IDK I was watching Wemby and Mets92 games on NBA.com every other day the whole lead-up to the draft, which was pretty exciting.
The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning Sheppard over Dillingham.
Dilly appears to have the higher ceiling, but Sheppard just seems like an absolute lock to stay in the league for a long time as a high end role player with elite shooting and good team defense and defensive playmaking.
You also have to consider what's Dillingham's best case scenario: Trae Young? A guy many of us think is too flawed to be a piece in a championship contender. Do we really want that? Sure, that won't be a problem during his rookie contract, but 5 years from now, when he's due for a max contract, do you pay him knowing he won't ever be the guy that we need? Do you trade him?
I don't know, I might be overthinking too much. We would all be wetting ourselves if somebody assured us we are drafting Trae Young 2.0 , but I don't know if it's the best outcome looking at the bigger picture.
IDK I was watching Wemby and Mets92 games on NBA.com every other day the whole lead-up to the draft, which was pretty exciting.
Last edited by baseline bum; 2 Weeks Ago at 01:56 AM.
Pace yourself. It's going to be a long six weeks.
Was such a special time. There were free streams on NBA.com. That LNB Playoffs and Finals loss was exciting. Too bad Wemby's PGs were all hurt. People were nay saying his Summer League appearances and I was like he's been playing all June we have a big sample size. Will be cool to see Vic this summer in the Olympics.
Careful what you wish for. The French national team is becoming to be a powerhouse, with Wemby and Gobert manning the post, along with other French nationals most are playing in the NBA, and including a few of the lottery picks in this year’s draft (Sarr, Risacher, Salaun). Had Embiid decided to play for France, I would say France could be favorite to win the gold, but as of their current roster, I think they can do, but for sure when Wemby started to dominate the basketball world. Watch out.
regarding the reported numbers up to now, outside of some impressive numbers from Edey and Clingan, the measurements are a bit disappointing. this adds to a likely weak draft class.
(but maybe the players in this draft class were less dominant from the beginning, because they are average, or below average, in size?)
regarding the players who are discussed as possible Spurs picks, I think not one displayed numbers, that would push him up.
maybe Kyshawn George, 6'7" w/o shoes is great height for a guard. (6'10.25" wingspan is ok, but does not add extra value)
Cody Williams numbers look ok, but some might have hoped for a bit more height (I did), and 178 lbs is really very light. yes, his wingspan is good and he should be able to put on some weight and strenghts, like his brother did.
as a possible 2nd round pick, Jalen Bridges measured a bit better than expected. 6'6.75" w/o shoes is nice height for a SF, great frame as well, add this to his good athelticism and we see a player who likely was kind of overlooked at this forum. he is a very good and versatile defender (as you would expect from a Baylor player) and a capable shooter. (41% 3s on 5.1 attempts, 82% FT). I see him as a legitimate canditate for the #35 pick.
I'm curious about the measurements from Furphy, that haven't been reported yet.
I don't mind if France wins the gold.
If Risacher is taken earlier, the Spurs may go for Sheppard. They may like him with either pick.
If we draft Topic at 4 we should not draft Holland, Castle or Buzelis at 8 because of shooting limitations. Topic and Risacher/Williams/Knecht would be fine. Or two good shooters in Dillingham/Sheppard and Risacher/Williams/Knecht, or Dillingham/Sheppard and Holland/Castle. I don't like Buzelis or Clingan that much and Sarr will be gone at 4.
You said it perfectly, Trae Young would easily go as #1 in this draft and would be a top3 in almost every draft.
PATFO (and everyone else) are facing the usual dilemma when it comes to drafting. Will an undersized prospect be able to translate his skills to the biggest stage?
Yeah, most of them fail, but those failures are the main reason why a lot of undersized guards that actually make it drop down in the draft.
Then you look at freak athletes and think how they can become stars if they develop a jumpshot. But most of them never do it.
All we can do is hope PATFO finally gets their scouting right and that we won't regret missing out on better players like we did over the past years.
There's a long time until the draft, but we need a point guard, one way or another.
If they don't want Dillingham/Sheppard/Castle, just draft two wings and bring DJ back, tbh.
DAF was with you until your very last line
He’s a massive DJ hater.
Speaking for myself, I tend to dislike offense-only players due to getting hunted on defense in the playoffs. Young is too good to completely dismiss, but there is such a huge difference between taking a guy like Dilly at 4 or 8 and having him on a rookie contract for four years and trading an absolute haul for Young and his contract. Granted, Dilly might be a complete bust but not one that can really sink a franchise. A Young trade would very likely be our one major card to play, and he’s not the perfect player here.
Hollinger:
”Risacher:
I’m not sure any player’s stock has yo-yo’d as much as Risacher’s in the last year. After a disappointing performance at the Nike Hoop Summit followed a poor shooting year in France, Risacher was seen by some as a fringe first-rounder. This season, his 3-point percentage rebounded sharply, and Risacher suddenly moved into the discussion for the No. 1 pick. Both pendulum swings now seem like overcorrections, with shooting variance ing the punch scouts were drinking.
Let’s take a step back. Risacher has obvious pathways to rotation-level usefulness: He’s a tall wing who can move on the perimeter and showed very good lateral quickness in particular. He has a solid feel for the game, and his shot, while a bit hitchy at the top, is reliable enough to demand the opponent guard him.
But once we start raising the bar to lottery-level pick, the questions become louder. One thing in particular that NBA teams have consistently underpriced is that the French League just isn’t that good. Turkey and Spain, to name two, are much, much stronger. It’s one thing if a guy like Clint Capela or Victor Wembanyama destroys the league as a teenager, but Risacher isn’t doing that – he has a modest 14.8 PER in 57 games for JL Bourg. At the French League level (and in EuroCup play as well, one notch below the EuroLeague), he’s fine … but he’s not an elite player.
