2022 NBA Draft

[MotownMadness]

Yeah nice game from Jabari, he's very tempting at the top of the draft.

[Duke4life831]

My end of week 1 rankings

Jabari
Paolo
Chet
Ivey
Baldwin
Hardy
Collins (my sleeper)

Too lazy at the moment to dig any deeper than these guys at the moment.

My end of Month 1 rankings
Jabari
Paolo
Ivey
Brown
Chet
Baldwin
Hardy

Dont think there are any franchise guys in this draft. Jabari though I think has a good mix of high floor and solid ceiling. Paolo I can end up seeing being a box score machine like a Julius Randle and I think he will be a smarter player than Randle. Just way too big of a question mark on the defensive end for me. Ive been a big fan of Ivey for awhile, with this not being the strongest draft, Im cool taking Ivey top 3. His speed and quickness is flat out ridiculous. Not in love with his shooting form and wish he had a better natural facilitating feel to him. But ya Im cool taking him top 3 and hoping he can build upon that speed. The athletic profile in Brown is hard to pass up, I like his floor just from the defensive side of it, but one of those guys if it clicks I can see him being a good offensive player too. Chet Ive made it pretty known the issues I have with Chet. Just dont know if he has the physical profile or the athletic profile where his offensive skills will translate all that well against NBA competition. He wont drop outside the top 5 for me because if those skills do end up translating, the dude will be very good.

[Hal14]

My end of week 1 rankings

Jabari
Paolo
Chet
Ivey
Baldwin
Hardy
Collins (my sleeper)

Too lazy at the moment to dig any deeper than these guys at the moment.

My end of Month 1 rankings
Jabari
Paolo
Ivey
Brown
Chet
Baldwin
Harvey

Dont think there are any franchise guys in this draft. Jabari though I think has a good mix of high floor and solid ceiling. Paolo I can end up seeing being a box score machine like a Julius Randle and I think he will be a smarter player than Randle. Just way too big of a question mark on the defensive end for me. Ive been a big fan of Ivey for awhile, with this not being the strongest draft, Im cool taking Ivey top 3. His speed and quickness is flat out ridiculous. Not in love with his shooting form and wish he had a better natural facilitating feel to him. But ya Im cool taking him top 3 and hoping he can build upon that speed. The athletic profile in Brown is hard to pass up, I like his floor just from the defensive side of it, but one of those guys if it clicks I can see him being a good offensive player too. Chet Ive made it pretty known the issues I have with Chet. Just dont know if he has the physical profile or the athletic profile where his offensive skills will translate all that well against NBA competition. He wont drop outside the top 5 for me because if those skills do end up translating, the dude will be very good.

1) I like that you're so high on Brown. I keep telling people - he reminds me of scottie pippen and shawn marion A LOT.

2) Who's Harvey?

3) I like Jabari in the no. 1 spot, too.

[Karanpal]

Jabari
Chet
Bhancero
Ivey
Brown
Murray
Mathurin
Chandler
Tyty Washington

[The Moose]

for me so far

1. Smith
2. Holmgren
3. Brown
4. Ivey
5. Banchero

[MemphisX]

JD Davidson is going to be top 10 most likely.

[Hal14]

JD Davidson is going to be top 10 most likely.

the dude makes winning plays - he's fun to watch. And somehow his hair doesn't get in his eyes or hold him back in any way.

Watch on YouTube

[crows2]

JD Davidson is going to be top 10 most likely.

the dude makes winning plays - he's fun to watch. And somehow his hair doesn't get in his eyes or hold him back in any way.

Watch on YouTube

Was that last play not goaltending?

[clyde21]

that definitely looked like goaltending to me

[The-Power]

So, I'd like to hear your thoughts on which guys you are currently considering for the top 10. That is, which prospects do you think have a reasonable argument (i.e. exclude prospects you think only have a weak argument) at this point (but feel free to mention players separately that you believe could get there eventually if things break right). It's about your big board, not about a mock draft or mock ranking based on how you believe teams are feeling about these prospects.

I currently have Jaden Ivey first, ahead of Jabari Smith and Paolo Banchero. Those three are essentially locks for me in the top 10 (but not yet for the top 3). Then I'd include Chet Holmgren and Jaden Hardy due to their theoretical upside but I have some concerns that could make them drop out of the top 10. I also consider some of the athletic wing players to have valid arguments, namely Jonathan Davis, Benedict Mathurin and – if he's indeed to be considered a wing – Kendall Brown. I'd also put Keegan Murry on this list although I'll keep a close eye on him to see how the fares in the more difficult match ups this year. Among Point Guards, I'd include JD Davison and Kennedy Chandler, although I'm far from sure about either of them in this range at this point. Maybe Patrick Baldwin Jr. as a fringe candidate? I'm really not convinced of him yet, though.

