2023 nba draft thread: starring victor, scoot... and more!

gradey dick had his worst shooting game of the season last night, though he did have two blocks in the first 5 minutes. in general, yeah, he looks so smooth on offense, beautiful shot, if someone closes out hard on the 3 he can drive past and go to the hoop or pull up, it's been so fun to watch him this year. kansas has never really had anyone like him, and as a fan i'd like to have him back for one more year, but that ship has probably sailed.

even putting the twinkishness aside, he reminds me a lot of tyler herro.

lol, this is an interesting comp. i don't watch miami nearly as much as j0rdan, but i think dick could get to that level of dangerous complementary scorer/borderline star.

kind of a bummer how many prospects i’ve never seen a second of because of the g-league factor. i get it tho, the game is the game

one guy who i like is jalen hood-schifink from indiana, seems to be a true 6’6” with athleticism, a deep bag, and passing ability. they have a great college big and a real point guard, but the offense flows through him

he did just play his worst game of the year against iowa, probably the worst defense in the big ten lol, but that was after dropping 35 on purdue. his 3pt shooting is inconsistent, but he’d be a solid mid-first, late-lottery guy

one guy who i like is jalen hood-schifink from indiana, seems to be a true 6’6” with athleticism, a deep bag, and passing ability. they have a great college big and a real point guard, but the offense flows through him

he did just play his worst game of the year against iowa, probably the worst defense in the big ten lol, but that was after dropping 35 on purdue. his 3pt shooting is inconsistent, but he’d be a solid mid-first, late-lottery guy

― avatár the way of watár (voodoo chili), Wednesday, March 1, 2023 8:15 AM (two weeks ago)

fingers crossed i'll get to see him vs miami in round 2 of the tourney, have not checked him out this year. altho the last time i scouted a player off of their second round tournament performance against miami i became convinced that walker kessler had no chance of surviving in the NBA. so we'll see

hollinger sounding the alarm on scoot

Is there a race for the second pick in the draft? Henderson has been the presumptive No. 2 pick all season, but while Alabama’s Brandon Miller puts together a big season on the court, Henderson’s up-and-down play in the G League has started to raise some eyebrows. I watched him play in College Park on Wednesday night as he scored 17 points in a 131-105 blowout loss; after a 13-point first quarter, he was basically invisible the rest of the night.

First, let’s start with the good news. Henderson is very clearly an elite athlete, and that is going to translate immediately to an NBA floor. Look at this move early in the game in College Park; suffice to say nobody else in the G League is taking two enormous steps from the 3-point line and dunking like this

And yet … when Henderson can’t get a head of steam in transition his play devolves toward ordinary. Opponents go under ball screens and leave him settling for pull-up jumpers, which he takes in bunches but doesn’t convert at a particularly high rate. Henderson also rarely draws fouls, getting to the line just 72 times in 25 games this year. For somebody with his athleticism, that’s shocking. He’s also not much of a 3-point threat, shooting both infrequently and not all that accurately: converting just 22 of his 68 tries on the season

His line on Wednesday was fairly typical — 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting, with five assists and four turnovers. Henderson averages 17.6 points and 6.4 assists on 44.3 percent shooting for the year, so it’s not like I witnessed some wild outlier. Defensively, he wasn’t overtly awful but you wouldn’t say he made an impact either, and at certain junctures he clearly could have done more.

Big picture, it’s another wobbly data point for the G League Ignite program. Henderson’s numbers haven’t improved at all (PER 14.9 this year versus 15.2 last year, shooting 44.3 percent versus 44.9 percent), and his most obvious weakness, perimeter shooting, hasn’t shown any real improvement either.

On the other hand, Henderson’s own work ethic seems exemplary, and might actually be part of the issue: a staffer told me he was already on the arena floor practicing at 3 p.m. for a 7 p.m. game, which would have meant he worked out for over two hours on a game day. (He wasn’t just lobbing free throws, either.) When I got there they were actually trying to pull him off the floor for a media hit and he was continuing to work. Seeing him dominate the first quarter before fading, I’m wondering if he was spent by halftime.

Overall, my takeaway is that watching Henderson is similar to watching Derrick Rose or Anthony Edwards in college, where you have to take the results with a grain of salt and understand the freakish athleticism underlying his game. That said, he’s going to have to develop a reliable jump shot to justify being the second pick in the draft, and he also needs to put more genuine pressure on the rim. Given that he already represents a player archetype – high-scoring, shoot-first guard who generates headlines but isn’t very valuable unless it’s accompanied by high efficiency — he no longer feels like a no-brainer to go second.

