2017 Draft Prospects

[InBoobieWeTrust]

I think Fultz is a legit franchise guy. His production is insane already. Dude is going to be a monster. Definitely a sure thing.

 

[MD13]

Obviously the Cavs will have no shot at him, but holy shit is Josh Jackson impressive for having such an ugly looking shot.

Czvosec, I know you're the KU guy here. Do you think Jackson will become a borderline all-star at the least? I just can't get past his shot whenever I watch him. You can hide him as a college 4 and the rest of his game translates well to the NBA, but I just can't see a non-shooting wing playing big minutes for a championship team in today's game. Even similar guys like Winslow and MKG have struggled to get past the good role player level with their teams.

 

[czvo]

Czvosec, I know you're the KU guy here. Do you think Jackson will become a borderline all-star at the least? I just can't get past his shot whenever I watch him. You can hide him as a college 4 and the rest of his game translates well to the NBA, but I just can't see a non-shooting wing playing big minutes for a championship team in today's game. Even similar guys like Winslow and MKG have struggled to get past the good role player level with their teams.

I started out the year thinking the same thing, but Josh's shot has improved dramatically as the season has gone on. He still has that hitch, but his release isn't as terrible as you expect. When he shoots it with confidence, it actually looks pretty good. MKG's shot is a total trainwreck the likes I can't ever recall seeing before. Jackson's shot is not that. From what I remember of Winslow, his shot wasn't terrible. I will confess to not having watched much of Winslow in college. Just look at his profile... he's much shorter than Jackson, but his standing reach is much longer.

I don't think he'll be a non-shooter in the league. If he ends up in the right situation, that gives him time to develop his shot, I think he could be fantastic. He can play 1-4 on offense and defense, I don't think the same could be said about MKG or Winslow. I think the shot thing is overblown. Look at a guy like Otto Porter. Bad shooter as a freshman in college, improves dramatically his sophomore year. Bad shooter his first year in the league, improves consistently, and now he's one of the best shooters in the league. Difference is Josh is quicker and more athletic than Porter.

I personally like him more as a prospect than Wiggins, though Wiggins is probably a better scorer. Josh just has a much better feel for the game, it's really not even close in that regard.

 

[MD13]

I started out the year thinking the same thing, but Josh's shot has improved dramatically as the season has gone on. He still has that hitch, but his release isn't as terrible as you expect. When he shoots it with confidence, it actually looks pretty good. MKG's shot is a total trainwreck the likes I can't ever recall seeing before. Jackson's shot is not that. From what I remember of Winslow, his shot wasn't terrible. I will confess to not having watched much of Winslow in college. Just look at his profile... he's much shorter than Jackson, but his standing reach is much longer.

I don't think he'll be a non-shooter in the league. If he ends up in the right situation, that gives him time to develop his shot, I think he could be fantastic. He can play 1-4 on offense and defense, I don't think the same could be said about MKG or Winslow. I think the shot thing is overblown. Look at a guy like Otto Porter. Bad shooter as a freshman in college, improves dramatically his sophomore year. Bad shooter his first year in the league, improves consistently, and now he's one of the best shooters in the league. Difference is Josh is quicker and more athletic than Porter.

I personally like him more as a prospect than Wiggins, though Wiggins is probably a better scorer. Josh just has a much better feel for the game, it's really not even close in that regard.

I've seen some analysis that college ft% is actually a better indicator of shooting ability than 3pt%, specially those who don't attempt many 3s. To put it into perspective, Winslow was both a better shooter from 3 (41.8% on 2.8 attempts to 37.7% on 2.5 attempts) and from the ft line (64.1% to 55.9%) than Jackson, but his shot has still been a limiting weakness so far in his short career.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that projecting shooting improvement is such an inexact science when you start off as poorly as some of these athletic wings are, and if Jackson doesn't become average at shooting I don't think he'll ever be able to justify being a top 3 pick in this draft. That said, he does everything else so well that I can't see him dropping much farther than the top 5 at worst, which would put whoever drafts him under a ton of pressure.

