I’m not overly excited about this draft because I have no confidence that JJ will have the patience to allow whoever we pick the grace to play through their mistakes.
Unless its one of the NBA ready guys. Veesaar is both a horizontal and vertical spacer. He's probably about average in terms of rim protection, like Hayes though. Down the line, he could survive with Luka in the starting lineup like KAT to Brunsen. Might have to swap out Reaves and Lebron for 3 and D in the next couple seasons. We shoudl get that a-list big to hold us over in the mean time though. Or Vessaar gets included in a trade for said big.
I’d be disappointed if we make the pick and don’t trade it. We go from having 3 picks to 2. I’m not sure any of the guys at 25 are difference makers, maybe they can develop into something but I’m not so optimistic on that front.
i agree it's more valuable in trade, but this isn't like the jhs year, where i REALLY wanted to move out or down (and i think the FO did, too). there should be at least one guy whom i'd be excited about at 25. but yeah, if we make the pick it might be a fallback. i just hope we have a parachute strategy if our targets are gone and we can't trade the pick.
Yeah I don't want to use the pick too. #25 is near 2nd round, I prefer to use the pick as an asset and take a couple fliers in the 2nd round. I think NOLA should be very interested in a 1st. Them, Houston, Phoenix, Portland, Orlando and Indiana are the teams without a FRP. They are the ones who need one the most. Other teams are in a latter stage of their built, but Phoenix may be interested too. Portland may want to have some cost controlled assets as their Avdija, Clingan and Camara core starts to shape I'd like to turn the #25 into a top7 rotation player (at Rui talent level right away). Worst case scenario I'd probably trade it just for Missi. It would be like picking Missi with the #25 but getting a kid you know more about and can play sooner as he had already some NBA burn. Ideally we get more from it
mike is generally right on, and i agree that i love jefferson and think he's sort of a can't miss nba player. like i'll be shocked if he just washes out. he's not at all the archetype i or most of us have been pining for, but he can just play. makes a lot of sense if we have to lose rui in FA, too, as he's similarly sized. not the shooter rui is, but much higher hoop iq, great passer. not exciting in terms of upside or fit, but after some big whiffs in the first round... edit: mike also further sold me on reed, and sold me on thornton, whom i hadn't seen at all but he likes for the reasons i mentioned sharpe. interestingly, the ringer has those two ranked 40 and 41.
Quaintance not being ready is probably why he’s slipped. Embiid like knee issues. I guess if we can’t trade the pick for value, taking that kind of risk is ok. we did similar with thiero.
I'd rather go for a sure thing than a gamble. If we don't trade the pick we really need someone to contribute soon I think you get to gamble in 2nd round and undrafted. Or until you're at the level of OKC and Spurs where you're already deep and can gamble in a guy with injuries or still 2 years away. We aren't there now and this pick needs to bring a rotation player, one way or another
Here's the workout list from Hoopshype and where they have them mocked LA Lakers (2026 picks: 25th) #20 Chris Cenac (PF, Houston, 19-169) #27 Meleek Thomas (SG, Arkansas, 19-318) #29 Tarris Reed (PF, UConn, 22-320) #31 Zuby Ejiofor (PF, St. John's, 22-61) #33 Baba Miller (PF, Cincinnati, 22-134) #34 Alex Karaban (SF, UConn, 23-221) #41 Braden Smith (PG, Purdue, 22-331) #57 Tobi Lawal (PF, Virginia Tech, 23-50) #58 Jaden Henley (SF, Grand Canyon, 22-57) #60 Rafael Castro (C, George Washington, 23-21) #65 Quadir Copeland (SF, North Carolina St, 22-290) #69 Trey Kaufman-Renn (PF, Purdue, 23-305) #77 Kowacie Reeves (SG, Georgia Tech, 23-140) #79 Tamin Lipsey (PG, Iowa St, 22-361) #82 Mohammad Amini (SF, SLUC Nancy, 21-55) UNR Sam Alexis (PF, Indiana, 21-249) UNR Drake Allen (PG, Utah St, 25-58) UNR Duke Brennan (C, Villanova, 23-75) UNR Tre Carroll (PF, Xavier, 23-65) UNR Skyy Clark (PG, UCLA, 22-357) UNR Oscar Cluff (C, Purdue, 24-210) UNR Melvin Council (PG, Kansas, 24-58) UNR Josh Dix (SG, Creighton, 21-356) UNR Tre Donaldson (PG, Miami, 22-192) UNR Barry Dunning (SF, Pittsburgh) UNR Roddy Gayle (SG, Michigan, 22-333) UNR Meechie Johnson (PG, South Carolina, 23-272) UNR Nate Johnson (PG, Kansas St, 23-155) UNR Keba Keita (C, BYU, 22-305) UNR Malachi Moreno (C, Kentucky, 19-239) UNR AK Okereke (PF, Vanderbilt, 22-354) UNR Chase Ross (PG, Marquette, 23-133) UNR Mike Sharavjamts (PG, South Carolina, 23-297) UNR Corey Stephenson (SF, FIU, 22-46) UNR Jamichael Stillwell (PF, UCF, 23-158) UNR Peter Suder (SG, Miami (OH), 23-142) UNR Luigi Suigo (C, Mega Basket, 19-142) UNR Marquel Sutton (PF, LSU, 23-160) UNR Mohamed Wague (C, Oklahoma, 26-186) UNR Chauncey Wiggins (PF, Florida St) Based off that, I think the goal is to trade it and buy into the early 2nd. If Reed or Ejiofor slip to the 2nd, Walter needs to open up the wallet and buy the 31st pick. Before the combine, my two guys in our range were Morez Johnson and Swain. Then Morez dominated the combine and workouts combined with some first round prospects deciding to return to school, shooting him up 10-12 spots. Swain might go before 25 but he should still be in that range. I don't love the center options projected in our range. I see them as a 3rd stringer based on our roster build and don't want to invest that in someone who's not going to play. If we don't move the pick and Swain is gone, I'd probably prefer Jefferson to the centers just cause I see a path for him to get meaningful minutes. Garcia compares him to Kyle Anderson, Buha compares him to SA Diaw. Garcia did the pod circuit the past couple weeks, a two parter on LFR and most recently on Buhas. He's really high on the depth of this class. He has 19-30 in the same tier. Says he has first round grades on 25 players this year. That there's value into the second until the early 40s and then there's a large drop off.
