Rockets better not trade this pick. Wish list: Someone who can HOPEFULLY replace Green. (Sheppard, Topic, Risacher) A big that can be a major disruptor on the defensive end. ( Sarr, Clingan) Not sure whats more important to the team at this point.
Dillingham (1a) or Sheppard (1b) if they keep the pick. Kel'el Ware if they trade down. Spyda Mitchell if they use the pick for a proven star.
You are correct that Clingan is a Walker Kessler type, but that's this draft class for ya. Kessler outplayed his draft slot and is a solid starter with limited offense and good defense. See also, JV, Mitchell Robinson, Hartenstein, Jarrett Allen, etc. But that's how bad this draft class is--a guy you're pretty sure can be a decent starter with basically zero star potential is a high lotto pick. Is what it is.
yep... kinda deflates the excitement of miraculously getting the 3rd pick. Like someone else said earlier - I think a lot of us CFers have had our eyes on Reed Sheppard at around what we expected to pick at (#9-10 or so). To get that 3rd pick and have a higher probability of getting our guy... not too bad of a consolation. I really do believe in Sheppard's game and still think he has a lot of untapped potential that he wasn't able to showcase at Kentucky bc of the crowded guard rotation.
He really should have gone back to Houston. I don't think he's going first round, so with NIL, what was the point in leaving? It's a shame because I absolutely love his game.
Jabari just needs to bulk up and get more aggressive on the boards and he will be a good PF. I don’t ever see him as a great SF and we already have Amen(for now), Brooks or Bridges, Tari, and Cam. None of which are PF’s. I don’t agree that Brooks is an amazing defensive player. He is getting more slow footed and incapable of staying in front of the shiftier SG’s/SF’s. Bridges is a much better defender. In my mind, these should be our priorities from a personnel standpoint this upcoming season: 1. Keep all the core and get them all enough minutes to improve. 2. Find an insurance policy for Jalen. Bridges or perhaps Dillingham or Sheppard. 3. Jabari bulking up. 4. Play fast all year (FVV has proven he can play faster if his minutes are reasonable).
The combine and individual workouts are gonna make a huge difference with teams looking for differentiators in a flat draft. So we’ve got a long way to go on player evaluation. my thing is that I’m a BPA guy, especially when picking early lotto. And while I 100% agree that we need shooting and someone who can take pressure off Fred, I still prefer BPA. I believe we can get shooting or fill holes in other ways besides the draft. A Malcom Brogdon fills a need; there are guys you can trade for or sign to fill needs. Drafting for need over BPA when you are still trying to build a playoff team seems short sighted. so if Shepard or Dillingham (who I both really like) end up being BPA at 3, well we should turn in that draft card and start celebrating. But a guy like Stephan Castle may be a better nba prospect despite the shooting questions. I guess I’m saying that even though I want a combo guard, I trust our scouts to get this pick right, and I’m gonna try to stay open-minded.
Honestly Topic isn't that guy. He's another nonshooter and we should avoid them at all cost at this point. Kid almost always goes for the layup because he's slightly more athletic than European players but they are going to kill him in the paint if he tries that so forget the layup. He can't shoot so what now how are we gonna get any sort of scoring contribution from him? Sarr will not fall to us and glad he won't because he's overrated as hell. Genuinely stay away from that kid all cost. Can't grab rebound, can't shoot, doesn't have a good touch around the rim. HARD PASS. Stay away from Reed i think his ceiling is Austin Reaves at best and you don't draft Reaves from 3 regardless of how bad of a draft this is. Buzelis is fine and he seems to be a very good kid who will work on his craft. He can shoot and he's huge for a small forward. I wouldn't be mad if we picked him. However the safest bet would be Risacher or Dilly. Dillingham's ceiling is Quickley and we don't know Quickley's real ceiling because he's still improving and if we are really lucky we get a Maxey out of him but i believe that his floor is this Raptors Quickley. Risacher looks like Michael Porter Jr with handles. That kid is possibly better than Jabari. I had said the same thing when i watched Brandon Miller for 15 minutes so i'm pretty sure he's better too. He is also a good defender/rebounder. Jabari to Risacher is a slight upgrade. Knecht is a sleeper as well. But i'd definitely target one of Dilly, Risacher and Buzelis. They all can shoot which we need the most. Dilly is a point guard (Amen isn't and we will need one soon), others bring shooting and size. If they are not trading the pick they should target one of these kids.
He declared because he's about to be 22, I think he knows he's likely to be a 2nd round pick, but I don't think him being another year older would change that.
Lololol Nova didn't even make the tourney when Whitmore was there and his last game at Nova was actually against Creighton in the Big East tourney where he scored 4 points on 7 shots. It's fine to not want Sheppard for a number of reasons but some of this rationale is just wrong or nonsense.
I'm not sure that's true. You won't find many "non-shooters" hitting 87% from the FT line, I'd bet that within a year or so he's a plus 3 point shooter.
I think the scouts will like Castle or Risacher. I think the data guys will love Sheppard or Clingan. I think the scouts will like Clingan much more than the data guys will like Castle or Risacher. I also think Cody Williams is a wild card. I know he had a bad end of the year. Maybe it is because I only saw him early, but man did he look good early. Only real concern is will his 3point shot falter when he's asked to shoot more difficult shots.
Sengun was a 81 percent shooter in Turkey and he's still not 30% shooter yet because 3pt line is further back in the NBA. Even if he becomes a really good 3pt shooter we will have to wait couple years and i don't have any patience for that personally. It took Lowry for years to become a good 3pt shooter. Rubio, one of his comps, was a great ft shooter and never became a good 3pt shooter. Dragic was never had a consistent jumper. One year he shot well another year he didn't.
Fred is like 5-11 and Reed is 6-3. You want two low motor, inconsistent, average shooter projects on this team because they're tall. I'm not sure Cody Williams goes in the Top 10. Neither of those players fixes the issues this team has. Only Sheppard/Clingan does that in this draft. Sarr as well but he's not going to be there at 3.
The Rockets are a BPA team. The Rockets may try to move up or down such that the BPA guy is at a need position. When the Rockets are submitting their pick, the Rockets will draft whoever they think has the best odds of becoming a good one because it is really hard to become an NBA much less a good one.
