NBA Draft 2025 Open Thread

[twslam07]

I think the biggest concern is that the uptick in his shooting this past college season could just be a blip and not indicative of sustainable improvement that will translate. Also, his handle is pretty bad.

I mean we wouldn’t really be asking him to be a high level scorer, playmaker out there so the ballhandling is not as important to me. If he can give us size, length, defense, & rim protection form the PF spot while keeping teams honest on offense, I’ll take it.

That’s fair on the shooting. There’s always a chance it was an outlier but he did improve his 3P% 3 years in a row on solid volume and he did shoot 74% from the stripe which gives me a bit more confidence in his shot. I’d be more concerned if he was shooting 64% from the FT line (like what Davion Mitchell did in his final year at Baylor).

 

[chief bromden]

I mean we wouldn’t really be asking him to be a high level scorer, playmaker out there so the ballhandling is not as important to me. If he can give us size, length, defense, & rim protection form the PF spot while keeping teams honest on offense, I’ll take it.

That’s fair on the shooting. There’s always a chance it was an outlier but he did improve his 3P% 3 years in a row on solid volume and he did shoot 74% from the stripe which gives me a bit more confidence in his shot. I’d be more concerned if he was shooting 64% from the FT line (like what Davion Mitchell did in his final year at Baylor).

Yeah the shooting is the biggest thing for sure. His FT improved last year too, it was Davion bad before. Not many guys get to see the court much if they can't shoot. Would have loved the Kings to take a flyer on him, but I'm more excited about Maxime

 

[Tetsujin]

So I admittedly didn’t watch much college basketball this season and didn’t do much draft prep (considering we didn’t have a 1st round draft pick), but after looking into some of the players post draft, can someone explain to me why we didn’t draft Rasheer Fleming?

The ideal PF complement to our all star C is someone who…

- has excellent size, length, & athleticism
- is an excellent, versatile defender
- can help protect the rim
- can space the floor

That’s a rare combination to find yet it looks like Fleming checks literally all of these boxes…

- 6’8.75” w/o shoes
- 7’5.25” wingspan
- 9’1” standing reach
- 232.4 lbs
- 10.95 sec lane agility
- 2.72 sec shuttle run
- 3.24 sec 3/4 sprint
- 27” standing vert
- 32.5” max vert
- 5.2 3PA per 36 min
- .390 3P%
- .743 FT%
- .638 TS%
- 9.8 REB per 36 min
- 1.6 STL per 36 min
- 1.8 BLK per 36 min
- 2.9 PF per 36 min

Obviously, if you have a different type of C who can anchor a defense, maybe you look to draft someone else at #24 as there are other value picks to take at that spot (Clifford included). However, when you have Sabonis as your C and you’re gifted the opportunity to draft that very rare ideal/near ideal complement at PF and you don’t take it…well…that makes me scratch my head.

And this is not a shot at either of the guys we drafted. I like both of them in a vacuum and think they are both good value picks. I’m just trying to understand how a team with Sabonis would pass on a guy like Fleming.

Any folks out there that are more familiar with this draft class that can weigh in and help explain or justify the reasoning of passing on him?

The key thing with Rasheer Fleming is that the hypothetical ideal version of him is sorta different from the version that you see on film. His shooting numbers are great but only when he’s a pure catch and shoot guy and not being asked to dribble, come off of screens or shoot off of movement. On defense, he’s probably more of a 4/5 than the 4/3 that most teams are looking for these days. That isn’t to say he can’t play power forward in the league or whatever but he just isn’t IMHO the wing-forward everyone suddenly decided he was on the internet in the night between rounds one and two of the draft. He probably could have played next to Sabonis but I’m not sure it would’ve been as smooth a fit as people assume.

 

[ESP47]

Where do the low IQ allegations come from?

From the decisions he's been making since he's been a part of the draft process.

 

[NewArena]

From the decisions he's been making since he's been a part of the draft process.

Ehhh, i just don’t like that term when we don’t know all the ins and outs and details about the much older folks around him that are likely advising him to do these things. “Low IQ” for him but Luke Walton was known for having this extremely high IQ in his playing days, right? How’d that work out for him when he’s been crap at every level. I just hate the term for obvious reasons that i certainly won’t get into on this forum lol

 

[Caccia]

Ehhh, I just don’t like that term when we don’t know all the ins and outs and details about the much older folks around him that are likely advising him to do these things. “Low IQ” for him but Luke Walton was known for having this extremely high IQ in his playing days, right?...I just hate the term for obvious reasons that I certainly won’t get into on this forum.

I do, too.

 

[sactowndog]

The key thing with Rasheer Fleming is that the hypothetical ideal version of him is sorta different from the version that you see on film. His shooting numbers are great but only when he’s a pure catch and shoot guy and not being asked to dribble, come off of screens or shoot off of movement. On defense, he’s probably more of a 4/5 than the 4/3 that most teams are looking for these days. That isn’t to say he can’t play power forward in the league or whatever but he just isn’t IMHO the wing-forward everyone suddenly decided he was on the internet in the night between rounds one and two of the draft. He probably could have played next to Sabonis but I’m not sure it would’ve been as smooth a fit as people assume.

I read something interesting that the tweener is between the 4 and 5 now instead of the 3 and 4. It is true especially on defense. Can you defend the Rim or can you defend the perimeter.