2021 NBA Draft Thread

[Dn4sty]

Outside of the Athletic (Vecenie), ESPN (Givony/Schmitz), Ringer (KOC), and Bleacher Report (Wasserman), are there any other mocks you all look at where the authors have some credible insight from NBA personnel/scouts?

Wasserman updated his mock today with us taking Barnes, Sengun, Springer, Dosunmu, Prkacin. Don't mind any of those, although I don't think any chance we pick at all 5 spots. Did find it interesting he dropped Greg Brown completely out of the top 60 despite most other mocks having him as late first/early second, that was a guy I have zero interest in taking at any of our picks except maybe 55.

I don’t think they draft 5 spots either but I could more than live with Wasserman’s draft. That’s a solid draft

[Dadouv47]

Outside of the Athletic (Vecenie), ESPN (Givony/Schmitz), Ringer (KOC), and Bleacher Report (Wasserman), are there any other mocks you all look at where the authors have some credible insight from NBA personnel/scouts?

Wasserman updated his mock today with us taking Barnes, Sengun, Springer, Dosunmu, Prkacin. Don't mind any of those, although I don't think any chance we pick at all 5 spots. Did find it interesting he dropped Greg Brown completely out of the top 60 despite most other mocks having him as late first/early second, that was a guy I have zero interest in taking at any of our picks except maybe 55.

I don’t think they draft 5 spots either but I could more than live with Wasserman’s draft. That’s a solid draft

Sengun/Barnes/Poku/Shai/Dort would be fun to watch.

[retrobro90]

I know I was a little sour on him as OKCs 1st pick a few months ago but if Kispert slides all the way to 16 (not 6) I'd be pretty happy

[Old Man Game]

Hey I'm happy to be proven wrong, I'm just not seeing it with Sengun. I want a rim protector.

Sent from my moto g power using RealGM mobile app

[ThunderBolt]

I know I was a little sour on him as OKCs 1st pick a few months ago but if Kispert slides all the way to 16 (not 6) I'd be pretty happy

Agreed. There are a lot of guys like him that my excitement for drafting them depends on where we select them. Even Keon Johnson would be pretty cool if he slides far enough.

[Old Man Game]

Are people down on this Isaiah Jackson promise? I have watched enough clips I think he could be a Nerlens Noel sort at the next level, which, at 18, wouldn't be a terrible outcome if true.

[Old Man Game]

So I might have missed it, but did you guys mention yet that now Givony's mock even has Orlando taking Barnes over Kuminga? At this point when you've got all major publications in alignment I'm saying Barnes is a consensus top 5 pick.

[ThunderBolt]

Are people down on this Isaiah Jackson promise? I have watched enough clips I think he could be a Nerlens Noel sort at the next level, which, at 18, wouldn't be a terrible outcome if true.

I listened to the locked on thunder podcast this week and clearly Rylan Styles doesn’t want him. If the promise is true, I’m fine with it. However I question that report. It kind of seems like lazy reporting to me. People seem to be connecting dots that I’m not sure exist. With poku there were more obvious ties like his agent being tied to the thunder. We have also been tied to guys like Frank Jackson and Rawle Alkins and that didn’t happen.

[Old Man Game]

Are people down on this Isaiah Jackson promise? I have watched enough clips I think he could be a Nerlens Noel sort at the next level, which, at 18, wouldn't be a terrible outcome if true.

I listened to the locked on thunder podcast this week and clearly Rylan Styles doesn’t want him. If the promise is true, I’m fine with it. However I question that report. It kind of seems like lazy reporting to me. People seem to be connecting dots that I’m not sure exist. With poku there were more obvious ties like his agent being tied to the thunder. We have also been tied to guys like Frank Jackson and Rawle Alkins and that didn’t happen.

Who is Rylan Styles?

[Devilanche]

Are people down on this Isaiah Jackson promise? I have watched enough clips I think he could be a Nerlens Noel sort at the next level, which, at 18, wouldn't be a terrible outcome if true.

I listened to the locked on thunder podcast this week and clearly Rylan Styles doesn’t want him. If the promise is true, I’m fine with it. However I question that report. It kind of seems like lazy reporting to me. People seem to be connecting dots that I’m not sure exist. With poku there were more obvious ties like his agent being tied to the thunder. We have also been tied to guys like Frank Jackson and Rawle Alkins and that didn’t happen.

