There's plenty of room for optimism. For reference, let's take a look at various previous drafts, starting from 17 years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_NBA_draft Go ahead and click every year. You'll find there is practically always an All-Star AND a borderline All-Star found from #7-14. Sometimes, you may even get two All-Stars in that range, which I define as a 17ppg starter or sixth man type (ex. OG, Aaron Gordon). I think the borderline star is Noa Essengue but I'm not sure who an All-Star could be. Maybe Jaku? 85% FT means his 3pt should become steady in the NBA. I would've said Jase but it seems that he's quite short that I would be surprised if he could be an All-Star, at that height. Portland should do Noa Essengue and trade Simons for Black+16+25 to target leftovers (ex. Jase, Demin) and high potential guys (ex. Yaxel, Avdalas, Rasheer).
I really like the Demin kid from BYU. While shooting percentage wasn’t good he has great size for a pg. kind of guy I’d take a chance on if he’s around at 11
Noa Essengue with elite length: 6’10” w/shoes 9’3.25” standing reach (measurements: 2024 Basketball Without Borders Global Camp)
AND he is very productive when he plays. He leads his team in rebounds, steals, Fouls Drawn, and Player Efficiency. He's 3rd in Points (behind team leader by 0.6 pnts/game). https://www.euroleaguebasketball.ne...pointsScored&sortDirection=descending#average He's an 18yr old playing with mostly grown men 24-28
I’d bet money that Noa is the #1 target for Masai Ujiri and the Raptors. Prototypical Masai pick. We’d have to leapfrog them for sure.
