Much like Martell Webster. Has the body. Has the shot. Has a good mentality. May not have the on-ball skill to become anything other than a 3&D guy
A Timid Kawhi Leonard? Kawhi is so timid to start with. Not vocal, not a team leader, can be aggressive on his own, but a more timid version is a bit of a red flag it would seem.
Timid in reference to his play style. Less aggressive as an individual scorer especially. He's quite the opposite personality wise.
https://nbadraftroom.com/2025-nba-mock-draft/ Hansen Yang - one of the biggest winners of the combine: Pre-combine: #41 Post-combine: #22
Seeing some Maxime Raynaud hype going around after his combine showing. Not seeing it personally. I don't think his post-up or face up game is a thing in the NBA despite the touch. No physicality and just doesn't put the defense in compromising positions. When he went up against anybody with any sort of size or strength, he was forced into a lot of 10 plus foot hook shots that looked pretty ugly. Teams will run at him because of the jumper, but even if he gets a full step by a guy, those face up drive opportunities aren't turning into as high quality shots as you'd want them to...slow and turnover prone with a very high dribble. When you boil his game down into an NBA role I think he looks more like Quentin Post. But I think Quinton was both a better shooter w/ a quicker more versatile trigger and a better defender. And that's more to say I think Raynaud's defense is that bad and less about Post being any great shakes on that end. The lack of physicality and explosion shows up on that end as well. Think his pick and roll decisions and overall paint maneuverability is very poor. He's big, has good touch, fun passer, good rebounder...so if the shooting is real and he can hold up defensively he could carve out a role possibly, but I struggle to see the reasons to spend a first rounder on him.
A closer look at Bailey and Harper https://www.theringer.com/2025/05/21/nba-draft/nba-draft-dylan-harper-ace-bailey
Didn’t Essengue light Portland up in pre-season last year? Keep an eye on him. I really think they’ll try to add some youngish vet, but if not, he checks a lot of boxes for our front office
I wouldn't say that. He's all over the draft board. I think he could legitimately be picked 7/8 or at 19/20. Given he's still in Europe in the playoffs - he might not get a chance to do workouts with many (or any) teams. He might slip a little because of that
Just impressions, but it really feels like someone is going to fall big time, and someone will be chosen much earlier than most anticipate. For example, Queen seems to be falling and Fears may be taken very early.
Coward has about the same frame as Webster and like Martell he has a very nice jumper though with a quicker release. However, Cedric is on a whole different level athletically. He posted a 38.5" max vertical compared to Webster's 30.5" & his times in the various running/agility drills were similarly disparate bordering on elite. Heck, Coward's standing reach was measured an inch less then Camara's and he posted better athletic numbers. If his defense is thought to be as good as the numbers suggest his shooting is, he's a legit option STOMP
That's the issue I see. Coward's physical traits don't jump off the screen in live games (against reasonable competition). He floats a bunch. He doesn't make as big of an impact as he probably should given his body.
I like Coward and never saw it in Pat Will for FWIW. I think Coward is a better overall athlete, much more bankable shooter and a far better finisher. I also think positionally Cedric is more a true wing where as Pat had movement issues defensively that I thought would limit who he could guard and that has proven to be true in the NBA. Like CJ mentioned and I've pointed out as well, they both tend to float in games which is frustrating for guys that are that physically impressive but Pat's prospect status rode on being young, big and looking comfortable getting into pull up jumpers that he wasn't efficient at...you were doing a whole lot of projection with him. On the other hand, Cedric is older but has also put more on tape that you can bank on being valuable at an NBA level imo.
Excluding star players , you know who excels in playoff games, high IQ players with relentless effort. I wouldn’t take a player at 11 that doesn’t meet those two requirements
