What's your natural strengths/weaknesses for the 2018 NBA Draft Prospects?

[NBASupes]

Just now, AHF said:

One of my worries that sticks out more for Bamba than anyone else is that he is both the oldest of all the elite prospects and the guy who is most raw in terms of skills and BBIQ.  He has the best physical tools of anyone in the draft but the farthest to go as a basketball player, IMO.

He is a player everyone knew Basketball wasn't a passion but with money and objective, is he more Hageman for the Falcons or Dontari Poe for the Chiefs. The Hope is that he's Poe. His best play is ahead of him. 

[AHF]

3 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He is a player everyone knew Basketball wasn't a passion but with money and objective, is he more Hageman for the Falcons or Dontari Poe for the Chiefs. The Hope is that he's Poe. His best play is ahead of him. 

He has all the tools to get there but he needs both the passion and to develop the instinct because I think pre-draft he clearly doesn't have the natural vision for where to be on the floor and how the play will flow that many of the greats do.

[Spud2nique]

11 minutes ago, AHF said:

One of my worries that sticks out more for Bamba than anyone else is that he is both the oldest of all the elite prospects and the guy who is most raw in terms of skills and BBIQ.  He has the best physical tools of anyone in the draft but the farthest to go as a basketball player, IMO.

This is what cooled me off of Bamba in the last 48 hours lol...we know he’s intelligent, that’s wonderful. We know he has the physical tools, also great, but we can’t ignore the fact that his offensive game is super raw and in today’s nba, you need offense. No matter how good your D is, it might not matter if you can’t score the ball on the other end. 

 

I mean the Jazz were ok with Gobert, but when they got Donovan, they seemed to go to a different level as a team. Unfortunately we don’t have a Donovan Mitchell so things could get ugly in a hurry.

 

 

[nathan2331]

This is what cooled me off of Bamba in the last 48 hours lol...we know he’s intelligent, that’s wonderful. We know he has the physical tools, also great, but we can’t ignore the fact that his offensive game is super raw and in today’s nba, you need offense. No matter how good your D is, it might not matter if you can’t score the ball on the other end. 

 

I mean the Jazz were ok with Gobert, but when they got Donovan, they seemed to go to a different level as a team. Unfortunately we don’t have a Donovan Mitchell so things could get ugly in a hurry.

 

 

Bamba isn't going to carry us, but I don't think we need that guy this year if he's not available. I get that we need a bucket getter, but you need quality players in other positions too. Next year is heavy on wings, we can hopefully get one then.

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, nathan2331 said:

5 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

This is what cooled me off of Bamba in the last 48 hours lol...we know he’s intelligent, that’s wonderful. We know he has the physical tools, also great, but we can’t ignore the fact that his offensive game is super raw and in today’s nba, you need offense. No matter how good your D is, it might not matter if you can’t score the ball on the other end. 

 

I mean the Jazz were ok with Gobert, but when they got Donovan, they seemed to go to a different level as a team. Unfortunately we don’t have a Donovan Mitchell so things could get ugly in a hurry.

 

 

 

Bamba isn't going to carry us, but I don't think we need that guy this year if he's not available. I get that we need a bucket getter, but you need quality players in other positions too. Next year is heavy on wings, we can hopefully get one then.

Yup we aren’t in a hurry. The goal is to make a playoff run in 2019-20.

[NBASupes]

19 minutes ago, AHF said:

He has all the tools to get there but he needs both the passion and to develop the instinct because I think pre-draft he clearly doesn't have the natural vision for where to be on the floor and how the play will flow that many of the greats do.

I agree. He is in the high risk category for me with Trae Young. I love Bamba but even I admit, I'll rather move up for him than take him at #3

[NBASupes]

@Spud2nique I recorded the show. It sounded okay. I want to clean it up. Might shorten up the show for public consumption. I'll send you the link personally for the long ep. 

[Spud2nique]

3 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

@Spud2nique I recorded the show. It sounded okay. I want to clean it up. Might shorten up the show for public consumption. I'll send you the link personally for the long ep. 