 

[Jordan]

Lonzo Ball is going to have to shut his dad up soon. His dad is saying some stupid stuff.

Agreed. From what I've heard, too, Lonzo's two brothers are even better. LaVar Ball is really hurting his kids' draft stock. No team wants to deal with that.

Also, I think Lonzo is going to be an NBA disappointment. I haven't seen him do much consistently well other than shoot, and even with that, he has a weird hitch that slows down his release speed. Fultz and Jackson both seem like the better bets to me.

 

[Simon]

Agreed. From what I've heard, too, Lonzo's two brothers are even better. LaVar Ball is really hurting his kids' draft stock. No team wants to deal with that.

Also, I think Lonzo is going to be an NBA disappointment. I haven't seen him do much consistently well other than shoot, and even with that, he has a weird hitch that slows down his release speed. Fultz and Jackson both seem like the better bets to me.

I'm going to laugh so hard if Kent State shuts Ball down and somehow wins Friday night.
I go to Kent State, so I can dream, right?

 

[The Oi]

Agreed. From what I've heard, too, Lonzo's two brothers are even better. LaVar Ball is really hurting his kids' draft stock. No team wants to deal with that.

Also, I think Lonzo is going to be an NBA disappointment. I haven't seen him do much consistently well other than shoot, and even with that, he has a weird hitch that slows down his release speed. Fultz and Jackson both seem like the better bets to me.

Hmmm...

I disagree with your assessment of Lonzo's game. He does a lot more than just shoot. He's actually really well rounded.

He does have that hitch though and his dad is bad baggage, as you said.

 

[Jordan]

Hmmm...

I disagree with your assessment of Lonzo's game. He does a lot more than just shoot. He's actually really well rounded.

He does have that hitch though and his dad is bad baggage, as you said.

He definitely has other strengths, don't get me wrong. I just feel like they are really inconsistent. There are some games where he looks like a lockdown defender or is a terror in the passing lanes, but then it disappears. There are some games where he looks like an NBA driver - ala Harden - but other games you rarely see it.

Now maybe both of those are due to UCLA's weird system. But I just haven't seen enough to make me think he'll come even close to superstardom in the NBA.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

He definitely has other strengths, don't get me wrong. I just feel like they are really inconsistent. There are some games where he looks like a lockdown defender or is a terror in the passing lanes, but then it disappears. There are some games where he looks like an NBA driver - ala Harden - but other games you rarely see it.

Now maybe both of those are due to UCLA's weird system. But I just haven't seen enough to make me think he'll come even close to superstardom in the NBA.

I've actually switched takes on Ball. I definitely think he's pretty close to a sure-fire star.

Maybe not quite a straight-up, instant game-changer like Fultz....but Lonzo definitely has superstar POTENTIAL, very likely to be a star-all star....very unlikely to bust. He really does have some J-Kidd in him.

The tournament shall be interesting for Lonzo..

I think Dennis Smith could potentially be a better player though than Lonzo, especially out of the gate. He's super explosive. Lol. Has some that Russ/young D-Rose type of stuff. Tore an ACL in HS, so that's a concern, but hasn't seemed to have lost anything from it. I can't believe he's 6 on DE's mock. I'd take him 3 before Jackson or Tatum all day.

 

[Derek]

Agreed. From what I've heard, too, Lonzo's two brothers are even better. LaVar Ball is really hurting his kids' draft stock. No team wants to deal with that.

Also, I think Lonzo is going to be an NBA disappointment. I haven't seen him do much consistently well other than shoot, and even with that, he has a weird hitch that slows down his release speed. Fultz and Jackson both seem like the better bets to me.

They aren't. Lonzo was a 5 star recruit (#4 in his class), LiAngelo is a 3 star, who doesn't even crack the top 100, and LaMelo is currently considered 5 star (16th in his class), but as a sophomore things can change drastically.

Lonzo does a lot more than shoot, too. Shooting was actually considered the weakness in his game coming into college.

