2024 NBA Draft Mega Thread

[Saint Cy of JFC]

That's true, but Williams made 41.5% and didn't pass up open looks. Also, his 53 attempts is a meaningful sample.

He choked a game winner in the tourney. He passed up plenty of open looks all year

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Turd Ferguson poisoning the well hard on the Castle discussion by bringing up Ben Simmons shooting. Pure BS nonsense

 

[rocfan1]

Here's a question ... how certain are we Castle won't return to UConn next year?

100% he's likely going to be a high lottery pick. Why would he pass that up to return?

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I think the biggest problem with Castle's shot is his confidence in it. You know what he needs? He needs a Quin Snyder to scream in his face to take every even semi-open 3 he has or he's benched(half joking but yeah... he needs to build his confidence in it, even more than making any serious mechanical changes). I think a lot of his misses come off hesitation and uncertainty about whether he should take the shot or not, which is probably normal when playing on a team like UConn where you can get good shots relatively easily, so record-scratching a possession or two is no big deal... but this won't fly in the league. I won't act like this is not a problem because if he doesn't fix it this limits his potential in the league... but he still does SO MANY WINNING things on the floor... both offensively and defensively. I just don't see any other player in this draft that has better combination of positional size, bball IQ, vision, passing ability and willingness to make the right pass, unselfishness, skill, athleticism, defensive awareness and movement. He just does so many thing right. Now the question is can he take the next step with his shot.

It's not confidence issue. It's a "I play on the best team in the nation and me moving the ball is a better play than taking this shot at this moment"

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

About Edey vs Clingan... I guess Edey did make the point about his offensive game in this one. Even though I had little doubts about him being able to be this offensively efficient against NBA size, whatever doubts there were they were squashed. He answered that question with an emphatic and resounding force. But the biggest question about Edey was never his offensive prowess. It's his ability to stay on the floor defensively vs NBA athleticism, size and skill. And IMO here is where some questions remain and this is where a team like UConn showed some of the problems he might have at the next level - feet not quick enough, hesitation when covering the rim, slow recovery. I wish UConn had more/better PnR guards to see him cover that one, especially against someone who can shoot it off the dribble.

Clingan... I don't think he was doing anything bad in particular when guarding Edey... Edey just... was eating this game. A case of better offense... The interesting thing on offense was that initially he was pretty invisible when Edey was on the floor and the moment Edey sat, Clingan immediatey got a duck in for the and-1 at the rim then continued being active after Edey returned. Might be one of those players that you need to feed a bit for him to gain a momentum.

There also isn't a single NBA caliber defender on Purdue and they are very undersized and unathletic around Edey.

And UConn has very good PNR guards. Spencer, Newton, and Castle are all very efficient in the PNR iirc.

To me Edey just proved his defense more. The fact that he plays as many minutes as he does with the size of his offensive load that hes as good as he is on defense moving his feet is highly impressive.

 

[Elizah Huge]

There also isn't a single NBA caliber defender on Purdue and they are very undersized and unathletic around Edey.

And UConn has very good PNR guards. Spencer, Newton, and Castle are all very efficient in the PNR iirc.

To me Edey just proved his defense more. The fact that he plays as many minutes as he does with the size of his offensive load that hes as good as he is on defense moving his feet is highly impressive.

He got cooked in PNR defense.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

He got cooked in PNR defense.

He didn't. His teammates did.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Edey is 7'4 and played 39 minutes as the overwhelming first option going against a guy who has DPOY potential and scored 37 points....

His defense was good. Definitely didn't get cooked.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I'm coming around on Buzelis, even if he looks like a bit of a dork. His superpower is the ability to handle, process and playmake at 6'9". He has a really high BBIQ and ability to make reads. It doesn't always show because the Gleague is up-and-down and Ignite is terrible, but he's capable of making plays inside the arch with his decision-making. Put him in the middle of the floor and he can open up the Jazz's offense. He's got some Hayward-like versatility. He also tries hard and uses his length well defending wings.

