2022-2023 Draft Thread

[hootie249 293]

Great post, this is the guy i had my eye on before the tourny and he looked good. Unlike Miller,George,Black,Whitmore(injured) and a few others.  Kentucky guards just know how to play, i hope Cason is high on our gm's draft board. 

Grady looked good but his team lost a tight one. Jarace Walker and Taylor Hendricks looked good and you just know if the Bulls pick falls back into the late lotto they will bring in the UCF kid for a workout.

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

This is your yearly reminder that basing your entire draft opinions on the tournament is an exercise in futility. 

[jmmagicfan 299]

There aren't a lot of (projected) first round picks left playing. You have Miller and Clowney from Alabama, Walker and Sasser(bubble) from Houston, Smith and Black from Arkansas, Jones from Xavier, and Hawkins from UConn. That's about it for your (projected) top 30. I mean you have 3-4 international guys, the Thompson twins, and a couple of G-League guys, so only 22-24 NCAA guys could have been in the tournament to start, and they didn't all make it in, but realistically you are now down to only 7-8 left in the tournament. You have one or two others left in the NIT/NCAA who are on the 1st/2nd round bubble. Not really an auspicious tournament season for the draft guys so far. 

[hootie249 293]

Oh yeah, definitely not basing everything on this, but it is good to see if players step up or not. I can only hope our team actually has people breaking down the tape. We all assume multimillion dollar organizations do this but every year teams draft guys that can't even play basketball on "potential". At least you can scout that aspect a bit in college ball.

It will be a hot debate if we move up. A lot of the potential star players show little ability to shoot so far. Having multiple abilities like Grady Dick or Cason Wallace will help the team. 

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

I've personally got Wallace in the 10-14 range but I can see the appeal and this FO have generally done a decent enough job drafting where I think if they picked him I'd be happy enough. And to be fair he's kind of the player you'd draft if you thought to yourself "what if we had a PG like Markelle Fultz but we sacrificed some of his creation and playmaking in return for being able to hit catch and shoot 3s at a reasonable rate"

[Soul Bro 1,419]

The success of our team will depend on the growth of our current roster. Outside of Victor and perhaps Miller (for me), I'm not sure there are surefire stars in this draft. What do you all think?

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

12 minutes ago, Soul Bro said:

The success of our team will depend on the growth of our current roster. Outside of Victor and perhaps Miller (for me), I'm not sure there are surefire stars in this draft. What do you all think?

There are a few I think have a chance (Keyonte, Nick Smith, both Thompson's, Whitmore) but surefire? No. But then again people thought Suggs was a surefire star and nobody thought Franz would be. 

[Soul Bro 1,419]

4 minutes ago, CTMagicUK said:

There are a few I think have a chance (Keyonte, Nick Smith, both Thompson's, Whitmore) but surefire? No. But then again people thought Suggs was a surefire star and nobody thought Franz would be. 

The funny thing about Whitmore is he kind of reminds me of a smaller version of Paulo. Good point also about Suggs and Wagner.

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

14 hours ago, Soul Bro said:

The funny thing about Whitmore is he kind of reminds me of a smaller version of Paulo. Good point also about Suggs and Wagner.

Yea I mean situation matters a tonne. It matters both in what we can see Vs what a prospect is actually capable of in college/g league/etc and it matters in terms of development at the next level. Franz didn't show some of the stuff he was capable of in college and conversely he got to handle the ball a tonne as a rookie which will have helped his development. Sometimes the right guy is in the right place to learn something at the right time and change their outlook.

Maybe everyone is just underestimating how good a shooter Dick is and he's like that Klay Thompson type off ball 2nd star?

Who's to say Dariq Whitehead won't bounce back from all his injury issues, regain his explosivity from when he was in HS and be a star? 

Or Jett Howard, playing in the same system as Franz did, has more to his game that we haven't seen? 

Or maybe Cason Wallace is another in a long line of Kentucky guards who adapted their games to Kentucky's system but will be even better in the NBA? 

Leonard Miller's development has kind of gone under the radar in the G league but he's a huge guy with some really interesting talents, maybe he finds a shooting coach who unlocks his jumper and becomes like a Siakam type or something? 

Derek Lively is a super raw big but maybe with the right coaching he can be a real anchor on defense?

I don't necessarily believe any of the above will happen but that's what makes this stuff so fun, they might, and if you believe they will you can justify your opinion of having Cason Wallace Top 5 or whatever it is. 

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

On 3/16/2023 at 10:03 AM, CTMagicUK said:

I wonder if WeltHam will be higher on Jaime Jaquez than most (not lottery high but pick 35 high). They've historically shown interest in Mick Cronin coached prospects but Jaquez as an undersized, not super athletic 3/4 is kind of the anti WeltHam guy.

I think Adem Bona could be the WeltHam guy at UCLA now I think about it. Just a super agile and energetic big who plays great defense. 

[A Better DJ & Photographer 456]

We need to draft 2 guys that can already shoot.

[ball junkie 277]

1 hour ago, A Better DJ & Photographer said:

We need to draft 2 guys that can already shoot.

Or draft somebody or hire a coach that can teach 3 point defense …good grief we’ve been lit up like a Christmas tree from the arc the last month or so .

Why I hated Jonathan Issac injury so much …you could tell he was gonna upgrade our defense in a major way .