2019 NBA Draft

[Ozone]

I still think Zion goes number one, and if he stays healthy, he will be the best player on his team.. i do have to puzzle out though, that if Duke has two of the top three players in this draft, as well as one other lottery candidate AND one of the best coaches in basketball, how is it they lose ? I mean none of the Auburn guys are even in the lottery discussion..

To me zion looks like the real deal, but i am wondering how much barrett benefits from the attention he draws..

high lottery projected 1 and done players wearing the same jersey doesn't make them the better bet in the elite 8 to win against a group of players that have been together for years who have an underrated and highly effective lead guard. I wouldn't read into too much.
The only question I had is why Duke did not put the ball in Zions hands in the last 8 seconds instead of Barrett.

 

[Cavatt]

high lottery projected 1 and done players wearing the same jersey doesn't make them the better bet in the elite 8 to win against a group of players that have been together for years who have an underrated and highly effective lead guard. I wouldn't read into too much.
The only question I had is why Duke did not put the ball in Zions hands in the last 8 seconds instead of Barrett.

Realistically, if you want to win that game, you run a pick and role with Barrett and Zion and that is basically unguardable in College with those 2 guys. The fact they didn't do that is just silly, but college teams don't run it much. You can list 1000 reasons why coach K did a bad job. Not having any spacers for his slashing point forward is another one.

 

[Ozone]

Realistically, if you want to win that game, you run a pick and role with Barrett and Zion and that is basically unguardable in College with those 2 guys. The fact they didn't do that is just silly, but college teams don't run it much. You can list 1000 reasons why coach K did a bad job. Not having any spacers for his slashing point forward is another one.

Yeah I was expecting him to put decent 3 point shooters in the game with RJ and Zion , they had time for drive and kick or just let Zion get to the hole with a strong chance of finishing through contact instead of Barrett trying to muscle up to go to the line and miss the fts. Either way Cam Reddish being so inconsistent demanded better use of the roster in the game. Players like Goldwire should have taken his minutes

 

[Cassity14]

I still think Zion goes number one, and if he stays healthy, he will be the best player on his team.. i do have to puzzle out though, that if Duke has two of the top three players in this draft, as well as one other lottery candidate AND one of the best coaches in basketball, how is it they lose ? I mean none of the Auburn guys are even in the lottery discussion..

To me zion looks like the real deal, but i am wondering how much barrett benefits from the attention he draws..

The college game and pro game are very different. Great NBA prospects don't necessarily dominate college the way they will the entire NBA.

It's also one game. Every mistake is magnified in that sense. In sports, a best of 1 rarely decides who the actual best team is, especially in basketball.

It's also very important to realize that freshmen are still freshmen. They are not veterans of even the college game. We don't see teams reliant solely on freshmen win the whole tournament that often. Winning it at all is just so statistically unlikely.

Both Barret and Zion played very well and kept their draft stocks high. I wouldn't put much into a single loss.

 

[I'mWithDan]

Realistically, if you want to win that game, you run a pick and role with Barrett and Zion and that is basically unguardable in College with those 2 guys. The fact they didn't do that is just silly, but college teams don't run it much. You can list 1000 reasons why coach K did a bad job. Not having any spacers for his slashing point forward is another one.

As you intimated, part of the reason they could not run P&R was because of how awful their shooting was.

What team will extend their defense to guard Jones, Reddish and Bolden / Delaurier. Paint just became a mess the further they went.

They just needed less talented but better / more consistent shooters around those two and they probably win the national title.

Another reason was it’s also difficult to rely on two players who are both bad FT shooters. Teams didn’t mind clutching and grabbing in the on ball or screen action because even if a foul is called, your worst case result is a sub 70% shooter trying to make two important FT’s. That makes defense a lot easier.

 

[Nathan S]

Still waiting to hear the case for why Bitadze isn't a top-10 pick in this draft. His combination of vertical athleticism and outside shooting ability seems like exactly what people are looking for in a modern center prospect. Add to that his proven production (youngest ever Adriatic League MVP, one of the most productive teenagers in Euroleague history) and his lack of any serious red flags, and he seems like a can't-miss pick.

Evidence of vertical athleticism, for those who were going to ask:

3-point shooting form. He's 20/52 (38.5%) so far this season, 54/156 (34.6%) for his career:

 

[Jstock12]

Still waiting to hear the case for why Bitadze isn't a top-10 pick in this draft. His combination of vertical athleticism and outside shooting ability seems like exactly what people are looking for in a modern center prospect. Add to that his proven production (youngest ever Adriatic League MVP, one of the most productive teenagers in Euroleague history) and his lack of any serious red flags, and he seems like a can't-miss pick.

