Okay. Here's What I Got From An NBA Scout.

[willthepureshooter]

For the past 8 months I've had the opportunity to talk with NBA scouts, current players, former players, and media personalities daily. A part of me is glad it happened because I’ve grown to view the game at both levels differently. With the AAU scene controlling a large percentage of top tier prospects, it’s difficult to believe whether these players are truly talented or whether they’re just good players taking advantage of sponsored opportunity. And yes, I’ve learned there’s a difference between a talented basketball player and a good basketball player. Talented players are sometimes missed because they don’t have the sponsorship or opportunity to showcase their skills. A great example, Ja Morant. A kid who wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school. He was accidentally discovered playing 3-on-3 in an auxiliary gym by Murray State’s (mid-major) assistant coach James Kane while on a recruiting trip at small AAU combine. And the rest is history.  

 

During the past college season, I had Kofi Cockburn of Syracuse University, as my favorite. A large 7’0” 285lbs center who dominated in the paint and required constant double-teams. I absolutely bought into this kid as a game changer for the Hawks until I spoke to a scout. And he stripped this kid down and rebuilt him back while showing the flaws in his game. I won’t bash the kid in here as the scouting reports are available online. And it’s all true. Haha!!

 

Now, lets get back on track. The past two weeks have been a bit hilarious regarding the rumor mill. I’m pretty sure John Collins and Steve Koonin are somewhere quiet with their social media notifications off. The lopsided trade rumors and total disregard of how deals are viewed by NBA general managers is darn right egregious. Its about winning in this league. Nothing more, nothing less. The media has trained us to crave gossip and dreams. What’s sad is these same media minds DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE GAME OF BASKETBALL. They literally regurgitate information received from Twitter and other social applications. ESPN producers are even worse. Some of the guys create burner accounts and use them to generate legs for their wild rumors. For example, the John Collins to San Antonio trade was, in my opinion, manufactured. John Collins and Tim Duncan both went to Wake Forest. Secondly, who trades all those pieces for Dejounte Murray? What additional piece you can add that will replace the production lost with John and Onyeka? Our team still needs space offensively to be affected and Dejounte takes away from that feature as he’s not a consistent enough shooter. It’s the perfect definition of addition by subtraction ending with Travis Schlenk on the first flight out of town.

 

To get back to tonight’s draft and what we can see the Hawks do at pick #16 through the eyes of an NBA scout. I asked my guy the following question regarding the rumor around Sacramento and the 4th overall pick. How much value would you put on the 4th overall pick in this draft? His answer, “every team is different... Which team?” So, I rephrased my question to the following, “if the Hawks traded up, do you see a player at the #4 spot that can help them in 2 years if it requires giving up John Collins?” His answer was simply, “No.” Followed by “what pick do they have now?” I advised the Hawks have the #16 pick in the draft. His answer, “ehhh… they can move up to 10 and get what they want out of Jalen Duren 6'11" Center out of the University Memphis or Jalen Williams 6'6" Guard out of Santa Clara.” I asked him what it would take to move up 6 spots in this draft and he advised it could take Bogi or Huerter and our 1st round pick.

 

I also asked about Malaki Branham 6'5" Guard from Ohio State University, a guy whose game intrigues me the most. His body control on his shot reminds me of Jamal Crawford while his work around the mid-range reminds me of Joe Johnson. Although, he didn’t agree with the comparison due to those guys being bigger than him in size and can handle the ball better, he does believe Malaki can be better than both as his game matures.

I'll try to update you guys more as the Summer League cranks up. Please let me know if you have any questions you would for me to ask as the off-season progresses.

[nathan2331]

I'm curious, what do you think about Jalen Williams? He's my favorite prospect that should be around at #16, but I'm not sure if his draft stock has risen past that point now.

[Peoriabird]

23 minutes ago, willthepureshooter said:

What’s sad is these same media minds DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE GAME OF BASKETBALL. They literally regurgitate information received from Twitter and other social applications. ESPN producers are even worse. Some of the guys create burner accounts and use them to generate legs for their wild rumors. For example, the John Collins to San Antonio trade was, in my opinion, manufactured. John Collins and Tim Duncan both went to Wake Forest. Secondly, who trades all those pieces for Dejounte Murray? What additional piece you can add that will replace the production lost with John and Onyeka? Our team still needs space offensively to be affected and Dejounte takes away from that feature as he’s not a consistent enough shooter. It’s the perfect definition of addition by subtraction ending with Travis Schlenk on the first flight out of town.

