How many minute of Nique Crawford defense have you watched this year?
And you probably need to reevaluate your process if your conclusion is opposite of literally every single draft analyst giving universal praise of this pick.
NBA Draft 2025 Open Thread
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How many minute of Nique Crawford defense have you watched this year?
And you probably need to reevaluate your process if your conclusion is opposite of literally every single draft analyst giving universal praise of this pick.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
And strength matters too. Keon just isn't a strong dude. He works hard but even players like Irving move him around with the off hand. Carter and Clifford are pretty freaking strong.
sactowndog
All-Star
Sorry Keon is 6’3.5. Grabbed the wrong number. But given players don’t play with their head their Length and Standing Reach numbers are very similar.
Weight is different and Clifford is unlikely to get backed down by Brown but that means you are not playing Keon and you are not resigning him.
Not enough minutes exist for LaVine, Keon and Clifford. Either you trade one of them or Clifford suffers the fate of Davion and Carter and does not get enough minutes to develop.
Perhaps a Sign and Trade with Keon is in the works. He is well regarded around the league.
iowamcnabb
Hall of Famer
Norm McDonald finally got his wish
chief bromden
Starter
He can definitely guard Josh Okogie and Coulibaly and the like. This dude is the 24th pick in the draft, who expects him to guard Jayson Tatum and Franz Wagner? If he is a rotational player off the bench, then that is a home run at pick 24 given the odds of that pick panning out at all.
No I didn't expect a full roster overhaul on draft day. I'm reading the tea leaves because that's what I do. You haven't learned this about me by now? My head says it's a solid if unspectacular pick. My gut senses better opportunities were there to jumpstart a full reboot if one were planned so I expect to see only marginal roster turnover and eventually more excuses for poor team defense.
Objectively speaking, Nique Clifford at 24th overall is a perfectly fine use of a draft pick. I could quibble about the "seemingly excellent on defense" bit though cause it's the same way Kings fans talk themselves into every draft pick this team has ever made. A lot of guys seem to be something on draft day, but are they? You have to put your scouting cap on to even have an opinion about that. The numbers say Clifford was an excellent rebounder. Block and steal rates are nothing special. Advanced stats like him on defense but he was a fifth year senior playing against guys 2-3 years younger on average so the advanced stats damn well better be good or he's not an NBA player...
The eye test tells me he settles for contested mid-range jumpers more than I would like and doesn't have a lot of explosiveness around the basket. That puts him in more of a role-player category for me though I've been wrong about this before. To his credit, he is very good in the mid-range and knows how to pass guys open when he gets doubled. On defense he gives up ground too easily -- as do most college wing defenders. He uses his upper body well to get steals but he will need to add strength in his lower body to avoid getting pushed off balance. He should be effective in a team defensive concept but doesn't project as a one-on-one stopper. That's all just my first impression though. I didn't follow college basketball this season so all I can really judge players on this year are the compilations of footage available online.
Indeed, Clifford strength and power stood out in his highlight.
sactowndog
All-Star
Again none of this is a comment on Clifford. If we still have Zach and Keon on the team he isn’t getting many minutes off the bench.
Now again maybe a Keon sign and trade is in the works. I’m sure a number of teams are interested in Keon.
iowamcnabb
Hall of Famer
I’ll say it again, the team that just won the championship played JDub, SGA, Dort, Caruso, Cason Wallace, IJoe, Wiggins and Mitchell. That’s 8 guys listed at guard.
Noble
Bench
and they ran with 2 Centers playing together.
Exactly. Indy had 6 guys in their playoff rotation 6’6 and under - Haliburton, Nembhard, Nesmith, Mathurin, Sheppard, McConnell
NewArena
All-Star
Sean Cunningham and Damien Bar’ are the ones i trust
Bosnian Diehard
Starter
Yup, you can be guard heavy if they can defend. Carter, Ellis and Clifford are all good on that end of the floor.
Joshyjosh31
Starter
Dub, Dort, and Caruso can defend four positions and some fives when allowed to hack away and more importantly Chet Holmgren ain’t walking through that door
iowamcnabb
Hall of Famer
Keon, Keegan, Crawford and Carter can all guard multiple positions. The Thunder were dominating games even when Chet missed all that time. We potentially have 4 guys that can guard 1-3. Now we just need to find more versatile defenders for the 4/5 position. Hopefully IJ can be one piece.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
helps to have a shot blocking big waiting in the paint too for both teams
Two bigs that can defend
NewArena
All-Star
And I'm supposed to believe he whispered to Vivek about the genius specimen that would end up being MVP Giannis lmao come on man
NewArena
All-Star
You just don't often read that on this forum. I'm really looking forward to this offseason
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