2024 NBA Draft Thread

[Ariel]

I found this tidbit interesting: https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...s-all-58-picks

The Spurs are telling rival teams they will be taking a best-player-available approach at picks No. 4 and No. 8 despite having backcourt needs and a lack of shooting and playmaking -- areas they'll need to address in due time. Taking a patient approach seems to be San Antonio's strategy for now, as there are plenty of scenarios in which more attractive options become available in the near future.

San Antonio has expressed increasing interest in Clingan as of late, even going as far as interviewing him in recent days to get to know him better. Some think this might be a case of the Spurs signaling to rivals that the No. 4 pick is where they need to get to if they want to draft Clingan, as opposed to real interest in a fascinating twin-towers lineup with the 7-foot-3 UConn champion and 7-foot-5 Victor Wembanyama.

If it's true the Spurs are trying to entice teams to trade up for no. 4, I wouldn't be so confident in them going with any of the most mentioned players as their top option. Of course, this is also exactly what I would say if I wanted to downplay my interest in one specific player for a trade up, to drive the price down, so who knows. All in all, I wouldn't be shocked if the Spurs come out of this draft with Salaun and/or Bub Carrington. Not my picks, but could see the FO going for either.

[NASpurs]

Salaun at 4 would be a disaster. Legit.

**Taking a swing on Salaun at 8 is one thing, but drafting him over Castle or Sheppard at 4 would be another. I'd never forgive BW tbh.

They also kept saying the Spurs are leaking things as misdirection and smoke screens so there's that Maybe it's because we're too caught up and knowledgable but the video was pretty much worthless from the Ringer. Seemed like a video for the casual.

[scott]

Not said by me, lol. I was never high on Scoot or Amen or Ausar or as even top 3 picks unlike much of the board. The beautiful thing is I put that on record here on multiple threads.

Next year has Cooper Flagg. People are already calling it the Cooper Flagg draft just as tge called last year the Wemby draft. Not quite sure how to respond to your post other than those two points above...wasn't me saying that about Scoot and next year is clearly defined which was my original point.

I'd bet money that Cooper Flagg is going to have a good, but not exceptional year at Duke. He's a physical specimen against high schoolers without a lot of polish, and he cannot shoot. Once people actually watch him play it's going to be feeding season. Good, but not generational. Fortunately the draft looks really solid at top anyway.

Here's a hot take everyone can bookmark for later: Cooper Flagg won't be the #1 pick in next year's draft.

[Leetonidas]

I found this tidbit interesting: https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...s-all-58-picks

If it's true the Spurs are trying to entice teams to trade up for no. 4, I wouldn't be so confident in them going with any of the most mentioned players as their top option. Of course, this is also exactly what I would say if I wanted to downplay my interest in one specific player for a trade up, to drive the price down, so who knows. All in all, I wouldn't be shocked if the Spurs come out of this draft with Salaun and/or Bub Carrington. Not my picks, but could see the FO going for either.

Looking past any smokescreens, if the Spurs are indeed looking to take BPA at 4 and 8 it might signal they are looking to acquire a PG elsewhere...

[exstatic]

Wasn't Ron Holland a clear #1 prospect coming out of high school?

Yeah, and then he lost his mind and went to the gleague ignite non-development program. You can’t stand still for a year, and hope to not get passed by.

[exstatic]

I'd bet money that Cooper Flagg is going to have a good, but not exceptional year at Duke. He's a physical specimen against high schoolers without a lot of polish, and he cannot shoot. Once people actually watch him play it's going to be feeding season. Good, but not generational. Fortunately the draft looks really solid at top anyway.

I think that’s the point. You don’t have to score Flagg to win. It was already a good draft, and then Traore blew up this year, and staked his claim to a top spot.

[LeBowen]

Looking past any smokescreens, if the Spurs are indeed looking to take BPA at 4 and 8 it might signal they are looking to acquire a PG elsewhere...

Imo, if Risacher falls to #4, Garland trade seems like a logical move.
Or take a gamble with Dillingham and hope he turns into a Garland.

Yeah, and then he lost his mind and went to the gleague ignite non-development program. You can’t stand still for a year, and hope to not get passed by.

