The (way too early) 2024 Draft thread. Woo! Tanking!

[9 and 20]

Stating the obvious - Wiz can't afford to whiff on this one. I'd pick one of these tall wing Durant/Giannis types and hope they pan out. If not, dump them for pick later. The big guys, it seems like it's clear right away if they're garbage and it's apparently hard to dump them - Wiseman, Bagley, even Ayton. Don't Olowokandi this, Winger.

[jangles86]

Stating the obvious - Wiz can't afford to whiff on this one. I'd pick one of these tall wing Durant/Giannis types and hope they pan out. If not, dump them for pick later. The big guys, it seems like it's clear right away if they're garbage and it's apparently hard to dump them - Wiseman, Bagley, even Ayton. Don't Olowokandi this, Winger.

The high end prospects that aren’t 7”foot also have huge question marks around their games too.

Topic, Rissacher, Williams, Holland, Buzelis, Walter all have glaring weaknesses that none have really done much to discount.

Come draft night there may well be 10 guys in line for the top 3 picks and it’s going to be incredibly frustrating for a wizards supporter

[doclinkin]

Same league, Coulibaly a was a few months younger:

Coulibaly: 27 games: 10.0 points 6.1 rebounds 1.6 assists 1.5 steals 0.4 blocks 1.8 turnovers 53/45/60 57% on 2s

Risacher: 21 games: 16.5 points 5.6 rebounds 1.6 assists 1.6 steals 0.5 blocks 2.3 turnovers 46/37.7/72 54% on 2s

Same league but Bilal played next to Wemby. Taking only 3.5 shots a game in his 18 minutes of play. Or per 36 taking 6.9 shots, the fewest shots of any players regularly receiving minutes. Where the defensive attention was geared to stopping the phenom and Bilal had room to pick his spots.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/teams/paris-levallois/2023.html

Where Zacc takes the 4th most shots per game on his squad, at 18 years old, playing more minutes per game than any other player on the team. And is the focus of opposing pressure.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/teams/bourg/2024.html

Those are the numbers. Interpret them however you’d like.

Sure. Accurately. Or could be you took a stance and have a hard time adjusting even as the kid is improving and proving doubters wrong. Like me.

[payitforward]

Devin Carter with another monster game today: 31-14-3 on 14 shots. 7-10 from 3.

Gotta be creeping into lottery conversations.....

I'm just starting to look at prospects for the draft, & off his numbers Devin Carter looks extremely promising.
He's a 6'3" guard getting 9.5 boards per 40 minutes while posting a .613 TS%.

[doclinkin]

Stating the obvious - Wiz can't afford to whiff on this one. I'd pick one of these tall wing Durant/Giannis types and hope they pan out. If not, dump them for pick later. The big guys, it seems like it's clear right away if they're garbage and it's apparently hard to dump them - Wiseman, Bagley, even Ayton. Don't Olowokandi this, Winger.

No fear. I think we are looking at Buzelis and Zacc. Maybe Castle if we slip. I'm okay with whichever our scouts pick, if we land high enough in the lotto to be able to choose. I think still front offices discount the value of Bigs and there are more options available at the Center position late in the 1st round or even deep in the 2nd,

[NatP4]

Sure. Accurately. Or could be you took a stance and have a hard time adjusting even as the kid is improving and proving doubters wrong. Like me.

You can try to frame it however you want, this is just a difference of opinion.

I watch Risacher and don’t think he’s a 2 in the NBA, don’t think he’s a good defender at all, average at best, and don’t think he’ll ever be much of a playmaker. He’s not worth a top 3 pick.

We did not agree last year on Jarace Walker, Taylor Hendricks. Didn’t agree the previous year on Aj Griffin or Tari Eason. I can’t remember if we had any major disagreements in 2021. It is what it is.

[penbeast0]

None of the top prospects are really standing out so come draft night, we are going to have to trust Winger and co. to make the best choice. Then we will hopefully give him at least a year to develop before starting to focus on his weaknesses.

[tontoz]

None of the top prospects are really standing out so come draft night, we are going to have to trust Winger and co. to make the best choice. Then we will hopefully give him at least a year to develop before starting to focus on his weaknesses.

That brings up an interesting point. I think when evaluating draft prospects it is easy to focus too much on their weaknesses, not enough on their strengths.

[NatP4]

Stating the obvious - Wiz can't afford to whiff on this one. I'd pick one of these tall wing Durant/Giannis types and hope they pan out. If not, dump them for pick later. The big guys, it seems like it's clear right away if they're garbage and it's apparently hard to dump them - Wiseman, Bagley, even Ayton. Don't Olowokandi this, Winger.

My opinion:

Sarr: not a bust, but a Deandre Ayton/Andrew Wiggins trajectory.

Topic: future star, Tony Parker type career.

Williams: bust

Risacher: Michael Porter Jr career

[doclinkin]

We did not agree last year on Jarace Walker, Taylor Hendricks. Didn’t agree the previous year on Aj Griffin or Tari Eason. I can’t remember if we had any major disagreements in 2021. It is what it is.

Didn't agree on Dyson Daniels. He was your top pick that year.

Right, Griffin I left up to the medical staff if they said he was not a liability. Seems like he had a good rookie year but did get dinged up and fell out of favor with a new coach. I wanted to trade back to take Eason if we could, and if not would have taken MARK (edit) WIlliams if the med staff punted on Griffin.

