble via step-backs, hang dribbles, jab steps and between-the-legs dribbles.
He looks comfortable operating in side pick-and-roll as well – either getting to his spots for mid-range pull-ups or making basic reads hitting the roll man over the top or with well-timed pocket passes.
Edwards is not a speedster with the ball, but he has shown some side-to-side quickness and relies on his strong frame to play through contact. Though he is shown explosive leaping ability off one foot in transition, Edwards most often looks to gallop into two-foot leaps in the half-court.
He should be quite capable of spacing the floor off the ball as well, having shown a fluid catch-and-shoot release with compact mechanics on spot-ups. Despite his low release, launching the ball from out in front, Edwards has flashed the ability to make contested jumpers with a defender closing out into his personal space.
Re: 2020 Draft
- daSwami
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Re: 2020 Draft
Dat2U wrote:With the way the roster is looking a top 7 pick is damn near guaranteed!
One could say the same about last season's roster.
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
Illmatic12 wrote:A quick primer: so , it’s been said that there’s no “Zion” or generational prospect at the top of the 2020 draft, but generally speaking it’s considered a slightly deeper class than 2019. The domestic talent is about the same, but there is a much deeper pool of international prospects likely to declare which makes the draft higher in quality .
In general there seems to be a run on combo guards/lead initiators at the top of this years draft boards so the Wiz could be looking at potentially adding a dynamite talent 3rd guard or possibly a future Wall/Beal replacement.
Seems like it's way too early for this type of declaration about the 2020 draft - Zion was not widely considered a generational prospect at this point last year. RJ Barett was ranked higher pretty frequently. Ja Morant was not on anyone's radar.
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
gtn130 wrote:Illmatic12 wrote:A quick primer: so , it’s been said that there’s no “Zion” or generational prospect at the top of the 2020 draft, but generally speaking it’s considered a slightly deeper class than 2019. The domestic talent is about the same, but there is a much deeper pool of international prospects likely to declare which makes the draft higher in quality .
In general there seems to be a run on combo guards/lead initiators at the top of this years draft boards so the Wiz could be looking at potentially adding a dynamite talent 3rd guard or possibly a future Wall/Beal replacement.
Seems like it's way too early for this type of declaration about the 2020 draft - Zion was not widely considered a generational prospect at this point last year. RJ Barett was ranked higher pretty frequently. Ja Morant was not on anyone's radar.
Agreed , I’m only going off of what scouts are saying as of now just to kick off the discussion. Obviously the thread will evolve as we get closer to the NCAA season and draft
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
I feel comfortable saying LaMelo Ball is a really good prospect. Based on the early mock drafts I think he's underrated. He's got a lot of skill for guy that's now 6-8?
Re: 2020 Draft
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Re: 2020 Draft
Dat2U wrote:I feel comfortable saying LaMelo Ball is a really good prospect. Based on the early mock drafts I think he's underrated. He's got a lot of skill for guy that's now 6-8?
Speaking of LaMelo, he signed with my local team
https://www.hawks.com.au/news/article/illawarra-hawks-sign-lamelo-ball
So I will be getting to as many games to see him in person as possible, and considering Wiz will likely have a shot at grabbing him in our draft range, perhaps ill even give a regular scouting update with box scores etc.
long suffrin' boulez fan wrote:NatP4 wrote:but why would the pacers want Mahinmi's contract
Well, in fairness, we took Mike Pence off their hands. Taking back Mahinmi is the least they can do.