Obviously, I was just trying to point out it can't be a Flagg draft just yet.

[Kurik]

I know it doesn’t make sense fit wise but something about drafting Clingan at 4 does interest me. For present and future capital/hostage purposes. Going up and getting Detroit’s 5th pick could also help secure one of Risacher, Castle, etc to go with Clingan.

[exstatic]

Imo, if Risacher falls to #4, Garland trade seems like a logical move.
Or take a gamble with Dillingham and hope he turns into a Garland.



Obviously, I was just trying to point out it can't be a Flagg draft just yet.

Right now, that’s the narrative, until it isn’t.

[Bruno]

At that stage, all these rumors are quite overwhelming: some are journalists speculations, some are smokescreen by Spurs, other team or agents and few are true leaks. I'm not paying too much attention to these and just waiting what Spurs will actually do on Wednesday.

Regarding trading up, the rookie salary scale is also a factor to consider: #1 pick will get $57M over 4 years while #4 will get $41M over 4 years. If I'm Spurs, I certainly won't give up a lot to go from Castle paid $41M to Risacher paid $57M. The max I would offer for #1 if #4 + #35 + Hornets fake first round pick.

[scott]

This draft was supposed to be a really good one for PG prospects. Then Wagner, Collier, Proctor all failed to deliver. You never know until that college/international season plays out. Next year's vaunted draft could end up a total flop, but it is loaded with promising prospects as of right now.

To put things in perspective, there are two recruits with 100 ratings (Flagg and Bailey) and then another 5 with 99 ratings (Harper, Malauch, Edgecombe, Johnson, Bethea) and that doesn't even include international guys like Traore - this is just NCAA recruits. Then you still have another 11 guys with 98 ratings. https://247sports.com/season/2024-ba...cruitrankings/

But compare that to last year's recruiting class, there were NO 100 rated gus, but there were 7 99 rated recruits (Holland, Collier, Justin Edwards, Cody, Bradshaw, Wagner, Buzelis) and 10 guys with 98 ratings. Take a look at the list of these guys last year... lots of them you've never heard of and aren't draft prospects at all, and others were massive disappointments. https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Ba...oup=HighSchool

Some astute posters will immediately point out that this is all due to the flawed for-profit recruiting industry... and that is correct, but all the hype about next year's draft is based on the EXACT SAME flawed system that put together last year's list.

I pulled up some early mocks from this season... take a look at them and some of the prospects high up:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...ason-underway/

https://hoopshype.com/lists/2024-nba...-bronny-james/ <--this one is actually not bad, but still has some wild inclusions

https://hoopsdistillery.com/bigboardcomp-sept23/ <--this one has a compilation of a few big boards. Elmarko Jackson in MULTIPLE top 5's!!!

Point being... next year's draft seems promising... but you can't count on it AT ALL. It may end up just as weak as this one, maybe even worse.

[Mugen]

Picking Clingan at 4 or 8 and actually keeping him would be an absolute fireable offense for BWrong tbh.

[DPG21920]

At that stage, all these rumors are quite overwhelming: some are journalists speculations, some are smokescreen by Spurs, other team or agents and few are true leaks. I'm not paying too much attention to these and just waiting what Spurs will actually do on Wednesday.

Regarding trading up, the rookie salary scale is also a factor to consider: #1 pick will get $57M over 4 years while #4 will get $41M over 4 years. If I'm Spurs, I certainly won't give up a lot to go from Castle paid $41M to Risacher paid $57M. The max I would offer for #1 if #4 + #35 + Hornets fake first round pick.

Yup. A scenario I would love and discussed with Eric on Twitter was:

SA trades 4 + CHA pick + 35 + maybe 2 more 2nds for pick 1 and SA takes Reed. This allows ATL to comfortably do the trade and SA pay less as if ATL truly wants Risacher or Clingan, they can guarantee that by SA taking Reed 1 and WAS taking Sarr 2. So ATL gets one of their 2 guys and pays much less and gets some extra draft capital too.

Then when the draft goes: Reed to SA, Sarr to WAS, Clingan/Risacher to HOU and Clingan/Risacher to ATL, SA then trades 8 + 3 2nds (or 1 future heavily protected first) to DET for pick 5 and takes Castle.

