5 Boom-or-Bust Prospects the Spurs Could Pick in the Draft

[SAGirl]

There is nothing I'm more certain of than the Spurs not...

Actually, I have a question. Are people brain damaged? Are you brain damaged? Why do you think this franchise, built on Robinson and Duncan, who got burned by Kawhi, who was a comparative saint in relation to how Sharpe has been acting, is going to go for Sharpe? Are you a ing moron?

Do you have some sense of humor Mr. B?

[jjspur]

That’s my point. Spurs haven’t been speculating/gambling on foreign prospects, as the poster I was responding to suggests, since 2014.

The Luka Sammich pick is still on people's minds simply because he was let go after only two years and that a number of players were taken after Luka and are still playing in the NBA.
Livio was a gamble and a bust, but the spurs had a lot of talent on the team back ten so it didn't sting as much. Luka was a huge game considering there wasn't that much talent on the team. (Aldridge & DeRozen isn't that much). Funny how the 29th pick in the same draft is still on the team and Luka isn't. Thankfully someone did their homework on Keldon and its paid off.

Point is, non lottery teams with lots of talent can afford to gamble with a first round pick, teams in the lottery that don't have that much talent (like the spurs) shouldn't. Every year there are players that don't pan out and the spurs have been very lucky to have only a few busts. Thank you spurs front office.

There is nothing wrong with picking a safe pick. They're not flashy but they usually have long steady careers. Even moving up with additional picks to select a well known player is also a good strategy. However swinging for the fences with a player that next to no one has heard of or gets selected on pure potential, well sometimes you just swing hard and strike out . Sometimes we have to fight the urge to gamble and just make a good pick. It will more than likely pay off in the long run and isn't that what we all want.

[RC_Drunkford]

I know a lot of people see Johnny Davis as having a high floor -- but I disagree. I also don't see the comparison to White. White has always had a league average-ish true shooting percentage of around 56%. At Colorado, White's true shooting percentage was 63.5%. Davis's true shooting percentage last season at Wisconsin was 52.3%. Furthermore, White is a strong playmaker and passer, while Davis is non-playmaker and a poor passer at this point.

If Davis doesn't become more efficient, I don't think there's enough else in his game for him to lean on -- at least at this point in his development. He's a good defender and great rebounder for a 6-foot-6 perimeter player but I don't think that's enough for him to remain in the league without improvements elsewhere.

Like you alluded to, Davis might not be able to get separation in the NBA. If that results in him forcing even tougher shots than he attempted at Wisconsin, that true shooting percentage could plummet even more.

The hope is that he is able to utilize the added space in the NBA and the improved talent around him to fine tune his shot selection. I'm reasonably confident that will happen, which is why I'd fine with the Spurs taking him at 9.

A player who's a good defender, plays hard all the time on both ends and can knock down open 3s will always have a career in the NBA tbh. I think his ceiling is a questionmark, but he will have a long NBA career

[MI21]

timvp, I promise bruh, based on what I've seen, Ousmane Dieng sucks. I would be reluctant to take him at 25 - taking him at 9 would be an all-time bad decision.

[timvp]

timvp, I promise bruh, based on what I've seen, Ousmane Dieng sucks. I would be reluctant to take him at 25 - taking him at 9 would be an all-time bad decision.

Yeah, man, Dieng at 9 would be destined to be a disaster. The more I've watched him, the more I dislike him as a prospect. Pop would hate him so much it'd almost be comical

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Utterly disagree with your take on Dieng. When I read your take about him being soft, I was like, what?? I've watched plenty of tape on him and never found his game soft. He's a bit of a finesse player and has developed a floater but neither offensively nor defensively have I seen any evidence he's soft or afraid of contact. So I watched your attached tape and also found zero evidence of this.

Also, his aggression is much superb to Samanic and his talent is on another level. And I say that as someone that very much wanted and hoped for Samanich to succeed. And I felt that way about him because if you strike gold there where the Spurs so desperately need help, you've improved the team overnight. Of course he needs to fill out, and work on his game as all of these kids do, but there's a really odd theme on this board that picking Dieng is a redo of Samanich or even Primo. Primo can't beat his man. Samanich had zero inside game and a very questionable motor. Take those personality and game deficiencies away from Dieng, as he has shown not to have those proclivities, and the kid shows to have a very promising future.

I wonder how much of the knock on Dieng is that he's a Frenchman where soft is almost considered a personality trait for them. Tony clearly was a bull dog. Dieng has that look to me. And if we came away with someone with his skillset and added the right other pieces, he could end up being precisely who we needed. OKC and a few other teams, perhaps including PATFO appear to be very high on the kid.



And there's next to zero chance he makes it to 20.

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There is nothing I'm more certain of than the Spurs not...

Actually, I have a question. Are people brain damaged? Are you brain damaged? Why do you think this franchise, built on Robinson and Duncan, who got burned by Kawhi, who was a comparative saint in relation to how Sharpe has been acting, is going to go for Sharpe? Are you a ing moron?

Yup, I think there's absolutely a near zero chance the Spurs select Sharpe, at least at 9, or maybe even 20. I have a feeling that however fair, nephew forever negated selecting a player of questionable or unknown character that high.

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sounds like dieng could very well be just dung.

Do your own research or film study if you have some time. This is a foolish conclusion that seems to be gaining momentum on here in the last 4 or 5 days. Watch the tape attached to LJ's article. Tell me if you see a kid afraid of contact or a smart player that instead of being a bull in a china shop like Keldon, you see a guy that has great body control and is able to pull up for floaters. He's shown plenty of ability to beat his on-ball defender in *set defenses*, something Primo has almost never shown.

He has a really nice touch on that floater and it would undoubtedly get better as would his 3pt%. Kid has a very high floor which is what this team desperately needs. And imagine his game 3 yrs from now when he's got a bit more meat on him and has developed a bit of back to the basket game.

If he's available at 9, and we skip him, it will be every bit as much a mistake as was passing on Sengun last draft for Primo.

[T Park]

Dieng’s Shooting form is like dragging nails across a chalk board. Bringing the ball from one side of his stomach to the other and slow AF is just, yikes.

[John B]

Do your own research or film study if you have some time. This is a foolish conclusion that seems to be gaining momentum on here in the last 4 or 5 days. Watch the tape attached to LJ's article. Tell me if you see a kid afraid of contact or a smart player that instead of being a bull in a china shop like Keldon, you see a guy that has great body control and is able to pull up for floaters. He's shown plenty of ability to beat his on-ball defender in *set defenses*, something Primo has almost never shown.

He has a really nice touch on that floater and it would undoubtedly get better as would his 3pt%. Kid has a very high floor which is what this team desperately needs. And imagine his game 3 yrs from now when he's got a bit more meat on him and has developed a bit of back to the basket game.

If he's available at 9, and we skip him, it will be every bit as much a mistake as was passing on Sengun last draft for Primo.

I too have concerns on Dieng being “soft,” but I do like his skill set. But he is a big risk at 9 imo. I would love to take him at 20-25. I think he is a lot like Primo that he is at least a 3 years project. I just don’t think that shoukd be Spurs route right now for lottery picks, but get someone who can contribute relatively sooner, i.e. Davis, Sochan, Duren