First dude looks tuff! Good luck to all of them and their respective squads. We are running it back with fvv
In my humble opinion, the best guard in the class hasn’t even been mentioned here. It’s Ebuka Okorie. There’s a strong case based on the production, impact metrics, wingspan etc, at the youngest draft age of all the underclassman guards. But the real reason is because he has the juice. Just watch the tape. Best handle and on ball advantage creation in the draft, by far IMO. Simply cannot be stopped with a live dribble in the halfcourt, and never ever turns it over. Was constantly doubled and trapped and beat those too. No shooting or defense concerns either. Probably top 5 highest skill level 19yo’s I’ve ever seen in college basketball. Risen all year in mock drafts but still too low because of the logjam of good guards with great PR and Okorie’s lower RSCI coming in (because he was too smart basically and originally committed to Harvard). Would love to see the Rockets get him if we end up in the draft, and just give him the ball.
Added more to that post and will go into further detail. Its not just whether we believe Reed has star potential right now, its us drafting him #3, not giving him a rookie year, watching him make significant growth year 2, and then bailing on him before year 3. Likely selling him for cheap, and spending significant assets to move up to start over again with a rookie PG that will also require years of development, with Ime as our head coach, in “phase 3” or whatever. If that PG doesn’t both pan out to be great AND significantly better than Reed, it would be nearly franchise crippling, waisting years of time and serious assets. It’s possible Reed never becomes an impact player, and that one of these guys is a star, but the risk of making that bet before the draft is enormous. Our FO would have to be VERY confident and competent in finding THE GUY amongst them, and our FO are the guys who went with Jalen (6th man), Smith (role player), Reed (they said was the best prospect in the draft and are bailing after one real season) and Amen who is excellent BUT incredibly flawed as a non shooting wing. We only nailed 1 of our 4 top picks, MAYBE, because once Amen is paid handsomely, and expectations are placed on him, will he deliver and still be valuable? Or a very expensive flawed player we will eventually want out on? We thought we nailed Sengun, but then he got paid and his flaws became more important, and now we are talking about bailing on him at low value, Tari’s inconsistency and BBIQ still persist, and we can lose him for nothing in FA. Garuba, Christopher, TyTy, Whitmore all busted. We simply have a horrific track record of finding, developing talent and managing our players and assets. I have a really hard time seeing the FO take this type of risk given this context. Yes we could really use a star guard, but who’s to say any of these guys will be one, or that we’d pick the right one, at the right price, and that bailing on Reed wouldn’t bite us in the ass. Maybe our FO has balls of steel and takes that risk, but I think it’s a lot more likely we try to minimize our risks and try to continue developing and extracting value from our investment in Reed. Which would be mean A. Finding players who can play alongside Reed (Burries, Amari Allen, Carr) Or B. Taking a swing later in the draft, at a much lower cost / risk factor. (Christian Anderson, Meleek Thomas, Tanner, Thornton)
I would take any of the 4 Acuff is my favorite, reminds me of Kyrie with his finishing around the basket. He’s a true pg. and yes I would trade Sengun to trade up in this draft
I like Okorie. He's getting mocked ALL over the place. There's even a possibility (unlikely, but possible) that he could be available for us in the 2nd round. More likely he'll go toward the end of the first round though. In any case, he should be very obtainable if the front office likes him. My only big question is how his defense is going to hold up in the NBA. I'm always a little suspicious of the ability for small quick guards without plus strength to be playable on the defensive end. However, he does seem like a willing and active defender with a good motor, so maybe he will be okay enough.
If you watch some full games, Okorie is a plus guard defender. Would not be concerned on that end at all. Moves his feet super well, understands angles, great hands, 6'8 wingspan and weighed 186 lbs as an 18yo freshman all year. Will probably be 200 lbs as an adult in the league. Highest stock:foul ratio of any guard in the class. Unfortunately there is no chance he goes in the second round. Highly doubtful IMO he gets past pick 20 when we get to draft day. Rare combo of eye test guy, analytical model guy, and "star" upside / usage guy. I think he's one of those prospects that teams are trying to keep under wraps but then get aggressive as it gets closer to the draft, i.e. Cedric Coward.
