The Official Paolo Banchero Thread: 2022-2023 NBA Rookie of the Year

[RookieStar]

Agreed, that's why I wanted Jabari, can't do much about it now.
Besides, regardless of how confident I am about certain prospects, the draft is always a crapshoot.

If I remember correctly before the 2013 draft you made a thread about why we should take Ben Mclemore over Oladipo( I was also leaning towards Ben), with other options being Noel, Burke, Zeller, Len or even Shabazz Muhammed.
Fast forward to today and most of the lottery guys from that draft busted horribly while Giannis and Gobert were taken outside of the lottery so who the hell knows anything right now?

I have been wrong plenty, but I passionately wanted Dipo over B-Mac. So correction there.

I hated Hezonja from the start, but I don't hate Banchero as much as I hated Hezonja. I can give him a chance, but I still have to express my worries.

Tbh Hezonja's draft is least painful one for Orlando among all the wrong picks they made.
People who didn't like Hezonja wanted alternatives. Alternatives were : Jusice Winslow ( out of nba? ) and Stanley Johnson ( pretty much out of nba ).

I think i saw one of them in the Lakers and the other one with the Raptors. I dunno which one is which though.

[pepe1991]

I have been wrong plenty, but I passionately wanted Dipo over B-Mac. So correction there.

I hated Hezonja from the start, but I don't hate Banchero as much as I hated Hezonja. I can give him a chance, but I still have to express my worries.

Tbh Hezonja's draft is least painful one for Orlando among all the wrong picks they made.
People who didn't like Hezonja wanted alternatives. Alternatives were : Jusice Winslow ( out of nba? ) and Stanley Johnson ( pretty much out of nba ).

I think i saw one of them in the Lakers and the other one with the Raptors. I dunno which one is which though.

Yep Lakers picked up Johnson after he failed to make 15 men roster on Chicago, got wracked by injuries to the point where he was starting on Lakers

Winslow....Justice Winslow is in general best example of everything about overhyping draft prospects based on things scouts THINK they might develop. Guy was college very small PF dirt man/garbage man. But he was hyped into being " Jimmy Butler but with better passing".

[Skin]

PG Markelle Fultz / Jalen Suggs
SG Victor Oladipo / Cole Anthony
SF Franz Wagner / Chuma Okeke
PF Paolo Banchero / Bol Bol
C Jonathan Isaac / Wendell Carter Jr

Something like this could give me hope.

[Bergmaniac]

Most people are down on Banchero because ...: Fultz and Suggs ?

You kidding ,right? Because your team is really going anywhere with Reggie Jackson vol.2 and poor man Eric Bledsoe ?


For love of the God STOP overhyping Fultz into something he isn't . He was drafted 5 years ago. for half of a decade he continued to prove he ISN'T what he was proclaimed to be before draft .He is the worst first overall pick since Bennett. He is bust.
At apsolute best ,Fultz is your middle of the road- top 20 PG in nba. In way more realistic scenario, Fultz is overused T. J. McConnell /homeless Westbrook.
He isn't good defender, he can pass but he can't shoot from long range, he is forced to take mid range shots who are in general bad shots and there is nothing for him to do in modern offense if ball isn't in his hands. BUT he,himself, isn't good enough to have ball in his hands most of the time. So you are stuck between rock and hard place where you have to pander offense to him, and in same time he isn't THAT good where that's justified.

So much this. Making a decision on who to draft with the number one pick based on the fit with a guy who's never been a good NBA player in his 5 years in the league would have been absolute madness. If Fultz by some miracle becomes a good 3 point shooter, the fit will be fine. If he doesn't, we are better off getting rid of him anyway.

[bigdogdylan5]

All I kept hearing was “What about the offense?!” Now we take the one guy who has the best chance of the others being an offensive fulcrum and now we’re like “What about the defense?!” Some of y’all are funny.

[j-ragg]

Not really that worried about our defense. Also not that optimistic for our offense, at least next year.

[KillMonger]

at least we don't have to do a muscle watch on this kid....no need to wait years for this kid to fill out he's already there

[GelbeWand09]

Watching that DAL vs PHO series... Luka just bullied anyone and everyone who guarded him. He was hunting CP3, he took Ayton to an island, Booker was scared and even their so called defensive guys in Bridges,Crowder and Cam were just toast.

Im.hoping Paolo can do the samenfor us.

Luka is a dead eye shooter. Paolo is a shooter with a dead eye.

Aha

Luka's 3Pointshooting around Paolo's age

2016/17: Real Madrid 31,8%
2017/18: Real Madrid 28%
2018/19: Dallas 32,7%
2019/20: Dallas 31,6%

FT%
19 year old Paolo 72,9%
19 year old Luka 71,3%

[Nyce_1]

Welcome Paolo! Ball out.

[SOUL]

I think one thing we're gonna see new from Banchero is him playing with pace. Duke was really slow and he kinda excelled going down-hill and just bully balling people. And the fact that teams like Duke, Kentucky, etc are always so deep and you never see their full arsenal on display makes it enticing.