So that would be 11 or 12 prospects and a bunch of them I'm not very bullish on at this point. I'm not (yet) buying stock for Diabate, Duren, Houstan, Griffin, Washington or Christie in the top 10, and I also have Daniels and Beauchamp from the Ignite team a bit lower. Not sure about the international players but I haven't seen anyone that really pops out to me yet. I continue to not be enamored with this draft and some prospects that I wouldn't really call lottery picks are likely to end up in my top 10 because of that.

But how do you feel about your top 10 candidates?

[clyde21]

So, I'd like to hear your thoughts on which guys you are currently considering for the top 10. That is, which prospects do you think have a reasonable argument (i.e. exclude prospects you think only have a weak argument) at this point (but feel free to mention players separately that you believe could get there eventually if things break right). It's about your big board, not about a mock draft or mock ranking based on how you believe teams are feeling about these prospects.

I currently have Jaden Ivey first, ahead of Jabari Smith and Paolo Banchero. Those three are essentially locks for me in the top 10 (but not yet for the top 3). Then I'd include Chet Holmgren and Jaden Hardy due to their theoretical upside but I have some concerns that could make them drop out of the top 10. I also consider some of the athletic wing players to have valid arguments, namely Jonathan Davis, Benedict Mathurin and – if he's indeed to be considered a wing – Kendall Brown. I'd also put Keegan Murry on this list although I'll keep a close eye on him to see how the fares in the more difficult match ups this year. Among Point Guards, I'd include JD Davison and Kennedy Chandler, although I'm far from sure about either of them in this range at this point. Maybe Patrick Baldwin Jr. as a fringe candidate? I'm really not convinced of him yet, though.

So that would be 11 or 12 prospects and a bunch of them I'm not very bullish on at this point. I'm not (yet) buying stock for Diabate, Duren, Houstan, Griffin, Washington or Christie in the top 10, and I also have Daniels and Beauchamp from the Ignite team a bit lower. Not sure about the international players but I haven't seen anyone that really pops out to me yet. I continue to not be enamored with this draft and some prospects that I wouldn't really call lottery picks are likely to end up in my top 10 because of that.

But how do you feel about your top 10 candidates?

not good

outside these guys:

Jabari
Paolo
Chet
Ivey
Brown

i wouldn't feel too confident taking anyone in the top10, but picks have to made and players have to be taken. just not a very impressive class overall. after these guys I would most likely just want to aim high with a guy like Christie or Dieng, which is why I have both in T3 for me despite them not really being all that productive at this point.

but yea, don't want to call this a bad class but it's just not very exciting for me at all.

[CptCrunch]

Duren is going top 10. The badness of his play is offset by the dysfunctional coaching at Memphis and his amazing physical profile.

If Memphis guards are bad, Bates is bad and Penny is worse, nothing Duren can do to look great. Bigs like him don't just initiate offense and takeover without adequate guard play.

[clyde21]

you just explained exactly why Duren shouldn't go top10

also, aside from the physical pro and age, what's there that warrants a top10 or lotto consideration?

[Duke4life831]

We doing the Duren going top 10 thing again?

I have watched every Memphis game since they started playing legit opposition. Someone who has watched those games, please tell me why should go top 10.

First of all I think his physical profile gets overrated. He looks small out there against actual other bigs. He looks like he is 6’9 at best. Ya he’s strong and ya he’s athletic, but I’m not seeing some freak once in a decade Kind of athleticism from him. And who cares his strong he is if he doesn’t use it.

He is a horrible rebounder. He’s averaging 5 boards a game since they started playing legit competition (Virginia tech game). People talk about his defense, I assume they’re just talking about shot blocking because his actual defense has been bad as well. When it comes to his shot blocking, well that has dropped to 1.6 blocks per game to 3.4 fouls per game.

And ya Penny is a trash coach, I’ve been saying this for years so you won’t see me argue that. But let’s not act like there is some huge talent gap for Memphis compared to the teams they’ve been playing. So I don’t buy the “Memphis guards are just too bad” thing. When Duren does get the ball, he shows zero skill set and zero moves. Zero offensive creativity with his offense.

It’s pretty clear what Duren is, he is a raw athletic big with very little skills and his defense is all “potential” and not actual production at the moment. And I hate repeating this over and over again, but when was the last time a raw athletic big went in the top 10 and turned out being worth the pick? It was Dwight Howard. And I can guarantee you that a teen Dwight wouldn’t be putting up 7/5 with 1.5 blocks against middle of the road power conference teams.

