2021 NBA Draft Discussion

[Pelicanidae]

Listen, I know that it's kind of weird to start the 2021 Draft thread when the 2020 Draft still hasn't technically happened, but on a normal year the draft would have happened months ago and we'd have been talking 2021 for a good while.

So, I'm starting the 2021 Thread. Let's go!

This is a really exciting draft, there are tons of really good prospects at this point worth talking about. As the year goes on, we will undoubtedly see some guys move up in hype and a few guys potentially disappoint in college and maybe move down, but there's so much worth watching this year.

Early names people should be paying attention to:

Cade Cunningham, BJ Boston, Keon Johnson, Usman Garuba, Jalen Suggs, Jalen Johnson, Jonathan Kuminga, Jalen Green, Evan Mobley, Caleb Love, Scottie Barnes, Greg Brown, Moses Moody, Roko Prkacin, Sharife Cooper.

I'm so excited to start diving into the film as more of it becomes available, since pre-college stuff is often low quality or hard to find, or prospects are so good that it's hard to judge against the competition, or they only get 11 minutes a game in AAU, etc.

There's a lot to be excited about folks!

[AusPel]

Too soon

Let's get through this bloody draft first

[Pelicanidae]

Too soon

Let's get through this bloody draft first

Nope, nope, not too soon. Months and months too late.

I am done putting serious time and consideration in that mediocre mess of a draft we got stuck with for an extra 6 months. Moving on!

[PeliKhan]

Chet Holmgren ��

[Pelicanidae]

Chet Holmgren ��

He's 2022. Same with Victor Wembanyama, Yannick Nzosa, Emoni Bates, and several other really good prospects.

Next few drafts are very promising.

Edit: Just including a few more 2022 names that I'm honestly kind of annoyed at myself for forgetting: Adrian Griffin Jr, Paolo Banchero, Jean Montero, Jaden Hardy. Those first three are all top 10 prospects, hence why I'm kind of annoyed at myself for forgetting them. Paolo Banchero in particular is great, he's already like 6'10, 240lbs, can shoot threes off the dribble, strong as hell, etc.

[PELICANSFAN]

Couldn't wait until Thursday?

[Pelicanidae]

Couldn't wait until Thursday?

I could have, but we're already well past where normal draft stuff would have begun for 2021 so I figured that I might as well. Much more interesting than re-litigating LaMelo Ball's defense or Aaron Nesmith's decision making issues for the 600th time.

[msusousaphone]

WE'RE GOING TO DRAFT JALEN SMITH IN 2021, TOO!!!!

Beatles Paul Mc Cartney GIF from Beatles GIFs

[Pelicanidae]

WE'RE GOING TO DRAFT JALEN SMITH IN 2021, TOO!!!!

They should ban you from this forum just for your inability to select appropriately sized gifs and images.

[msusousaphone]

This one looks normal on my cell phone.

[Pelicanidae]

This one looks normal on my cell phone.

I forgive you then...

this time

[As I See It]

This is a really exciting draft, there are tons of really good prospects at this point worth talking about. As the year goes on, we will undoubtedly see some guys move up in hype and a few guys potentially disappoint in college and maybe move down, but there's so much worth watching this year.

Early names people should be paying attention to:

Cade Cunningham, BJ Boston, Keon Johnson, Usman Garuba, Jalen Suggs, Jalen Johnson, Jonathan Kuminga, Jalen Green, Evan Mobley, Caleb Love, Scottie Barnes, Greg Brown, Moses Moody, Roko Prkacin, Sharife Cooper.

I'm so excited to start diving into the film as more of it becomes available, since pre-college stuff is often low quality or hard to find, or prospects are so good that it's hard to judge against the competition, or they only get 11 minutes a game in AAU, etc.

There's a lot to be excited about folks!

I don't want to be discussing any of these players next year unless LA's pick proves Lottery-worthy.

[Pelicanidae]

I don't want to be discussing any of these players next year unless LA's pick proves Lottery-worthy.

