It is with a heavy heart that I am removing Nico Mannion from my signature as a player I endorse
I still kind of like him, and I think if he can figure out just a few things he could be very good at the NBA level too. Still worthy of a lottery pick, depending on team need.
But after starting the year fantastically well, he's struggled time and again against good teams and his inability to create separation in the halfcourt or to drive with any consistency are just things I can't overlook.
There's no doubt that his touch and his feel is still there, but he's when it comes to actually making stuff happen with reliable and consistent results, it's not looking good. He has a sub 50% TS against top 100 teams so far this year; that's just not good enough, frankly. I ragged on LaMelo Ball for his dreadful efficiency, and while Mannion's still better than Ball there, the gap has closed dramatically. I've got to be fair; if I critique Ball for his inefficiency, I've got to put the same critique to Mannion.
This draft class, in a way, is becoming the Class of the Disappointing Guards.
Cole Anthony has been good defensively and has shown flashes of pull up shooting and passing that remain promising, but his lack of burst in the halfcourt is evident. The athleticism he showed prior to college just hasn't been there, and while he has had some injury problems, he hasn't been able to put together any real string of strong offensive performances.
LaMelo has that fantastic passing ability, but his shot selection is still terrible, and his defense is basically disgusting on all levels. His engagement comes and goes, his shooting mechanics are wonky as hell, and he's injured too.
Anthony Edwards has had a handful of games where he's made it really work and showed off what he can do (I keep going back to that Maui explosion, but he had another one recently against Florida Gators) but the consistency just isn't there and there are games where he looks almost like James Harden. On defense. In 2015. Which is not what you want from anyone.
Then you get Maxey, who hasn't really been disappointing himself, but who is being used in such a sub-optimal way that it frustrates his progress. Calipari has been criticised in the past for not really giving enough responsibility and freedom to his best players (KAT, for example, basically wasn't allowed to shoot while he was at Kentucky, which is laughable given what we know today), and that's happening here too. So the results really don't look as good numerically as he does in the few games where he's been allowed to play a little more on the ball.
Mannion's flaws, I've outlined above.
It's that second group of guards that I think have really impressed. I'm still not in on Hampton like some people are, although I think he's worthy of a top 15 pick, but the Tyrese Haliburton, Kira Lewis Jr, Devin Vassell, Tre Jones guards are the guys I'm in on.
Would actually really like for us to draft Vassell actually.