 

 

1st of all, some of the posters here must work for the media because many were convinced that Murray was the answer to all of our problems!!!

[AHF]

10 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

many were convinced that Murray was the answer to all of our problems!!!

Could you include a post or two that says this?  I don’t think I saw even his most excited advocates saying he would take care of all our problems.  I saw posts that said things like he was a good defender with solid length for a SG and an outstanding scorer but nothing like a claim as broad as what you are talking about.

[JayBirdHawk]

Just now, AHF said:

Could you include a post or two that says this?  I don’t think I saw even his most excited advocates saying he would take care of all our problems.  I saw posts that said things like he was a good defender with solid length for a SG and an outstanding scorer but nothing like a claim as broad as what you are talking about.

I think it was said he would solve our problem at SG next to Trae - ball handler that can allow Trae to play off ball, defend, rebound and can score.  The value we give up for him is the issue, like everything else.

[Peoriabird]

1 minute ago, AHF said:

Could you include a post or two that says this?  I don’t think I saw even his most excited advocates saying he would take care of all our problems.  I saw posts that said things like he was a good defender with solid length for a SG and an outstanding scorer but nothing like a claim as broad as what you are talking about.

I saw many post stating that he was the perfect back court mate for Trae young so giving up our entire front court plus all of our future draft capital was justified.  Only problem is that the front office thought the complete opposite.

[AHF]

8 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

I saw many post stating that he was the perfect back court mate for Trae young so giving up our entire front court plus all of our future draft capital was justified.  Only problem is that the front office thought the complete opposite.

Can you include one of those posts that proposed trading our entire front court and all of our future draft capital?  I missed those as well.  Want to engage with those posts but haven’t actually seen any like you are describing.  (I did see one or two that were too rich for my blood but nothing like our entire front court and all future draft capital ala some of the really big trades of the past).

[Peoriabird]

9 minutes ago, AHF said:

Can you include one of those posts that proposed trading our entire front court and all of our future draft capital?  I missed those as well.  Want to engage with those posts but haven’t actually seen any like you are describing.  (I did see one or two that were too rich for my blood but nothing like our entire front court and all future draft capital ala some of the really big trades of the past).

This was literally someone's proposed starting line up and it got 2 likes

JC/Whatever f***in picks they want for Murray would be ideal.

Then make some more moves and make a run for Tucker in free agency

Trae

Murray

Hunter

Tucker

Capela

Now we got some defensive dogs on our team with the addition of Murray and Tucker

 

• GameTime and theheroatl
• 2

[willthepureshooter]

3 minutes ago, nathan2331 said:

I'm curious, what do you think about Jalen Williams? He's my favorite prospect that should be around at #16, but I'm not sure if his draft stock has risen past that point now.

Jalen Williams has great size and can create offensively. He's literally the player we need beside Trae.

[AHF]

1 hour ago, Peoriabird said:

This was literally someone's proposed starting line up and it got 2 likes

JC/Whatever f***in picks they want for Murray would be ideal.

Then make some more moves and make a run for Tucker in free agency

Trae

Murray

Hunter

Tucker

Capela

Now we got some defensive dogs on our team with the addition of Murray and Tucker

 

• GameTime and theheroatl
• 2

Ah, so not our entire front court.  Obviously, an open checkbook on picks makes no sense.

[Peoriabird]

46 minutes ago, AHF said:

Ah, so not our entire front court.  Obviously, an open checkbook on picks makes no sense.

We will find our Wing player eventually. We just have to be patient and draft better. If all of these team can find above average wings late in the draft, we should be able to find at least one.  In the mean time Huerter will do just fine.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

I saw many post stating that he was the perfect back court mate for Trae young so giving up our entire front court plus all of our future draft capital was justified.  Only problem is that the front office thought the complete opposite.

 

But we wouldn't be giving up our entire frontcourt.  And he is the perfect backcourt mate to Trae.

[Peoriabird]

Just now, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

But we wouldn't be giving up our entire frontcourt.  And he is the perfect backcourt mate to Trae.

The front office disagrees with you