2025 NBA Draft Class

[Chuck Everett]

France hasn't really produced many good NBA players so it's cool that it looks like they're turning the corner.

Tony Parker (HOF)
Boris Diaw
Nic Batum
Evan Fournier
Rudy Gobert (future HOF)
Mikael Pietrus
Victor Wembanyama (barring something unforeseen, future HOF)
Ronnie Turiaf
Joakim Noah (possibly future HOF)
Ian Mahinmi
Bilal Coulibaly

That's a pretty decent list of players.

[bravor]

Even if he started playing bball in France when he was in his low 10ies (and before), Noah is more the product of american bball.
Otoh, there are players that reached the nba after being developed in France (guys like Capela for instance).

On the 'what if' list, you could add Moiso and Abdul Wahad. Or Even Tillie

And couple more soon like Soliman and Yimga Monkouri

But what matters is developing good players, not just nba players. This is where we are still lacking (high level fiba players, even though we have a nice new generation between Raynaud, Kamardine and couple more)

[RyugaFan]

France hasn't really produced many good NBA players so it's cool that it looks like they're turning the corner.

besides Serbia I'm not sure any country outside of the US has produced more tbh

Last good player before Wemby was Gobert which is wild with the amount of prospects they had and how involved they are in basketball. Canada, Australia and Germany have produced more talent as of late.

[namlede]

Where does Flagg rank in terms of past top prospects the past decade?

Tier 1: Wemby
Tier 2: Zion
Tier 3: Paolo, Chet, Luka, Towns, Embiid
Tier 4: Cade, Ant, Ja, Trae, Tatum

[CptCrunch]

Where does Flagg rank in terms of past top prospects the past decade?

Tier 1: Wemby
Tier 2: Zion
Tier 3: Paolo, Chet, Luka, Towns, Embiid
Tier 4: Cade, Ant, Ja, Trae, Tatum

I mean this is such a confusing list. You listed Zion high so it must be pre-draft. Then why do you have likes of Luka or Tatum that high? And this can't be current or else Cade is not on the same stratosphere as any of the other players there.

Need a pick a timeframe and stick with it.

[clyde21]

Where does Flagg rank in terms of past top prospects the past decade?

Tier 1: Wemby
Tier 2: Zion
Tier 3: Paolo, Chet, Luka, Towns, Embiid
Tier 4: Cade, Ant, Ja, Trae, Tatum

can't really answer this until we see him in college, a lot of these guys took off in college

out of high school he's one of the best i've seen, but that's strictly out of HS and we've seen a lot of great HS players go to college and disappoint

[RyugaFan]

Where does Flagg rank in terms of past top prospects the past decade?

Tier 1: Wemby
Tier 2: Zion
Tier 3: Paolo, Chet, Luka, Towns, Embiid
Tier 4: Cade, Ant, Ja, Trae, Tatum

Cade was considered a way better prospect than all the guys you tiered him with + Paolo and Chet.

[RyugaFan]

Paolo wasn't even the favorite to go #1 until the day of the draft lol

[CptCrunch]

I'm gonna correct the ranking for the casual revisionists here

Pre-draft (or Europe):
Tier 1: Wemby (generational unanimous)
Tier 2: Zion (strong unanimous)
Tier 3 (#1 in most years): Luka (divergent opinions), Ant (unanimous), Towns (unanimous strong draft), Embiid (unanimous but injured)
Tier 4 (#1 in weak drafts): Chet (#1/2 his year), Paolo (massive smokescreened), Cade (divergent opinions), Ja (strong #2 to Zion)
Tier 5 (Not gonna be #1 in most years): Trae (doesn't belong on this list pre-draft), Tatum (doesn't belong on this list pre-draft)

Now:
Tier 1: Luka
Tier 2: Ant, Tatum, Embiid
Tier 3: Zion, Paolo, Morant
Tier 4: Wemby, Trae
...
Tier 6: Cade
Tier 7: Flagg

[clyde21]

I'm gonna correct the ranking for the casual revisionists here

Pre-draft (or Europe):
Tier 1: Wemby (generational unanimous)
Tier 2: Zion (strong unanimous)
Tier 3 (#1 in most years): Luka (divergent opinions), Ant (unanimous), Towns (unanimous strong draft), Embiid (unanimous but injured)
Tier 4 (#1 in weak drafts): Chet (#1/2 his year), Paolo (massive smokescreened), Cade (divergent opinions), Ja (strong #2 to Zion)
Tier 5 (Not gonna be #1 in most years): Trae (doesn't belong on this list pre-draft), Tatum (doesn't belong on this list pre-draft)

Now:
Tier 1: Luka
Tier 2: Ant, Tatum, Embiid
Tier 3: Zion, Paolo, Morant
Tier 4: Wemby, Trae
...
Tier 6: Cade
Tier 7: Flagg

Antman wasn't really unanimous, a lot of people had either LaMelo or even Wiseman 1st, but that draft was known to be a top 3 (Ant/Wise/Melo) and then everyone else

[clyde21]

really i think these are the classes that had a unanimous #1 by most pundits the last ten years

23 - Wemby
21 - Cade
19 - Zion
16 - Simmons
15 - Towns

anything else is revisionist history imo, so really 50% of the time you'll have a consensus #1 guy

[CptCrunch]

Cade was not unanimous #1. Many had Mobley as the clear #1.

