Draft Thread Part 2

[Reeko]

I don't think he was ever top 3. I remember Top 10. But even with the injury, OG was mocked into the low teens, tho' BR had him at #27 or so.

Always love re-watching this. Ya gotta be good to be lucky. And in 2016-2017, Masai & Co. were very good.

Watch on YouTube

It's crazy that we got a top 5 player from that draft, while drafting at 23. Only guys that are definitively better than OG at this point are Tatum, Mitchell and Adebayo. I rate him ahead of guys like Collins and Isaac, personally.

OG is definitely in the top five or six. I still have Fox ahead of him because Sacramento built their offense around him and his speed and scoring could be franchise level. To me, OG and Isaac are very similar. Isaac before getting hurt was a top tier defender and emerging offensive player.

Back in the that draft period I remember people being skeptical of OG because of a number of things. OG was primarily a low minute bench guy for Indy who ended up starting and playing okay but got hurt. He was like a super sub that could take over a game with defense and a crazy dunk that would take the air out of the other team.

He was a guy Tom Crean only scouted because he was their to see another player, James Blackmon Jr. So he was this barely recruited, athletic freak with a super raw skillset coming off an knee surgery. No one even knew what his position would be, many thinking PF of C in the NBA because they didn't think he could score from outside well enough. He was such a bad freethrow shooter.

I remember posting that day of the draft thinking we were going to get OG. In the back of my mind I thought Kuzma would have been a safer pick, he was connected to Delon Wright and offered a good scoring package of skills, but OG was worth the wait and strangely enough he healed way faster than expected.

I forgot to mention Fox. Right now you're probably right, although I am concerned that it doesn't seem as though Fox has improved all that much. His percentages are at the same level more or less since his second year, the only thing that's gone up are his shot attempts. I think OG has the higher ceiling going forward, as he's shown significant growth every season, except for his second year.

[mademan]

hollinger being really excited about Alperen Şengün has me intrigued if we don't get into the top 4.

Kid's nice.But at 6'9, if youre a C, you better be crazy athletic, cause your not starting on a winning team at C if youre not

[Indeed]

I don't think he was ever top 3. I remember Top 10. But even with the injury, OG was mocked into the low teens, tho' BR had him at #27 or so.

Always love re-watching this. Ya gotta be good to be lucky. And in 2016-2017, Masai & Co. were very good.

Watch on YouTube

It's crazy that we got a top 5 player from that draft, while drafting at 23. Only guys that are definitively better than OG at this point are Tatum, Mitchell and Adebayo. I rate him ahead of guys like Collins and Isaac, personally.

OG is definitely in the top five or six. I still have Fox ahead of him because Sacramento built their offense around him and his speed and scoring could be franchise level. To me, OG and Isaac are very similar. Isaac before getting hurt was a top tier defender and emerging offensive player.

Back in the that draft period I remember people being skeptical of OG because of a number of things. OG was primarily a low minute bench guy for Indy who ended up starting and playing okay but got hurt. He was like a super sub that could take over a game with defense and a crazy dunk that would take the air out of the other team.

He was a guy Tom Crean only scouted because he was their to see another player, James Blackmon Jr. So he was this barely recruited, athletic freak with a super raw skillset coming off an knee surgery. No one even knew what his position would be, many thinking PF of C in the NBA because they didn't think he could score from outside well enough. He was such a bad freethrow shooter.

I remember posting that day of the draft thinking we were going to get OG. In the back of my mind I thought Kuzma would have been a safer pick, he was connected to Delon Wright and offered a good scoring package of skills, but OG was worth the wait and strangely enough he healed way faster than expected.

Not sure if NBADraft.net is accurate
2016 Nov: OG was 2nd round pick
http://web.archive.org/web/20161102225258/http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

2017 Jan: OG does not appear
http://web.archive.org/web/20170126045946/http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

2017 Apr: OG does not appear
http://web.archive.org/web/20170403063205/http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

2017 Jun: OG was 2nd round pick
http://web.archive.org/web/20170614064028/http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

[Dalek]

All the things we love about OG back in the 2017 draft are there in Usman Garuba. Both around 6'8" with a 7'2" wingspan with pretty high motor and gritty defensive play with some emerging offensive skills. Like OG, I think Usman ends up picked in the early 20s and is a steal for some team.

[PhilBlackson]

If some people like Kevin Porter Jr's upside imo you should like Josh Christopher too.

[Dalek]

hollinger being really excited about Alperen Şengün has me intrigued if we don't get into the top 4.