Nice work! Ya let me peep it once you’re done.

Also, I think I’ve narrowed my list..

Bagley

Doncic

Trae

Porter

 

I’m cutting Bamba. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still like him in a scenario where we pick up a Luka or Trae but I’m not sure I want Bamba alone at #3.

 

4 players for that #3 pick now for me.

 

[NBASupes]

Understood. My #3 pick is really just two players. 

Doncic or Bagley. Wildcard: Bamba

#4 is Bamba 

I still want Young but not in the top 5. If he falls outside of the top 10, I would vastly consider. I think #4 is the most likely pick to trade into the top 10 with for what assets we have. 

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Understood. My #3 pick is really just two players. 

Doncic or Bagley. Wildcard: Bamba

#4 is Bamba 

I still want Young but not in the top 5. If he falls outside of the top 10, I would vastly consider. I think #4 is the most likely pick to trade into the top 10 with for what assets we have. 

I honestly think Schlenk loves Doncic the most. Schlenk also started out his career with Don Nelson who was big on international players..had one of the pioneers in Sarunas with the scrubs in the 90’s and then Dirk with the Mavs. 

 

Doncic might be the unicorn ? of the draft.

I would hate to miss out on the next Derek Nowinski.. 

[Spud2nique]

9 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Understood. My #3 pick is really just two players. 

Doncic or Bagley. Wildcard: Bamba

#4 is Bamba 

I still want Young but not in the top 5. If he falls outside of the top 10, I would vastly consider. I think #4 is the most likely pick to trade into the top 10 with for what assets we have. 

I also really want the Hawks to be part of the puma JayZ Bagley brand moving forward.

[thecampster]

15 hours ago, NBASupes said:

Nope. He was the first of his kind. Kevin Johnson was the first of his kind. A PG who was a great athlete that had PG skills. Then we got the Steve Francis, Baron Davis which lead to the Rose, Westbrook and Walls of the world.

AHEM..cough, cough 

 

[ATLien_]

On 6/17/2018 at 11:44 AM, benhillboy said:

Yup, see Donovan Mitchell.  If anyone here had him lighting sh@t up like Wade with a 3 in his first season I’ll take their word in this year’s draft.

Hate to toot my own horn, but you asked. Jerome Robinson is the guy I think can have a Donovan Mitchell type impact this year if he goes to the right team. He looks like he's a NBA 3 level scorer to me. Not the athlete or defender that Mitchell is, but he's solid defensively and is a pretty good athlete. I think he will score more efficiently than Mitchell. 

My quotes on Donovan Mitchell last year before the draft. I have to just copy the text because I can't figure out how to copy the whole quote with timestamp from another thread. 

Quote

I really want to the Hawks to trade up for Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell or John Collins in that order, but I don't think we will. Markkanen looks like he's going top 10 now, but I believe to get Donovan Mitchell we would need to trade up to the Pistons spot as I think they will take him. We can probably get John Collins with Denver's pick. If the Hawks do trade up they'll probably take Frank Ntilikina who has European Iman Shumpert written all over him. 

Quote

Yes I think in general guys that can score and shoot are rising because so many teams lack scoring and shooting. Should sound familiar to Hawks fans. Guys that project as defensive rebounders with less polished offense are falling. Donovan Mitchell is sky rocketing because he projects to do both.

Quote

Guys we would have trade up for.

1. Lauri Markkanen – Would be a star in coach Bud’s system. Perfect fit for Bud.

2. Donovan Mitchell – Poor Man’s D-Wade or rich man’s Eric Gordon with D.

3. John Collins – Super productive big that needs to get better on D, but has the physical tools to be a good defender. Will eventually stretch out to NBA 3.

