Looking ahead to the 2023 Draft

Ozymandias · Feb 3, 2023

At the same time revisiting the infamous Michael Wilbon article about Kevin Garnett, and why he should go to college from decades past.. I always thought it was horrible, n wrong...

But honestly some doubt has crept into my mind, Wilbon, in the specific case of Garnett, mightve been onto something.

What really changed my mind is if you see this story of how Tim Duncan got grifted for 7mil and Garnett was sitting there at the hearing to defend the accountant doing the grift! ---- Garnett completely unaware at the time that he was being grifted for 60-70mil by the very same guy hes shown up at court to emotionally support... The story just reeks of 'this is a manchild', n that the adults around him in the formative years didn't prepare him at all for what was to come... N now Garnett does like commercials for online casinos or something rediculous to make $$$. Yikes.

Tetsujin · Feb 3, 2023

Ozymandias said:

I really do think it's past time for the NBA to shift to a MLB-style minor league system. Most of the teams in the league have a G-league squad at this point and it's not like the two franchises who don't don't have the resources to make one (hell just have them send their guys to the Ignite).

Maybe allowing 18-year-olds to be draft eligible but requiring them to spend a year in the G-League might be a happy medium between the old 1990s-2000s high schooler draft free-for-alls (in which the majority of high school picks wound up being major busts because of the total lack of a support system for youth development at the time) and the current "You must play a year post-high school" system we have now.

sactowndog · Feb 4, 2023

Tetsujin said:

I really do think it's past time for the NBA to shift to a MLB-style minor league system. Most of the teams in the league have a G-league squad at this point and it's not like the two franchises who don't don't have the resources to make one (hell just have them send their guys to the Ignite).

Maybe allowing 18-year-olds to be draft eligible but requiring them to spend a year in the G-League might be a happy medium between the old 1990s-2000s high schooler draft free-for-alls (in which the majority of high school picks wound up being major busts because of the total lack of a support system for youth development at the time) and the current "You must play a year post-high school" system we have now.

Some teams already are ….

https://www.celticsblog.com/platfor...alex-barlow-sam-hauser-luke-kornet-jd-davison

Ozymandias · Feb 5, 2023

8 blocks for Lively!!!

Honestly those are some weak attempts to be bringing at a rim protector of his quality..

UNC vs Duke, both teams unranked and Florida Atlantic is top20... What a wild time in college basketball..

Ozymandias · Feb 5, 2023

14-6-3blks 2/4 from 3, 1stl, 1ast

Really a major plus showing from Noah CLowney yesterday.. In the event he gets drafted in lets say the top20, games like these are really gonna help his case.

Ozymandias · Feb 5, 2023

How in the world does Drew Timme only grab 5 rebounds in 38 minutes in an overtime loss to St. Mary's

There's a few other headscratchers from this game but they arent relevant to this thread so ill shutup.

Ozymandias · Feb 5, 2023

Hendricks needs to declare n if his evaluation is 1st rd should keep his name in this draft.. It's looking like UCF isnt going to make the tournament..
This player doesnt seem like the type where evaluators will be telling him 2nd rd n they'll be some big debate on if he's gonna stay, i think he's in.

Check out the made 3 from legitimately a full back pedal 55 seconds into the clip, there's really some encouraging signs of life from his offensive repitoire, n he's plenty confident, which is ya know, a good thing... 4/9 from 3 in this game, I wonder if he's gonna be letting them fly like this for the last handful of games.

Ozymandias · Feb 5, 2023

Jesse Edwards, 6'11" Senior bigman from Syracuse, wont get drafted but I suspect some team will tkae a flyer on him for SL..

This is a career high 27pts on 12/15 fg's with 4 blocks... just 2 weeks ago he dropped 25 vs Miami so it seems he's closing out the season with a bang, its a situation worth monitoring.

Almost 3 blocks a game, same as last season.. He's a 70% ft shooter doesnt look bad coming out of his hand. He's both decently mobile and has a decently soft touch on offense, has a post repitoire, he's pretty good at beating other C's 1v1.

Appears his wingspan is about 7'4". He's from Amsterdam and listed at 230lbs. So he's certainly got the frame to play some sort of backup/3rd string C role in the NBA.

This player is genuinely underrated, he's not that bad of an athlete, he moves like a basketball player not like some lumbering big.