Of course, Henderson’s most likely rival for that spot, Alabama’s Miller, has his own obvious questions to answer. Nonetheless, Henderson’s play has left the door open.

well maybe ultimately comparing a guy to ant edwards and derrick rose isn't exactly sounding the alarm

kevin pelton talking about his projections having miller over scoot on the latest windhorst podcast

windhorst also mentions an executive told him he has miller over scoot

would imagine this narrative will continue to build especially if miller has a strong tournament

if it were me i prob wouldnt select miller due to the murder situation

the miller situation is just so patently grotesque I just don’t know what to think…like it would seem that if alabama had some exculpatory evidence they’d at least...mention it? maybe there are legal constraints on what can be said? it’s inexplicable to me that for all the conversation the past decade about the different legal vs extralegal burdens of proof wrt like campus sexual assault that this guy is still playing when he was party to an actual murder of a classmate. I just don’t know what to think

its outrageous

yeah i just try to ignore it because it's so awful and dumb

yet i just saw an article about how he's traveling with an armed guard who wears alabama gear, so that's very normal and good

personally if my team drafted the murder guy well i'd have an issue with that

what he did was stupid but he’s very young, i don’t think it should make him undraftable

the situation has scummy cover up vibes but that’s on the coach and people running the university not the 20 year old

its much worse than stupid

maybe it’s worse. i dunno about much worse. in any event i don’t think it makes him unemployable or an indefensible draft pick

yeah i mean someone asks for a gun you give it to them and then they do a murder whatre you gonna do

i know the police have said hes not a suspect and its unclear exactly what happened but its certainly not hard to imagine him picking up some sort of charge here

and that pat down dance he did my god your actions directly lead to someone getting murdered and thats what you do i would not want anything to do with him

the league has made its standards for conduct pretty clear with the ja stuff

does the nba have an official gun manufacturer yet?

the smith and wesson midseason tournament presented by the suns owner property management group

“We knew about that. Can’t control everything everybody does outside of practice. Nobody knew that was going to happen. College kids are out, Brandon hasn’t been in any type of trouble nor is he in any type of trouble in this case. Wrong spot at the wrong time,” Oats said.

truly sick stuff

sucks to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time and then you give a gun to someone who commits murder with the gun

the story theyre telling about him not having any idea what was going on strains credulity so to speak

is that an actual quote k3vin? that's messed up

i saw koc was dabbling with moving miller above scoot on his board and was just smh at koc being koc. didn't know pelton was doing it too. it's like the curse of analytics, if there's no way to quantify it the "journalists" don't know how to factor the possibility of a charge as an accessory to MURDER into their uh draft rankings. it is absurd.

he'll probably just go top 3 because this is not a business that ha smuch patience for ethics and morals in its calculus. but if he actually falls down the draft at all, what's sad is that the farther he falls the greater the narrative gets that the team that takes him got a steal, they're edgy and brash! willing to take a risk where no one else would. like MPJ going to the nuggs... only this is accessory to murder, not a bad back. just smh all around

i cld def see him falling like even if a team doesnt care about character or whatever and a lot of teams genuinely do the possibility that your player might go to jail has to be factored in, tho maybe theyll have more clarity on the legal stuff by then maybe they already do idk

the alabama coach has apologized for that quote saying he didnt know all the facts and didnt mean to come off like that fwiw i personally dont think its worth much

fair. but the way they have circled the wagons around him is definitely gross

its crazy i cant believe the ncaa is letting him play

sicko fuckin organization

i don't think the NCAA has the power to suspend a player for something like this... i don't think the NCAA has gun rules. plus this gun was legally owned (tho not by miller). also the NCAA is an insanely slow moving bureaucratic body, they'd never be able to investigate & levy punishment when he was still in school. they're completely useless. it really falls on alabama to take the initiative but...... we're talking the SEC here. those schools are not in the business of voluntarily suspending their best players for not committing a crime (in the state of alabama). so idk

no investigation nothing throw college athletics in a hole

it is hard to argue w/ that point...

or peltons stats are or both

The top player in Kevin Pelton's statistical projections for this year's draft is UConn's backup center who won't even be in the draft.

College basketball is a ridiculous enterprise.

— Robert Williams 🩹🩹🩹 Truther (@dangercart) March 16, 2023

pelton uses a blend of his projections w/ the givony espn draft rankings to prevent thing like above ^^ i don't have insider but he said on windhorst's pod that his top 3 are 1. victor 2. miller 3. scoot ... so the same as everyone else's

cowardly, he shd stand by his stats

Considering how the NBA is fast-tracking Ja's apology tour, I'm sure that a team would be willing to spend a high lottery pick on Miller and then do what they can to shield him from legal repercussions.

this is so much worse than the ja sitch tho there was a murder

I mean even by big time college sports' amoral and demented standards the way this has been handled is crazy

a lot of it will prob come down to how much teams think he was really involved in it and whether thats reflective of his typical behavior or he just got swept up in a bad situation, the pat down dance was really bad if youre looking for some sort of barometer, if he ends up in legal jeopardy thats obvs very bad and maybe he doesnt get drafted at all

i think it's worth reading the big espn story on the incident. first off there's multiple instances where the police/prosecutors and defense disagree on what happened (most pertinently which side fired the first shot) & i think we won't have a set of established facts until the trial. maybe i'm a sucker but i read this and feel like miller prob thought he was bringing the gun for his friend's self-protection. which i don't think is a horrible awful outlier decision for someone to make. stupid and dangerous yes, obviously, but not egregious. it seems crazy to me that the other player from bama (darius miles) was charged w/ murder... miles' friend (the shooter) seems like the real bad guy who instigated all of this, to me