Worst shooter than Castle from teh FT line and 3pt line so he is even more like Ben Simmons? To top it off there is zero pressure in the G-League.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

He’s not getting talked about nearly enough. He’s falling under the radar due to not playing. He’s clearly the best prospect in this draft. So crafty and is such a damn good finisher.

Crazy how people arent talking about an injured player who has already been discussed ad-nauseum who is in nearly everyone's top 5.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

It's not confidence issue. It's a "I play on the best team in the nation and me moving the ball is a better play than taking this shot at this moment"

It’s what the kids call “BBIQ” he has shooters on his team. He is looking for the best shot and he plays on a very good team.

 

[The Thriller]

Castle has better shooting indicators than both Thompson twins and Black. When the sample is so small, I think FT% is better indicator for shooting touch and potential for improvement at the next level. But he definitely does need to improve his confidence in it and he needs to shoot it without hesitation when the shot is there for him. To me this is the much bigger problem right now.

You absolutely could be right. What I’ve noticed especially in this tournament is how he doesn’t even look to shoot. That’s a real red flag to me that he’s already passing up good looks to hide the ball with someone else.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

And I like Topic, but he is far from a sure thing.

He plays like James Harden without the step-back. He's as ball dominant as it gets. He doesnt play D. He can't shoot from 3 and has no mid-range game. He put up stats on a developmental European team. The moment he went high level his stats cratered (small sample size)

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Also Castle was running through Edey screens all game. Edey is going to be a top 5 NBA screener the moment he gets drafted. Castle got leveled on a couple early and still kept fighting through. A lot of NBA guards would not be able to play the screen defense he did last night.

 

[Elizah Huge]

Crazy how people arent talking about an injured player who has already been discussed ad-nauseum who is in nearly everyone's top 5.

Ad-nauseum? That’s hilarious. There hasn’t been any meaningful discussion about him in months and the discussion then wasn’t even in depth. Instead you’d rather use pages and pages to talk about Edey.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Ad-nauseum? That’s hilarious. There hasn’t been any meaningful discussion about him in months and the discussion then wasn’t even in depth. Instead you’d rather use pages and pages to talk about Edey.

Yes, I'm talking about the guy who (was) currently playing games and relevant new information was coming in.

I searched Topic, there's 15 pages of results with his name in post. I'm sorry your late on the discussion.

 

[Elizah Huge]

And I like Topic, but he is far from a sure thing.

He plays like James Harden without the step-back. He's as ball dominant as it gets. He doesnt play D. He can't shoot from 3 and has no mid-range game. He put up stats on a developmental European team. The moment he went high level his stats cratered (small sample size)

Topic’s rim finishing ability is elite and he has elite feel for the game. Main reason I’m not worried about his 3PT% is his FT% is extremely high. He shot 86% from FT. That is a very good indicator that he will at least became a passable shooter.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Topic’s rim finishing ability is elite and he has elite feel for the game. Main reason I’m not worried about his 3PT% is his FT% is extremely high. He shot 86% from FT. That is a very good indicator that he will at least became a passable shooter.

Maybe, but he also has Ricky Rubio-itis. His form leads him to shooting ropes.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I like Topic but while he is a bigger guard he is still a variation on the same theme of offensive guard who is a complete target on defense we continue to see in Utah. I don’t like making decisions based on the current roster when drafting that high but I don’t know that I’d want to develop him and Keyonte at the same time. At 8 you kinda take what’s there obviously so if it’s Topic then figure it out. Top 4 I’d rather get a great prospect who is also a theoretical fit (and if they fit with Key they likely fit with others we might acquire).

 

[KqWIN]

Ok I also like Castle, but the degree to which people are overlooking his obvious shooting concerns is pretty crazy. He can still be an effective player with a poor jump shot and there’s always a chance a bad shooter turns into a good one, but just tossing it aside like a nothing burger seems like an oversight.