I forgot to add: lateral quickness is key too on defense. Luka is clearly better than Keldon on that end (for now). Being able to have loose hips to make quick turns is important.
It’s going to be an interesting pre draft period for Giddey.
He will most likely make the Australian Olympic team (although he won’t be expected to play meaningful minutes), which could see him take a fall stock wise as I’m not sure he’ll be able to attend many workouts due to these national team commitments.
He probably won’t be at the draft either as Olympics run from 23/7 - 8/8. Draft slated for 29/7.
Patty relationship really could be key here.
I think it does hurt Samanic on defense. Players have taken and made shots against his contest because his reach isn't enough. Poku has gotten a number of blocks in the minutes I've seen just due to his reach without great fundamentals where he's at least +2 on Luka.
Doesn't mean Luka can't be an effective defender, Ben Simmons doesn't have great length and he's pretty damn good. It's just the lack of length means Samanic probably won't generate defensive events like deflections, blocks, steals, tips etc compared to longer players.
Re: Giddey in general, I haven't watched anything on anyone yet, he's the first one where it's just been the highlight packages. First uninformed impressions aren't great. Knock knee shooter, stiff back, not very impressed by his handle. But that's just based off of 20 minutes of footage and without any context to compare to other players and no full game action, so it doesn't mean anything.
Eh, I should have clarified that I meant man to man defense. Blocks, steals, etc. can be empty stats most times. In non-garbage time minutes, Luka's contests has led to more misses than made shots for his opponents. Probably the best on the team in regards to that.
You can find full games of Giddey on Twitch.
We've moved to 13th pick tonight! Would be 11th had we not won the Mavs game.
I’m thinking we’ll end up at the 11th pick just like last year. It would be the most fitting. Make 0 moves, don’t play your lottery pick enough, and end in the same place.
Better draft this year at least and odds are the 11th pick this year will have a higher ceiling than Devin.
Same think we will draft about 11th again. If Kai Jones is there I think he will be the pick as he played down the road.
Not sure about this. The 2021 draft is very good at the top but after the 5th/6th pick it doesn't seem better than last year's in the same range.
Yeah, that’s an incredibly dumb reason to draft someone nearly 10 spots too high.
Roko has had a couple big games lately, not sure if it's enough to vault him into the lottery.
His stature reminds me of Keldon Johnson's. Big on the shoulders and short neck. His game is similar too, but obviously doesn't have the same intensity as Keldon.
I think he's more of a 3.5 than a 4.5. Not tall, long, or strong enough to cover C's in the NBA.
Solid player, but not sure if he would move the needle much in regards to the team's ceiling. Would probably be Samanic's little bro if he was drafted by the team.
If we can only get to the 11th pick in terms of record, I can live with that. It still means the opportunity to get a good player. That said, once you get in the lottery, there is a slim changes to move up, so we just need to hope that fates smiles on us a little and we can get a top 10 pick.
He has been a projected lottery pick in most mock drafts.
Tankathon has him at #20 on their big board, and #19 in their mock. They’re a pretty good analysis site, not just one of the many mocks out there.
More intel based boards have Kai higher. 7th SI and 9th Bleacher.
SI and Bleacher? I’m sold!
Glad we’re not CHI. They rolled the dice, and it appears they came up snake eyes. Lavine just went into health and safety protocols.
Very true. How scary would it be if the Orlando rebuild only takes one season and we are still trying to make the playoffs for years? Could be very dark times ahead for Spurs fans.
They’ll it up, somehow. They’ve done nothing else since DH exited.
My god does this draft suck outside of the top five
I'm starting my deep dive and I haven't found anyone I like outside of the obvious five. Starting at six, you have to settle for a flawed prospect. Hopefully it gets better the deeper I dive but so far it looks pretty terrible, tbh.
Last year, there were ~10 picks I liked so I thought the Spurs were in good shape at 11. As it turned out, Haliburton and Vassell were available from my 10, so it worked out.
This year ... man, I'm struggling to be able to even co-sign a sixth player.
I guess the lone bright spot is that the talent is flat from about 6 to 16 or even 18 ... so tanking doesn't matter enough to even care about one way or another.
I have Jalen Johnson and Scottie Barnes after the top 5, other than that i agree with you overall . Imo this draft is deeper than last year's draft so if you make the right choice in the top 15 you will get a good player.
Last year top 10 ( including Vassel and Haliburton) looked more readable and stronger but i'm not sure about overall talent comparing to this year draft.
Wasn’t the draft this year suppose to be really deep??
That's the case but outside of the top 5, you have a drop of quality but imo that's because the top 5 is really strong.
After that you have a lot of quality players so i understand what timvp is saying . For me you have a lot players who are like Vassell in the 10-20 range ( role player type of players), you just have to take the good one.
A name I have not heard was mentioned in a mock draft for the Spurs - Johnny Juzang 6’6 SF from UCLA
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