2025 NBA Draft Thread
- Thread starter ToolzieFan
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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 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.
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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.
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Kon having guys named Flagg and Maluach behind him certainly helped cover any defensive deficiencies.
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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.
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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
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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.
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.
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I remember when Chicago got Jordan with the #3 pick. I believe that meant 2 GMs were fired.
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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.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
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
Hakeem was a no brainer but Sam Bowie? That wasn't hindsight.
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So true. Take the top 2 players from the top 2 teams (according to NCAA seeding) this past college season: Flagg and Broome. You compare their stats head to head, and the 2 of them compare very similarly. Flagg has the edge in 3 pt shooting and steals, Broome the edge with rebounds and blocks...everything else is more or less a push. While Broome played the 5 most of the time, both are projected to play the 4 in the NBA.
So what's the big difference? Flagg's 18 while Broome turns 23 in 3 weeks. Flagg is already as good as he is but still had a LOT of room to become an ever better player, while Broome probably doesn't have much run way to improve his game that much more, being almost 23 already.
They may have more or less been equals on the court this past season, but Flagg has so much more potential to grow his game, hence why he was the consensus #1 pick while Broome is a 2nd rounder.
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Proctor could barely be called a PG. Kid averaged 2 assists a game. He was a shooting guard forced to play PG.
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Now he can take the Brady chip on the shoulder and turn it into something. I don’t sense he was a kid hurting for money to begin with. Take the chip and turn it into a great NBA career.
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Chinese center the Blazers drafted plays like Sengun. if they're really planning on bringing him over this year they gotta move off of at least 2 of those centers. I don't even think you can get anything for Robert Williams given the condition of his knees.
I don't get the complains about this (you're not alone on it, so I'm not picking on you by any means). Do you have something better to do? If so, do it.
I love the draft, and I love another day of content and something to watch tonight. The afternoon was tough to watch and also media people had to choose between making content talking about the 1st round or covering the 2nd round, now they can do both and I can consume both.
HuskyHawk
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I think in a general sense, the NBA is trying to capture the magic, the event that is the NFL draft. They are failing completely in that goal. They will go back to the drawing board I am sure. They have nobody who even knows these players on the broadcasts. There's a stable of college guys who could be good at this, but they choose the NBA guys who are often woefully ignorant of the college game (and in Perk's case, woefully ignorant in general). They need the basketball equivalent of a Mel Kiper or something. A guy who studies all these players, including international, builds little highlight videos, who can dissect strengths, weaknesses etc.
Maybe they will get there. Right now, it's style >>>>>>>>substance and that isn't working.
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The ESPN draft production is trash. The NFL isn’t even that good but is still way ahead of the NBA. Anyone notice Colin Cowherd get drafted last night?
HuskyHawk
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The NFL is impressive. 7 rounds and those guys know details about most players even in the late rounds. They pull up highlights instantly, of hundreds of guys. It's a much harder thing to cover. ESPN NBA coverage can't get the name of a first round pick right.
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they used to have Fran Fraschilla for that, not sure why they dropped him from the draft night coverage team
Even the mlb draft and nhl draft coverage is better. It does help when Stephen A isn't on the draft coverage.
HuskyHawk
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So moving on to Round 2:
For Boston at 32 my preferences are:
1. Rasheer Flemming. Has the body and athleticism to play the 4 and can shoot.
2. Maxime Raynaud. Better NBA game than Kalk.
3. Noah Penda. Know very little, but he can defend both forward spots and his shooting is decent.
For Boston at 32 my preferences are:
1. Rasheer Flemming. Has the body and athleticism to play the 4 and can shoot.
2. Maxime Raynaud. Better NBA game than Kalk.
3. Noah Penda. Know very little, but he can defend both forward spots and his shooting is decent.