4. Zach Collins – I’m not as high on him as everyone else, but he you would need to trade up to get him.

Quote

I think the three biggest weaknesses of this team right now are outside shooting, ball handling, and lack of shot creators. We really don't have a single player that can just ISO and get their shot. This is one of the reasons I wanted us to trade up for Donovan Mitchell because he checked all 3 of these boxes plus added defense. Before people bring up Dennis let me say he really is a straight line driver, that's really fast. He has very little wiggle or deception(change of speed) to his game. I don't consider him to be an above average shot creator.

This last quote is from July 12 2017 just after the draft. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On 6/17/2018 at 3:36 PM, JayBirdHawk said:

I don't watch enough college ball for this.

I just want  'THE' guy that will move us in the right direction. 

All these players have strengths and definitely weakness they need to work on. There are no LBJs in this draft - what we need us for who ever we pick to exceed expections and make those around him better.

While I do follow college ball, I completely agree with your post.  I want THE guy.   I honestly could care less what a guy's weakness is, as long as their main strength is superstar like.

There are normally 2 "special" players in each draft.  We need the Hawks to take one of the two.

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

While I do follow college ball, I completely agree with your post.  I want THE guy.   I honestly could care less what a guy's weakness is, as long as their main strength is superstar like.

There are normally 2 "special" players in each draft.  We need the Hawks to take one of the two.

Just 2? I was gonna say 3 or 4. Agree with you guys I want a superstar. Since I became a fan 33 years ago we’ve had 1. That is the saddest thing ever. Even my Detroit Lions had 2. Smh.

[NBASupes]

47 minutes ago, ATLien_ said:

Hate to toot my own horn, but you asked. Jerome Robinson is the guy I think can have a Donovan Mitchell type impact this year if he goes to the right team. He looks like he's a NBA 3 level scorer to me. Not the athlete or defender that Mitchell is, but he's solid defensively and is a pretty good athlete. I think he will score more efficiently than Mitchell. 

My quotes on Donovan Mitchell last year before the draft. I have to just copy the text because I can't figure out how to copy the whole quote with timestamp from another thread. 

This last quote is from July 12 2017 just after the draft. 

He tremendously improved even by your expectations 

[ATLien_]

16 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He tremendously improved even by your expectations 

I think he just went to a situation where he got a tremendous amount of shots.  I knew he would benefit from NBA spacing, but I didn't know he would be this clutch and mentally tough. I knew he was athletic, but that 1 hand put back in the playoffs, I didn't know he had that in him.  

 I think decreasing his usage next year and allowing him to be more selective with his shots will make him better and more valuable. Utah needs to add a second scorer to go with him. I could see them going after Jabari Parker this off season, they have the defenders to hide him. 

[NBASupes]

On 6/17/2018 at 1:30 AM, NBASupes said:

Ayton-

Strengths: 

Strength

Coordination

Body Control

Size/Length/Hands

Touch

Projectability

Speed for size

Rim running

Confidence

 

Improvement Areas:

Movement on offense and defense

Using his athletic ability on defense

Aggressiveness when rebounding

Awareness in general

Aggressiveness in positioning for post feed

Vision

Communication

Impact? 

Does he want to win. 

Scheme versatile 

Doncic: 

Strengths: 

Strength

Coordination

Body Control

Court Vision

Skill

Crafty

Movement

Shot-making ability

Ball handling

Passing when keeping it simple

Clutch

Confidence

Improvement Areas:

Very poor Lateral quickness

Closeout Speed (Equivalent to Kyle Korver)

Speed

Doesn't deal with full court pressure well

Flashy passer but causing turnover

No defensive position (not just positionless)

Inconsistent shooter

Projectability isn't high at all. 

 

Bagley

Strengths: 

Elite RARE Athlete (First Step, Quickness, Agility, Speed, Lateral Quickness, Acceleration, Explosiveness, jumping)

Coordination

Body Control

Finishing in the paint

Aggressiveness

Movement

Natural Scorer

Ball handling for position

Stamina

Feel for the game on offense

Motor

Confidence

Toughness

Hands

Improvement Areas:

Strength

Defensive Awareness

Situational Awareness on offense

Off ball defense

Paint Protection

Finishing with right hand

Not as comfortable attacking with right hand

Lacking advanced skills for a scorer. 