[azcatz11]

If he’s going too 10 and Bates is going lotto how is Memphis doing bad this season?

[clyde21]

We doing the Duren going top 10 thing again?

I have watched every Memphis game since they started playing legit opposition. Someone who has watched those games, please tell me why should go top 10.

First of all I think his physical profile gets overrated. He looks small out there against actual other bigs. He looks like he is 6’9 at best. Ya he’s strong and ya he’s athletic, but I’m not seeing some freak once in a decade Kind of athleticism from him. And who cares his strong he is if he doesn’t use it.

He is a horrible rebounder. He’s averaging 5 boards a game since they started playing legit competition (Virginia tech game). People talk about his defense, I assume they’re just talking about shot blocking because his actual defense has been bad as well. When it comes to his shot blocking, well that has dropped to 1.6 blocks per game to 3.4 fouls per game.

And ya Penny is a trash coach, I’ve been saying this for years so you won’t see me argue that. But let’s not act like there is some huge talent gap for Memphis compared to the teams they’ve been playing. So I don’t buy the “Memphis guards are just too bad” thing. When Duren does get the ball, he shows zero skill set and zero moves. Zero offensive creativity with his offense.

It’s pretty clear what Duren is, he is a raw athletic big with very little skills and his defense is all “potential” and not actual production at the moment. And I hate repeating this over and over again, but when was the last time a raw athletic big went in the top 10 and turned out being worth the pick? It was Dwight Howard. And I can guarantee you that a teen Dwight wouldn’t be putting up 7/5 with 1.5 blocks against middle of the road power conference teams.

Memphis guards are not bad either, Quinones and Nolley were being looked at as NBA prospects at some point, and could still be, but the team is such a mess it's hard to tell really

in terms of the talent Memphis is stacked, on paper top 5 in the nation really, Duren, Bates, Quinones, Williams, Lomax, Nolley, Timberblake, Minott...just ridiculous collection of college talent that should by vying for a top tourney seed right now instead of being unranked

probably one of the worst coaching jobs we've ever seen tbh.

re: Duren, yea you can blame the system/coaching etc., and that's fair to a point, but that doesn't change his archetype, and it doesn't change things that he is 100% in control over, like his abysmal 61% FT percentage. at the end of the day we're talking about a 6-9 center that can't create on his own, can't shoot or stretch, can't hit his FTs, and defensively hasn't been as good as advertised...how is this a top10 pick, even in a bad class?

[CptCrunch]

We aren't talking about top 3 or even top 5 here. Duren going top 3 has long sailed (or even #1 pre-season).

Duren for me is a borderline top 10 guy this year. Maybe I should have said he is a #8-14 for him, closer to the top side.

You take him for his rim running ability. It is really difficult to look good on a bad team with players checked out. It takes a whole another 'level of good' that you cannot expect out of Duren to lead a bad team like Memphis right now. He is a hustle, rim runner guy right now. Expecting him to create offense is unrealistic given his draft position.

Plus Jalen Duren is a baby, he will remain 18 at time of the draft. He is on the younger side for his class.

Yes, this class is bad. I'm really down on Paolo, Chet and Jabari.

[Duke4life831]

We doing the Duren going top 10 thing again?

I have watched every Memphis game since they started playing legit opposition. Someone who has watched those games, please tell me why should go top 10.

First of all I think his physical profile gets overrated. He looks small out there against actual other bigs. He looks like he is 6’9 at best. Ya he’s strong and ya he’s athletic, but I’m not seeing some freak once in a decade Kind of athleticism from him. And who cares his strong he is if he doesn’t use it.

He is a horrible rebounder. He’s averaging 5 boards a game since they started playing legit competition (Virginia tech game). People talk about his defense, I assume they’re just talking about shot blocking because his actual defense has been bad as well. When it comes to his shot blocking, well that has dropped to 1.6 blocks per game to 3.4 fouls per game.

And ya Penny is a trash coach, I’ve been saying this for years so you won’t see me argue that. But let’s not act like there is some huge talent gap for Memphis compared to the teams they’ve been playing. So I don’t buy the “Memphis guards are just too bad” thing. When Duren does get the ball, he shows zero skill set and zero moves. Zero offensive creativity with his offense.

