2024 NBA DRAFT INFO Thread

[13 - 3]

Might as well get one started

NBA Draft tiebreaker results:

No. 21 pick: Milwaukee Bucks (pick will be conveyed to New Orleans)

No. 22 pick: Phoenix Suns

No. 23 pick: New Orleans Pelicans (pick will be conveyed to Milwaukee)

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 22, 2024

[13 - 3]

I also read somewhere we can either take the Lakers #17 pick or defer next year. If Lebron opts out it might not be a bad idea to defer.

[Pelicanidae]

My draft knowledge this year is far less developed compared to previous years (where I sometimes had an idea of where I would rank guys all through the second round) but I'm familiar enough with the majority of projected first rounders to say that this draft is not one of the most stunning ones of all time.

Still, there are decent names to be had and some of them work for us in terms of both upside (most important) and positional fit (cool if it's there). We have opportunity.

[boot318]

No point drafting a player if Green is the coach. He won't play them. Pile up the assets and get what the team needs.

[fullcourtpress]

pels should take

Devin Carter (cross between Jose albarado and Jalen Brunson)
or
Kel El Ware (would be our own Jarret Allen)


or trade up for Matas Buzelis ( he's a better Franz Wagner)

honorable mention Nikola Topic

[Pelicanidae]

pels should take

Devin Carter (cross between Jose albarado and Jalen Brunson)
or
Kel El Ware (would be our own Jarret Allen)


or trade up for Matas Buzelis ( he's a better Franz Wagner)

honorable mention Nikola Topic

Topic and Buzelis are both good but I don't think at all accessible for us.

Kel'el Ware, on the other hand, may well be available be the time we pick and I would like him as well. We're constantly asking for more C play, and Ware is the kind of outline of a C that Green might actually play but who also has upside.

If the shooting is legit for him, his ceiling is high. I think on the boards he's maybe not quite as staunch as Allen (though he is good, especially the defensive glass), but offensively he's much more versatile player. Actually has flashed a three ball and is a reasonable passer for the position.

[fullcourtpress]

Topic and Buzelis are both good but I don't think at all accessible for us.

Kel'el Ware, on the other hand, may well be available be the time we pick and I would like him as well. We're constantly asking for more C play, and Ware is the kind of outline of a C that Green might actually play but who also has upside.

If the shooting is legit for him, his ceiling is high. I think on the boards he's maybe not quite as staunch as Allen (though he is good, especially the defensive glass), but offensively he's much more versatile player. Actually has flashed a three ball and is a reasonable passer for the position.

I agree with all that; I was just dreaming of Buzelis

I'd love Kel El Ware


how do you feel about Devin Carter?

the Ringer:

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
With his hounding on-ball defense and selfless offense, Carter feels like a classic Pelicans player. CJ McCollum is also 32 and has only two seasons remaining on his contract, so it?s a good time to begin looking for his successor.

[Pelicanidae]

I agree with all that; I was just dreaming of Buzelis

I'd love Kel El Ware


how do you feel about Devin Carter?

the Ringer:

He's not the worst selection, especially where we're picking because it's a pretty bad draft honestly, but I'm not a huge fan of him. I'd feel like it was a missed opportunity for better picks but not as though he was a disaster, I think. I've got him mid-20s on my own boards.

[13 - 3]

Yeah . What is the point. Willie won’t play them. Grif should do the right and trade the pick to OKC for cash considerations. At least the picks will get to play in OKC

[13 - 3]

Look at how Chis Finch has made NAW work in his rotation in Minny

[Pelicanidae]

Look at how Chis Finch has made NAW work in his rotation in Minny

You need to chill out about NAW. The vast majority of draft picks don't provide value for the team that drafted them, it's exceptionally rare that they do - we're lucky in that both Herb and Trey have done that. It's especially rare outside of the lottery, which NAW was.

NAW looks good now in Minnesota, but that's his 3rd team in his 5th season. He played almost 150 games as a Pelican and was hot garbage for that time. He had some flashes and many of us (including me!) believed in him but he was not putting it together. Eventually you have to cut your losses with someone who is not producing when they are on the court, unless you want a team filled with every coulda-been in the world. For ever NAW success story, there's a Diallo failure that you hung on to.

Sometimes guys need to be let go, bounce around the league a little, and get humbled and get experience before they can finally settle in. I'm glad that NAW has figured his game out but he wasn't doing that here. This is the first season of his career that he's produced a positive plus minus. Let's not get teary eyed.

[13 - 3]

We can’t forget what Josh Hart has done for Knicks

[13 - 3]

You need to chill out about NAW. The vast majority of draft picks don't provide value for the team that drafted them, it's exceptionally rare that they do - we're lucky in that both Herb and Trey have done that. It's especially rare outside of the lottery, which NAW was.

