2025 NBA Draft Thread

[HuskyHawk]

Now you’re just gaslighting.

If Kon played for UConn and Liam Duke you wouldn’t be saying this stuff. Liam will be good, Kon deserved his draft spot and was significantly better than Liam in College. It’s okay.

Really? I disagree entirely. I straight up think Liam is the better player because he goes into the paint and battles. If he didn't get hurt, he puts up better numbers than Kon. Even with the injury, he was as good or better. The draft position difference is completely undeserved.

• The 6-foot-7 forward made 27 appearances for Connecticut in his freshman year, averaging 14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game
• Knueppel spent only one season at Duke, averaging 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.5 minutes per game

 

[jibsey]

Really? I disagree entirely. I straight up think Liam is the better player because he goes into the paint and battles. If he didn't get hurt, he puts up better numbers than Kon. Even with the injury, he was as good or better. The draft position difference is completely undeserved.

• The 6-foot-7 forward made 27 appearances for Connecticut in his freshman year, averaging 14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game
• Knueppel spent only one season at Duke, averaging 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.5 minutes per game

When you see the numbers in black and white and also realize that UConn’s competition was better than the ACC its head scratching time on their draft positions. Knueppel is very good but that much difference?

 

[IndyLives]

Liam got some bad, bad advice from someone. If you're not a lock lottery pick, you come back for your 2nd year. Especially after the ankle sprain, he wasn't the same player.

 

[djct1999]

Way too early to judge if this was a mistake for Liam. Assuming he will always be slated in the 15-30 range, at worst it cost him roughly 9 mil in guaranteed money(1mil+ in nil to return, 8 mil more guaranteed getting drafted 15th). More realistically, it probably ended up costing him closer to 5 mil in guaranteed over next 4 years for the chance to start the clock now. Like most guys in this range, it all depends on his next contract. If it’s a max deal, it’s always worth starting the clock asap. If he is out of the league in three years, then he made a mistake. My gut tells me even though last night was somewhat disappointing, it was still the right decision for Liam and his family.

 

[RuffRuff]

I didn't say anything about what they deserve or who had a better freshman season. What a strange response.

The point is we don't know how their careers will turn out and scouts and GM's get it wrong all the time.

You need to look up what gaslighting actually means. You're not the only one, it's used all the time and often used incorrectly.

Gaslighting and narcissist seem to be the most beloved overused and misused terms these days.

 

[Lafayette]

Way too early to even know if Liam stays in Charlotte. They have back to back picks in the 2nd round and have invested enough in young talent that they make package a pick + Liam and move down.

Should be an interesting Day 2 with Kalkbrenner, Kam Jones, and a number of Big East players should be drafted.

 

[RuffRuff]

Poor Liam being drafted by that dead end for UConn Huskies. He should have stayed another year and really made it to lottery status.

Let’s not poor Liam him - still netted a 14mm contract and who knows if his stock goes up with another year. It could have just as easily exposed his flaws further. Now it’s on him to get to the second contract. Go get it Liam.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Really? I disagree entirely. I straight up think Liam is the better player because he goes into the paint and battles. If he didn't get hurt, he puts up better numbers than Kon. Even with the injury, he was as good or better. The draft position difference is completely undeserved.

• The 6-foot-7 forward made 27 appearances for Connecticut in his freshman year, averaging 14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game
• Knueppel spent only one season at Duke, averaging 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.5 minutes per game

Look at their efficiency, its not even close. There is a reason why almost all draft analysts and experts had Kon top-6 and Liam in the 18-26 range. Sure, Liam fell a bit, but I think us UConn fans are the only ones who think Liam is CURRENTLY better than Kon.

 

[Lafayette]

Really? I disagree entirely. I straight up think Liam is the better player because he goes into the paint and battles. If he didn't get hurt, he puts up better numbers than Kon. Even with the injury, he was as good or better. The draft position difference is completely undeserved.

• The 6-foot-7 forward made 27 appearances for Connecticut in his freshman year, averaging 14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game
• Knueppel spent only one season at Duke, averaging 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.5 minutes per game

To be fair, Kon's supporting staff included Flagg and Malauch so did Kon had some an overabundance of freedom from being the #1 guy. Tough to evaluate Pippen in Chicago if you feel me.

