Would love to get 1-2 of those guys, agree wholeheartedly that if we draft Green we don't need more guards. I'm not high on Bones, way too skinny and small for what we need.
Okay, in a particular moment, Kai Jones looks unbeatable and like a can't miss prospect. Here's his box score line against ACU in the NCAA tournament: 31 minutes 4-5 from the field (missing his only 3), zero offensive rebounds, 3 overall, 3 blocks, 3 TOs. This is playing against an aggressive lineup that was committed to defense, but every player was nowhere near him athletically. I just have a hard time seeing him going above #20, maybe he falls to Houston. He wouldn't be a terrible pick but we need to temper expectations. He might evolve into an off-the-bench contributor in time.
If we're lucky one of Zaire, Jackson, Murphy or Duarte fall to us. they're probably the only realistic mid-round guys who can slip. if they're all off the board I'd probably go with 2 of Thor, Cooper, springer, McBride, Bassey, or bleijenbergh.
https://theathletic.com/2703977/202...-five-possible-trades-first-round-wild-cards/ 1. Detroit Pistons - Cade Cunningham | 6-foot-8, lead ballhandler | 19 years old, freshman | Oklahoma State 2. Houston Rockets - Jalen Green | 6-6 guard | 19 years old | G League Ignite The player: One of the better scoring prospects of the last decade. Green isn’t quite as powerful as Anthony Edwards but has a similar level of quick-twitch and converts that twitch into powerful leaping and finishing off both one foot and two around the basket. I also like Green’s pull-up game and shooting and think it’s a bit ahead of where Edwards was last season. Green has a bit better touch entering the NBA and a bit more of a polished in-between game. He still has a ways to go in terms of making decisions and providing real defensive value on a consistent basis, but he’s one of the surest bets to average at least 20 points per game at some point in his career. The fit: To this point, I do not believe any decision has been made with Houston. The sense I get is that the Rockets will call the Pistons about the No. 1 overall pick, but they’re unlikely to gain much traction. At No. 2, I believe Green, Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs are all still being discussed. Remember: It would be unlikely the Rockets have made a final decision at this point if only because they just brought in a new director of scouting in Chris Wallace about 10 days ago. Green’s name is the one I’ve heard most with the Rockets at this point, so he’s slotted here. The Rockets desperately need explosive talent, regardless of how it “fits.” There is no discussion of “fit” when you don’t have the guy already on the roster. Green is about as good of a scoring prospect as I’ve scouted in the last eight years. He’ll be a 20-plus-point-per-game scorer in his career. 3. Cleveland Cavaliers - Evan Mobley | 7-0 center | 20 years old, freshman | USC 4. Toronto Raptors - Jalen Suggs | 6-5 guard | 20 years old, freshman | Gonzaga 5. Orlando Magic - Scottie Barnes | 6-9 forward | 19 years old, freshman | Florida State 6. Oklahoma City Thunder - Jonathan Kuminga | 6-7 wing/forward | 18 years old | G League Ignite 7. Golden State Warriors (via MIN) - James Bouknight | 6-5 wing | 20 years old, sophomore | Connecticut 8. Orlando Magic (via CHI) - Alperen Sengun | 6-10 big | 19 years old, international | Besiktas 9. Sacramento Kings - Franz Wagner | 6-9 forward | 19 years old, sophomore | Michigan 10. New Orleans Pelicans - Josh Giddey | 6-8 wing | 18 years old | Adelaide 11. Charlotte Hornets - Moses Moody | 6-6 wing | 19 years old, freshman | Arkansas 12. San Antonio Spurs - Jalen Johnson | 6-8 forward | 19 years old, freshman | Duke 13. Indiana Pacers - Davion Mitchell | 6-3 guard | 22 years old, junior | Baylor 14. Golden State Warriors - Chris Duarte | 6-6 guard | 24 years old, senior | Oregon 15. Washington Wizards - Corey Kispert | 6-7 wing | 22 years old, senior | Gonzaga 16. Oklahoma City Thunder (via BOS) - Isaiah Jackson | 6-10 center | 19 years old, freshman | Kentucky 17. Memphis Grizzlies - Trey Murphy | 6-9 wing | 21 years old, junior | Virginia 18. Oklahoma City Thunder (via MIA) - Jared Butler | 6-3 guard | 20 years old, junior | Baylor 19. New York Knicks - Usman Garuba | 6-8 big | 19 years old | Real Madrid 20. Atlanta Hawks - Keon Johnson | 6-5 wing | 19 years old, freshman | Tennessee 21. New York Knicks (via DAL) - Jaden Springer | 6-4 guard | 18 years old, freshman | Tennessee 22. Los Angeles Lakers - Cam Thomas | 6-3 guard | 19 years old, freshman | LSU 23. Houston Rockets (via POR) - Kai Jones | 6-11 big | 20 years old, sophomore | Texas The player: This is a home run swing. Jones is one of the more high-upside players you’ll find in the draft. Having just started playing competitive hoops in his mid-teens, Jones is still figuring things out in terms of defensive awareness and passing reads. But he’s a fascinating prospect