not a lot of hype aroudn this draft compared to the last few years, but all the top cbb guys have some games under their belt now. there are also some international prospects worth paying attention to

1 Skal Labissiere PF/C. Kentucky, Freshman
2 Ben Simmons SF/PF. LSU, Freshman
3 Brandon Ingram SF. Duke, Freshman
4 Jaylen Brown SF. California, Freshman
5 Dragan Bender PF. Maccabi Tel Aviv, International
6 Jamal Murray PG/SG. Kentucky, Freshman
7 Kris Dunn PG. Providence, Junior
8 Henry Ellenson PF. Marquette, Freshman
9 Jakob Poeltl C. Utah, Sophomore
10 Diamond Stone C. Maryland, Freshman

http://www.draftexpress.com/index.php

initial hot takes:
skal does look like best prospect, really skilled and quite athletic
draftexpress continues to be avoid hosting videos on youtube for unknown reasons, alternative videos do not load; good job, good effort
jaylen brown looks like stanley johnson
zhou qi is going to be a hilarious bust, currently at #11. 7'2, 209lbs
dragan bender looks sweet and has a cool name
ivan rabb is not in dx's 2016 mock for some reason, but nbadraft.net has him 8th. justin jackson is another guy listed on nbadraft.net and not dx

First.

SKAL elite, Simmons fraudbust

Feel free to bump in a year

as a duke fan

I'm not super hot on brandon ingram.

Pros:

Holy hell he's long and wingspanny. Durant is basically his exact comparable in terms of both body-type and his *desired* style of play. He draws a lot of fouls. He just looks like the kind of player who is going to be really amazing someday, there's a fluidity to most parts of his game. Probably gonna be a fairly good NBA defender once he matures with that wingspan. Shows flashes of solid passing ability although the numbers aren't there yet.

Cons:

He's started out the year shooting horridly. From 2PT and 3PT, and most worryingly from the FT line. That 56% FT mark does not portend well for his ability to be a good sohoter in the NBA. The biggest thing is he's just extremely inefficient right now, and it's kind of a big deal.

He looks fluid when he plays, but he's also a little slow sometimes. Not a great athlete in terms of explosiveness or raw quicks. He's also very, very skinny (even after adding 20 pounds since last season) and will be bullied in the NBA post unless he gets a lot stronger.


I don't know much about the other prospects this year yet, but he wouldn't be anywhere near the top 5 last year, and probably not even the top 10. This is a weak year if he's actually the 3rd best guy. I think he slides down the board pretty soon.

Also, I wonder how fast and how high Grayson Allen is going to rise up the draft charts. Kid is hot hot hot fire so far this season (with the exception of one game). Seems to be a complete package of athleticism, defense, shooting and play making for a combo-guard.

yeah idk what to think of simmons, weird player. i think he's lucky he's coming in now and not 5 yrs ago because he looks like the formerly dreaded tweener in many ways. he becomes a much better prospect if he shows some legit shooting ability imo

One kids game who I love is cheick diallo. Watched all the high school all star games and this kid out hustles everybody. He's a beast defender but not sure how his offensive game will develop. Didn't catch his first ncaa game he missed the first 5. He could for sure break into the top 10 though.

I'm high on Ingram based on one hs all star game I watched 5 minutes of. Got him ranked 2 behind SKAL

I'll take Jamal Murray

i'll take bobby lee hurt

although i wouldnt sleep on Horace Broadnax and Larry Micheaux

POELTL 4 LYFE

So this Ben Simmons guy..

My early thoughts

Ben Simmons is the real deal. But shows elite one and dones can crush anywhere, but can't single handedly make their team crush.

UK Players

Gone for sure

Skal-Man talk about potential. He needs to get a lot stronger, but he will. Shows signs of a sweet shot around the basket. Shows signs of being a great blocker. But this is all about him getting stronger. At which point, damn

Murray-Elite combo guard. Absolutely love his game. Not dominating games like he should yet, but I think that will come.

Poythress-What a UK senior? He is a defense+rebounding guy. Will be a decent role player.

Might be gone

Briscoe-Love his ability to drive to the lane. Love his defense. But dude currently has no shot, and needs to cut down on turnovers.

Ulis-I grade his game A+ in every possible way...except size. I really think he is uber elite, except he is 5'8". Which probably makes him a 2nd round pick.

Lee-Another defense+rebounding guy. An NBA role player

Ben Simmons huh

he, uh, might be good at this basketball thing. lol anybody else being #1.

43pts/14reb/7ast/5stl/3blk.

What are we calling this year?
Lemons for Simmons?
Skimmin' games for Simmons' fame?
Play like womens for simmons?

In consolation-prize news, Brandon Ingram finally had his first actual good game. Hit shots all over the floor and generally looked great. If he's hitting shots, he's near unstoppable simple because of his body type, durantesque - how do you effectively guard a guy that tall/long both outside and inside? The problem thus far was he wasn't hitting anything. Against Indiana he put it all together and you see what you could become. We'll have to watch to see if he can be more consistent or if he follows up with more 4-14 and 5-16 games.

might be wrong on simmons tho

Ben Simmons is the only major conference player in the last 20 seasons with at least 40 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists & 5 steals in a game.

I'll take #3.

ONE TIME DENVER.

POELTL

21/11/3 70% TS%

If Simmons can shoot then wow, just wow. The few highlights I've seen make him look like a better version of Magic Johnson.

So Denver and celtics have a million picks this year right?

Seems like a bad year for that (both in terms of depth and packaging picks to move up) but I could be wrong about this class in general, haven't been following much

Lottery bust gonna be Malik Newman btw

Might have to get up to Baton Rouge for a game, god damn.

Denver probably gets 2. They are owed Houston and Portland's if they playoffs (lol portland), Memphis' if they don't + don't luckbox, and get the better of theirs or New York's.

They will probably pick around 6 and 15... meh

Might not be a great draft class, but still a great year to have a bunch of picks. Currently the rookie contract salaries aren't going up at anywhere near the rate of other salaries with the cap jumping up, so rookie contracts are more valuable. And that will probably change with a new CBA