Ozymandias · Feb 5, 2023

Andre Jackson Jr. deserves to be revisited, though hes seemingly out of our range projected between our 1st n 2nd rd picks. I made a post recently talking about the Thybulle rumor and its implications and said that it figures Dariq Whitehead and Dillon Mitchell might be good fits here, well the same sorta applies to Andre Jackson Jr. who posted 7 points 10 rebs n 7 assists yesterday.

First we'll address the elephant in the room --- He's shooting 38% from the field and 29% from 3, ugly.... So for the Kings despite being 6'6, he'd function in halfcourt offense sorta like what Davion Mitchell does for us now, basically hide him.

When you actually watch UConn... defenses dont respect Jackson's 3 pt shot at all.. they sag off n dare him to shoot it.. I think there's a strong case to be made he's hit a bit of a shooting slump too, not to say he's considerably better than his %'s would show, but I do think there's probably been the confidence dip that comes with a slump. N sometimes players in shooting slumps do lead to discounts in the draft -- the warriors n jordan poole is a pristine example of this, does De'Aaron Fox fall to the kings without his college shooting slump? interesting food for thought.

He's a defense first guy, always. This is a player whos a major plus shotblocker for a 6'6 wing, he's also adept at getting steals and just genuinely shows a solid amount of upside on defense. Plus, he's very dangerous on a fast break, this player is both very fast and very explosive, even for NBA standards, and will posterize you he's been dunking since before he was a teenager..

Where things start to get interesting in evaluating him is his passing --- He's at 4.4 assists per game on 1.8 turnovers. Will this player be able to use his passing to make himself more useful in the halfcourt? of course that goes hand in hand with what he can do off the dribble. He is in no way to be confused with 'a natural scorer' he can get a bit wild with too many dribbles, or just make wild forrays to the basket, but thats not going to be his game in the NBA, he's going to keep the ball moving, never drain the shotclock, run around at warp speed, basically an unselfish glue guy.

Sorta has some Tony Allen like qualities, and he's a full 2" taller than Allen.. This is the type of player we'd use to guard Desmond Bane, or the big $$$ SG's that Huerter isnt built to really deter. Jackson shines as a potential pick here once you start to go thru potential matchups, same as Whitehead, same as Dillon Mitchell.

He throws tight passes.. very good post entry passes.. guards multiple spots. He could be interesting here, he's far from redundant and would occupy the wing spot that sorta exists in between Huerter and Murray, which is basically the same spot Thybulle would occupy.

I dont think he'd be Robert Woodard II 2.0 (see what I did there

) this is a player with a more readily translatable skill and much more functional athletecism which should get him on the floor earlier.

bajaden · Feb 6, 2023

Tetsujin said:

This is a subject close to my heart. I've had a lot of conversations with my son and many others about the state of the G-League. Right now it's flawed in its make up. Until every team can protect every player on the roster of their G-League, it will never work the way it's supposed to. What's the point of signing players, putting development time and money into that player just to see another team pluck him off your roster? Being able to protect two players was a step in the right direction, but they need to go all in. Change the ownership rules so that every team has to sponser a G-League team.

If all that were to happen, then they could expand the draft to 3 or maybe 4 rounds. A lot of people forget that the draft used to be 5 rounds, if memory serves. Of course back then there were only 16 teams.

iowamcnabb · Feb 7, 2023

So a bit of a pattern developing with Monte’s forward preferences. Older, long but not overly quick, good iq. Trey, Keegan, Kessler. Who in this draft fits this profile?

Tetsujin · Feb 8, 2023

GG Jackson's so incredibly raw that it's going to probably be five years before he's an effective NBA player but he's got so much potential and more importantly stands the biggest chance of slipping into Kings range of any of the "big name" prospects coming into the season.

https://twitter.com/statuses/1623303129428115457

Ozymandias · Feb 8, 2023

iowamcnabb said:

6'10 21 year old Sacramento-native Coleman Hawkins. Who flashes an interesting blend of shooting, passing and defensive potential.

Think you could make a case for 6'5 230lb Keyonte George too.

Ozymandias · Feb 8, 2023

Tetsujin said:

GG Jackson would be a no-brainer selection here and I genuinely believe he can be used in a defense-first capacity sooner rather than later. The kid is ultra competitive and he's got a good build.

Would be mega value to land him with the first. He's good enough to trade up for. The Kings would be able to ease him into things and not have to expect much for him, which honestly means this is a pretty great landing spot for him.

Ozymandias · Feb 8, 2023

Kelel Ware down to 30 on ESPN's best available list! 6 spots below Lively who had another 5 block performance.

man would I be so hyped if we got Lively... He makes spectacular plays regularly... look at some of these blocks and putbacks. look at how he can catch the ball on offense and spin all in one motion with such balance..

