2021 NBA Draft: Ranking the best offensive skills, led by Jalen Suggs and Jalen Green Shot creation 1. Jalen Green, G League Ignite So much of the NBA now is being able to get your own shot, especially in the playoffs. In terms of purely being able to get to his spots and create a shot out of nothing, Green is the clear top prospect in this class long term. A few other guys may have shown a bit more current upside in this regard, but he tops the class due to his quick-twitch athleticism and explosiveness. It portends real upside beyond the potency he’s already shown in this regard. Green has a pretty vicious handle because of that quick twitch and elite body control. With that, he does a great job of using little change of pace moves like hesitations and hang dribbles to freeze defenders, then can blow by with a reactive first step or separate backward with very quick crossovers into pull-ups. He’s so quick to react to how defenders get off-balance. He strings moves together with ease to set up defenders, then blows by. From there, can get into his pull-up game from a variety of different angles, directions and foot positions. He loves the right-to-left crossover into side-step pull-up. But Green can left-plant, right-align pull-up with pristine footwork going to his right with ease, which is also a tough shot. He’s good in isolation or out of ball-screen actions. He has real potential to be not just a good scorer, but one of the NBA’s true great ones. He is a hooper, and has what the basketball community calls: a bag. 2. Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State 3. Cam Thomas, LSU 4. James Bouknight, Connecticut 5. Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga Catch-and-shoot 3s 1. Corey Kispert, Gonzaga Kispert is the king of the class when it comes to movement shooting off the catch. He’s terrific off screens and has consistently been among the best shooters in all of college basketball, hitting 44 percent of his nearly 400 3-point attempts in the last two years. He’s always ready with his feet aligned toward the basket and ready to shoot off the hop. His mechanics are simple, with everything being compact and replicable. The entire shot looks effortless, even as he extends beyond the NBA 3-point distance. He also has a great feel for how to get himself open while maintaining that shot prep and alignment and is really smart at relocating into open areas. Makes shots going both to his left and to his right because of that incredible balance and prep. Moreover, he’s good at running off screens and knowing how to run his defender into the screener. He’s a very good movement shooter in a variety of NBA-caliber situations due to how good he is at finding the open space. 2. Sam Hauser, Virginia 3. Trey Murphy, Virginia 4. Joe Wieskamp, Iowa 5. Jared Butler, Baylor Pull-up shooting 1. Tre Mann, Florida Mann is just an absolute monster out of pull-ups. He hit 40.2 percent of his pull-up attempts this season, many of which came from beyond the 3-point line, which is saying a lot. He just has a ridiculous amount of moves in his bag to get to the pull-up on balance. He decelerates exceptionally well, which allows him to stop on a dime and pull up. The hesitation move is where he makes his money. He’s a big fan of the hang dribble pull-up, but his overall game is much more diversified than that. He plays off the hang dribble with a pretty vicious series of crossovers. He can go right-to-left crossover into a side-step pull-up. He can hit a quick pound dribble with his left into a step-back, which creates real separation from defenders. But his favored move is the left-to-right between-the-legs dribble into a sidestep left pull-up. Once he gets there, has very simple mechanics. He doesn’t elevate much, and there is no ball dip or wasted motion. He just has a very quick transfer from pull-up to fire or catch to fire with nearly unlimited range. 2. Jared Butler, Baylor 3. Bones Hyland, VCU 4. Marcus Zegarowski, Creighton 5. Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State Interior finishing for guards 1. James Bouknight An absolute highlight reel waiting to happen as a finisher. Bouknight made 62.7 percent of his shots at the rim in half-court settings, which is drastically above average for a wing. Brings a real New York mindset of toughness and physicality mixed with a high level of creativity. As a driver, he absorbs contact and finishes through it. Makes these shots as a finisher both below and above the rim. On top of that, though, he can explode for highlight-reel dunks. Those are fun, but the real reason he’s here is that he has strong craft around the basket. He has a bevy of one-footed finishes in traffic that will really translate to the NBA. Loves to attempt and make them wrong-footed to keep the rim protector off balance and off time. He can make these shots because of his body control and balance. He’s great at putting the ball up quicker before the big establishes his area. Has absolutely pristine mechanics around the rim, too, keeping the ball close to his body and using his frame to shield it from rim protectors before using his length extension to finish close to the basket. Makes these shots with both hands, too. Bouknight just has this really high level mix of creativity, toughness, balance and bounce that should allow him to have a lot of success as a scorer inside. 2. Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State 3. Jalen Green, G League Ignite 4. Bones Hyland, VCU 5. Isaiah Miller, UNC Greensboro