 

[RuffRuff]

Really? I disagree entirely. I straight up think Liam is the better player because he goes into the paint and battles. If he didn't get hurt, he puts up better numbers than Kon. Even with the injury, he was as good or better. The draft position difference is completely undeserved.

• The 6-foot-7 forward made 27 appearances for Connecticut in his freshman year, averaging 14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game
• Knueppel spent only one season at Duke, averaging 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.5 minutes per game

We put a lot of emphasis on the injury here / he was given plenty of time to heal and had his best game off the injury. Can we stop already? Kon was a better all around player, really high IQ kid and as they said, stole what Liam was touted for as being the best catch and shoot player in this class. No one is going to draft a kid because he goes wildly off balanced into the paint throwing up prayers.

 

[ctbro1999]

Look at their efficiency, its not even close. There is a reason why almost all draft analysts and experts had Kon top-6 and Liam in the 18-26 range. Sure, Liam fell a bit, but I think us UConn fans are the only ones who think Liam is CURRENTLY better than Kon.

As much as it pains me to say it, if Liam were on last year's Duke team, his efficiency #'s would almost certainly be better as they were flat a better team.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

As much as it pains me to say it, if Liam were on last year's Duke team, his efficiency #'s would almost certainly be better as they were flat a better team.

Fine, that may be true. But he wasn’t. Teams don’t draft on those scenarios lol, Kon showed out and got drafted high for it.

 

[Lafayette]

As much as it pains me to say it, if Liam were on last year's Duke team, his efficiency #'s would almost certainly be better as they were flat a better team.

Or any team with a 6'5" solid PG.

 

[ctbro1999]

Fine, that may be true. But he wasn’t. Teams don’t draft on those scenarios lol, Kon showed out and got drafted high for it.

Yeah, not trying to tear down Kon. Will be interesting to see how him and Liam do in Charlotte, as they have similar games/position. I see both of them being 3's in the NBA, as neither is big/athletic enough to be a 4 IMO.

 

[Son of Robert]

When I did my stint up at Osborn we’d call those country club cabins.

Ever meet a guy named Father Steve, used to preach there back in 2001 or thereabouts?

 

[auror]

As much as it pains me to say it, if Liam were on last year's Duke team, his efficiency #'s would almost certainly be better as they were flat a better team.

Yeah. I assumed NBA teams would know better considering the injuries and still draft Liam knowing his pedigree and that it was actually pretty impressive that Liam became The Guy as a freshman on UConn coming off a back-to-back with dudes like Solo and Karaban on the team.

But it makes sense when you consider psychology. He was still a bit of a risk with his low efficiency numbers and poor defense. And it's easy for teams to fall in love with someone else without as many blemishes. The mocks for him were all over the place, which is clear in hindsight meant that nobody loved him. And teams generally draft somebody they fall in love with. He was likely in contention with every pick in that range, but they all independently decided they loved someone else more while acknowledging that Liam would have been a reasonable pick.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We put a lot of emphasis on the injury here / he was given plenty of time to heal and had his best game off the injury. Can we stop already? Kon was a better all around player, really high IQ kid and as they said, stole what Liam was touted for as being the best catch and shoot player in this class. No one is going to draft a kid because he goes wildly off balanced into the paint throwing up prayers.

If you want a catch and shoot SG, Kon is the guy. Don't see him creating much. Don't see the strength to guard guys in the front court. If you want a small forward who can get boards, create offense and also catch and shoot then Liam. The thing that surprised me about Liam was that he's just much stronger than expected. He really rebounds and mixes it up with bigger guys. Kon stays outside, plays more like Solo Ball does, with better height. Remember too, Flagg drew a lot of attention and Kon benefitted from that, as Liam did in HS. At UConn, unfortunately, McNeeley was our first option most of the year.

 

[auror]

If you want a catch and shoot SG, Kon is the guy. Don't see him creating much. Don't see the strength to guard guys in the front court. If you want a small forward who can get boards, create offense and also catch and shoot then Liam. The thing that surprised me about Liam was that he's just much stronger than expected. He really rebounds and mixes it up with bigger guys. Kon stays outside, plays more like Solo Ball does, with better height. Remember too, Flagg drew a lot of attention and Kon benefitted from that, as Liam did in HS. At UConn, unfortunately, McNeeley was our first option most of the year.

