2022 NBA Draft

[Duke4life831]

College ball needs to fix this stuff. Teams like Gonzaga and Memphis basically just had another exhibition game. You play those games as exhibition games, not on opening night of the year.

It was great when they came up with this Championship Classic. But that’s just 4 teams. They gotta really push for better quality opponents. Add in another conference vs conference thing or something.

Just take a look around the rest of the college ball landscape outside of the championship classic and the games are wack.

Duke opened with Coppin State last year while Gonzaga opened with Kansas. Can we not run with this narrative for once.

Chet looked good. Didn’t realize he was a decent passer even though he forced things a little too much. Hard to take much from his defense with that level of competition.

This isn't me praising Duke and taking a shot at Gonzaga. I literally used Gonzaga and Memphis as examples because those were the two highlights they played on Sports center as I was making this thread. And Im not praising Duke for being in the Championship Classic. Im giving college basketball props for coming up with the idea of the Championship Classic.

What Im saying is College Basketball needs to be smarter. They should do a 2 day opening season event. On a Tuesday and Wednesday, get all the top teams and big names playing each other. Kick off the season with a bang. The Championship Classic is a great idea.They should make multiples versions of these.

Im saying as a big time college basketball fan, I want to flip from a Duke vs UK game to say a Gonzaga vs UCLA game. I dont want to watch Kansas vs Michigan State, then turn over to watch Gonzaga playing Dixie State. My excitement level instantly drops and I dont care to watch that game.

And again to be clear, Im not taking a shot at Gonzaga. I know for years Gonzaga has struggled to play good teams during the non conference schedule and that's not on them, that's on the other big name schools not wanting to play them. Im using Gonzaga as an example in this post because I want to watch Gonzaga. Im taking a shot at college basketball for not realizing they should make opening night for college basketball much more of an event like thing.

[Yunsen]

Early regular season rarely has overlaps with larger matchups. There’s occasionally some with multiple invitationals going on but it’s not really a thing.

[crows2]

Good debut by Banchero. Great size, good touch. Impossible to compare him to Holmgren for the number 1 pick at the moment due to Chet's opposition today, but we should get a better idea after the Zags take on Texas in a few days time.

Keels is a man-child at the 2. Will be interesting to track his progress during the season.

Tshiebwe gave Williams an absolute lesson on the offensive boards today. The Kentucky team will at least have a good motor this year with Oscar, Wheeler and Grady.

Washington was poor. Obviously outplayed by Keels and he looked fumbly on offense all game.

Too early to judge Griffin, other than his size. He does look a decent height (although the hair helps).

Lastly, what was with Duke's conditioning? Banchero, Moore and Keels all cramped up very early in the game. I'm sure it'll correct itself in a few games time, but it was weird to see, even on opening night.

[Duke4life831]

Early regular season rarely has overlaps with larger matchups. There’s occasionally some with multiple invitationals going on but it’s not really a thing.

Yes I understand that and that is the entire point Im making. They should turn opening night into a 2 night event. It would actually feel like an anticipated event. The Championship Classic is a great start. They should expand it.

[NYPiston]

22/7 while battling cramps for the majority of the 2nd half for Paolo. He also did it against legit competition. Couldn’t really ask for a better opening game for him.

Showed fantastic skill and fantastic touch on that shot.

Not just the skill but his footwork is so advanced for an 18 year old. I don't say this often about a freshman in their debut but he looked like a man playing with kids, like he could do whatever he wants out there.
Some people make the Blake Griffin comparable but Banchero's overall skills are far more advanced than Blake's was at the same age. He doesn't have that freak athleticism of Blake but he's quite a bit more polished.

[dukeknicksirish]

Trevor Keels performance just guaranteed himself a trip to the NBA draft on the first night. Loved his strength getting to the rim and it carried over to the defensive end. His mid range jump shot off the dribble really drew his entire performance in.