Floater 1. McKinley Wright, Colorado Wright’s floater game is absolutely outrageous, and a huge reason why I’m a bit higher on Wright’s chances to stick in the NBA than many seem to be. He made a ridiculous 59.7 percent of his attempts on floaters, but this wasn’t on limited volume. He scored the second-most points on the floater in the NCAA last season and was third in the country in efficiency on the shot among the 130 players to take at least one per game. It’s an enormous weapon against drop coverage. He can hit it in a variety of ways from a lot of different angles and footworks, too. He can hit runners while still in motion, or can jump stop onto two feet and jump straight in the air. He can also make them planting off off both his right foot or left foot, and do so with range. 2. Tre Mann, Florida 3. Aaron Henry, Michigan State 4. Jason Preston, Ohio 5. Trendon Watford, LSU Interior scoring for bigs 1. Alperen Sengun, Besiktas Sengun is as elite as it gets as an interior finisher, both statistically and in terms of the tape. At the basket this past season, Sengun made 74.7 percent of his shots in half-court settings, a ridiculous number. Among the 65 players to take at least 50 shots at the rim in the Turkish League, that was the second-best mark. He also scored more points at the rim than any other player in half-court settings in the Turkish League. Particularly terrific in the pick-and-roll, which is the most translatable setting that he’ll fill. In large part, he finishes well around the basket because of his touch, his ability to extend and his ability to clear out an angle with his strength from his lower half. He has great hands and coordination that allow him to catch and make a move all in one motion. Sengun can catch the ball below his waist, at waist level, and above his head with ease. His footwork is exceptional. He can spin and finish with balance while keeping his eye on the rim. Also, while he won’t be asked to use it as much, his game in the post is terrific. His favorite move is the quick backspin, and he has great set of counters to whatever the defender presents him. He’ll use step-throughs, up-and-unders, then hit a reverse spin. Generally, Sengun is just an absolute offensive technician inside, and there’s every reason to believe in him scoring on offense. 2. Luka Garza, Iowa 3. Evan Mobley, USC 4. Moses Wright, Georgia Tech 5. Jericho Sims, Texas Ballhandling 1. Sharife Cooper, Auburn Cooper is clearly the best ballhandler in the class. He is one of the few players I’ve evaluated whose handle can even hold a candle to that of Trae Young’s. He is a ridiculous playmaker with the ball in hand. He has real speed and keeps the ball on a string while changing pace and direction with ease. His feel for shifting gears is spectacular, and he knows exactly how to read defenders’ balance. Cooper has a vicious crossover and a nasty inside-out dribble that freezes defenders. Then on top of it, he has a weird combination of herky-jerky handles with a smooth acceleration out of them. He’s not someone who pre-ordains his moves in a series. Instead, he actually reacts to how defenders play him, then makes his own move after they get on their front or back foot. Despite lacking size, he also plays through contact well. It’s really hard to displace him as he makes his initial move. He has good core strength. Cooper flows one move into another with ease, stringing together counter after counter in a dizzying array of handles. 2. Bones Hyland, VCU 3. Jared Butler, Baylor 4. James Bouknight, Connecticut 5. Josh Christopher, Arizona State Live dribble passing (halfcourt) 1. Sharife Cooper Cooper is also an elite live-dribble passer. He can make every pass in the book after drawing defenders toward him. He knows how to patiently bring the help closer and draw them out to open passing angles, and he knows how to manipulate defenders with his eyes before throwing impressive no-look passes. Any situation, he’ll find his teammates. He can do so with one hand directly off the bounce, and throws passes with both his right and left. Can whip left-handed cross-court passes on the fly with ease — and the passes almost always are on the money, right in the shooting pocket. He averaged over eight assists per game, which ranked second nationally. His 51.9 assist percentage would be one of the top marks in the database if he had enough games to qualify. He’s just superb at finding every single angle necessary, and he is the best passer, overall, in the class. 2. Josh Giddey, Adelaide 3. Jason Preston, Ohio 4. Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State 5. David Johnson, Louisville Grab-and-go transition passing 1. Jalen Suggs Just absolutely ridiculous at this skill, which might be my favorite in the draft. Suggs throws some absolutely ludicrous transition passes. I don’t know if you guys knew this, as it was only mentioned on every Gonzaga broadcast this year, but Suggs is a former quarterback in high school. He loves the Hail Mary, one-handed home run pass off rebounds to streaking teammates. His sense of how to weigh long bounces to get them to their target in stride is unbelievable. 2. Jason Preston, Ohio 3. Jalen Johnson, Duke 4. Josh Giddey, Adelaide t5. Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes, Florida State
