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Ulm takes the lead after Saraf splits the defense and finishes
4 of Essengue’s 6 rebounds have come early on here in the 4th quarter Ulm trails alba 70-73 with 6 minutes to go
Ulm takes the lead after Saraf splits the defense and finishes
Couple of costly turnovers by Saraf as well though
Essengue with a huge offense rebound and put back to put Ulm up 5 with less that 3 minutes left
Saraf Dagger 3 probably puts this game away
Interested to bear your thoughts on these two as possible pick at 14 Scott
Saraf finishes with 20 pts, 7 ast, 4 Reb, 1 stl, 1 blk, 4 tov
Essengue 14 pts, 7 Reb, 3 ast, 1 blk
Both players came up huge in the 4th quarter
My favorite draft channel, another good video.
I’ve watched the last couple of Ulm games and Saraf right now is the better player between him and Essengue. Saraf is a guy I’m going to move up my board. He is improving what seems like every game. Essengue is a good all around player with no weaknesses but also doesn’t have a strength that gets you excited. He needs to put on some serious strength
I would not be upset with either player at 14. Essengue would fit Brian Wright’s “positionless versatility” mold better and might have higher upside but Saraf has a higher floor and can probably be a role player right away.
In a world where the Spurs don’t draft Dylan Harper. Saraf would be a good pick at 14 but not sure how he fits or gets minutes if Harper is the pick at 2. That said if he is the highest on the spurs board you draft him and figure out the rest later. Saraf is best with the ball in his hands though.
Essengue does a little bit of everything. Not sure how he fits next to Wemby because damn the spurs already get pushed around. I’m trying to remind myself that the spurs can also build through free agency and that they could find their “bruiser” big next year if it doesn’t pan out in this draft. If the top bigs like Sorber are gone Essengue should definitely be in the mix at 14.
Honestly Saraf might end up better than Jeremiah Fears. I don’t think Fears is the athlete than everyone makes him out to be and Saraf is a way better shooter. Both players are crafty at getting to the rim. Neither one of them are good on defense but I would say Saraf is more advanced in his fundamentals
Spurs are drafting Harper so they won't be drafting Saraf.
Avdalas has a deep bag of tricks to his game
If the spurs throw us a curve ball at 14 it might be this guy
Filthy filthy
Mini-Manu
Don’t hang your hat on Saraf’s shooting .302 to Fears .284 when their respective FT%s are 74% on 3.1 attempts and 85.5% on 6.3 attempts. Fears shooting projects better, according to TaT, and not only does he get to the rim,he gets to the line twice as often and hits a pretty elite percentage. He’s also an 18 year old draftee.
Saraf looks very skilled and silky, almost a poor man’s Manu and a bit of Dylan Harper in his game. He just looks a bit slow to me and won’t have the size advantage to overcome that to be anything more than a complementary player.
The Spurs aren't taking a guard at 14 unless he can play the 3 as well. The last 4 mocks I've looked at have us taking Carter Bryant with the pick.
I like Carter Bryant a lot, but one thing I’ve never fully understood about the pre-draft process is why NBA teams pick prospects based on physical tools, archetype, and perceived “potential,” as opposed to how good someone actually is at basketball.
Bryant wasn’t even the best player on his own team, now he’s a lottery pick?
Teams often go for physical profiles hoping the head inside can play basketball at a highly demanding and sophisticated level. That's why they keep drafting Mo Bambas. Fortunately Carter Bryant does seem to know how to play to a certain degree, probably pretty good. But he was not asked to do very much while other freshmen across the country were. That's pretty concerning to me.
I’m close to finalizing this since there’s not much more tape that’s gonna come until the draft…
Tier 1 “the talent”
Flagg - Tatum
Tier 2 “special talent”
Dylan Harper - Harden
VJ Edgecombe - Wade/ Donovan Mitc
Tier 2.5 “checks all the boxes”
Jase Richardson - Gilbert Arenas/ CJ McCollum
Kon Knueppel - Derrick White/ Mikal Bridges
Thomas Sorber - DeMarcus Cousins
Tier 3 “big swing that could turn into a big miss or a home run”
Ben Saraf - Manu
Derik Queen - Sengun
Ace Bailey - Andrew Wiggins/ Kyle Kuzma
Tier 3.5 “if you want to play it safe”
Kasparas - Donte DiVicenzo/ D’Angelo Russell
Tre Johnson - Jordan Clarkson
Malauch - Gobert
Will Riley - Brandon Ingram
Tier 4 “great theoretical fit but with a lot to prove”
Egor Demin - Avdija
Noah Penda - Batum
Rasheer Fleming - Achiuwa/ Hachimura
Carter Bryant - Jaden McDaniels/ Ariza
Yaxel Lendeborg - Mamu/ Jalen Johnson
Tier 4.5 “there’s talent there but I’m not a big believer”
CMB
Noa Essengue
Unranked “no strong feelings for these guys”
Joan Beringer
Nolan Traore
Asa Newell
Liam McNeeley
Exciting 2nd Round Picks
Danny Wolf
Maxime Raynaud
Drake Powell
Cedric Coward
Ryan Kalkbrenner
Older players are frequently better,due to college experience and physical development, but there’s less room for improvement. Most NBA teams are unattractive and won’t attract FAs, and the only way to get an All Star or All NBA player is to draft one. You won’t do that picking older players.
A lot has to do with early entries. The training at aau is not overly focused on basics and college is now focused on winning as much as possible and not developing young players because they are gone after one year.
Thinking back to the yonder years, if judging by sheer production David Robison was ok in his rookie year at the Navy, but his physical profile was intriguing. Now going on his soph, then junior and senior years and he became a clear top player in the nation, but the first year people only had his profile to evaluate him. It’s true now for every single player. I’m actually quite amazed that the teams are making decent picks given the level of information they get form actual game play, not to mention the absolutely different levels of play from all around the world, whereas in the 80s and early 90s you are mainly picking finished products (or more finished) from primarily and often solely the college ranks.
Imagine drafting Drew Timme over Amen Thompson because you prioritized production.
Sure, but one can easily play that game the other way around.
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