Walker, Hendricks, Daniels, Griffin. I expect the jury is still out on all these guys though.

Sometimes we agree:

Outside of the lottery guys:

Colby Jones-reminds me of Divincenzo
Kris Murray
Noah Clowney-reminds me of Looney
Brandon Podziemski

Round 2:
Jaime Jaquez Jr.-reminds me of Derozan
Marcus Sasser-future quality rotation guard
Tristan Vukcevic-high upside floor spacing big
Adama Sanogo-big time scorer-Montrez Harrell-like
Colin Castleton
Azuolas Tubelis
Markquis Nowell-will carve out a role as a two way backup guard

Really think Walker&Hendricks are overrated. The other PFs are really underrated: Murray, Clowney, Vukcevic, Tubelis. Same with Lively, Castleton, Sanogo, Tsbiebwe at C.

I liked Podzemski, and you were all over him. I liked Dereck Lively.

[payitforward]

I like both you guys!
Thoughtful, willing to take a stand.

Me? I'm just a bozo -- I look at mocks, then look at numbers, then look at video, then make a call.

The fact that I'm right every time is just chance. Chance is a friend of mine -- has been all my long life.

[AFM]

PIF has what we call a "luck build"

[Hibachi_0]

Read on Twitter

As much as I like Topic (I'd be happy picking him), the more footage I watch from Nuñez the more I prefer him as the potential non-shooting (at the moment) Intl. PG to choose (I doubt we would go for both), choosing him gives you room to pick someone like Sarr, Risacher, Castle... with the top pick as Nuñez will probably be available later in the draft.

[Frichuela]

Read on Twitter

As much as I like Topic (I'd be happy picking him), the more footage I watch from Nuñez the more I prefer him as the potential non-shooting (at the moment) Intl. PG to choose (I doubt we would go for both), choosing him gives you room to pick someone like Sarr, Risacher, Castle... with the top pick as Nuñez will probably be available later in the draft.

This. Fully agree. Núñez is mocked in the 2nd round in all mocks I have seen. He would be a great pick up with our late first rounder.

I am also looking forward to Jared Butler getting quality minutes the rest of the season. It would be great to see what he can do.

[tontoz]

Topic shoots mid 80s from the foul line. That usually translates to good jump shooting in the NBA.

[TGW]

If you put a gun to my head now, it's between Topic and Reed Sheppard. The french guys are soft as baby butt.

[tontoz]

If you put a gun to my head now, it's between Topic and Reed Sheppard. The french guys are soft as baby butt.

Yeah if Topic is available when we pick i think he should be the guy. If we cant pick him or trade up for him, i'd get Reed or trade down. Not interested in these wings when we already have Deni and Bilal. If one of them was a standout talent then sure but i don't see any wings that interest me. This Buzelis guy is shooting 65% from the foul line. Ugh

Castle certainly has the size and athleticism for the NBA but his production is lacking.

I would like to get a defensive C with our 2nd pick.

[NatP4]

Yeah, Castle just hasn’t produced enough to be in the tier with Sheppard and Topic, I was wrong on that one, although it’s mostly because of his team fit. I think he’s a ball dominant playmaking/slashing guard being asked to play as a 3&D wing because UConn has great players at the 1,2,4,5 positions.

I’d go Topic in the top 3(even as high as #1) and Sheppard if we drop to 4/5/6 and Topic is off the board.

26ish: Doc’s guy DaRon Holmes, KJ Simpson, Devin Carter, Juan Nunez, or Izan Almansa.

52: Tamin Lipsey is a Jevon Carter clone.

[payitforward]

...would have taken Robert WIlliams if the med staff punted on Griffin....

Mark Williams, I suppose you mean, & he's looking like a helluva a good young players. Or maybe you mean Jalen Williams, about whom we can say the same thing.

Griffin, OTOH, has only earned @200 minutes this year & has been pretty awful. Or... is he injured?

I found it odd that you kind of moved off of Tari Eason after leading the way on him through most of the run up to the draft. He's pretty clearly one of the top handful of players out of that class. Of those taken before him, certainly, only Mark Williams, Jalen Williams & Jalen Duren (funny pattern there...) can be said to have been better as rookies.

[doclinkin]

...would have taken Robert WIlliams if the med staff punted on Griffin....

Mark Williams, I suppose you mean, & he's looking like a helluva a good young players. Or maybe you mean Jalen Williams, about whom we can say the same thing.

Griffin, OTOH, has only earned @200 minutes this year & has been pretty awful. Or... is he injured?

I found it odd that you kind of moved off of Tari Eason after leading the way on him through most of the run up to the draft. He's pretty clearly one of the top handful of players out of that class. Of those taken before him, certainly, only Mark Williams, Jalen Williams & Jalen Duren (funny pattern there...) can be said to have been better as rookies.

Mark Williams. Yes. Robert Williams is a favorite painter for graffiti heads of my era who stole from his style.

On Eason, right, I couldn't believe he was consistently ranked as low as he was and assumed teams must have had some intel on him that I didn't have access to, so figured I'd hedge my bets and only take him on a trade back where I could get a player who reliably produced.

That said as trade down targets I liked Dalen Terry (bad) and Christian Koloko (health) and EJ Liddell (injury). None of whom have risen to the top in the league. And Ryan Rollins who, yeah. Had issues. So. I'd have hit on Eason and whiffed with my extra picks.