There’s something there with Presti and promises but I’m not too sure Presti would give promises this draft since he have too many and he probably not sure what picks he will end up with once the team is on the clock.

[ThunderBolt]

Are people down on this Isaiah Jackson promise? I have watched enough clips I think he could be a Nerlens Noel sort at the next level, which, at 18, wouldn't be a terrible outcome if true.

I listened to the locked on thunder podcast this week and clearly Rylan Styles doesn’t want him. If the promise is true, I’m fine with it. However I question that report. It kind of seems like lazy reporting to me. People seem to be connecting dots that I’m not sure exist. With poku there were more obvious ties like his agent being tied to the thunder. We have also been tied to guys like Frank Jackson and Rawle Alkins and that didn’t happen.

Who is Rylan Styles?

He does the locked on thunder podcast. He’s a pretty big homer but he does a pretty good job covering the thunder for minor breaking news. The thunder best writer world is pretty anemic right now.

[Old Man Game]

I listened to the locked on thunder podcast this week and clearly Rylan Styles doesn’t want him. If the promise is true, I’m fine with it. However I question that report. It kind of seems like lazy reporting to me. People seem to be connecting dots that I’m not sure exist. With poku there were more obvious ties like his agent being tied to the thunder. We have also been tied to guys like Frank Jackson and Rawle Alkins and that didn’t happen.

Who is Rylan Styles?

He does the locked on thunder podcast. He’s a pretty big homer but he does a pretty good job covering the thunder for minor breaking news. The thunder best writer world is pretty anemic right now.

I used to follow him on Twitter. I was unclear who he actually was or what his credentials were. Is he actually a trained journalist? Or is he just like a fan blogger who went mainstream?

And yeah the Thunder beat writing is really terrible. Some of these guys like Erick Horne who ostensibly cover the Thunder are really mailing it in at this point. I miss the days when we had Darnell and Anthony Slater tag-teaming it at the Oklahoman. That was also around the time Royce was Super Active with the team. Probably the high-water mark.

[Old Man Game]

Have you guys talked about Austin Reaves yet? I saw that we had him in for a workout. I could totally see taking him with one of those second-rounders. And I'm no University of Oklahoma homor by any means (go pokes). But the dude can play. He can get to the mid-range off of the dribble and from what I've seen hits it with some consistency.

[Dadouv47]

Are people down on this Isaiah Jackson promise? I have watched enough clips I think he could be a Nerlens Noel sort at the next level, which, at 18, wouldn't be a terrible outcome if true.

I listened to the locked on thunder podcast this week and clearly Rylan Styles doesn’t want him. If the promise is true, I’m fine with it. However I question that report. It kind of seems like lazy reporting to me. People seem to be connecting dots that I’m not sure exist. With poku there were more obvious ties like his agent being tied to the thunder. We have also been tied to guys like Frank Jackson and Rawle Alkins and that didn’t happen.

There’s something there with Presti and promises but I’m not too sure Presti would give promises this draft since he have too many and he probably not sure what picks he will end up with once the team is on the clock.

At this point I'm not sure Presti knows who he's gonna draft
He probably knows who he doesn't want to draft but for the rest...

Guess he knows that the odds to pick at 6 are 90%+ and he should have a name (Kuminga/Barnes or surprise) and no clue if there's a chance to move up 16 & 18 for 9-12 (if yes he should be targetting a specific player).

Probably some guys that he wants to draft with either 35 or 36 but since everything is connected to the other picks, it could change if he gets a way to move up in the draft with 6 or 16/18 so I guess things it should be pretty open in Presti's mind right now.

[ThunderBolt]

Who is Rylan Styles?

He does the locked on thunder podcast. He’s a pretty big homer but he does a pretty good job covering the thunder for minor breaking news. The thunder best writer world is pretty anemic right now.

I used to follow him on Twitter. I was unclear who he actually was or what his credentials were. Is he actually a trained journalist? Or is he just like a fan blogger who went mainstream?

And yeah the Thunder beat writing is really terrible. Some of these guys like Erick Horne who ostensibly cover the Thunder are really mailing it in at this point. I miss the days when we had Darnell and Anthony Slater tag-teaming it at the Oklahoman. That was also around the time Royce was Super Active with the team. Probably the high-water mark.

Not sure if he’s a trained journalist or not. He has media credentials so he has some access and connections.

