I wanna change my "who i'd pick in the first right now" to
Consider me way above the consensus on Mahaney.
If our PG depth chart next season is Fox, Mitchell, Mahaney --- I'm really cool with that, sign me up. Probably wont happen. It's an interesting scenario IMO.
Some might remember that I was confident that
Kyle Guy could get drafted way ahead of his march explosion n them winning the chip.
Nico Mannion and
Ty Jerome are recent draftees worth comparing to this kid Mahaney too. Probably
Landry Shamet,
Austin Rivers and
Peyton Pritchard too. Though I guess Rivers isnt all that recent
time flies.
Mahaney appears to be less limited than those guys. I trust him more. He's got good balance to him, I dont mean his skillset, I mean athletic balance, I guess the word acrobatic gets thrown around.
He does something spectacular, if your a parent of some basketball players you should show them how Mahaney gets compact n maintains a low center of gravity with his dribble while probing the defense then picks his spots to 'get big' when needed. This is what separates him from players like the 6 I listed above, while he may never be a true PG at the NBA level he has that classic triple threat game 'deep in his bag' (in my best mark jones voice). It really helps him process the game in a way that looks like a future pro, thats I guess how he's passed my eyetest.
I'm not gonna claim to be some expert on this player, lets just say I have a very good feeling about what I see. His game is sharp, this player has obviously done quite well in honing his skills. I'd figure he'd exist more on the perimeter than trying to get to the paint in the NBA but it seems he's got the skill for that.
He does appear to have excellent dexterity. He's 6'2 or 6'3. 41% 3pt shooter freshman year on 5.7 attempts and he's really about to be asked to pilot a good team thru some very big games, so sorta, the stage is set.
Randy Bennett is going to sing his praises. Type of PG who makes a coach look really smart.
He's sort of got some Manu Ginobili type of flare to his offense... idk maybe thats overstating it... I think a PG like this as our backup could be really killer though. He seems like the type of player who'd have no problems 'hitting the ground running' coming off the bench. Teams gotta sort to catch their breath when Fox gets off the floor as you've probably noticed, this kid is kind of surgical n maybe he could drop bombs on the other team in that span, which obviously Davion Mitchell is not that guy...
Dellavedova is a placeholder here. Lets be real. Mitchell if he does great, thats great too,
we'd be left with a bunch of interchangeable combo guards not redundant pieces, who all have trade value.... On the otherhand if Mitchell were to fizzle out I'd sure like a backup PG like Mahaney here to step in behind Fox.
Mahaney turns 20 in August too so he's not exactly your normal aged Freshman. This player for damn sure isnt a 4-year college basketball player, lotta people think he can go in the first in the 2024 draft, I'm wondering if we cant get him on sale a year early aka the Anfernee Simons special.
Also this is a California kid... Im a new yorker n dont know the geography of Cali, obviously Coleman Hawkins is from Sacramento, but It seems Mahaney's sorta got hometown hero written all over him too.. Its hard to believe he wouldnt be a crowd favorite.
