2024 NBA Draft Thread

[spurraider21]

Edey would have been just fine in the 2000s and the very early 2010s... remember thats an era where teams were still mostly starting 2 bigs and traditional centers. Celtics were playing Perkins/KG together. OKC then played Perkins/Ibaka together. the spurs were playing Splitter/Duncan. Heck Miami was still starting Joel Anthony and playing him rotation minutes until 2012, and Haslem still past that.

[JPB]

Clingan’s had a great tournament. His size and length are legit, and his Defense deserves praise, but taking an old-school, un-athletic Center who can’t shoot, doesn’t have much of a post game, and struggles to defend PnR 1st Overall or even top-5 would be insane in the modern era, even in a weak draft. Prob a good way to get your GM fired tbh.

Yeah, Clingan even on the top 5 would be crazy to me... People overreacting to the Tounament as always and Givony pimping the kid for some favors or whatever. He's typically the type of player who can shine in College ball but who doesn't have the skillset to have a prominent role in the NBA. Not every white big a Jokic. And you don't want the next Zach Collins.

[mo7888]

Yeah, no way Clingan goes that high (or that would be crazy). People overreacting to the Tounament as always and Givony pimping the kid for some favors or whatever. He's typically the type of player who can shine in College ball but who doesn't have the skillset to have a prominent role in the NBA. Not every white big a Jokic. And you don't want the next Zach Collins.

I hope he does (as long as its not to us)...

[scott]

I hope he does (as long as its not to us)...

Clingan with our pick, Edey with the TOR pick. Triple towers lineup coming up.

[spurraider21]

Yeah, Clingan even on the top 5 would be crazy to me... People overreacting to the Tounament as always and Givony pimping the kid for some favors or whatever. He's typically the type of player who can shine in College ball but who doesn't have the skillset to have a prominent role in the NBA. Not every white big a Jokic. And you don't want the next Zach Collins.

nobody is projecting him to be jokic though

[Dejounte]

nobody is projecting him to be jokic though

Theoretically, would any team even know if they had another Jokic waiting to be drafted with their pick? I feel like if Jokic entered the draft today, no one would know the talent in front of them based on what Jokic did in his pre-draft career.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...eport-and-more

Jokic would be passed up again and again.

[spurraider21]

Theoretically, would any team even know if they had another Jokic waiting to be drafted with their pick? I feel like if Jokic entered the draft today, no one would know the talent in front of them based on what Jokic did in his pre-draft career.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...eport-and-more

Jokic would be passed up again and again.

i mean, probably. the hit rate on bigs with jokic's athleticism is quite low. and he wasnt remotely the scorer or playmaker then as he is now, so it takes a lot of projection to get from 2014 jokic to 2024 jokic

but thats not the profile of Clingan. nobody is saying he should be picked high because he projects to be an offensive hub or anything like that.

[SpursBills]

Clingan is almost definitely going to Memphis where unless he get derailed by foot injuries he's going to be really good there.

This set of filters is likely cherrypicked and possibly coincidental, but this was the first set of criteria I used on Bart-Torvik:
6'11"+ (rim protector sized), defensive BPM > 4 (significant defensive impact), Block% > 10 (elite shot blocker) among Freshmen/Sop res

Sorted by overall BPM:
1. Donovan Clingan
2. Chet Holmgren
3. Walker Kessler
4. KAT
5. Mark Williams
6. Willey Cauley-Stein
7. Joel Embiid
8. JJJ
9. Mo Bamba
10. Christian Koloko

I mean, this is a pretty high hit rate and Clingan doesn't have any significant red flags like a horrible AST% or TO% except maybe being bad at free throws. The dude anchors a top 5 defense in the country. I'm not saying he's going to be a star or anything, but he's probably one of the surest things do be at least decent in this draft. I don't think Spurs can use him where he's projected to be drafted, but I'd be planning ahead for a Clingan-JJJ defensive front court for the foreseeable future.

[BatManu20]

2013 NBA Draft vibes here (outside of Giannis).

[scott]

Theoretically, would any team even know if they had another Jokic waiting to be drafted with their pick? I feel like if Jokic entered the draft today, no one would know the talent in front of them based on what Jokic did in his pre-draft career.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...eport-and-more

Jokic would be passed up again and again.

DJ Burns and Robbie Avila are ready to pushing teams for passing on them

[Dejounte]

i mean, probably. the hit rate on bigs with jokic's athleticism is quite low. and he wasnt remotely the scorer or playmaker then as he is now, so it takes a lot of projection to get from 2014 jokic to 2024 jokic

but thats not the profile of Clingan. nobody is saying he should be picked high because he projects to be an offensive hub or anything like that.

