It’s not just you. For awhile I have seen Ivey as the player most likely to be the best player in this draft. I rank Chet higher because IF he develops he will have an even bigger impact. For months I have loved the idea of a backcourt of Ivey and Green.
AJ Griffin is not a top 5 player in this draft. I'd hoped he'd regain his explosiveness this season but even his lateral ability is shot. His wingspan is not enough to make him into legit 3-D player, he needs to have that dog in him that I'm not seeing.
Yeah tbh his floor is really high, but the fact that he keeps getting injured while still being in high scholl and college is a huge ass red flag. I just wish the Rox end up with a top 4 pick so we dont even have to think about drsfting anybody ouside the pick 1 frontrunners.
Exceptionally high effort exercise but incredibly poor takes in every sense both for current year and retrospectively.
Jarett Allen's impact on the Cavs have made me seriously think about Duren at 5. Everyone keeps saying a big man needs to shoot 3s to be effective in today's NBA but Bam Adebayo, Clint Capela, Robert Griffin III and now Jarett Allen have shown a space clogging center can still get away with no 3 pt shot provided he is athletic and mobile AF to guard guys on the perimeter. For 4s and 3s yeah you def need to shoot 3s but 5s are ok staying in the paint for pnrs and dunks. Duren is super raw but at no 5 beggars cant be choosers,he has the highest ceiling left after the top 4 guys with his build and athleticism that reminds people of Dwight Howard. Doesnt have a lot of skills and got abused pretty badly by stick thin Holmgren but with a little (ok prob a lot) seasoning I think he can become a Bam-esque player for this team and a good complement to Sengun (who will have to move to 4 and develop his face up game more). If we get him though expect another tsnking season for sure since he aint good enough to move the needle upwards given his youth and inexperience. Should be a fun up and down squad though with him and Green running downcourt wnd dunking on people. It might not be the worst thing ever though, Rox need all thr talent it can get.
I don't he's recovered properly, but he's not a quitter. I do agree with you regarding his wingspan. I hope Stone will pass up on him.
He's got weird form but man, his 3ball is money. Would draft him outside of top 7 and hope he becomes 100% and lives up to his 3-D potential.
Williams is far better than Duren I don't know why you think he should be the guy to compare to Allen.
Cuz Williams is 20 and will turn 21 this year while Duren is 18 and wont turn 19 till November. Give Duren 2 yrs of training he'll be much better than current Mark Williams. Jalen Duren reclassified he was actually supposed to be part of 2023 draft class but now he is a possible top 10 pick that shows you how talented he really is. Williams is much better now thats cuz not only is he older he also been in Duke since 2020. Duke is one of the top schools in the country he got A-1 level development all this time meanwhile Duren came straight from AAU bball so of course Williams gonna be more skilled at this point in time. As we have seen with Jalen Green and Mobley being younger makes players play worse in the beginning but their latent talent allows them to catch up to their older peers. Between the 2 Duren is the better prospect and if he falls out the top 5 the Rox should trsde up and get him. Dwight Howard's succesor gonna be a mainstay in the league for years to come.
That's not how it works at all. I know how this goes, so I am just going to bow out of this discussion.
Of course thats how it works, thats why NBA teams put a premium on freshmen over sophomores and juniors. In this case Duren is technically a high school senior so he gets an even bigger handicap over Mark Williams. There's a reason Duren is ranked higher than Wliams in pretty much every draft board out there.
His early season games were rough, like undraftable bad. Really came on in the last 2 months. The handles at 6'8+ are intriguing, and he flashes some off the dribble shot making. I don't see notable defensive instincts, but he's very much a young project. Firmly in second round, could see a team taking a swing in the late first.
Actually I don't know much about Duren so I should not be saying who is the better prospect, I am just going by what I have seen of Williams. So I will give you this one.
He is 6'11 in shoes and with a 7'5 wingspan. I dont recall people saying Dwight was short. More importantly he is only 18 and can prob grow an inch or 2 more. https://www.nbadraft.net/players/jalen-duren/