Shot blocking aggressiveness in college

Communication on defense

Body? 

Wingspan? 

Overconfidence? 

Very coachable but does he receive information and process it quickly? 

We seen him handle a mass amount of responsibility but he wasn't effective at it on defense? Sign of more to come or can he improve it? 

 

Bamba

Strengths: 

Elite RARE Length with Athleticism 

Agility

2nd step

Finishing in the paint

Paint Protection - His best trait

Shot blocking

Handles a great deal of responsibility without fouling and showed improvement. 

Intelligence and quick mental processing

Open court speed is exceptional

Confidence

Willingness to bang regardless of size of the attacker

Toughness

Plays with his length and athletic ability

Explosive in space 

Does never seen before things

Standing reach and geometry radius

covers a lot of ground on offense and defense, when he polished, he will be a nightmare. 

Shooting touch and exit look good

Struggled more than most 1st rounders in the 1st half of the season but was superior in conference play. Pigeonholing him will be a mistake. Let him loose. 

Adjusting

Lack of flaws offensively give you hope that he can become a 20 PPG scorer one day. Maybe sooner than later. 

Everyone has fought for him who vetted him. Well liked. 

Mature

Improvement Areas:

Stamina

Feel for the game on offense and defense

Inconsistent Motor

First step but it's never really good for guys his height and frame

Inconsistent hands

Offensive and defensive polish

Frame? Too thin lower body. Limits his low post defensive ceiling

Shooting speed is slow and his shooting footwork is poor, seems to have cleaned it up recently

Passing

dribbling into traffic

finishing in traffic

Basketball focus before the NCAA's was not there. He was more of a studious individual. Is this person he has shown us during this process the real him?

Too kind? doesn't play like it in my eyes

Split personality like CP3? 

JJJ

Strengths: 

Body

Defensive awareness

Jump/run athlete

Great defending with length

Uses tools well on defense

Gives great effort on defense and communicates consistently

Quick reaction skills

Rare passion that he brings to the defensive end of the court

Shows three point consistency

good ball handling ability when given space

Shot blocking especially weakside

Projectibility 

Team player

Coachable

Improvement Areas:

Coordination

Body Control

Core Strength

Feel for the game on offense

Screen setting

Ability to attack in traffic

Ability to finish through contact

Passing

NBA Readiness?

Low post defending

Foul prone especially when defending in space

Doesn't rely on instincts to defend the post as much as he does on assignment

Shooting Form (Translate?)

Confidence? 

Toughness? 

Trae Young 

Strengths: 

Scoring

Passing

Vision

Work Ethic

Will to win

Burst off the screen

Shooting from range

Shooting when open

Competitiveness

Did I say scoring? 

Ability to run the PnR/PnP

Deep range passing, will expose lazy defense (talking to you, Mo Bamba) "Ryan Cameron voice" 

Coachable

Improvement Areas:

Passion about defense

Lateral Quickness isn't terrible but doesn't really use it

Wingspan

Body? 

Ability to run a complex offense

NBA Readiness

Defensive awareness

Offense is his best defense

Can be selfish at times, not a player stars like playing with. Might need to put him around movement players and paint protectors. Not just rim protectors but paint protector. You need to be able to cut off the lane with him like Deke with Iverson. 

Finishing through contact

Defensive energy

Advanced PG skills

Ability to run an offense that doesn't revolve around him

Decision making when teams cut off his options.

Next tomorrow will be Porter Jr, Carter Jr, the Bridges, and Sexton

 

Where did I miss? 

[NBASupes]

@kg01

[benhillboy]

On 8/30/2020 at 7:04 AM, NBASupes said:

Where did I miss? 

I don’t watch those other guys but Trae and Doncic evaluations were 95% spot on.  Only thing you missed was making the players’ names easier to find through the indentations and bolding lol.

Edited August 31, 2020 by benhillboy