2015 Draft Prospects:
- Thread starter bajaden
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Well never say never. Teams have sold bottom of the first round picks for around 3 mil. All you have to do is find someone willing to sell and make them an offer they can't refuse. 2nd rounders are even easier to acquire. But I want a first rounder. The Bulls hold our first round pick. Make them an offer of a guaranteed future 1st round pick and a future 2nd round pick along with McCallum for the total rights to our first round pick this year. See if they bite. There at just under 62 mil in total salaries next year after losing Boozer and with Butler becoming a restricted free agent. Butler is going to demand max money, so they might be willing to part with a 1st this year for a future first in order to save some money. At worse, maybe they give us their pick.
This year, there will most likely be a lot of good 2nd rounders. I already have a few in mind.
I don't think the FO offers something like that, because it just keeps pushing the mess. I think everyone in the NBA knows that this is a good draft, so I don't see too many teams trading their 1st rounders for cap space, or money.
It'll be very complicated to retain a 1st pick without giving up something
I don't think the FO offers something like that, because it just keeps pushing the mess. I think everyone in the NBA knows that this is a good draft, so I don't see too many teams trading their 1st rounders for cap space, or money.
It'll be very complicated to retain a 1st pick without giving up something
Two guys I've been watching this season and last season that could develop into something are Christian Wood, and Bobby Portis. Wood has the best chance of being a shotblocker, but Portis is more skilled overall right now. Portis is a good athlete, but Wood is a great athlete. Both guys are in the 6'10"range with shoes. Portis has really improved his outside shot. He's shooting 60% from the three. He's only averaging one three pointer per game, but he usually hits it. Both guys have strengths and weaknesses, but both have upside. While Portis isn't the shotblocker that Wood is, he gave Julius Randle all he could handle defensively last season.
Does anyone here know much about Nikola Jovanovic? Doesn't seem like he's a highly anticipated prospect in the NBA, but he stood out today vs UCLA. Serbian PF in his sophomore year for USC. He turned 21 earlier this month. It seems like he has a nice untapped potential. Doesn't have the size yet, but he's still a very interesting player.
The only knock on Wiltjer is his athleticism. No doubt he can shoot the ball, but he really suffered on the defensive end. Ironically he would probably fit in better at Kentucky now, with its current roster than he did originally when he was there. However, as a 2nd round pick, or better yet, an undrafted freeagent, he might be a steal.
I think if he stayed at Kentucky, he would've had a limited touches because of all of their current players and talents. He made a name for himself again after sitting out. He will probably be the guy shooting up a few draft boards towards the end of the season...especially if he takes his team deep into March..
Right now, his stock is UFA but it'll probably rise up to somewhere in the 2nd round.
Right now, his stock is UFA but it'll probably rise up to somewhere in the 2nd round.
First, I'd be surprised if Gonzaga doesn't go deep into the tournament, but I don't think Wiltjer will get all the credit. He's on a very good team. However I do think there's a chance he gets drafted. He's not totally a one trick pony. He's a good passer, and I think he could be a better rebounder if he really applied himself. Right now he's playing more like a SF, a position he's incapable of defending at the next level. He'd fit right in over in europe, but I think there's a place for him in the NBA with his shooting ability. Just a matter of finding the right team with the right system. If he gets stuck like Stauskas is right now, with few touches, he'll die on the vine.
Well some of these guys I know because I watched them in particular, and others by osmosis. And a few not so much. Trimble has played very well this season, and has gotten a lot of minutes for a freshman. So far he's proved to be a very good shooter. He didn't start playing PG until his junior year of highschool, so he's still learning the position. I'd say it remains to be seen how good he can be at that position. I'd say he's just an average athlete, which could hurt him on the defensive side of the ball. If he aspires to be an NBA player, then I suggest he stay at Maryland for a couple of more years.
Theo Pinson is another freshman who is struggling to score from the outside, and has trouble finishing at the basket because of his lack of strength. He's only shooting in the low 20's from the three. He appears to be a good passer, and a very good athlete. Right now most of his potential is on the defensive side of the ball. He has a huge wingspan and is lightning quick with terrific lateral quickness. The question is, can he add muscle to a somewhat small frame? His jumpshot needs to be totally rebuilt from scratch.
