Hi everyone, this is a post where i talk about what yall might think it's wild, but i think it might happen. If you have time pls read through it as it might also give you some new thoughts on prospects, enjoy :)

If Charlotte is making the selection at 2, 100% it's Scoot not Brandon Miller

I rlly don't understand why's majority of the scouts, ESPN, CBS sports, are all saying Brandon Miller goes 2. Just a kind reminder that everyone was saying Jabari goes 1 last year, even Woj tweeted it few hrs before the draft and end up Paolo went 1, which is what I believed for the whole preparation of the draft

Scoot is just a way skilled player, and is the true 2nd pick, with the report of Scoot workout in Charlotte is nth but impressive, there's no way for them to pass him up

Amen Thompson and Ausar Thompson might fall in the draft

Amen and Ausar are super high ceiling guys, i'll agree on this, but OTE rlly is still a very new league and teams might not be fully confident about what they see in OTE.

For example, Jean Montero and Dominick Barlow last year, I rank both of the quite high, not bad talents at all, but they end up undrafted, well I still definitely think they should be drafted, NBA teams might not think so in the draft, and the same thibg can happen on the Thompson bro

Im not saying they're getting undrafted, don't think they will be out of the lottery as well, but there's possibility that they won't go as high as everyone rank them

And their shooting, as a guard u basically need shooting in modern NBA, shooting is a project for them, not sth they have now, it rlly depends on how much teams are willing to wait for that

But, I still got Amen at 4 and Ausar at 6, both those teams got room to wait for their shooting and is in desperate need on that high energy wing on D

Cam Whitmore might fell out of the lottery completely

I think this is the biggest take from me, ppl will all think im crazy, but here's why

His biggest issue to me is he always try to bully his way in for layup. He just keep trying to use his body to bump into the paint, and play a bit of bullyball. In the NBA it's way way harder to do that, with better defenders and stronger guys

Another reason is that ppl say he hv high ceiling, which is true, but I don't see it as promising. His dribbles is not that good, he's quite slow to me, his jumpshot also isn't quick, like it just don't look like a piece with much ceiling

I will use Keyonte George as an example, high ceiling, good defender in his position, and he just keeps dropping and dropping, reason being not mature in decision making, and I think Cam hv the same issue. I do think Keyonte's iso game is more promising than Cam, I might even take Keyonte over Cam tbh

Previous examples include Keon Johnson and Jalen Johnson in 2021, great athlete, good defender, ranked 9 and 12 on ESPN in the draft and end up falling to 20 and 21

I also wanna point out EJ Liddell last year falling to pick 41, he also is ranked comfortably 1st round but a problem is he uses his body to attack too much and scouts and GMs know that this is hardly gonna work on NBA level

Taylor Hendricks and Dereck Lively will go unexpectedly high

I have Hendricks going 5 to Detroit and Lively 10 to Dallas, Hendricks forms twin tower with Duren and Mavs just badly need the rim protection

Why I hv them way higher than everyone is because, these 2 are also good shooting bigs with great rim protection, and this is what you call? Modern bigs

There's rlly few players who can do both tgt, and this is also why I think they hold more value than other prospects

Hendricks is shooting close to 40% from 3 in college, 2 BPG, and although Lively isn't showing the shooting in college, from high sku clips and combine clips you also can see he can fr shoot

Gradey Dick might go unexpectedly high

The Dick is going highhhhh

Gradey Dick's shooting is just on another level which I can't call him sharpshooter. There's another level which is called Klay Thompson over sharpshooter, and I can see Dick reaching that

Ppl say that he's a liability on D, which is totally not the case, he won't be like Klay Thompson on D most likely, but definitely not a liability

I do believe that he can become a top 5 shooter a day. His shooting motion, his range, his ability of hitting moving 3s, he's shown everything in college, and he can do the same in NBA im sure. Teams can definitely use sharpshooting and if they value it way higher than everything, I can definitely see as early as Magic at 6 and Pacers at 7 to take him

