**NBA Draft Discussion 2024**

[DayofMourning]

https://youtube.com/shorts/xFdal-a_gpA?si=i1lyyF4s76zzG9nC

Tyler Smith 6’11 230

Potential Bosh type?

Have you read this yet?

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/the-understated-upside-of-tyler-smith

[twix2500]

Michael Ajayi 6'7 220 Pepperdine fwd jr
17.2 pts, 9.9 rbs, 1.9 ast, 47 3p%, 2.5 3pa

Juco to Pepperdine now has transfer portal to Gazaga next yr and has been invited to the NBA combine. Kid has a chance to impress, a huge achievement to get an invite from where he started

Watch on YouTube

https://www.si.com/college/gonzaga/basketball/2024-nba-draft-early-entry-list-michael-ajayi

The NBA announced that 195 players have filed as early entry candidates for the 2024 NBA Draft. Among those, Michael Ajayi was the only entry from the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Ajayi, a 6-foot-7 wing from Kent, Washington, earned All-WCC first team honors this past season after averaging 17.2 points and 9.9 rebounds with the Pepperdine Waves. He shot 46.7% from the field and 47.0% from 3-point range.

Shortly after he announced his transfer to Gonzaga, Ajayi entered his name into the NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility. Most NBA mock drafts from reputable sources don’t predict Ajayi will be one of the 58 players chosen in June’s draft, in which he has until May 29 to withdraw his name from consideration in order to maintain his eligibility, per NCAA rules. Ajayi could still participate in the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago from May 12-19 if he receives an invite.

[greg4012]

https://youtube.com/shorts/xFdal-a_gpA?si=i1lyyF4s76zzG9nC

Tyler Smith 6’11 230

Potential Bosh type?

Have you read this yet?

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/the-understated-upside-of-tyler-smith

Smith is def intriguing bc of his tools. Combo of size and real shooting upside should always be appealing. Whenever comps for him arise, I can't shake that I see him way closer to Channing Frye as a player than any of the more ambitious comparisons. That's not a bad thing.

[twix2500]

Cam Christe 6'6 190 freshman swing guard Minnesota Gophers
11.3 pts, 3.6 rbs, 2.3 ast, 39 3p%, 5.4 3pa

https://www.si.com/college/minnesota/basketball/transfer-portal-slams-gophers-again-as-cam-christie-reportedly-enters


When Cam Christie entered his name into the NBA draft it was clear that there was no guarantee he'd return to the University of Minnesota for his sophomore season in 2024-25. Now it appears very clear that he will not return to the Gophers even if he returns to college next season.

According to the Star Tribune's Marcus Fuller, Christie has entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal. May 1 was the deadline to enter the transfer portal, so Christie now has options. He can stay in the NBA draft, return to the Gophers or seek big money in the NIL market from another university.

Christie will be listed in the portal as a "do not contact" because his name is still in the NBA draft, according to ESPN's Jonathan Givony.

The freshman from Arlington Heights, Ill., shot 40.3% from the field and 39.1% from 3-point range, where he knocked down 70 shots while averaging 11.3 points per game.

Watch on YouTube

[DayofMourning]

https://youtube.com/shorts/xFdal-a_gpA?si=i1lyyF4s76zzG9nC

Tyler Smith 6’11 230

Potential Bosh type?

Have you read this yet?

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/the-understated-upside-of-tyler-smith

Smith is def intriguing bc of his tools. Combo of size and real shooting upside should always be appealing. Whenever comps for him arise, I can't shake that I see him way closer to Channing Frye as a player than any of the more ambitious comparisons. That's not a bad thing.

Oh, nice comparison.

One thing Ive been monitoring more recently, probably because of Jaquez, is footwork. Such an underrated important skill.

With big men, its pretty helpful in kind of forecasting how MUCH of an impact they could potentially have. Bigs with poor footwork or slow feet are a no go on my board.

Having said that, I cant judge him well. It seems like everything is a long distance shot. Scouting report says no drive game. So, knee jerk reaction, no handles and poor footwork??

[twix2500]

Jamir Watkins 6'7 210 lbs Defensive wing Jr Florida State
15.6 pts, 6 rbs, 2.6 ast, 34.4 3p%, 1.9 stls

https://www.si.com/college/fsu/fsu-basketball-star-jamir-watkins-to-also-enter-ncaa-transfer-portal-24

Florida State basketball forward Jamir Watkins will be entering the NCAA Transfer Portal as a late entry and has a "do not contact" tag, first reported by Rivals. Watkins had declared for the NBA Draft in the final week of April and will enter the portal with all options on the table.

Watkins started his career at VCU before transferring to Florida State for this past season and blossomed into a good player, leading the Seminoles in points, rebounds, steals, and tied for first in assists. He was very clearly FSU's best player in a season that didn't have a lot of bright spots down the stretch.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[twix2500]

Woo wee some throwback draft debates/talk. lol

I couldn't get Bam on the poll smh

[RexBoyWonder]

DAMN WHY U HAD TO DO BISH LIKE DAT......

[greg4012]

Woo wee some throwback draft debates/talk. lol

I couldn't get Bam on the poll smh

I remember being crushed when Mitchell went right before our pick. Think I liked Bam, but I never really did a deep dive on him before we drafted him so he wasn't one of my guys. Still was a lot of work once we drafted him pushing back on all the claims that Tristan Thompson was his ceiling.

[HeatIn5]

I think as of right now Isaiah Collier is my hope at 15.

Jared McClain right there too

[DayofMourning]

I think as of right now Isaiah Collier is my hope at 15.

Jared McClain right there too

Where you been buddy?

Tank has mocked us both recently.

[Wiltside]

DAMN WHY U HAD TO DO BISH LIKE DAT......

Cold blooded by Twix.

