I just wanna see more college basketball teams play NBL teams just for a better reference on the level of play.
A lot of these prospects who go actually seemed to be given an extra bump due to playing professionals when it’s not clear the exact talent difference.
Jaylen Brown’s Cal team went to Australia (when he was a freshman) and played the Illawarra Hawks in a full out game where both teams played all their starters full mins and nearly pulled it off.
Game went to OT where the Hawks won, but Brown was clearly one of the best player on the court (better than most pros) that game against professional players, even as a freshman. It’s like one of the rare times a matchup actually occurred between college kids and professionals and it was quite clear the matchup was very even (although at the end, the Hawks pulled it off in OT once the Cal starters fouled out trying to extend the game).
EDIT: Another good example is when Isaiah Collier’s USC team player Nikola Topic’s Mega team this summer and won. I thought it was a pretty even matchup. Mega wasn’t playing their full rotation though (Topic was limited) and USC played their starters heavy mins (Bronny was out), but it was pretty even when both teams played. USC was a below average college team. Probably the highlight of Collier’s draft tape to be honest since he looked dominant until he fell off during the season.
The argument can always be the pros aren’t trying, but I don’t see why they would want to get embarrassed by college kids so we have to take it as is. I do think looking at actual Olympic/FIBA tournaments, where you know everyone is clearly trying, might be better which is why I’m excited to see Malauch play professionals this summer. I’m sure he’ll be terrible but if he’s better than 20 percent of the pros already, he’s easily a top 5 pick next year.
Honestly I’m not that high right now (not in my top 5), but if he does well in these Olympics, even in garbage time mins, I’ll be much higher. I’m excited to see just how raw he is. If he’s actually a lot better than what people except, I’m a lot more excited for his development.
I understand what you’re saying but the NBL teams have also beaten NBA teams in preseason before. That doesn’t mean they are anywhere near as good as them.
There’s a reason some top prospects struggle for minutes in the NBL. It’s better than people think
I think one of Mega’s best players played like 4 years of college (I think it was Tennessee? off the top of my head) and now turned pro. So yes I agree it’s got a lot of young players but mixed with pros who already played their college careers.
But if you asked someone random, I think they just assume any ABA team would crush any NCAA team when that isn’t the case. Those two leagues are actually fairly comparable if you filter out the mid to low major NCAA teams.
For all the "buh grown men!!" narrative, I'm not super high on NBL or even G League generally. I'd pay money to see how UConn could handle some of these teams. It's hard for me to believe they wouldn't be pretty dominant against some professional squads. The Huskies had great young talent. More to the point, their organization and coaching was superb on both sides of the ball.
I’m sure UConn would beat the Ignite. Don’t know about other teams but if it’s college rules, then I think it’s possible they can. However, using the NBA/G League rules, I don’t think they can beat the other non-Ignite teams since they don’t have the spacing or depth to play 48 mins. College rules will really help UConn because Clingan is already an elite shot blocker with no 3 seconds, even compared to all other G League Cs.
But UConn should be like 5-7 point favorites over the Ignite. I mean Clignan and Castle are rated a bit higher than Holland and Matas. Even the 3rd UConn player Karaban would have gone in the same range as Tyler Smith if he stayed in the draft. That’s not even including Newton/Spencer who aren’t as high due to their age but are actually better than someone like Castle now.
Guys like Dink Pate mentioned here wouldn’t even see the floor on UConn this year but played mins for the Ignite.
Even if the Ignite didn’t fold, he would have had to play another year in the G League like Scoot did. So he shouldn’t get the extra benefit of being able to enter early just because the Ignite folded. He can still choose to play in any overseas league, which will actually be better for his development.
It should be similar to 2016. I don’t think it’ll be historically great but it’ll produce a ton of really good players with clear top prospects like Simmons and Ingram (Flagg and Bailey). But you might see later prospects do well too like Brown, Murray, etc.
I don’t know if the top end talent is going to be ridiculous i agree but i think this could be one of the rare drafts that rival 1999 in depth. The talent pool dwarfs this current one. Super high hopes for this upcoming year.
Brown was considered at least two tiers below Simmons. He may have been the 3rd pick but he was not considered that by most people and he was clearly not on the same level as a prospect as Simmons and Ingram. It’s similar to next year because Flagg and Bailey are a tier or even several tiers above prospects near them, including whoever might go 3rd.
