Looking ahead to the 2022 Draft

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
In both a good and a bad way, this guy gives me major MPJ vibes

PBJ nickname is three levels better than MPJ, but the athleticism is really suspect. Could be injury-related, maybe he's just got YMCA hops. He's probably a first-rounder for his shooting alone. But if for health/athleticism issues he somehow slips to 37, we gotta pull the trigger.
 
PBJ nickname is three levels better than MPJ, but the athleticism is really suspect. Could be injury-related, maybe he's just got YMCA hops. He's probably a first-rounder for his shooting alone. But if for health/athleticism issues he somehow slips to 37, we gotta pull the trigger.
You may be mixing his shooting up with another player. He's like bottom of the barrel shooting wise. Mix that with his YMCA hops and I'm not even touching him in the 2nd round.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
You may be mixing his shooting up with another player. He's like bottom of the barrel shooting wise. Mix that with his YMCA hops and I'm not even touching him in the 2nd round.
He shot poorly this season, in limited game action while injured. He is a pure shooter by high school reputation and you can see just how smooth his stroke is in that clip. He wasn't considered top-ten coming into the season because he was a poor athlete who *couldn't* shoot.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
He shot poorly this season, in limited game action while injured. He is a pure shooter by high school reputation and you can see just how smooth his stroke is in that clip. He wasn't considered top-ten coming into the season because he was a poor athlete who *couldn't* shoot.
You and I usually agree on most things, but on this one, I can't agree. I watched this dude play, and he missed open shot after open shot. Yeah, his form looks perfect, but the ball for some reason doesn't go in. But I was reserving judgement until the combine. I wanted to see his measurements, and the results of all the physical testing. He came in as the worse athlete at the combine. He was last in almost every category. I'm a results guy, but I will bet on some upside. But my God, I have to have a reason to believe.

If I'm the Kings, I might take him with my 2nd pick in the 2nd round, and that's it. Sorry, I'm not a believer!
 
Crazy how much time, effort and money go into the draft, when:
Only 10 players are still with their original teams after being selected in 2017 NBA Draft:
3. Jayson Tatum
5. De’Aaron Fox
6. Jonathan Isaac
13. Donovan Mitchell
14. Bam Adebayo
19. John Collins
23. OG Anunoby
45. Dillon Brooks
49. Vlatko Cancar
51. Monte Morris – 8:25 PM
 
Crazy how much time, effort and money go into the draft, when:
Only 10 players are still with their original teams after being selected in 2017 NBA Draft:
3. Jayson Tatum
5. De’Aaron Fox
6. Jonathan Isaac
13. Donovan Mitchell
14. Bam Adebayo
19. John Collins
23. OG Anunoby
45. Dillon Brooks
49. Vlatko Cancar
51. Monte Morris – 8:25 PM
For the most part, that list is also a list of which players were good picks, other than Cancar who didn't come over for two years and now is just a mediocre bench player. I'd say Jarrett Allen, Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White, and Josh Hart also outperformed their draft slot, and Lonzo Ball has proved to be a good NBA player even if he disappointed relative to being the #2 pick.

But it's also understandable why all of them were traded. Hart and Ball were part of the AD trade. And Kuzma was part of the Westbrook trade. Jarrett Allen was moved as part of the Harden trade and White was moved since the Spurs are doing a minor rebuild and probably wouldn't have paid to re-sign him.

What I get out of that list is how important it is to draft well because you can get either core players or trade pieces for established stars. That and the Lakers had a pretty good 2017 draft, even if they should've taken Tatum or Fox instead of Ball. . .
 
Crazy how much time, effort and money go into the draft, when:
Only 10 players are still with their original teams after being selected in 2017 NBA Draft:
3. Jayson Tatum
5. De’Aaron Fox
6. Jonathan Isaac
13. Donovan Mitchell
14. Bam Adebayo
19. John Collins
23. OG Anunoby
45. Dillon Brooks
49. Vlatko Cancar
51. Monte Morris – 8:25 PM
Might not be as important for a team like the Lakers but is extremely important for Sacramento.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
PBJ nickname is three levels better than MPJ, but the athleticism is really suspect. Could be injury-related, maybe he's just got YMCA hops. He's probably a first-rounder for his shooting alone. But if for health/athleticism issues he somehow slips to 37, we gotta pull the trigger.
I could be dead wrong on Baldwin, and I hope for his sake I'am. But I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. Nothing about him screams NBA player, other than he press clippings. One simple question I would ask. Based simply on his athleticism, and from what I saw when watching individual defensive plays by him, who would he be able to guard in the NBA? If your trying to build a team based on physicality, defense, and shooting, maybe he fits one of those scenario's. I say maybe because although he has this beautiful form on his shot, the ball doesn't go in. He would be a terrible fit on the Kings.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
For the most part, that list is also a list of which players were good picks, other than Cancar who didn't come over for two years and now is just a mediocre bench player. I'd say Jarrett Allen, Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White, and Josh Hart also outperformed their draft slot, and Lonzo Ball has proved to be a good NBA player even if he disappointed relative to being the #2 pick.

But it's also understandable why all of them were traded. Hart and Ball were part of the AD trade. And Kuzma was part of the Westbrook trade. Jarrett Allen was moved as part of the Harden trade and White was moved since the Spurs are doing a minor rebuild and probably wouldn't have paid to re-sign him.

