Top 10 Pelicans Centric Prospects for the 2023 NBA Draft

Continue to love the development of Ausar Thompson. Impossible to keep him out of the lane & w/much improved jump shot mechanics Thompson looks like a real deal NBA three level scorer w/highly underrated playmaking chops. Turns defense into offense. Stud!pic.twitter.com/YL785yy9Tc

— NBA Draft Dude 🤙 (@CoreyTulaba) December 23, 2022

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Originally Posted by redboy0125

Continue to love the development of Ausar Thompson. Impossible to keep him out of the lane & w/much improved jump shot mechanics Thompson looks like a real deal NBA three level scorer w/highly underrated playmaking chops. Turns defense into offense. Stud!pic.twitter.com/YL785yy9Tc

— NBA Draft Dude �� (@CoreyTulaba) December 23, 2022

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Yeah, somebody said he reminded them of Trey.:hihi: He has much better handles than Trey and appears to be a way better play maker.

Both of the Thompson twins, Amen and Ausar, are top 10 locks in this class - top 6 even, probably. Which is pretty awesome for a pair of brothers.

Everyone had Amen above Ausar early on, but now Ausar is making things interesting, averaging more points, rebounds, block, & steals than his brother, though their numbers across the board are still remarkably similar.

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Originally Posted by Eyquem

Everyone had Amen above Ausar early on, but now Ausar is making things interesting, averaging more points, rebounds, block, & steals than his brother, though their numbers across the board are still remarkably similar.

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There's value in either, I think right now I still have Amen higher because his passing is genuinely just otherworldly at times and I think he has the superior moment-to-moment processing, but yeah, neither pick is bad and they'd both be top 3 picks in other years.

Jarace Walker. What’s going on there…might need to look at more from him.

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Jarace Walker. What’s going on there…might need to look at more from him.

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Lottery pick for sure. Not top 5 in my opinion but definitely in that 8-12 range.

GG Jackson is my pick if we pick around 8ish

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Originally Posted by HornetGuru

GG Jackson is my pick if we pick around 8ish

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You gotta think positive! We're going to be in the top five, right? RIGHT?

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Originally Posted by HornetGuru

GG Jackson is my pick if we pick around 8ish

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GG Jackson isn't even in my lottery, what do you see in him that's so appealing?

Late edit: I should add, other than being really young

go to youtube and look up jett howard (Juan Howards son ) at Michigan.

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Originally Posted by clark griswald

go to youtube and look up jett howard (Juan Howards son ) at Michigan.

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His jumper is somehow textbook and strange at the same time

Uncanny valley stuff

How's Karlo Matkovic doing these days?

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Originally Posted by clark griswald

go to youtube and look up jett howard (Juan Howards son ) at Michigan.

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I have him 8th on my board rn.

Real shooter, surprisingly good instincts as a shotblocker, gets pretty good FTr, obviously being 6'8 is a huge help when you're a versatile shooter.

One thing is for sure, this class is absolutely STACKED at the top end

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Originally Posted by AusPel

One thing is for sure, this class is absolutely STACKED at the top end

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Wemby, Scoot, Amen, Ausar, Cam, Nick Smith Jr, Jarace, Jett, Cason, Maxwell Lewis, Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh, Anthony Black, Whitehead, this draft just goes deep in general. All of those are prospects that have something to like about them. Obviously some are superstar prospects (Wemby) and others not so much, and there are other interesting prospects not mentioned, but the fact that I can just rattle off names and there's something interesting about all of them is wild.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Wemby, Scoot, Amen, Ausar, Cam, Nick Smith Jr, Jarace, Jett, Cason, Maxwell Lewis, Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh, Anthony Black, Whitehead, this draft just goes deep in general. All of those are prospects that have something to like about them. Obviously some are superstar prospects (Wemby) and others not so much, and there are other interesting prospects not mentioned, but the fact that I can just rattle off names and there's something interesting about all of them is wild.

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Which of these, other than Wemby and Scoot, would IMMEDIATELY make us much better and be immediate rotation players?

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Originally Posted by RobertM320

Which of these, other than Wemby and Scoot, would IMMEDIATELY make us much better and be immediate rotation players?

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Ausar would arguably start for almost any team in the NBA immediately and probably be very successful doing so. It's a bit harder beyond that top 3 because we happen to be a position of all-star quality at multiple positions which isn't that common, league wide.

I could see Wemby, Scoot, either Thompson twin, Jarace, Jett, Cason, or Sensabaugh being instant rotation guys on basically any team, though exactly how prominent they would be would depend on the team.

The other guys are very lineup dependent and even if some of them might have higher upside than a few of those guys (Cam's ceiling > Cason's, for example), those are all immediate contributors at something without much messing about, I feel.

Some of these guys have areas to work on. Nick Smith Jr for example, he's clearly so skilled, great size for a PG, makes some awesome reads, but just cannot score right now. That would probably cap his immediate utility for most teams (outside of absolute rebuild teams) but he's probably a very good investment in a year or two.

Plus, I have to say, I think it's not very useful to be talking about who would make us much better. There are very few rookies who would make any team better at all in most drafts, and we're currently a #1 seed. The calibre of player it would take to make us much better is an instant all-NBA guy. That's rare - only very occasional guys do that even if they are superstar prospects. Wemby in this draft maybe, but that's it.