When thinking about Shaedon Sharpe, Rafael Barlowe kind of put it all in perspective for me. If Jaden Hardy or Patrick Baldwin had played high school hoops and never played another game afterwards, they'd both probably be guaranteed lottery picks. This is not to say that Hardy and Baldwin may not become having been worthy of a lottery pick, but there's no guarantee that Sharpe should be thought of as one simply because he played so well in high school and summer games. But somebody's gonna roll those dice...
I don’t watch college games - the thing about Banchero that scares me is people saying: he is a good defender when he tries but this season he put zero effort on D - oh and his 3pt percentage could be higher as well… we already have a big that doesn’t put effort in on D and people here want to get rid of him asap…
https://www.theringer.com/2022/4/1/23005486/paolo-banchero-nba-draft-2022 "There’s no consensus about the 2022 NBA draft, but Duke’s star freshman may have just convinced me he’s the best player in this class"
his passing skills are super advanced, in addition to everything else. It’s the defensive side of the ball where I have questions. I do think a Sengun-Paolo front court would definitely be a defensive liability. But it would also be one of the most offensively gifted front courts with a pair of super passing bigs. Could a good coach turn them into serviceable defenders?
Thats fair and an understandable concern. From the article: I happen to think that IQ tends to be a bigger factor in the game then most think. Sengun is a brilliant mind on the court. Banchero is on the same level. They SEE the game differently. They can see plays develop faster than others and are always proactive vs reactive. I feel they would work really well together on both sides of the court as they develop and grow in all facets. The two man game with Sengun and BAnchero would be nuts. PNR with Jalen, Scoot, Sengun, BAnchero would be almost unstoppable. Add a marksman 3 point shooter with that group and off you go. I really like both Jabari and Chet too and can see a championship path with them as well - I just prefer having a team of guys who can all create and make plays for others. Its invaluable when the game shrinks to a few possessions. .
With Paolo’s passing and ball handling, I think he is more of a wing than a big at the next level, especially if he improves his 3 ball. He even said himself that he prefers to guard on the wing vs in the post. Also at the wing his defensive issues become less of an issue as that’s a more important trait for bigs, especially on this team next to Sengun. kpj Green Banchero Wood Sengun The rockets all a sudden have a very big lineup and makes up for the lack of a traditional pg by having an elite passer at the wing and center.
i like the idea of Paolo at the 3, but that lineup with Wood would still be way too poor defensively for my taste. I think if U move Paolo out to the wing and commit to Sengun at one of the front court positions, you need a real rim protecting defender at either the 4 or 5 -and that’s obviously not Wood. But offensively that lineup would be scary as hell. If the rockets are going for need with the Brooklyn pick, in terms of guys that could realistically be there in the late lotto with the rockets moving up a few spots, I’m starting to think that Duren is worth strongly considering. The rockets are last in rebounding and rim protection/all around defense. Those are the two things he does well and will translate to the nba immediately. His floor is a really good rebounding and defensive big. He’s super young. I love the quick feet, good hands and long arms. Lots of upside there and skills we badly need. Duren Sengun Paolo Green ?
1. Houston Rockets Jabari Smith Jr. | 6-10 forward | 18 years old | Auburn Right now, I think my bet is that the widest swath of teams have the highest grade on Smith. That’s not to say he’s the locked-in No. 1 player. This is absolutely a situation where the lottery will play the biggest role in who goes No. 1. There is no Cade Cunningham in this class, no Zion Williamson, no players locked in from the day the season ended to go No. 1 overall in the draft. It’s an eye-of-the-beholder situation at the top, and it will be wholly dependent on who holds the pick. So, why Smith? I think he checks the most boxes for teams right now and has the fewest holes in his game. There are few better 6-foot-10 shooters to have entered the NBA over the last decade. His percentages going back to high school are terrific, his marks at Auburn are great, and his mechanics are pristine. He averaged 17 points and seven rebounds while hitting 42 percent from 3. He’s a good, modern NBA defender who can really slide his feet on the perimeter and knows where to be rotationally. He’s the youngest of the top grouping, not turning 19 until May. There are no real frame questions and no physical limitations as you look into developing him. On top of that, he got drastically better throughout the course of the season. If you remove his final disaster against Miami, when Auburn was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament, Smith averaged 23.3 points, eight rebounds and nearly three assists while making almost four 3s in his final eight games. The only real question for Smith was how he went about creating his own shot, and he did that late in the year at a higher level than we’d seen. His development has a chance to be really quick, and I think teams are more likely to bet on the kind of player they’ve seen have developmental success. 