There are 15 players in that list the odds that there are enough risers elsewhere in the draft, or guys in that list who drop a few positions, or NBA teams just pick wrong, that one or two (or three) of those names end up being picked in the 20s is fairly likely. Even if we make the playoffs, there's a decent chance some of those names will still be on the board when we're picking: not Cade, Boston, Kuminga, etc, but Prkacin maybe or Caleb Love. Or maybe someone like Barnes, since he isn't an offensive-first guy, falls due to some other guys having big scoring seasons.

Still, I basically named half of the probably first round there: it would be silly to just not talk about any of them.

Besides, what if you're into the draft because you're into the draft, not just because you are curious for your specific team? That's my situation: I like draft scouting. It's fun.

[luckyman]

This one looks normal on my cell phone.

If you get back in edit mode you should be able to resize it. Should be horizontal and vertical pixel counts. Play with those numbers until that thing shrinks.

[Pelicanidae]

Cade plays a basketball game in just over a week and I am absurdly excited.

[Pelicanidae]

Cade is too good.

[Taker597]

In a reality where we trade away all our Jrue/AD assets to get a superstar in the next two drafts... I'll be okay with that.


But I also very much like Griffin plan of want draft picks to be during Zion Contender phase as a way to constantly reload.

[tdcreator]

I doubt we pick early enough to get any of the really good ones but if we managed too my order would be Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, BJ Boston, Jonathan Kuminga. We need to fill the SG position or a solid wing whick is why my first 3 but Kuminga just looks like he could be a beast in the Lebron size.

[Pelicanidae]

In a reality where we trade away all our Jrue/AD assets to get a superstar in the next two drafts... I'll be okay with that.


But I also very much like Griffin plan of want draft picks to be during Zion Contender phase as a way to constantly reload.

The thing is, there comes a point where you just cannot really get guys through FA anymore even if they want to come because of cap. In 4 years time, with Ingram maxed, Zion will get a monster max extension too in all likelihood, and if you've built even a decent team around them the odds are that you are out of cash. The only way to add players will be minimums or draft picks, and you can draft good roleplayers if you're smart, who are good as rookies, to fill out the end of your bench for not-much money.

[Pelicanidae]

I doubt we pick early enough to get any of the really good ones but if we managed too my order would be Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, BJ Boston, Jonathan Kuminga. We need to fill the SG position or a solid wing whick is why my first 3 but Kuminga just looks like he could be a beast in the Lebron size.

The best wing (as in, 6'6-6'9, mobile, lengthy) guy that I know who is likely to be available between 8-15 (which is where we're likely to pick) is Scottie Barnes. Great size, I think he's 6'9, lengthy, fantastic defensive prospect and a very good passer. Shot well in AAU but on super small sample sizes, wasn't nearly that good in other pre-college play so what we're really watching for is to see if there's progression on the shooting front, but otherwise he's really good. Right now most mocks have him outside of the top 8, which is good for us, but of course we'll have to watch how things go throughout the year.

Lots of promising wings in this class. Roko Prcakin would be another name I'd recommend looking into if you're not familiar already.

Cade and BJ are both incredible but Cade's going #1 and I can't see Boston falling outside of the top 5 unless he has a truly horrific year.

[Pelicanidae]

An intensely mediocre game from Cade by his standards, and he finished with 21/10/3 on 44%/40%/71% splits. Played good but unspectacular defense.

I think that, looking at how dreadful his Oklahoma State teammates are, Cade's passing might be severely underrated by the mainstream this season: he's simply not going to rack up the incredible assist numbers that his passes imply, because his teammates won't be able to finish enough shots off them. For a lot of people, that's how passing gets measured: raw assists.

[Eman5805]

On a scale of 1-10 how good do we think this draft will be in terms of raw prospects? And where would people rank 2020?

[Pelicanidae]

On a scale of 1-10 how good do we think this draft will be in terms of raw prospects? And where would people rank 2020?

It's hard to rate because I'm not sure what the greatest draft ever would be, to put that as a ten.

But it's a very good draft for top end talent. There's a clear 6 or 7 guys in this draft who would have been a confident number 1 in the 2020 draft, and another two or three after that who would have had a strong argument for it. The depth isn't incredible impressive (at least, it doesn't appear that way this early, guys can develop) but the top end of the draft is very good.

[AusPel]

We we be picking lower than 13 this draft?

[Pelicanidae]

We we be picking lower than 13 this draft?

My early guess is yes, but probably not by much.