NAW looks good now in Minnesota, but that's his 3rd team in his 5th season. He played almost 150 games as a Pelican and was hot garbage for that time. He had some flashes and many of us (including me!) believed in him but he was not putting it together. Eventually you have to cut your losses with someone who is not producing when they are on the court, unless you want a team filled with every coulda-been in the world. For ever NAW success story, there's a Diallo failure that you hung on to.

Sometimes guys need to be let go, bounce around the league a little, and get humbled and get experience before they can finally settle in. I'm glad that NAW has figured his game out but he wasn't doing that here. This is the first season of his career that he's produced a positive plus minus. Let's not get teary eyed.

He is progressing! key word PROGRESS! We are one more loss away from going to Galveston TX. Time to blow it up and rebuild it the right way,

[13 - 3]

Too bad Willie won’t play him. Extension to sit on bench

The New Orleans Pelicans signed Matt Ryan to a three-year, $6.1 million deal, which is guaranteed for $1.5 million this season, non-guaranteed for the 2024-25 season, and includes a team option for the 2025-26 season, league sources told @hoopshype. pic.twitter.com/D8jNbM09Nk

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) April 26, 2024

[13 - 3]

NO MORE ACCEPTING OUR TOP TWO DRAFT PICKS GETTING DNPS

NO MORE ACCEPTING ********E ROTATIONS

[Pelicanidae]

Looking over this draft again, considering our options and man, this draft is not great.

There are a couple of players in it who I think have a ton of upside, but that's it - a couple. There have been other drafts in the last 5 or 6 years where there's been a dozen guys I could name who I've been optimistic on. This year, maybe like 6 guys and then after that it's all fit-and-circumstance. Super flat draft too, 25th pick is probably about as good as the 15th pick.

[Blattman]

I go back and forth on my draftboard so far.
If I take into account the lesson learned from 2013, I would say the pelicans should focus on international players and stay away from the weak college class. And then I can't help myself but to consider that there's some overlooked players in college and I forget all lessons from past.

So currently my very fluide board would be :
Topic
Sarr
McCain
Ware
Chomche/D.Holmes
A Mitchell/Carrington
T.Alexander/PJ Hall/Ajinca

Riesacher and Salaun are hard to overlook since they fit the profile of past french prospect with successful NBA carreer, but I have trouble to see their games translate to the NBA.

[Pelicanidae]

I go back and forth on my draftboard so far.
If I take into account the lesson learned from 2013, I would say the pelicans should focus on international players and stay away from the weak college class. And then I can't help myself but to consider that there's some overlooked players in college and I forget all lessons from past.

So currently my very fluide board would be :
Topic
Sarr
McCain
Ware
Chomche/D.Holmes
A Mitchell/Carrington
T.Alexander/PJ Hall/Ajinca

Riesacher and Salaun are hard to overlook since they fit the profile of past french prospect with successful NBA carreer, but I have trouble to see their games translate to the NBA.

Kind of wild to me that you think Risacher may not translate and yet you have guys like McCain, Chomche, and Hall up there - I wouldn't consider any of those three to be even top 25 in this draft.

What is it about them that you see as so promising? You've got them as lottery picks, it seems.

[Pelicanidae]

For what it's worth, my top 10 at this point (and brief descriptions for those not familiar) probably looks like:

1) Alexandre Sarr - 7'1 switchable centre with extremely good touch who projects as a shooter and rim protector, and who is a solid passer. Needs to gain muscle and develop the shot at 3pt range with consistency. Ridiculously mobile.
2) Nikola Topic - 6'5 PG with a near 7ft wingspan who, despite being super young for the class, just produces. Really good passer who maximises his height well in the PnR, strong finisher with craft, great speed in a straight line. Mediocre defender, can't shoot yet but projects alright.
3) Ron Holland II - 6'7 guard/wing who is a really strong athlete and plays with a fantastic motor. Good rebounder, can create for himself a little especially in the open court, and maximises that aggression and athleticism to be a very good defensive prospect. Poor handle and zero shooting right now - played PF at high school levels.
4) Rob Dillingham - 6'2 PG who is basically Kemba Walker if Kemba Walker was good on defense. Size limits his defense, but he has long arms and good hands and plays with effort. Great ball handler, willing passer, and has a highlight reel full of finishes at the rim. Quick release on a pullup jumper, projects well as a shooter for his size.
5) Zacherie Risacher - 6'8 wing who can shoot and has a super fast release with excellent relocation skills and fundamental mechanics. Can create off the bounce a little, though certainly not a primary. Good passer. Willing, switchable defender who works hard on that end and has good feet. Super young, too.
6) Isaiah Collier - 6'3. What if Zion was about 25% worse at everything and also 3 inches shorter, but had a pretty decent pullup jumper? That's Collier, basically. Strength based creation, gets into the paint at will, good passer and creator for others, you know the drill.
7) Stephon Castle - 6'6 guard who can defend up and down the positions, generates a ton of deflections through hustle and refusing to be screened out of plays, a skilled connective passer, and is a very capable finisher especially when he has the opportunity to go off both feet. Decisive.
8) Cody Williams - 6'8 wing with a 7'2 wingspan, with great pace and control of his handle. Crafty finisher, though lacking in burst. Moves well off ball, always cutting, and is a good offensive rebounder despite being currently slightly thin, and finishes excellently at the rim. Projects well as a c&s three point guy but has no real pullup game as of right now. Release could use some fine tuning. Quick hands, good defender.
9) Kel'el Ware - 7'0 centre with a slightly janky release but consistent success stretching the floor. Can create a little with the ball in his hands, though obviously not a primary creator. Good rim runner, and started playing like a big man last year by being willing to take contact. Solid defender against other bigs, wouldn't call him super switchy.
10) Reed Sheppard - 6'3 Kentucky guard with a 6'3 wingspan who can shoot the absolute leather off the ball and has great mechanics and fundamentals for shooting and relocating. Not an athlete of major burst or power, but has good hands to compensate a little on defense - still, size will be an issue for him. Smart player though who just doesn't really make mistakes, which helps limit the risks of having such a small guard on the court.