Kid's nice.But at 6'9, if youre a C, you better be crazy athletic, cause your not starting on a winning team at C if youre not

After watching Jokic last night I can see how a contender can get away with not having an athletic C. A skilled seven footer like Jokic works because his size and skill are practically unstoppable. He had three or four moments yesterday where using his body and his high release point he just shot over our defenders. He was towering over OG, Birch and others and just shot over them when he wanted to. He also makes those amazing high low passes because he sees over defenses and he has a distinct advantage on his passing angle and tough.

I don't see the same type of release point for Alperin and his size is much more PF like. He has emulated a lot of the footwork of Jokic, but he doesn't have the size to fully realize the part that makes Jokic special. Also, I really think the lack of English will be a big setback for him.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

[GM89]

After watching Jokic last night I can see how a contender can get away with not having an athletic C. A skilled seven footer like Jokic works because his size and skill are practically unstoppable. He had three or four moments yesterday where using his body and his high release point he just shot over our defenders. He was towering over OG, Birch and others and just shot over them when he wanted to. He also makes those amazing high low passes because he sees over defenses and he has a distinct advantage on his passing angle and tough.

I don't see the same type of release point for Alperin and his size is much more PF like. He has emulated a lot of the footwork of Jokic, but he doesn't have the size to fully realize the part that makes Jokic special. Also, I really think the lack of English will be a big setback for him.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

New reports are saying Sengun current height is 6'10" which is ok for a C. We won't know for sure until they release official measurements.

[douggood]

All the things we love about OG back in the 2017 draft are there in Usman Garuba. Both around 6'8" with a 7'2" wingspan with pretty high motor and gritty defensive play with some emerging offensive skills. Like OG, I think Usman ends up picked in the early 20s and is a steal for some team.

i think he will move up some, late lotto even, he is already late teens in a many mock drafts.

[niQ]

After watching Jokic last night I can see how a contender can get away with not having an athletic C. A skilled seven footer like Jokic works because his size and skill are practically unstoppable. He had three or four moments yesterday where using his body and his high release point he just shot over our defenders. He was towering over OG, Birch and others and just shot over them when he wanted to. He also makes those amazing high low passes because he sees over defenses and he has a distinct advantage on his passing angle and tough.

I don't see the same type of release point for Alperin and his size is much more PF like. He has emulated a lot of the footwork of Jokic, but he doesn't have the size to fully realize the part that makes Jokic special. Also, I really think the lack of English will be a big setback for him.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

New reports are saying Sengun current height is 6'10" which is ok for a C. We won't know for sure until they release official measurements.

Read on Twitter

Just for comparison. Though, his hair kind makes it more mysterious.

[ATLTimekeeper]

All the things we love about OG back in the 2017 draft are there in Usman Garuba. Both around 6'8" with a 7'2" wingspan with pretty high motor and gritty defensive play with some emerging offensive skills. Like OG, I think Usman ends up picked in the early 20s and is a steal for some team.

i think he will move up some, late lotto even, he is already late teens in a many mock drafts.

Late lotto and early 20s isn't that big a stretch. But teams definitely overrate and fall in love with the Justice Winslow types, and they almost always end up providing just defense and little else.

The NBA is overloaded with guys that can sit in a corner.

[OAKLEY_2]

It's crazy that we got a top 5 player from that draft, while drafting at 23. Only guys that are definitively better than OG at this point are Tatum, Mitchell and Adebayo. I rate him ahead of guys like Collins and Isaac, personally.

OG is definitely in the top five or six. I still have Fox ahead of him because Sacramento built their offense around him and his speed and scoring could be franchise level. To me, OG and Isaac are very similar. Isaac before getting hurt was a top tier defender and emerging offensive player.

Back in the that draft period I remember people being skeptical of OG because of a number of things. OG was primarily a low minute bench guy for Indy who ended up starting and playing okay but got hurt. He was like a super sub that could take over a game with defense and a crazy dunk that would take the air out of the other team.

He was a guy Tom Crean only scouted because he was their to see another player, James Blackmon Jr. So he was this barely recruited, athletic freak with a super raw skillset coming off an knee surgery. No one even knew what his position would be, many thinking PF of C in the NBA because they didn't think he could score from outside well enough. He was such a bad freethrow shooter.

I remember posting that day of the draft thinking we were going to get OG. In the back of my mind I thought Kuzma would have been a safer pick, he was connected to Delon Wright and offered a good scoring package of skills, but OG was worth the wait and strangely enough he healed way faster than expected.

