2021 Draft Thread

[ChuckDurn]

He wasn't the jumping guy. That was Keon Johnson. Bouknight was hyped by his Pro Day shooting display.

Watch on YouTube

This isn't exactly directed at you or this Bouknight example

But I've never been impressed with guys making open jumpers in an empty gym

Maybe I'm missing something? Anyone more into the scouting side explain to me how this is impressive?

Tho I'm a Bouknight guy, I have yet to see a NBA player miss on these type of clips. I remember a few months ago we were watching Jessups gym shooting clips and the first thing I wondered was it edited

I would draw one distinction between the typical clip we see from YouTube or elsewhere (such as Jessup’s), and Bouknight’s performance.

With the former, you have no idea how many “bad” clips simply weren’t posted. The video is obviously cherry-picked from the best shooting stretch somebody had.

Bouknight’s was done “live”, as part of a Pro day, in front of NBA personnel. I assume he didn’t get any “do-overs”, or a chance to say “ignore those 2 minutes”. And the thing which impressed me about the clip wasn’t just that he made a bunch in a row…… it was the fact that he hit something like 8 or 10 in a row, without even touching rim on any of them. To me, that demonstrates a consistency of form, to be able to have that level of precision.

So yeah, shooting on an empty court isn’t the best proxy for how one will do at game speed, against defenders and with crowd noise, background movement, etc….. but I do think Bouknight’s Pro Day performance does stand a notch above the standard shooting videos, because it wasn’t cherry-picked and was done in a situation where he would potentially have a lot of nerves.

[whatisacenter]

latest top 14 big board from CBS with Jalen Green and Bouknight making a jump

1 Cade Cunningham
2 Jalen Green
3 Evan Mobley
4 Jalen Suggs
5 James Bouknight
6 Jonathan Kuminga
7 Scottie Barnes
8 Davion Mitchell
9 Josh Giddey
10 Franz Wagner
11 Moses Moody
12 Corey Kispert
13 Keon Johnson
14 Jared Butler

[GSWFan1994]

latest top 14 big board from CBS with Jalen Green and Bouknight making a jump

1 Cade Cunningham
2 Jalen Green
3 Evan Mobley
4 Jalen Suggs
5 James Bouknight
6 Jonathan Kuminga
7 Scottie Barnes
8 Davion Mitchell
9 Josh Giddey
10 Franz Wagner
11 Moses Moody
12 Corey Kispert
13 Keon Johnson
14 Jared Butler

Man, if Barnes falls to us at 7 I'd be beyond delighted. It's just a can't miss opportunity.

[whatisacenter]

latest top 14 big board from CBS with Jalen Green and Bouknight making a jump

1 Cade Cunningham
2 Jalen Green
3 Evan Mobley
4 Jalen Suggs
5 James Bouknight
6 Jonathan Kuminga
7 Scottie Barnes
8 Davion Mitchell
9 Josh Giddey
10 Franz Wagner
11 Moses Moody
12 Corey Kispert
13 Keon Johnson
14 Jared Butler

Man, if Barnes falls to us at 7 I'd be beyond delighted. It's just a can't miss opportunity.

Yeah, if Bouknight jumps into the top 5 then one of Barnes or Kuminga will be there for the Warriors to pick or trade, win win!

[Brick Layer]

This isn't exactly directed at you or this Bouknight example

But I've never been impressed with guys making open jumpers in an empty gym

Maybe I'm missing something? Anyone more into the scouting side explain to me how this is impressive?

Tho I'm a Bouknight guy, I have yet to see a NBA player miss on these type of clips. I remember a few months ago we were watching Jessups gym shooting clips and the first thing I wondered was it edited

I would draw one distinction between the typical clip we see from YouTube or elsewhere (such as Jessup’s), and Bouknight’s performance.

With the former, you have no idea how many “bad” clips simply weren’t posted. The video is obviously cherry-picked from the best shooting stretch somebody had.

Bouknight’s was done “live”, as part of a Pro day, in front of NBA personnel. I assume he didn’t get any “do-overs”, or a chance to say “ignore those 2 minutes”. And the thing which impressed me about the clip wasn’t just that he made a bunch in a row…… it was the fact that he hit something like 8 or 10 in a row, without even touching rim on any of them. To me, that demonstrates a consistency of form, to be able to have that level of precision.