Josh Hart from Villanova is one of my favorites. First started paying attention to him last season. Good athlete, with an incredible non-stop motor. So far this year he's shooting over 50% overall, and around 45% from the three. At 6'5" he has good size for the SG positon. He's a tough hardnosed kid who gets int there and battles for rebounds (he averaging 5.1 per game) and takes that same toughness to the defensive side of the ball as well. Very good defender with good lateral quickness. He's the kind of player that's a steal in the 2nd round and perhaps a potential starter in the NBA down the road.
Larry Nance Jr. is an interesting player. His knee seems to be OK having recovered from a torn ACL. He seems to still have serious hops. I guess I'm not sure what Nance Jr. is. His dad, who was a terrific player was a SF, but Juniors game seems to lend itself more to the PF position. He's a terrible outside shooter, but to his credit, he seems to know it and doesn't take many shots from there. He's a pretty good rebounder, and he blocks a few shots. He's a senior on the good Wyoming team, so what you see is probably what you get. He's a pretty good defender at the college level. It's a shame he was injured last season since he was having his best year. He's not his dad, but he's a pretty good player. How that translates to the next level is anyone's guess.
Theo Pinson is another freshman who is struggling to score from the outside, and has trouble finishing at the basket because of his lack of strength. He's only shooting in the low 20's from the three. He appears to be a good passer, and a very good athlete. Right now most of his potential is on the defensive side of the ball. He has a huge wingspan and is lightning quick with terrific lateral quickness. The question is, can he add muscle to a somewhat small frame? His jumpshot needs to be totally rebuilt from scratch.
Josh Hart from Villanova is one of my favorites. First started paying attention to him last season. Good athlete, with an incredible non-stop motor. So far this year he's shooting over 50% overall, and around 45% from the three. At 6'5" he has good size for the SG positon. He's a tough hardnosed kid who gets int there and battles for rebounds (he averaging 5.1 per game) and takes that same toughness to the defensive side of the ball as well. Very good defender with good lateral quickness. He's the kind of player that's a steal in the 2nd round and perhaps a potential starter in the NBA down the road.
Larry Nance Jr. is an interesting player. His knee seems to be OK having recovered from a torn ACL. He seems to still have serious hops. I guess I'm not sure what Nance Jr. is. His dad, who was a terrific player was a SF, but Juniors game seems to lend itself more to the PF position. He's a terrible outside shooter, but to his credit, he seems to know it and doesn't take many shots from there. He's a pretty good rebounder, and he blocks a few shots. He's a senior on the good Wyoming team, so what you see is probably what you get. He's a pretty good defender at the college level. It's a shame he was injured last season since he was having his best year. He's not his dad, but he's a pretty good player. How that translates to the next level is anyone's guess.
I like Trimble a lot. I agree, he lacks a degree of athleticism that you'd expect for guards, but he has an uncanny knack of James Hardening himself to the basket at least in the collegiate level. Doesn't have that level of passing, but he's a 19 year old freshman, so I don't think it matters too much at this stage. Threes+free throws=easiest way to generate offense. Many good guards his size that we see in the league today actually have similar comparables statistically, so I think that bodes well for someone like Trimble. Westbrook and Lillard certainly weren't tearing up back then (actually, Lillard's stats are actually somewhat similar to Trimble--something to note). Trimble also really hits free throws well. At this stage, I think the low end is Lou Williams, actually. I'm impressed.
Completely broken offensive player, agreed there. But man, everything other than personal offense is a plus. Defense, athleticism, passing, rebounding--it's all there. He's very interesting. He's only a freshman so he can always improve that offense, but he has a lot of impressive qualities that just can't be taught or learned over time. One to watch, even if he might end up being Thabo Sefolosha.
I've tentatively pegged the guy as a late 1st rounder. Super efficient on O, inside and outside, excellent rebounder. Will be a role player, but an excellent one. He plays the right way.