because he has elite athleticism at 6-foot-11. He moves his feet as fluidly as a wing and has explosive leaping ability as a shot blocker and dunker. He also has the kind of body control you look for in a shooter, with him having already showcased shooting potential and shot-making upside. He can legitimately attack closeouts and pull up from the midrange to shoot. He’ll pull out Euro steps and maneuvers around defenders with legitimate skill. He’s a project, but with patience, a team could get a lot out of him. The fit: A wild card, again. Jones is all over the map for teams. Some think he has more upside than any big in this draft outside of Evan Mobley due to his athletic tools. Others really worry about his feel for the game and whether he’ll ever make an impact on defense. I’ve heard anywhere from back half of the lottery to the mid-20s. This would be on the lower end, and there is a real chance he goes much higher on draft night. But the Rockets can afford to take on a project with this kind of upside as they try to rebuild following the James Harden deal. This is a guy who could end up 10 spots too low, but it’s just hard to find landing spots for bigs in the teens if the Thunder go a different direction. 24. Houston Rockets (via MIL) - Miles McBride | 6-2 guard | 20 years old, sophomore | West Virginia The player: McBride is one of my favorites in this class. He’s lightning-quick laterally and is elite at the point of attack defensively. His game is all about pressure. He attacks the opposing ballhandler, then attacks when he has the ball on offense. When West Virginia switched to more of a four-out offense in the second half of the year, McBride thrived and looked like a potential high-level backup. He could become a starter if his jumper off the bounce continues to come along. The fit: This would be a pretty big home run draft for the Rockets, to get all of McBride, Green and Jones. McBride would be a tremendous complement to Green in the backcourt because of his defensive intensity and his potential to shoot it both on- and off-ball. This would absolutely be a phenomenal backcourt of the future for the Rockets. McBride’s range starts in the mid-teens and extends into the 20s. 25. LA Clippers - Rokas Jokubaitis | 6-4 lead guard | 20 years old | Zalgiris 26. Denver Nuggets - Joshua Primo | 6-6 guard | 18 years old, freshman | Alabama 27. Brooklyn Nets - Ziaire Williams | 6-9 wing | 19 years old, freshman | Stanford 28. Philadelphia 76ers - Ayo Dosunmu | 6-5 guard | 21 years old, junior | Illinois 29. Phoenix Suns - Sharife Cooper | 6-1 guard | 20 years old, freshman | Auburn 30. Utah Jazz - Herbert Jones | 6-7 wing |22 years old, senior | Alabama Round 2 31. Milwaukee (via HOU): Quentin Grimes | 6-5 guard | 21 years old, junior | Houston 32. New York (via DET): Austin Reaves | 6-5 guard | 23 years old, senior | Oklahoma 33. Orlando: Bones Hyland | 6-3 guard | 20 years old | VCU 34. Oklahoma City: JT Thor | 6-10 forward | 19 years old | Auburn 35. New Orleans (via CLE): Joe Wieskamp | 6-7 wing | 21 years old, junior | Iowa 36. Oklahoma City (via MIN): Tre Mann | 6-4 guard | 20 years old, sophomore | Florida 37. Detroit (via TOR): Brandon Boston Jr. | 6-7 wing | 19 years old, freshman | Kentucky 38. Chicago (via NO): Day’Ron Sharpe | 6-11 center | 19 years old, freshman | North Carolina 39. Sacramento: Jeremiah Robinson-Earl | 6-10 forward | 20 years old, sophomore | Villanova 40. New Orleans (via CHI): Santi Aldama | 6-11 big | 20 years old, sophomore | Loyola (MD) 41. San Antonio: Isaiah Todd | 6-10 big | 19 years old | G League Ignite 42. Detroit (via CHA): Josh Christopher | 6-4 guard | 19 years old, freshman | Arizona State 43. New Orleans (via WAS): Filip Petrusev | 7-0 center | 21 years old | Mega 44. Brooklyn (via IND): Joel Ayayi | 6-5 guard | 21 years old, junior | Gonzaga 45. Boston: Jason Preston | 6-4 guard | 22 years old, junior | Ohio 46. Toronto (via MEM): Juhann Begarin | 6-6 wing | 18 years old | Paris 47. Toronto (via GSW): Isaiah Livers | 6-7 wing | 22 years old, senior | Michigan 48. Atlanta (via MIA): Greg Brown | 6-8 forward | 19 years old, freshman | Texas 49. Brooklyn (via ATL): Sandro Mamukelashvili | 6-11 big | 22 years old, senior | Seton Hall 50. Philadelphia (via NYK): David Johnson | 6-5 guard | 20 years old, sophomore | Louisville 51. Memphis (via POR): Kessler Edwards | 6-8 wing | 20 years old, junior | Pepperdine 52. Detroit (via LAL): Vrenz Bleijenbergh | 6-10 wing | 20 years old | Antwerp 53. New Orleans (via DAL): Aaron Henry | 6-5 wing | 21 years old, junior | Michigan State 54. Indiana (via MIL): Charles Bassey | 6-10 center | 20 years old, junior | Western Kentucky 55. Oklahoma City (via DEN): Neemias Queta | 7-0 center | 21 years old, junior | Utah State 56. Charlotte (via LAC): Justin Champagnie | 6-7 forward | 20 years old | Pittsburgh 57. Charlotte (via BKN): Jericho Sims | 6-10 big | 22 years old, senior | Texas 58. New York (via PHI): Luka Garza | 6-11 center | 22 years old, senior | Iowa 59. Brooklyn (via PHX): Moses Wright | 6-9 big | 22 years old, senior | Georgia Tech 60. Indiana (via UTA): Matthew Hurt | 6-9 guard | 20 years old, sophomore | Duke