So yeah, shooting on an empty court isn’t the best proxy for how one will do at game speed, against defenders and with crowd noise, background movement, etc….. but I do think Bouknight’s Pro Day performance does stand a notch above the standard shooting videos, because it wasn’t cherry-picked and was done in a situation where he would potentially have a lot of nerves.

Empty gym my ass. Bouknight hit 19 threes in a row in front of a who's who from all 30 NBA' teams during his pro day. The top brass from the league's 30 teams described Bouknight's pro day workout as he "shot the cover off the ball." If Bouknight continues shoot like he did on his pro day in individual team workouts, there is little doubt he will be shooting their draft boards.

[mos_def]

latest top 14 big board from CBS with Jalen Green and Bouknight making a jump

1 Cade Cunningham
2 Jalen Green
3 Evan Mobley
4 Jalen Suggs
5 James Bouknight
6 Jonathan Kuminga
7 Scottie Barnes
8 Davion Mitchell
9 Josh Giddey
10 Franz Wagner
11 Moses Moody
12 Corey Kispert
13 Keon Johnson
14 Jared Butler

Man, if Barnes falls to us at 7 I'd be beyond delighted. It's just a can't miss opportunity.

Yeah, if Bouknight jumps into the top 5 then one of Barnes or Kuminga will be there for the Warriors to pick or trade, win win!

I'm not as high on Kuminga as Barnes. In that scenario, and it could happen, the work needed with Kuminga would make me wonder if Orlando at 8 would swap something or any team in general. I think Orlando would be the team for Bouk at 5 since they need a scorer and why we probably have been reading Bouk to us to prevent Orlando going with the talent and possibly missing the scorer they need if they waited for him at 8
Kuminga would need some work.

[Jester_]

I don't get the Bouknight appeal at all. How often does an inefficient chucker in college round out into an efficient scorer in the league?

[watch1958]

I don't get the Bouknight appeal at all. How often does an inefficient chucker in college round out into an efficient scorer in the league?

Wait. Shooting less than 30% from 3s in college doesn’t impress you? Some people are hard to please.

[whatisacenter]

I don't get the Bouknight appeal at all. How often does an inefficient chucker in college round out into an efficient scorer in the league?

Wait. Shooting less than 30% from 3s in college doesn’t impress you? Some people are hard to please.

I have not been high on him but I am starting to see the appeal. He is a 3 level scorer, a quick trigger athlete, can play on/off ball and he gets to the FT line. There was a lot asked a lot of him this season at UConn without a great roster and he was the focus of the opponents D. He did force his shot while shooting a low percentage for sure and he is has tweener/combo guard size at 6'3.5". I guess we will find out if he continues to rise or stay at the top end of the lottery after his combine performance.

[Onus]

I don't get the Bouknight appeal at all. How often does an inefficient chucker in college round out into an efficient scorer in the league?

Wait. Shooting less than 30% from 3s in college doesn’t impress you? Some people are hard to please.

I think the thinking is that because UCONN was **** he was facing double teams constantly which suppressed his shooting numbers. Also his injury led to a decrease in his shooting numbers as well, which is why it is below 30%. His freshman year he was a 35% shooter, and in workouts apparently he's shooting really well. So that eases concerns about his shooting percentages apparently?

[watch1958]

I don't get the Bouknight appeal at all. How often does an inefficient chucker in college round out into an efficient scorer in the league?

Wait. Shooting less than 30% from 3s in college doesn’t impress you? Some people are hard to please.

I think the thinking is that because UCONN was **** he was facing double teams constantly which suppressed his shooting numbers. Also his injury led to a decrease in his shooting numbers as well, which is why it is below 30%. His freshman year he was a 35% shooter, and in workouts apparently he's shooting really well. So that eases concerns about his shooting percentages apparently?

I’m hoping he does so well in workouts that he rises to the top 5!

[Badly Browned]

I don't get the Bouknight appeal at all. How often does an inefficient chucker in college round out into an efficient scorer in the league?

With a bad 3pt shot he did still put up an OK .546 True Shooting % last year.

My issue with Bouknight is can he be more than an iso chucker? He had a pretty terrible negative assist-to-turnover ratio in his two years at UConn. Even if he's an efficient chucker, I'm not sure that's a great fit as a tweener guard with the Warriors.

[Onus]

Wait. Shooting less than 30% from 3s in college doesn’t impress you? Some people are hard to please.

