Unfortunately he's not entering.
Following Potential 2025 Draftees
- Thread starter Elizah Huge
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Unfortunately he's not entering.
I can't stand his jump shot, but I can't argue he has by far the best indicators of those 3.
I've been watching a lot of Fears film on the Cashiggy YouTube site and he should definitely be a lottery pick, maybe top 10. I'm not sure I can get much higher than that.
I mean, the Jazz have a huge hole at the backup 5. They are terrible defensively, especially when Walker is off the court. I think it just makes sense to have another 5 to develop behind Walker.
Really big and athletic. He's kind of on the skinnier side now, but I think he has a good frame for muscle. Looks like he can defend the rim and switch when needed. Extremely fast in the open court. Quick jumper with a big vertical reach. His jump shot/FT doesnt look awful.
Think what Dallas had with Lively/Gafford. He's kind of like a Gafford but bigger.
I think the draft is fairly level in the 6-10 range, so whether a team likes Kon, Queen, Fears, Kasparas, even CMB, becomes eye-of-the-beholder. Fears is only 18 and has some potential to develop into a starting lead guard, but you have to be a bit imaginative to see it. In a nutshell, he plays a bit like a young Dame Lillard, but he doesn't shoot like Lillard.
I would still have Kas in a tier higher than the others, but generally agree.
Could you post what they have to say about Fland? Sounds like he was part of the workout as well.
I'm very curious if he stays in the draft and if so, what range he'll end up in projections.
I'm still not sure how to weigh form. Some people say good form is a reason why a guy can shoot, some say bad for is why he can improve, and I'm definitely not convinced we even know what good form is (if it exists) in detail. For me, I feel most comfortable not weighing it much until someone can demonstrate how it's been useful over a larger sample size.
Fland not ranked high enough to have a comment made about him, but he is ranked 53rd.
Kind of crazy that he was pretty definitively a first rounder until he hurt his hand.
Thanks for posting. I need to do more research on Fears. My faith in Kas hasn’t wavered much. I still don’t know what I think about Tre.
Hand under the ball (truly shot one-handed, guide hand is there just in case), shooting arm is as close to 180 degrees/perfectly perpendicular to the rim as possible.
After that, there can be a lot of variation/subjectivity, but if your shooting platform isn’t perpendicular to the rim as a rule/goal, I don’t know how people are supposed to correct.
Another thing that I see gets argued both ways....who benefits most from NBA spacing? Let's just take Harper and Ace for example. Some people will say that Ace can't get to the rim because of poor spacing. Then you have Harper who gets to the rim at will with the same spacing and people will say once he gets to the NBA he will go bonkers. Logically, I think both makes sense....but who actually benefits from NBA spacing the most/suffers from NCAA spacing? Is it the guys who can't get to the rim or is it the guys who can get to the rim despite the poor spacing?
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I would tend to think it would be guys that get an advantage versus guys that struggle. Its kind of about the second layer of defense and I think Ace's issues are more about getting enough space/separation on the first step or in his individual moves. For either guy I could see their lives being really different because of having more space and having actual teammates who weren't trash. College basketball is sometimes a different sport lol.
Good shooters. They draw their own defender in and thus can get behind them to make use of that space.
People said "oh but NBA spacing" on guys like Scoot and Thompsons... but there is no space if your own defender sags off. Despite their athleticism they cannot create offense consistently off the dribble.
Albeit with Ace his handle may prevent him from dribbling inside even if he poses a respectable shooting threat.
seattlejazzfan
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ha. the thought i had watching last night (and i like yours better) was that he looked like Carmelo if Carmelo were a freaking monster and could pass.
seattlejazzfan
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i'd probably take de larrea in the lottery if he were in the draft.
I tend to agree. Ace is kind of a special case where I actually think he could get to the hoop and FT line at the college level if he wasn't always angling to get to his middy. He can get that shot at any time which is great, but it's also very bad because he will take it at any time as well.
I think this is very relevant to Fears vs Tre as well. I think both played on pretty trash teams. My guy feeling is that I like the transition of Fears better. I see him bobbing and weaving through crowds of defenders (and teammates) and he's still able to get to the hoop. I really feel like he can get there when he has shooters and actual good rolling bigs around him. Maybe Tre can get to the rim with that spacing, but I feel like there are not too many examples of guys who didn't get to the rim/FT line in college that can in the NBA.
Kas is also a guy that gets to the rim more than you would think. IMO, he plays the most like an NBA player out of these guys....does that mean he will translate better? Or does he have an existing boost that the others will have once they get into the NBA?
It was Thomas Sorber day on Cashiggy: https://www.youtube.com/@cashiggy3219/videos.
I just watched 3 videos in a row of his. I'm pretty sure I saw the Villanova game live, but I can't remember now. Here are some thoughts:
- Offensively he's a little bit of a blank slate. Does quite a few things well, but nothing great. He actually has a little bit of a face up iso game he can do against other bigs (in the NCAA). He is a decent passer and has pretty good instincts in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if he develops an outside or mid range shot at some point, it doesn't look terrible. I wouldn't count on the outside shot happening, but I think it's possible. Most disappointing from an offensive standpoint is his rim finishing where he doesn't seem to have great touch around the rim. He missed a lot of close/easy looks in the videos I just watched.
- Defensively he is just a beast at defending the rim. He really owns the paint and is extremely active and effective at defending anything in the restricted area. He can hold his ground against bigger players and is great at anticipating where smaller players want to go. On the negative said he is a complete disaster on the perimeter, and might be the slowest lateral mover of any of the first round prospects. Basically every player who drove on him while he was defending them on the perimeter got to the rim, easily.
I just watched 3 videos in a row of his. I'm pretty sure I saw the Villanova game live, but I can't remember now. Here are some thoughts:
- Offensively he's a little bit of a blank slate. Does quite a few things well, but nothing great. He actually has a little bit of a face up iso game he can do against other bigs (in the NCAA). He is a decent passer and has pretty good instincts in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if he develops an outside or mid range shot at some point, it doesn't look terrible. I wouldn't count on the outside shot happening, but I think it's possible. Most disappointing from an offensive standpoint is his rim finishing where he doesn't seem to have great touch around the rim. He missed a lot of close/easy looks in the videos I just watched.
- Defensively he is just a beast at defending the rim. He really owns the paint and is extremely active and effective at defending anything in the restricted area. He can hold his ground against bigger players and is great at anticipating where smaller players want to go. On the negative said he is a complete disaster on the perimeter, and might be the slowest lateral mover of any of the first round prospects. Basically every player who drove on him while he was defending them on the perimeter got to the rim, easily.