It’s pretty clear what Duren is, he is a raw athletic big with very little skills and his defense is all “potential” and not actual production at the moment. And I hate repeating this over and over again, but when was the last time a raw athletic big went in the top 10 and turned out being worth the pick? It was Dwight Howard. And I can guarantee you that a teen Dwight wouldn’t be putting up 7/5 with 1.5 blocks against middle of the road power conference teams.

Memphis guards are not bad either, Quinones and Nolley were being looked at as NBA prospects at some point, and could still be, but the team is such a mess it's hard to tell really

in terms of the talent Memphis is stacked, on paper top 5 in the nation really, Duren, Bates, Quinones, Williams, Lomax, Nolley, Timberblake, Minott...just ridiculous collection of college talent that should by vying for a top tourney seed right now instead of being unranked

probably one of the worst coaching jobs we've ever seen tbh.

re: Duren, yea you can blame the system/coaching etc., and that's fair to a point, but that doesn't change his archetype, and it doesn't change things that he is 100% in control over, like his abysmal 61% FT percentage. at the end of the day we're talking about a 6-9 center that can't create on his own, can't shoot or stretch, can't hit his FTs, and defensively hasn't been as good as advertised...how is this a top10 pick, even in a bad class?

Ya and lets be clear, when I say Memphis is playing legit opposition. Im talking about teams that are just legit Division 1 teams, they arent good Division 1 teams. They arent playing stacked teams like a Duke or Gonzaga. They arent even playing ranked teams, they've just been playing middle of the pack power conference teams. So ya its not like they've been playing these teams with a ton of NBA talent and they just dont have the talent to match up. Memphis has been favored going into every game so far this year, in 3 of their losses they were double digit favorites going into the game. Memphis for sure isn't lacking talent.

And yup, the biggest thing we see from the lack of good coaching when it comes to Duren is he doesnt get the easy buckets that would help the raw stats (PnRs, dump offs when he's in the dunkers spot and so on). The poor coaching isn't leading to Duren only grabbing 5 boards per game. It isn't leading to the times when Duren does get the ball he has no moves to create offense.

Duren is a 6'9 center that has very little to no offensive skills, a bad rebounder, has a high foul rate, and his defense is just potential at this point and not actual production. Just dont see how that is equal to a top 10 pick.

[Duke4life831]

We aren't talking about top 3 or even top 5 here. Duren going top 3 has long sailed (or even #1 pre-season).

Duren for me is a borderline top 10 guy this year. Maybe I should have said he is a #8-14 for him, closer to the top side.

You take him for his rim running ability. It is really difficult to look good on a bad team with players checked out. It takes a whole another 'level of good' that you cannot expect out of Duren to lead a bad team like Memphis right now. He is a hustle, rim runner guy right now. Expecting him to create offense is unrealistic given his draft position.

Plus Jalen Duren is a baby, he will remain 18 at time of the draft. He is on the younger side for his class.

Yes, this class is bad. I'm really down on Paolo, Chet and Jabari.

I agree 100% with this, which leads me to ask why do you view him as a top 10 pick? Why draft Duren over say Mark Williams? Williams is a hustle rim runner, but Mark Williams is an elite rim protector and actually is a very good defender and he also has elite phyiscal tools with his ridiculous 7'7 wingspan. Either than age, why Duren over Williams?

(to be clear this isnt me saying Williams should go top 10 or top 20).

[CptCrunch]

We aren't talking about top 3 or even top 5 here. Duren going top 3 has long sailed (or even #1 pre-season).

Duren for me is a borderline top 10 guy this year. Maybe I should have said he is a #8-14 for him, closer to the top side.

You take him for his rim running ability. It is really difficult to look good on a bad team with players checked out. It takes a whole another 'level of good' that you cannot expect out of Duren to lead a bad team like Memphis right now. He is a hustle, rim runner guy right now. Expecting him to create offense is unrealistic given his draft position.

Plus Jalen Duren is a baby, he will remain 18 at time of the draft. He is on the younger side for his class.

Yes, this class is bad. I'm really down on Paolo, Chet and Jabari.

I agree 100% with this, which leads me to ask why do you view him as a top 10 pick? Why draft Duren over say Mark Williams? Williams is a hustle rim runner, but Mark Williams is an elite rim protector and actually is a very good defender and he also has elite phyiscal tools with his ridiculous 7'7 wingspan. Either than age, why Duren over Williams?

(to be clear this isnt me saying Williams should go top 10 or top 20).

Duren is also almost exactly 2 years younger.

It is difficult for me to imagine that 2 years under NBA coaching, development, Duren cannot reach Mark William's level in an average developmental trajectory.

Williams likely a first round pick in the 20-35 range.

edit: comparable counting stats, not better counting stats