https://theathletic.com/2718151/202...-for-2021-final-rankings-tiers-and-big-board/ Welcome to the 2021 NBA Draft Guide. It’s back and better than ever, with more breakdowns and deeper dives into prospects than we’ve seen here. My goal when writing these is to try to come up with the most comprehensive document for NBA fans, college basketball fans and everyone involved in the industry to peruse. This year, at over 115,000 words, my hope is that there is a little something for everybody looking to learn about the key players within this 2021 event. And indeed, this draft is worth getting excited about. It has a very real, Tier One player for me in Cade Cunningham. He’s one of the top draft prospects to enter the league within the last decade, an elite do-it-all creator at 6-foot-8 who profiles as a multi-time All-NBA player. But more than that, there is a remarkable amount of depth at the top. I would stack the best four players in this draft – Cunningham, Jalen Suggs, Evan Mobley and Jalen Green – up against just about any other class in the one-and-done era. It’s a terrific group of four players, all of whom I have graded higher than last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Anthony Edwards. Following those two guys, I have two additional players in Jonathan Kuminga and Scottie Barnes who would stack up as top-10 picks in any other draft. The depth of this class is interesting. Great players will be selected from No. 7 to No. 21 – and as teams tell me constantly, they only have to find the singular right player, as opposed to what I do in ranking them all – but I don’t know that I’d say this class is terrific in terms of first-round depth. Additionally, I have fewer guaranteed contracts in this class than I do in a normal class. However, there are some interesting high-upside fliers who decided to enter the draft who will likely end up on two-way contracts next year that will emerge into real rotation players long-term. It’s a fascinating group whose future will be fascinating to track. I couldn’t be more excited for this draft class, and I couldn’t be more excited for you to read this guide. It’s a document that I put a lot of care and time into every year, and this year it’s better than ever. Tier 1: Superstar Upside Tier 2: All-Star Upside Tier 3: High Leverage Starters Tier 4: Potential Starters Tier 5: Rotation Players Tier 6: 2nd Rd. Fliers Tier 7: Undrafted Fliers Tier 8: Exhibit 10
I agree with a lot of this. I also think the rockets JUST miss out on tier 4. Worth packaging both picks to move up, even just a few spots to get a higher tiered player, or move back into the 30's to grab the same tier of player plus a future first. hopefully some tier 5 guys get taken too high by other teams, Jalen Johnson, Isiah Jackson, bones Hyland for example, leaving a couple of tier 4 guys in our laps. I can easily see McBride and/or springer falling to us. then grab Thor as bigs and defense are scarce and he's not at all a reach in the mid 20s.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles...ock-draft-2-round-predictions-and-latest-buzz 1. Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State, PG/SG, Freshman) Smoke about interest in Jalen Green or trading this pick figures to clear by draft day. In all likelihood, the Detroit Pistons will wind up taking Cade Cunningham, who's been widely considered 2021's No. 1 prospect for over a year. He also fits too well with the roster, given its need for more creation and players who can generate offense. Aside from grading as one of the nation's premier isolation scorers (87th percentile, per Synergy Sports), Cunningham also offers passing skills and playmaking potential. The big question for Detroit is how his presence will affect Killian Hayes' development. But it won't cause the Pistons to overthink or pass on the draft's top player. 2. Houston Rockets: Jalen Green (G League Ignite, SG, 2002) Jalen Green versus Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs is the debate going on behind the scenes in Houston. League sources say Green has the edge for the Rockets, given the team's need for more creation and scoring, and the high likelihood that his quickness, explosion, one-on-one game and shot-making will translate. He'd give the Rockets a potential No. 1 option they'd have trouble finding elsewhere. With Green and Kevin Porter Jr., Houston would have two exciting scoring wings to build with behind Christian Wood. The Rockets could then look to use their No. 23 and No. 24 picks to add more defense and/or shooting. 23. Houston Rockets (via Trail Blazers): Jaden Springer (Tennessee, PG/SG, Freshman) 24. Houston Rockets (via Bucks): Ziaire Williams (Stanford, SG/SF, Freshman)
