Looking ahead to the 2023 Draft

[Ozymandias]

Oh UCLA got Abramo Canka, a 6'6 / 6'7" wing from Italy who's name has been mentioned in the past few draft processes.

He'll be a freshman despite being born in 2002.

Interesting. Really helps their depth as they were thinnest at the wing after Jaquez.

They will have a lot of players trying to get into this draft it seems, the headliner is 6'4" CG Amari Bailey who's projected as a top20 1-and-done in many mocks already.

 

[Ozymandias]

Ayy Baylor Scheierman being projected at the bottom of the 2nd rd.. Lemme call BS on that before the games even begin..

He's a player I think would be a really interesting fit here in Sacramento. In a world where the 3pt shot is king, this kid is underrated.

Not saying he's a lock for the first or anything but he seems much more likely to go earlier in the 2nd or possibly in the end of the first to a playoff team, than drop to the end.. I think thats why he didnt stay in the 2022 draft.

Now he shot 43% from 3 on almost 6 attempts per game as a Sophomore and 47% from 3 last season on 5 attempts per.

He's over 4 assists per game in those 2 seasons as well, and under 2 turnovers. 8 and 9 rebounds per season. He can handle the ball too, very far from some stationary shooter.

Now it's going to be a lot tougher to put up #'s like that in the Big East on such a loaded team, if he does his stock is going to vault into the first rd for sure.

Check the highlights out.. How about some of these stepback J's from 3 from a 6'8 player!! now full disclosure im slightly biased towards lefties. Like what I see from his offense though.

I'm convinced Creighton is one of the very best teams, they should have very good guard play, very good wings and one of the best C's in the nation. I believe they would've pushed deep into the tournament last year if their PG Ryan Nembhard (yes brother of Andrew who just got drafted by the Lakers) wasn't injured, they showed well without him.

He'll turn 22 in September so figures to be one of the oldest players with a chance to get drafted. I dont think thats going to be the be-all-end-all and hard limit his draft stock though given his skillset.

 

[Ozymandias]

Australian 6'5 SG Mojave King has signed with the G-League Ignite.

He's born in 2002 so has been eligible for a bit but apparently plans on declaring for this draft.

 

[Ozymandias]

Sheesh if Kentucky freshman 6'6" swingman Chris Livingston can hit his threes and stack up assists like he did today in their first exhibition in the bahamas he's going to fly up these mock drafts..

Damion Collins looked really good out there too.. He's as athletic and explosive as they come...

I like this years UK team so much more than last..

 

[Ozymandias]

Interested to see what Dawson Garcia can do at Minnesota this year as the star of the show. He's a skilled 6'11" lefty PF, 235lbs who can really shoot the 3.

He's always injured so hopefully he can play the full season and shake off some of those concerns.

Last year he was at UNC and his dad had a heart attack, I think he lost his grandma too, and so he stopped playing for UNC and moved back home in January and now he plays for Minnesota. He might have been able to make a difference for them in that National Championship loss, but it wasnt meant to be.

He'll find his way into the NBA one way or another but with a solid season he's gonna get drafted for sure, the question is just how high.

I have no clue how good Minnesota will be as a team. Probably not too good with Isaiah Ihnen reinjuring his knee and being out for the season already.. Garcia should be able to put up big stats and be one of the top scorers in the Big10 though.

 

[Ozymandias]

Brandon Miller is projected top-20 everywhere already. I'm pretty confident he's only going to rise in the rankings though and will emerge as Alabama's leading scorer as a freshman. He's got all the talent to be treated like a superstar at the college level.

Miller dropped 22 a game in their exhibition games vs Spain's select team, Lithuania's National B team and then China's national team (all wins).

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LXqfyCJYqbM - Here's a clip of him hurdling over some kid in a game last season while dunking. He easily passes the eye test as a high end NBA prospect IMO.

Word is Nimari Burnett looks fully recovered too. Bama should have its best team in many years. They're saying that Jahvon Quinerly could be back by SEC play also.