2. Orlando Magic Chet Holmgren | 7-1 center | 19 years old | Gonzaga Holmgren slides to No. 2 after finally cracking No. 1 in the last iteration. Why? There are teams out there who are just not quite as in on the idea of taking Holmgren in the top two. He’s more polarizing for teams than Smith. There are high-level evaluators who have him higher than Smith, and other evaluators just can’t quite wrap their heads around the frame being one that achieves success at the next level. It’s very possible he goes No. 1 depending on who gets the pick. I think he could also pretty easily slide down to No. 3 if a team is a bit uncomfortable with his long-term projectability. His final two games were a microcosm of these concerns. The evaluators who like him noticed how terrific he was on defense in his minutes, shutting down the interior and holding the gates for a flawed Gonzaga team that lacked lateral foot speed to contain dribble penetration. The evaluators who don’t like him will note that he consistently was in foul trouble because teams attacked his body (and got rewarded with crummy foul calls). The ones who like him will point to the fact that he had 11 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes before fouling out in a game in which he didn’t play particularly well — which, in the grand scheme, is a pretty solid night. Detractors will point to the fact that he still struggles a bit to create his own shot despite being able to handle in transition and shoot. The Holmgren conversation is going to be this year’s annoying dialogue that people who haven’t watched him play all year take up. It’s already annoying. Be ready for the takes! 3. Detroit Pistons Paolo Banchero | 6-10 forward | 19 years old | Duke Banchero is the last man standing among the elite prospects in the 2022 class, as he has led Duke to the Final Four. A big pair of games in New Orleans could very easily catapult him back into the conversation for the No. 1 overall pick. For his part, Banchero has been very good in the tournament, averaging 18.5 points, eight rebounds and four assists. The passing game we’ve mentioned many times in these parts has shined through, with Banchero carrying the half-court offense with his multifaceted game as a live-dribble creator both on kickouts and in high-low actions with Mark Williams. There has been some discussion regarding Banchero’s scalability to winning situations, but hopefully, this run has put those to bed. His feel for the game and passing ability is terrific, and he’s a smart defender even if he does have some limitations athletically. I think he’s a pretty easy bet to be a highly effective NBA player, with All-Star upside if everything comes together for him as a mismatch nightmare. 4. Oklahoma City Thunder Jaden Ivey | 6-4 guard | 20 years old | Purdue Ivey had an up-and-down NCAA Tournament. He had a couple of terrific moments in both of Purdue’s first weekend games, with a particular crossover into a stepback 3 to seal the Boilermakers’ game against Texas showcasing just how much athletic potential he has if his game comes together. I thought his game against Saint Peter’s in the Sweet 16, when Purdue was upset and knocked out of the tournament, was one of the worst games I’ve seen from him. It showcased a lot of his feel concerns as a passer, as he could never quite crack the defense the Peacocks were running. That’s the critical difference between Ivey and the player some people like to compare him with, Ja Morant. Ivey is a below-average passer as a lead guard right now despite making some awesome flash passes from time to time. There also were some bad body-language moments from him in that game — and throughout his tape — that he’ll need to explain. And yet, any time he had a bit of runway and space — something he’ll get more of in the NBA — he showed up much better. I expect Ivey will go in the No. 3 to No. 5 range on draft night and have about as many highlight moments as you’ll see from an NBA rookie next year. 5. Indiana Pacers Keegan Murray | 6-8 forward | 21 years old | Iowa This remains the place where the draft opens up. I’ve gone with Murray at No. 5 because I think he’s the safest of the next group and the guy most teams I’ve talked to have a good feeling about. It’s hard to find an evaluator who doesn’t think Murray will at least be a useful player. His production at the collegiate level this season was pretty staggering. He averaged 23.5 points and 8.7 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field and 39 percent from 3. He makes action plays on defense, averaging better than a steal and nearly two blocks. He rebounds. He doesn’t make poor decisions and turn the ball over. I thought Richmond exposed his lateral agility a bit in Iowa’s NCAA Tournament loss, but it’s not a disaster, and overall, it’s just hard to poke holes in the game of a guy who put up this kind of production. Murray looks like a great bet to end up in the top 10. 16. Houston Rockets (via BKN) Malaki Branham | 6-5 wing | 18 years old | Ohio State Branham closed the season on a tear, deservedly winning the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year award and playing well in Ohio State’s two NCAA Tournament games. He went 5-for-7 against a tough Loyola-Chicago defensive team, then scored 23 points against a Final Four Villanova team. Overall, in Branham’s final 22 games, he averaged 17 points per game while shooting 52.8 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from 3. He was outstanding as a shot creator over his final portion of the season. While Branham isn’t some elite athlete, he does a great job of attacking and getting downhill by getting defenders off balance. He has great length and really covers a lot of ground on his strides, then uses those arms to finish over big guys with great touch. He can break down guys in isolation, get separation with a series of hesitations and crossovers and rise up to knock down a shot. He’s very sharp at finding creases and cracks in the lane and driving through them quickly in a straight line to finish. There is some work here defensively that has to be done, but I’d anticipate Branham will be a first-round pick if he enters the draft.
this is the time where the big accounts start releasing their videos, it’s fun to watch these guys now versus when we know where the Rockets pick will land, which could go as low as 6 at this point.
And Korleone Young And Martell Webster And Desagana Diop And Jonathan Bender And Robert Swift (have mercy!!) (The list goes on!)
And… Kobe TMac Dwight Howard Jermaine O’Neil Amare Josh Smith Etc….. It’s a mixed bag to be sure, but there are plenty of high school to NBA success stories.
I don’t see it. JJJ is longer and a legit rim protector; he averaged 8 blks per 100 possessions in college. Jabari is obviously more skilled offensively. The big question is if he is skilled enough to move the needle in the NBA.
Yeah in that case I’d probably even take Paolo over him. Losing 60 games, the Rockets need to be aiming for home runs in the draft.
Not enough balls to go around for this lineup. We really need Garuba to work out. He'd be a perfect complementary piece to the guys we have.
