Oh for sure. My ethos with this draft is taking one swing guy and one high floor guy. Salaun seems like the obvious high ceiling guy, I'm just unsure he'll be at 14.
This feel for the game knock was mentioned ad nauseum when i was clamoring to draft Tari Eason two years ago. I dont see it as an issue when evaluating 18 yr olds. If he were 23 with poor bbiq, then i would not be interested.
If the FO is sold on Salaun, I don't think he's a reach at #7. If they don't believe he's available at #14, and they really like him, get him at #7. Not saying I would. I just think that if you trust your scouts and your own evaluation ability, do it. A "draft range" or "player value" just as hit or miss as any single pick.
Or if he had low motor. The fact that he has a high motor that everyone keeps bringing up tells me he's going to be a success on the NBA level. How much of a success? I don't know.
This draft is such a wash that it’ll only take me a few minutes to get on board with our pick for the most part. I would struggle a bit more with Dilly, Topic and Knecht at 7 and would need some signifcant other contextual moves to come around.
Already hear Pop wants Salaun with #8 to put next to fellow Frenchman Wemby. If Pop wants him, I want him.
That 19/8 game the other day had me feeling a bit better about him. He looked very confident/fearless logo launching with the game on the line. There's a lot of low BBIQ players who have had serviceable NBA careers. Off the top of my head: Will Barton, Sexton, D. Russell, Clarkson, Dedmon, Cam Thomas, Whiteside, Drummond, J. Collins, Oubre(?), Lavine.... Saluan does appear to be improving rapidly. Maybe it's more to do with lack of game experience than some unfixable low BBIQ situation. Still, I'm nowhere near taking him at #7 because we're worried Pop wants him at #8. Wemby is probably influencing that decision a bit (him and Saluan are good friends).
Who has more upside? I think the tools Salaun has are more rare than those projected in the same area. Clingan seems to be more of a sure thing but lower ceiling. I have no problem with taking him at 7 when no one else has differentiated themselves from the rest of the group.
His feel is limited but...and this is my problem with both Sarr and Salaun (though Sarr should be decent)....players like Giannis, KD, or McGrady already had shot creation and ball handling capability at 18/19 years old. Speaking as someone who wanted Giannis for Portland, yes, it isn't just athleticism you look at in a star wing/forward. It is how fluid and smooth they are in relation to their ball handling and shot creation, all in addition to some level of efficiency as a scorer. Let's take a look at what Mike Schmitz wrote regarding Giannis, back in the day: https://www.draftexpress.com/article/NBA-Draft-Prospect-of-the-Week-Giannis-Adetokunbo-4090/ Salaun doesn't have the above capabilities. It's possible that, with hard work, he can learn to handle the ball better but that's rare and it's even more rare in the context of being able to move and angle your body correctly to blow past defenders, even if you develop handles. Again, that's the fluidity and smoothness aspect. Essentially, most players are already set by the time they're adults. It's just a matter of efficiency in some aspect so that they can fall back on that, in case the newer parts of their game fail. Thus, Giannis was 60-67% from 2 while being a 70+% FT shooter due to being able to attack in transition, make appropriate cuts, and blow past defenders. His hands were large and useful, active and capable of palming the ball. Salaun? He can't handle the ball, his playmaking is limited as a result, his FG% isn't great. I'm not going to write him off but it's very likely he becomes something like Cam Johnson, as a higher end projection. Otherwise, Giannis was always athletic, fluid, and a good ball handler with some playmaking potential from the get go. McGrady and KD? Same thing. In McGrady's case, it was a matter of finding minutes and tightening up his already existent skillset.
Utility Sports Big Board v 1.0 If you want to watch the video or part of it, remember you can increase the playback speed up to 2x on YouTube. 1. Alex Sarr 2. Reed Sheppard 3. Rob Dillingham 4. Zaccharie Risacher 5. Donovan Clingan 6. Cody Williams 7. Stephon Castle 8. Ron Holland 9. Nikola Topic 10. Ajay Mitchell 11. Matas Buzelis 12. Jared McCain 13. Kel'el Ware 14. Dalton Knecht 15. Baylor Scheierman 16. Devin Carter 17. Carlton Carrington 18. Kyle Filipowski 19. Daron Holmes II 20. Zach Edey 21. Adem Bona 22. Isaiah Collier 23. Tyler Kolek 24. Tidjane Salaun 25. Tyler Smith 26. Nikola Djurisic 27. Johny Furphy 28. Ja'Kobe Walter 29. Justin Edwards 30. Yves Missi
this would be a lucky break for portland. i'd go castle at 7 and try trading up with utah or memphis to snag matas.
You know, I was asked about him the other day. I'm still trying to process him. He didn't do much at Oregon so I didn't really watch him prior to all the recent buzz. Right now, I'd say the eye test suggests that he has potential to be a Jermaine O'Neal type player with shades of Aldridge. Athletic, can use his body to push inside, uses footwork for a 180 to 360 degree spin so that he can hoist up a hook/jumper/floater, great wingspan makes him hard to stop, two way potential, can run to the rim. I don't view him as a traditional center or as a "modern center" either. He's a PF/C type which, I argue, might be closer to what Mobley is, as an archetype, than Sarr even. My only problem, right now, is that I'm just trying to configure whether or not he's a Channing Frye/Skal Labissiere type that looks good in high school/college but is lacking something. And what is it that they lacked compared to Aldridge/Bosh or O'Neal? Right now, I'm leaning towards wingspan being the answer since Bosh, Aldridge were more like 7'4" and above while Frye and Skal were 7'2" and below. Mobley, JJJ, Sheed, Duncan, KG....around 7'4" and above. Don't know about Jermaine O'Neal's though. There's a lack of a go-to move from Frye and Skal's case too. In Skal's case, he was perceived as soft and lacking in a motor (as was Aldridge but Aldridge had a majestic mid-range and the lengthy arms to back it up....was more efficient too). Either way, I'm glad people are interested in him enough to stir my attention that way, too. I haven't come to a full consensus on him but I am warming up to him
Out of curiosity, where do you have Salaun mocked? I'm so glad we have Schmitz. Thanks for posting that Giannis eval
I imagine Salaun should go in that 8-16 range. There is that rumor that the Spurs will take him because Wemby is good friends with him. If not, I can't imagine he wouldn't go past 15 or 16 as some playoff team would definitely try to grab him. Unless certain players I want are gone, he wouldn't be my ideal #14 pick, though. I do like Salaun as a concept. He is talented, lengthy, and athletic, no doubt. And I think he's the biggest mystery box in awhile. But I'm not sold on just some flashy highlights (players today have gotten pretty good at that). There has to be a level of efficiency in relation to the skills. By that, a stronger go-to move would be such a thing. Because his FT% is pretty decent, I do think he'll be able to develop that 32% 3 ball into something higher so that could eventually turn into a decent go-to move in a few years. I do recall he has decent ball handling and long strides to compliment that but nothing advanced enough that he simply needs to "tighten his handles". He's still not comfortable with the ball, essentially. It's not fully confirmed but he might fit my 6'8"+7'2" wingspan threshold where players of that caliber simply do well in the NBA, especially if they have large hands like Salaun does. At minimum, he'll be a solid role player who can earn his way into a starting role if he improves. Like a Cam Johnson. He looks like he could be an MPJ. Travis Outlaw is another player I think of, when I watch Salaun, where he has sky high potential with a jumper and athleticism (not as great of a leaper though) and can play an important role but something might not click (might be funny if Portland drafts him and gets "Darius Miles/Nic Batum" in Cody Williams too).