 

[Ozymandias]

I can't help but wonder whats going to happen with Louisville this year.. They have Tennessee X-fer Brandon Huntley-Hattfield, who is on a lot of mock drafts near the bottom of the first. He's 6'10" 250 lbs strong as can be and has some skill. It'd be pretty shocking if he didnt put up solid stats all over the floor.

I like 6'8" 230lb Jae'lyn Withers who they have returning but he's really gonna have to show out to make noise in this draft and with Rosevelt Wheeler and JJ Traynor their frontcourt should be solid.

However on the wing and at guard they dont really have bigtime depth.. The player I'm really thinking has a good chance for a big freshman season is 4-star 6'8" SF Kamari Lands..

It'd seem like he's gonna have all the opportunity to play.. He can shoot.. He's got defensive potential.. Wanted to mention him as a possible sleeper before things kick off..

 

[Ozymandias]

Dayton is going to be much better than what casual fans have come to expect from a team like Dayton, who's usually pretty good, they won 24 games last year with almost all freshman doing the heavy lifting and their all returning. There's several pro's on that roster IMO, will they make it to the NBA? We should get a pretty good idea this season.

They too have a very interesting 6'8" swingman incoming "Mongolian Mike" Sharavjamts

He has guard skills and can shoot and he's got some solid hops.. I could see him working his way onto the draft radar in year 1..

Dayton really has a nicely balanced roster too, I'm convinced their gonna be tough for any team to beat; with Da'Ron Holmes at C, Toumani Camara at F and Malachi Smith at Point. We'll see if Kaleb Washington steps up into a bigger role this year too, seems likely.

 

[Ozymandias]

yeah I just saw a mock update today that had Brandon Miller #3 overall.. the idea that some player like that should be in the teens or outside of the lottery is completely rediculous and I dont know what NBA those who came up with that have been watching for the past few years..

 

[Ozymandias]

the same mock has 6'6" wing with guard skills, Chance Westry at #13 overall!!

Thats my favorite 4star player in this class I posted about not too long ago!

Auburn did a 3 game exhibition tour in Israel and he looked really good apparently, had 13 steals in the first 2 games.

 

[Ozymandias]

Tyrese Proctor who will play for Duke but has been absent from their summer workouts because he was representing Australia in the FIBA Asia cup had a strong showing n shot 41% from 3 and generated some hype too. 10.5ppg 3.8rebs 1.8asts per game in the tournament.

6'5 scoring guard

Jon Scheyer has such a loaded recruiting class for his first year at Duke.. I refuse to believe they'll lose more than a handful of games this season..

 

[Ozymandias]

Heard that G.G. Jackson didnt shoot the ball well at the NBPA 100 camp but looks like a monster on the defensive end who can guard all 5 positions. They said he looks like a more skilled version of Bam Adebayo.

wondering how South Carolina is gonna perform, the SEC is strong this season for sure.... they brought in a bunch of x-ferrs and one of them was just announced is out for the year with an achilles injury..

GG will certainly put up monster stats I guess how he shoots it from distance will determine just how high he can go.

 

[serbiangoat]

@Ozymandias

I watched some highlight of Mega playing against NCAA team Virginia Cavs (are they any good) they played two games in the first game Mega smashed them by 20+ in the 2nd VC won in double OT. Nikola Durisic had 17,5,4 in one of them the more I watched him play the more he's reminding me of a better Alexander "Sasha" Pavlovic (at first I compared him to Booker minus the shooting) who was the starting SG for the Cavs team when LeBron carried them to the NBA finals against the Spurs.

 

[Ozymandias]

@Ozymandias

I watched some highlight of Mega playing against NCAA team Virginia Cavs (are they any good) they played two games in the first game Mega smashed them by 20+ in the 2nd VC won in double OT. Nikola Durisic had 17,5,4 in one of them the more I watched him play the more he's reminding me of a better Alexander "Sasha" Pavlovic (at first I compared him to Booker minus the shooting) who was the starting SG for the Cavs team when LeBron carried them to the NBA finals against the Spurs.

impressive footage! Durisic looks tall, at least 6'8, confident and really strong. He's towering over Isaac McKneely (#11) whos listed at 6'4" but I guess he's really 6'3". I like the way he's punishing mismatches in these highlights and not letting them off easy. If he shoots it well from 3 he's easily a 1st rd pick.