Kon is an underrated passer. Not PG level, but he takes advantage of opportunities.

We Created New Metrics for Evaluating Passing in the NBA Draft

Ben Pfeifer dives deep into his hand-tracked passing metrics and discusses the best playmaking prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft.

www.basketballinsiders.org

Liam is 2 inches taller than Kon and thicker, so they don't really overlap that much. Kon is a 2/3 and Liam is a 3/4. The main way they overlap is that although Kon was decent on defense for Duke (with a lot of help behind him), you probably don't want to play them together too much for defensive reasons because Charlotte has no other good defenders on the roster.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

If you want a catch and shoot SG, Kon is the guy. Don't see him creating much. Don't see the strength to guard guys in the front court. If you want a small forward who can get boards, create offense and also catch and shoot then Liam. The thing that surprised me about Liam was that he's just much stronger than expected. He really rebounds and mixes it up with bigger guys. Kon stays outside, plays more like Solo Ball does, with better height. Remember too, Flagg drew a lot of attention and Kon benefitted from that, as Liam did in HS. At UConn, unfortunately, McNeeley was our first option most of the year.

Again, I think you are vastly underrating Kon’s skillset in order to lift up Liam’s. I watched a lot of Duke this year (one of my best friends is a Duke fan, I know.)

Kon is very crafty, creates space with fakes as well as his body, he is stronger than you make him out to be. He also impressed me with pick n roll playmaking and playmaking in general.

Sure, he isn’t a great defender, but, without knowledge of advanced stats, he passed the eye test on that end more than Liam did.

I will say Liam is better in transition with the ball and overall may have a higher ceiling as a secondary playmaker, but even that is a bit of a push IMO.

 

[Gurleyman]

We put a lot of emphasis on the injury here / he was given plenty of time to heal and had his best game off the injury. Can we stop already? Kon was a better all around player, really high IQ kid and as they said, stole what Liam was touted for as being the best catch and shoot player in this class. No one is going to draft a kid because he goes wildly off balanced into the paint throwing up prayers.

I agree Kon was a better all around player. The trouble with the specific injury Liam had is that the high ankle is the mechanism that gets you on your toes and gives you your lift. You can recover from a rolled ankle a lot easier. Your shooting mechanics suffer with a high ankle that’s stiff or heavily taped. You can try to will the ball in the basket, but your usual shot is a bit broken - you don’t get your legs in the shot and compensate with your arms too much. And then the confidence goes. The Creighton game proved to be fluky - I was honestly shocked he shot that well, but it was an outlier before the predicatable slump kicked in. For NBA purposes, it might have been wiser not to come back this year - but then he’d be accused of being soft and injury prone.

Kneuppel to me looked like a Cam Spencer playalike - just a few inches taller so he has even more NBA value than Cam. Crafty, smart, good passer, unpredictable. He has a couple more layers to his game than Liam. Although the couple games before his injury, Liam was starting to show more versatility as a passer, hitting step backs, etc. Not sure what would have happened had he stayed healthy (he’d have been scouted by opposing coaches who might have adjusted their defensive schemes).

 

[Lafayette]

Wait has no one posted "Dallas has captured the Flagg" yet?

 

[superjohn]

Kon is an underrated passer. Not PG level, but he takes advantage of opportunities.

We Created New Metrics for Evaluating Passing in the NBA Draft

Ben Pfeifer dives deep into his hand-tracked passing metrics and discusses the best playmaking prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft.

www.basketballinsiders.org

Liam is 2 inches taller than Kon and thicker, so they don't really overlap that much. Kon is a 2/3 and Liam is a 3/4. The main way they overlap is that although Kon was decent on defense for Duke (with a lot of help behind him), you probably don't want to play them together too much for defensive reasons because Charlotte has no other good defenders on the roster.

I think Kon will likely be exposed defensively in the NBA. He's too small to guard forwards and he's too slow to guard guards. He greatly benefitted by what he had around him at Duke. Liam wasn't nearly as fortunate with the way things played out last season due to roster construction and injuries. He was asked to be our do everything guy and he had a fairly serious ankle injury and apparently he had pneumonia at some point during the season.

