Following potential 2017 draftees...

[The Midnight]

I have an answer for ya but pretty much my best answer is identical to the last time they had a pick in the 20's which is; that I'd hope to catch a falling top-20 player(Lydon, Anunoby, Kurucs, Hartenstein, Rob Williams) instead of finding a favorite in what that range seems to be. Which ofc ended up happening with Rodney..

There's a few players directly on that, seem to be top-25 - frige first rd, status I like though. I like players such as Jonathan Jeanne, Luke Kennnard, TJ Leaf, Bam's now in that range IMO, possibly Alec Peters or John Collins, maybe Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk or Mikal Bridges, and definitely Rui Hachimura who only gets 5 minutes for Gonzaga -- I'd DEFINITELY take him and his english isn't even good.. Michael Beasley type athlete... De'Anthony Melton, Felipe Dos Anjos, Drew Eubanks and Cameron Oliver are players I'd consider too.

I'm going to say Maryland's Justin Jackson, who's got a 7'3" wingspan and is shooting 46% from 3 on 3 attempts per. IMO he's good enough to keep the streak of Canadian 1st rd draft picks alive... He's been a completely different player of late and you can bet your *** Maryland is no easy tournament out... I've been hypinng him for a long time here and compared him to Draymond a long time ago (skillset wise, JJ doesn't have that attitude)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Si2aq-YVA8
I'm gonna be spot on about the other Maryland 4* recruit I was hyping Huerter too. I'd actually take him with the 1st 2nd rd pick -- As I've said before he's better than Stauskas at the same stage.

With honorable mention to UL's So. PG/SG Donovann Mitchell and Miami's 6'4" Fr. CG Bruce Brown. (Next on the list would actually be Rui). I like Brown better than Rashad Vaughn from a few years back for sure, he outplayed Kennard in their last matchup and has a better build for defense. Mitchell is a well above avg athlete at the 1, some Marcus Smart to his game, always said that bout him -- His 3pt shot has really come along nicely.

Nice. Jackson reminds me a bit of Danny Granger. (remember him?)

 

[Game6Conley]

That's a good point.
I'm just not sure it's safe to assume that he'll stay in the draft. When you look through his game logs, you see a very inconsistent performance/role. Just because you're extra motivated to take on the #1 and 2 PGs within a week and are extra competitive in those situations, what happened in the games where he was less aggressive offensively?
Those are questions that scouts will have to discuss and interviews at the combine will give them a clearer picture who he is.
He's got a lot of things going for him like exceeding expectations out of nowhere. But at the same time if you have less sample size that can also come to bite you in the *** when your sample includes a lot of less productive stretches.
But I'm with you that he totally should stay in the draft if he getts a first round promise and it's possible.

I've been keeping track of him for a bit now. there seems to be a clear uptick in his assists which has gotta be drawing interest from scouts. if some team thinks he can be molded to a serviceable PG, given his physical profile/defensive prowess, that's his ticket to the 1st rd and a promise..

3.28 apg in NOV, 2.87apg in DEC, 4.57apg in JAN and he starts off FEB with 6

Turns 19 a month before the draft.. he's a high-reward development project thru and thru. Best case he might be something Andre Iguodala ish as a CG.. Watching Melton I can't help but think "If Malik Monk was built like this he'd be the #1 pick"


The best D2 x-fer in college ball Colorado's Derrick White strikes again! He's near the top of my list of favorite players in the NCAA. 19 pts, 8 rbs, 8 asts, 4 blks, 2 stls in victory vs Stanford. Looks like a 6'5 PG that shoots SOLID %'s to me, glad I had him on one of my initial mocks... Definitely way better than Briscoe and I've got him in the 50's of the 2nd rd right now.

If I was on Stanford I'd lowkey be furious about Kodye Pugh redshirting, they could obviously use him. Next year with Pugh and incoming freshman Kezie Okpala they'll have WAY more NBA type talent on the wing..

 

[BTP]

I've been keeping track of him for a bit now. there seems to be a clear uptick in his assists which has gotta be drawing interest from scouts. if some team thinks he can be molded to a serviceable PG, given his physical profile/defensive prowess, that's his ticket to the 1st rd and a promise..

3.28 apg in NOV 2.87apg in DEC 4.57apg in JAN and he starts off FEB with 6

Turns 19 a month before the draft.. he's a high-reward development project thru and thru. Best case he might be something Andre Iguodala ish as a CG.. Watching Melton I can't help but think "If Malik Monk was built like this he'd be the #1 pick"


The best D2 x-fer in college ball Colorado's Derrick White strikes again! He's near the top of my list of favorite players in college. 19 pts, 8 rbs, 8 asts, 4 blks, 2 stls in victory vs Stanford. Looks like a 6'5 PG that shoots SOLID %'s to me, glad I had him on one of my initial mocks... Definitely way better than Briscoe and I've got him in the 50's of the 2nd rd right now.

