ESPN 3. Reed Sheppard, PG/SG, Kentucky | Age: 19.9 44. Ajay Mitchell, PG, UC Santa Barbara | Age: 21.9
I'd be thrilled to get AJ Mitchell @ #44. He's a real good shooter at 50/39/86 & has good combo guard size.
Current personal big board: 1A/1B: Reed Sheppard/Nikola Topic - similar ceilings. Potential fringe All-Stars. Game manipulators with different strengths. Sheppard a sharpshooter and sound team defender with incredibly deceptive athleticism. Like that boss in a video game that gave you way more trouble than you thought he would. Topic feels like Giddey with a workable jump shot which is Top 3 worthy. 3. Donovan Clingan - defensive stalwart. Potential passing hub. Taller Steven Adams. 4. Rob Dillingham - microwave scorer. Pint sized Jalen Green. Better shooting, worse defender. RotY contender followed by years of why hasn't this guy been able to win anything. 5. Alex Sarr - Biggest strength is his lateral mobility and ability as a rim runner. Upper middle class Derrick Lively. Peppier Clint Capela. 6a/6b - Stephon Castle/Ron Holland - generic above average Create-A-Player A and B. Can't shoot and wants to be a PG. PoA defender best in the class. Derrick White if Derrick White couldnt shoot. Squint hard enough and you can see Kuminga in Holland. 8a/8b: Zacharie Risacher/Cody Williams - We have Brandon Miller at home. 10: Matas Buzelis - take Franz Wagner, grow him a few inches, make him a better weak side shot blocker, worse PoA defender and take away his already limited shooting ability.
I’d be stoked with Risarcher, Reed, or Clingan. 3 different skill sets that I think would all complement our core. I’m leaning to keeping the pick in the first round. If I can’t draft and stash in the second, I’ll sell it.
We should take on little to no risk from this point onwards building the team. Doing nothing but developing internally is still a great option for us for a year or two. We should approach trades with extreme caution. Only players I can say with a high degree of confidence will definitely not be busts: Sarr Topic Sheppard Risacher These guys will all be very good to great 2-3 years from now. We have a better and bigger core than people realize, competition for minutes is fierce. We'll be able to develop someone properly and slowly with a great culture. I'm comfortable if we come away with any of these 4 guys. Which is great since we have the #3 pick. Would also be comfortable trading any of them but Sarr for a multiple time star calibre player. If we get Sarr we just go about developing our dynasty internally lol. Would be incredible.
Everybody still high AF with Reed Sheppard's 50% percentage against college kids meanwhile Risacher only putting up strong performances against grown ass men in the Euro League playoffs. Personally I like him a lot more than Sarr at this point although there is 0 chance Sarr is there at 3, he is like a much younger and rawer french Brandon Miller. 1. Risacher 2. Topic 3. Castle 4. Trade down 5. Sheppard 6. Clingan
I'm surprised you have Reed Sheppard at the top but Risacher/Brandon Miller at the bottom. Risacher is like a 6'9 Reed Sheppard and Brandon Miller is literally a 6'10 Reed Sheppard. Risacher is shooting at the Euro League 3 PT line which is further than the NCAA 3 PT line and he is doing it in the 2nd best league in the world. Defensively I am sure Risacher blows Sheppard out of the water considering he can guard everyone Sheppard can guard and then some.
The FIBA 3 pt line and the NCAA 3 pt line are exactly the same. The NCAA moved back the line in 2009 and then again in 2019 to match the international distance.
https://proformancehoops.com/basketball-court-dimensions/#:~:text=At the top of the,closer than the NBA line. https://thesportsrush.com/nba-news-...ine-farther-than-fiba-and-ncaa-3-point-lines/ It says here the NCAA line is only 20 ft while the Fiba line is 22 ft. Regardless whether they have the same distance or not the smaller court of Euroleague and the better quality of players makes it harder to be a better shooter there than in the NCAA imo. It's still crazy to me people are pining for Sheppard when Risacher is there.
As much as I like Sheppard, Risacher is no joke. I'm waiting on the medical eval on Topic to see if he will play much in his rookie season. Castle and Clingan are going to have fine NBA careers.
With the amount of hype Sheppard has been getting I wouldn't be surprised if Sheppard is the one gone at 2. Wizards need a Pg or center they have Poole and Kuzma locked to long term contracts at the wing not to mention Coulabily and Denny Avdija. Both Poole and Kuzma are ball hogs they need a spot up shooter at the Pg spot just like Reed Sheppard. If Sheppard turns out to be bad at defense...well, welcome to the club it's a non issue with them lol. I should copy all the Sheppard posts here and post it at Wizards boards. Wizards can Def go Clingan, Topic or Sheppard at the 2 so there will be a high chance Risacher is gonna available.
Huh? Why would Detroit be nervous that the Rockets are going to draft Dillingham and will give up Stewart to move to 3 when they can simply wait and select him. Also don’t know why the Pistons would want Dillingham or Sheppard. Cade is their PG and I would think they wouldn’t give up on Ivey so quickly. If they are trading up it’s for Sarr or Risacher so they will have to convince Atlanta or Washington to trade with them. Atlanta and Washington are terrible at roster building they need to pile up as many lottery chances as they can get and hope they luck out.
I believe there aren't many reliable scorers in Detroit. Ivey probably will stay with them, but he's been disappointing. Dillingham is light and he can't play defense, nevertheless he can pass and score in multiple ways. Nobody else is as versatile as him. That might work in Houston 's favor. Atlanta can improve with Saar, and Risacher can fit as a tall two way role player for the Wizards. Bilal Coulibaly and Risacher have played with each other in France. Bilal has also suffered a hand injury. They may end up drafting Risacher for that reason.
Risacher is more like a 6-9 unathletic Jalen Green. Or Dollar General Brandon Miller. Even thats not right because Miller is more of a smooth glider offensively. Zach is sort of twitchier like Jalen Green is but doesnt have the athletic tools to actually do anything with it. He struggles to create separation at the Euro level. Reed Sheppard is taller better shooting FVV. Basically another Jalen Brunson type. Risacher is sound laterally and is better PoA defender than Reed is. He can't guard 1s or twitchy 2s. Couldn't guard Jalen Green for example but probably could Jalen Brunson. Reed is a better team defender and plays "bigger" than he is. Much much much better at playing the passing lanes and getting blocks while being 7 inches shorter. Neither Brandon Miller nor Risacher are "taller Reed Sheppard". They are entirely different players that will play a completely different role.
Just don’t see why they just wouldn’t wait until 5 and select Dillingham there. I haven’t seen anywhere that he is going to go top 5 except for a couple of very random polls. NBA teams rarely take a shot at someone his size that early in the draft.
