This thread is for Sixers fans. Seat's taken.

Cuban said he would only trade this season's draft pick for a top 5 player in the league now.

Malik Monk #1

Seriously though, dude made money tonight



bonus

Harry Giles is making his debut tonight. Was considered the consensus #1 overall pick coming into the season.

I'm kind of torn about Tatum as a prospect.

Positives: The obvious stuff - he's a 6'8 swingman with athleticism. Dean earlier compared him to Jabari Parker, but he's more explosive than Parker (with perhaps slightly less natural 'feel' than Parker). He can score in a lot of ways - cuts to the hoop, isolation mid range, three point shooting. The very, very small sample size indicates he can be shooter - he's 19-21 on FT this year. Eye tests very well. He's long and gets stocks, seems like he should be a positive defensive player.

Negatives - Even though he seems like he can hit them, I'm not in love with his mid-range iso tendencies. Needs to improve ball handling - he's mostly fine but will sometimes try to do too much in the open court or in small spaces, leading to stumbles or loss of the ball. It kind of seems like he still hasn't fully grown into his length/body yet.

Basically, imagine a better defending Jabari Parker, then shade his offense to remove 10-20% of Jabari's natural smoothness/feel and add 10-20% more explosiveness. That seems like what Tatum is.

I see Tatum's median outcome as more of a Rudy Gay type offensive player with better defense. I think his top end outcome is a bigger, slightly less athletic Kobe down to the unwillingness to play second fiddle, complacency with the jumper, and ball stopping offensive game. I could also see Tatum becoming a Paul Pierce like player.

I think its unfortunate for him that he was born in this era because I think he would've been even better if he played 20 years ago.

Harry Giles season 1, episode 2 on right now on ESPN 2

plus you get to see Tatum, Allen, Kennard, Jackson, Bolden

Hottake: Kennard would be a first round pick if he declared after this season

danny are you sure about the explosiveness thing? jabari was kind of fat in college but he's pretty damn explosive now, i can't think of too many wings who make more powerful moves to the rim (among wings he's 3rd itl for dunks this yr behind giannis and durant)

Great year if you want a pg. I really like Lonzo Ball could see him rising to #1 as the year goes on I know hes already top 5. Josh Jackson hasnt been as good as i expected but still alot of time for him to get going.

Really is one of the most loaded drafts at the top in a long time. There are at least 8-10 guys with NBA All-Star potential probably.

which mocks are the most reasonable atm? draftexpress, ford and nbadraft.net have fairly different ratings though the first two seem more similar

If nothing else I did say this in May

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=403


That is looking more true all the time.

Draft.net is always off a bit on their draft. Im not sure of the credentials of whoever writes their mock but yeah its always off. I like to pop in and read their forums and read the site from time to time anyways because you never can have to much nba draft.

I think draftexpress is the gold standard of draft websites though.

Dx are the best at evaluating euro players, and NBA potential in NCAA stars

Chad Ford and others, are just wanking on college performances

I hope this tripping thing knocks Grayson Allen off the board completely. If he can't guard some dude from Elon without tripping him, good luck keeping up with NBA talent. Got totally exposed vs. Kentucky. Plus, he has one of the most hateable faces I've ever seen.

Zach Collins, 6'10 PF for Gonzaga. Only shooting 28% from 3 but he can shoot it. Athletic, can handle the ball well, more than a block per game, can guard multiple positions. DX has him in next years draft but I wonder if he wont move up the boards this year

Spent the holidays drafting up some writeups on players:

Malik Monk

Diet Russ

I had a top 25 big board that is pretty trash after review. I'll prob post a better one tmrw.

Love to see it. He was amazingly pleasing to watch in NCAA, and I just hope he stays healthy enough to see his upside. He's better than KAT, Brow, Simmons, etc if he doesn't get hurt again.

I was bearish entering the season bc he can't score against athletic defenses, and now he has been even worse. And the tripping thing doesn't help. Honestly I'd barely even draft him at this point.

completely agree. he's small and not an outlier of athleticism, skill, or smarts. coming off an ACL tear and he has time to get better, but it's insane to have him top 5 with the other studs on board.

tatum not more explosive than jabroni. but he is just a little bit better at everything in way that could make the difference between being decent and a star. also he is going to murder with FT's as he makes 90% and gets there a ton.

DX > ESPN >>> nbadraft.net which is a complete joke.

But I'm going to be real: my site is furthest ahead of the curve. Nobody else is even mocking Andrew Jones when I am the only one who knows he is going to be a lotto pick.

A guy im feeling that no one is talking about is Rawle Alkins. I think hes going to be a good two way player in the league. Reminds me of Marcus Smart.

oh and obviously terp fresh Justin Jackson :P

I have Alkins in my top 25. I'm a fan.

Don't think he's as good defensively as Smart, but he seems like a better shooter which matters lots since Smart has been AIDS offensively as a pro. Biggest knock on Alkins is that he is a jack of all trades master of none, but if he develops well that can still add up to a good player.

must have glanced over him, good call.

My updated big board

Cliffs: There are 11 sick freshman. I've got Fultz > Ball > Jackson as the top 3. After that there is 4-12 tier of freshmen plus Ntilikina who is basically an Exum-like mystery box (not in a bad way either-- I liked Exum and a similar mystery box may bink).

Of the remaining upside, Giles has the biggest upside but has been worthless in his first 2 games back from being hurt for > 1 year for Duke. He's going to be hard to evaluate. Of the able bodies I think Lauri Markkanen has some Dirk potential and Tatum seems like he could be really good too. Monk is a one dimensional bomber but rocks at that dimension.

Andrew Jones is my big sleeper, and then DSmith Jr, Isaac, and Fox all have their strengths but also carry the biggest risks of being defective.

After that the draft gets less interesting but there are still a few pretty good freshmen. Rabb is the 3rd Zeller bro, Happ is the Millsap/Draymond sleeper, Anunoby is the D freak, Jawun Evans is CP3 lite. Michael Weathers is the mid-major stat version of Russ, but smaller and less athletic. Don't think the late 1st and 2nd are all that strong. That is all.

Niltikina plays in my town in France, I'll try to go watch some games when he'll get a little bit more playing time

His physical tools are amazing, 7 foot wingspan on a 6"5 PG is lol

Comparing happ to dray is pretty bad. Happ can't shoot at all and doesn't bother to shoot outside the paint most games.