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Do you think our FO has Ace, Tre and VJ ranked 3-5?

I could see the Jazz trading down to 9 to pick Egor, but hopefully they don't.

I have a lot of concerns about all the guys in this range, but Fears does have a lot of upside and maybe Ace does turn into MPJ who is a perfectly fine starting SF. Kon has an outside (like, very outside) shot of being Devin Booker and probably will be like a perfectly fine starting SG if he can defend in the NBA.

And Tre is just really good so hopefully he's the pick. VJ would also be a fine starting SG though none of these guys are super exciting other than Tre. But... Egor is two steps below them.

Could maybe see multiple trade downs like

Jazz get: 6, two seconds
Wizards get: 5

Followed by

Jazz get: 9, top 7 protected Raptors 2026 first
Raptors get: 6
 
bigmike said:
I would die a little on the inside if we leave draft night with Malauch but could be open to flipping Kessler at the right price.

Though I think the "right price" is multiple FRPs, not Dalton Knecht.
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Well yeah we could ask for FRP as well
 
Random thought I had about Ainge’s preferences. I’m pretty sure it was well known that Ainge has been enamored with Tyler Herro. Now, the jokes write themselves with that one, but if he liked Herro for the way he plays basketball I think he really ought to like Tre Johnson. I think those two are fairly similar.
 
KqWIN said:
Random thought I had about Ainge’s preferences. I’m pretty sure it was well known that Ainge has been enamored with Tyler Herro. Now, the jokes write themselves with that one, but if he liked Herro for the way he plays basketball I think he really ought to like Tre Johnson. I think those two are fairly similar.
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This is a good observation. I’m wondering what jokes though?
 
Ainge has also said he prefers the defensive combo types. Guys like Allen, Smart, Bradley, Delonte West etc. That would point towards VJ. So whoever we draft, we can say “of course Ainge would draft him”!

Struggling to see Fears as an Ainge guy. Not a blue chip. Not a defensive combo. Not fat. Not like the players he’s known to have a preference for.
 
KqWIN said:
Ainge has also said he prefers the defensive combo types. Guys like Allen, Smart, Bradley, Delonte West etc. That would point towards VJ. So whoever we draft, we can say “of course Ainge would draft him”!

Struggling to see Fears as an Ainge guy. Not a blue chip. Not a defensive combo. Not fat. Not like the players he’s known to have a preference for.
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Fears is a much better interview than all the other top prospects which is the only really Ainge like trait he has.

Tre Johnson is also a good interview but is less confident than Fears.

Ace is confident but bordering on delusional.

Harper is... fine.

The other guys are robotic.

But while Cody Williams and Keyonte were picked in large part due to interviews, they still picked Filipowski after his catastrophic interviews where he apparently gave terrible answers about whether or not he was groomed (Collier is also a pretty terrible interviewer).




In terms of perspectives

Interviews: Fears > Tre >> VJ > Kon > Ace

Reported intangibles: All good, VJ has gotten the most praise with Tre getting a lot of praise as well.

Statistics: Kon = VJ >>>>> Fears > Ace > Tre

Upside: Fears >>>>>> Kon = Tre = Ace = VJ

Fit: Impossible to tell as we're probably trading away a lot of our guys.

Ready to play: VJ >> Kon > Tre > Fears >> Ace

Athleticism: VJ >> Ace > Fears > Tre > Kon

RSCI: Ace > VJ > Tre > Kon > Fears

My personal eye test: Tre >> Fears > Kon > VJ > Ace
 
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HadAnEffectHere said:
Fears is a much better interview than all the other top prospects which is the only really Ainge like trait he has.

Tre Johnson is also a good interview but is less confident than Fears.

Ace is confident but bordering on delusional.

Harper is... fine.

The other guys are robotic.

But while Cody Williams and Keyonte were picked in large part due to interviews, they still picked Filipowski after his catastrophic interviews where he apparently gave terrible answers about whether or not he was groomed (Collier is also a pretty terrible interviewer).
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Key, Cody, Flip, and Collier all blue chips.
 
KqWIN said:
Ainge has also said he prefers the defensive combo types. Guys like Allen, Smart, Bradley, Delonte West etc. That would point towards VJ. So whoever we draft, we can say “of course Ainge would draft him”!

Struggling to see Fears as an Ainge guy. Not a blue chip. Not a defensive combo. Not fat. Not like the players he’s known to have a preference for.
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Isn't Fears like a combo of Kyrie and Terry "Untradable" Rozier?
 
stitches said:
Isn't Fears like a combo of Kyrie and Terry "Untradable" Rozier?
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Kind of? I think his handle is really, really good. I saw a (former) NBA guy say he will be a top 5 handles guy the instant he enters the league. I think Rozier has more physicality/toughness to him, but Fears is a little bit better in those areas than you might think. When I watched his games, it's very clear that he's one of those highly competitive/**** talking players. So is Keyonte George, so maybe that doesn't mean much, but he's also not a bad rebounds+steals guy considering his slight frame and poor length. He is not afraid to mix it up.
 
Not knowing any other team’s draft board, someone is jumping up and down tier. I think a guy will be there we’re not expecting. What player could jump up a tier? Queen??
 
Luca Pacioli said:
Not knowing any other team’s draft board, someone is jumping up and down tier. I think a guy will be there we’re not expecting. What player could jump up a tier? Queen??
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There are six guys mentioned for this range: Tre, VJ, Ace, Maluach, Fears, and Kon.

Out of those six, I think Maluach would be a huge surprise, the other five would not.

Outside of those six, Demin and CMB are probably the only guys that could leap up here, but they would be pretty huge mistakes.
 
With his last two top 5 picks he went with versatile wings with size and you can say he's been proven right with both those picks and lets not forget this - he went AGAINST consensus with BOTH Brown and Tatum.

The only real wing from those is Ace... he's not exactly versatile, but I can see potential of him being two way wing if he buys into coaching. Purely based on the type of skills(even with some warts) and clear path to NBA role, it feels like VJ might be top of the list...

But this all is wild speculation, of course. Reality is... we don't know.
 
In terms of fit, VJ is an HORRENDOUS fit with Hardy playstyle wise and Ace is an even worse fit personality wise. Tre is a largely ideal fit with Hardy.

Does any of that matter for who they'll pick? Probably not.

No idea who the Jazz will pick as of now.
 
Tremendous Upside said:
Hardy has a style?? That's news to me.

Unless you mean "play hard and pass the ball", in which case VJ is a perfect fit.
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Hardy plays an extremely passive defense that utilizes none of VJ's strengths for getting steals.

I guess he could encourage his guys going for more steals if they had the personnel for it? The personnel was horrendous for generating steals last year but the Jazz were still the worst steal generating team in the NBA by a huge margin.
 
DJ and PK (not the most reliable source) saying that the Jazz like Fears and they might not be as high on Bailey as others.
 
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