https://www.si.com/fannation/nba/fa...2-nba-draft-big-board-3-0-and-top-50-rankings #1 Jabari Smith Jr. - Forward - Auburn - Freshman Arguably the top pick in many scout’s minds right now, Jabari Smith Jr. seems like the best scoring talent at the top of the draft board. At Auburn, Smith showcased his abilities to score from virtually anywhere on the floor and out of all of the top prospects in this year’s draft, he is definitely the best jump-shooter. Another “positionless” type of player on the wing, Smith has a really good shot at being the first player selected by the Magic this year. No matter where he is on the floor, Jabari Smith Jr. is able to get to his spots and knock down either a mid-range jumper or a three-point shot. He shot 43.6% from deep at Auburn, leaving many NBA scouts and executives to believe he will be a 40-plus percent three-point shooter on the wing at the next level. Still having a ton of upside to grow, it is hard to imagine Jabari Smith Jr. not being the first or second prospect drafted in June. He has all the skills offensively to grow into an All-Star-level wing and given his length, Smith can grow into a factor defensively as well.
Honestly, draft experts believed Bancheros was the most NBA ready prospect to play because of his body, Chet and Jabari was not because of their body. They believe when you give these guys time to get bigger and stronger in the NBA they would reach their potential. Jabari is doing great on defense and his dribbling has improve a little but his shooting is bad. Once he get his shooting stroke back he will be amazing. There are not many 6’10 or 6’11 guys who can shoot like him, guard 1-5 positions on the court, block shots and rebound. He is a true two way players that is tall and athletic, once he feel confidence and comfortable in the NBA scene he is going to be unstoppable. Bancheros is truly not a good shooter and he is not very agile to play good defense. Chet is a elite defender, in blocking shot but we cannot cover 1-5 positions on the court. He is a nice shooter but not a elite shooter as Jabari. Stay patience brethren he have a winner on our hands
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...-most-likely-to-have-the-best-pro-career/amp/ Round 1 - Pick 1 Paolo Banchero Having the Duke star at No. 1 should not be a contrarian opinion. Banchero was the best freshman in college hoops last season, he led his team to the Final Four, he has an NBA-ready body, he has a litany of skills and is one of the best passing bigs in this year's draft. There has never been a moment over the past three-plus years where his skills didn't translate/project to being a wonderful combination of old-school mobile big and modern play-thru power forward. He is the most NBA-ready player in this draft. Be it in dribble pull-ups, using the post, rim-running, coming off screens, catch-and-shoots or on cuts, Banchero is capable of scoring in myriad ways. He's also got some touch around the rim that, combined with his physicality, makes him a tough matchup. The fullest package. Round 2 - Pick 2 Jabari Smith Jr. Barring injury (these things are always barring injury, of course) the floor for Jabari Smith is a 10-year starter in the NBA. His size, frame, shooting stroke, shooting range and defensive potential make him highly likely to hit and hit big. He checks essentially every box. The only reason I have him below Banchero is I feel Banchero has more it-factor than Smith, which isn't to say Smith can't get there. He's just got more room to grow. I'd like to see more of a killer mentality late in games, too. Still, Smith would appear to be the most bust-proof player in this year's pool. If you could build an NBA Draft pick in a lab, Smith would in many ways be the model. @JayGoogle Still way too early but he seems to have nailed Banchero but is way off on Jabari. Jabari has proven a lot of draft pundits/scouts, fans wrong thus far and not in a good way. If you don’t want to call him a bust yet that’s fine but he’s been nothing short of disappointing in comparison to what he was advertised to be.
He is a rhythm shooter, Silas needs to develop plays for him to be on the move and shoot. Silas do your job.
I think there is a lot there. It may take 3 seasons. Defensive impact/effort/rebounding seems to be trending up. I also think his perimeter shot is looking better. We do him 0 favors with coaching and play calling. I think he can develop an efficient straight line drive and counter. I like how we have drafted over the last two drafts. Improvement for these guys won’t always be linear. I love Banchero but there truly would be some redundancy with him and Alpi. Smith/Eason look like early Green. Uncomfortable and just not hitting shots. I am worried about him on the interior. He needs to focus on going up and dunking quickly.
