2025 NBA Draft

[Mr. Body]

I think PATFO will keep ST alive by picking a guy who can't shoot "but does everything else ok" because it's so much harder to make a great shooter who can't drive a good ball handler than working on a player's shot.

Or pick a foreigner tht they'll send in europe for a cple years

It's sad, cynical but so PATFO

We have to keep in mind that for all our frustrations and hope for quick roster changes, in PATFO's mind we're right on schedule, maybe even in advance.

They'll never trade for Fox or any guard imo but only a wing or big with rare(r) skills but nobody with the Spurs profile (forget Beal Ingram or Zion for ex) is available, the only good ones are in team in rebuilding mode with no interest to get rid of them.

PATFO will stay put and look only for market opportunities that come to them.

edit/ sorry it's a cross with another thread haha

Most players in every draft can't shoot. It's a really narrow skill set combined with the size and athleticism the league needs.

[Pauleta14]

It's an increasingly specialized league due to rules changes and ignoring calling the game properly, so players need very restricted skill sets that are hard to find. And, as you say, players are drafted well before they used to be.

It got dropped like a hot potato, probably because it made expensive, high placed people unhappy, but when Ignite fell apart there was dialogue about how abysmal the AAU system is and how it's wrecking year after year of American players, and that's still a big part of the problem. Players spamming the same moves over and over adding to how narrow the game is now.

The balance between sport and entertainment has always been the issue in America. Contrary to the rest of the world where entertainment is a consequence of Sports, in the US it's the opposite and sports can only exist if it brings enough eyeballs to them.

The NBA is now trapped after decades of rules changes that were led by entertainment/rating objectives rather than sport/compe iveness.

The result? Today Lamelo Ball leads all guards in ASG ranking despite being the representative of everything that is wrong in AAU and today's NBA

But the worst art remains the CBA and the coming years will give unproven prospect absurd deals.

I'm not jealous, I just put myself in their shoes, why hurt yourself if the goal is to win the most money and extend your career as much as possible? Rare are led by passion only.

They give it all to get drafted and then the last year or so before extension...

[Pauleta14]

Most players in every draft can't shoot. It's a really narrow skill set combined with the size and athleticism the league needs.

There are levels in "can't shoot"

[Mr. Body]

The balance between sport and entertainment has always been the issue in America. Contrary to the rest of the world where entertainment is a consequence of Sports, in the US it's the opposite and sports can only exist if it brings enough eyeballs to them.

The NBA is now trapped after decades of rules changes that were led by entertainment/rating objectives rather than sport/compe iveness.

The result? Today Lamelo Ball leads all guards in ASG ranking despite being the representative of everything that is wrong in AAU and today's NBA

But the worst art remains the CBA and the coming years will give unproven prospect absurd deals.

I'm not jealous, I just put myself in their shoes, why hurt yourself if the goal is to win the most money and extend your career as much as possible? Rare are led by passion only.

They give it all to get drafted and then the last year or so before extension...

The NIL was a generally good thing in concept, but is leading to nothing schools like BYU just buying talented freshman probably to just straight up squander them. It'll be generation after generation of American player who is just ruined.

It's Americans in general. Americans are frivolous, complacent, lazy, have no idea about value other than what is flashy or what the big media conglomerates tell them they should consume. This capacity was always there, but it's gotten far, far, far worse. Just a huge population of the stupidest, most arrogant wasteoids imaginable, and not a single one of them will get off their asses to defend any parts of their lives much less anyone else's.

[CorrectCrusader]

Wish y'all would stop declaring drafts bad before they even get 2 years in the NBA

[Pauleta14]

The NIL was a generally good thing in concept, but is leading to nothing schools like BYU just buying talented freshman probably to just straight up squander them. It'll be generation after generation of American player who is just ruined.

It's Americans in general. Americans are frivolous, complacent, lazy, have no idea about value other than what is flashy or what the big media conglomerates tell them they should consume. This capacity was always there, but it's gotten far, far, far worse. Just a huge population of the stupidest, most arrogant wasteoids imaginable, and not a single one of them will get off their asses to defend any parts of their lives much less anyone else's.