Lively looks like the type of player who when all the dust settles, people start to look around and say "huh? 20-something NBA teams passed on this guy?! what gives?" while he's just on the warpath blocking shots, tipping loose balls and dunking.

Ozymandias · Feb 8, 2023

if you freeze the above dunk mid frame while he's full extension its quite clear his wingspan is ridiculously long for his height.. claims of 7'3" seem legit to me.. His wingspan is closer to Neemias Queta and Alex Len than any of our forwards n this kid is a wing, and hes 18....

This highlight package is 2 days old highly recommend checking it out.. Look at some of these blocks!

Coulibaly's not only interesting to evaluate for this years draft... He's quite interesting to try and evaluate where he could end up in the 2024 nba/ draft.. Is this a sort of Anfernee Simons/ Mitchell Robinson being on sale due to perceptions of how raw they are situation?

Are we sure this player isnt a lottery talent in 2024? <--- thats kinda how i'd phrase it..

I cant really say no..

I'll always go back to Rayan Rupert... I'm to believe Rayan Rupert, whos shooting 25% from 3 in the NBL, is a possible lotto selection in 2023, and Theirry Darlan is a possible lotto selection in 2024... and this player is a 2nd rd pick in 2023? uhhhhh that kinda smells like major bs to me.. something doesnt add up.... If thats the case I sure hope I'm rooting for the team who takes Coulibaly in the 2nd.

Ozymandias · Feb 8, 2023

Want to see a detonation at the rim? check this out.. N with that Brandon Murray makes his first mention in this thread a loud one.

Georgetown is bad, the Big East is just like getting sucked out by the undertow this year. I've piled on them a lot, St. Johns who aced their out of conference schedule cant win a game either... The teams just bludgeon each other.

Murray is by-far Georgetowns best. He could vie for a 2nd rd pick, as you can see from this single highlight dunk, he sure can explode towards the rim with the force of an NBA player.

good lord that dunk was way overkill hahah.. That oneTrevon Brazile and one of the Cam Whitmore dunks are the best 3 I've seen this season so far.

He's a 21 year old sophomore x-ferred in the mass exodus from LSU. Shooting 35% from 3 on 4 attempts per, legit 6'5. This player will make the NBA in some form, former 4-star recruit his athletecism is well-known. Has a decent chance of getting drafted its just a matter of this year or next.

Yes he does have very ugly looking shooting mechanics, and he does this massive dip down on the shot mechanics somewhere John Lucas is shaking his head in disgust... BUT, if this isnt already obvious, he has an extremely explosive first step so you cant just crowd him, cuz he'd much rather just drive it and dunk it than shoot the 3.. The 3 is falling at a decent clip for him too though, thats in part what makes him sorta draftable.

Tetsujin · Feb 8, 2023

https://twitter.com/statuses/1623535958917525510

Kid's gonna be good. Not that we're gonna be able to draft him.

KingsFanSince85 · Feb 8, 2023

bajaden said:

I couldn't agree more. Been saying pretty much the same for a decade or more. I don't see what the issue is and what's preventing the masses of owners/org's from seeing it.

bajaden said:

When I first started really paying attention to the draft in 1985, it was 7 rounds. It was rolled back to 3 rounds in 1988 then back to 2 rounds in 1989.

I recall researching the history of the draft a long while ago and learned that the draft was actually 10 rounds from 1974 through 1984 and before that it went as high as 21 rounds on one occasion. Unreal.

With a properly run G-League with all teams represented and ALL players protected, I could see justification for a 4, maybe 5 round draft.

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

As the days go by my confidence in being able to get a decent read on Baba Miller before seasons end has dropped drastically..

I mean... for the Kings.. to have 2 low 2nds and Baba Miller to be projected where you see him now.. That all lines up in our favor.. Will he actually stay in this draft though? Will he stay at FSU? FSU is so bad, actually painful to watch... the ACC has been horrible this year, no?

Jesse Edwards with 5 offensive rebounds(12 total) 6/6 from the ft stripe, 2 assists and 3 blocks for Syracuse in this

Also on the Syracuse front ---- Benny Williams needs to x-fer out.. Would so much rather see this kid at a smaller school being the featured player, getting tons of reps, than riding the bench for a mediocre team like Cuse.

also HOW IS TEXAS TECH SO BAD?!?!? How is a roster with that much talent playing .500 ball.. Of all the shocking team performances this season, this one is near the top of my list.

