Split T wrote:He also really struggled once teams figured out what he was and that the rest of his team was terrible. Some of that will be alleviated by playing with better teammates in the NBA, but I still don't think he's Curry. Or even very close to. I listened to the ringers draft class podcast today and they had some interesting comparisons for him. Mark Price as a best case scenario and Mo Williams as more of a realistic option. I'll add JJ Barea as a worst case scenario.
I just think there are better options. I'd actually take SGA over him and would rather wait and draft one of the many pg's that will be available at 15 than spend a top 5 pick on Trae.
Could Mo Williams pass? I don't remember him making anyone else better.
I'm going to have a hard time getting the last 2 possessions out of my mind with SGA, where he let the guy get by him for the winning basket and him missing badly when he tried to win it for Kentucky.
More of a scorer, but he did average 6-7 assists a game for a number of years.
And I missed the last Kentucky game, but his 3-4 games before that were very impressive.
Which player is more likely to skip the draft and stay another year, (Jaren) Jackson or (Miles) Bridges? — @a_strainer
Surprisingly, I think it would be Jackson. Bridges deferred turning pro and defied his mother’s wishes a year ago to stay. I think it is too difficult to turn that lottery spot down a second time. Jackson’s parents, however, are in a different circumstance. Both are Georgetown-educated. His father, Jaren Sr., played in the NBA and holds a finance degree, and his mother, Terri, is Director of Operations for the Women's National Basketball Players Association. They understand the monetary aspect of potentially being a top-5 pick, but they also value education and know the pitfalls of not being ready for the rigors of pro basketball life. By all accounts, their son is a good student with no issues, and he is a young 18, which leads me to think he would be the more likely of the two to stick around. I still would lean more toward both leaving, but Jackson staying would not surprise me as much as Bridges staying a year ago did.
I think Jackson would benefit from another year in school. He has all the tools, but he can't stay on the floor, and essentially the second half of the season he looked like Marquese Chriss Version 2.0.
I think Miles Bridges has hit his collegiate ceiling. I don't think he'll get any better playing college ball.
I agree on JJJ, I haven't seen anything that says he's close to being NBA ready. Get stronger, dominate next year and he's gonna go top 3. He's got everything you want, just nothing to back it up. If he does come out, I hope we stay far away from him, no more massive PF projects.
TheOriginalOriginal wrote:I agree on JJJ, I haven't seen anything that says he's close to being NBA ready. Get stronger, dominate next year and he's gonna go top 3. He's got everything you want, just nothing to back it up. If he does come out, I hope we stay far away from him, no more massive PF projects.
I think going back to school could be good for him. Hard to pass up being an early lotto pick though. Does Michigan State return their starting C? Would like to see him play at the 5 as I think that's his ideal NBA position.
I wouldn't hate drafting him, but only if we fall out of the top 3, based on what we've seen so far, I'm pretty set on Doncic/Ayton/Bagley as my top 3. If we fall to 4, I'm hoping at least one of JJJ/Porter/Bamba can show a lot in the pre draft process to warrant a selection that high. If not, and we can't trade for a star, I'd just draft Wendell Carter.
I'm flabbergasted by how bad Monk has been. It could be the fit in Charlotte but I thought he would be much, much better. I say this because my perspective on draft prospects always come with the disclaimer that I don't know anything.
carey wrote:I'm flabbergasted by how bad Monk has been. It could be the fit in Charlotte but I thought he would be much, much better. I say this because my perspective on draft prospects always come with the disclaimer that I don't know anything.
I'm fascinated, too. I knew he had to land in the right situation, and Charlotte certainly isn't it, but I figured his floor to be Barbosa, and he's nowhere near that good.
The league needs heroes, villains... and clowns. -- Aztec Sunsfan
carey wrote:I'm flabbergasted by how bad Monk has been. It could be the fit in Charlotte but I thought he would be much, much better. I say this because my perspective on draft prospects always come with the disclaimer that I don't know anything.
I'd love for the Suns to buy low on him if it's possible.
Send me a PM if you're interested in joining the phx-suns.net fantasy basketball league.
ShelC wrote:Really? An undersized shooting guard with questionable defense struggling in the NBA? That surprises you guys?
I thought he could be the next coming of McCollum. He was the best shooter off the dribble in the draft and looked like a gifted scorer that thrived when the lights were brightest. Fairly wrong on all accounts there but he's still just 20-years-old. His percentages are brutal though.
To be fair, Charlotte's a bad fit because he's pretty redundant with Kemba there. Plus Clifford is a hard ass when it comes to defense. If he were on a team that was more offensive minded, playing next to a larger guard who can distribute and play defense (what they probably had in mind with Batum there, who was hurt to start the year), he'd probably have gotten more burn.
But also consider McCollum was a 4 year player, meaning he was coached up for 4 years and more of a finished product coming out, both skill-wise and physically. They're both listed as 6-3 200, but McCollum has a thicker sturdier build which is why he's tougher defensively against SGs.
Yeah, it's not a surprise that Monk is struggling in CHO, it's a surprise how completely useless he is. Not only are his weaknesses hurting him, but he also can't do the things he was good at in college. Catch and shoot, decision making on the fast break, getting himself open in ISO situations. Where did those skills go?
The league needs heroes, villains... and clowns. -- Aztec Sunsfan
So many rookies come out too early in today's NCAA -> NBA model. The one-and-done is ruining a lot of careers. Monk would probably be a great NBA player if he played for 3-4 years in college.
Marty [Mori Chu] wrote:So many rookies come out too early in today's NCAA -> NBA model. The one-and-done is ruining a lot of careers. Monk would probably be a great NBA player if he played for 3-4 years in college.
At best there are about 10 players who get drafted each year that have productive NBA careers. With one and done we see players who didn't spend 3 or 4 years in college getting scouting and showing whether or not they had potential to play in the NBA. There's a lot more projection and guessing going on than ever before. Especially when you include younger European players. But those NBA-quality prospects are still coming out every year - they just might not be ready to contribute right away, and when you draft one who doesn't develop, it can be a big waste of time and resources because they're giving them three or four years to see if they're NBA-quality.
Author of The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts
Available from Scarecrow Press at - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810890695
Jason Whitlock made a good point on Twitter last week. He said we're seeing a lot of these upsets and smaller schools/mid majors beating the powerhouse programs because the one-and-done model is catching up to those schools. The smaller schools recruit less heralded guys who stay for 3-4 years, are coached up and physically more mature than a bunch of 18 years who are put together on a team for just one season, have to learn to play together and can't match up (in a lot cases) physically. I thought that was an interesting observation.
