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Poll: 2021 NBA Draft

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Who are the top three prospects in the 2021 NBA Draft?

  • Jalen Suggs

    Votes: 33 38.4%
  • Evan Mobley

    Votes: 75 87.2%
  • Cade Cunningham

    Votes: 70 81.4%
  • Jalen Green

    Votes: 47 54.7%
  • Jonathan Kuminga

    Votes: 6 7.0%
  • Jalen Johnson

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Scottie Barnes

    Votes: 10 11.6%
  • Corey Kispert

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Franz Wagner

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Alperen Şengün

    Votes: 6 7.0%

  • Total voters
    86
  • Poll closed .
I don't see how he can be any worse than Keon, who's basically a shorter, older version of Kuminga.

While Kuminga is pretty raw, he does some things that I think are very promising for a player his age. Most importantly, he gets to the rim and draws fouls quite a lot, both compared to his teammates and compared to other top G-League players. Secondly, he's at least an adequate passer, which hints at future potential to make the high-percentage play on those dribble drives. And finally, I think he projects to be at least an average positional defender, which will make it easier to keep him on the court while his offensive game gradually develops.

Most of his film is him getting walled off half of the time off the dribble though.

For being labeled as an athlete, he seems like a guy that isn't that functionally athletic with the ball.

Just seems like Aaron Gordon 2.0.
 
Most of his film is him getting walled off half of the time off the dribble though.

For being labeled as an athlete, he seems like a guy that isn't that functionally athletic with the ball.

Just seems like Aaron Gordon 2.0.

Is Aaron Gordon 2.0 that bad of a proposition? Probably wouldn't be a top-5 player in a draft like this, but not a bust either. If that's the most likely case outcome, with the potential to be somewhat better or worse depending on how he develops, then he's probably worth drafting in the 6-10 range.
 
Is Aaron Gordon 2.0 that bad of a proposition? Probably wouldn't be a top-5 player in a draft like this, but not a bust either. If that's the most likely case outcome, with the potential to be somewhat better or worse depending on how he develops, then he's probably worth drafting in the 6-10 range.

Aaron Gordon ranks similarly to Dwight Powell and Kyle Anderson in advanced stats like VORP and WS. :chuckle:

Career averages of 12.8 PTS and 6.4 REB and a career BPM of 0.

To me, he's a bust for a top 10 pick. He was traded for nothing consequential, at 25 years old.

Kuminga just doesn't do anything noteworthy across the box score. His athleticism just really shows up nowhere in his pro sample size.

He's not an interesting rebounder, he has pedestrian hustle stats and for someone labeled a two way player, his BLK/STL numbers are underwhelming.

He has talent but he is such a massive project to me. In a draft where (I think) there are so many options of play readiness and ceiling, I just don't see it with him.

He's a guy you can eat crow on for sure, if his situation is good and everything goes right.....but his profile is just a huge stay away to me. Ditto for Keon.
 
Is Aaron Gordon 2.0 that bad of a proposition? Probably wouldn't be a top-5 player in a draft like this, but not a bust either. If that's the most likely case outcome, with the potential to be somewhat better or worse depending on how he develops, then he's probably worth drafting in the 6-10 range.

Screen-Shot-2021-04-20-at-4-57-17-PM.png


Profile wise, the really big red flags relative to Gordon, would be how big of a gap there is with rebounding and hustle.

Because if Kuminga can't reliably generate on ball offense at the NBA level and he can't shoot.......if he's not rebounding and giving you hustle stats, what exactly is he doing?
 
Aaron Gordon ranks similarly to Dwight Powell and Kyle Anderson in advanced stats like VORP and WS. :chuckle:

Career averages of 12.8 PTS and 6.4 REB and a career BPM of 0.

To me, he's a bust for a top 10 pick. He was traded for nothing consequential, at 25 years old.

Kuminga just doesn't do anything noteworthy across the box score. His athleticism just really shows up nowhere in his pro sample size.

He's not an interesting rebounder, he has pedestrian hustle stats and for someone labeled a two way player, his BLK/STL numbers are underwhelming.

He has talent but he is such a massive project to me. In a draft where (I think) there are so many options of play readiness and ceiling, I just don't see it with him.

He's a guy you can eat crow on for sure, if his situation is good and everything goes right.....but his profile is just a huge stay away to me. Ditto for Keon.

I’m totally lukewarm on Kuminga so I’m not going to argue too hard for him. But i will say, i *really* don’t think Gordon is a bust by any reasonable definition. He’d easily go top-10 in a redraft. He’s basically the definition of a median-outcome lottery pick.
 
I voted Mobley, Cade, Suggs. I dont view Cade as a top 3 candidate, but I think thats where he goes.

My top 3 for the Cavs: Mobley, Kuminga, Barnes.

My top 3 in a vacuum: Mobley, Green, Suggs.

My top 3 favorites: Suggs, Barnes, Mobley
 
I’m totally lukewarm on Kuminga so I’m not going to argue too hard for him. But i will say, i *really* don’t think Gordon is a bust by any reasonable definition. He’d easily go top-10 in a redraft. He’s basically the definition of a median-outcome lottery pick.

Maybe bust is too strong of a word.....but I doubt any team is happy with an Aaron Gordon like player in the top 5.

I used him as an example of a guy who is athletic and has theoretical tools but generally lacks refined basketball skill.

Those guys have much lower actual ceilings to me.....especially at any position other than maybe center.

I feel like I forgot how good of a draft 2014 was, when a redraft was mentioned.

