What's new

Following Potential 2025 Draftees

Sure, lots of problem with numbers and a lot of mistakes are made in interpreting them....but I also think that the defensive context is not great in college, you're limited in how much you can watch, and there's bias when we do watch. I would say that when the film disagrees with the numbers, I often side with the film more. So I don't know if that makes me a film guy. A lot of my initial opinion and baseline expectations is from the numbers, then there are other times where I feel like I just need 5 minutes to know a player is going to suck or be very good. Maybe it's just because I don't have the eye for it, but in general I trust my comfortability with the pros/cons of numbers analysis most to build that initial impression. From there, I'm comfortable with using the film to help me determine how accurately the numbers represent the player. Thankfully, we don't have live in a world where you have to rely on one or the other.

I also just generally have a disdain when told "watch the film" when I'm jeopardizing my WFH job everyday watching as many youtube videos at 1.5 speed as I can. Personal grievance lol.

Makes sense, lol. FWIW, I don't think it takes a crazy amount of film to get a good idea on if a guy is a good defender or not. I guess when you are trying to get as granular as you are with the original post that got brought up it makes a difference though.

And maybe this thought could be true: It's easy/semi easy to see who are going to be good/average/bad defenders, but it's very difficult to distinguish between guys within those tiers.
 
Watching a little bit of Kon film right now. The Kon/Khaman PNR was a weapon for Duke. I'm not sure if Kon benefited more from Khaman or the other way around.

I'm having a hard time finding anything outside of the Kon/Khaman PNR that would lead me to believe that Kon can be a ball in hand guy in the NBA. Everything else is very basic connector type stuff.

I'll keep looking though.
 
If Yang can shoot, pass and run the floor, I don't see why he can't play the 4 like Sengun was playing for the Rockets. We can put out a 2 big or even a 3 big lineup any time when needed. Kessler a way better version of Steven Adams.

I am not sure myself but my impression is that Yang is a pure center type. There was an interesting conversation on a podcast where Draymond Green talked about sliding guys between the 5 and 4. He explained that the 4 and 5 are completely different positions that had their own ways of playing and that there was a misconception that you could just slide guys between those positions and be fine. It was one of the more informative takes I have heard from Green.

If I find the podcast episode, I will link it.

Its one of the concerns I have for a guy like Asa Newell. He plays like a pure center but I don't think that will be his position in the NBA. And can he play the 4? Maybe, maybe not.
 
I like what I see out of Neoklis. Thought he would be a bit more selfish based on the highlights, but he's playing a good game.
 
-Lauri is 6'11 that shoots the three well
-Beats Siakam is almost every stat category
-27 yrs old (Siakam was 29 when he was traded)
-This is subjective, but I think Lauri is a better player than Siakam. Siakam has had better players around him than Lauri has. Lauri would be even better with better teammates. The game plan against the Jazz is stop Lauri and you probably win.

There are probably other reasons to that I am not thinking of

Lauri is turning 28 in a week and has tons of injury history, I don't think age is a strong positive here.

While Lauri's statistical peak is slightly higher than Pascal's peak (3.8 and 3.6 BPM for Lauri's two best years compared to 3.6 and 3.4 for Siakam), Pascal has been way more statistically consistent throughout his career. Lauri has graded out as a league average player in basically every year other than 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

The height is nice, but Siakam is way better defensively so it doesn't really help that much in many areas.

The shooting is the real main advantage and it's a huge one, but Siakam was a much better defender and shot creator with a similar peak, a championship ring, less injury history, and more consistency.

I just don't see Lauri exceeding Siakam's return and Lauri will have to play very well in the first 20-30 games of next year to even match that return.
 
Lauri is turning 28 in a week and has tons of injury history, I don't think age is a strong positive here.

While Lauri's statistical peak is slightly higher than Pascal's peak (3.8 and 3.6 BPM for Lauri's two best years compared to 3.6 and 3.4 for Siakam), Pascal has been way more statistically consistent throughout his career. Lauri has graded out as a league average player in basically every year other than 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

The height is nice, but Siakam is way better defensively so it doesn't really help that much in many areas.

The shooting is the real main advantage and it's a huge one, but Siakam was a much better defender and shot creator with a similar peak, a championship ring, less injury history, and more consistency.

I just don't see Lauri exceeding Siakam's return and Lauri will have to play very well in the first 20-30 games of next year to even match that return.

Hmmmmm, its a reasonable take. Are you saying we should be less picky with the Lauri return overall?
 
Back
Top