I really think because of his size and strength and the potential potency of his scoring the Thunder would be smart to draft Paolo if they land the first pick. A guy as big as Paolo who is also athletic could actually play well with Poku. They have that starting perimeter that in theory should be really good. What they could really use is a legit big man on that roster. I really wouldn't be surprised if they drafted Duke's front court with their two first rounders... Banchero if he's available with their first pick and Williams if he's there at 16 which I'm pretty sure is where the Clippers pick has to land unless we get fucked and it's the 12th pick or we get fucked and OKC gets really lucky and they end up with two picks in the top 8. In that case Banchero and Duren would make the most sense for them but they need actual size not just length.
is there any prospect even remotely close to the kinda defender that herb jones is in this draft? Eason?
College stats: Jones (4th yr at Alabama): 11.2 pts, 6.6 rebs, 3.3 asts, 45% FG, 35% 3pt, 1.7 stl, 1.1 blk. Had a 91 DRTG with a 21 PER. Eason (2nd year at LSU): 16.9 pts, 6.6 rebs, 1.0 ast, 52% FG, 36% 3pt, 1.9 stl, 1.1 blk. Had a 83.2(!!!) DRTG with a 33 PER. Sochan (freshman at Baylor): 9.2 pts, 6.4 rebs, 1.8 asts, 47% FG, 30% 3pt, 1.3 stl, 0.7 blk. Had a 90 DRTG with a 20 PER. By pretty much any advanced defensive metric, Eason blows away any competition in this draft among wing players. I might be convinced to gamble on him at #6 to be honest.
Duren could become the more valuable defender if he reaches his potential. Watch defense starting at 3:40 his potential would be Bam Adebayo
ive done the murray deep dive earlier also. his offensive numbers are jaw dropping but i wonder how much of that has to do with Iowa forcefeeding him like they did Garza last year.
Eason at 6'8" is in my tall enough to draft category. I didn't know he was such an incredible defender and that PER ain't bad either! I'm not sure I like him at PF, but having a versatile defender 1-3 who can at least be a threat to hit the 3 is something we can use an almost infinite amount of. Also, I have to admit I would love to see Nassir Little show us a healthy and long season next year. Do you think Eason is big enough to play PF in this league at 6'8"?
Duren is on my shortlist for the guy to take at 6 or later range for us. Heck if we popped to 4 I'd have to think about him assuming Banchero and Smith were gone. I want a monster defensive anchor with all-star and/or all-defense potential, preferably a stretch PF since we have Nurk, but I'm also open to taking Duren and then trading Nurk for a stretch PF like maybe Boucher plus some sweetener from Toronto.
i think he projects as a 3/4. if he has the mental chops to click in the NBA, I think he has all the physical tools to be a great player.
Eason had a *major* leap from freshman to sophomore year. And part of the reason his DRTG is so good is because LSU had arguably the best defense in all of college basketball. At one point their entire rotation pretty much was in the top ~15 in DRTG.
he also transferred to LSU after a bad freshman year at Cincy. Part of that was his own doing but i love to see that improvement in guys after hitting adversity. He was also coached by BRoy in HS.