Paolo as we know just...... kid doesn't need this year of college basketball to be ready

Emoni Bates had a good stat game but I am still not sold on his playmaking / ability to handle the ball when a smaller/faster player is up on him. Def a top 5 pick next season, but I am not sold he is "The Chosen One"

Chet had a great stat game, but going up against who he did means nothing besides showcasing his ability to push the ball up the floor. Texas game will bring light to his true game

[retrobro90]

Paolo gave me some Syracuse Melo vibes last night. The footwork in the post and jabsteps out of triple threat. Impressive polish as a scorer. Definitely a man amongst boys and may have to recalibrate how good this Duke team is considering the same can be said for Keels. Was at the game so I didn't know Paolo had hurt himself. Made a comment to my friend that he was getting some extended rest here and that they should put him back in lol.

[CptCrunch]

Trevor Keels was the best player last night.

He is only RSCI #19, a low 5 star, high 4 star.

Players sometimes make leaps over summers.

If Oscar Tshiebwe wasn't doing his best Andre Drummond impersonation last night, that game would have been over at half time.

[akhan786]

Trevor Keels was the best player last night.

He is only RSCI #19, a low 5 star, high 4 star.

Players sometimes make leaps over summers.

If Oscar Tshiebwe wasn't doing his best Andre Drummond impersonation last night, that game would have been over at half time.

He always was gifted at using his body, but he reportedly made it more lean this past summer and cut 15-20 pounds. He also won the conditioning competition and set the record for lifting (yes over Zion). It’s probably why he’s able to handle such a load on offense and still have energy to lock down a player. I think his best fit would be mid first round to Memphis or Spurs. He has the competitiveness to match Ja or Dejounte.

Watch on YouTube

[Creativetran]

Emoni Bates had a good stat game but I am still not sold on his playmaking / ability to handle the ball when a smaller/faster player is up on him. Def a top 5 pick next season, but I am not sold he is "The Chosen One"

I don't think he's been the chosen one for the past year or so now

[Duke4life831]

Trevor Keels performance just guaranteed himself a trip to the NBA draft on the first night. Loved his strength getting to the rim and it carried over to the defensive end. His mid range jump shot off the dribble really drew his entire performance in.

Paolo as we know just...... kid doesn't need this year of college basketball to be ready

Emoni Bates had a good stat game but I am still not sold on his playmaking / ability to handle the ball when a smaller/faster player is up on him. Def a top 5 pick next season, but I am not sold he is "The Chosen One"

Chet had a great stat game, but going up against who he did means nothing besides showcasing his ability to push the ball up the floor. Texas game will bring light to his true game

Meh Memphis played Tennessee Tech last night. Tennessee Tech is annually one of the worst teams in all of D1 basketball. That is just another exhibition game that you really cant take anything from. There are D2 teams that would beat up on Tennessee Tech.

[clyde21]

yea, all these games against nobodies are largely pointless and a waste of time, i know they do this for the $ for the lower tier schools but it sucks as a viewer or fan.

[azcatz11]

Early regular season rarely has overlaps with larger matchups. There’s occasionally some with multiple invitationals going on but it’s not really a thing.

Yes I understand that and that is the entire point Im making. They should turn opening night into a 2 night event. It would actually feel like an anticipated event. The Championship Classic is a great start. They should expand it.

You're absolutely right. Instead of doing all of the early season tournaments at Thanksgiving - they should be done to OPEN the season.

College football always schedules the best out of conference games as the first few games so I don't want to hear the excuse that cupcake games are to get these guys ready.

Also, bring back the Great Alaska Shootout! I miss all the old school tournies

[Duke4life831]

Early regular season rarely has overlaps with larger matchups. There’s occasionally some with multiple invitationals going on but it’s not really a thing.

Yes I understand that and that is the entire point Im making. They should turn opening night into a 2 night event. It would actually feel like an anticipated event. The Championship Classic is a great start. They should expand it.

