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According to the latest ESPN mock Topic has meetings with Portland, San Antonio, Memphis and Utah
Yeah, when people were skeptical about the Thompson twins last year I understood the questions, but I also pointed out that at least they did what they were supposed to do and led their team to a 21-1 record iirc. They were supposed to win against their level of compe ion, and they did. Ignite was 2-32 this year and were horrendously bad with two supposed lottery pics.
According to the latest ESPN mock Topic has meetings with Portland, San Antonio, Memphis and Utah
Spurs are still considering drafting him.
No , captain obvious
I'm still mystified by the frequent references to his 6'5.5" wingspan being a deal breaker, only to be followed by a glowing endorsements of Dillingham, McCain, or Sheppard-- all of whom have wingspans under 6'4". This seems outside the realm of objective analysis, and more of an "I'm-mad-at-his-agent-because-he-circulated-a-fake-story-that-i-believed" response. The strength and conditioning coach at Kentucky posted last August that Dillingham had added "17 lbs of muscle" and was at 172 lbs... and then he weighed in at 164 at the combine, nine months later.
Maybe he can block shots with his long ing neck. He's the anti-dejuan.
timvp wrote the spurs had little interest in Topic.
"From everything I’ve heard, the Spurs were never looking to draft Topic."
I tend to agree, though the other 3 players you mentioned are all knock-down shooters, which is the major difference.
I see Topic compared to Dragic quite a bit which I think is a solid comparison, though Dragic was a better shooter at 18 than Topic is. Either way, Dragic was 6'4 with a 6'6.5 wingspan and he was a really good offensive player for quite a few years in the league. Made a couple All-Star Teams as a reserve and had a long, successful career in the league playing into his mid-30's.
Obviously Topic is never going to be a great defender, just like Dragic wasn't. But if you were to surround him with good defenders + Wemby waiting around the rim, it becomes much less of an issue.
They were interested enough to ask for his medicals. I guarantee they have some level of interest in the 18 year-old 6'6 euro-PG who happens to play their biggest position of need. Even if they don't draft him, there's definitely some interest there imo.
In 2011, they didn’t interview or work out Kawhi. Zero contact, although they did spy on him shooting in the gym waiting for an interview with someone else.
Dillingham and Sheppard can shoot the three, Dillingham also has an in between game, while Topic is a stubby armed guy who can only score at the rim and only against ABA compe ion and now we know why with those measurements.
Topic will most likely redsihrt his rookie year, which isn't a problem in itself.
Would maybe even help him. Similar how DJ was a noticably improved shooter after his injury. Had plenty of time to put in work.
But having two guaranteed FRPs next year and having Topic as a third rookie at the point when we're starting to compete would be questionable.
Especially since integrating a rookie point guard is really difficult when you're trying to win.
I'd argue that even having two rookies in 25-26 season is too many unless at least one is NBA ready right away.
There are just way too many red flags to pick him unless they think he's the next all-time great passer, because he surely doesn't have superstar potential in any other area.
If he was a domestic prospect, noone would even mention him.
Pendulum somewhat swung the other way and international prospects are getting somewhat overrated.
What gets me about Topic, especially against comps to Dragic and others, is that he seems to be a straight-ahead, bursty driver. I don't see the shiftiness, the hesitations, the manipulative dribbles like hostage dribbles or use of space in the lane. It's all just blasting past some earthbound statue for a layup and then another. I can't say he has no ability to do those things, but the compe ion is so lousy that's all he does.
In the NBA, when teams know what they're doing, they'll just sag off him and that's it. That's the perfect gameplan. Drop down five feet and give him whatever shot he wants.
He's supposed to be this master playmaker and passer but he seems like a like one-trick pony. So either the miserable state of his opponents is hiding something or he doesn't have that something.
yeah im not sure his actual ball-handling skills are remarkable, but i do think his passing is top notch in the draft. he absolutely whips cross court, skip passes. quite impressive
That's unfairly harsh. a 6'5.5" wingspan still ranks 2nd among all first round PG prospects, behind Carrington. It just stands out because it's (slightly) negative relative to his height (6'5.75"). At the youth levels he was an MVP of the U18 European Championship, and at the professional level he could only score against the opposition he played against, it wasn't that much worse than a lot of other prospects. I do believe there are a lot of questions to be answered with Topic, but we're acting like they were settled when that's far from the case. His shot as as much of a chance if not better than most projects including Salaun, he hasn't played against real athletic rim protectors but neither have many others, but he can get to the rim at will and has really good court vision. He's not a tier below than a lot of prospects that are being talked about and isn't a lock to be a bust. I never had him at the top of my board and prefer other options, but I'll be curious to follow his progress.
They are good, but also not different from what Sheppard, Dillingham, or Carrington can do?
yeah, i think purely from a vision/passing/anticipation standpoint his ability stands out in the class
the one thing sheppard probably does best is quick, long outlet passes, which is something our team clearly tried to do a lot last year, largely leading to turnovers
im not sure if dilly is the best technical passer but his quickness and handling creates the most lob opportunities. as we know, playmaking is more than just executing passes, its creating the openings for them
He looked like crap in his two Euroleague games and the negative wingspan seems like it could explain why when the level of compe ion went up. Don't want him unless they can get him super cheap, like trading some second rounders to the Pelicans for pick #21 and then take him there if he's on the board still.
He played 30' in Euroleague and shot 3/6 from 2 and 0/2 from 3, with 7 assists, 3 reb., 1 steal, 2 TO. That's not terrible for an 18 y.o. who just joined a high level team. And again, the negative wingspan is still the 2nd highest among top rated PGs, he's the next to last guy it should be used against. It's fair not to want him, but we're coming up with made up reasons to do so.
You're talking about a total sample size of 30 minutes. I get that you don't like him, but the amount of weight you're giving those 30 minutes seems disproportionate, especially compared to the dominance he showed at the U18 and ANGT tournaments, where it was clear he was far ahead of everyone in his age group. His per 36 numbers for that tiny sample size are 8.1 pts, 8.1 assists (2.3 TOs), 3.5 rebounds, 50% 2ptFG%. So he scored less and registered more assists playing with the older guys for 2 games of about 15 minutes apiece.
https://www.basketball-reference.com...star/2024.html
Topic has a WNBA below the rim layup city game. Boring
Let's get some exciting athletic players on the spurs and win that way.
Topic could be the NBA version of Merton Hanks...giraffe lookin SOB
Castle has a 6' 9 " wingspan.
Castle isn't a PG in my book, at least not right now. It may change in the future though, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
You must like WNBA games because you want a player whose game is WNBA.
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