I only suggest this because they do need another ball handling guard and he would definitely be a change of pace player for them
stupid NIL and then teams forming sensible consensus on big board stuff is dampening my once strong 25th pick enthusiasm! when the process started, i thought we could be looking at a carr or cenac or johnson, and now all of them are late lotto projected, and a lot of guys that were being mocked higher than i thought they should be are falling. ejiofor and jefferson both still interest me and are consistently available at 25 according to many, as is veesaar (whom i like but don't love). i've seen quaintance dropping some, same with koa peat (though i'm not sure i see his nba future, despite his frame and athleticism). duke's evans and meleek thomas are also pegged around us, but i'm not super jazzed about either (more evans than thomas, but both meh for me). probably rather reach for onyenso than either of those guys.
I feel the same on draft excitement, though there may be a possibility Swain drops to us. I was just thinking if the Lakers do throw a curveball it's probable going to be Koa Peat. He's Klutch, a pretty good athlete and is one of the youngest players in the draft. Tin foil hat on--this whole strange story about him changing his jump shot (which midrange was pretty decent at Arizona) and not letting teams know before the combine could have been a Klutch/Rob scheme to tank his value and make sure he's there at #25. He's a winner and was a lottery level talent before the season started. I didn't watch Aaron Gordon much but their 1 and done season averages and advanced numbers aren't so far from each other. I think Peat can stick in the league, he's a good athlete, can catch lobs, handle a bit, post a bit, good screener and given how young he is the jumper will come around. I could see his fit as a dirty work-type/glue guy complement to Adou. Quaintance injuries scare me. Seems he's a super young Robert Williams III, whom we could just sign and get the immediate impact if we wanted. I want guys who are available. If we want to use the #25 in a trade (I like the Jones/Missi idea) then we could probably get Onyenso in the early 2nd rd. That be great value. Edit: The UDFAs should be pretty good too, guys like Tobi Lawal (elite athletic wing still raw, Raphael Castro (nice center prospect), Bryce Hopkins (3-D wing), Tre White (Kansas wing), Tobe Awaka (crazy offensive rebounder, not much else) Udeh Jr (rim protector, lob threat), Okpara (nice center prospect)
hadn't thought of that and didn't know he was klutch. big difference between him and gollege gordon was the ballhandling/passing. gordon actually looked like a potential point forward (and he ended up being a solid connector type), but i never saw that from peat. he's most certainly got an nba body and athleticism, though. i wouldn't be mad if we got him; i just think he'll take a bit. yeah, terrifying. i'm not sure williams will be available at a low price, though, so i'd almost flip it and say if you can get the 40 games of williams from quaintance at likely 20% of the cost, why not? potentially--i only saw a couple teams in the 30s who seemed like trade-out candidates, though. i watched a lot of zona and awaka seems like a guy who's going to make nba rosters on sheer will. he's going to be tougher than most nba players and has a nose for the ball. could end up being a modern chuck hayes type, where you have no idea how but he's a 15mpg player on a good team. the other guy who stood out to me and projects as undrafted was sharpe in houston. every time i watched him he was just nails from the perimeter. and he's built like a running back. 89% from the ft line and deeeep range, very competitive defensively. short for a sg with short arms, but i'd give him a camp invite for sure.
I feel like we will move the pick, but i have Brazile and Onyenso at the top of my big board. Defensive 4's are exceedingly rare around the league. Not all teams need them, but we do because we have a weak defensive 1 and 2. The other three positions must be defensive players. Lebron is a good bridge for the short term, as he is passable at defense due to his transition to the off-ball role where he conserves his energy. But is Rui the ideal long-term option at defensive 4? Obviously not, because he is not a defensive player. Thiero could be the long-term answer here, but Redick has been hesitant to play him, and it remains to be seen if he will develop his shot. I like Brazile, because he is excellent defending in space, switching, weak-side rim-protection on the defensive end, while at the same time being an elite lob-threat on the offensive end, and his jumper is much further developed than Thiero's. Brazile could theoretically be plugged in behind Lebron at that backup 4 role for the 26-27 season. He is a rookie, but he is an older rookie, and is more polished than Thiero. Even if Thiero never does develop a jumper, Brazile's ability to shoot makes it possible to play both of them in the front-court together. They both could arguably guard 1 thru 5. Imagine a second unit with Thiero, Hayes, and Brazile? I like Onyenso because he is likely to be one of the best rim-protectors in the NBA for years to come. Like Brazile, he is more NBA ready, although it is a bit concerning he hasn't logger many minutes in his 4 years. But I liken him to a Derek Lively, who was in the rotation for the Mavs in his rookie year. He was much younger than Onyenso too. Onyenso is also an elite lob-threat. Ideal big for Luka. Check out the videos. I lean Brazile over Onyenso though, because of the scarcity of 3 and D bigger wings. Although Onyenso has an elite defensive skillset and an ideal offensive game for Luka, rim-protecting bigs who could rim-run are far more common. You could grab a Mitch Rob, TimeLord, or Richards in free agency or trade into the 2nd round and draft an Okpara, Castro, Backo, or Bittle.
