2019-2020 College/Draft thread (Part 3)

[3toheadmelo]

So many hot takes..

[HEZI]

I would def draft young Amare. 19 year old Amare would be the #1 pick in this draft. Obi is not close to Amare. Not that he's bad, but hes not on that level. I would probably be disappointed if we took him though since i dont think he's the best player for us.

Would he really though? Because 19 year old Amare couldn't even get in the top 5 in his own draft and this is what his draft looked like

Yao Ming - 1st overall
Jay Williams - 2nd
Mike Dunleavy - 3rd
Drew Gooden - 4th
Nikolz Tshkitishvili - 5th
Dajuan Wagner - 6th
Nene - 7th
Chris Wilcox - 8th
Amare Stoudemire - 9th

Also, Amare wasn't shooting step back 3s and really came into the league raw but extremely athletic. Toppin looks more polished than Amare was when he first entered but that doesn't mean he's going to reach prime Amare level in the NBA but there is a possibility that he might especially if he gets paired up with the right PG.

Exactly and that brings me to an interesting observation.
We need a point guard and there are, according to the consensus here, 2 mayyyybeee 3 really good guards in the draft. Personally, I like Elfrid Payton over any of them. He's big, defensively tough and was possibly playing the best ball of his career at the end of the season, with a few big number triple doubles.

If Payton works and develops a 3 pointer, he'll be nice and ahead of the other flawed guards in this draft. There's where Toppin comes in.
If the mocks drift Obi Toppin to around 5-6 and we're there, we need to snatch this kid. He's scoring ability will translate and his defensive short comings addressed. With a team of Kenny Atkinson and Mike Miller, they can transform this kid by year 2 into a beast. He'll have to battle it out with Randle at the 4, but timing is just right. Either let Randle expire or move his nearly 20/10 game at the trading deadline and pick up another future 1st.
Slide Obi at the 4, let's see where Knox or RJ are with at the 3. Frank and Payton at the guards. Again, Payton HAS to work on that 3.

We need to upgrade from Elfrid Payton and this draft provides some nice opportunities to do so that's why I wouldn't really consider Obi unless we can instantly find him a PG that's better than what we have now. Also, Randle being in the mix only makes things worse, don't think we can move him that easily anytime soon. Would be nice though if we could.

[Chanel Bomber]

Read on Twitter

That Greg Anthony jersey is fire.

That's all I needed. I'm sold.

[Chanel Bomber]

Deni interview:

Watch on YouTube

Seems like a smart level-headed dude. Probably my favorite prospect in this draft, followed by Hayes, Edwards and Haliburton in no specific order. I don't know if it's because of the name or the hype but I think Cole has more in his bag.

[knickstape21]

Deni interview:

Watch on YouTube

Seems like a smart level-headed dude. Probably my favorite prospect in this draft, followed by Hayes, Edwards and Haliburton in no specific order. I don't know if it's because of the name or the hype but I think Cole has more in his bag.

Juancho Hernangomez.

[HEZI]

Deni interview:

Watch on YouTube

Seems like a smart level-headed dude. Probably my favorite prospect in this draft, followed by Hayes, Edwards and Haliburton in no specific order. I don't know if it's because of the name or the hype but I think Cole has more in his bag.

Juancho Hernangomez.

Probably the worst thing we could do with this pick is waste it on Deni Avdija

[HEZI]

Avdija is somebody I would look at with the 27th pick. With a lotto pick I'm not even looking at his direction. Not that I think he's going to be a bad or terrible NBA player, but give me a break he's not even a better prospect than Dzanan Musa was. It has to be the Luka Doncic syndrome that has people reaching hard for this kid now and it's a huge trap. He's not Luka, not even close, not even close to close!

[Juco24]

Avdija is somebody I would look at with the 27th pick. With a lotto pick I'm not even looking at his direction. Not that I think he's going to be a bad or terrible NBA player, but give me a break he's not even a better prospect than Dzanan Musa was. It has to be the Luka Doncic syndrome that has people reaching hard for this kid now and it's a huge trap. He's not Luka, not even close, not even close to close!

I don't see this kid falling outside the top 7... as I've stated I haven't watched this kid play as I really haven't watched Ball either but based on reading materials from experts like DXTankathon and watching draft profile vids, I think he's top 5 material. Definitely not Luka though (typ)

[Chanel Bomber]

Avdija is somebody I would look at with the 27th pick. With a lotto pick I'm not even looking at his direction. Not that I think he's going to be a bad or terrible NBA player, but give me a break he's not even a better prospect than Dzanan Musa was. It has to be the Luka Doncic syndrome that has people reaching hard for this kid now and it's a huge trap. He's not Luka, not even close, not even close to close!

Of course he's not Luka. Luka was basically Euro LeBron.

Just because Deni ain't Luka doesn't disqualify him as a worthy pick.

He's a hard-worker, with a nice looking jumper, a high basketball IQ and good athleticism on the break for a guy his size. The only concern, of course, is the FT shooting. Hard to tell if this season's numbers were an aberration or a real issue. The form looks good.

Not saying Deni is bust-proof either. But I definitely like him better than Lamelo, Obi or Wiseman. Not even close to close!

[sims]

Avdija is somebody I would look at with the 27th pick. With a lotto pick I'm not even looking at his direction. Not that I think he's going to be a bad or terrible NBA player, but give me a break he's not even a better prospect than Dzanan Musa was. It has to be the Luka Doncic syndrome that has people reaching hard for this kid now and it's a huge trap. He's not Luka, not even close, not even close to close!

he will be to luka what dragan bender is to KP and tskitishvili was to dirk

[newyorker4ever]

Actually I agree with that. If we're 8th and we have the opportunity to trade 8, 27, a dallas pick, up to top 4 to get you know who, I'm doing it

You would trade 3 1st round picks to move up 4 spots in this draft that doesn't have any super star type talent in it? I know there's guys with plenty of talent in this draft but every single one of them has at least one huge question mark about them. There's no Zion or Ja in this draft.

