It is a weaker class, I could not believe it at 1st with all the hoopla about Smith and Holmgren, but none of last year's guys had huge question marks like these guys. I think this year's draft might be deeper, but those top guys last year are better than these guys, but these guys have the possibility to be all time if they can overcome their weaknesses. I don't think what he said is exaggeration or hyperbole.
And yet Smith is a unanimous top 4 player. Let that sink in. Not consensus. Unanimous. Only Chet and Jabari have ELITE production in at least one area.
Just because he is top 4 does not mean he has some real question marks, and I would not be surprised if a couple of people over take him.
When have you seen him play the point? He did not do it in Milwaukee and Fox is the point currently the point. He has never averaged over 4 asst. Maybe they are playing more at point now, but he would still be considered a more of a combo guard than a pg.
Every player in this draft has question marks. Every.single.one. All things being equal, take the best fit with the elite upside.
I reckon you are right. He looked like a PG, to me, when he beat us last week. Certainly more like a PG than anything we have (with apologies to Schroder).
Interesting I think this draft is a lot shallower than last year's, but maybe Lakers imploding and all the Harden and Simmons drama has taken all the hype and spotlight away from the draft. Just looking at the top 10 last year just seems a lot more stacked, this year after the top 4 nobody is sure who is going 5th...
Great read!!! Mamba Mentality fans will LOVE Jabari Smith Jr. His work ethic, humility, will to be the best - such a likeable kid. “Body frame, size, but guarding the 1. You seeing that out of Giannis now. I’m trying to put that in Jabari as a rookie.” —Jabari Smith Sr.
I want Jabari first and then do everything humanly possible to move up and grab Sharpe. It might mean another tank year, but man you have 3 potential all-stars maybe even four if KPJ gets consistent or even 5 if Sengun pans out. KPJ, JG, Sharpe, Jabari, Sengun. Wow!!!!
So why has he not gotten better at dribbling? Either he has not worked at it or he just can't do it very well. Which is it? he has the frame and shooting ability to be better than Giannis, but he has no drive game at all. To tell the truth this is troubling to me, does him and his dad not see what his biggest weakness is and thinks he is already like Giannis/
I think Jabari's relative lack of handles and interior scoring makes me question if he is the number 1 pick. On the other hand, we had a high draft pick recently that was a hard worker and had made noticeable improvements. I'm not really going to sweat it until we have the draft order.
It maybe a weaker class.... but we didn't realize how strong 2021 draft class was until about a quarter of the season in. Truthfully, it just feels like the kids are more NBA ready than ever.
Actually I dont think they're NBA ready quite yet, if you look at the best rookies none of their stats jump out across the board for example the top scorer is only averaging around 15 ppg on decent but not amazing efficiency. If you compare it to Doncic's rookie class rookie Doncic, Trae and Ayton blow all these rooks' stats out of the water. The potential is def there though, in a couple of years when these kids get used to the NBA they should all blow up.
Let's learn how to dribble a basketball at a high level once you get to the league guys. It's not as if these guys have been dribbling for 12-14 years. If a prospect can't handle at college level, he isn't going to be dribbling much in the NBA.
Yeah that scares the bejeesus out of me, you don't all of sudden add that type of skill when you have not done it at all so far in your life.