I can see the Pavlovic comparison he seems to have a good feel for the game and Pavlovic was solidly built too.

Virginia in my opinion is not very talented, no players relevant to this thread, overrated in the preseason rankings.I feel like they'll be better in the season after this one. They didn't really capitalize in recruitment on the national championship win and producing a lotto pick like De'Andre Hunter. Their freshman class this season is better than the last 2 which have underperformed IMO, that player McKneely hasn't played a college game yet, they have a 6'10 freshman Traudt (#23) who can shoot the 3 he's in a lot of these clips(getting mauled under the basket) and he hasn't played in college yet either. This game looks like it was a great learning experience for Virginia. College teams are only allowed to make these trips once every 4 years, I wish it was every year.

I dont see Kadin Shedrick on the floor for UVA. He's a 6'11" Junior who would be their best interior defender and for them to live up to ESPN's preseason ranking he'll need to have a big season.

I'm sure there are TV analysts(most of whom are biased, especially ESPN, towards promoting the quality of the lesser ACC teams because they broadcast so many of their games) and others who'd disagree with my evaluation on UVA, but the reality is in todays college basketball that with the transfer portal being so active the gap has widened between the have's and the have-nots, and the illusion of parity is really only held in place by having so many upsets in the tournament.

Its fair to say there's a big quality dropoff in the ACC teams after Duke and North Carolina who figure to be 2 of the very best in the nation. ESPN has UVA as the 3rd best team in the conference but I feel like FSU is a safer bet and also has much more upside. Virginia's a team that tries to play this tough defensive brand of basketball but they start a 5'8" PG and on nights their offense isnt performing they will dig early holes they cant climb out of. A team like FSU is ridiculously massive, bigger than just about any pro team, and built to control the boards and grind teams like UVA down.

 

[Ozymandias]

Well the Thunder are gonna be firmly in the Wembanyama sweepstakes. Chet's out for the season.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Well the Thunder are gonna be firmly in the Wembanyama sweepstakes. Chet's out for the season.

I have to say, it would be interesting to see them play Wembanyama, Chet, and Poku on the floor together!

 

[bajaden]

@Ozymandias

I watched some highlight of Mega playing against NCAA team Virginia Cavs (are they any good) they played two games in the first game Mega smashed them by 20+ in the 2nd VC won in double OT. Nikola Durisic had 17,5,4 in one of them the more I watched him play the more he's reminding me of a better Alexander "Sasha" Pavlovic (at first I compared him to Booker minus the shooting) who was the starting SG for the Cavs team when LeBron carried them to the NBA finals against the Spurs.

Virgina had a zippo recruiting class, so no top talent there, but they're a veteran team that should be competitive. One thing Virginia always does is play defense, which usually keeps them in games. I don't see an NCAA championship in their immediate future.

 

[bajaden]

I have to say, it would be interesting to see them play Wembanyama, Chet, and Poku on the floor together!

Yeah, that would be interesting. One would have to wonder how often all three of them would be on the floor together. I've been watching a lot of film, and European BB. Something to do when there's nothing happening. This next draft class looks like a very deep one, at least on paper. A kid to keep and eye on who caught my attention last season is Houston Mallette, a 6'5" SG from Pepperdine. Kid is really talented. Can't wait for training camp to start. I caught all three of Kentucky's games. They were all blowouts, but they definitely have a better team than last season, and I think it might be good enough to make the final 8. They have the best rebounder in college basketball. I'm still not sold on Toppin yet.

 

[Ozymandias]

Yeah, that would be interesting. One would have to wonder how often all three of them would be on the floor together. I've been watching a lot of film, and European BB. Something to do when there's nothing happening. This next draft class looks like a very deep one, at least on paper. A kid to keep and eye on who caught my attention last season is Houston Mallette, a 6'5" SG from Pepperdine. Kid is really talented. Can't wait for training camp to start. I caught all three of Kentucky's games. They were all blowouts, but they definitely have a better team than last season, and I think it might be good enough to make the final 8. They have the best rebounder in college basketball. I'm still not sold on Toppin yet.