Horne actually changed positions and is an editor now. It happened with the shake up with the athletic when lots of teams lost their beat writers. He’s was probably happy to just keep his job. Of course this happened right when I renewed with the athletic so that was money wasted.

When Maddie (forgot last name) took a job in Chicago, the Oklahoman decided to just keep one writer, mussatto. He doesn’t seem like mr personality, but maybe I’m wrong since he’s behind a paywall now.

Rahbar is pretty good. Royce is now nonexistent. I like Schlecht with the exception of the Friday podcast. He seems to be getting more involved with other non-thunder stuff so hopefully he keeps providing thunder content.

[jake_swivel]

Are people down on this Isaiah Jackson promise? I have watched enough clips I think he could be a Nerlens Noel sort at the next level, which, at 18, wouldn't be a terrible outcome if true.

Quite unenthused by this possibility, and like devilanche mentioned, I don’t think the thunder have any idea whether they’ll have 16 and 18 at this point. So it doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.

[ThunderBolt]

Are people down on this Isaiah Jackson promise? I have watched enough clips I think he could be a Nerlens Noel sort at the next level, which, at 18, wouldn't be a terrible outcome if true.

I listened to the locked on thunder podcast this week and clearly Rylan Styles doesn’t want him. If the promise is true, I’m fine with it. However I question that report. It kind of seems like lazy reporting to me. People seem to be connecting dots that I’m not sure exist. With poku there were more obvious ties like his agent being tied to the thunder. We have also been tied to guys like Frank Jackson and Rawle Alkins and that didn’t happen.

There’s something there with Presti and promises but I’m not too sure Presti would give promises this draft since he have too many and he probably not sure what picks he will end up with once the team is on the clock.

I agree. It’s just seems too early for us to make a promise at 16/18.

[bondom34]

Hey I'm happy to be proven wrong, I'm just not seeing it with Sengun. I want a rim protector.

Sent from my moto g power using RealGM mobile app

With you here as I've said. Think its tough to build around a big to begin with, but guys who aren't top end defenders are even harder.

Also just signed up for a month of Thunder After Dark podcasts for draft prospect breakdowns, they're solid. Schlect and usually Berra (sometimes someone else), but as ThunderBolt said usually Schlect is solid IMO with the exception of Friday pods.

Also part of me wonders with Sengun if it's not a case of people looking for the next "X". Like last year it was who's the next Bam Adebayo, it's been the next Draymond forever, now maybe the next Jokic. Don't know but just because a guy has some similar skills (good passing big man) doesn't mean they're the next version of someone.

[Dn4sty]

Hey I'm happy to be proven wrong, I'm just not seeing it with Sengun. I want a rim protector.

Sent from my moto g power using RealGM mobile app

With you here as I've said. Think its tough to build around a big to begin with, but guys who aren't top end defenders are even harder.

Also just signed up for a month of Thunder After Dark podcasts for draft prospect breakdowns, they're solid. Schlect and usually Berra (sometimes someone else), but as ThunderBolt said usually Schlect is solid IMO with the exception of Friday pods.

Also part of me wonders with Sengun if it's not a case of people looking for the next "X". Like last year it was who's the next Bam Adebayo, it's been the next Draymond forever, now maybe the next Jokic. Don't know but just because a guy has some similar skills (good passing big man) doesn't mean they're the next version of someone.

Sengun at 6 is a no go for me. Sengun at 16 or 18 would be fine.

[Dadouv47]

Hey I'm happy to be proven wrong, I'm just not seeing it with Sengun. I want a rim protector.

Sent from my moto g power using RealGM mobile app

With you here as I've said. Think its tough to build around a big to begin with, but guys who aren't top end defenders are even harder.

Also just signed up for a month of Thunder After Dark podcasts for draft prospect breakdowns, they're solid. Schlect and usually Berra (sometimes someone else), but as ThunderBolt said usually Schlect is solid IMO with the exception of Friday pods.

Also part of me wonders with Sengun if it's not a case of people looking for the next "X". Like last year it was who's the next Bam Adebayo, it's been the next Draymond forever, now maybe the next Jokic. Don't know but just because a guy has some similar skills (good passing big man) doesn't mean they're the next version of someone.

Sengun at 6 is a no go for me. Sengun at 16 or 18 would be fine.

I'm inbetween... 16+18 to get Sengun at 9-12. That's the only way to get him anyway.