Evidence of vertical athleticism, for those who were going to ask:

3-point shooting form. He's 20/52 (38.5%) so far this season, 54/156 (34.6%) for his career:

Bitadze would easily be a top8 pick if he played in college. It's really hard to find a fitting comparison for him. Perhaps a JaVale McGee with basketball IQ and long range shooting.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Bitadze would easily be a top8 pick if he played in college. It's really hard to find a fitting comparison for him. Perhaps a JaVale McGee with basketball IQ and long range shooting.

BEtter, more mobile Nurkic with range?

 

[Jstock12]

BEtter, more mobile Nurkic with range?

Nah, I think he's too different from Nurkic to make a comparison. Nurkic is gigantic (280-290 pounds?) and isn't the shot-blocker that Bitadze is. Nurkic is a worse athlete too, but better passer.

Pretty tough to come up with a good comparison for Goga. There are some shot-blockers in the league who are also good 3PT shooters (Myles Turner, Serge Ibaka, Brook Lopez, Maxi Kleber) but it's hard to compare them to Bitadze.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Nah, I think he's too different from Nurkic to make a comparison. Nurkic is gigantic (280-290 pounds?) and isn't the shot-blocker that Bitadze is. Nurkic is a worse athlete too, but better passer.

Pretty tough to come up with a good comparison for Goga.

True.

I would pick BItadze top 5 tbh.

 

[Nathan S]

Nah, I think he's too different from Nurkic to make a comparison. Nurkic is gigantic (280-290 pounds?) and isn't the shot-blocker that Bitadze is. Nurkic is a worse athlete too, but better passer.

Pretty tough to come up with a good comparison for Goga. There are some shot-blockers in the league who are also good 3PT shooters (Myles Turner, Serge Ibaka, Brook Lopez, Maxi Kleber) but it's hard to compare them to Bitadze.

Minor point, but Nurkic was a pretty worthless passer as a prospect. 44 assists vs 109 turnovers in his last season overseas. Goga's been a little more efficient overall with 35 assists vs 63 turnovers. So if Nurkic can develop into a reasonably efficient 3+ assists per game guy, then that should be within the realm of possibility for Goga.

True.

I would pick BItadze top 5 tbh.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say here. It seems like the sane discussion is whether he competes with RJ/Morant/Culver for a top-4 spot (in particular if the team drafting needs a big), or belongs a half step behind them to be picked in the 5-10 range. But it's hard to have that discussion when most mainstream guys still have him in the 20's, haha.

 

[Nathan S]

Like, Bleacher for instance had Goga going 19th a couple weeks ago. Then he slipped to 28th in their next mock, and now they don't have him in the first round at all in their most recent mock. It's not like he's been playing poorly, so...I'm just at a loss. Over the same span Doumbouya climbed from 18th up to 14th for no apparent reason.

 

[ajz20]

Like, Bleacher for instance had Goga going 19th a couple weeks ago. Then he slipped to 28th in their next mock, and now they don't have him in the first round at all in their most recent mock. It's not like he's been playing poorly, so...I'm just at a loss. Over the same span Doumbouya climbed from 18th up to 14th for no apparent reason.

The guys from Draftexpress who sadly now work for espn, so most of thier content has to paid for, have the best track record by far over the past ten years. If you search best available you can still get thier big board for free. I don’t think you were around during the last rebuild but the board used Giovony and Draftexpress as gospel or close to help evaluate players. They are not prefect but the best online by miles and miles compared to bleacher report and other ametures who try to create analytic big boards that just fall well short in evaluating players.

These guys have been scouting these players since early high school and really go into create detail and usually have very realistic projections. Again no one is perfect but I trust thier stuff because they have proven they know what they are doing.

 

[Nathan S]

The guys from Draftexpress who sadly now work for espn, so most of thier content has to paid for, have the best track record by far over the past ten years. If you search best available you can still get thier big board for free. I don’t think you were around during the last rebuild but the board used Giovony and Draftexpress as gospel or close to help evaluate players. They are not prefect but the best online by miles and miles compared to bleacher report and other ametures who try to create analytic big boards that just fall well short in evaluating players.

These guys have been scouting these players since early high school and really go into create detail and usually have very realistic projections. Again no one is perfect but I trust thier stuff because they have proven they know what they are doing.

Hey, that's rude!

I do like DX though. Just not sure how closely they follow international guys. I doubt there's a single Europe-based scout who believes Doumbouya is a better prospect than Bitadze, but somehow US-based evaluators have been extremely reluctant to accept that.

 

[ajz20]

Hey, that's rude!

I do like DX though. Just not sure how closely they follow international guys. I doubt there's a single Europe-based scout who believes Doumbouya is a better prospect than Bitadze, but somehow US-based evaluators have been extremely reluctant to accept that.

They have the best reputation for scouting international. Giovony travels to Europe often. Again they are far from perfect but I trust them more than others. There is a reason ESPN paid big bucks for them to join, and axed Chad Ford.