As you can tell, it's not a glowing review of the class. Rob Dillingham is good, for example, but most years I would not put a guy as small as him in the top 5 unless he was electric, but it's just that kind of draft class. Obviously in 5 years there will be some random second rounder who erupts that I didn't see coming and we'll all look back on that as a miss, but approaching the draft today, it's not a great one.

That's my top 10.

Next 5 guys is some combination of Matas Buzelis, Dalton Knecht, Ajay Mitchell, Tidjane Salaun, and Yves Missi. Maybe Donovan Clingan.

[Blattman]

Kind of wild to me that you think Risacher may not translate and yet you have guys like McCain, Chomche, and Hall up there - I wouldn't consider any of those three to be even top 25 in this draft.

What is it about them that you see as so promising? You've got them as lottery picks, it seems.

Actually m'y board is less about ranking talent than tier of players I would select depending on the range of the pick.
Sarr and Topic I would be confortable with selecting in the top 5
McCain and Ware are guys I'd be willing to invest up to late lottery money.
Chomche and Holmes are the late 10s early 20s guys.
Mitchell and Carrington up to late first round and the last three are the second round picks.
I don't like most of the players in this draft but there's always someone that I like in each range.

If Riesacher was available in the same range as Chomche, it may give me a pause but I prefer Chomche with a 20s pick's contract over Riesacher with a top 10. In a weak draft I always try to keep in mind the contract value, because investing large amount of money in a question mark prospect is a huge cost for a franchise.

Now to elaborate regarding the 3 players, I think McCain was put into an inconfortable situation at Duke. Since he was the only real threat from 3, Schreyer used him as an offball and movement shooter. Before College, he was seen as a pure playmaking guard so I suppose there's still some upside there and I also value his ability to sacrifice and adapt to help his team.

Chomche is the high upside swing. He can either be out of the League 3 years from now or be one perenial DPOY candidate. In such draft, upside picks are much more valuable.

Hall has a clear floor as a serviceable backup big. I see him as the non exciting prospect but that can be a rotational piece and play in the League for several years.

[Pelicanidae]

Actually m'y board is less about ranking talent than tier of players I would select depending on the range of the pick.
.

That makes a lot more sense. It's not so much your big board, top 12, it's just more like who you might pick throughout the draft at different levels - they're not competing with each other necessarily.

Thanks for clearing that up. I wasn't being judgemental either, I just legitimately didn't understand the set-up. Much clearer now.

[Blattman]

That makes a lot more sense. It's not so much your big board, top 12, it's just more like who you might pick throughout the draft at different levels - they're not competing with each other necessarily.

Thanks for clearing that up. I wasn't being judgemental either, I just legitimately didn't understand the set-up. Much clearer now.

Yeah sorry if I wasn't clear. I have trouble to create a real big board since if you ask me "which players are you confortable paying top 10 pick money?" There's basically 2 players. Now if, for exemple, Sheppard is available at 20, he would be probably be equal to Ware.

