• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

2019 NBA Draft

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
The paint was packed once Syracuse finally realized that they can't afford to let Zion score at will...and then (with no Jones or Reddish) RJ was basically the only offensive option. So good defense more than selfish chucking is the explanation.

A good game to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of Zion, too.

On one hand, while he's a great ballhandler for a PF/C, he's really not good enough to actually create 1-on-1 from the perimeter...as a result, Cuse was able to pretty much take him out of the game by denying entry passes and bringing aggressive doubleteams in the paint. He only scored 7 points in the last 13 minutes of the second half and OT, 6 of them off RJ assists (and the other one on a bad shooting foul call).

On the other hand, his gravity in the paint is crazy. It's going to be such a huge boon for whatever NBA team gets him, especially if he gets better at passing the ball back out to open shooters. He's a huge reason why Duke shot 43 threes, most of them open or wide open, and when and NBA team shoots 43 threes they're going to make more than 9 of them most nights.

Appreciate it.

I didn't mean to bag on RJ, I imagined there was some logical reason, given how out of bounds it was in relation to the rest of his season. I don't really get caught up in the ebb and flow of a single shooting night, I was just floored by the attempt number.....given it represented more than 15% of his 3PT attempts, on the season.

He did just absolutely stuff the stat sheet when looking at his REB / AST / TO total though......amazing he could play that many minutes, with that much assist production and only have a single TO. It has to be tough to sustain outside shooting on the minutes load he is taking. He played 85 game minutes in a 48 hour period......and while his shooting sucked (against Cuse'), he only had 4 TO's in those 2 combined games, which is remarkable given his usage.

He is getting run in to the ground a bit though, especially with his night to night role. Nearly 83% of the teams' minutes (on the season) is just too much.......but I'm sure that won't change. That's a 40 minute a night pace at the NBA level. That would lead the NBA by a hair under 3 minutes a game (Harden is at 37.1 as the league leader). With injuries, it may get worse though......so I'd imagine he will just have nights where his shot will not go down, because he's beat up or his legs are shot.....or both.

I think that shows up in 0 and 1 day rest stats (4 Games).....they are just horrendous shooting wise:

31/86 FG (36%), 7/36 3PT (19.4%)

Shooting on 2 or more days rest (12 games):

109/227 FG (48%), 26/68 3PT (38.2%)

So it will be interesting to see how Duke survives the first few rounds of the NCAA tournament. Seems like their recipe for winning a NC is to be bounced early from the ACC tournament and allow Barrett to really get his legs back, after what will likely be a very grueling regular season minutes wise.
 
Appreciate it.

I didn't mean to bag on RJ, I imagined there was some logical reason, given how out of bounds it was in relation to the rest of his season. I don't really get caught up in the ebb and flow of a single shooting night, I was just floored by the attempt number.....given it represented more than 15% of his 3PT attempts, on the season.

He did just absolutely stuff the stat sheet when looking at his REB / AST / TO total though......amazing he could play that many minutes, with that much assist production and only have a single TO. It has to be tough to sustain outside shooting on the minutes load he is taking. He played 85 game minutes in a 48 hour period......and while his shooting sucked (against Cuse'), he only had 4 TO's in those 2 combined games, which is remarkable given his usage.

He is getting run in to the ground a bit though, especially with his night to night role. Nearly 83% of the teams' minutes (on the season) is just too much.......but I'm sure that won't change. That's a 40 minute a night pace at the NBA level. That would lead the NBA by a hair under 3 minutes a game (Harden is at 37.1 as the league leader). With injuries, it may get worse though......so I'd imagine he will just have nights where his shot will not go down, because he's beat up or his legs are shot.....or both.

I think that shows up in 0 and 1 day rest stats (4 Games).....they are just horrendous shooting wise:

31/86 FG (36%), 7/36 3PT (19.4%)

Shooting on 2 or more days rest (12 games):

109/227 FG (48%), 26/68 3PT (38.2%)

So it will be interesting to see how Duke survives the first few rounds of the NCAA tournament. Seems like their recipe for winning a NC is to be bounced early from the ACC tournament and allow Barrett to really get his legs back, after what will likely be a very grueling regular season minutes wise.