You're absolutely right. Instead of doing all of the early season tournaments at Thanksgiving - they should be done to OPEN the season.

College football always schedules the best out of conference games as the first few games so I don't want to hear the excuse that cupcake games are to get these guys ready.

Also, bring back the Great Alaska Shootout! I miss all the old school tournies

Yup. Start off with some of these early season tournaments, start off with some of these conference vs conference games. They already do these games, just open the season with them. Have ESPN do a 2 night opening event. All these great games on ESPN and ESPN2 for the first two days of the season.

If the teams want more scrub games to get ready, just have them schedule another exhibition before the season starts.

I just feel like it is the obvious smart thing to do. But we are talking about the NCAA, they don’t do anything that is obvious and smart.

[Marcus]

Ya hard not seeing Banchero’s game translating to the next level. That skill set is pretty insane for a guy his size.

I know you had made the transition to Banchland a few months back but i'd like to formally greet you with a hug and an official welcome.

[God Squad]

I doubt Raptors sneak into top 4 again. But If I had to put early money on "Masai" type guys it'd probably be
Damion Collins
Jabari Smith
Patrick Baldwin (maybe)
Caleb Houston
Jovic

But I think Collins and Smith would be atop his list because of skill/size at the position and versatility.

[DCasey91]

Just glancing over the past 20 drafts there’s a fairly consistent pattern of a 1:2 ratio or there abouts. Now you can use a definitive rating system say pick 1-10 25+ WS 10-20 20+WS, 30-40 15+ WS etc.

Per draft it’s about 15-20 that make it the rest don’t. Also there’s “busts” (don’t like to use the word but this is for context) starting at 1. Not surprising though there is good to great players to come out from pick 20 onwards all the way to 40+.
Some archetypes are underepped (“Smaller” mature age ready made guards in particular) but this is more to get better at drafting for prospects value wise relative to where you pick from.

In particular raw/flawed prospects that get picked way above where they are supposed to be tend to bring in bad/disastrous results.

Now that’s all out of the way I’ll use a makeshift formula:

Picks 1-10 (5 that I like the most)
10-20 (4)
20-30 (3)
30-40 (2)
40+ (1 sneaky one )

Gives me 15 at all the ranges. Now the mocks are fluid and prospects can bolt or can fall depending on season performance. I’ll have an updated list throughout the year and adjust once the actual draft is coming up. Most likely use the ESPN on or a highly credible mock to draw the 15 from the pick ranges. If the prospects fall out of these ranges once the draft is done afterwards I’ll select the final 15 as per the result of draft day.

Personally if I can hit on 10 in total from these ranges I’ll take it as a positive. It’s a fun hobby and I thoroughly enjoyed last draft so I might as well test myself on the eye for talent.

Good luck everyone, if you like one that’s not on other peoples radars you can brag on saying see I told you this guy at pick 30 was a stud haha

Can’t wait for this year loving it so far!

[tms]

30th anniversary of the Shaq draft. 30th!!!!!! Lord have mercy

[azcatz11]

I doubt Raptors sneak into top 4 again. But If I had to put early money on "Masai" type guys it'd probably be
Damion Collins
Jabari Smith
Patrick Baldwin (maybe)
Caleb Houston
Jovic

But I think Collins and Smith would be atop his list because of skill/size at the position and versatility.

Mathurin and he's from Canada..

[SNPA]

I doubt Raptors sneak into top 4 again. But If I had to put early money on "Masai" type guys it'd probably be
Damion Collins
Jabari Smith
Patrick Baldwin (maybe)
Caleb Houston
Jovic

But I think Collins and Smith would be atop his list because of skill/size at the position and versatility.

Mathurin and he's from Canada..

I like Mathurin’s game. I’m not sure where he goes but once you get passed swinging for superstar he is a good value pick. He’s an NBA player for a long time, he’ll give you something…low risk.