It's not just the US, it's the whole world that is trapped in a capitalistic system where money leads every decisions more than ever.

There used to be a (cultural/moral) balance but it slowly disappeared with each new generation getting better at the "game" and more cynical than the previous.

As long as we haven't found a better system, we're litterally trapped. It's not that hard to anticipate the next decades not just in the US.

We're going WWE style in every sports imo

[Mr. Body]

Wish y'all would stop declaring drafts bad before they even get 2 years in the NBA

You're right, we shouldn't even bother with evaluations at all. Just pick players randomly.

[Pauleta14]

[sfernald]

Honestly I’m not that excited about this draft. Cooper Flagg is an incredible player that would probably bring Spurs a championship but it’s hard to get excited about him. He would probably love playing D&D with Timmy though if that’s something. The rest of the prospects are just sorta uhhhh. I could see Castle getting drafted earlier than #4 in this draft actually if that tells us anything.

[exstatic]

Honestly I’m not that excited about this draft. Cooper Flagg is an incredible player that would probably bring Spurs a championship but it’s hard to get excited about him. He would probably love playing D&D with Timmy though if that’s something. The rest of the prospects are just sorta uhhhh. I could see Castle getting drafted earlier than #4 in this draft actually if that tells us anything.

Edgelords gotta edge.

[sfernald]

Edgelords gotta edge.

Where would you draft him in this draft? Before the Lithuanian version of Nikola Topic or the Russian version of Nikola Topic or the French version of Nikola Topic?

[exstatic]

Where would you draft him in this draft? Before the Lithuanian version of Nikola Topic or the Russian version of Nikola Topic or the French version of Nikola Topic?

I’d have Flagg,Harper,Demin,Edgecombe,Jakucionis and Tre Johnson all ahead of him. On par would be Traore and Fears.

[CGD]

Sam Vecine’s latest of Ace Bailey. Gotta say this left me cold on the prospect, though the size and shotmaking are interesting.

https://youtu.be/PQw9imDMEc8?feature=shared

[exstatic]

Sam Vecine’s latest of Ace Bailey. Gotta say this left me cold on the prospect, though the size and shotmaking are interesting.

https://youtu.be/PQw9imDMEc8?feature=shared

I’ve been cooling on him for a bit now. His counting stats are meh to OK, and sometimes, you can find stuff in the analytics, but there isn’t much there, either. He’s barely an adequate 3 point shooter in college (34.7%), and he’ll have to contend with the further NBA line and better, more athletic defenders. There isn’t even really a shooting signal with his 60% FTs.

[SpursBills]

A few notes about this draft, in general and also compared to 2024:

- if you are a believer of "younger is better" when it comes to drafting, there is a lot to like here. G league ignite is gone, and so top prospects are not ting the bed in a worthless league. Quite a number of top freshmen prospects actually playing like top freshman prospects. Even more, it seems like there are quite a few guys who are very, very young even for their class. Nikola Topic was one of the only guys under 19 on draft day last year but this year Flagg, Essengue, and Fears will all be even younger and Jakucionis will have just turned 19

- SEC basketball this year is absolutely insane. This may be the most talented conference top to bottom in many years. As of today, they have 6 of the top 11 and 9 of the top 25 ranked teams, and previously undefeated Oklahoma just dropped out of the top 25. What this means is that anybody who puts up numbers/efficiency in conference play, especially freshman/sop res, should be be somebody worth noting, as they are probably going up against future pros night in and night out.

- It'll be interesting to see what the next draft "market inefficiency" will be, if there is one in this draft. Many of the rising teams in the league have at least 1 core guy that came from a non-top 4 pick, and who had some flaw that caused him to drop. Wagner at 8 (low usage). JDub at 12 (age). Sengun at 16 (mold). Bane at 30 (measurements). If the spurs are going to build through the draft like they seem to be -bent on doing, they most likely need to get a similar elite mid-round pull that doesn't rely on ping pong balls.