Nance has no long range jumper, but his short range is good. Per hoop-math, Nance shot 40.2% on 2-point jumpers last year, and is only 44.1% this year taking them on over half his attempts. Granted, these are short shots, but even at the 3-12 foot range there needs to some sort of skill to convert. And for someone who's extremely efficient at the rim, he's a solid free throw shooter (mid-70s). Add that to good rebounding and athletic production defensively, I think he's very interesting. He might be under the radar because the last good NBA player from Wyoming was Theo Ratliff, but this guy's bloodlines should already give him a chance. And his dunks are flashy, even after the ACL tear--there are times where you are reminded of Blake Griffin, and not just because of skin tone.
Aaron White is someone who kind of tantalizes. He's just a very active player. Very athletic, hyper efficient scoring at the rim, opportunistic both in transition and off-ball situations, and a foul drawing maniac. Those are things that just can't be taught. Some traditional bigs just struggle to draw fouls. Despite his long range woes, the guy has been steadily increasing his free throw percentage and his cumulative percentage lends hope that the jumper can improve. He takes so few threes collegiately for someone who can't block shots. I get it--he's a tweener--doesn't have the long ranger (yet?) to be a SF, and lacks the shotblocking and body frame for a PF. But if Tyler Hansbrough (a similar comparable) can be in the NBA, White is much better, and should be there.
Marks from Boise State is someone who doesn't do anything super well, but is having a very good senior year thus far, especially shooting the ball. Not much of a passer and his offense isn't very elastic, but still...the busted version of OJ Mayo that we see is a similar comparison. I'd take a mid-2nd flyer on him.
Kingsley is the shotblocker for Bobby Portis. Quick hands too. He really needs to bulk up, and his offense and rebounding are fairly average by position, but both show growth potential. He probably needs another year, but there's definitely first round potential here.
Others to look at--Cameron Payne (Murray State--he replaced Isaiah Canaan and is doing an excellent job), Chinanu Onuaku (rapidly developing center for Lousiville--to be honest, I like his long term potential more than Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell).
Completely broken offensive player, agreed there. But man, everything other than personal offense is a plus. Defense, athleticism, passing, rebounding--it's all there. He's very interesting. He's only a freshman so he can always improve that offense, but he has a lot of impressive qualities that just can't be taught or learned over time. One to watch, even if he might end up being Thabo Sefolosha.
I've tentatively pegged the guy as a late 1st rounder. Super efficient on O, inside and outside, excellent rebounder. Will be a role player, but an excellent one. He plays the right way.
Nance has no long range jumper, but his short range is good. Per hoop-math, Nance shot 40.2% on 2-point jumpers last year, and is only 44.1% this year taking them on over half his attempts. Granted, these are short shots, but even at the 3-12 foot range there needs to some sort of skill to convert. And for someone who's extremely efficient at the rim, he's a solid free throw shooter (mid-70s). Add that to good rebounding and athletic production defensively, I think he's very interesting. He might be under the radar because the last good NBA player from Wyoming was Theo Ratliff, but this guy's bloodlines should already give him a chance. And his dunks are flashy, even after the ACL tear--there are times where you are reminded of Blake Griffin, and not just because of skin tone.
Aaron White is someone who kind of tantalizes. He's just a very active player. Very athletic, hyper efficient scoring at the rim, opportunistic both in transition and off-ball situations, and a foul drawing maniac. Those are things that just can't be taught. Some traditional bigs just struggle to draw fouls. Despite his long range woes, the guy has been steadily increasing his free throw percentage and his cumulative percentage lends hope that the jumper can improve. He takes so few threes collegiately for someone who can't block shots. I get it--he's a tweener--doesn't have the long ranger (yet?) to be a SF, and lacks the shotblocking and body frame for a PF. But if Tyler Hansbrough (a similar comparable) can be in the NBA, White is much better, and should be there.
Marks from Boise State is someone who doesn't do anything super well, but is having a very good senior year thus far, especially shooting the ball. Not much of a passer and his offense isn't very elastic, but still...the busted version of OJ Mayo that we see is a similar comparison. I'd take a mid-2nd flyer on him.
Kingsley is the shotblocker for Bobby Portis. Quick hands too. He really needs to bulk up, and his offense and rebounding are fairly average by position, but both show growth potential. He probably needs another year, but there's definitely first round potential here.
