haven't seen anything yet posted like this. Here's what some are saying this morning: 2023 NBA Draft grades: How each team fared in the first round https://nypost.com/2023/06/23/2023-nba-draft-grades-how-each-team-fared-in-the-first-round/ excerpt: The Post’s Zach Braziller grades out the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft. Houston Rockets — Grade: A+ No. 5: Amen Thompson, G, Overtime Elite No. 20: Cam Whitmore, F, Villanova The Rockets wind up with two top-five talents without trading up from No. 20. They end up as one of the big winners of this draft, following up high-upside point guard Amen Thompson of Overtime Elite at No. 4 with Villanova’s Cam Whitmore, a projected top-five pick, at 20. A combo forward who can shoot it from deep, the 6-foot-7 Whitmore fell due to a combination of poor workouts and concerns over his medicals. He’s well worth the risk. San Antonio Spurs — Grade: A No. 1: Victor Wembanyama, C, France Victor Wembanyama is a Spur. Enough said. Twenty-six years after lucking out by landing Tim Duncan, San Antonio won big again in the lottery, this time with the 7-foot-4 Frenchman some experts believe is the best prospect ever. Wembanyama had joyful tears in his eyes after the selection. Spurs fans should have had the same reaction. more at the link Post similar reports here or your own grades. Will likely add a poll.
https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/2023_nba_draft_winners_and_losers/s1_17201_38947073 2023 NBA Draft Winners And Losers Winners Houston Rockets Last year I said that the Houston Rockets blew the draft out of the water. They may have just done that again. Their two picks were awesome. First they got Amen Thompson with the 4th overall pick, one of the two Thompson twins from Overtime Elite who led the City Reapers to the OTE championship this season. Amen will immediately be one of the NBA’s best athletes. He has all the athletic tools you want from your point guard in the NBA: speed, jumping, size, and just overall athleticism. At 6’7″ with a 6’11” wingspan, he also has great size and length. Then with the 20th pick they got the steal of the draft. Cam Whitmore has top 5 talent at the Rockets got him at #20. He fell due to concerns stemming from his workouts and interviews, as well as potential medical concerns, but he has incredible upside. I already mentioned that he has top 5 talent. Scouts around the league believe that Whitmore may have the most NBA-ready body of anyone in this draft class. He is super talented and is, again, a steal. Dallas Mavericks The Mavs made two trades and added a ton of size on draft night, drafting a center and a power forward and trading for a center. After a trade with the Thunder, Dallas selected Duke center Dereck Lively II with the 12th overall pick. It took Lively a little bit to get going at Duke, but got a lot better as the season went on. He might not be ready immediately, but he has a great work ethic. He could be like a Brook Lopez type of player who is a good big man and then develops a three-point shot as his career goes on. After a trade with the Kings, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who skyrocketed up draft boards in recent months and is now a first round pick. In addition to both of those picks, they also got center Richaun Holmes from the Kings. Oh, and they also got rid of Dāvis Bertāns‘ contract. Superb night. San Antonio Spurs They got Victor Wembanyama. Enough said.
A+ Getting Cam at 20 is the steal of the draft. Best value over draft position of any pick from any team. Only way it could have been better would be if Scoot somehow dropped to #4 (was never going to happen) or we pulled off some good value trade to go get him (sounds like the front office didn't see much of a gap between Scoot and Amen). We were all talking about what value picks we wanted if we traded up to #10... we got a guy in the conversation for the top 5 without even having to give up any assets and do that. Absolutely wild that Stone pulled that off. The streak of high-value mid-first rounders continues.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba...spurs-worst-clippers/cqc6kaw5xpwnfvbxfju3f38x NBA Draft grades 2023: Ranking the best & worst teams 1. San Antonio Spurs Grade: A+ Picks: Victor Wembanyama (#1), Sidy Cissoko (#44) The Spurs won the NBA Draft the second they landed the No. 1 pick in the lottery. In addition to a generational talent like Wembanyama, San Antonio landed a talented two-way prospect in G League Ignite wing Cissoko in the second round. (NBA Entertainment) 2. Portland Trail Blazers Grade: A+ Picks: Scoot Henderson (#3), Kris Murray (#23), Rayan Rupert (#43) The Trail Blazers landed the second-best player in the draft with the No. 3 pick. Henderson is going to be a future All-NBA caliber talent and he'll (potentially) get to learn from franchise cornerstone Damian Lillard. Portland continued to add to its roster later in the draft, selecting a win-now 3-and-D forward in Murray and a long-term development project in Rupert, who I had as a first-round grade. 3. Houston Rockets Grade: A+ Picks: Amen Thompson (#4), Cam Whitmore (#20) The Rockets, themselves, probably can't even believe what they came away with on draft night. After filling a need for an athletic and defensive-minded playmaker like Thompson with the No. 4 pick, Houston picked up the steal of the draft at No. 20. Whitmore is a prospect who many had mocked to the Rockets at No. 4, but his medicals reportedly scared away some teams, allowing him to fall into Houston's lap with its second first-round pick. The Rockets landed two building blocks for the future of their franchise in one draft. 4. Dallas Mavericks Grade: A+ Picks: Dereck Lively II (#12), Olivier Maxence-Prosper (#24) The Mavericks absolutely nailed the 2023 NBA Draft. Dallas traded down to No. 12 and shed Davis Bertans' contract while still landing the prospect it wanted in Lively. The Duke center is the type of defensive anchor and lob threat who will thrive next to Luka Doncic. Then, the Mavericks traded into the late first round to select Prosper, an energetic and versatile wing who has shown promise as a perimeter shooter — another prospect who will fit seamlessly alongside Doncic.