This is more a testament to how much confidence I have that LaMelo will be a great player. My reputation is on the line so come back and dunk on me if he sucks and I’ll own it, I’ve been wrong before I’ll be wrong again. I think ultimately he’ll be better than Ja Morant. And I loved Ja last year. Anyway, the 27th is pretty much a borderline 2nd and so will the Dallas pick. They will be very late 1sts. I’m not high enough on anybody who is supposedly going to be there in this draft at 27

Beyond that, we will eventually have too many young players on the team, we won’t be able to re-sign all of them and soon we will need to consolidate either the players or combine picks out of necessity

Just get me my PG man

Edit: Ja had question marks, some ppl questioned his ability to play defense and also his outside shooting, shooting form, ability to finish at the rim through contact and midrange floaters. A lot of the same questions you get with lamelo tbh. At the same time you can tell when a dude has some skills that can’t just be taught and both of those dudes have a special kind of vision

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?s=21

If i knew he would be Ja like then i'd be with you 100% on this cause i am and have been a huge Ja fan but i do not see the comparison in games with Ja and Ball at all. 1st round draft picks are always valuable no matter where they're at and for a team like the Knicks that can't draw the star players to sign with us in free agency, having those draft picks will be huge for trading for the next disgruntled star that wants out of their situation and you know they always pop up. I like Ball but i don't see a great fit with him and Barrett but i still don't think i'd pass him up if he was sitting there when we're on the clock and would just have to deal with if they did or didn't work together at another time. I just can't get behind trading 3 1st round picks to move up a few spots when it's such a heavy PG draft. I would rather draft a PG with our lottery pick and another one later to up the chance of hitting on at least one. I also don't see the Ja/Ball comparison.

[yo_penny1]

We need to try and go hard at Edwards, Wiseman or Ball, move up in the draft if we have to, I don't think anyone else will be franchise changing talent

[HEZI]

Avdija is somebody I would look at with the 27th pick. With a lotto pick I'm not even looking at his direction. Not that I think he's going to be a bad or terrible NBA player, but give me a break he's not even a better prospect than Dzanan Musa was. It has to be the Luka Doncic syndrome that has people reaching hard for this kid now and it's a huge trap. He's not Luka, not even close, not even close to close!

he will be to luka what dragan bender is to KP and tskitishvili was to dirk

This!

Happens all the time, it's a cycle.

I hope the Knicks stay away, stay far away

[Chanel Bomber]

Avdija is somebody I would look at with the 27th pick. With a lotto pick I'm not even looking at his direction. Not that I think he's going to be a bad or terrible NBA player, but give me a break he's not even a better prospect than Dzanan Musa was. It has to be the Luka Doncic syndrome that has people reaching hard for this kid now and it's a huge trap. He's not Luka, not even close, not even close to close!

he will be to luka what dragan bender is to KP and tskitishvili was to dirk

This!

Happens all the time, it's a cycle.

I hope the Knicks stay away, stay far away

Those are completely different situations. Avdija has dominated junior circuits and he's been a solid contributor in a professional league at 19 years old. More importantly, he seems way tougher than Bender and Tskitishvili who were both soft as cotton.

But we shall see. You may be right, I just disagree with the notion that he's being hyped because of Luka and that we're just looking at a pattern repeating itself. I'm not overly confident in him either, but in a weak draft, I'll take him over most of the guys currently projected top 10. Easily.

[robillionaire]

I would be more comfortable taking Avdija in the 10-15 range, I think he has talent and maybe the Luka effect has an impact as well but top 5 seems a little overrated to me. Might end up decent or might be Mario Hezonja

[blanko]

Avdija is somebody I would look at with the 27th pick. With a lotto pick I'm not even looking at his direction. Not that I think he's going to be a bad or terrible NBA player, but give me a break he's not even a better prospect than Dzanan Musa was. It has to be the Luka Doncic syndrome that has people reaching hard for this kid now and it's a huge trap. He's not Luka, not even close, not even close to close!

he will be to luka what dragan bender is to KP and tskitishvili was to dirk

I dont think he will be that bad. detlef schremp is a comp..

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[RHODEY]

Watch on YouTube

[HEZI]

he will be to luka what dragan bender is to KP and tskitishvili was to dirk

This!

Happens all the time, it's a cycle.

I hope the Knicks stay away, stay far away

Those are completely different situations. Avdija has dominated junior circuits and he's been a solid contributor in a professional league at 19 years old. More importantly, he seems way tougher than Bender and Tskitishvili who were both soft as cotton.

But we shall see. You may be right, I just disagree with the notion that he's being hyped because of Luka and that we're just looking at a pattern repeating itself. I'm not overly confident in him either, but in a weak draft, I'll take him over most of the guys currently projected top 10. Easily.

You can like him easily all you want but the issue isn't liking him, the issue is actually believing that it's a weak draft to reach for a player like him with a lotto pick. He's done nothing nor shown anything to be some "easy" pick over prospects that are leaps and bounds better than him. You liking him is, well, just a preference. No problem with that but sorry I'm just not sold

[HEZI]

https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/players/deni-avdija-1/gamelog/2020/euroleague/

And he's just going to jump in the NBA and take off? Or is he going to be somebody we keep talking about as a kid with potential for the next 5 years? Preaching patience with him?

Sorry, not this year.

[knicksNOTslick]

Read on Twitter

That Greg Anthony jersey is fire.

That's all I needed. I'm sold.

The Knicks announcer doesn't even need to come up with a new way to say his name. Just say it like he said it for Melo.