I think the thinking is that because UCONN was **** he was facing double teams constantly which suppressed his shooting numbers. Also his injury led to a decrease in his shooting numbers as well, which is why it is below 30%. His freshman year he was a 35% shooter, and in workouts apparently he's shooting really well. So that eases concerns about his shooting percentages apparently?

I’m hoping he does so well in workouts that he rises to the top 5!

I hope that's our smokescreen. I really hope we aren't actually interested in Bouknight, but knowing our fo we probably are.

[FNQ]

latest top 14 big board from CBS with Jalen Green and Bouknight making a jump

1 Cade Cunningham
2 Jalen Green
3 Evan Mobley
4 Jalen Suggs
5 James Bouknight
6 Jonathan Kuminga
7 Scottie Barnes
8 Davion Mitchell
9 Josh Giddey
10 Franz Wagner
11 Moses Moody
12 Corey Kispert
13 Keon Johnson
14 Jared Butler

Just a reminder from every offseason - big boards move based on writer opinions, not team's. Bouknight had a good video come out, he shoots into the top 5. I mean I'd love it if he's taken before 7, it effectively gives us the 6th pick, but writers/radio hosts have almost the exact same insight as board posters

[Jester_]

I don't get the Bouknight appeal at all. How often does an inefficient chucker in college round out into an efficient scorer in the league?

With a bad 3pt shot he did still put up an OK .546 True Shooting % last year.

My issue with Bouknight is can he be more than an iso chucker? He had a pretty terrible negative assist-to-turnover ratio in his two years at UConn. Even if he's an efficient chucker, I'm not sure that's a great fit as a tweener guard with the Warriors.

54.6% is nowhere close to an "OK" true shooting, and certainly not when it's happening in college.

[GSWFan1994]

I sincerely hope the "he can't shoot, he won't be a great player" narrative for Barnes keeps building on, so we can get him on 7.

He would be an amazing 6th man for us right out of the gate. Iguodala, do it all role, with potential for much, much more once he develops.

[FNQ]

Bouknight would be a lot more appealing if we didnt have Poole. But more importantly.. where are we putting him? His defense has been bad, so putting him next to Curry makes little sense. Nor does putting him in the 2nd unit with Poole, considering their somewhat matching skillsets and aversion to defense. What exactly is the appeal here?

Are we drafting another project that needs a few years?

[Badly Browned]

I don't get the Bouknight appeal at all. How often does an inefficient chucker in college round out into an efficient scorer in the league?

With a bad 3pt shot he did still put up an OK .546 True Shooting % last year.

My issue with Bouknight is can he be more than an iso chucker? He had a pretty terrible negative assist-to-turnover ratio in his two years at UConn. Even if he's an efficient chucker, I'm not sure that's a great fit as a tweener guard with the Warriors.

54.6% is nowhere close to an "OK" true shooting, and certainly not when it's happening in college.

I personally don't want Bouknight at 7 (or probably even at 14), but I do think his shooting will be better than what he showed last year.

His freshman year where he had a lot more c&s attempts he shot 34.7% from 3 and 56% True Shooting overall, this past year I read that 45% of his 3pt attempts were pull ups, and he did have that elbow injury that derailed him a bit.

I could see Bouknight being a 35% 3pt shooter in the league, which I think would be fine if he showed any kinda of passing ability. However, he hasn't, and I'm not too thrilled about using the #7 pick on a worse passing Jordan Clarkson.

Especially since we already have a combo-guard that can actually pass a bit in Poole.

[killmongrel]

Bouknight would be a lot more appealing if we didnt have Poole. But more importantly.. where are we putting him? His defense has been bad, so putting him next to Curry makes little sense. Nor does putting him in the 2nd unit with Poole, considering their somewhat matching skillsets and aversion to defense. What exactly is the appeal here?

Are we drafting another project that needs a few years?

Is Bouknight's potential so amazing that it's possible he becomes an all star? Or is Moody's upside so underwhelming, that all he is at best is a great role player. Which of those is truer? If both seem to be the case of the matter, then GS should draft him regardless of fit because the Warriors can try to fill the great role player role either with the other draft pick or hopefully somebody in FA. But I ask you guys since you're all more educated in this topic than I am.

[whatisacenter]

Bouknight reminds me of cross between Monta and Zach Lavine.