One sneaky advantage of just chucking threes is that there's not much risk of turning it over. Some other Duke guys were more aggressive than Barrett trying to force the ball inside to Zion, but of course, the results are predictable when you have a good defensive team like Syracuse fully anticipating your entry passes. You have to take what the defense gives you...Barrett showed pretty good awareness of that fact, and Duke really should've won if he and/or White hadn't missed so many makeable 3's down the stretch.
 
Euroleague's featured interview this week was with Goga: http://www.euroleague.net/news/inte...bitadze-buducnost-we-are-not-going-to-give-up

Some insight into his development:

"I have worked really hard with my former club, Mega Bemax, and over the summer I gained muscle mass and got a little bit quicker...I came as a fat kid from Georgia who did not know how to play an inside game, who was just shooting threes. And now I feel they did a great job with me, and helped me with everything in my life."

Unlike most bigs, he's actually developed his game from the outside in as he's gradually gotten into better physical shape. He still occasionally takes 3's (a solid 14/31 this season, 48/135 for his career), and definitely has stretch-5 potential although that's no longer a primary focus of his game.
 
One sneaky advantage of just chucking threes is that there's not much risk of turning it over. Some other Duke guys were more aggressive than Barrett trying to force the ball inside to Zion, but of course, the results are predictable when you have a good defensive team like Syracuse fully anticipating your entry passes. You have to take what the defense gives you...Barrett showed pretty good awareness of that fact, and Duke really should've won if he and/or White hadn't missed so many makeable 3's down the stretch.
I like Barrett's game... I think he's a smart player that makes the correct play a lot. He's aggressive, and I think he takes smart shots... He's just an underwhelming shooter and that's really holding him back. If he was showing out more defensively and actually making shots at a good clip I think a lot of people would be looking at him differently.
 
I like Barrett's game... I think he's a smart player that makes the correct play a lot. He's aggressive, and I think he takes smart shots... He's just an underwhelming shooter and that's really holding him back. If he was showing out more defensively and actually making shots at a good clip I think a lot of people would be looking at him differently.

Yeah, I'm somewhat surprised he's kept his turnover rate so low all season long...lower than Zion, and much lower than Reddish in spite of handling and passing the ball as much as both of them combined. Needs to either improve as a shooter, or become a good enough ballhandler to get to the rim with more regularity to take the next step offensively.
 
Yeah, I'm somewhat surprised he's kept his turnover rate so low all season long...lower than Zion, and much lower than Reddish in spite of handling and passing the ball as much as both of them combined. Needs to either improve as a shooter, or become a good enough ballhandler to get to the rim with more regularity to take the next step offensively.

Anything stand out as to why he can't become a good shooter? Red flags or anything?
 
Anything stand out as to why he can't become a good shooter? Red flags or anything?

He's a pretty borderline case as a shooter, IMO.

On one hand, I think his 32% 3-point percentage sells him short a little, as he takes more contested and/or off-the-dribble threes than the average prospect. A lot of people failed to pick up on the fact that Doncic was a great shooter last year for the same reason (just 31% from 3, but lots of off-the-dribble or contested 3's).

On the other hand, he's a mediocre free throw shooter and always has been (unlike Doncic, who was an 80% foul shooter his last two years in Europe). That's not a death sentence, but makes it hard to say with confidence that he'll gradually develop into an above-average shooter.
 
Unrelatedly, freshman Trey McGowens who i mentioned on Monday had an enormous game in Pitt's upset win over Florida state later that day: 30 points, 7 boards, 4 assists, and 5 steals. That performance, on the heels of a 33-point explosion against Louisville last week, makes him another out-of-nowhere one and done candidate.

His per-40 averages now stand at a healthy 20.2 points (60% true shooting), 5.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 3.4 steals.
 
Made the case several pages back.... If we slide to 3 or 4 and Morant is there, I want him.