Jokic, Embiid, Gordon, Smart, Randle, Capela, Nurkic, LaVine, Warren, Bogdanovic, Harris, Dinwiddie, Grant, Powell.

Crazy number of good NBA players to come out of one draft.
 
Maybe bust is too strong of a word.....but I doubt any team is happy with an Aaron Gordon like player in the top 5.

I used him as an example of a guy who is athletic and has theoretical tools but generally lacks refined basketball skill.

Those guys have much lower actual ceilings to me.....especially at any position other than maybe center.

I feel like I forgot how good of a draft 2014 was, when a redraft was mentioned.

Jokic, Embiid, Gordon, Smart, Randle, Capela, Nurkic, LaVine, Warren, Bogdanovic, Harris, Dinwiddie, Grant, Powell.

Crazy number of good NBA players to come out of one draft.

It is funny that Kyle Anderson is now up to 4th in that draft in VORP. He was like the classic example of a guy stats nerds loved who totally flopped, but now he's one of the best value contracts in the league.
 
It is funny that Kyle Anderson is now up to 4th in that draft in VORP. He was like the classic example of a guy stats nerds loved who totally flopped, but now he's one of the best value contracts in the league.
The Grizzlies are one of my most-watched teams outside the Cavs (along with Denver) and he's been incredible this year. He was an ok rotation player last year, but he's legitimately been really good this season.
 
The Grizzlies are one of my most-watched teams outside the Cavs (along with Denver) and he's been incredible this year. He was an ok rotation player last year, but he's legitimately been really good this season.

I haven't actually watched them much, but I see Melton is playing pretty well too. He was my top sleeper pick in the 2018 draft.

EDIT: Come to think of it, they have JJJ, Tillman, and Bane too, huh? Might as well be reading my mind :chuckle:
 
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I haven't actually watched them much, but I see Melton is playing pretty well too. He was my top sleeper pick in the 2018 draft.
The Grizzlies have become Denver-lite with the way they've been able to stockpile talent and build a deep rotation of young players. If JJJ can get healthy and stay healthy, they could be a legitimate team in the next couple of years.

Jonas Valanciunas (28) and Kyle Anderson (27) are their only rotation players over 25, and they've both been very good. We talked about Anderson, but JV has been their best player this year.

Add in:
Desmond Bane (22)
Xavier Tillman (22)
D'Anthony Melton (22)
Grayson Allen (25)
Tyus Jones (24)
Brandon Clarke (24)
Dillon Brooks (25)

All of these guys have been high-level contributors right now.


Their biggest issue right now is that Ja Morant really hasn't been all that great, and I still think there's a good chance he will be.
 
The Grizzlies have become Denver-lite with the way they've been able to stockpile talent and build a deep rotation of young players. If JJJ can get healthy and stay healthy, they could be a legitimate team in the next couple of years.

Jonas Valanciunas (28) and Kyle Anderson (27) are their only rotation players over 25, and they've both been very good. We talked about Anderson, but JV has been their best player this year.

Add in:
Desmond Bane (22)
Xavier Tillman (22)
D'Anthony Melton (22)
Grayson Allen (25)
Tyus Jones (24)
Brandon Clarke (24)
Dillon Brooks (25)

All of these guys have been high-level contributors right now.


Their biggest issue right now is that Ja Morant really hasn't been all that great, and I still think there's a good chance he will be.

Will be interesting to see how their "bigs" fit together. Would it work to have 3 of Valanciunas/Tillman/Clarke/Anderson/JJJ on the court together? Is it crazy or brilliant to play Anderson/JJJ primarily at SF?
 
Will be interesting to see how their "bigs" fit together. Would it work to have 3 of Valanciunas/Tillman/Clarke/Anderson/JJJ on the court together? Is it crazy or brilliant to play Anderson/JJJ primarily at SF?
I know their Anderson/Clarke/Valanciunas lineups have not had much success this year, but it's certainly worth the experiment.
 
The Grizzlies have become Denver-lite with the way they've been able to stockpile talent and build a deep rotation of young players. If JJJ can get healthy and stay healthy, they could be a legitimate team in the next couple of years.

Jonas Valanciunas (28) and Kyle Anderson (27) are their only rotation players over 25, and they've both been very good. We talked about Anderson, but JV has been their best player this year.

Add in:
Desmond Bane (22)
Xavier Tillman (22)
D'Anthony Melton (22)
Grayson Allen (25)
Tyus Jones (24)
Brandon Clarke (24)
Dillon Brooks (25)

All of these guys have been high-level contributors right now.


Their biggest issue right now is that Ja Morant really hasn't been all that great, and I still think there's a good chance he will be.

Really fascinating to see Brooks as the outlier. As just a largely negative guy less scoring.

Wish I could have a beer and talk about why he seems to have broken through what their typical scouting philosophy is.

It appears the Grizz heavily value non scoring impact (GS/ADJ is value less scoring).

Was also an area Anderson excelled in as well, even though he is not in the below list.

Screen-Shot-2021-04-21-at-10-27-01-AM.png
 
Really fascinating to see Brooks as the outlier. As just a largely negative guy less scoring.

Wish I could have a beer and talk through why he seems to have broken through what their typical scouting philosophy is.

It appears the Grizz heavily value non scoring impact in their scouting assessment.

Was also an area Anderson excelled in as well, even though he is not in the above list.

Screen-Shot-2021-04-21-at-10-27-01-AM.png
Brooks is... not my favorite. Low % scorer, but he does seem to play some defense for them.

Hopefully, JJJ comes back and takes a good chunk of his volume away.
 

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