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Following Potential 2025 Draftees

Is the idea with Derik Queen that he's going to get in shape, work on his jumper and play at the 4 as well as the 5, like Karl Towns? Or is he meant to be some type of poor man's Jokic experiment at the 5?
 
I watched the recap of the Rutgers/Texas A&M game. A&M was blitzing and double teaming Harper and actually had guys who could provide resistance at the rim. It seemed like at first Harper was making the right pass out of the double teams, but nobody on his team could hit a shot. Then he tried to take over, but since he isn't a good enough jump shooter, he struggled. Ace looked good, but mostly did all the things we've already seen him do. His ability to hit movement 3's and step back long 2s at his height is super impressive. His dribbling/passing has a long ways to go. Neither Harper nor Ace were very good defensively in that game.

I also watched the Cooper Flagg vs Seattle recap and this was the first game I was just not very impressed with Flagg. He had a couple of good plays and quite a few assists, but not much that really jumped out.
 
So skilled bigs have to be Towns or Jokic?

He looks nothing like either to me. I'm actually not sure what to make of him. I need to see more. His passing and ball handling are great for his size and age, but not anything special at the NBA level. The thing that impresses me more when watching Queen is that he seems to always be involved. I like his BBIQ from what I've seen.
 
He looks nothing like either to me. I'm actually not sure what to make of him. I need to see more. His passing and ball handling are great for his size and age, but not anything special at the NBA level. The thing that impresses me more when watching Queen is that he seems to always be involved. I like his BBIQ from what I've seen.
He's pretty impressive to me on all fronts. He's a very skilled big with great footwork, touch and passing ability.
 
So skilled bigs have to be Towns or Jokic?
Queen gonna be the guy that other skilled bigs get compared to.

I honestly don't know but I'm the guy who hates bigs that aren't shooters or aren't elite defenders/rim protectors... and I am really liking Queen thus far. Maybe Sengun is a better guy to compare to. I get those guys have their limitations if they don't acquire the added skills or can't be paired with the perfect complimentary pieces. At this point tho I think after the top 6 he'd be a guy I'd love to bet on.
 
Queen gonna be the guy that other skilled bigs get compared to.

I honestly don't know but I'm the guy who hates bigs that aren't shooters or aren't elite defenders/rim protectors... and I am really liking Queen thus far. Maybe Sengun is a better guy to compare to. I get those guys have their limitations if they don't acquire the added skills or can't be paired with the perfect complimentary pieces. At this point tho I think after the top 6 he'd be a guy I'd love to bet on.
His midrange has looked pretty good. I would bet on him adding a believable shooting threat abiliyt.
 
He's pretty impressive to me on all fronts. He's a very skilled big with great footwork, touch and passing ability.
I just haven't seen the passing ability that gets brought up so much. He's averaging 2.8a/1.8to, which is great for his size and age, but I hear people brining up Jokic and he's nothing like that.
 
I just haven't seen the passing ability that gets brought up so much. He's averaging 2.8a/1.8to, which is great for his size and age, but I hear people brining up Jokic and he's nothing like that.
2.8 APG by a big in college basketball is pretty impressive. That's what Flip averaged his 2nd year at Duke.
 
I've also been following Nolan Traore, who hasn't put together a highlight worthy performance in a couple of weeks, and I don't know how to see film on him unless he does.

Just box score watching it looks like his minutes have been reduced, even though he tends to have one of the better +/- on his team. It's probably because he is shooting so poorly. Since I can't watch I'm not sure if he's missing badly, or just in a normal slump. I know shooting has consistently been brought up as a concern from him.

Even in limited minutes he continues to rack up assists. He is currently averaging 8.4assists/36 minutes, which is top in the class. If anybody knows where to find game film for his past couple of games or has seen him, let me know. Hopefully he'll have another highlight worthy game soon.
 
His midrange has looked pretty good. I would bet on him adding a believable shooting threat abiliyt.
I think he just doesn't shoot it because he knows he can get in close to the basket and do other things. He also has the fat is potential in disguise thing going for him. I would like to see his measurements. It does seem like the crafty guys who tend to get dismissed because "their stuff won't work in the pros" may have had the hate go too far. Have been impressed with Flip and how much his driving, spinning, and maneuvering has worked thus far. Having a guy that can be a triple threat on offense and also dribble into the high post where he wants to maneuver could be the next "cheat code".
 
As predicted, Flagg's shooting numbers are abysmal:

FG% .444
3P% .269
FT% .706

People like to wave these aside and say "he's such an impact player in other ways", but in the NBA, he won't have the ball in the first place if he can't shoot, and nobody's drafting him at #1 for his defense.

His current role at Duke won't translate to the League at all.
yup. every superstar can score and do it efficiently. it's the elephant in the room. the bear in the room is he's having trouble impacting games with stocks (averages less than 3 stocks a game) - which i think is a result of his length and athleticism being less than stellar.

jayden quaintance is at 4.7 stocks per game, Flagg at 2.8 - it's not really close. we always give flagg the age excuse, but quaintance is 7 months younger.

If i'm drafting Flagg #1 overall, with the concerns with his shooting, i want him looking more like quaintance as a defensive playmaker. i think the difference is quaintance is a legitimately explosive athlete and probably has excellent length too.
 
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So skilled bigs have to be Towns or Jokic?

They have to guard someone--4s or 5s. If they're not going to provide rim protection, they need other skills, such as distance shooting, to compensate. So Queen will need to make changes to his game to fit in the NBA. If he's going to break the mold, say, like Al Jefferson or Zach Randolph, then he'd better be good at it. Otherwise, he's not going to play much.

Skilled bigs don't need to be Towns or Jokic, but if they're going to be Greg Monroe or Kenny Lofton, they're not going to fit the league.
 
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They have to guard someone--4s or 5s. If they're not going to provide rim protection, they need other skills, such as distance shooting, to compensate. So Queen will need to make changes to his game to fit in the NBA. If he's going to break the mold, say, like Al Jefferson or Zach Randolph, then he'd better be good at it.
Again, he's a Freshman. They all have to make changes and add stuff to their game. Naz Reid exist in the NBA. It's not impossible for these guys to fit in.
 
Again, he's a Freshman. They all have to make changes and add stuff to their game. Naz Reid exist in the NBA. It's not impossible for these guys to fit in.

So yeah, that would mean he needs to add deep shooting like Naz Reid did. He'll also need to work on his body and his defense to guard out on the floor. It means he's got a ways to go.
 
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