Everything 2016/17 NBA Draft Thread aka Thank Nation 2.0

[lewro]

Yeah we need to address our 3pt shooting this offseason. That's why i'm looking at players like Ferguson and Kennard.

I read Ferguson is a T-Ross type player. Very intriguing.

Do you like leaf? 44% iirc. Swanigan is around the same, I think? Or you strictly want 2/3 type?

[Jrice9]

Do you like leaf? 44% iirc. Swanigan is around the same, I think? Or you strictly want 2/3 type?

I barely watch College Basketball but have seen Leaf a couple times.

Here's my concern with him:

1, What position is he? Like the dude is 6 foot 8 and not that special an athlete. Can he play power forward in the NBA and switch on the perimeter. Is he big and strong enough and provide enough rim protection and rebounding to be a center?
2, He played at UCLA with Lonzo. I'm a bit worried he was getting high quality looks that won't happen in the NBA. He also wasn't exactly chucking at huge rate from 3 (47% from 3 but on under 2 attempts per game at the College level)
3, Great stats against bad teams mostly this year which I'm not sure is great for success at the pro level.

But he's super young and has had a great year. I'm curious what y'all think

[lewro]

Our window is likely closed in 3-4 yrs so this yrs rookie contract is expiring in that timeline.
We're in a low upside tier of the draft.
We have financial concerns.
We're capped in FA.
We're young and developing about 1/3 of our roster.
Masai has been a little more conservative since Bruno.
That's not to say that he might not swing for the fences on a Giles or Bam, etc.
All that said, no guarantee we keep this pick it we trade DMC.

[JamesNaismith]

Personally hope we don't touch Leaf or Lydon with a 10 ft pole.

[lewro]

I barely watch College Basketball but have seen Leaf a couple times.

Here's my concern with him:

1, What position is he? Like the dude is 6 foot 8 and not that special an athlete. Can he play power forward in the NBA and switch on the perimeter. Is he big and strong enough and provide enough rim protection and rebounding to be a center?
2, He played at UCLA with Lonzo. I'm a bit worried he was getting high quality looks that won't happen in the NBA. He also wasn't exactly chucking at huge rate from 3 (47% from 3 but on under 2 attempts per game at the College level)
3, Great stats against bad teams mostly this year which I'm not sure is great for success at the pro level.

But he's super young and has had a great year. I'm curious what y'all think

I've only seen him a few times as well. Here's my impression of your questions/observations:

1. I think he's listed at 6'10? I think he has to play pf, not center. Not a plus defender - perimeter or interior.
2. He was a 5 star/consensus top 15 HS recruit alongside the rested of the highly touted freshmen this yr. He has a good amount of swag and leadership in his own right. He can score on his own (looked like he got the better of Rabb to me) but it's in the low post so I'm not sure how much value that holds for a pf in the modern NBA? The 3pt shooting should but you're right, the fga are low. Also his low FT% is not a good sign.
3. Can't say as I didn't see the games. I felt he was a 1b to lonzo vs Cincinnati in carrying the offensive load.

He might be a Ryno type with interior scoring and more leadership (ie not just a specialist). I've seen him mocked from bubble lottery to bubble 1st Rd.

[lewro]

http://www.almightyballer.com/ode-to...icker/#t=00:00

Some discussion about porter jr here recently and there isn't a lot of 2018 draft stuff out there yet so I thought I'd post this here. They touch on RJ Barrett at the end for the Canada bball guys.
Same pod will look at hartenstein and kurucs in the next episode. I'm more interested in that. The guest is a Spanish guy that lives in Europe.

[Chr1s1anL]

Personally hope we don't touch Leaf or Lydon with a 10 ft pole.

I feel the same way.

Sent from my LG-H831 using Tapatalk

[lewro]

I feel the same way.

Sent from my LG-H831 using Tapatalk

Why?

[JamesNaismith]

http://www.almightyballer.com/ode-to...icker/#t=00:00

Some discussion about porter jr here recently and there isn't a lot of 2018 draft stuff out there yet so I thought I'd post this here. They touch on RJ Barrett at the end for the Canada bball guys.
Same pod will look at hartenstein and kurucs in the next episode. I'm more interested in that. The guest is a Spanish guy that lives in Europe.