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/35777040/how-former-alabama-basketball-player-friend-ended-charged-death-jamea-harris

guy who can teleport is prob a pretty safe #1

Putback dunk off his own stepback 3 🤯 https://t.co/ARkuLYGsAI pic.twitter.com/fXgjzrIAmO

— NBA (@NBA) April 2, 2023

his game is unarguable. (but he maybe shouldn't be so much of a dribbler when he goes to the nba)

why even do all those moves when you can just shoot over everyone

I feel fairly confident in saying that missing a step back 3 —> putback dunk is something that has never happened in the history of basketball

in the wide view of the play it even looks pretty normal, but its not lol

yeah you need the angle that follows the ball, where wemby coming back in the frame like that just does not compute, in order to appreciate how insane it is

dink pate

NEWS: Dink Pate, a five-star recruit in 2024, has signed a two-year deal with G League Ignite, he told ESPN. Pate, who is graduating high school at 17, becomes the youngest-known American professional basketball player ever.

STORY: https://t.co/rSVQ8IJpKC pic.twitter.com/6tXyZBonvZ

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 17, 2023

gotta be leonard miller

MPJ?

oh yeah MPJ is a good one

he may have still been in the lottery but certainly counts in spirit

it’s understandable that matt armstrong stopped posting on ILH given his demanding job as GM of the mavs

The Kings are trading Richaun Holmes and No. 24 to Dallas, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 23, 2023

olivier-maxence prosper is such a good name

it’s been a huge night for the french

celtics taking that pick they got for marcus and trading right out of the first round

The Celtics will get No. 31 in the trade, per source. https://t.co/DHxLqCuLlc

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 23, 2023

dammit i need to stay awake for 6 more picks

Celtics should be in range to use the $5M Taxpayer MLE after they trade Marcus Sasser to the Pistons and drop out of the #25 pick.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 23, 2023

lol yeah they are keeping me up

Pacers are keeping No. 26 and eyeing a mid-major riser on boards.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 23, 2023

i didn't know there are multiple kobes

one day the league will be only kobes

come on

Hearing the Celtics are trading down yet again from No. 31. Swapping with the Hornets for picks Nos. 34 and 39.

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) June 23, 2023

lol i figured this would happen

has he been talking to belichick

is brad evil now

im telling u, bad stevens

Bad Stevens

sure why not

Celtics are trading Colby Jones to the Kings for No. 38 and a future second rounder, sources said. https://t.co/YIIMaQyl3d

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 23, 2023

our long nightmare is over i have no idea who either of these guys are

Celtics have taken Jordan Walsh at No. 38 and Mouhamed Gueye at No. 39.

— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) June 23, 2023

they also picked up 3 future 2nds lol

they got their gueye

lol

who knows what a 2nd is worth you can get brad beal for six but also you can get five for the 25th pick

nuggets seem to be targeting guys who have size and can shoot it. I can’t say I’ve ever seen any of these dudes play, but I like the type of player they’ve gotten, their bench minutes have been such a black hole

ok whatever idc

Per source, Jordan Walsh is headed to the Celtics and Mouhamed Gueye is not.

— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) June 23, 2023

I’m a little surprised they didn’t take jackson jr, he seemed like a nugget

guy from ucla gets drafted and emerges from the crowd wearing a suit with no shirt

so they kinda just forfeited one of the firsts they got from washington? i’m sure it a cap thing but i thought they could have actually used a new young guy

yeah

they also picked up 3 future 2nds lol

those are good to have because they can trade them for six 2nds even further in the future. and they can trade those six and turn them into 12. eventually, in 2040 or so, the c's will own every pick in the entire second round. which they will package to trade back into the 2041 1st round, at #27.

weird saga

Sources: The Cleveland Cavaliers are selecting Emoni Bates at No. 49.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 23, 2023

apparently he had a 27 inch vertical at 179 pounds at the combine

https://lede-admin.defector.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2023-06-22-at-10.00.23-PM.jpg

My favorite part of going to the NBA Draft last week was when they showed all of Gradey Dick’s pets on the Jumbotron for some reason. pic.twitter.com/OGQ5LKAz3c

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 27, 2023

I havent caught a ton of raptors minutes this year, but I’m taking a look at gradey dick’s stat line…

not greaty

seems bad that the guy who was brought in to become a shooter is putting up 27/24/100 splits

apparently he’s kinda been a mess in the g league too. might not have the athleticism