Honestly, we would be better with the bench players now but we did not do this with Jalen last year when he was in a flunk. Jalen right now is the best player of his sophomore class. Silas needs to understand the Franchise invested a high pick in this young man and they need to run plays for him and give him a point guard like Cleveland did. Cleveland sign Rubio for the true purpose to help the young guards and make life easier for their new draft pick Evan Mobley. Stone do your job and give us a point guard
the annual GM survey was taken after the summer league which clearly showed Paolo was more NBA ready which swayed their vote but prior to that, I read plenty of reports that Jabari's defense and 3 pt shooting would translate easily right away and Paolo would be getting benched because of his defense. Either way, Jabari was supposed to produce right away. He's not. That's understandable Most rookies usually suck but he was not drafted to be a player that's expected to contribute 3-4 years from now as one poster said.
Once Sengun goes to the bench and Bruno slides back Jabari’s shots will go up, now he just needs to make them.
Year 1, 1st half: Jalen can’t shoot, can’t dribble, is too weak, worst player in the league. Garuba is horrible. Fat, lazy, no offense, defense only with other big fat guys Christopher is amazing. Can’t believe we got him there. Let’s make him the PG Year 2: Green is a future MVP, Mobley is TBD, Garuba is Draymond, Christopher should never play a minute. Year 1: Smith is a twig who can play perimeter defense but can’t shoot or dribble, Eason is Khawi (until the last games, when he became a bum), TyTy is the savior stuck in the g-league Next year it will be fun to do Year 3 for class of 2021 and Year 2 for 2022. The only things I am certain of are: 1) both classes will change and some of today’s takes will look silly 2) people will be just as hyperbolic about the new takes and the new class, forgetting everything they said before. 3) history will repeat itself again and again until we all die screaming into the void about why Sengun should close out games
If Jabari were a more consistent shooter he'd be a 17-10 guy easy. Throw in some good defense and probably a block or two. Not flashy but a solid piece of the puzzle and a guy who will probably be a mean 6'11" 240 when he's done growing. His size, effort on defense, potential efficient shooting combo is very high. He fits any lineup too. Porter-Green-Martin-Smith-Wembanyama Henderson-Green-Eason-Smith-Sengun Porter-Green-Thompson-Smith-Sengun
Not surprised Smith is struggling offensively. He needs to be set up and this team is lacking playmakers and coaching. I still believe his ceiling is a taller Klay Thompson
John Wall had 15 assists in 24 minutes tonight. He is getting paid quite well from Rockets to do it to lol
Age doesn't play that much a role going forward. Mileage will. Injuries will. Mathurin would likely not be a high usage player early on, there is a hierarchical structure within the Pacers. You can't predict when Mathurin or Green would retire because they are about the same age either. Some are Vince Carters and some retire with 31 like a certain Yao.
That's absolute revisionist history really, Jabari wasn't deemed #1 by the majority with them thinking he'd take years to develop and has massive holes. You may find that some scouts also said Paolo would be the most NBA ready of the two, but the decision really was split. Going into crisis mode and saying stuff like "They didn't draft him to contribute lol" and "we didn't draft Jabari to be good this year, we drafted him to be great in 2025, 2026, and on." isn't at all what was said during the draft period and before the season, be honest man. https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...g-most-pro-ready-prospects-in-2022-nba-draft/ https://247sports.com/LongFormArtic...ites-to-win-NBA-Rookie-of-the-Year-189222348/ https://www.fantasypros.com/2022/06/2022-fantasy-basketball-rookie-rankings-redraft-dynasty/ https://theathletic.com/3312706/2022/05/17/nba-mock-draft-2022/ https://sports.yahoo.com/final-2022...picks-ahead-of-thursdays-draft-130018345.html https://www.lockedonpodcast.com/htt...2022/535-b075ba6f-d7ef-4846-9ee6-73423116a70a https://www.si.com/nba/2022/06/23/n...het-holmgren-paolo-banchero-final-projections I could post dozens more, but you can see the tone and it was clearly that Jabari was picked by many to be an immediate impact player that would contribute to any team highly. And for the love of god, don't come back with some select sites that stated Paolo was ROY favourite at draft day time. There's a gigantic difference between split opinions (it was at the very least 50:50 between them, supported by betting odds) and the "never meant to contribute" narrative you made up. You don't see the relevance of the poll time, when it was after Jabari really struggled in summer league, while Paolo lit everyone up?
Seems we are at the point where instead of realizing that scouts got it wrong, some people are now making up that Paolo was always said to be the better player and Jabari a multi-year prospect not ready to contribute. Ridiculous.