Not sure if NBADraft.net is accurate
2016 Nov: OG was 2nd round pick
http://web.archive.org/web/20161102225258/http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

2017 Jan: OG does not appear
http://web.archive.org/web/20170126045946/http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

2017 Apr: OG does not appear
http://web.archive.org/web/20170403063205/http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

2017 Jun: OG was 2nd round pick
http://web.archive.org/web/20170614064028/http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

Nbadraft.net was always out to lunch outside consensus top of lotto. Givony was good until he did his last minute mock flips as if to hype players for their agents.

[Dalek]

All the things we love about OG back in the 2017 draft are there in Usman Garuba. Both around 6'8" with a 7'2" wingspan with pretty high motor and gritty defensive play with some emerging offensive skills. Like OG, I think Usman ends up picked in the early 20s and is a steal for some team.

i think he will move up some, late lotto even, he is already late teens in a many mock drafts.

Late lotto and early 20s isn't that big a stretch. But teams definitely overrate and fall in love with the Justice Winslow types, and they almost always end up providing just defense and little else.

The NBA is overloaded with guys that can sit in a corner.

What is worth noting is that Garuba is 18/19 years old and playing for the best league in Europe. Just getting minutes is an achievement for most players on a club like that. That said, it is not like he is displaying some other worldly skills at the moment. He makes tons of mistakes even on defense, but if a playoff team drafts him with a good track record, he could be surprising as he develops over a couple years. I think he made dramatic strides this year (all on display that last game) which is what makes me think there is someone special there. I remember reading the blogger PD Web (who was a huge Poku guy) last year stating that Usman was a a tier one prospect in his eye.

[Dalek]

After watching Jokic last night I can see how a contender can get away with not having an athletic C. A skilled seven footer like Jokic works because his size and skill are practically unstoppable. He had three or four moments yesterday where using his body and his high release point he just shot over our defenders. He was towering over OG, Birch and others and just shot over them when he wanted to. He also makes those amazing high low passes because he sees over defenses and he has a distinct advantage on his passing angle and tough.

I don't see the same type of release point for Alperin and his size is much more PF like. He has emulated a lot of the footwork of Jokic, but he doesn't have the size to fully realize the part that makes Jokic special. Also, I really think the lack of English will be a big setback for him.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

New reports are saying Sengun current height is 6'10" which is ok for a C. We won't know for sure until they release official measurements.

Read on Twitter

Just for comparison. Though, his hair kind makes it more mysterious.

That is funny, as I was looking into Memo stats to see what his career looked like. He was a great role player who was often listed at 6'11, but I think he was around 6'10". Seeing Segun be a similar size makes it more interesting for sure.

What is cool about this international generation is that they have some amazing players to emulate, be it Doncic or Jokic. I feel like the former Yugoslavian countries have the best wings and big men, maybe Lithuania is in that conversation too. Turkey surprising to me. I just didn't think bball was that big over there.

[raptor jesus]

If Sengun's skill/feel translates, he'll be fine. If he busts, it's not going to be because of his height. Not sure why ppl are so obsessed w/ height, especially in today's NBA.

[aligator]

Agree...height is overrated for the most part.

[JYD]

All the things we love about OG back in the 2017 draft are there in Usman Garuba. Both around 6'8" with a 7'2" wingspan with pretty high motor and gritty defensive play with some emerging offensive skills. Like OG, I think Usman ends up picked in the early 20s and is a steal for some team.

I'm not really seeing it in Garuba, he looks remarkably not-fluid, and stiff offensively.

I've been an OG fan since his college years, had him pegged top 10 pre-injury, had him pegged as a guy MU would like, just assumed he would never get to us at 23. Not that he was doing much advanced stuff in college offensively but his game was still relatively smoother.

[Psubs]

All the things we love about OG back in the 2017 draft are there in Usman Garuba. Both around 6'8" with a 7'2" wingspan with pretty high motor and gritty defensive play with some emerging offensive skills. Like OG, I think Usman ends up picked in the early 20s and is a steal for some team.

I'm not really seeing it in Garuba, he looks remarkably not-fluid, and stiff offensively.

I've been an OG fan since his college years, had him pegged top 10 pre-injury, had him pegged as a guy MU would like, just assumed he would never get to us at 23. Not that he was doing much advanced stuff in college offensively but his game was still relatively smoother.

Garuba is more like Okongwu.

[Psubs]

If Sengun is a legit 6'10 without shoes, he's a top 10 pick. I'd be okay drafting him with #8-10.

[Son Goku 25]

If Sengun is a legit 6'10 without shoes, he's a top 10 pick. I'd be okay drafting him with #8-10.

Warming up to these scenarios

[niQ]

If Sengun is a legit 6'10 without shoes, he's a top 10 pick. I'd be okay drafting him with #8-10.

Warming up to these scenarios

On the same boat. Barring some sudden changes, he SHOULD still be available around there.