[fullcourtpress]

For what it's worth, my top 10 at this point (and brief descriptions for those not familiar) probably looks like:

1) Alexandre Sarr - 7'1 switchable centre with extremely good touch who projects as a shooter and rim protector, and who is a solid passer. Needs to gain muscle and develop the shot at 3pt range with consistency. Ridiculously mobile.
2) Nikola Topic - 6'5 PG with a near 7ft wingspan who, despite being super young for the class, just produces. Really good passer who maximises his height well in the PnR, strong finisher with craft, great speed in a straight line. Mediocre defender, can't shoot yet but projects alright.
3) Ron Holland II - 6'7 guard/wing who is a really strong athlete and plays with a fantastic motor. Good rebounder, can create for himself a little especially in the open court, and maximises that aggression and athleticism to be a very good defensive prospect. Poor handle and zero shooting right now - played PF at high school levels.
4) Rob Dillingham - 6'2 PG who is basically Kemba Walker if Kemba Walker was good on defense. Size limits his defense, but he has long arms and good hands and plays with effort. Great ball handler, willing passer, and has a highlight reel full of finishes at the rim. Quick release on a pullup jumper, projects well as a shooter for his size.
5) Zacherie Risacher - 6'8 wing who can shoot and has a super fast release with excellent relocation skills and fundamental mechanics. Can create off the bounce a little, though certainly not a primary. Good passer. Willing, switchable defender who works hard on that end and has good feet. Super young, too.
6) Isaiah Collier - 6'3. What if Zion was about 25% worse at everything and also 3 inches shorter, but had a pretty decent pullup jumper? That's Collier, basically. Strength based creation, gets into the paint at will, good passer and creator for others, you know the drill.
7) Stephon Castle - 6'6 guard who can defend up and down the positions, generates a ton of deflections through hustle and refusing to be screened out of plays, a skilled connective passer, and is a very capable finisher especially when he has the opportunity to go off both feet. Decisive.
8) Cody Williams - 6'8 wing with a 7'2 wingspan, with great pace and control of his handle. Crafty finisher, though lacking in burst. Moves well off ball, always cutting, and is a good offensive rebounder despite being currently slightly thin, and finishes excellently at the rim. Projects well as a c&s three point guy but has no real pullup game as of right now. Release could use some fine tuning. Quick hands, good defender.
9) Kel'el Ware - 7'0 centre with a slightly janky release but consistent success stretching the floor. Can create a little with the ball in his hands, though obviously not a primary creator. Good rim runner, and started playing like a big man last year by being willing to take contact. Solid defender against other bigs, wouldn't call him super switchy.
10) Reed Sheppard - 6'3 Kentucky guard with a 6'3 wingspan who can shoot the absolute leather off the ball and has great mechanics and fundamentals for shooting and relocating. Not an athlete of major burst or power, but has good hands to compensate a little on defense - still, size will be an issue for him. Smart player though who just doesn't really make mistakes, which helps limit the risks of having such a small guard on the court.

As you can tell, it's not a glowing review of the class. Rob Dillingham is good, for example, but most years I would not put a guy as small as him in the top 5 unless he was electric, but it's just that kind of draft class. Obviously in 5 years there will be some random second rounder who erupts that I didn't see coming and we'll all look back on that as a miss, but approaching the draft today, it's not a great one.

That's my top 10.

Next 5 guys is some combination of Matas Buzelis, Dalton Knecht, Ajay Mitchell, Tidjane Salaun, and Yves Missi. Maybe Donovan Clingan.

I think Matas Buzellis is a top 5 talent. top 3 really. he's a better Franz Wagner and looks like the boy from Hoosiers when he shoots lo

[Pelicanidae]

I think Matas Buzellis is a top 5 talent. top 3 really. he's a better Franz Wagner and looks like the boy from Hoosiers when he shoots lo

I can see the ceiling but thus far, absolutely none of it has come together for him in a meaningful way.

He's got a decent handle but he has the BI thing where his centre of gravity is super high and it prevents him from really digging in on drives, makes it easier to keep him off his spot. Shooting form looks good but it just doesn't go in right now, so clearly either he needs some help with it or the touch isn't there. Kind of a goofy mover. Not very physically strong or bursty.

He actually reminds me a lot of BI in some ways not a clone or anything, just as I'm writing that out I realise who that resembles.

Buzelis does project as a good defender though and obviously if the shot can start falling there's something there combined with his handle and creativity, I just see it being pretty hard for him to reach his upper potential outcomes.

[fullcourtpress]

I go back and forth on my draftboard so far.
If I take into account the lesson learned from 2013, I would say the pelicans should focus on international players and stay away from the weak college class. And then I can't help myself but to consider that there's some overlooked players in college and I forget all lessons from past.

So currently my very fluide board would be :
Topic
Sarr
McCain
Ware
Chomche/D.Holmes
A Mitchell/Carrington
T.Alexander/PJ Hall/Ajinca

Riesacher and Salaun are hard to overlook since they fit the profile of past french prospect with successful NBA carreer, but I have trouble to see their games translate to the NBA.

I heard a scout said that Nicola Topic is "the white SGA"; hence I rewatched some videos of him........ Ill tell ya this, players certainly will have problems staying in front of him... as they do with SGA

He and Matas are two of the players I'd covet the most