If I was on Stanford I'd lowkey be furious about Kodye Pugh redshirting, they could obviously use him. Next year with Pugh and incoming freshman Kezie Okpala they'll have WAY more NBA type talent on the wing..

Yes, positive development is probably helping him. The thing we don't know though is how his personality is built. Some kids really want to be an early first round pick and have the confidence that another year of development may improve their stock that way.
Positive development is also the reason I thought that Briscoe is an interesting guy despite vertical shortcomings.
Why would u pick Monk with a bigger body over Fultz btw? Everything I read and see in regards of Fultz is absolutely stunning. I've never seen such a well rounded prospect. I can't think of a single basketball skill where I can't see him becoming good at.

 

[BTP]

double post

 

[Game6Conley]

Nice. Jackson reminds me a bit of Danny Granger. (remember him?)

yup not a bad comp both play with advanced polish/guile/finesse. Jackson's naturally more the jack of all trades "glue" type, who not limited as a scorer, compared to a legit top-3 natural scoring option such as Granger.

Maryland plays with 2 very good college PG's so they don't ask him to facilitate as much.. Jackson has a great feel for the game though, he's the type that you don't have to feature him at all and he'll still do all sorts of damage within the natural flow of things.

Bottom line with him and the Jazz is he's near perfect to be groomed for Diaw's role.

 

[Game6Conley]

Yes, positive development is probably helping him. The thing we don't know though is how his personality is built. Some kids really want to be an early first round pick and have the confidence that another year of development may improve their stock that way.
Positive development is also the reason I thought that Briscoe is an interesting guy despite vertical shortcomings.
Why would u pick Monk with a bigger body over Fultz btw? Everything I read and see in regards of Fultz is absolutely stunning. I've never seen such a well rounded prospect. I can't think of a single basketball skill where I can't see him becoming good at.

Melton's on court personality is that of an extremely high effort player who takes great pride in his defense. I wouldn't know if he is or isn't the type 'that would run thru a wall for his coach' but he appears to play with that sort of enthusiasm. There's some AK-47 to his game..

As for his personality for the draft, I haven't a clue, same with all the USC players. There's still time for them to sway opinions and remove doubt on the court, a deep tourney run could do a handful of their prospects some real good.

Frankly, Briscoe set the bar way too low last year to really consider some of this stuff progress... he's just getting back to par with his shooting really. Missed a wide open layup in transition in the last loss and I gotta say that was pretty much the last straw, hate to say it but he's just so glaringly flawed..

SG is still a weak position; a 6'5" long armed Malik Monk would to me project to be echelons above a Brad Beal... I fully believe people would throw around Jordan comparisons... Would be the best SG prospect I've seen, how could a team like the 76ers pass on that type of flamethrower to space the floor for Point forward Ben Simmons and Embiid the destroyer of worlds??

Fultz would still be in the conversation tho.. He compares to D-Wade and Deron.

UK's staff which has had it's misses but is mostly very accurate preferred 6'3" Monk over Fultz for sure..

 

[BTP]

I guess it's time to watch some Malik Monk. I wish there were proper NCAA streams. The early saturday games are a timeslot I'd usually watch.

 

[BTP]

So where would you draft Monk right now, gun to your head!

 

[Game6Conley]

[tweet]827580944366309378[/tweet]
[MENTION=430]Dr. Jones[/MENTION] any reason to believe he isn't headed to KU to shoot the lights out with Malik Newman next season??

(I still kinda hope Newman declares for this draft btw)

 

[Game6Conley]

So where would you draft Monk right now, gun to your head!

If it's Philly or the Lakers I'd consider him top-3.. He can drop 18ppg and win the ROY on one of those teams..

(especially if the Lakers trade away Sweet Lou Williams)

 

[BTP]

If it's Philly or the Lakers I'd consider him top-3.. He can drop 18ppg and win the ROY on one of those teams..

(especially if the Lakers trade away Sweet Lou Williams)

So you think he'd be a bad fit for Boston, Phoenix, Orlando and other teams that are probably going to have high odds or are there other guys with better talent/skill and he'd just be a very good fit with the Lakers/Sixers?

 

[Game6Conley]

So you think he'd be a bad fit for Boston, Phoenix, Orlando and other teams that are probably going to have high odds or are there other guys with better talent/skill and he'd just be a very good fit with the Lakers/Sixers?

Good fit for Orlando, they desperately need more offense.. Not ideal to put next to Isaiah Thomas so not Boston. Phx could work, it depends, they're backlogged in the backcourt currently.