Green and Barnes didn't have #1 buyers.

And the best player is/was a 18 year old Turkish league MVP.

[RyugaFan]

Cade was definitely unanimous. Even the people who thought Mobley was the next AD had Cade #1.

[RyugaFan]

You can't call others revisionists then rank Ant over Cade as prospects lmfao. Literally all people were saying during Ant's draft is "wait for Cade Cunningham"

[clyde21]

Cade was not unanimous #1. Many had Mobley as the clear #1.

Green and Barnes didn't have #1 buyers.

And the best player is/was a 18 year old Turkish league MVP.

Cade was unanimous, most mocks, more pundits had Cade #1, and this is coming from a guy who had Mobley #1...i'd say consensus is probably something like 80%+ of people...there was no one else in that draft that was gonna go #1 other than Cade.

[clyde21]

You can't call others revisionists then rank Ant over Cade as prospects lmfao. Literally all people were saying during Ant's draft is "wait for Cade Cunningham"

yea, a lot of revisionism always, Antman had huge efficiency questions at Georgia, barely shot 40% from the floor and couldn't clear 30% from 3, had many outings in college where he would disappear...the idea that he was consensus #1 but not Cade is just brutally off base.

meanwhile Cade was locked in #1 pretty much for the entire year

[crows2]

I'm gonna correct the ranking for the casual revisionists here

Pre-draft (or Europe):
Tier 1: Wemby (generational unanimous)
Tier 2: Zion (strong unanimous)
Tier 3 (#1 in most years): Luka (divergent opinions), Ant (unanimous), Towns (unanimous strong draft), Embiid (unanimous but injured)
Tier 4 (#1 in weak drafts): Chet (#1/2 his year), Paolo (massive smokescreened), Cade (divergent opinions), Ja (strong #2 to Zion)
Tier 5 (Not gonna be #1 in most years): Trae (doesn't belong on this list pre-draft), Tatum (doesn't belong on this list pre-draft)

Now:
Tier 1: Luka
Tier 2: Ant, Tatum, Embiid
Tier 3: Zion, Paolo, Morant
Tier 4: Wemby, Trae
...
Tier 6: Cade
Tier 7: Flagg

I’d argue Wemby’s already Tier 3 currently and is likely to be either Tier 1 or 2 within the next couple of years.

[Waynearchetype]

I’d argue Wemby’s already Tier 3 currently and is likely to be either Tier 1 or 2 within the next couple of years.

We're talking how they were viewed prior to the draft.

Also, to contribute to the discussion, the timeline is all wrong for comparing Flagg to any of those in my opinion. Only 3 that had huge followings this far ahead of their draft was Doncic (who folks cooled on in the year leading up to his actual draft) and Wemby, and a lesser extent Zion. I feel like beyond those 3, Flagg has been hyped the most at this relative juncture in time. Whether he keeps that in the actual lead up to the draft is another thing as it already feels like the hype is fading a bit.

[Waynearchetype]

Heres a new stat, it's "RealGM hype ranking"
Just based on realgm hype alone:

Hyped but not overhyped:

Paolo got a thread 1 year before his draft
Cade got a thread september before his draft.
Embiid got a thread november before his draft.
Trae got a thread november before his draft
Anthony Edwards didn't get a thread until November before his draft
Ja didn't get a thread until december before his draft
Tatum didn't get a thread until 4 months before his draft


The hype beasts:

Luka had the most threads in this forum on a single athlete, starting 2 and a half years before his draft. 11 separate threads.
Wemby had a thread 2 and a half years before his draft (but it was much less posts than Doncic)
Zion had a thread 2 years before his draft (also much quieter than Doncics)
Flagg has a thread 2 years before his speculated draft.

So in the last decade, Flagg is RealGM hype ranked #4.

[CptCrunch]

You can't call others revisionists then rank Ant over Cade as prospects lmfao. Literally all people were saying during Ant's draft is "wait for Cade Cunningham"

yea, a lot of revisionism always, Antman had huge efficiency questions at Georgia, barely shot 40% from the floor and couldn't clear 30% from 3, had many outings in college where he would disappear...the idea that he was consensus #1 but not Cade is just brutally off base.

meanwhile Cade was locked in #1 pretty much for the entire year

Your memory is faulty. Ant was the consensus #1 in a weak draft.

Cade was the near consensus #1 in a strong draft. In his draft, there are 3 players clearly better than him at the moment. THere is a clear contingent of people who believed Cade to nothing more than a role player, which he is on path to becoming.

If Cade has one hater left on the planet, I am that person. He is pure certified loser.