What I get out of that list is how important it is to draft well because you can get either core players or trade pieces for established stars. That and the Lakers had a pretty good 2017 draft, even if they should've taken Tatum or Fox instead of Ball. . .
Yeah, I think that original post was a bit too simplistic. There are always individual circumstances around every player. We drafted Haliburton and then we traded Haliburton. Did he move on because we didn't like him? No! Quite the contrary, we didn't want to trade him, but it was the only way to acquire Sabonis. I'm sure that every player that has moved on to a different team has a story as to why, and all are different. I'm also sure that some of them weren't good enough. But it's not fair to throw an general umbrella over them.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
Good for him and for the long term future of UA if Terry and Koloko both go in the first, but I really was hoping he'd return to the Wildcats. Someone gave him a promise so I guess we'll see how that works out.
I love Terry, and if he were to slip to the Kings in the 2nd rd, it would be the steal of the century. My gut tells me that the rich get richer and some playoff team picking between 25 and 30 will grab him.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
I could be dead wrong on Baldwin, and I hope for his sake I'am. But I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. Nothing about him screams NBA player, other than he press clippings. One simple question I would ask. Based simply on his athleticism, and from what I saw when watching individual defensive plays by him, who would he be able to guard in the NBA? If your trying to build a team based on physicality, defense, and shooting, maybe he fits one of those scenario's. I say maybe because although he has this beautiful form on his shot, the ball doesn't go in. He would be a terrible fit on the Kings.
Baja, did you happen to see the Robert Morris game? I admit that other than that game he didn't look so good, but in that one, he flashed it all. Beautiful form combined with couldn't miss shooting, had a lot of good stuff going on offense using his BBIQ to run the offense at the anchor point from the soft spot in the zone. I worry about his athleticism, and I really worry about his injury history, and in the second round, he's probably not a swing-for-the-fences guy at this point. But he's a guy you can hope to groom into a sharpshooter bench role, and as long as his medicals check out, I think that's a safe floor. In the second round, I can't argue with that. But no, I don't see star potential at this point. If you want your second rounder to be the next Jokic (hmm, let's ignore the athleticism parallel for the moment) then you probably shouldn't take a swing with PBJ. You want a bench role player on the cheap for 3-4 years and see what happens from there? That's more like it.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
Baja, did you happen to see the Robert Morris game? I admit that other than that game he didn't look so good, but in that one, he flashed it all. Beautiful form combined with couldn't miss shooting, had a lot of good stuff going on offense using his BBIQ to run the offense at the anchor point from the soft spot in the zone. I worry about his athleticism, and I really worry about his injury history, and in the second round, he's probably not a swing-for-the-fences guy at this point. But he's a guy you can hope to groom into a sharpshooter bench role, and as long as his medicals check out, I think that's a safe floor. In the second round, I can't argue with that. But no, I don't see star potential at this point. If you want your second rounder to be the next Jokic (hmm, let's ignore the athleticism parallel for the moment) then you probably shouldn't take a swing with PBJ. You want a bench role player on the cheap for 3-4 years and see what happens from there? That's more like it.
Yeah, I did see that game, and a lot of other games as well. But it falls into my theory about seeing one game, good or bad and making any sort of intelligent decision about that player. You may have just watched the worse game of his career, or you may have just watched the best game of his career. Based on his entire body of work, which wasn't as expansive as I would have liked, I don't know what to make of that game. Look, he may end up being the shooter we all thought he would be, but I don't see a way he's ever a good defender, and right now, I have no place for a bad defender on my team.

I can't think of another player that I've tried this hard to like, and he's failed me at every count, especially at the combine when showed as poorly as he did in all the drills. That was sort of my last hope for him. At least his body fat content wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. But I hope for his sake that I'm dead wrong about him. We will see!
 
Interesting article by Kevin Pelton of ESPN and his rankings based on a multitude of different statistics. I'm sure it will definitely surpirse you.

2022 NBA draft -- Ranking the top 30 prospects based on stats and scouting (espn.com)
I’m getting the idea some team is going to be really fortunate when Dyson Daniels falls to them.
It likely won’t be us and I dislike trading down, but if come draft day he’s Monte’s pick while getting an established asset in the trade process then i’m intrigued.
I’ve warmed up to Holmgren, still on the fence with Murray.
 
Last edited:
Anyone else have any hot takes about these prospect?

Most will view this as a hot take, but I really believe in Johnny Davis. I think he’s going to be a future All-Star and face of the new young guards. I was high on him during most of the season, until his 3pt shot went downhill after his injury. But I realized that I was too critical of his play… simply because I watched him too much. I think fatigue is a real thing in scouting. If I only watched 5 games of Mathurin compared 15 games of Johnny Davis, it just gives me more games to try to poke holes.

Davis’ floor is projectable at the next level, and I wonder if this is what led to him getting picked at 5 vs. 10?
 
Anyone else have any hot takes about these prospect?

Most will view this as a hot take, but I really believe in Johnny Davis. I think he’s going to be a future All-Star and face of the new young guards. I was high on him during most of the season, until his 3pt shot went downhill after his injury. But I realized that I was too critical of his play… simply because I watched him too much. I think fatigue is a real thing in scouting. If I only watched 5 games of Mathurin compared 15 games of Johnny Davis, it just gives me more games to try to poke holes.

Davis’ floor is projectable at the next level, and I wonder if this is what led to him getting picked at 5 vs. 10?
I don't view it as a hot take. Just your opinion on the guy.

He could definitely be a guy who is going to be really annoying to face in a few years. Could be a multi level scorer with pesky defense. It's all going to depend on whether he has an NBA shot or not. He has a lot of translatable NBA skills. I would have valued some of the wings over him but I wouldn't have had a problem if the Kings took him if they were at the 10 slot.