There's a loooot to unlock, specifically with him being a point forward. He's not gonna be Jokic or anything but him and Franz being able to handle the ball and make good passes is pretty important.

[basketballRob]

Luka is a dead eye shooter. Paolo is a shooter with a dead eye.

lmao you're gonna be having a rough few weeks. maybe a good summer league will help you recover

The only thing that will help me recover is day dreaming about all the trades we'll need to make in order to make this work.

One thing that I do like is both Wendell and Paolo are over 250 and they'll be able to rough up some front lines. Paolo is two inches taller and 20 lbs heavier than AG was and he was pretty tough.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gordoaa01.html

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[SOUL]

https://youtu.be/SQGGyjhwWhc?t=509

These Knicks fans had nice things to say about the pick

[lt175]

The thing is whether it was Banchero, Smith, Holmgren or Ivey, who was this great three level scorer/playmaker? There was nobody unless you take a gigantic risk on someone like Sharpe or even Dieng. It´s not the 2000 draft either as far as talent but still there was no Doncic, Young, Morant or Ball at the top.
I like Jaden Ivey but he´s more a secondary ballhandler/ slasher than a Morant clone.
Jabari Smith has ton of talent, a high floor and a high ceiling but can he develop good ballhandling? I don´t know.
Can Chet be something else than a great finisher? I don´t know.
I don´t know if Banchero can be a solid enough shooter either but at least he ´s the best creator/playmaker of the four. You put him with Wagner at the 3 and 4 and you have something.
For a FO that is seen as conservative, they took a risk.

Also it seems that Wojnarowski was a little bit presumptuous too like Adam Schefter last year for the NFL Draft.^^ It shows you that if you don´t want to leak, you really can.

[RookieStar]

at least we don't have to do a muscle watch on this kid....no need to wait years for this kid to fill out he's already there

We gotta do the opposite i think. In college, PB sweats so much he supposedly loses 10lbs of water thats why he gets cramps a lot amd can be seen on t.v.

So gatorade watch on this kid.

[basketballRob]

One thing that confuses me is why so many smokescreens if you are first on the clock to draft?
Did they really think Houston will give them Green to move 2 spots up? Or unprotected pick? Stone, Houston GM, has been working for nba for 17 years on top positions, he ain't fool, buying off Segun for pretty much top 18 protected pick in far future is best example that he won't get fooled by smokescreens.

It's still very confusing why Magic didn't trade down for lesser return value ( and still drafted player they wanted).
It's still unclear why create all this drama about Banchero's workout if he was going to be your first overall pick?

It's still unclear why play Jabari Smith like complete fool and have him parading around Magic arena like they signed prime Hakeem/Jordan just to play him- like a fool on draft night?
Wtf was that with printing Banchero's name on number Bamba has , as guy is still RFA and in theory "your" player. That's a guy you spent 6th overall pick on just 4 years ago.

Just very,very confusing predraft time culminated into very confusing draft night.

I agree with everything in this post. Something in the universe is wrong today.

Another thing is we always pick a player that we never worked out. At some point, agents are going to stop bringing players here to work out.



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[tiderulz]

Watching that DAL vs PHO series... Luka just bullied anyone and everyone who guarded him. He was hunting CP3, he took Ayton to an island, Booker was scared and even their so called defensive guys in Bridges,Crowder and Cam were just toast.

Im.hoping Paolo can do the samenfor us.

Luka is a dead eye shooter. Paolo is a shooter with a dead eye.

Luka is a dead eye shooter?

[tiderulz]

I think one thing we're gonna see new from Banchero is him playing with pace. Duke was really slow and he kinda excelled going down-hill and just bully balling people. And the fact that teams like Duke, Kentucky, etc are always so deep and you never see their full arsenal on display makes it enticing.

There's a loooot to unlock, specifically with him being a point forward. He's not gonna be Jokic or anything but him and Franz being able to handle the ball and make good passes is pretty important.

and watch that video of him before Duke. looked about 15 lbs lighter and moved really well.

[OrlChamps2030]

basically we should not draft Banchero,even if we think is gonna be the best player of those 3 cause....fultz and suggs can't shot

Right? Those guys must improve significantly from 3 to be starters in this league. You want to use the #1 pick to build around them and we don’t even know if they will be above average starting level guys on this team in the future. I know its human to get attached to the guys that play for your team but come on..

Franz is the only guy that’s a lock to be a core piece for years to come. And Paolo fits great next to him IMO. It hurts for some to hear but this team is still rebuilding.

[MagicStarwipe]

Over the initial disappointment. Wasn't in love with anyone in the draft at the end of the day. Looking forward to seeing what he can do.

[Horcy]

Watch on YouTube

;t=745s

This is the scouting report you will want to watch. Spinella had Banchero as his No. 1 prospect.

thanks for this. best video I've seen so far. incredible analysis, not a couple of highlights, thousand of plays