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

LSU's Derek Fountain who's a high energy forward listed at 6'10 and 225lbs is coming on strong. He's a former small forward thats outgrown the position. He shows 3'n'd flashes plus he's a high motor player, appears to be able to put the ball on the floor, he's plenty mobile n looks fairly light footed, seems like he's got solid touch on offense, n looks comfortable facing up and also on the break.

He had 26 points, 7 rebs 2ast n 4 blocks vs Alabama few days back..

Seems to be in the early stages of breaking out.. His combination of size length athletecism and skill seem promising..

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

Hopkins sure would help us on the boards, n he's projected right in the range of our 2 2nd's.

At 6'7 225lbs he's averaging 9.2 rebounds per game. Tough as nails. Explosive. Long arms, probably a 7' wingspan.

The fact that the Kings had Deonte Burton on the roster this season leads me to believe they'll be monitoring this player closely.

There's no player in this draft field that typefies the "Junkyard dog" archetype more than Bryce Hopkins, thats his game.

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

But yeah.

R.I.P. to our chances at drafting Taylor Hendricks with the first. The way that player pulls up from 3. He wasnt meant to be in the Kings range.

Hendricks is now a trade-up target though. What sucks is Jalen Hood-Schifino seems to be headed in that direction as well.

Honestly of the "in-range" guys I want Derek Lively II. Which, he's obviously not going to be a super popular name around here predraft. I just am banking on that once he's in uniform and starts moving around, that alot of the people who wrote him off might do a double-take, once they get a more extended "eye test" on him.

Cuz I do believe whole heartedly he passes the eye test. He doesnt just have the look of an NBA player, he has the look of a first round pick.

He'd function for us like how Mitchell Robinson functions for the Knicks. It's likely Lively's 2nd contract will be for much more than many drafted over him like Robinson due to his age, position and how scarce what he brings to the table is. He could come off the bench for us like one of the bash brothers from Mighty Ducks, which is what we could use as far as im concerned, so to me Lively rides that fine line between need and potential, which are really the conditions your looking for with late-first rd picks.

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

6'8" Greek wing. Born in 2001. Interesting footage from this player been goin thru his game highlights is amusing, he's a high bbiq player for sure, seems pretty clutch.

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

Wait Bryan Antoine is at Radford ?! n hes shooting 40% from 3 n 92% from the FT stripe?! Truly awesome news! glad he's still at it!

He obviously wont be a 2023 draft pick but he's only a junior, turns 23 in a few months, I'll sure be rooting for him next year.

This player was a very talented, consensus 5-star recruit, McDonalds All-American, in high school and he had an atrocious run of luck with injuries in college at Villanova. His injury history gets to a point of 'you've gotta be kidding me' pretty quick. Shoulder surgery, Knee and Ankle injuries have plagued him.

6'5 guard long arms he used to be able to dribble and create and make shots and he'd pull up off the dribble and splash in all sorts of 3's, he often looked like a future first round pick with 2-way potential.

A lot of high ranked recruits flame out, I get it, this kid in particular though, never really had a proper chance to show what he can do.

If Antoine makes it after all thats taken place, there should be a documentary about him honestly. It'd serve as a most excellent tale of perseverance.

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

Kris Murray with basically a no-show in this first half vs #1 Purdue on ESPN2... They're getting clobbered, interested to see what kinda response he can get going in the 2nd.

Can't help but wonder what this Purdue team is gonna look like next season. I wouldnt be surprised at all to see massive upticks in the stats of Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman once Edey's gone.

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

USC v Oregon should be good tonight.

Will USC let Vince Iwuchukwu get 20+ minutes as he did vs WSU? so we can see him battle against the likes of Dante, Ware and Bittle.

Ozymandias · Feb 9, 2023

Nice response from Kris Murray so far in this second half, he still isnt grabbing any boards n has 0 assists but he putting the ball in the basket.

Ozymandias · Feb 10, 2023

Career high 30pts for Jevon Porter and 10 rebs.

Pepperdine lists him at 6'11 and 220lbs. He is the younger brother of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr n appears to be much more of a PF than a C.

In most draft circles he's considered to be a 2024 draft prospect much more than 2023, but with the way the system works now and if he's going to close the season with a bang sure would be interesting to see him get evaluated.

Of the 9FGA's he averages, 3 are from 3pt range n he's making those at a 35% clip.

An interesting comparison point for him from players in this draft would be Vukcevic.

Looking ahead to the 2023 Draft

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