I wasn’t really defending Clingan or anything like that. Just bringing up a new topic.

and I disagree. Jokic appears he had all those moves before the NBA. He just became featured more once Nuggets realized what kind of talent they had:

[spurraider21]

I wasn’t really defending Clingan or anything like that. Just bringing up a new topic.

and I disagree. Jokic appears he had all those moves before the NBA. He just became featured more once Nuggets realized what kind of talent they had:

not all moves and skills project to the nba though. you can look at all the college highlights of guys that didnt pan out. why didnt jimmer's shooting translate, etc

[Atl Spur]

Theoretically, would any team even know if they had another Jokic waiting to be drafted with their pick? I feel like if Jokic entered the draft today, no one would know the talent in front of them based on what Jokic did in his pre-draft career.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...eport-and-more

Jokic would be passed up again and again.

You told the truth…… that’s all. We have no idea how much / far an Edey or clingan can expand their game in the proper setting. Only time will tell

[Dejounte]

not all moves and skills project to the nba though. you can look at all the college highlights of guys that didnt pan out. why didnt jimmer's shooting translate, etc

Well, yea. That’s the part where you have to develop an eye on what translates and what doesn’t. Things start to form patterns, and it’s how you factor everything in. I don’t think it’s as much as a crapshoot as you think it is, and I do believe (maybe someday), a basketball expert out there would be able to distinguish future good NBA players from bad ones… especially with the growing AI technology we have these days.

[Dejounte]

Speaking of patterns, I have a belief that elite passing ability is a sign of high basketball IQ.

i’m not talking about prospects who simply have high assist numbers in college or overseas, but players who can make electrifying passes.

are there past players with elite vision / passing that have not seen success in the NBA? I doubt the number is very high.

In this draft, i’ve focused on strictly playmaking in my search for film for each prospect. a few have stood out to me so far -

1. Dilly - this guy looks to be the best lob passer in the draft. I didn’t realize it before but his fit with Wemby would probably be ungodly.
1b. Topic - sets everyone up. I think everyone knows by now this is his strength.
2. Nique Clifford - this guy is not even projected to be drafted in the 1st and 2nd round, but he looks the part of a good player and even better passer.
3. Jaylon Tyson - not as good of a passer as the other three above but better than a lot of players in the draft.
4. Reed Sheppard - he threads the line between genius passes and basic passes. Basically above average and worth a mention

i wager the Spurs will draft one of these guys.

[exstatic]

Look, a lot of posters are aching for Risacher or Sarr, I get that, but I seriously doubt either one of them would be a day one starter even on this team. We may not even get the 1st or second pick or even the third or fourth pick and if that's the case I'd go for Knecht. He has the shooting skills we lost when McNuggets was traded, and would make a pretty good replacement player on our second string (better than Branham). Risacher and Sarr have potential true, but they may not make much of a difference for 1 or 2 or more years.

At least Kenecht, is an obvious upgrade to our current shooting. In this weak draft we should be looking for quality backups that will help us win sooner. Risacher or Sarr won't help us win much playing in Austin or spending a lot of time on the bench. I just don't think Wemby will be happy with another 20 win season with that typical draft for potential spurs move.

Veterans for ‘now’, draft for high potential.

[Splits]

That’s not the argument against older players. The argument is that you are getting him at a level much closer to his ceiling. So with Knecht, you have a guy far more experienced than his peers, more physically developed. He’s expected to be among the best players on the floor in college. But how much more development and improvement can you project? He’s not going to physically grow anymore (contrast with talk about how Wemby will inevitably fill up some)

it’s not to say nba experience doesn’t make you better. Can look at Derrick white who was always pretty good but has nevertheless taken a leap. But he does a lot of the same things he did by year 2 or so, just more consistently. But compare that to dejounte who was drafted young and really transformed his game into something pretty unrecognizable from his rookie year

it’s one of the reasons Sheppard is more intriguing than Kolek. By freshman year he already shows high bball iq, good passing skills, etc, to make him a very high impact player.

thats what he said

[objective]

Speaking of patterns, I have a belief that elite passing ability is a sign of high basketball IQ.

i’m not talking about prospects who simply have high assist numbers in college or overseas, but players who can make electrifying passes.

are there past players with elite vision / passing that have not seen success in the NBA? I doubt the number is very high.

In this draft, i’ve focused on strictly playmaking in my search for film for each prospect. a few have stood out to me so far -

1. Dilly - this guy looks to be the best lob passer in the draft. I didn’t realize it before but his fit with Wemby would probably be ungodly.
1b. Topic - sets everyone up. I think everyone knows by now this is his strength.
2. Nique Clifford - this guy is not even projected to be drafted in the 1st and 2nd round, but he looks the part of a good player and even better passer.
3. Jaylon Tyson - not as good of a passer as the other three above but better than a lot of players in the draft.
4. Reed Sheppard - he threads the line between genius passes and basic passes. Basically above average and worth a mention

i wager the Spurs will draft one of these guys.

Have you watched Juan Nunez?

[Ariel]

Well, yea. That’s the part where you have to develop an eye on what translates and what doesn’t. Things start to form patterns, and it’s how you factor everything in. I don’t think it’s as much as a crapshoot as you think it is, and I do believe (maybe someday), a basketball expert out there would be able to distinguish future good NBA players from bad ones… especially with the growing AI technology we have these days.

