Trade Down and Draft Devin Carter

I agree the playmaking is a question mark for Carter--but I don't really see him as a pure point guard, I see him as a tweener combo guard whose 6'3" plays up enough to potentially start at SG due to his long wingspan and excellent strength, athleticism, high motor.

Anyway, it's just a bad draft class. I'm about as certain as I can be that Carter is an NBA rotation player, and that's a great floor to have. I also think his ceiling is higher than he's been given credit for--he's one of the best athletes in the class, and he has more self-creation in his game than I think people realize. So for me he's a surefire top 10 talent in this class and I'd even have him creeping close to the top 5.

 

What do you think of his ceiling? I do struggle with that for Carter given his age, lack of playmaking, lack of an in-between game, etc. I 100% think he can be a rotation guy on a playoff team during his rookie contract (possibly day 1), but I struggle to think of a path for him to be much more than that. I guess he can overachieve on his already high level defensive ability and become an All NBA defense guy (DPOY candidate) along with being an efficient offensive player (albeit one that maybe relies on others for shots?). That might be borderline All-Star.

Which again, if you trade down some spots, that's perfectly fine for a ceiling (especially given the high floor).

 

6’ 2” guarding 3 positions? Lmao…

 

Jrue seems like a much better playmaker (think he had a decent in-between game too? can't remember much about young Jrue honestly). I'm going with the assumption that Carter is more like a SG or small wing, but yeah if you want to say he has playmaking upside, then I could maybe see Jrue. I always saw Castle as more Jrue like honestly though.

 

I'm totally on board with picking Carter up, but would like that 10-12th pick ( where we take him) thrown into our deal for a veteran stud.

 

Jamal Shead>

 

All-Defense is certainly in the range of ceiling possibilities for him. He probably won't be quite the playmaker that Jrue is, but he might be a much better rebounder (his rebounding numbers are insane for a 6'3" guard). I think his realistic ceiling is something like an 18ppg scorer with average-ish 3P shooting, 5 assists, 7 rebounds, and elite perimeter defense. So kind of like Jrue Holiday if you flipped the rebounding and assist numbers and made him more of a shooting guard. So maybe the third-best player on a contender?

His floor is probably along the lines of Josh Hart, Caleb Martin, Bruce Brown, dudes like that--either a really good bench player or a 4th/5th starter.

 

I agree with most of this I think, though it did make me go off on a tangent.

If Carter was All NBA Defense and averaged 7+ rebounds, would that be the best rebounding numbers for a non-big that was also a primary defender? I only looked at a handful of names, but I think 7+ rebounds would be quite a bit more than what most of them ever got in a year.

I kinda wonder if there's a correlation there and it might actually be *really* hard (or counter-productive) for your best defender to also pursue a bunch of defensive rebounds. If Carter is supposed to be stuck to guys like Curry, ANT, Luka, etc., you probably don't want him drifting off towards the rim on shots just in case there's an offensive rebound. I haven't watched a ton of tape on him, but I did watch some of his UCONN game (when he got like 15 rebounds), and I saw him drift off of his assignment quite a bit for rebounds. He was usually assigned to Newton or Castle I think, so probably not a big deal to leave them open, but I don't know if that would work in the NBA against a top tier offensive player. Also I noticed Providence seems to gang rebound (they seem kinda small?), and given that Carter was by far their best player (even as a playmaker), you'd want him to end up with the ball ASAP. His rebounding numbers (in similar minutes I think) weren't nearly as good last year. I wonder how much of his rebounding is due to his own skill/talent vs scheme stuff. I do think he's a really good rebounder for his size, but I don't know how effective that might be in the NBA depending on the scheme/role he is put in (especially since he *probably* won't be in that Westbrook role of offensive engine).

And this isn't even a slight on Carter per se. It actually was more of a thought experiment about whether it is possible to be a primary (All NBA) perimeter defender and a high level (defensive) rebounder at the same time. Hadn't really thought about it before. If someone less lazy than me wants to dig up some more numbers, feel free to share.

edit: Right after posting this, I think of guys like Kawhi and PG who probably did do those things.

 

Yeah, those are all good and interesting points, and I was thinking a little bit about that too--that's partly why I went like 7 for a ceiling as opposed to 8 or 9, even though he did already average nearly 9 a game in Providence and rebounding usually translates fairly well to the NBA.

Edit: Jason Kidd jumps to mind (9x all-defense) as a dude around this size who pulled down around 7 a game during his prime

 

Yeah I mentioned him as Jrue.

About the same height,
Good defense,,
Good motor,
Shoots 3's,
Gets steals,
Gets deflections,
Drive and kicks,
Drive and passes,
Knows when to jump the passing lanes,
Knows when to stay on his man,
Can defend 1, 2 and 3

Jrue won with Bucks and now winning as a Celtic

 

derrick white.

 

Hartford Courant had an article mentioning UConn was 13th in DRtg in the nation......Clingan went
down and they dropped to #23 quickly. After a game vs DePaul, Coach Dan Hurley said his defense reminded him of, "wet tissue."

Title : Why UConn’s defense has seen major improvement since the return of ‘Cling Kong’ Donovan
Clingan (has a pay wall, so read quickly)
Date : Jan 29, 2024

 

I thought about that, but Carter is definitely more athletic than White IMO, and I think it gives him a little more upside. Plus the aforementioned ridiculous rebounding. Whether he'll get there, who knows? White is already a really good player.

 

I just skimmed around, but did he say 3+Tari (and/or Cam) for the Bulls pick and Caruso? I probably don't even do that deal even if the Rockets don't give up any meaningful players. I love Caruso, but he's only got one more year on his deal, and he's on the wrong side of 30. Need to give more than that for the #3 pick IMO.