I'm also high on Brazile in the 2nd round. He looked really fluid out there in the combine scrimmages and his athleticism and versatility at his size is too much to pass up. I think he's a bit of a knucklehead but playing with Luka and Reaves would drastically simplify things and amplify his strengths. What a scary sight of Swain, Adou and Brazile filling the lanes on the break. Sign me up!
Awaka could definitely make it on hustle, add in the rebounding and screen setting and he's set. If he could just develop one go to move, like that Hartenstein push shot... I liked all of Houston's guards this year. Sharpe is tough hell but a bit of tweener. Maybe he could fashion himself like a Marcus Smart-lite or Eddie House?? Uzan gets a lot of Andrew Nembhard comps but I don't thing his jumper is as good. I do like the idea of big point guards, especially if Bronny will be part of the rotation. Last I looked, we brought Cenac in for a workout so maybe we might keep #25 after all.
If I was Mark .... I'd want to see if Bennett and his shadow force scouts are keepers ... and start building that "farm system". Actually if I was Mark I might be out playing somewhere in nicer weather in one of these.
what are people's thoughts on christian anderson? i mentioned a couple days ago that i was surprised he got an early green room invite. so i started thinking who he reminded me of in the games i saw him play, and you know it was? chris paul. and i looked at the physical measurements and stat metrics, and man...they look similar there, too. and yeah, the league's different, etc., but it wouldn't shock me if he ended up outplaying a lot of the more highly-touted guards this year. anyway, i don't think he gets to us (though i have seen him mocked that low), but it's a case where i maybe sold him short because he was short or something. but in the games i watched, he really stood out as just a kind of mistake-free, deadeye shooting floor general. i guess stirtz fits this somewhat, though i thought anderson stood out to me a bit more in the small sample of games i watched each.
not sure if this belongs in this thread or the offseason thread, but what do people think of the value of 2nd rounders going forward? we've seen teams trading them 3 and 4 at a time for role players (we did it for both rui and DFS), with the value being seen as similar to a late 1st. with the new lotto system AND NIL--does this change? picks 45(ish)-60 have already been downgraded to sellable for cash, with the success rate being near zero most years anyway. like, if i offer 4 seconds right now, it feels like fake money. i say this because i saw someone suggesting we trade the 25 for a mid-second and three future 2nds and i was like...eh, just reach for the guy in the mid-second? i suppose if your guy fell that far...but also why not just purchase that pick and get both?
He's a pretty amazing lead guard, hyper efficient 3 level scorer (41% 3pt, 80% Ft) and a crazy assist rate. I probably dismissed him due to his size but he's a baller. Comps I've seen are darius garland, I can see a better 3pt shooting Chris Paul. Plus he lead that Texas Tech team the second half and tournament without Toppin his pick and roll buddy. I always thought our second unit needed a ball handler/creator outside of Luka/Reaves/Lebron mainly because of injuries. Even if we pick up all these athletic two way guys, someone has to get them the ball. I don't know all the rules around picks but 2nd rounders feel like a system to help GMs save face or to spin the media narrative. Like, look I got 3 2nds for so and so or I got so and so and only had to give up a 2nd. Also if teams can just buy 2nd rounders whenever they want, then not so valuable. The salary is not guaranteed, so its essentially an extension of the 2 ways spots. I don't blame guys for staying in school for NIL money. If it's about maximizing money I'd stay in school all four years, then go play abroad for a few years, get citizenship, play on their national team, and use that platform to get an NBA contract. I think Yabusale did this? It's risky if you're overall goal is the NBA, but with the NBA having plans for a Euro league, I think it's clever. Then when you retire you become an NBA consultant in Europe, ha!
yeah, i actually can't decide if the NIL stuff is a bubble or something that will help both college and the nba. like, momcilovic supposedly went back to college for 6 million or something insane considering he could be...cole swider. the bubble side of me says once teams get burned by this a few times (momcilovic does little to lift kentucky beyond where they would have been with a cheaper player), and these fringe 1st rounders won't get deals richer than their potential nba rookie deals, and the system largely reverts. on the other hand, maybe there's just so much money floating around out there that this becomes the norm, the second round of the nba draft gets basically fully hollowed out, but the first round becomes much more of an exact science, with fewer prospects who are scouted more extensively, many of whom have now played more than one season in college. we'll see. but if i held a pick in the 30s this year, i'd be super pissed, as it would have been reasonable to expect a first round level talent from this crop before they all started returning to school.
If you know what you’re doing 2nd round picks are valuable.Unless you think Gafford,Ckaxton,Herb Jones ,Dosunmo,Camara are not valuable.There will be at least 3 players drafted in the second round this year that will be comparable.
oh sure, in 2024 ajay mitchell and jaylen wells went back to back in the 30s. but these are exceptions that prove the rule. hit rate is very low (be interesting to see a comp of 2nd rounders to UDFAs over time), and you can buy into the mid 40s every year. as trade pieces, i don't think they should have much value at all, tbh.
