First mocks are out after the lottery. ESPN: Jalen Duren The Athletic: Jeremy Sochan The Ringer: AJ Griffin Sport Illustrated: Bennedict Mathurin SB Nation: Jalen Duren The Sporting News: Dyson Daniels NBA Draft Room: Jalen Duren NBADraft.net: Johnny Davis mynbadraft: AJ Griffin
SB btw had Murray below Duren at 8. Griffin will be key to that happening https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2022/5...ft-2022-instant-first-round-picks-final-order
For fit on our team... if we were somehow to get Grant, I like Sochan a lot. He brings a lot of energy and athleticism on both ends and his spot up shot has nice form that he can make open threes with. I don't think you need to take him at 7 but we'll see how things pan out this week and during team workouts because this draft is very fluid, so maybe he will be a solid guy to take at 7. I think if you drafted Sochan and brought on someone with the MLE that Dame would lose his fucking mind. If you trotted Dame out there opening night with Ant, Nas or Hart, Sochan and Nurk, I think Dame would be incredibly frustrated and one 4 game losing streak away from asking out.
Sochan ranked pretty high on a few of these mocks. He's got Ron Artest defensive skills and ball handling. Jump shot was his only major concern.
In today's nba, shooting, size/length, and defense are basically the only things I'm interested in this offseason. If a player is deficient in one of those three areas, I'll pass.
pretty good set of priorities. I'd rate ball-handling/court-vision just about as high as those other skills; although that may be the most difficult to gauge
Fair enough, but I'd like to think we have an acceptable amount of those things though; we're sorely lacking in the three I mentioned.
I'm warming up to the idea of him with the pick. We need to add things we don't have on this team and he would bring a few.
Portland has had shooting. Their management has been totally inept at finding size, allergic to defense, and stubbornly refused to add ball-handlers Since Aldridge, I'd probably rate Portland as having the worst forwards in the league. Certainly the worst among playoff teams
His numbers might not show it but watch the video, his stroke is nice and he is perfectly capable of hitting open threes. His aggression is so much fun to watch on both ends of the court. We'll see how he grades out after the combine and workout processes. He might be a good pick at number 7, he also is a good fit for what we need. We would just need to find a way to get another quality starting forward to pair with him and if that's Grant for future picks then cool. Going into the season with Dame, Ant, Grant, Sochan, Nurk, Hart, Nas, Justise, the 36th pick and someone we pick up with the TPMLE would be a rotation I would be excited about and that wouldn't be counting out the possiblity of guys like Trendon, Keon and Greg making big gains and cracking that rotation.
I've made who I like known ad nauseum, but two guys I don't want are Duren and Griffin. Griffin has no business going in the lottery after his showing at Duke. People comparing him to Jimmy Butler clearly have never watched him play (his wide stance on his jumper is the only similarity). Griffin is a catch and shoot guy who doesn't yet know how to use his size or athleticism on defense. He can hardly create off the dribble for himself-- the Butler comp is honestly laughable given how Butler gets almost all his points off his own creation. And with Griffin's history of knee injuries, he screams out red flags to me. Would be such a disappointing pick. Duren-- just, no. I get Thabeet vibes.
Im sure he's the type of hard noised defender Chauncey like's. He guards multi positions like Draymond. Chauncey played with similar sized guy 6'9, that was d player of the year multiple times.
That’s why you gotta get Jerami Grant AND Sochan. Keep Dame happy by getting Grant, but Sochan is ready to be a day 1 starter. Dame / Ant / Grant / Sochan / Nurk is tolerable defensively (still not a fan of the Dame / Ant backcourt), but we are much, much longer and athletic at the 3/4. You’ve also got a lot of interesting matchups because everyone aside from Nurk can be ball handlers.
sochan started 1 game in college and he's ready to be a day 1 starter in the NBA? Speaking of hype...
I understand that you’re smarter than the scouts, but they all virtually say the same thing: Day 1 starter in the NBA because he doesn’t need the ball, he is an elite switchable defender that can guard 1-5, and he can handle the ball/pass/shoot.
