Is this team gunning to win? ATL: Yes, tied with Orlando and want to host the first play-in game. TOR: Yes, they can try to win and still be safe from losing lotto balls. CHI: Yes, they want to host a home game, this is a thing with Chicago. SAS: No. They will try to lose their game vs. us like hell. UTA: No. They are tied with the Wizards rn and want to solidify #5 as the worst possible landing spot if they drop. GSW: Yes. They are barely hanging onto dodging the play-in vs. Lakers. LAL: Not necessarily. They 'may' be resting guys if they're at least a game up on the Grizzlies (they own the tiebreaker)
If we sit all the guys we've been sitting and start sitting Deni, Tou and Ant... we will get some of our young guys some really good experience, be able to see what Shaedon can do when he's very obviously The Guy and still out tank the Spurs and Utah along with securing a loss to the Lakers in that last game. We just have to show a little dedication to common sense. Don't get me wrong the team has chosen not to make prudent decisions in regards to our draft position so far this season but I'm hoping being at least 5 games out of the play-in if Sac loses to Indy right now or 6 if Sac wins (Sacramento went 2-2 against us but has an insurmountable lead in Conference record) anyway, I'm hoping being that far out of the play-in we will finally make securing the best pick possible in the upcoming draft becomes the teams main priority.
After Collin Murray-Boyles, Thomas Haugh from Florida is probably the second best sophomore on my board if he decides to declare. He's very Dean Wade like, who's proven to be a very valuable stretch PF. He's ahead of Rasheer Fleming for me who projects to fill a similar role, who I have real feel and processing worries with. Also far behind Haugh as a passer and ball handler.
Updated Top 45 Big Board Last tier isn't in any real order and will have a lot of movement over the next couple months as I get to guys more in depth. Likely split into two tiers as well. Cooper Flagg ---------------- Dylan Harper ---------------- Jeremiah Fears Derik Queen Khaman Maluach Nolan Traore Ace Bailey VJ Edgecombe ---------------- Kon Knueppel Jase Richardson Collin Murray-Boyles Noa Essengue Thomas Sorber ------------------ Kasparas Jakucionis Tre Johnson Thomas Haugh Carter Bryant Egor Demin ------------------ Labaron Philon Tahaad Pettiford Liam McNeeley Ben Saraf Walter Clayton Jr. Nique Clifford Asa Newell JT Toppin Noah Penda Danny Wolf Rasheer Fleming Yaxel Lendenborg Ryan Kalkbrenner Will Riley Kam Jones Johni Broome Hugo Gonzalez Alex Condon Joan Baringer Sergio de Larrea Miles Byrd Bogoljub Markovic Adou Thiero Tyrese Proctor Sion James Dink Pate Rocco Zikarsky
With the Spurs win tonight hope stays alive that we could be tied with them or pass them in the lotto. Have to tank starting tomorrow. We need Tou and Deni to be late scratches.
I sure wouldn’t mind making a play for Dylan Harper. Scoot and this years 1st for Harper? Not sure that would be enough and I’m not sure I’m ready to trade Scoot yet but Harper is a guy I really like
I wouldn't give up on Scoot. I think he's going to be much better than Harper. The ground he gained this year makes me really optimistic. Giving up the former No. 3 overall pick and another top-10 pick for, IMO, a somewhat better version of Malcolm Brogdon wouldn't be a wise move. Use this year's pick to add a piece, bank on Scoot taking another big stride next year, then add another lottery piece in a really good looking 2026 draft.
If we have Deni, Shaedon, Tou, a Scoot that you're saying will be much improved (which I think is likely), an improved Clingan and lets say the tenth pick in this loaded draft, I think with a few bench pieces we will not be using our pick next season. I think we'll likely make the playoffs if healthy but I'm worried that unless all of those players max out their ceilings we'll be an also ran for the next six or seven seasons (like the Dame era) making the playoffs and losing in the first round or when lucky getting to the second round... and then have to rebuild again.
It's possible, but I still think it's more likely we have one more year where we'll be in the lottery for two reasons (because I think we're probably cleaning out most of the vets that aren't playing right now in the offseason). 1. A team starting those guys hasn't developed closers yet. It will be a lot like last year's Rockets. It'll be good and dangerous but just not savvy and experienced enough to finish close games. 2. The West next season still is going to be very, very good. Even if the Blazers trade off Ant, Grant and Ayton and still are a better team, the Thunder, Rockets, T-wolves, etc. aren't going anywhere. The Spurs will be better barring Wemby missing most of the year. The Pels should be better barring cleaning house or Zion being injured again. It's not just a matter of the Blazers being good, it's a matter of the Blazers being better than the other teams and I don't see a Blazers team even if they get lucky and get the first pick this summer being quite at the point where they're overtaking the teams ahead of them. Just MO.
