2020 2nd Round Draft Pick(s)

[WizarDynasty]

From main draft thread....

Abdoulaye N’Doye -- a 6'7" 2-3 with a 7'2" wingspan....???? Likely goes undrafted -- anyone looked at him?

Standing reach is more important than wingspan. Wingspan is important for shooting guards and point guards. Forwards and Centers need standing reach for rebounds.
NIck young had a 7'0 wingspan and 8'4 standing reach. We needed nick young to have a 8'11 standing reach. Huge Grunfeld blunder. Worse rebounding guard in history of franchise.
Always, always, always demand standing reach.

Wait, but you just said it's wingspan that's important for shooting guards (and I agree with you, btw), and Young was a shooting guard.

Danger Will Robinson! Danger!

Yeah but when you have a guy with a slow first step, he needs to be elite in all the other categories, especially standing reach. Nick Young had a slow first step.

[doclinkin]

Nate Hinton is likely to go in the 2d half of R2. Off the numbers & the video, he looks like a can't miss NBA player to me:

Watch on YouTube

Thoughts?

The only thing I dislike about Nate HInton is that you noticed him before me. Love that kid. He's got charisma and toughness and all the glue guy skills that make a team love playing the game together night in and night out.

[TGW]

Dude is a psychopath on the boards and on defense. Nice find pif.

[nate33]

I'll just chime in here to point out that only 3 players in the past 12 years picked lower than 46 have done anything in the NBA before first being waived: Isaiah Thomas, Kyle O'Quinn, and Monte Morris. 3 guys out of 168 players. And only one of them was starting caliber.

If we are going to buy a pick, it better be in the upper half of the second round. Late second round picks merely take up a roster spot we should be using to try out G-League guys. At least G-Leaguers have some professional experience and can often step into an NBA game and fill a role. I'd rather have Jordan McRae or Gary Payton II than the 53rd pick in the draft.

This is an extremely useful corrective, nate. But, you've missed a few -- &, to me, they point to the fact that the curve might not be smooth. I.e. opportunity is available to the sharp-eyed.

2d half of R2 in 2018 -- the names I'd call attention to are:

#46 DeAnthony Melton -- a terrific player on his way to a long, productive NBA career
#47 Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk -- played 1265 minutes this year
#48 Keita Bates-Diop -- a solid journeyman in the making it would seem
#49 Chimezie Metu -- hasn't played a lot (but quite well in his low minutes). SA is said to be very high on him.
#54 Shake Milton -- another terrific player on his way to a long, productive NBA career.

This doesn't make your overall point any less valid -- not in the slightest! But it does indicate that some drafts seem to be stocked in R2 & others not.

It's a little too early to tell for those guys. I'll grant you that Shake Milton looks like he might be an NBA keeper - at least as a bench scorer. The rest of those guys, I dunno. DeAnthony Melton can't shoot. Mykhailiuk got his minutes on a horrific team that was playing out the string. His defensive numbers are awful. Bates-Diop posted mediocre numbers on a bad team. He may pan out to be a "solid journeyman", but that's not worth an asset. A journeyman at his level is a guy you can grab any summer for the vet minimum, so he is valueless as an asset. We don't know enough about Metu to opine.

With the exception of Shake Melton, I am far from certain any of those guys will be earn more than the vet minimum on their second contract, if they stick around for a second contract at all.

[nate33]

Nate Hinton is likely to go in the 2d half of R2. Off the numbers & the video, he looks like a can't miss NBA player to me:

Watch on YouTube

Thoughts?

The only thing I dislike about Nate HInton is that you noticed him before me. Love that kid. He's got charisma and toughness and all the glue guy skills that make a team love playing the game together night in and night out.

He looks really good! NBA body. Nice, high release on his shot with minimal windup. Respectable shooting percentages for a freshman. Reportedly 6-5 with a 6-9 wingspan. And he rebounds like a maniac. Heck, he even has some nice shifty dribble drive moves on those video clips. Why isn't he a 1st round prospect?

Here's a breakdown from The Stepien

[doclinkin]

Nate Hinton is likely to go in the 2d half of R2. Off the numbers & the video, he looks like a can't miss NBA player to me:

Watch on YouTube

Thoughts?

The only thing I dislike about Nate HInton is that you noticed him before me. Love that kid. He's got charisma and toughness and all the glue guy skills that make a team love playing the game together night in and night out.

He looks really good! NBA body. Nice, high release on his shot with minimal windup. Respectable shooting percentages for a freshman. Reportedly 6-5 with a 6-9 wingspan. And he rebounds like a maniac. Heck, he even has some nice shifty dribble drive moves on those video clips. Why isn't he a 1st round prospect?

Here's a breakdown from The Stepien

Yeah he popped up on one of my searches for defensive rebounding guards. They tend to do well in the league (KCP et al). Then when I was about to post on him I saw PIF had beaten me to it. I noticed him in a similar search as a freshman, but he slipped out of my memory.

[WizarDynasty]

the biggest problem i see with his form is that he can't dip his hip downward and at the same time rise his elbow. He tries adjust his elbow and as he is rising. His hip bend into his jumper is really stiff, and he can't arch his back before rising into his jumper. He does have some potential to improve and he has good energy. I would like to see more vertical explosion off one foot jumps.