Anthony Black might fall

Anthony Black was becoming one of the most overrated prospects to me these weeks. What i'll admit is no matter what his playmaking and defending is better than most prospects, a big defensive playmaking PG is always valuable and used to go higher in the draft, and from what i've heard his attitude on the game is excellent and is one of the nicest rookies out there

But, offensively beside playmaking, i do hv concerns on. He's not a good shooter, that's the 1st point, 2nd he rlly never shown that he got ceiling like Amen Thompson, don't rlly hv that explosiveness, handles aren't on elite level, he got a not bad floor, but i rlly can't see high ceiling on him. Dyson Daniels went 8 last year, but when i see Dyson i can just see a more fluid game and just more room to work with, while i can't see that with Anthony Black

With Wizards trading Beal basically, he might not go 8 (if Wizards still hv Beal i'll hv Black at 8), I think Thunder will love him so much so i think he won't slip through 12, just cus OKC love guys with much position versatility

Nick Smith JR can go 2nd round

Nick Smith JR definitely hv a high ceiling, a very Jordan Poole typa guy, elite 3 level scorer, if he's in his ceiling or what ppl expect 1 year ago

In Arkansas, NSJ's percentage rlly isn't looking gd, ppl say that he got the injury which caused all these, well, what i know is that his percentage is bad, and is not a gd defender, which is a big difference on why Keyonte is dropping to the 14-20 range, and NSJ even lower

Example is Jaden Hardy last year, he was dropping for the whole season, but even with the drop ppl still expect around 20-25 pick for him but he ends up dropping to 37, and same can happen to NSJ

But no batter what NSJ got the tools to be special, high ceiling, but low floor as of now. His handles and speed with the ball is better than most prospects

Jordan Hawkins will go lottery

I won't do much explanation on this, just look at this post by me: https://fanspo.com/nba/s/general/p/AN5ngdklBRDPql/listen-up-jordan-hawkins-will-be-a-lock-lottery-pick-with-prove

Bilal Coulibaly won't go top 20

Idk if this is a take or it's generally agreed, but same with Rayan Rupert and Sidy Cissoko, I don't think Bilal Coulibaly will make it

I just saw a reporter saying that he should make the lottery, as he's just like Amen and Ausar, incredible athlete and defender. But even when Im not that big of a fan of the Thompson twins, what they shown in OTE is way more than what Bilal shown in France

Amen and Ausar is the ball handler of the team, which is a main reason that they showed more skillset and more ceiling than Bilal. While I don't disagree Bilal hv ceiling, I think he's bigger of a project. He mainly plays as a offball cutter, which is also why he can't get much chance to show his skills

Example being Matisse Thybulle few years ago, great defender but plays mainly offball, went 22nd

Some wing prospects who should go 1st round might fall into early 2nd round

For me now there's much wing/6'5-6'8 prospects who can go 15-30 range, I'll name them below:

Brandin Podziemski, Sidy Cissoko, Bilal Coulibaly, Brice Sensabaugh, Kris Murray (but he won't go lower than the Kings pick), Rayan Rupert, Dariq Whitehead, Maxwell Lewis, Julian Strawther, Jett Howard, Colby Jones, Kobe Brown

It rlly depends on how much those teams in 15-30 want bigs/guards, there's rlly so much good option, therefore i think that 3-4 of these names will slip into the 2nd round

Julian Strawther will go 1st round

I hv him dropping recently, but then there's still definitely a chance someone will pick him in the 1st round, very NBA ready sharpshooting wing, decent defending. He's very efficient, over 40% from 3. One thing i think he will attract NBA teams is, he's super super gd offball

Even when he's a junior, he still hv the chance. Former Gonzaga Corey Kispert, played 4 years in Gonzaga, stats and playstyle is very similar to Strawther, and he went 15 to Wizards. That year Gozaga went to the NCAA final, and lose, Strawther got to elite 8 too i think this year and actually did hit a clutch shot VS UCLA in the tournament. If Kispert went 15, even with a way stronger class, Strawther still hv a chance on cracking top 30

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