Spurs come away with Reed + Castle.

[Mr. Body]

At that stage, all these rumors are quite overwhelming: some are journalists speculations, some are smokescreen by Spurs, other team or agents and few are true leaks. I'm not paying too much attention to these and just waiting what Spurs will actually do on Wednesday.

Regarding trading up, the rookie salary scale is also a factor to consider: #1 pick will get $57M over 4 years while #4 will get $41M over 4 years. If I'm Spurs, I certainly won't give up a lot to go from Castle paid $41M to Risacher paid $57M. The max I would offer for #1 if #4 + #35 + Hornets fake first round pick.

Getting into a second contract with Risacher will be nasty.

[z0sa]

The only thing I'm a bit concerned about with a Reed+Castle draft is the rotation. Vassell isn't a 3, and probably neither is Castle. Reed can't play 3 and is better at the 2 than the 1. Also, Castle+Sochan, at least starting/at the season's beginning, seems like it would be a tough lineup to score on but would have a lot of difficulty spreading the floor and scoring itself.

Does Castle come off the bench, or perhaps Reed in this scenario? Or do we have Reed/Castle/Vassell and have Vassell and Sochan cross-match on D with Castle as well, maybe? Just curious as to others' opinions here.

[djohn2oo8]

Yup. A scenario I would love and discussed with Eric on Twitter was:

SA trades 4 + CHA pick + 35 + maybe 2 more 2nds for pick 1 and SA takes Reed. This allows ATL to comfortably do the trade and SA pay less as if ATL truly wants Risacher or Clingan, they can guarantee that by SA taking Reed 1 and WAS taking Sarr 2. So ATL gets one of their 2 guys and pays much less and gets some extra draft capital too.

Then when the draft goes: Reed to SA, Sarr to WAS, Clingan/Risacher to HOU and Clingan/Risacher to ATL, SA then trades 8 + 3 2nds (or 1 future heavily protected first) to DET for pick 5 and takes Castle.

Spurs come away with Reed + Castle.

looks like Reed is not making it past Houston. Too much smoke on that side today.

[Ariel]

I found this tidbit interesting: https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...s-all-58-picks

If it's true the Spurs are trying to entice teams to trade up for no. 4, I wouldn't be so confident in them going with any of the most mentioned players as their top option. Of course, this is also exactly what I would say if I wanted to downplay my interest in one specific player for a trade up, to drive the price down, so who knows. All in all, I wouldn't be shocked if the Spurs come out of this draft with Salaun and/or Bub Carrington. Not my picks, but could see the FO going for either.

Another interpretation as to why the Spurs would leak to be interested in Clingan: they're trying to make sure anyone insterested in him takes him top 3, so that their actual target slides to 4. Say Atlanta or Houston are interested in Clingan, then they can't trade down beyond the Spurs or they would lose him. Then that may either entice them to take him with their pick, or in the case of a deal, do so with the Spurs for a lower price tag.

[spurraider21]

Picking Clingan at 4 or 8 and actually keeping him would be an absolute fireable offense for BWrong tbh.

tbh taking salaun at 8 is worse than taking clingan at 4 and keeping him

[Mugen]

tbh taking salaun at 8 is worse than taking clingan at 4 and keeping him

Not even close.

Spending a top 5 pick on a backup + forcing Wemby to play out of position again for a big chunk of minutes is significantly worse than taking a home run swing at #8 tbh.

I'd want BWrong's head on a platter if he took Clingan that high and didn't actually trade him.

[DPG21920]

looks like Reed is not making it past Houston. Too much smoke on that side today.

Thats why SA would trade up to pick 1 with ATL in this scenario to get Reed..

[Mr. Body]

Another interpretation as to why the Spurs would leak to be interested in Clingan: they're trying to make sure anyone insterested in him takes him top 3, so that their actual target slides to 4. Say Atlanta or Houston are interested in Clingan, then they can't trade down beyond the Spurs or they would lose him. Then that may either entice them to take him with their pick, or in the case of a deal, do so with the Spurs for a lower price tag.

This kind of analysis is why I pay for the SpursTalk premium service.