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2019 NBA Draft

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Amazed at how bad Grimes is. Single-handedly blowing this game for Kansas. They're lucky he finally fouled out, lol.

As someone who bet the Kansas money line, I cursed his name more than once down the stretch.
 
Since #1 involves even more luck than in previous seasons, I'm just hoping for top 3.

I think Zion, RJ & Morant all have all-star ceilings, and if Reddish continues his uptick and has a solid tourney, he is very close as well.

5 or worse would be devastating, if that happens, I'd be looking to trade down and pick up some assets.
 
Since #1 involves even more luck than in previous seasons, I'm just hoping for top 3.

I think Zion, RJ & Morant all have all-star ceilings, and if Reddish continues his uptick and has a solid tourney, he is very close as well.

5 or worse would be devastating, if that happens, I'd be looking to trade down and pick up some assets.

Zion's floor is an all-star. Probably as a rookie.
 
My draft rater actually doesn't totally hate Reddish, but I'm wondering if there's any precedent for a guy shooting 37% from the field getting drafted in the top-5. Seems like a risky pick, and I'm not sure the upside (i.e. potential to be an elite offensive creator rather than an off-ball scorer type) is there to justify it.
 
My draft rater actually doesn't totally hate Reddish, but I'm wondering if there's any precedent for a guy shooting 37% from the field getting drafted in the top-5. Seems like a risky pick, and I'm not sure the upside (i.e. potential to be an elite offensive creator rather than an off-ball scorer type) is there to justify it.

Notable miserable freshman FG% numbers

Bernard King - 38% 14FGA
Allen Iverson - 39% 17GFA

The list is really long (of sub 40% freshman shooters) and I admittedly gave up after 100 names or so but at least saw those two on there. Both were drafted in the top 7 picks.

AI saw a jump in his sophomore year (draft year) but the 1:1 is for freshman season. Even so, King only ever shot above 41% from the field 1 time in his 4 year college career (Senior) and then went on to be a career 50%+ NBA shooter over the course of 14 pro seasons.

I don't think it's common but it doesn't seem implausible. Cam also shoots just so few 2PA, that its tough to care about his FG%. Two thirds of his FGA are from 3, so I would imagine he'd shoot a lower than normal percentage from the field.
 
Notable miserable freshman FG% numbers

Bernard King - 38% 14FGA
Allen Iverson - 39% 17GFA

The list is really long (of sub 40% freshman shooters) and I admittedly gave up after 100 names or so but at least saw those two on there. Both were drafted in the top 7 picks.

AI saw a jump in his sophomore year (draft year) but the 1:1 is for freshman season. Even so, King only ever shot above 41% from the field 1 time in his 4 year college career (Senior) and then went on to be a career 50%+ NBA shooter over the course of 14 pro seasons.

I don't think it's common but it doesn't seem implausible. Cam also shoots just so few 2PA, that its tough to care about his FG%. Two thirds of his FGA are from 3, so I would imagine he'd shoot a lower than normal percentage from the field.

Hmmm...I agree that his low FG% should be taken in context with the fact that he takes a ton of threes, but it should also be taken in context with his role on the team. Iverson and King were the leading scorers on their teams by a mile, in both cases averaging nearly twice as many points as any of their teammates. Reddish, in contrast, is operating as a third option; his percentages would presumably be lower across the board if he was working in a Romeo Langford-type role.

He's obviously helped his stock recently, and I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I'm not sold on him yet.
 
My draft rater actually doesn't totally hate Reddish, but I'm wondering if there's any precedent for a guy shooting 37% from the field getting drafted in the top-5. Seems like a risky pick, and I'm not sure the upside (i.e. potential to be an elite offensive creator rather than an off-ball scorer type) is there to justify it.

There are examples of 3rd bananas in college being better pros than their star teammates though in a leading role. Mike Conley comes to mind.
 
Since #1 involves even more luck than in previous seasons, I'm just hoping for top 3.

