2017-2018 Draft Prospects watch.

[Phrazbit]

Young. I think his floor is pretty high and I think his ceiling is that of a Nash or Curry, a truly special guard who can dictate offense in a way that their team is a near automatic 50+ win club.

I don't buy the Jimmer comparisons because Jimmer couldn't pass, while Young was the best play maker in college basketball this year and with garbage teammates.

I'd honestly be tempted to take him second.

 

[Hoop Head]

At 4 you take Young and hope he's able to start for the Suns right away. He'll be a good NBA player but I'm not sure if he's ready to be a starter on opening day. He can shoot lights out from anywhere on the floor and wouldn't have trouble getting playing time. That is assuming the first 3 picks are Ayton, Doncic, or Bagley. If one of them drop to 4 you take them and don't look back.

 

[hsandhu]

Despite what others have said about young, I'm not totally opposed to that.

Even with his struggles in the second half of the season (because he had multiple defenders guarding him), I just cant help but thinking back to the the teams who passed on curry and how we laugh at that now...

 

[hsandhu]

The good thing about young is the suns absolutely need to address the shooting of the pg this season, if they intend not to tank again.

The inability of the team to shoot was the single biggest thing that made us awful, teams could send the entire team around booker with no concern about leaving others open.

If we get 1 of top 3 picks, i wanted to trade 16 for patrick beverly, perfect 3 and d pg, only makes 5 million next year.

 

[pokerface]

If we fall to 4, what are people thinking in terms of the player to take?

For me it will be all about the best medical staff in the nba. The same staff that in 2010 told the suns amare s knees would not hold up more than a couple years, and were right.

If they evaluate michael porter and say he will hold up, I'm taking him. 6 11 matchup nightmare that was largely considered number 1 prospect heading into last season

I figure bamb a and jjj are raw enough you are rolling dice with them in different way, so what's the difference, at least you can have some good confidence in the porter risk because of the suns medical staff

Good points. In one way or another we're rolling the dice no matter what. Id take a healthy Porter over a lot of the big men. But each player is pretty interesting at the top of the food chain. With #4 pick we could go a lot of directions though...Not sure if there is a wrong choice.

 

[Phrazbit]

Beverly is a dirty turd, he also cannot even remotely run an offense. No interest.

 

[Carolinacacti]

Young. I think his floor is pretty high and I think his ceiling is that of a Nash or Curry, a truly special guard who can dictate offense in a way that their team is a near automatic 50+ win club

Forth pick I would take Young.

 

[Ronin]

Jon Rothstein‏Verified account@JonRothstein 3m3 minutes ago
Purdue's Nojel Eastern will enter the 2018 NBA Draft, but will not hire an agent, per release.

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Jeff Goodman‏Verified account@GoodmanESPN 4m4 minutes ago
The latest guy to test the NBA Draft process averaged 2.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game this past season. Purdue freshman Nojel Eastern. Yep.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Young. I think his floor is pretty high and I think his ceiling is that of a Nash or Curry, a truly special guard who can dictate offense in a way that their team is a near automatic 50+ win club.

I don't buy the Jimmer comparisons because Jimmer couldn't pass, while Young was the best play maker in college basketball this year and with garbage teammates.

I'd honestly be tempted to take him second.

If he stays healthy, I think he'll be the best player from this draft class. The temptation to take him first and then trade back up for someone like Wendell Carter might help fans get over us not taking Ayton.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Young or JJJ.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

From what I can gather, Luka Doncic struggled big time in Game 1 of Real Madrid's Euroleague playoff matchup against a really good Greek team.

Doncic was ineffective against Greek Freak's older brother (athletic swing) and Real Madrid got blown out by a team featuring Nick Calathes and Mike James.

Yes.

That Mike James.

He had 24 points.

Not gonna lie, as a Doncic supporter, this is not his finest hour.

Of course, Ayton was a no-show against Buffalo in the tournament (and I'm positive Buffalo would perform very poorly in the Euroleague playoffs) and one game is just one game.

But still...

It's a best of 5 series against Panathinaikos. How Doncic responds to this failure will be very interesting...