I know I'm jumping way ahead here but have you watched any in game footage of Zion Williamson?!

From all the "ballislife" type of HLs all I see an absolutely unbelievable freak athlete but I haven't seen any other skills to see why people keep throwing his name in the same sentence as LeBron. Barrett Jr's game so far almost reminds me a bit of Harden which is fairly encouraging considering he's so young. I think Porter Jr is going to be yet another oversized SF beast. It's crazy how previous generation PFs are now becoming unbelieavably well rounded SFs. If you know more about Kurucs please share because from what I've seen, he really doesn't look that impressive to me at all.

[lewro]

I know I'm jumping way ahead here but have you watched any in game footage of Zion Williamson?!

From all the "ballislife" type of HLs all I see an absolutely unbelievable freak athlete but I haven't seen any other skills to see why people keep throwing his name in the same sentence as LeBron. Barrett Jr's game so far almost reminds me a bit of Harden which is fairly encouraging considering he's so young. I think Porter Jr is going to be yet another oversized SF beast. It's crazy how previous generation PFs are now becoming unbelieavably well rounded SFs. If you know more about Kurucs please share because from what I've seen, he really doesn't look that impressive to me at all.

I've seen bits and pieces on various guys. Supposedly Nike live streams some games from their camp on youtube. Adidas does not tho. I don't really take it seriously until college bc there is a system and level of competition and the games mean something. The sneaker camps and AAU mean a lot more than HS, I know that for sure bc the NCAA coaches only have time to recruit in the summer.
I will post the pod on kurucs when it comes out. This is the guy that watches Euroleague
https://mobile.twitter.com/Pesquerj on the pod.
The liberty ballers guys know a lot about the draft. Derek Bodner (USA today), mark Whittington and Don Yates are all affiliated. Kellan Olsen is another guy that is related to the sun's blog. Might sound amateurish (and it is) but consider that Mike Schmitz started at the sun's blog and these guys interview DX guys like Julian Applebome. Even Kevin O'Connor started at Celts blog. I've never read his draft guide bc you have to pay for it.

[JamesNaismith]

I gotta say in a way it's too bad SG is where most of our depth is because I think as a result we won't even look at Donovan Mitchell but I really like his potential if someone decides to mold him into scoring PG because he has all the tools to do so and could be a steal if developed properly.

[JamesNaismith]

If I was Masai I would consider giving a Mikal Bridges a promise to draft him. I just find it so unlikely that Anunoby falls to us and I could legit see this kid being like our "Tayshaun Prince". Not sure if I already posted this vid of him before or not but I just think his style of play will fit our team like a glove (OG even more so of course because he could play some PF as well) but he is already used to having to score off the ball and shows some great defensive instincts which I imagine would only get better if he learns more off Tucker...

[lewro]

Zach Collins should at least test the draft without an agent.

[DogeLover1234]

Zach Collins should at least test the draft without an agent.

He was the best player in that National Championship game, was disappointed he fouled out so quickly. (Side note, that game made me realize why I typically only watch NBA, absolutely brutal.) I would totally understand why he would wait another year, but he is so good, and is the center every NBA team wants right now, as you said, he should test the waters. Seems like the type of guy who rises up draft boards right about now with workouts.

[lewro]

He was the best player in that National Championship game, was disappointed he fouled out so quickly. (Side note, that game made me realize why I typically only watch NBA, absolutely brutal.) I would totally understand why he would wait another year, but he is so good, and is the center every NBA team wants right now, as you said, he should test the waters. Seems like the type of guy who rises up draft boards right about now with workouts.

Yeah, if he gets a promise around the lottery then I think he should take it. Robert Williams backed out so it's basically him and markannen and he's the only true center. Patton has an outside shot, I guess.
Next yr has more centers and forwards and maybe he doesn't grow all that much or gets injured so why not take the money now?
I think Rabb is gonna cost himself $5m+ for returning last yr.