This draft is a D. Stone came away with a guard who can’t shoot and a wing that no one else wanted. Whoopty doo.
I mean, I don’t see how we could have done any better. Landing Amen and Cam without giving up future draft capital is absurd.
Clearly a winner of the draft and an A+ value on paper. But there's a pretty big level of risk with both guys, and I always take draft grades with a grain of salt.
A+ I agree with the media. But the fit aspect has to be addressed, has to do with Jalen Green and Bari not being sure fire legendary players like Wemby or LBJ. Stone gathered a lot of talent but only 1 glue guy in Eason..... and half one Garuba. (Couple All Star caliber players and tons of borderline All Star calibers.......) I do not see minutes for Tate, nor do I see any future for Nix and Washington.
https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2660435 Houston Rockets A+ PICK PLAYER SCHOOL 4 G Amen Thompson Overtime Elite 20 F Cam Whitmore Villanova The addition of Amen Thompson gives the Rockets a dynamic one-two punch in their backcourt. His playmaking skills complement Jalen Green's score-first mentality, and he's got the tools to be a perimeter stopper. Thompson's jumper is the biggest question mark in his game, but he's got the potential to be Houston's long-term answer at the point. The Rockets scooped up another athletic specimen in Villanova freshman Cam Whitmore with their second first-rounder. The former McDonald's All-American was projected to go as high as No. 5 but reportedly slid due to a combination of poor workouts and interviews. Whitmore's upside certainly outweighs the potential character concerns, especially at this stage of the draft.
They gave Charlotte an A+ but neither Miller nor Nick Smith are elite finishers at the rim, they are lacking that. I somehow have a feeling the Heat picked another potential gem in Jaime Jaquez who was projected an early 2nd rounder.
A+++ for us no doubt. If you told me at the start of this week that we'd end up with Amen and Cam I'd be certain we mortgaged our second pick, players and future assets to do so. I would give the Pacers an A as well. I think Jarace's fit is impeccable with Turner, they've formed one of my favorite young cores in the league.
I'm happy that mostly everyone else is happy with the picks. I won't s**t on their parade. But, I'm pretty bummed that the best shooter on our team after the draft is still the guy that s**t on himself... Our shooting coach needs to perform some miracles.
B+ -- it was great not having to give up any assets to land "their" guys. Thompson and Whitmore are 2 more young players that will need time. For a team that supposedly is "done with losing" and Udoka is going to take these guys towards the play in next year Im not sure how Amen or Cam are going to help while they acclimate. As the worst shooting team in the NBA that aspect was not addressed last night so the hope should be to find some veterans that can at least knock down wide open shots next year.
We did better than expected (obviously) staying put. I would have liked to seen us trade up or down. I know we didn't have the capital to trade up. I thought we could trade down but seeing what Dallas ended up taking, I can see we weren't even close on that front either. Still happy overall but so far this season I more excited about the coach than the players. We've got a lot of spending to do, I just hope it's done wisely. Ime better have some serious salesman in him because there isn't a player on the roster that will bring in the vets. Right now we look like a super young stacked team with no all-stars. It's going to take time for these kids to grow but that why I'm excited about the coach. He seems like a master gardener. I think we're around 5 years from being dangerous though.
I think our draft was a B+. Yes, I’m excited about Amen and Cam, but those are two of the rawest players in the draft. Amen is going to take some time to become a competent shooter and Cam is going to take some time to learn how to play team basketball. Cam fell for a reason. I’m not sure I can give credit to Stone for getting lucky and having both players fall into our lap. But while there is bust potential, we got two of the most talented, highest upside players in the draft. Given where we are as a franchise w’ve got to keep taking big swings. And that exactly what we did last night. Koodoos to our draft team.