Can't wait to see what Chris Livingston and Damion Collins are gonna do vs better competition. They sure looked good on the trip.

Wallace I'm sure will be solid so I'm not too concerned about him.

 

[Ozymandias]

projected top 10 pick Dariq Whitehead underwent surgery tuesday to repair a fracture in his right foot. he suffered the injury in a team workout on monday.

duke's saying he's out indefinitely, will begin rehab immediately, and will return "sometime this fall"

 

[Ozymandias]

Been thinking that a solid sleeper candidate is Notre Dame's incoming freshman JJ Starling, 6'4" combo guard who can shoot it and score all sorts of ways, gets downhill going in either direction, has a nice floater.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3IcfA9GshMg

He's the first McDonald's All-American Notre Dame's landed in like 20 years. Will be interesting to see how much Mike Brey uses him early. I feel like he could end up scoring a lot and shooting it well and flying up these mocks.

To me Starling's the type of guard teams would LOVE to get in the early 2nd. He's a player who's been growing and his games been growing steadily too.

It seems like he wont be playing in college for long. Either a 1-and-done or 2-and-done.

 

[Ozymandias]

Victor Wembanyama's team the Metropolitians 92 will be travelling to Vegas to take on the G-League Ignite in a pair of exhibition games on October 4th and 6th.

Should be a good show! The projected #1 and #2 picks going at it.

The Ignite, along with Scoota Henderson, have Sidy Cissoko and we'll see if 6'10 Efe Agbodi gets a chance to matchup with Wembanyama which would be a huge opportunity for him, as obviously there will be a massive number of scouts in attendance.

ESPN will be broadcasting the game for sure.

Also in the article I just read it mentioned Wembanyama measured 7'4" barefoot with an 8-foot wingspan recently.. sheesh

 

[coolhandluke]

7'4" barefoot with an 8-foot wingspan??

Maybe the Kings should tank hard if they are out of the play-in picture by AllStar weekend?

 

[serbiangoat]

@Ozymandias

Just watched Team Overtime vs Mega, you mentioned some twins that play for Overtime (had 18 each) in the thread (the team was INSANE athletically), Durisic (24points 6 assists) had the best shooting game I have ever seen him have knocking down contested 3's/2's and showed he can get to the rim against much quicker players.. There was one insane play where a team Overtime guy dunked on 7'2/7'3 potential NBA player (most likely Euroleaguer) Danko Brankovic. Exciting game I won't give away who won/loss for those that want to watch. Grbovic who i mentioned played for Montenegro u20's had a decent game as well.

If anyone is interested the full game is on youtube

Durisic highlights

 

[Ozymandias]

That was Isaiah Mucius on the big dunk and he led OT in scoring this game.. I didnt realize they took on players his age(23), he was a 4-year college player at Wake Forest and some people had him in the top100 for last years draft.. Interesting.. His draft eligibility has to be gone.. He's from near my hometown.

You can see the lack of 3pt shooting from the twins in this game. Without the older Mucius (even though hes very skinny still so you might not have noticed) OTE gets completely blown out and the offense stagnates, he made it a very competitive game right from the beginning.

I dont understand these projections with the Thompson twins right next to each other in the draft -- Amen is better, he is much more of a combo guard. You can see in this game they are trying to get Ausar whos more of a swingman post up looks and it doesnt go well. They are both ridiculously fast in the open court with effortless lift.

Durisic looks great! If I did a mock right now he'd be in the top20 for sure. Looking at him this summer he's gone from a guy who I thought looked like a player that'd go early in the 2nd, to into the first and now I'd say he looks like a top20 type.

I didnt realize OTE had a point guard whos sub-6' (Johnned Walker). Jazian Gortman didnt play well in this either in his limited minutes. I would say they didn't really bring the best of the best talent from their program to this game.

That was Malcolm Cazalon from France on Mega. This has gotta be his last year of eligibility for the draft.