 

[The Oi]

They aren't. Lonzo was a 5 star recruit (#4 in his class), LiAngelo is a 3 star, who doesn't even crack the top 100, and LaMelo is currently considered 5 star (16th in his class), but as a sophomore things can change drastically.

Lonzo does a lot more than shoot, too. Shooting was actually considered the weakness in his game coming into college.

Right.

Don't mean to pile on, but Lonzo's comp is Jason Kidd for a reason. He did everything coming in and does everything now.

Worst case, if he's not a poor man's Jason Kidd (which would still be a star) he could still be a hell of a role player. His floor is really high.

Best case, he's a really unique player where he's a tall PG who can toss and finish alley-oops on consecutive plays and put up triple doubles all season long. Deceivingly athletic and could play defense if he wants to with his length.

I can't stand college basketball or his dad, but I watch him because he's so unique. He's actually not even super flashy. He just gets the job done...like Kidd.

 

[bigfoot5415]

Right.

Don't mean to pile on, but Lonzo's comp is Jason Kidd for a reason. He did everything coming in and does everything now.

Worst case, if he's not a poor man's Jason Kidd (which would still be a star) he could still be a hell of a role player. His floor is really high.

Best case, he's a really unique player where he's a tall PG who can toss and finish alley-oops on consecutive plays and put up triple doubles all season long. Deceivingly athletic and could play defense if he wants to with his length.

I can't stand college basketball or his dad, but I watch him because he's so unique. He's actually not even super flashy. He just gets the job done...like Kidd.

I would agree with this. To me his game will flourish in the NBA with great talent around him (...there I said it Lavarr). I picked them to go pretty far in the tournament.

L'Angelo- scrub. Maybe he plays in Europe.

L'Melo- Scrawny chucker. Hope he fails.

Like I truly hope he fails. He is one of the 1st players of the generation of kids inspired by the Steph Curry method of throwing up terrible shots. His "fanbase" is teenagers who are prime examples of lazy millennial's that spend too much time on social media. They wear Jordans, they throw up gang symbols in videos, yet wear tight as preppy clothing and roll around in their parents expensive ass car. They are the basketball equivalent of Beliebers.

L'Melo ball is FuckBoy Patient Zero...and must be stopped.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

So many decent players where the Cavs were supposed to pick in 2017.
Caleb Swanigan(think he is going to succeed), Adebayo, Semi Ojeleye, Pasecnics, Alec Peters, Josh Hart, Thomas Bryant, Blossomgame, Jonathan Jeanne, T.J Leaf , Jonathan Motley and Jawun Evans.

These are all players that not only are position of need but have great potential and some of them are even BPA.

I wonder if the Cavs could have extracted a 2nd round pick out of either Atlanta or Portland.
2018 draft is a damn crapshoot so far and is very very top heavy.

Is there a chance to buy a 2nd round pick in this draft?

 

[The Wizard of Moz]

They aren't. Lonzo was a 5 star recruit (#4 in his class), LiAngelo is a 3 star, who doesn't even crack the top 100, and LaMelo is currently considered 5 star (16th in his class), but as a sophomore things can change drastically.

Lonzo does a lot more than shoot, too. Shooting was actually considered the weakness in his game coming into college.

Wow Lavar is even worse at naming his kids than he is at basketball

 

[BimboColesHair]

So many decent players where the Cavs were supposed to pick in 2017.
Caleb Swanigan(think he is going to succeed), Adebayo, Semi Ojeleye, Pasecnics, Alec Peters, Josh Hart, Thomas Bryant, Blossomgame, Jonathan Jeanne, T.J Leaf , Jonathan Motley and Jawun Evans.

These are all players that not only are position of need but have great potential and some of them are even BPA.

I wonder if the Cavs could have extracted a 2nd round pick out of either Atlanta or Portland.
2018 draft is a damn crapshoot so far and is very very top heavy.

Is there a chance to buy a 2nd round pick in this draft?

Lot of guys who will go undrafted this year who will be better than 2nd round picks from last year.

I think we go Delly on one of them and toss a partially guaranteed deal at one to land one of the better ones.