Post#1546 » by Knicksfan1992 » Thu Jun 24, 2021 5:20 am
Bored tonight so I figured I'd give y'all my top 10-15 guys as of now and feel free to debate....Leaving out some intl's who I haven't watched as closely.
1) Cade - Consensus. Not much to go into here. Love the combination of a high floor/high ceiling. No one else quite comes close to matching his combination of both. Answered his 1 question in college (shooting) in a big way.
2) Jalen Green - In some ways, I like him more than Cade, but I think he would be too risky to take ahead of him. There's some real bust potential here but his off the dribble offensive bag is second to none IMO. I keep bringing it up but I don't think people realize how impressive it is that this kid at his age had a 61% TS% against mostly pro level guys in the G-League. Could end up being a top 5 scorer year in and year out in the league. Love his ceiling but his floor could get a little ugly if he doesn't clean up some of the bad decisions and shots he takes at the next level
3) Jalen Suggs - Love everything about this kid. Hard to see how he fails at the NBA level. Makes winning plays on both ends. I buy the jumper eventually being good, love his athleticism blended with all of that. Feels like his stock has cooled off a bit for some reason. Reminds me a lot of Donovan Mitchell.
4) Evan Mobley - Bigs are admittedly my blind spot. Just never really have a feel for how good they can get. Mobley is just solid to me though. Has a Chris Bosh feel to him. Not elite but just really solid on both ends. Good feel. Would rather gamble on the guards and wings in his tier but don't think you can go wrong with him. Only concern is the rebounding.
5) Josh Giddey - This is where my board starts to get wacky. Giddey is the type of dude I tend to overvalue. Big wing with a point guard feel. Outside of Cade, I feel like he is the best passer in this draft. Not as fluid as LaMelo coming out of the ABL, but I buy the passing IQ translating and the NBA game opening things up for him. Too big to get hunted on D. Seems to have a real joy about him on the floor. Just like a lot about him and have a hunch things work out.
6) Jalen Johnson - This is controversial but in the early Draft Threads I had him as my number 1 lol. Obviously things went sour at Duke quick. But again big wings/4s who have passing ability are my weakness. I like the edge he plays with, but it seems like that's just him all the time given his off court issues. He's VERY situation dependent IMO. Didn't love his combine height. Was hoping he was more 6'8" or 6'9" to make him a more legitimate Center for stretches. Too tantalized by the natural talent to drop him too far though. Major 2 way potential IMO. I really love his game if you remove a lot of the outside factors that make him a scary prospect to gamble on.
7) Scottie Barnes - I don't love him because I don't know how much value he adds if he literally can't shoot and i don't buy the mechanics of his shot at all. It's ugly and clunky. But I said the same thing about Pat Will last year and it seems like these raw defense first/high IQ guys from Florida State just seem to be well coached and figure it out at the next level so I won't be fooled again. Love the defensive potential and passing ability. That's enough to keep me intrigued and him in the top 10. Buying the physical traits and smarts on both ends here more than anything else.
8) James Bouknight - Another guy whose combine height soured me more than I initially was. But I love his isolation/shot creation potential and his length help makes up for the fact that he was a little shorter than I previous thought. Think he's gotten a bad rap as a chucker. His freshman year he put up better numbers when he wasn't tasked with being the guy. To me he reads as a guy that is just going to be a good offensive player no matter the situation IMO. If a team can unlock some defensive juice out of him and clean up his decision making, then I think he has top 5 talent but that's a lot of ifs to put higher than the guys ahead of him on my board who all have better physical profiles than him. I think he's the perfect guy for the Knicks to take a chance on if they can find a move up.
9) Jared Butler - Out of the remaining guys, this is the one who I feel the most secure is going to have a long career. Just a solid basketball player with a real IQ on offense and competes on D even with his limitations. I really think he gives me Kemba vibes with just a tad bit less separation off the dribble. Love how he plays in a team concept and is a big time shot maker along with being a knock down shooter. off the catch The free throw rate is concerning but he has shown some ability to finish and I think he can continue to improve on getting to the hoop because he has the requisite handle to be a threat off the dribble. In a lot of ways he reminds me of Quickley. I hope the medical issue is good to go because someone will get a steal with this kid
10) Johnathan Kuminga - Just don't know what he is really good at. At some point I had to put him in here because his physical traits are what they are, but he's a project with a low basketball IQ IMO. Needs time. Can look really good for stretches but then can look lost on the court. I never really like gambling on these type of guys because I think a lot more can go wrong than right with guys like Kuminga. For every Jaylen Brown, there's a Dragan Bender, Sekou Doumbouya, Joe Alexander and Jan Vesely just to name a few of the elite physical trait wings who don't really have a NBA ready skill yet. Needs the right team who has patience. Magic or Thunder would be good landing spots for him IMO
11) Davion Mitchell - I'm a little more worried about Mitchell than most in the mainstream world. I don't think he's really a PG as I think Butler did more of the heavy lifting there for Baylor IMO. I buy the shot being legit. I buy the motor and I buy the character enough that I still think he's a lottery pick because he showed a lot of what he does leads to winning. I'm just worried because of his age and the fact that he's only 6'0" his ceiling is lower than some people think it is. Reminds me of Marcus Smart with hopefully a better jumper. Think he's safe bet to be a rotation player but not without some concern that he isn't much more than that. At 11 you'll take it though but there are debatably better gambles to be had in the lottery. I tend to value floor a bit more at this stage of the draft though.
12) Moses Moody - A lot of Knicks twitter is enamored with this dude. I get it he's a hound on D with long arms and a prolific shooter who shot well even though he was #1 on the scouting report every night. Proving he could do it without Cade feeding him was a BIG deal IMO. I just can't put him in the top 10 because his finishing was so putrid. I like his loosy goosey handle but if you can't finish and you're scared of contact with a naturally skinny frame it's tough for me to buy that your anything more than a 3+D dude and there are bigger swings teams can take in the top 10. I like him. This is where he should be though. Anything higher and I think you're projecting a little too much given the data we have.
13) Kai Jones - This dude athletically jumps off the screen IMO. Reminds me a lot of Mitch tbh but he's showcased some impressive off the dribble moves as well. Wouldn't be shocked if this dude turns out to be a lot better than this. If we weren't set at C I would like to get him with KP and see if he can work some magic. If he falls to 19 or 21 I'd be pretty intrigued even if it isn't a direct need.
14) Corey Kispert - Know what you're getting here. Not much else to say. Good 3 point shooter, solid team D from a winning program. Expecting any more than that and you're likely to be disappointed.
15) Keon Johnson - Man I just don't see it outside of the defensive end. I get the eye popping athletic plays on defense and in transition, but I don't know what he does well enough offensively to be a top 10 pick. He doesn't really use his athleticism with the ball in his hands. he's easy to guard and his jumper and all of his body movements are stiff. He's raw and needs time. I like that he gets good lift on his jumper off the dribble though and he's unbothered with a hand in his face in the mid-range but what team is going to give him that freedom to take those shots? To me his path is become the best catch and shoot guy you can possibly be and be a dog on defense then from there try to grow into more. I really like the defensive potential, but for a perimeter guy I can't put them high on the board just because of defense there needs to be more there and right now, frankly, there isn't...
That's it for now... Hope yaw enjoy this. Feel free to challenge me on this and i'll expand on why I have people where they are and maybe you can change my mind. Overall, I love this class. Think it's very deep and even some guys who didn't make this list have good potential to be solid rotation guys or possibly more down the line. Knicks are in a very good draft to have 2 picks.