Others to look at--Cameron Payne (Murray State--he replaced Isaiah Canaan and is doing an excellent job), Chinanu Onuaku (rapidly developing center for Lousiville--to be honest, I like his long term potential more than Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell).
Onuaku is someone I've been watching quite a bit. There's a lot of potential there. He's been very inconsistent though, usually because of foul trouble. The problem I have with Marks of Boise St. is his lack of athleticism. If your 6'2'/6'3", you'd better be athletic, or be Steve Nash like. He's neither. He's definitely shooting lights out, but that's about all.
Funny, I was going to say that Nance reminded me a bit of Griffin at times, but decided not to. The jury is still out for me on White, and I've certainly had plenty of time to make up my mind. If I had to guess, I'd say he goes undrafted. In a different draft weak on big men, he might have been drafted, but not in this draft. I'm sure he'll get some invites to summer league, and training camp by some teams.
Funny, I was going to say that Nance reminded me a bit of Griffin at times, but decided not to. The jury is still out for me on White, and I've certainly had plenty of time to make up my mind. If I had to guess, I'd say he goes undrafted. In a different draft weak on big men, he might have been drafted, but not in this draft. I'm sure he'll get some invites to summer league, and training camp by some teams.
Just curious, if you haven't watched anyone else, how then can you say that this class is boring?? This class actually may end up being a better class than last years class. Especially if your looking for big men. It's loaded with bigs. Good class for SF's as well. Okafor is going to be a very good player. He's mostly a post player, but is very good in that area. Great footwork, and quicker in his movements than you'd think because of his size. Plus, he's legit center size. From the Kings point of view, he's not someone you'd put next to Cousins because he has a similar game, but if you somehow end up with the first pick in the draft, I don't see how you pass on him. The other option of course would be to trade down a couple of places and then pick up Cauley Stein, or Karl Towns, both of whom would be a good fit.
By the way, remember that although we could end up by seasons end in the 11th or 12th spot, which would cause us to lose our pick, we would still be in the lottery, and if for some ungodly reason we were to move up into the top three, we would then keep our pick. So there's always that chance at a miracle.
By the way, remember that although we could end up by seasons end in the 11th or 12th spot, which would cause us to lose our pick, we would still be in the lottery, and if for some ungodly reason we were to move up into the top three, we would then keep our pick. So there's always that chance at a miracle.
BTW, anyone like Gary Payton, Jr? Not just because of the bloodlines--yeah I know--but this guy is legit. He's basically like Delon Wright of last year--transfer, make a huge impact.
Wesley Saunders of Harvard really impresses me as well. We need another Harvard guy in the league. Rayvonte Rice of Illinois is also another to watch.
Wesley Saunders of Harvard really impresses me as well. We need another Harvard guy in the league. Rayvonte Rice of Illinois is also another to watch.
Looking locally, Corey Hawkins is one of those dudes that I can see sneaking into the NBA undrafted and somehow forging out an NBA career. An undersized shooting guard but, unsurprising considering his pedigree (his father is Hersey Hawkins), he's a fantastic scorer and generally a hard worker. If Marcus Thornton can make it in the NBA, it's not out of the question that Hawkins could as well.
Coincidentally, I could also see him thriving in Reno's WTF system.
Coincidentally, I could also see him thriving in Reno's WTF system.
Thanks, Baja, for diligently working on these player scouting reports. At the beginning of the year, it looked like it could all be for naught. But now it looks that the Kings have a legitimate shot at the 6-8 ping pong ball slot. I think the Prospect link is going to get a lot more hits pretty soon.
I'm really impressed with D'Angelo Russell as well. I'm not convinced he should go over Okafor, and I know there's a lot of support among scouts for Mudiay, who I've only seen a few clips of (reminds me somewhat of Tyreke, actually). So Russell may not have much of a chance of going top-two. I don't think we have any chance of a 4/5 pick - either we hit the lotto and get 1/2/3 or we don't and we sit between about 8 and our pick going to Chicago. So I'd guess that if we were to get Russell, it might have to be at #3 or via a trade. Just a guess.