 

[sunsfan88]

Doncic really exposed in game 1 of the playoffs.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

It's just one game in the grand scheme of things. Looking at the box score it looked as though Panathinaikos really made it a focus to force the ball out of Doncic's hands. He only attempted 5 shots in 21 minutes and recorded no assists. Still very concerning, but I won't turn on a prospect for one bad game.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

It's just one game in the grand scheme of things. Looking at the box score it looked as though Panathinaikos really made it a focus to force the ball out of Doncic's hands. He only attempted 5 shots in 21 minutes and recorded no assists. Still very concerning, but I won't turn on a prospect for one bad game.

Supposedly one of those shots was a heave, so it was really more like four shots. The whole team just got stomped. It's good that they will play at least two more times. How a prospect responds to adversity matters a ton.

 

[Chaplin]

Ayton had a terrible game vs. Buffalo in the tournament, so one game doesn't make that big of a difference.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

Ayton had a terrible game vs. Buffalo in the tournament, so one game doesn't make that big of a difference.

Yes, and Buffalo is not nearly as good as Panathinaikos. What's interesting here is that, unlike Ayton, Doncic has multiple chances to adjust and respond. It's a best three of five series. Will be very interesting to see how he does from here.

 

[pokerface]

Ayton had a terrible game vs. Buffalo in the tournament, so one game doesn't make that big of a difference.

Way to throw some balance in there Chaplin. Sometimes I feel Doncic is held to a standard that other prospects aren't.

 

[Chaplin]

Way to throw some balance in there Chaplin. Sometimes I feel Doncic is held to a standard that other prospects aren't.

To be fair, that may be earned because he is in a "pro" league, after all, and technically not in an amateur league. That can be a catch-22. You can hold him to a higher standard because the leagues is so much better, but then again you have to take it with a grain of salt because of his age.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Way to throw some balance in there Chaplin. Sometimes I feel Doncic is held to a standard that other prospects aren't.

that might be because of the hype thrown his way by some here. Everyone else has acknowledged warts from fans of the other guys... Ayton might not have the dog in him needed to dominate... Bagley's D is a concern... Young might be too slight and he tailed off significantly in the second half of his season. Everyone who supports those guys freely acknowledge the concerns there, but it seems like for most of the year, if someone brought up any Doncic concerns about athleticism/shooting, people started twisting into pretzels to make the case that wasn't true. Hell... I've seen people call Doncic one of the most ready players ever drafted because of his play in the Euro-Pro-Leagues.

and note, there hasn't been one doncic skeptic that has thrown him under the bus after that Game 1 performance.

 

[pokerface]

that might be because of the hype thrown his way by some here. Everyone else has acknowledged warts from fans of the other guys... Ayton might not have the dog in him needed to dominate... Bagley's D is a concern... Young might be too slight and he tailed off significantly in the second half of his season. Everyone who supports those guys freely acknowledge the concerns there, but it seems like for most of the year, if someone brought up any Doncic concerns about athleticism/shooting, people started twisting into pretzels to make the case that wasn't true. Hell... I've seen people call Doncic one of the most ready players ever drafted because of his play in the Euro-Pro-Leagues.

and note, there hasn't been one doncic skeptic that has thrown him under the bus after that Game 1 performance.

Fair enough Cheese. It just seems Doncic has the "white euro" tag on his head and some tweener talk as well (which might be true...or not).

 

[Cheesebeef]

Fair enough Cheese. It just seems Doncic has the "white euro" tag on his head and some tweener talk as well (which might be true...or not).

fair enough also.

 

[Mainstreet]

The lack of assists for Doncic is the most concerning. However, it is only one game.

Doncic did have 10 points.

 

[AzStevenCal]

All I have to say about Doncic is TRAE YOUNG. Call me Traezy but that's the guy I want. Not Doncic, even though I mostly believe in Luka. And anyone can have a bad game.

 

[Chaplin]

All I have to say about Doncic is TRAE YOUNG. Call me Traezy but that's the guy I want. Not Doncic, even though I mostly believe in Luka. And anyone can have a bad game.

Do you have any reservations about Young? I like him, but his mediocre play the 2nd half of the season was concerning. A good PG makes those around him better--I think that applied at the beginning of the year, but not at the end when it mattered.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Do you have any reservations about Young? I like him, but his mediocre play the 2nd half of the season was concerning. A good PG makes those around him better--I think that applied at the beginning of the year, but not at the end when it mattered.

He needs to cut down his turnovers and improve his shot selection but no, I have no reservations about him as a player. I worry only about his slight build and whether it would hold up to life in the NBA. I think he's the closest thing to a "can't miss" prospect in this class.