this draft absolutely delivered as far as interest goes- so many different prospects and possibilities, and my day job aside, which also worked out quite well given the results, I had a ton of fun just watching and imagining and exploring different basketball situations. we'll go by team pick order, and discuss all the players that team got to take. more long form thoughts will come later, but we'll stick with pretty short opinions for now.

DAL Mavericks: got Flagg, so... yeah. very good lol.

SA Spurs: of course, also very good! Harper and Bryant is exactly the game plan the Spurs went into the draft with. nice job by the front office not getting distracted by all this smoke about blockbuster trades and whatnot. Bryant wasn't my highest ranked wing at that point of the draft, but he's still an entirely great pick and fit. really hope this team continues to build organically this way.

PHI 76ers: also very good! VJ was my number three overall prospect, and obviously Philly isn't the traditional lottery rebuilding team right now, but absolutely no harm in taking a crazy upside guard who gels well with your other unreal guard talents.

CHA Hornets: solid. I still really don't understand the Mark Williams trade, but Kon is a stellar addition. I'm also not super crazy about McNeeley, but it's a fairly standard draft pick.

UTA Jazz: started strong, didn't like the back end. taking Ace despite all the shenanigans is such a pimp move by Austin Ainge. take your highest ranked, most talented upside prospect, regardless of how his camp is posturing. the Walter Clayton Jr. pick tho, I do not like. felt like not just a reach, but in general a rough pick with little upside or fit.

WAS Wizards: pretty good! thought they had a few opportunities in the middle of the round before they traded the 18th to Utah, but Tre Johnson is a stud prospect, and getting Will Riley caps off a fairly exciting haul. love that they know what they have in their current guards, and are adding diverse skillsets at wing.

NO Pelicans: practically best case scenario. Fears at 7 and then Queen at 13 is literally everything this team could have hoped for. still not sure exactly what the long term plan is in New Orleans, but they were going to need to nail this draft in any scenario.

BKN Nets: oh man... look. there are still a few positives to the way Brooklyn approached their first two picks, but it really fell off the tracks at the end. anything good they had going for them was obscured by the Powell, Saraf, and Wolf picks. ESPECIALLY when there were so many other prospects available at every single pick. I'll save my comments on the prospects themselves- the Brooklyn Nets front office themselves did not seem super sharp today.

TOR Raptors: love it! CMB might not be a perfect fit, but the Raptors have such a weird roster going on that it wouldn't have particularly mattered if they had drafted someone viewed as a "better fit." mainly preference between if you like Maluach or CMB more, and I personally have CMB very slightly ahead in that matchup.

PHX Suns: so damn impressive. the Suns definitely could've taken some bigger swings at 10, but turning 29 into Mark Williams, and then drafting Khaman Malauch is just phenomenal. they managed to address their biggest positional need with both an immediate contributor AND an upside swing. not to mention they are both gigantic, and simply good basketball players that will fit in well next to Dunn, Ighodara, Booker, and now Green and Brooks. if Jordan Ott weren't such an offensive focused coach this team would have some serious defensive potential.

MEM Grizzlies: solid enough. not sure if trading up was necessary at all, but they were clearly fond of Coward. quite fine with how they approached this, just maybe would have taken a different prospect. but no major problems with Cedric.

OKC Thunder: those bastards did it again. adding Sorber to this frontcourt is just... ugh. this is so unfair man. I'm so glad they ended up trading that 24 to Sacramento, cuz tif not they would've had Sorber AND Clifford.

POR Trail Blazers: Mike Schmitz banger right here, lmfao. it's madness and I love it. opinions here kinda have to be contextualized with what you think of Hansen Yang as a prospect. going back to when he was playing U17 FIBA basketball, I have been a fan of his. obviously this was nowhere near his real draft range, but Portland had no other picks in the entire draft. when Memphis called to move up, this was a golden opportunity to take the guy they wanted anyway while getting little bit back elsewhere. a lot of discussion but look man, all I wanna say in rebuttal is that he's good at basketball. I love the pick.

MIN Timberwolves: love it! Joan Beringer is a monster prospect, I'm a huge fan of his. very easy to understand pick here.

MIA Heat: love it! nobody really expected Kasparas Jakucionis to be available at 20, but hey, you won't hear Miami complaining. such an improvement from who they were expecting to get. they owe the Utah Jazz some drinks for taking Clayton early and letting KJ get here.

ATL Hawks: so-so. I do like Asa Newell, but after trading for Porzingis while retaining Okongwu I wasn't sure that this was the best use of their pick. feel like there are some huge minutes to improve on in the secondary backcourt.

SAC Kings: LOVE IT! well, it was Nique Clifford. so you already know how fond I am of him.

ORL Magic: like it! I was surprised the Magic managed to pass on Wolf here- a Michigan center who perfectly fills their needs? felt like a done deal. but I do like Jase Richardson at this pick as well. he's got more upside, and fills essentially their other biggest need. Suggs and Bane will be really good influences on him.

BOS Celtics: so-so. Hugo is a fun prospect, but I'm not really sure the Celtics have the time to develop him that way. with McNeeley or Raynaud or Penda or so many other prospects still available, not sure I love this particular pick.

LA Clippers: love it! the Clippers so clearly know what they have in the Harden-Zubac dynamic, and their biggest need of backup center is patched up so perfectly by Yanic Konan Niederhauser. i am very excited to see those PnRs.

without thinking too deeply, these are my first impressions. would love to hear yours.