 

[superjohn]

Sounds like you need to get in the Subaru and take a ride and a deep breath when you wake up this morning. You had a busy evening playing GM, real estate agent inventing a new name for a duplex. You were gaslighted because someone doesn’t know what gaslighting is and apparently you think you’re the smartest guy in the room (insufferable) had to play professor lol. Also, you played social leader again being overly offended by a silly comment. Thats a full night! You must be exhausted wearing all those hats while trying to sound superior as most of us laugh at you.

I can teach you about Google/Google Search, it's a search engine on the internet. You can look up what a duplex is and what gaslighting means.

 

[ctbro1999]

I think Kon will likely be exposed defensively in the NBA. He's too small to guard forwards and he's too slow to guard guards. He greatly benefitted by what he had around him at Duke. Liam wasn't nearly as fortunate with the way things played out last season due to roster construction and injuries. He was asked to be our do everything guy and he had a fairly serious ankle injury and apparently he had pneumonia at some point during the season.

Kon having guys named Flagg and Maluach behind him certainly helped cover any defensive deficiencies.

 

[freescooter]

I’m sure if you did some kind of review of draft place vs performance over a long period you’ll find some correlation but the NBA draft has become more and more about potential than current talent. Heck something like 18 freshmen were selected. A year ago they had to ask mommy if they could stay out past 10:00 pm. So almost every one of them is a development project and a fair number will spend at least some time in the G-League. Success for lots of these guys isn’t guaranteed. I think that is especially true for later picks. For most guys like Liam you are planning/hoping on them being solid contributors in maybe 2-3 years, not the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James in their rookie year.

 

[Scoe]

Hey remember when Todd Fuller was drafted over Kobe yes the NBA gets it wrong all the time. Hornets drafted Kon and Liam so I don't get why there's a debate here.

 

[fatlucy]

2025 NBA Draft grades: Complete pick-by-pick analysis from Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey through Round 2

The drama at the 2025 NBA Draft required a second day for completion

www.cbssports.com

29. Charlotte Hornets (via Suns): SF Liam McNeeley, UConn

This is a steal for Charlotte. At pick No. 29, you're looking for a surefire NBA player. McNeeley is that. He's a competitive 6-8 wing and was the primary offensive option for UConn when healthy for much of last season. This is terrific value. There's little doubt in my mind that he's a better shooter than what we saw this year. I think he's a pro for 10-plus years. Grade: A

 

[JohnFSilver]

Liam went lower than I thought. I was thinking 20 but Brooklyn had all these euros I never heard of.

29 gets paid. So I think it worked, him coming out.

Surprised Celtics didn't take him. Seems
Perfect for them. McNeeley about a year away from challenging for PT in nba, so for boston just put him in g league for a year seems a good option. If McNeeley stays I bet he would have been top 20 if he shot the ball
better. But coming out paid off.

As far as Boston, Hugo Gnozalez, don't look at his ppg in EuroLeague. He plays on real
Madrid, which is a super team. McNeeley probably wouldn't even make that roster. Gonzalez spent time as a 9 year old developing in their system. He kind of got stuck at end if bench for experience reasons.

 

[Lafayette]

Hey remember when Todd Fuller was drafted over Kobe yes the NBA gets it wrong all the time. Hornets drafted Kon and Liam so I don't get why there's a debate here.

I remember when Chicago got Jordan with the #3 pick. I believe that meant 2 GMs were fired.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

2025 NBA Draft grades: Complete pick-by-pick analysis from Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey through Round 2

The drama at the 2025 NBA Draft required a second day for completion

www.cbssports.com

29. Charlotte Hornets (via Suns): SF Liam McNeeley, UConn

This is a steal for Charlotte. At pick No. 29, you're looking for a surefire NBA player. McNeeley is that. He's a competitive 6-8 wing and was the primary offensive option for UConn when healthy for much of last season. This is terrific value. There's little doubt in my mind that he's a better shooter than what we saw this year. I think he's a pro for 10-plus years. Grade: A

For sure a steal at that pick. Let’s see how Summer League plays out. He has a lot of talent, we asked him to do too much and his shot was pretty off for the whole season, but everyone knows he is a good shooter. Excited to see him prove it.