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2020 NBA Draft

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One of the guys I am interested in seeing develop this year is Jaden McDaniels at Washington. 6'10" with a 6'11" wingspan. Smooth jumper. Averaged 19.2 points on .500/.292/.706, 9.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 2.0 steals+blocks per game in the EBYL. Hopefully add some strength to his frame this season.
 
Are we tanking this year? Asking for a friend.
 
Are we tanking this year? Asking for a friend.

The Cavs ceiling this year is 25 wins. Absolute ceiling if everything goes well, which it won't. So yes, they are tanking.
 
Yeah, I hardly think the power of positive thinking, perseverence and giving a shit is going to be what holds this team back from a .500 record.
 
Get to keep a close eye on RJ Hampton, Lamelo Ball and Terry Armstrong as they're playing in the NBL.

Must say only a few practice games in and Lamelo Ball is super impressive, I am really surprised. He is absolutely killing it.
Hampton has looked good, scores pretty effortlessly.
Doubt Armstrong goes first round at this stage, is fairly raw.


Didi Louzada, second round pick from Pelicans looks really good too.. did well in the summer league, maybe we should have got another pick and stashed him for ourselves. He probably could contribute at NBA level right now.
 
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Yeah, LaMelo is absolutely a top tier wing prospect in this draft. He's on his way to being a better prospect than Lonzo if he continues this trajectory.

Well, I guess he considers himself a PG. But much like SGA he's got legit wing-size. I kind of like the idea of a team full of ball handlers that can shoot, dribble and pass but might be a tough sell to add a ball-dominant guy to the current guard situation(no pun intended...actually being honest pun totally intended)
 
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Yeah, LaMelo is absolutely a top tier wing prospect in this draft. He's on his way to being a better prospect than Lonzo if he continues this trajectory.
He's been so tough to get a read on because 99% of his film is AAU, Chino Hills, or that All-Star team they assembled at SPIRE. So, most of that is just flaming hot garbage.

I'm impressed by his vision as a passer, but his scoring is still mostly questionable to me, although it's clearly better than Lonzo's. Lonzo always looked pretty mechanical when scoring. Despite LaMelo's flaws, he definitely plays a smooth game.

Will be interested to see him play a more structured style in Australia.
 
He's been so tough to get a read on because 99% of his film is AAU, Chino Hills, or that All-Star team they assembled at SPIRE. So, most of that is just flaming hot garbage.

I'm impressed by his vision as a passer, but his scoring is still mostly questionable to me, although it's clearly better than Lonzo's. Lonzo always looked pretty mechanical when scoring. Despite LaMelo's flaws, he definitely plays a smooth game.

Will be interested to see him play a more structured style in Australia.

He's really high on current NBA front office boards though. He's definitely put himself in the lottery, and unless he totally flames out or suffers major injury, which seems unlikely IMO, he probably will remain a lotto pick. Givony and Schmitz have him top 3 right now which is crazy given where he was at this time last year.


I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on him. He's got enough size and athleticism that he has to be on the Cavs radar, even though he likes to say he's a PG and likes the ball.

I think Lonzo actually would be a great fit next to Garland, and think the same applies to LaMelo. Given how good of a defender Lonzo is, I think LaMelo could also end up a plus defender and plus playmaker as they grew up being taught fundamentals in a similar environment. He would need to put on some weight but I think he could be an awesome point-forward type. He looks like he'll be able to defend 1-3 at minimum.

I know people will go crazy at the idea of drafting a "third PG", but LaMelo is 6'6-6'7, and honestly I feel like he might already be creeping up towards 6'8. Regardless, he's tall, long and athletic enough to play as a forward with a guards skill-set.
 
Lamelo is on the same team as Aaron Brooks so he will probably play as a wing on defense a fair bit
 
Makes sense Lamelo is seen as top 3, i was going off tankathon’s ranking of 18 which is why I was so surprised. Terrence Ferguson a few years ago struggled a bit in the NBL and went at around Pick 23(?)
 
It's going to be hard to initially parse the eventual criticism of LaMelo from the clusterfuckery that was the whole Big Baller Brand/reality show/Lonzo kerfuffle from a couple of years back. There's a lot of baggage clinging to him and it's all waaaay more public than you usually see from college athletes, and I wonder how much of that will haunt him regardless of his performance over the next year.

Consider how often you hear about college athletes having "an attitude problem" or "questionable work ethic" or "basketball IQ", these things that aren't necessarily the easiest to parse from a distance. Normally those things, whether true or not, do end up having at least somewhat of an impact on the discussion surrounding a prospect, but in most cases they kinda fizzle out unless it becomes more pronounced in regards to the actual on court product. With LaMelo i feel like he already has significant ground to cover up, simply because of the preconceived notions formed by how messy and public his situation was the last time it was brought up in the news. It's going to be extremely easy for people to fall back on that narrative and stick to it, because it's already such an established talking point with regards to the chaos surround the Ball family. the same amount "maturity issues", "work ethic", etc. that you will have seen in countless other tremendous prospects who turned out to be fantastic pros could end up being weighed for more heavily in LaMelos case.

I think it's something that is worth keeping in mind as the year goes on and narratives and impressions are formed on the draft class.
 
It's going to be hard to initially parse the eventual criticism of LaMelo from the clusterfuckery that was the whole Big Baller Brand/reality show/Lonzo kerfuffle from a couple of years back. There's a lot of baggage clinging to him and it's all waaaay more public than you usually see from college athletes, and I wonder how much of that will haunt him regardless of his performance over the next year.

Consider how often you hear about college athletes having "an attitude problem" or "questionable work ethic" or "basketball IQ", these things that aren't necessarily the easiest to parse from a distance. Normally those things, whether true or not, do end up having at least somewhat of an impact on the discussion surrounding a prospect, but in most cases they kinda fizzle out unless it becomes more pronounced in regards to the actual on court product. With LaMelo i feel like he already has significant ground to cover up, simply because of the preconceived notions formed by how messy and public his situation was the last time it was brought up in the news. It's going to be extremely easy for people to fall back on that narrative and stick to it, because it's already such an established talking point with regards to the chaos surround the Ball family. the same amount "maturity issues", "work ethic", etc. that you will have seen in countless other tremendous prospects who turned out to be fantastic pros could end up being weighed for more heavily in LaMelos case.

I think it's something that is worth keeping in mind as the year goes on and narratives and impressions are formed on the draft class.

Ehh, yeah Lavar is of course an annoyance, but I always feel like he will be more tied to Lonzo than LaMelo.

Regardless, LaMelo actually seems like a high IQ player. His game does not look like someone with maturity issues. I don't think Lavar will have too big of an effect on his draft stock if his talent places him in the top 5. I mean, Lonzo went #2 and Lavar was a known quantity then. He went 3 slots ahead of Fox who dominated him head to head in the tournament and who I thought was a clear better prospect. But I think LaMelo's ceiling is significantly higher than Lonzo's from the little I have seen thus far.
 

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