Historically, drafting players like this from France hasn’t ended well. The two perimeter players in the last two decades who hit as imports from this league were Evan Fournier and Nic Batum, who both had much more impressive numbers in their pre-draft seasons. The ones who didn’t – the Frank Ntilikinas and Sekou Doumbouyas – were overdrafted based on seasons a bit worse than the one Risacher is having, but Risacher’s statistical profile is much closer to those guys than to Batum and Fournier. (I’m leaving Bilal Coulibaly out of this for now, as we don’t know how the story ends.)
History isn’t destiny, and it’s possible Risacher outperforms these comps. But his lack of on-ball juice at this level is a tell that his upside is probably more as a plus role player than a star, especially given that his shooting isn’t a lock and his thin build and lack of toughness raise added questions.
Risacher has shot better this year, hitting 38.9 percent of his 3s, but it hasn’t been on huge volume and his pedestrian shooting marks on 2s (51.6 percent) and from the line (71.9 percent) haven’t budged at all from a year earlier. Overall, big forwards are rare enough that he’s worth drafting, but a team would feel much better about the pick if it isn’t counting on him becoming a starter.”
Oh well, what can you do.
Just for the record, I'm not the biggest fan of DJ, but he fits most of our needs and is on a great contract that just started.
Getting DJ would mean that we could draft someone like Knect who could provide the shooting or even Sheppard and have a three man guard rotation with Sheppard as the 6th man.
Draft can't come soon enough.
Btw, you didn't reply when I asked you what do you think would be a fair price for DJ like a week ago.
His tier list:
Tier I - Best bets in bad class
1. Ron Holland | F | G LEAGUE IGNITE | Age: 18 | Height: 6-8 | Position: F
2. Stephon Castle | W | CONNECTICUT | Age: 19 | Height: 6-6 | Position: W
3. Donovan Clingan | C | CONNECTICUT | Age: 20 | Height: 7-2 | Position: C
4. Reed Sheppard | G | KENTUCKY | Age: 20 | Height: 6-3 | Position: G
Tier II - Promising teenagers
5. Alex Sarr | C | PERTH WILDCATS | Age: 19 | Height: 7-1 | Position: C
6. Nikola Topić | G | CRVENA ZVEZDA | Age: 18 | Height: 6-6 | Position: G
7. Matas Buzelis | F | G LEAGUE IGNITE | Age: 19 | Height: 6-10 | Position: F
8. Rob Dillingham | G | KENTUCKY | Age: 19 | Height: 6-3 | Position: G
Tier III - No-frills college vets
9. Kyle Filipowski | F, C | DUKE | Age: 20 | Height: 7-0 | Position: F, C
10. Devin Carter | G | PROVIDENCE | Age: 22 | Height: 6-3 | Position: G
Tier IV - Talented but I have questions
11. Johnny Furphy | F | KANSAS | Age: 19 | Height: 6-9 | Position: F
12. Isaiah Collier | G | USC | Age: 19 | Height: 6-5 | Position: G
13. Zaccharie Risacher | F | JL BOURG | Age: 19 | Height: 6-8 | Position: F
14. Dalton Knecht | G | TENNESSEE | Age: 23 | Height: 6-6 | Position: G
15. Cody Williams | F | COLORADO | Age: 19 | Height: 6-8 | Position: F
16. Tidjane Salaun | F | CHOLET | Age: 18 | Height: 6-10 | Position: F
17. Ja’Kobe Walter | G | BAYLOR | Age: 19 | Height: 6-5 | Position: G
18. Jared McCain | G | DUKE | Age: 20 | Height: 6-3 | Position: G
Tier V - Sleepers
19. Oso Ighodaro | C | MARQUETTE | Age: 21 | Height: 6-11 | Position: C
20. Trey Alexander | G | CREIGHTON | Age: 21 | Height: 6-4 | Position: G
I’ve been on this train for a while. If you do the Trae trade, and it doesn’t work, you’ve just pissed away Wemby’s entire 20s decade. There’s no recovering from that.
If the Spurs take Castle with the 4th (because Reed isn’t there), I wouldn’t mind Furphy with the 8th.
Watched some Castle videos last night, he definitely has all-defense potential.
If only he could develop his shot like DJ did, I'd definitely take him over Dillingham. But that's a big if.
Sadly, if the Spurs draft a 3/4 like Risacher or Matas, Mamu probably doesn’t come back. No minutes for him.
This is the most cogent take I’ve seen in him. Makes me hope a team ahead of the spurs takes the option away from them bc I feel
If he’s there they’ll draft him. Vic also seems to be lobbying for him.
I’m warming to Castle at 4 tbh.
The sad thing about these scouting reports on Reed is they fail to recognize that Coach Cal played each player to their strengths. Meaning if you watch the games you’ll see that Reed is their primary point guard that the other four players pass to in tough situations. He’d then play off ball when Rob steps on the floor because the strengths of each player were being utilized: Reed’s better at being a catch and shoot player than Rob is and Rob is better with the ball in his hands.
For long stretches when Rob sits (due to being in foul trouble or defensive matchups), Reed is the de facto point guard so it’s not a true statement at all to say, “Reed is an off ball guard who can’t play point guard”. His assist rate was 8.6 per 100 possessions. He ran sets. He definitely is a player who could play point guard and because he has skills in other areas doesn’t take that away from him.
That’s for you Chinook because scouting reports are apparently all you can rely on.
Furphy: 6'7.5" without shoes.
6'8" wingspan
188.8 lbs
NB: Castle measurements are Devin Carter's ones.
I remember us all being like "Just wait until he gets good teammates this fall" just for our team to be absolutely trash
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