https://www.si.com/nba/2021/07/26/nba-mock-draft-2021-latest-buzz-rumors-cade-cunningham-jalen-green 2. Rockets: Jalen Green, SG, G League Ignite Height: 6' 5" | Weight: 185 | Age: 19 | Freshman The vast majority of rival teams have zeroed in on Green as the likely choice for Houston at No. 2. While sources say the Rockets have been calling around to gauge trade possibilities involving the 2 pick, it feels more likely that they stand pat. That confidence has been bolstered by the fact that Green is the only projected top pick expected to work out for the Rockets at this point in time. League sources have indicated there is a level of disinterest within Evan Mobley’s camp regarding Houston as a destination, raising questions as to whether that potential marriage would be ideal for either side. Rival teams do not expect Mobley, Jalen Suggs, or Cade Cunningham to work out for Houston before draft night. The Rockets reportedly have interest in trading up to No. 1 with the Pistons, but there’s skepticism around the league that Houston would match Detroit’s hefty asking price. But Green is thought to be comfortable landing in Houston, has major upside as a scorer, and has been viewed as the Rockets’ preferred choice dating back to lottery night. Whether his game will prove compatible in the long run with the ball-dominant Kevin Porter Jr. is a fair question, but Green’s ceiling as a shot-creator is substantial. He’d immediately become the centerpiece of the Rockets’ rebuild. 23. Rockets (from Blazers): Day’Ron Sharpe, C, North Carolina Height: 6' 11" | Weight: 265 | Age: 19 | Freshman Rival teams say the Rockets are open to trading one or both of these picks in the 20s, although it’s unclear how high they can actually get by combining them. If they stay put, they shouldn’t be overly bound by positional constraints. Sharpe has had a strong predraft process that could culminate with him coming off the board earlier than many expected, with a chance to sneak into the Top 20 depending on how things break here. League sources say he’s worked himself into great shape, has shot the ball well in workouts and has done well in interviews. He has the makings of a reliable role player in the long run, with his ceiling tied to his offensive development. While not supremely athletic or skilled as a scorer, Sharpe is a highly competitive, high-effort rebounder with more upside than most traditional bigs in his mold. 24. Rockets (from Bucks): Joshua Primo, SG, Alabama Height: 6' 5" | Weight: 190 | Age: 18 | Freshman It’s unclear whether the Rockets will actually make this pick, but making a long-term investment in a younger player does fit with their timeline. After a strong showing at the combine and impressive pre-draft process behind closed doors, Primo now looks like a lock to land in the first round, with real interest from teams beginning in the teens and running into the 20s. He’s demonstrated a more diverse offensive game than he showed in a spot-up role at Alabama, with combo guard skills and an impressive level of poise and focus. The fact he’s the youngest draft-eligible prospect adds a layer of appeal as a long-term project, and he’s in the mix for teams that can afford to be patient. Primo has starter-level upside in the long run.
I'm Thor convert The stroke instantly reminds of Durantula So you've pretty much nailed my pipedream draft now (assuming no moves): 2 - Mobley 23 - Thor 24 - Springer C - Wood Olynyk PF - Mobley KMJ SF - Tate Thor SG - EGo Springer PG - KPJ Wall
https://hoopshype.com/lists/tre-mann-nba-draft-interview/ What’s something people don’t know about you off the court? Tre Mann: The type of person I am. On the court, I kind of don’t really show a lot of emotion. I keep a poker face. Off the court, I’m a good dude to be around, and I like to have fun. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I joke and laugh a lot. Where do you think you rank against the other guards in this draft class? TM: I think I’m the best guard in the draft, top-five for sure. When evaluating your game, what are your strengths and weaknesses? TM: My strengths are my ability to create for myself and my teammates, my craftiness, and my ability to shoot off the dribble on the three-point line or a couple of steps behind the line. The weaknesses that I think I need to work on are the simpler plays, like making the simple reads out of the ball screens and trying to make the game as easy as possible. Which NBA players would you compare yourself to that are playing now or retired? TM: I would say I’m like Bradley Beal, Damian Lillard, Steph Curry, Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Garland. My game is in between a mix of all of those guys. What are your long-term goals? TM: I want to be an All-Star one day. I want to play and compete for a championship. I want to win a ring. I want to be in the MVP race. Things like that. I’m pretty sure everybody has those same dreams and goals. Have you talked with your camp about where you think your draft range is now? TM: They said it’s from 16 to 25, maybe. How do you feel about going into the draft? Are you looking for a certain system? What’s your mindset? TM: It was to go as high as possible for me, but as I got closer to the draft and worked out with the teams and everything and sat down and thought about what I want, I want to be in a good system that fits my game that I can go be me and elevate my game. Why should a team select you with their draft pick? TM: Just my unique game and the things I can bring to the table. I can create for myself and my teammates. I feel like I could be on the court on both sides on offense and defense, and just my winning mentality and work ethic. What are you most looking forward to in the NBA? TM: Just being there. All the games, practices, everything. Hearing my name drafted. It’s everything about the league I’ve been waiting on and dreaming about. What will you do with your first paycheck? TM: Hopefully, I can do something to save it and invest and then have fun later down the road when I get a little more money.
Last time that I remember the Rockets having 3 picks in the first round we wound up with Michael Dickerson, Mirsad Turkan and Bryce Drew. OOOOOFFFFF
Different owner, different GM, different scouts. That means when people are worried we are talking Jinx. Don’t believe in that.