Just going by the mock drafts I've been seeing lately, which could be very wrong. They usually miss big time on at least one or two players. Here are some of the ones I found: ESPN: #30 Bleacher Report: #28 The Ringer: #16 Yahoo Sports: #32 CBS Sports: #26 If he's as good as you believe he is, hopefully the Rockets find a way to sneak in and grab him.
Well that’s how Stone has drafted every year. Looks at majority mocks and picks with 8 seconds left. You just ruined our draft buzz, now we know who we are getting. Haha.
Too much risk, not enough upside for him--he can more or less lock in $20M or so (give or take, depending on exact draft slot). He could maybe go higher in 2027 and increase that, but the risk factor of having a major injury is too much. Sure would have been nice though.
it’s a very good point. But I do think some of these guys can play off ball. Reed can also play off-ball. We don’t have a 2-guard, we can always use another combo guard. You don’t pass up on a special player because u have another player that might develop into something special. Reed may not be a point guard. Reed May not even be a starting caliber guard. Given the lack of guards on this roster, and no franchise player, it would almost be negligent not to to take a swing on one of these stud guard prospects. I can’t think of a team that needs backcourt ball handling and bsckcourt shooting more than Houston. but I take your point abiut the sunk cost in Reed. Hopefully the front office understands we need to avoid the sunk cost fallacy.
really well reasoned take. But I guess I’d ask why drafting one of these guards means “bailing” on Reed? We have exactly one guard as part of our core. Reed’s gonna get plenty of minutes. He also may not be a point guard and can certainly play off-ball. His shooting skill is always gonna be valuable even if he never becomes a starting caliber player. I just don’t understand why it’s an “either-or” with respect to drafting a guard or sticking with Reed. Guarantee you the Clippers don’t see it that way with Garland. I doubt the Nets see it that way with Demin. I think it’s a huge mistake to use Reed as a reason not to draft one of these guards. The #3 pick moniker means much less in a historically weak draft.
I am not sure there is a pathway to getting to any of these guys - but if there is I sure would want to explore it. And I love Reed, but we need a real point guard in the worst way. If it means trading Reed because he wouldn't be a good fit with one of these guards, so be it. That said, it's my understanding that Wagler is more of a shooting guard. Is that not correct?
I feel confident that none of these guys (Acuff, Flemings, Wagler, Brown, Philon) can functionally play extended minutes with Reed defensively in today's NBA. They are all 180-190, all of their biggest weaknesses on defense are being too weak. The only plus defender out of the group is Flemmings, who is almost the same exact size as Reed. The largest of the group is Wagler at 6'5 barefoot, but he isn't a good athlete, has the thinnest frame, and poor measurables (8'4 standing reach, 6'6 wingspan) that render him to play significantly smaller defensively then his height (Think Kevin Martin). Offensively, they'd all fit great with Reed, no problems. We don't have a top 10 pick and you're almost talking about these guys as if we do, or that it's really easy to attain. Like they're just there for the taking and we have to ponder why we wouldn't. I think trading into the 5-10 range would be fairly difficult / painful, we'd have to give up serious assets to trade into this range.... and if we are giving up serious assets for a guy who functionally can't play with Reed, the assumption is we are giving up on Reed. Yes I'd be very surprised if the Clippers drafted Acuff/Flemings/Brown AND planned to keep Garland. Maybe they take Wagler and plan to have a really poor defensive back court? Maybe they'd plan on selling Garland soon and starting a full re-build. I don't see the Rockets being in the position to have the time to start a full rebuild, or have a very poor defensive back court, not with the goals of our front office/ownership.
There's a growing segment of the Clippers fan base ready to move on from Kawhi. They likely keep Garland and start their rebuild with their #5. And if they move Kawhi, it'll be for more picks. I don't see them parting ways with their #5. Moving on from Leonard and his tree planting.