[wall_glizzy]

It's a little too early to tell for those guys. I'll grant you that Shake Milton looks like he might be an NBA keeper - at least as a bench scorer. The rest of those guys, I dunno. DeAnthony Melton can't shoot. Mykhailiuk got his minutes on a horrific team that was playing out the string. His defensive numbers are awful. Bates-Diop posted mediocre numbers on a bad team. He may pan out to be a "solid journeyman", but that's not worth an asset. A journeyman at his level is a guy you can grab any summer for the vet minimum, so he is valueless as an asset. We don't know enough about Metu to opine.

With the exception of Shake Melton, I am far from certain any of those guys will be earn more than the vet minimum on their second contract, if they stick around for a second contract at all.

Generally agree, especially with the helpful asset management / roster-building axiom that a "solid journeyman" is by definition someone who will be available in any given offseason. However, Melton will absolutely be getting more than a minimum in RFA this offseason, and deservedly so. He's a defensive pest in the mold of Kris Dunn (who I admit I'm all the way in the tank for), with a lot more ability - both demonstrated and potential, due to his younger age - as an auxiliary playmaker, overperforming rebounder, and basically every other skill teams want from their role players nowadays. The one downside, as you mention, is the shooting - with that, you just have to hope. He's 22 though, with no glaring red flags in that arena - he's fine as a free throw shooter (and got to the line at a great rate this year), and isn't hesitating to shoot threes when given the opportunity. He's probably not our guy, but he's definitely someone worth betting on.

As he pertains to this conversation, though, it should be mentioned that he was almost assuredly going to be drafted in the first round until he got caught up in some kind of NCAA violation around taking money to sign with a certain agent. As a result, he missed his entire sophomore season, after which he entered the draft.

[payitforward]

Melton is a strong defender. I'd bet on him to have a good career. Ditto his semi-cousin Milton.

Nate's point is still a solid one. & my point is only that, even if the exception proves the rule... it's still nice to grab that bargain exception for your team!

For whatever reason, this year's R2 looks exceptionally deep/strong. Makes it fun to search among those guys is all.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

2nd Round Killian Tillie is still my guy. There are quite a lot of players I like that look like they could be there, but Killie would be a perfect fit.

[Ruzious]

2nd Round Killian Tillie is still my guy. There are quite a lot of players I like that look like they could be there, but Killie would be a perfect fit.

His measurements were really bad - 6'8 wingspan and over 12% body fat% even though he was just 222 lbs.

[Ruzious]

Melton is a strong defender. I'd bet on him to have a good career. Ditto his semi-cousin Milton.

Nate's point is still a solid one. & my point is only that, even if the exception proves the rule... it's still nice to grab that bargain exception for your team!

For whatever reason, this year's R2 looks exceptionally deep/strong. Makes it fun to search among those guys is all.

I like Melton, but he's gotta stay healthy and develop a 3 point shot - which were both issues when he was in college.

[payitforward]

Melton played almost 1200 minutes this last season, so maybe he doesn't have a "stay healthy" issue any more?

Melton's overall numbers this year were really outstanding. Of course he'd be even better if he became a good scorer. This is true of any player & any aspect of the game. But Melton is so good at other things that he is, overall, an extremely effective player.

[doclinkin]

Markus Howard would be fun in the G-League or as a 2-way player who can add scoring punch and range. If we picked up a late pick it'd be worth it to help as a practice guy who can force our defenders to guard the perimeter. I like that occasionally the teams have combined practice with the GoGo. As a senior he'd be coming in with experience and leadership ability for the G-squad. Unrattled when he gets his chances in the bigs.

[doclinkin]

I like Yoeli Childs as well, as a smooth shooting outside big with enough athleticism and skill to do work on the interior. A bit footslow so his perimeter D may suffer, but he has actual skill, footwork and moves on offense, I expect he would pick up a team scheme on D and make it work.

[doclinkin]

Too bad Keyontae Johnson is staying in school, he looks like he would have been a steal. Smart of him I suppose to stay in school and improve his position.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I wouldn't mind Vernon Carey Jr or Daniel Oturu in the 2nd round.

[bsilver]

Omer Yertseven is too early to pick at 37, but I have a feeling that he'll end up having a good NBA career. He's a good 3 point shooter, but Patrick Ewing insisted he become a post player after transferring to Georgetown. He's got good size and is a decent rebounder and defender. His future is as a stretch-5.

If we don't pick a big man at 9 or 37, maybe we could get him late 2nd round or undrafted. One way or another we need to upgrade over Wagner and AP, neither of which is NBA caliber.

A few years ago I had an interesting basketball conversation with a young server at a Starbucks in Istanbul. He said I made his day by having a chance to talk NBA. There's a lot of passionate fans in Turkey.

[payitforward]

In the longshot mode -- how about Austin Wiley? Not going to be drafted despite getting 17+ boards per 40 minutes at Auburn.

[Ruzious]

In the longshot mode -- how about Austin Wiley? Not going to be drafted despite getting 17+ boards per 40 minutes at Auburn.

He's a dinosaur - probably won't be drafted. Slow and unskilled power player. He could have been successful in the 70's. See how he does in the G League the next 2 years.