Welcome Maxime Raynaud

On draft casuals, the players his statistical profile most resembles are: Ace Bailey, Damion Jones, Marshon Brooks, and Lazar Hayward on offence and Deandre Ayton, Jahil Okafor, Ekpe Udoh, Jaxson Hayes, and Brook Lopez on defence. He’s in the 98th percentile for mid-range shots made, the 79th percentile for rim shots made, and the 75th percentile for three pointers. He doesn’t get to the line much and has a lower assist to turnover ratio.

Interesting. I can get the Lopez comps because Stanford and style, but I see a lot more Porzingis at his absolute ceiling. Lopez didn't really beat guys off the dribble or off the catch like that. Plus Lopez was a lot bigger and was much better on contact.
 
On draft casuals, the players his statistical profile most resembles are: Ace Bailey, Damion Jones, Marshon Brooks, and Lazar Hayward on offence and Deandre Ayton, Jahil Okafor, Ekpe Udoh, Jaxson Hayes, and Brook Lopez on defence. He’s in the 98th percentile for mid-range shots made, the 79th percentile for rim shots made, and the 75th percentile for three pointers. He doesn’t get to the line much and has a lower assist to turnover ratio.
Percentiles among what?
 
Interesting. I can get the Lopez comps because Stanford and style, but I see a lot more Porzingis at his absolute ceiling. Lopez didn't really beat guys off the dribble or off the catch like that. Plus Lopez was a lot bigger and was much better on contact.

Lopez was more of a defensive comparison. Thought it was interesting his offensive comparisons are more wings/ forwards than guys who play at the five.
 
It sounds like Raynaud had settled on Sacramento as his preferred destination, which means the Kings will offer him a regular contract. His agent would not have allowed him to fall so far without guarantees from the Kings' front office. He will be the tallest player on the roster, an inch taller than Valančiūnas.

The signing will bring the Kings roster up to twelve players, not including two-way contracts such as Dylan Cardwell. There are still three open spots, with free agency starting next Wednesday. Lyles, LaRavia, Fultz, McDermott, Crowder, and Mason Jones are all free agents.
 
Not sure what to think about this pick. Love his offense but I equally hate his defense. I just don't think there's much of a place for non defensive bigs but we already hashed this argument out years ago with Bagley.
 
Not sure what to think about this pick. Love his offense but I equally hate his defense. I just don't think there's much of a place for non defensive bigs but we already hashed this argument out years ago with Bagley.
Context matters. Bagley was a #2 pick and supposedly foundational piece. There is no room for a non-defensive, non-shooting big in that role. Raynaud is a second round project, who may (if JV is moved) be looking at a 12 minute per night role this year, and perhaps a bigger bench role next year. A non-defender big, but with a full offensive game and spacing ability definitely has a place in the NBA in that more limited role.
 
Not sure what to think about this pick. Love his offense but I equally hate his defense. I just don't think there's much of a place for non defensive bigs but we already hashed this argument out years ago with Bagley.

I like it in terms of being incredible value in terms of where we got him and that a stretch 5 with ability to put the ball on the floor is just a super rare archetype in the NBA. Especially for a team in flux, like the Kings likely will be in the next few years, it's an awesome talent grab and an excellent process pick for a team that just needs talent and upside.
 
Context matters. Bagley was a #2 pick and supposedly foundational piece. There is no room for a non-defensive, non-shooting big in that role. Raynaud is a second round project, who may (if JV is moved) be looking at a 12 minute per night role this year, and perhaps a bigger bench role next year. A non-defender big, but with a full offensive game and spacing ability definitely has a place in the NBA in that more limited role.

I guess we'll agree to disagree here. I think a more effective bench big would be a plus defending lob threat. Raynaud has more tools in his bag but there's a reason why guys like Kanter and Jahlil Okafor have faded away while Bagley is barely hanging in the league by a thread as a backup big.

I can't think of any off the top of my head. Are there any playoff teams that bring a non defensive big off the bench? Warriors do with Post but I can't think of anyone else.
 
I guess we'll agree to disagree here. I think a more effective bench big would be a plus defending lob threat. Raynaud has more tools in his bag but there's a reason why guys like Kanter and Jahlil Okafor have faded away while Bagley is barely hanging in the league by a thread as a backup big.

I can't think of any off the top of my head. Are there any playoff teams that bring a non defensive big off the bench? Warriors do with Post but I can't think of anyone else.

The biggest difference is shooting. If you can shoot you have a role. If you can’t and can’t defend, bye bye.
 
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I guess we'll agree to disagree here. I think a more effective bench big would be a plus defending lob threat. Raynaud has more tools in his bag but there's a reason why guys like Kanter and Jahlil Okafor have faded away while Bagley is barely hanging in the league by a thread as a backup big.

I can't think of any off the top of my head. Are there any playoff teams that bring a non defensive big off the bench? Warriors do with Post but I can't think of anyone else.

The three guys you mentioned though are all relic post-only bigs though. Raynaud looks like a wing on the perimeter offensively and he's projected to be an excellent spacer. 3 of the 4 final teams in the playoffs just showed how powerful being able to play 5-out is in the NBA. If Raynaud can access that set for us in 12-15 MPG as a back-up, that's a huge win and a huge boon to our offense.

To me, the guy you're talking about is Johnni Broome more than anything who doesn't have a place in the NBA anymore. Ground-bound post big, doesn't have great size to be a true C so more of a tweener, can't switch on the perimeter, doesn't project to be a shooter.
 
I’m not sure why Maxime is considered a non-defensive big. He average 1.4 blocks, one steal and 10 rebounds per game. He may not be Wemby defensive monster, but I would say he should be serviceable on that end. After all, he went to Standford so he is a smart kid, I'm sure he can learn to play better pick and roll defense with proper coaching. To go along with the offensive repertoire, we could have a 2nd round steal.

Unless he puts on more bulk, I think he will be a stretch 4 in the league, reminds me of a young Lauri Marrkaren. If he was a freshman or sophomore coming into the draft, he would had been a lottery pick.
 
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I think he puts up counting stats on defense but isn't the kind of guy that a bull is going to be afraid to take on in the paint.

I'm excited to have him either way.
 
I’m not sure why Maxime is considered a non-defensive big. He average 1.4 blocks, one steal and 10 rebounds per game. He may not be Wemby defensive monster, but I would say he should be serviceable on that end. After all, he went to Standford so he is a smart kid, I'm sure he can learn to play better pick and roll defense with proper coaching. To go along with the offensive repertoire, we could have a 2nd round steal.

Unless he puts on more bulk, I think he will be a stretch 4 in the league, reminds me of a young Lauri Marrkaren. If he was a freshman or sophomore coming into the draft, he would had been a lottery pick.
Raynaud says in the long interview posted above that he and the Stanford staff only started focusing on improving his ability to block shots late in the season, before they were asking him to play a more ground-bound defensive style. It appears to have worked pretty nicely. In his first 26 games this season he averaged 1.04 blocks. In his last 9 games he averaged 2.56 blocks.

Maybe he can actually play more D than I gave him credit for!
 
My favorite draft adage ever that 22 and 23 year old can never get better at the nba level

Jay Bilas was saying something about that on a pod the other day. When he was playing it was the norm that 22 year olds were still going through the development process and now everyone thinks you have to be 18 to develop
 
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