 

[Ozymandias]

Villanova 4star Freshman(#55 in the composite rankings) Mark Armstrong is a solid candidate to outperform in year 1. 6'3" bouncy guard he's stronger and tougher than he looks.. He's quick and can create good looks, plus he can shoot. Player who used to be rail thin and is adding muscle fast. He's 18 and seems like a solid bet to play better than lots of older guards. I could see a scenario where his stock explodes. word is he looks good.

 

[Ozymandias]

Melbourne United's 7-footer C Ariel Hukporti tore his Achillies and will be out for the season. He's 2002 born n was hoping to work his way into draft range.

 

[bajaden]

Can't wait to see what Chris Livingston and Damion Collins are gonna do vs better competition. They sure looked good on the trip.

Wallace I'm sure will be solid so I'm not too concerned about him.

I was impressed by Wallace, but that wasn't a shock. He was as advertised. Livingston had some very good moments. He's definitely one I'm going to keep an eye on. I'm trying hard to like Collins, and I thought he should have been a little more impressive against the competition he was up against. However, he's a terrific athlete and I can see the upside. He definitely needs to spend more time in the weight room. I can't wait to see all these top ranked guys go up against better competition. I'm very tired of watching highschool video's of them. The IMG and academy games are better but still not a true yardstick.

 

[bajaden]

Villanova 4star Freshman(#55 in the composite rankings) Mark Armstrong is a solid candidate to outperform in year 1. 6'3" bouncy guard he's stronger and tougher than he looks.. He's quick and can create good looks, plus he can shoot. Player who used to be rail thin and is adding muscle fast. He's 18 and seems like a solid bet to play better than lots of older guards. I could see a scenario where his stock explodes. word is he looks good.

I like Armstrong a lot. I think he's very underrated. Once again, all I have is highschool ball, but he's the whole package. Teamed up with Whitmore, Villanova should be very competitive. Kid's got some serious hops.

 

[bajaden]

That was Isaiah Mucius on the big dunk and he led OT in scoring this game.. I didnt realize they took on players his age(23), he was a 4-year college player at Wake Forest and some people had him in the top100 for last years draft.. Interesting.. His draft eligibility has to be gone.. He's from near my hometown.

You can see the lack of 3pt shooting from the twins in this game. Without the older Mucius (even though hes very skinny still so you might not have noticed) OTE gets completely blown out and the offense stagnates, he made it a very competitive game right from the beginning.

I dont understand these projections with the Thompson twins right next to each other in the draft -- Amen is better, he is much more of a combo guard. You can see in this game they are trying to get Ausar whos more of a swingman post up looks and it doesnt go well. They are both ridiculously fast in the open court with effortless lift.

Durisic looks great! If I did a mock right now he'd be in the top20 for sure. Looking at him this summer he's gone from a guy who I thought looked like a player that'd go early in the 2nd, to into the first and now I'd say he looks like a top20 type.

I didnt realize OTE had a point guard whos sub-6' (Johnned Walker). Jazian Gortman didnt play well in this either in his limited minutes. I would say they didn't really bring the best of the best talent from their program to this game.

That was Malcolm Cazalon from France on Mega. This has gotta be his last year of eligibility for the draft.

Durisic has a chance to be a lottery pick. I think he's improved that much. He's only 18 years old with a lot of upside. He could be the 2nd European player taken in the draft. I agree with you on Amen. Better passer and handler. Both are very good athlete's, but most early mocks have them higher than I do right now. Both have to prove to me that they can shoot the ball. Not sold on their on ball D just yet either. Both seem to have good instincts as help defenders, but get a bit lazy off the ball. Still way to early to come to any conclusions on any of these players.

Saw a couple of the Arkansas games as well. Very impressed with Nick Smith. Not an elite athlete, but a very skilled player whose a 3 level scorer. Good passer and willing defender. Also impressed with Anthony Black and Jordan Walsh. Both players very good passers. Walsh is a freak athlete with a huge wingspan. Arkansas should be a lot of fun to watch this season, and They might give Duke a run for their money in the tournament. Probably getting a head of myself.