I think Zion, RJ & Morant all have all-star ceilings, and if Reddish continues his uptick and has a solid tourney, he is very close as well.

5 or worse would be devastating, if that happens, I'd be looking to trade down and pick up some assets.

I was half listening to Jeff Phelps today and he's got it all wrong think cavs need to win more games etc and add another piece instead of
tanking for Zion, justifying his rational that the odds are not as good having the worst record to get the best pick etc.
It isn't so much about winning the lottery as it is ensuring the worst pick you have is still in the top 5
 
That 2nd part is a bold statement. Its only happened once this decade & once the last decade.

The fact Luka didnt make it is disgusting.

If Luka had gone to the Cavs he would have been on the team tho. East baby
 
There are examples of 3rd bananas in college being better pros than their star teammates though in a leading role. Mike Conley comes to mind.

That's true, but I'm drawing a distinction between efficient 3rd-option guys like Conley and inefficient 3rd-option guys like Reddish. Conley was a very efficient passer/scorer by PG standards. Reddish has not been very efficient for a 3rd-option wing, which suggests to me that he may not be capable of taking on more of a leading role in an offense.
 
If Luka had gone to the Cavs he would have been on the team tho. East baby
Something tells me Lue would have benched his ass lol.

On a somewhat related topic:
If Luka is drafted by the Cavs, are we in the playoff hunt? Assuming minimal roster turnover this year & Luka is inserted in that Lebron playmaker role.
 
Since #1 involves even more luck than in previous seasons, I'm just hoping for top 3.

I think Zion, RJ & Morant all have all-star ceilings, and if Reddish continues his uptick and has a solid tourney, he is very close as well.

5 or worse would be devastating, if that happens, I'd be looking to trade down and pick up some assets.

The average draft only produces about 1.5 All-Stars. If we are talking multi-year. It typically includes another 2-2.5 guys who are 1 year All-Stars or right on that fringe level of the top 24 or so players, at some point in their career.

I think this isn't a very good draft beyond Zion though, so it wouldn't surprise me if none of these other guys just aren't ever Tier 2 players. Probably plenty of NBA starters and quality ones but I'm pretty bearish on anyone outside of Zion reaching All-Star status.

I think a few have that ceiling but maybe Barrett is the only guy I'd be remotely comfortable putting money on, as his weaknesses seem most correctable. So I honestly don't think there's any difference between drafting 3-9 in this draft, just looking at the prospect pool. JA is fine, I like him but it's not devastating if you lose out on him IMO.

Most teams probably only care about being top 2, as you get 1 of Barrett or Zion.....beyond that, I honestly don't think it matters. That next pool of players have very similar ceilings to me....and at a variety of positions.
 
SI prefaced their updated big board today with this:

The shape of the 2019 draft remains somewhat uncertain at this stage, given that beyond the top three or four players, there’s a less-pointed talent gap than in recent years, one that has been somewhat aided by injury and a number of the projected top freshmen all slumping. Apart from Zion Williamson, and to a lesser extent Ja Morant and R.J. Barrett, there aren’t many players inspiring a great deal of confidence. At the end of the day, teams have to use their draft picks on somebody, and so parsing through the pack and evaluating on a team-specific basis will be even more crucial than usual in a year where “best available” might be more of a relative designation. There’s still a good deal of talent on this board, particularly in terms of guys who could become quality role players, and so writing it off as an expressly bad class would be premature. As college basketball’s platform increases, prospects always set themselves apart.
 
MY CAVS BIG BOARD WITH A COUPLE OF FAST RISERS INTO THE TOP 10
1. ZION WILLIAMSON
2 RJ BARRETT
3 OCHAI AGBAJI
4 JA MORANT
5 JARET CULVER
6 NAS LITTLE
7 KEVIN PORTER
8 CAM REDDISH
9 JAXSON HAYES
10 TALEN HORTON-TUCKER
 

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