- Spurs will have a tough decision to make when it comes to prioritizing shooting. Typically, there is a lot of shooting variance before age 21 and it is often a good bet to take guys who are strong elsewhere in hopes that they can learn shoot later. I think this has been their strategy in the past, and it is one that I agree with. However, whether because of poor coaching or just bad bets or because not enough time has passed yet, there seems to be a significant lack of shooting on the team right now and I'm not sure if the Spurs can survive holding true to the same strategy.

Buttershots who have strong athleticism/IQ/passing indicators like Saraf, Edgecomb, CMB, Penda, or Essengue who would otherwise be good bets may present far too much risk to the spurs and be passed up for better shooters with less potential like Knueppel, McNeeley, Karaban. At the same time, if the spurs are looking for that elite mid-round pull who can develop into a core guy, buttershots might your best bet in doing so.

[Mr. Body]

I don't know if the SEC is truly that insane or every other conference is pretty bad this year, tbh.

[Mr. Body]

Overall, this draft right now for me has a clear 1a and probable 1b in Flagg and Harper.

Then there's a small basket of possible next rank with Bailey, Jakucionas, and maybe Tre Johnson. Then things get really bleak in terms of certain pro players and even those three are a bit shaky in that tier.

To me, the strategy is to splurge to get to a Kaspar or Tre Johnson, guys who have skill-sets that should work well, or mop up a couple potential role players. If they get like a 12 and 14 pick, see if a Kon or McNeeley is still there or try out a Derik Queen. But I think we'll see some players move up during conference play.

[exstatic]

Overall, this draft right now for me has a clear 1a and probable 1b in Flagg and Harper.

Then there's a small basket of possible next rank with Bailey, Jakucionas, and maybe Tre Johnson. Then things get really bleak in terms of certain pro players and even those three are a bit shaky in that tier.

To me, the strategy is to splurge to get to a Kaspar or Tre Johnson, guys who have skill-sets that should work well, or mop up a couple potential role players. If they get like a 12 and 14 pick, see if a Kon or McNeeley is still there or try out a Derik Queen. But I think we'll see some players move up during conference play.

Yeah, it’s still pretty early. In past drafts guys like Anthony Black and Taylor Hendricks were back half first rounders at this point, but wound up being picked top 10.

[CGD]

Overall, this draft right now for me has a clear 1a and probable 1b in Flagg and Harper.

Then there's a small basket of possible next rank with Bailey, Jakucionas, and maybe Tre Johnson. Then things get really bleak in terms of certain pro players and even those three are a bit shaky in that tier.

To me, the strategy is to splurge to get to a Kaspar or Tre Johnson, guys who have skill-sets that should work well, or mop up a couple potential role players. If they get like a 12 and 14 pick, see if a Kon or McNeeley is still there or try out a Derik Queen. But I think we'll see some players move up during conference play.

Agree with this assessment. I’m increasing partial to grabbing a C with one of the picks after seeing how much of a liability that’s been this year.

[Kurik]

My initial impression of this draft is that the sweet spots in terms of value and fit are like top 6 and then 20-25. If no one falls to the Spurs in their projected range I’m in favor of picking up some older prospects like Kam Jones and Rasheer Fleming if a trade down is possible maybe pick up a veteran in the process.

[onechance87]

miles byrd could be a good one in late first round

[sfernald]

I’d have Flagg,Harper,Demin,Edgecombe,Jakucionis and Tre Johnson all ahead of him. On par would be Traore and Fears.

Are you saying that knowing what we know about Castle in the NBA or are you comparing prospect to prospect?

[exstatic]

Are you saying that knowing what we know about Castle in the NBA or are you comparing prospect to prospect?

Prospect to prospect.

[Knoxxx]

Alex Karaban anyone? Projects to be there with ATL pick.

[BackHome]

He has to be in consideration and does fit a need