Yeah I’m torn I really think Harper is going to be a star, but Scoot definitely has same possibility. If I had to pick one I think Harper will be the better player. Harper gives me B Roy vibe. wish we could have seen full year of Scoot as starter
Dylan Harper is going to be very good. I cooled on him a bit in the middle of the year, but he turned in some pre-sickness performances to end the year that I'm bought pretty fully back in. Big thing with him are his unassisted rim finishing numbers are just bonkers. Like nothing we've seen from a college freshman of that size or smaller in the last 20 years type bonkers. He's got the tools to be solid defensively. The motor was shaky on a bad Rutgers team but he flashed enough off ball feel and anticipation plus some really good screen navigation at times that I don't worry much that he'll at least be average on that end with his size. Swing skills with be the mid range touch and craft which is pretty underdeveloped and where most of his ugliest moments pop up when he can get all the way to the rim and what level of passer he can become. He didn't look like a true point but he may just be so good on the ball as a scorer that the windows will be so big and the reads so obvious that it won't matter much. Especially if the pull up 3 becomes a consistent weapon for him. I'd take him if we land at 2 and be pretty happy about it.
Do you think he'll be a better pro than Scoot (when he fully develops)? Harper is ~2 years younger than Scoot is.
I think there's definitely a chance. Just based on a likely higher ceiling as a scorer and defensively with his size advantage.
Finally getting around to French big man Joan Baringer who seems to be one of the mystery men of this draft. Doesn't turn 19 until November and has gotten a lot better that last couple years. Watched him at the u18's last year and wasn't impressed but I see the vision with him now as top 20 or so prospect in this class despite the limited offensive role projection. Standout tools and has chance to be pretty solidly positive on defense if he can improve his technique contesting shots at the rim. Looking at the current draft board, I see a fit in Washington, Indiana or Utah and are all in that 18-23 range. Here are my notes from his latest game Joan Baringer - 3/30/25 vs Borac Mozzart Advanced feel for age in drop defense. Plays the cat and mouse game pretty well. Has the tools to get out on the floor. Huge strides to help him recover / make plays at the rim. Just like any other young big…needs to get stronger. About 240 lbs but gets pushed around a good bit. Shows up most trying to anchor on defensive glass. Low assist rate + low turnover rate. Not a passer but seems to have pretty good hands and transitions cleanly into finishes. Doesn’t look natural handling the ball up top when used in delay sets but not a turnover waiting to happen either which is nice. Can run a basic handoff. Runs the floor very well…huge strides Seems to play with a high motor Jumps very well but a pretty slow load jumper. Affects his timing and body positioning on contests where chest is often not square to the rim (still posts a solid blk rate just below 9%). Flexible and able to contort in air to contest shots at odd angles. Smoothly changes direction in help and recover situations out to perimeter. Looks good sliding and containing drives without fouling on switches. Projected role looks really limited as simply a catch and finish player right at the rim. FT% and form leave little hope for any future shooting projection. 8-12% usage type guy most likely in a Mitchell Robinson/Jericho Sims mold. Mitch has managed to only be a slight negative offensively for his career, but he’s on another plane as a physical presence, finisher and offensive rebounder. Jarrett Allen is another guy he’ll get compared to but Jarrett was much more advanced as a finisher (23% usage as a frosh, 47% on far 2’s) which has made him into a very nice short roll player to add to the catch and finish stuff. Jarrett was also much quicker off the floor who needed very little load up time.
I don't...I've watched maybe 4 full games and a lot clips so I feel confident enough to speak on him though The sell is tools, age and production. Role is pretty unclear if the shooting doesn't get to the level it needs to, but kinda buy it getting there despite shaky indicators. The motion looks very natural to me in a Batum way. Nice feel and smooth with the ball. Good decision maker too and will make some pretty high level reads at times. Makes me optimistic about to connector value if again the shooting gets to a point where he draws closeout that he can attack off of. Defensively he moves incredibly well for his size. His motor and technique is kind of all over the place but he has the tools to make up for it mostly, at least for now. I worry how much strength he'll be able to add to his frame (shoulders are extremely narrow). So yeah he's a bit of an intriguing black box right now, but his movement, size and flashes of skill with the ball are intriguing enough that make me buy that he has very high end role player potential. Nicolas Batum / Jaden McDaniels vibes
I like your posts, but I'm going to disagree with you a bit on Harper having a higher ceiling defensively than Scoot. Harper's taller, but their standing reach is the same. Scoot's combination of foot quickness, absurd physical strength at his size, hand size and grip strength and athleticism gives him a clear advantage over Harper on that side of the court, IMO, and Scoot takes playing defense seriously. Watching SGA struggle getting to his spot on the floor with Scoot guarding him is evidence of his quality on defense. And, while Harper's more a natural scorer, I'm not sure that trumps Scoot's ability to initiate offense if we're talking about them both playing PG. Are we talking about them both running point or Scoot as a PG vs Harper as a 2G, and, if it's the latter, shouldn't we be comparing Harper to Shaedon instead of Scoot?
I look at Essengue as a great lottery ticket if you want to draft a guy who could wind up being like Flagg. Same size, almost same age, both known for defensive ability but with perimeter skills, both have shots that are works in progress, both made their bones playing against pros ... if you are picking around 12, why wouldn't you be intrigued by that?