If you can situate every player and the ball on the court all times, plus the time and score, and the time on the clock, that along with each players' track record should allow you to train a model to rate every possible move forward in terms of how they affect their team's chances of winning. You could say the player with the highest bball iq is that which makes the decisions most conducive to winning (highest rated, should be differentiated by role). Probably every team has some form of this right now.

[Ariel]

Clingan is almost definitely going to Memphis where unless he get derailed by foot injuries he's going to be really good there.

This set of filters is likely cherrypicked and possibly coincidental, but this was the first set of criteria I used on Bart-Torvik:
6'11"+ (rim protector sized), defensive BPM > 4 (significant defensive impact), Block% > 10 (elite shot blocker) among Freshmen/Sop res

Sorted by overall BPM:
1. Donovan Clingan
2. Chet Holmgren
3. Walker Kessler
4. KAT
5. Mark Williams
6. Willey Cauley-Stein
7. Joel Embiid
8. JJJ
9. Mo Bamba
10. Christian Koloko

I mean, this is a pretty high hit rate and Clingan doesn't have any significant red flags like a horrible AST% or TO% except maybe being bad at free throws. The dude anchors a top 5 defense in the country. I'm not saying he's going to be a star or anything, but he's probably one of the surest things do be at least decent in this draft. I don't think Spurs can use him where he's projected to be drafted, but I'd be planning ahead for a Clingan-JJJ defensive front court for the foreseeable future.

That's quite a mixed bag right there, lots of different roles, skill sets and ages. I don't see how the success of Embiid, KAT, Chet or JJJ should be taken as any indication of Clingan's future performance. Like I said in a post here a a while back, probably Walker Kessler is the closest comparison, and he has proven to be a very effective player in his role, who struggles to earn a bigger role due to his offensive limitations. I think Clingan is likely to experience a similar fate, which isn't bad but not worthy of a high lottery pick for most teams. Poeltl could be another reasonable comparison.

[alfahdlan]

Speaking of patterns, I have a belief that elite passing ability is a sign of high basketball IQ.

i’m not talking about prospects who simply have high assist numbers in college or overseas, but players who can make electrifying passes.

are there past players with elite vision / passing that have not seen success in the NBA? I doubt the number is very high.

In this draft, i’ve focused on strictly playmaking in my search for film for each prospect. a few have stood out to me so far -

1. Dilly - this guy looks to be the best lob passer in the draft. I didn’t realize it before but his fit with Wemby would probably be ungodly.
1b. Topic - sets everyone up. I think everyone knows by now this is his strength.
2. Nique Clifford - this guy is not even projected to be drafted in the 1st and 2nd round, but he looks the part of a good player and even better passer.
3. Jaylon Tyson - not as good of a passer as the other three above but better than a lot of players in the draft.
4. Reed Sheppard - he threads the line between genius passes and basic passes. Basically above average and worth a mention

i wager the Spurs will draft one of these guys.

playmaking of Sheppard starts at 10 min mark.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

What do people think about Matas Buzelis? I entered the year very low on him, but checking in on his G-League Ignite season, it looks like he has a physical dimension to his game that I did not anticipate for him coming out of high school. He also seems like an instinctual shot blocker, and has good on ball defense out to the three point line. A line-up featuring Wemby, Sochan, and Buzelis could be surprisingly good on defense give the length, mobility, and switch-ability of all three. I also wonder if, given his physical development this year, Buzelis could play as a point-forward, potentially starting at the 4 and moving Sochan to the three. Curious to hear others' thoughts that may have seen him play more in the G League this season.

[exstatic]

What do people think about Matas Buzelis? I entered the year very low on him, but checking in on his G-League Ignite season, it looks like he has a physical dimension to his game that I did not anticipate for him coming out of high school. He also seems like an instinctual shot blocker, and has good on ball defense out to the three point line. A line-up featuring Wemby, Sochan, and Buzelis could be surprisingly good on defense give the length, mobility, and switch-ability. Curious to hear others' thoughts that may have seen him play more in the G League this season.

Buzelis can’t shoot.

[rascal]

I'd like buzelis to replace Sochan at pf. Buzelis looks quicker and a better athlete.

Neither should be considered at sf, team needs a high volume shooter, scoring option at sf.

[JPB]

You told the truth…… that’s all. We have no idea how much / far an Edey or clingan can expand their game in the proper setting. Only time will tell

It's about stats and probability. Jokic is just an abberancy and shouldn't be used as as an example or standard. I know I'm the one who brought him up , but that was precisely to underline the fact that the ceiling of an unathletic, non shooting center with no particular skills is limited in today's NBA, Jokic is just unique. But if Clingan can also protect the rim against NBA athlets , he should have a decent future there. Is it worth a top 3 pick in this draft? Well, the more I keep reading how bad this class is, the more I can help thinking it might not be that bad.