Do not care if Sexton is also a PG. Learn how to play off the ball if need be.

Morant is going to be a star.
 
Ja is second on my board only to Zion.
 
In before NBADraft.net or someone else fires off Morant #1 pick takes.

Not that having him in the 2-4 range is wrong or unwarranted by any means, but the group-think on Morant is alive and well.

Guy was a back end top 10 guy in pretty much everyone's eyes a week ago, and ESPN comes out with new rankings this week with him at #3 and suddenly he's the next Russell Westbrook and we've got hot takes coming in from all directions.

There's definitely an argument to have Morant top 3-5 in this draft.... But I don't think anyone who is suddenly moving him up on their rankings is actually watching their games against Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri State lol.

I think everyone being in a rush to be the first one in on a guy can really hurts the process. I haven't tried making any conclusions yet because I want to watch everyone for multiple games before comparing one guy over the next, but I think now it'd be good to have actual rankings to avoid succumbing to group-think.

What has changed with Morant over the last like month that would cause a change in opinion beyond watching him more? He's not faced anyone of note or worth watching in about a month. His shooting and assists are slightly up during that time, but he's faced much lesser competition. There's been no significant changes in the other top 10 guys' seasons as well besides Bol and Porter Jr.

And I really like Morant... he's a top 7-8 guy to me so again I'm not saying he's not worthy of being in the top 3 discussion.

I just think we are headed towards the major group-think time of draft season where everyone's looking for direction of how to rank the 2-10 range of this draft without actually watching or forming their own opinion.
 
In before NBADraft.net or someone else fires off Morant #1 pick takes.

Not that having him in the 2-4 range is wrong or unwarranted by any means, but the group-think on Morant is alive and well.

Guy was a back end top 10 guy in pretty much everyone's eyes a week ago, and ESPN comes out with new rankings this week with him at #3 and suddenly he's the next Russell Westbrook and we've got hot takes coming in from all directions.

There's definitely an argument to have Morant top 3-5 in this draft.... But I don't think anyone who is suddenly moving him up on their rankings is actually watching their games against Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri State lol.

I think everyone being in a rush to be the first one in on a guy can really hurts the process. I haven't tried making any conclusions yet because I want to watch everyone for multiple games before comparing one guy over the next, but I think now it'd be good to have actual rankings to avoid succumbing to group-think.

What has changed with Morant over the last like month that would cause a change in opinion beyond watching him more? He's not faced anyone of note or worth watching in about a month. His shooting and assists are slightly up during that time, but he's faced much lesser competition. There's been no significant changes in the other top 10 guys' seasons as well besides Bol and Porter Jr.

And I really like Morant... he's a top 7-8 guy to me so again I'm not saying he's not worthy of being in the top 3 discussion.

I just think we are headed towards the major group-think time of draft season where everyone's looking for direction of how to rank the 2-10 range of this draft without actually watching or forming their own opinion.

Reposting from S34:

Just some food for thought on Morant/Sexton...

Both guys were college freshmen last year. Sexton was clearly the better player.

Now imagine that instead of playing for the Cavs this year, Sexton was playing for a minor-conference team like Murray State that plays 90% of their games against terrible opponents and wins almost all of them in blowouts.

Also imagine that instead of playing for Murray State, Morant was a rookie on a hopeless NBA team like the Cavs with no coaching and very little talent. A team that gets beaten to a pulp almost every time they take the floor.

How do you think they would compare?
 
Check that -- apparently that dumbass Rashad Phillips said Ja Morant is his #1 pick yesterday. It's just getting so predictable lol.
 
I just want to point out that our very own Cam Payne was compared to Lillard coming from Murray State. 3 years later we are thinking he might be an ok 3rd string pg to help Delly recover from lingering injuries.

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/chicago-bulls/cameron-payne-wants-be-nbas-next-stephen-curry

Steph was drafted from a weak school in a weak conference and who are the other guys that have done what he did without having a pro dad who taught him to think basketball at an NBA level?

I'd be very very wary of drafting him in the top 5. He should go somewhere around where Sexton went at best.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top