2023 NBA Draft Megathread

[stitches]

Morant would probably qualify here.

Morant is not a great shooter... but he is a shooter. He shoots it on the catch and he shoots it off the dribble and you have to guard him up to the 3p line even if you don't sell on it as much as you would with a super sharp shooter. I don't think Amen ever gets to that point IMO. With Ausar there is a chance he gets there... not sure it will be enough....

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

you act like i'm making up the fact that the second best team in the league got taken to the woodshed by a HS team. it's a simple fact cy. I'm sorry I'm letting facts get in the way of your silly hyperbole. every power conference team - even the bad power conference teams - in the country would beat any HS team by 50, yet the second best OTE got beat by 15. good grief man. lay off the mary jane for two seconds.

Dear lord, you are insufferable.

Talent is the question. OTE is a group that has gotten a lot of very talented individuals on board. They play a weird style because of the rules and the experiment of letting 16-20 year olds play in a pro-system, so that results in some rough basketball and growing pains.

They got beat by Cam Boozer who could be a top 10 NBA player at some point in his career and has an incredibly advanced body. Who gives a ****? It's such a weird thing to constantly bring up whenever we talk about OTE's talent level.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

Dear lord, you are insufferable.

Talent is the question. OTE is a group that has gotten a lot of very talented individuals on board. They play a weird style because of the rules and the experiment of letting 16-20 year olds play in a pro-system, so that results in some rough basketball and growing pains.

They got beat by Cam Boozer who could be a top 10 NBA player at some point in his career and has an incredibly advanced body. Who gives a ****? It's such a weird thing to constantly bring up whenever we talk about OTE's talent level.

they didn't get beat by cam boozer - they got beat by Cam Boozer's HS team. a HS that isn't even a top 10 team in the country. yes OTE teams are very talented - a lot of HS teams are very talented.

I'm sorry you hate that i bring it up, but the fact they got beat by a HS team is entirely relevant. as a defender of the league, however, i understand why me constantly bringing up that fact would bother you. facts can be a bitch.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

they didn't get beat by cam boozer - they got beat by Cam Boozer's HS team. a HS that isn't even a top 10 team in the country. yes OTE teams are very talented - a lot of HS teams are very talented.

I'm sorry you hate that i bring it up, but the fact they got beat by a HS team is entirely relevant. as a defender of the league, however, i understand why me constantly bringing up that fact would bother you. facts can be a bitch.

Its not relevant in any way.

 

[NUMBERICA]

because he's not really a lead guard. you might be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by trying to make him that.

The counter to that is sharing ballhandling duties is a viable strategy. I also think he has it in him to be a lead if that’s a developmental emphasis.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

A freaking exhibition game is not relevant. If you are formulating huge takeaways from a single exhibition game in a new league you need help.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Morant would probably qualify here.

Nah. He can shoot a basketball. It’s not a strength, but he at least doesn’t have weird chicken wing form and shoot 25% from three. IIRC he shot in the high 30s as a freshman.

Amen might actually be ****ed on this.

 

[stitches]

Depends on what you mean by flourish and what kind of team they get on. I think Amen is going to need a lot of spacing around him.

With Ausar since his **** is better, he's a bit safer, but I'm also scared he might just be Terrance Ferguson or something like that.

I think Amen is the type of athlete that can get wherever he wants on the court, no matter how crowded things get. There aren't a lot of those type of guys in the NBA. If his vision and passing translate to the NBA, then he is going to be good. He'll need to keep working on his shot and commit himself to being a defensive menace, where he certainly has the tools to be crazy good on the defensive side.

Ideally Amen would go somewhere with a 5 that can shoot. If the Jazz somehow were able to draft Amen, and he becomes the type of player he seems capable of, then maybe we would have to pivot from Kessler. Luckily, Lauri makes a lot of different type of lineups work.

I would definitely be nervous to draft Amen, but also super excited since I seem him as one of the few players in this draft with super high upside.

I guess when I say flourish I mean get to all star level guard. A player you would be comfortable giving the ball in a playoff series with game on the line or throughout a playoff series. I've been watching a bit more of their highlights last couple of days...it's insane how much the defense retreats and leaves them space to shoot. I kind of am not sure they will be able to punish NBA level atheltes and length like they did with their athleticism in that league. Like... they were regularly given 10 feet of space... I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. And they still were not able to take advantage in half-court setting. Their half-court setting %s are abysmal for how athletic they are.

I don't know... I'm getting really queasy about them both to be honest. I think I agree it will be hard to fully take advantage of Amen's athleticism if we have Kessler's man clogging the paint in addition to his own man not respecting his shot.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Nah. He can shoot a basketball. It’s not a strength, but he at least doesn’t have weird chicken wing form and shoot 25% from three. IIRC he shot in the high 30s as a freshman.

Amen might actually be ****ed on this.

And yeah, the list of legit contenders - let alone champions - led by a perimeter player than can’t shoot is… uhh… 0? Is it 0?

Giannis is the closest thing I can think of and he’s basically a 7’ freight train surrounded by shooters so I don’t think he qualifies.

I don’t think Russ qualifies because he wasn’t the lead on the Thunder, he doesn’t have shattered form, and he still isn’t as bad as Amen.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Is there really a big difference between Walker, Hendricks and Leonard Miller?

A lot of differences.

 

[NUMBERICA]

If you draft Amen, you just put the ball in his hands and eventually trade Kessler. Otherwise I think it just doesn’t work. It has a chance to if you basically situate him like Giannis (but he ain’t Giannis).

 

[stitches]

If you draft Amen, you just put the ball in his hands and eventually trade Kessler. Otherwise I think it just doesn’t work. It has a chance to if you basically situate him like Giannis (but he ain’t Giannis).

Then why not just trade Kessler for Scoot now and have a better prospect to begin with? (if such a trade is available)