Hope he doesn’t go digging up some of my freezing cold takes.

[DayofMourning]

DAMN WHY U HAD TO DO BISH LIKE DAT......

Cold blooded by Twix.

Hope he doesn’t go digging up some of my freezing cold takes.

Hey, weve all had them.

I was a Nassir Little fan.

Panda was an Ivan Rabb fan.

Iggie was a Kevin Huerter fan.

Twix jinxed us that one year where he started the draft thread with Precious Achiuwa.

[IceColdCubano]

DAMN WHY U HAD TO DO BISH LIKE DAT......

Cold blooded by Twix.

Hope he doesn’t go digging up some of my freezing cold takes.

Hey, weve all had them.

I was a Nassir Little fan.

Panda was an Ivan Rabb fan.

Iggie was a Kevin Huerter fan.

Twix jinxed us that one year where he started the draft thread with Precious Achiuwa.

It's why we all have fun posting in here, over the years, guys I totally stood behind picked by other teams have been absolute dog **** and guys I totally ignored panned into something great. If I was to take a guess on percentage of accuracy overall Id say I pick a good candidate 10%-15% of the time that's with me reading every damn scouting report, watching video content on them, reading up on their interviews. Being a scout has got to be a hard job to do, I am sure those guys have tendencies they know pan out we can't even begin to spot with our uneducated professional eyes. Plus its never one person making a decision here, Id say its a panel of scouts and FO managers putting their input into these decisions during draft night.

[lastb1ckman]

Cold blooded by Twix.

Hope he doesn’t go digging up some of my freezing cold takes.

Hey, weve all had them.

I was a Nassir Little fan.

Panda was an Ivan Rabb fan.

Iggie was a Kevin Huerter fan.

Twix jinxed us that one year where he started the draft thread with Precious Achiuwa.

It's why we all have fun posting in here, over the years, guys I totally stood behind picked by other teams have been absolute dog **** and guys I totally ignored panned into something great. If I was to take a guess on percentage of accuracy overall Id say I pick a good candidate 10%-15% of the time that's with me reading every damn scouting report, watching video content on them, reading up on their interviews. Being a scout has got to be a hard job to do, I am sure those guys have tendencies they know pan out we can't even begin to spot with our uneducated professional eyes. Plus its never one person making a decision here, Id say its a panel of scouts and FO managers putting their input into these decisions during draft night.

It definitely must be hard as hell to be a scout, its such a crap shoot on how well a player develops. A team's coaching, the organization, the era they play in, the roster make up, the players they face, the location, the motivation of the player, the people in the player's lives, what they do with suddenly becoming a millionaire, etc. All of these can stabilize or derail a player's career. And on top of that you gotta fight your personal biases on what kind of players you like. Even with scouts I respect, I hear them talking about certain players and I'm like "You really like big forwards don't you? Not every 6'9" lightskin wing is Michael Porter Jr. ".

Personally, I KNOW i have a bad habit of being either pessimistic if buzz around a prospect is too positive or optimistic if it is too negative. If they're being compared to multiple time allstars or hall of famers, I especially get pessimistic because those level of players don't just fall in your lap. But if people count out productive players before they are even drafted, I get optimistic. They were balling at this level, I am sure they can get some of it to transfer at the NBA level in the right situation.

[twix2500]

DAMN WHY U HAD TO DO BISH LIKE DAT......

Cold blooded by Twix.

Hope he doesn’t go digging up some of my freezing cold takes.

Hey, weve all had them.

I was a Nassir Little fan.

Panda was an Ivan Rabb fan.

Iggie was a Kevin Huerter fan.

Twix jinxed us that one year where he started the draft thread with Precious Achiuwa.

lmao I didn't realize bish was in the screen shot

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[RexBoyWonder]

I know this draft is considered to be crappy but I swear, in our range - ~#15, the more I dig into prospects the more good options I find.

I think this draft is weak at the top but really strong at the the middle range, around 12-22..

If we can get a pick at the 10-20 range for Herro/Duncan I'd do it in a heartbeat, I desperately want to add one of the guards + one the shooting bigs to our roster.

From the guards, 4 options : Devin Carter/Collier/Dillingham/McCain
+
From the bigs also 4 options : Filipowski/Tyler Smith/Ware/DaRon Holmes

Man if we could add 1 from each group it will transform this team

[Bishop45]

DAMN WHY U HAD TO DO BISH LIKE DAT......

Lmaoo The Bam pick felt like the beginning of the end. I hated the Herro pick too. Bad draft takes are part of the game.

The years have taught me to have grace for Organizations that miss constantly and much more praise for teams that make great picks. Not sure how folks can get on Heat for missing on Booker and Maxey when they pulled Bam, Herro and Jaime almost out of nowhere.

[MettaWorldPanda]

I know this draft is considered to be crappy but I swear, in our range - ~#15, the more I dig into prospects the more good options I find.

I think this draft is weak at the top but really strong at the the middle range, around 12-22..

If we can get a pick at the 10-20 range for Herro/Duncan I'd do it in a heartbeat, I desperately want to add one of the guards + one the shooting bigs to our roster.

From the guards, 4 options : Devin Carter/Collier/Dillingham/McCain
+
From the bigs also 4 options : Filipowski/Tyler Smith/Ware/DaRon Holmes

Man if we could add 1 from each group it will transform this team

This has got to be the year we finally get a shooting big to complement Bam. The guards are nice but it’s time to change the dynamic of this team. Not going to find a decent shooting big in free agency. It has to come from the draft. Filipowski or Ware. Even da Silva could be a good one even though he’s more a true big stretch 4.

[MettaWorldPanda]

Riley seems to be irked about injured players so start looking into these prospects injury history this year lol. If they missed some time throughout the year could be a red flag for him.