"Then I asked somebody, else, and they said fat boy Ryen Russillo needed to stop giving draft advice and learn how to stop getting drunk and breaking into rando condos at 3:30 am. and sleeping on the couch with your dong poking up" Seriously - more Mina Kimes and less fat boy Russillo. Kimes is very smart - well educated - knows sports and doesn't break into other people's homes and dangle balls on the furniture.
I don't understand folks that don't have Reed Sheppard as our #1 option For real though... from a team need perspective: 1. Shooting 2. Backup PG 3. Bball IQ 4. Interior Defense Lots of people like to put Interior Defense #1, but literally all the data says we were solid defensively. yes, we weren't great at blocks, but we were very good at rim protection. Now how about Reed 1. Historically good shooting. Like... find me a BETTER shooting prospect... ever? 2. PG skills. Some people say no, but i just watched every one of his assists (search youtube, easy to find). He hits roll men. He hits both corners, with EITHER hand passing. He hits slips. He hits pass aheads in the fast break. 3. Bball IQ. This kid has it in spades. Incredible mentality. A winner (but yeah, except in the tournament lol). 4. Interior Defense - ok, ok, YOU GOT ME! He's not good at this. So the next refrain is... you want to draft a 6'2-6'3 little white boy with limited lateral footspeed at #3?? 1. Look at this draft. Do I also like Rischacherre... sure, I guess. But cmon, look at those videos. What are we talking about here. If he can come in and shoot and play decent defense, Rischacherre has a role. But just watch him play... he looks MUCH MUCH more like a Euro that needs lots of time - he looks more like Avdija than Luka (or Alpi, position aside), that's for sure. He's for sure NOT dominating in Europe, even though he is solid. 2. Reed has crazy good athleticism lateral speed aside 3. The lateral speed issue is principally a POA defense issue. That IS for sure an issue. However, Reed is otherwise a defensive advanced stats MONSTER. He makes up for what he gives up with incredible hustle, IQ, and hands. 4. His upside is underrated, imo. Steph. Brunson. Trae (bearing in mind Reed is 100x the defender Trae is). These guys have no problem dominating offensively. And Reed measures up incredibly well size-wise and skill wise, AND athleticism wise with these guys. I personally think he gets TOWARDS (not at, but towards) those guys levels of offensive upside... IF in the right system and coaching. Why? Cause he's THAT GOOD of a shooter, AND that smart of a player. Stand-still. Off-screens. From super deep. From mid-range. At the rim finishing. He EXCELS at putting the ball in the basket offensively. And he's smart enough to use that to his advantage to either score or pass. 5. And all the advanced stat models agree. He just dominates advanced stat models in every way. Models that often just DONT MISS. I want Reed... and no one else. The End.
The front court were a 20 & 21 year old. They could perhaps get a little stronger and better. Hmmmmmm
We really don't have one. Sengun is good OFFENSIVELY, Adams is coming off injury, and Landale is not apart of the long term plans. In the PLAYOFFS you're going to need rim protection. Next yrs draft does not present nearly the interior talent that this yrs does.
“and Landale is not apart of the long term plans.” You know that how? His contract is non-guaranteed. But if he plays well (and he did 2nd half of last season), we can simply make him guaranteed. And what if Adams comes back as good as ever? Now you have the 3rd pick rotten on the bench. Lastly, stop this “Sengun is bad on defense” crap already. You’re a Sengun hater from day one. But you don’t have to show it in every one of your posts.
You just listed 3 centers. Sengun is the best player on the team, Adams is a more than competent back up, and Landale is a more than competent 3rd string center. By far the biggest weakness in the team was the lack of shooting not lack of large bodies. They have 3 centers on the roster going into next season, they have a grand total of 2 players that can hit above league average from 3 for their position, FVV and Aaron Holiday.
I'm not going to bang the table too hard for Risacher (he might not even be on the board at #3) but I'll just point out that he hits your #1 and #3 as a 6'9", 6'10ish wing. I believe one of the things Denver did well in building around Jokic is they got a bunch of tall, long, athletic defenders and shooters who buy into a team concept. Risacher is really good at that stuff. He's a very good three point shooter, a good defensive player, good at cutting and moving off the ball, good in the pick-and-roll, good at making the right connective passes and knowing when to shoot. No, he's not going to play backup PG for us, but I'm not sold that's necessarily an immediate need anyway--I buy into Fred, Jalen, and Amen as a backcourt trio going into next season. I do think it would be good to have more guard depth, but that's largely as insurance if Jalen flames out and finds his way out the door. Since it seems like he earned another shot with his March play, I'm okay with going another direction. Anyway, Reed Sheppard might be the right pick but I don't necessarily think Risacher would be the wrong one if they're both on the board.
In regards to Clingan, do we really think a back-up big (and I mean BIG) man is that hard to find? I'd almost like to challenge that a bit. In the last couple of drafts, we've had Lively, Mark Williams, Jalen Duren, Walker Kessler, etc. Glancing at some mocks for 2025 and 2026, which is *way* too early, but still I see a few fairly large guys listed like this guy: https://nbadraftroom.com/rocco-zikarsky/ I wouldn't mind keeping the trend going of acquiring big men from Australia/New Zealand if I'm being honest. I like Clingan a lot (he's likely *way* better than a lot of these prospects), and I would change my mind quite a bit if the idea was to start him (and um....trade Sengun or whatever...*opens can of worms*). But if we're just going to shrug our shoulders and say "hey he's a great back-up and who knows what will happen when Adams is gone," I think I'd rather just wait and pick someone next year. Or acquire a big via other means. Could possibly get Capela, Rob Williams, or even the guy who most seem to think about when requesting a BIG man: Jonas Valančiūnas (sounds like NOP doesn't really value a big like that though for some reason). Because of that, I tend to be focusing on a guard with good feel (and/or shooting) or 3&D wings (because you probably can't ever have enough of those). They seem a little more difficult to get I think? Maybe this could be a separate thread, and someone smarter and less lazy than me could present some data on this.
Nash and Sheppard averaged the exact same number of assists (4.5 per game) in college (Nash over a 4-year college career, Sheppard in one season). Nash was 2 1/2 years older than Sheppard when drafted.
Piggy-backing on my last post, I saw a stat today that Jock was 89th percentile on rim defense last year (and I think he did well in PHX too?). I got that from Josh Lloyd's latest Rockets video, and I have no idea where that came from, but I guess I could sorta believe it. As long as we all assume Jock was just broken (because of his injury) until that last part of the season, I think I could buy he's not bad at that. And given that he's locked up for a few years on a super friendly deal, kinda makes you wonder more. I'd probably still try to throw him into a trade, but he could definitely be a backup plan (for the backup) if Adams isn't ready or doesn't return after next season. edit: Also I know Boban was more interested in giving opponent audiences free food than anything else, but they sure didn't use him much either (even though I don't think he'd be *that* bad if you *really* wanted some massive guy protecting the rim...with all the limitations that brings).
So not starting most of the year at Kentucky @ 12 pts a game = 1st pick in the draft and Steve Nash & Steph Curry? Y’all reaching on this one
Amen/Cam/Risacher/Jabari/Sengun is some length. I wouldn't mind Risacher at all. Prefer Reed but wouldn't be mad at this.
To me, it's about the ability to create. If Reed doesn't improve there, his upside is limited. Risacher has shown me more creation than Reed, although I admit that he has more room for improvement. A 6'10" wing who can hit threes, defend, and create his own shot? Sign me up.