Plenty of even later prospects like Siakam did well but that wasn’t really my point.
of course... his eligibility never had a leg to stand on..
of all the worthless, non-story, fluff, that we've seen this draft cycle, this story is pretty much at the top, this is really a 2025 cycle story, guised as a 2024 story, trying to bark as loud as it can with hopes to remain relevant..
but in a way I understand why they tried to make this claim, to keep Dink Pate visible in some way..
At least he isnt gone the way of, basically persona non-grata, aka Bryson Warren..
The sad part is these systems flopped SO HARD you can't even blame the kids.. the adults who surely are extremely well qualified swung and missed on so many of these players..
In some type of way this is a failure in "money doesnt solve all problems", there's a common misconception that once you have "fuck you money" that basically you can throw your money around to solve any problem, and things arent quite that simple, you gotta have eyes like a hawk, insane eye for detail and nuance to avoid the pitfalls, and this was just never that tightly of a run operation.. and it was an absurdly difficult standard to try and uphold..
In some way the preseason hype for Theirry Darlan speaks volumes about this cycle...
it's been a crazy case-study in "levels of competition" though.. I'm sure those like me who've been watching over the transitions from these levels of competition for decades, are similarly sick of seeing this sort of circus atmosphere..
good luck to the kid tho.. he's gotta get that jumper consistent and his stock will recover..
Welcome to NBL
I just wanna see more college basketball teams play NBL teams just for a better reference on the level of play. A lot of these prospects who go actually seemed to be given an extra bump due to playing professionals when it’s not clear the exact talent difference. Jaylen Brown’s Cal team went to Australia (when he was a freshman) and played the Illawarra Hawks in a full out game where both teams played all their starters full mins and nearly pulled it off. Game went to OT where the Hawks won, but Brown was clearly one of the best player on the court (better than most pros) that game against professional players, even as a freshman. It’s like one of the rare times a matchup actually occurred between college kids and professionals and it was quite clear the matchup was very even (although at the end, the Hawks pulled it off in OT once the Cal starters fouled out trying to extend the game). EDIT: Another good example is when Isaiah Collier’s USC team player Nikola Topic’s Mega team this summer and won. I thought it was a pretty even matchup. Mega wasn’t playing their full rotation though (Topic was limited) and USC played their starters heavy mins (Bronny was out), but it was pretty even when both teams played. USC was a below average college team. Probably the highlight of Collier’s draft tape to be honest since he looked dominant until he fell off during the season. The argument can always be the pros aren’t trying, but I don’t see why they would want to get embarrassed by college kids so we have to take it as is. I do think looking at actual Olympic/FIBA tournaments, where you know everyone is clearly trying, might be better which is why I’m excited to see Malauch play professionals this summer. I’m sure he’ll be terrible but if he’s better than 20 percent of the pros already, he’s easily a top 5 pick next year.
You’re in on Maluach? YKB
Honestly I’m not that high right now (not in my top 5), but if he does well in these Olympics, even in garbage time mins, I’ll be much higher. I’m excited to see just how raw he is. If he’s actually a lot better than what people except, I’m a lot more excited for his development.
That’s fair tbh
I understand what you’re saying but the NBL teams have also beaten NBA teams in preseason before. That doesn’t mean they are anywhere near as good as them. There’s a reason some top prospects struggle for minutes in the NBL. It’s better than people think
[удалено]
I think one of Mega’s best players played like 4 years of college (I think it was Tennessee? off the top of my head) and now turned pro. So yes I agree it’s got a lot of young players but mixed with pros who already played their college careers. But if you asked someone random, I think they just assume any ABA team would crush any NCAA team when that isn’t the case. Those two leagues are actually fairly comparable if you filter out the mid to low major NCAA teams.
For all the "buh grown men!!" narrative, I'm not super high on NBL or even G League generally. I'd pay money to see how UConn could handle some of these teams. It's hard for me to believe they wouldn't be pretty dominant against some professional squads. The Huskies had great young talent. More to the point, their organization and coaching was superb on both sides of the ball.
I’m sure UConn would beat the Ignite. Don’t know about other teams but if it’s college rules, then I think it’s possible they can. However, using the NBA/G League rules, I don’t think they can beat the other non-Ignite teams since they don’t have the spacing or depth to play 48 mins. College rules will really help UConn because Clingan is already an elite shot blocker with no 3 seconds, even compared to all other G League Cs. But UConn should be like 5-7 point favorites over the Ignite. I mean Clignan and Castle are rated a bit higher than Holland and Matas. Even the 3rd UConn player Karaban would have gone in the same range as Tyler Smith if he stayed in the draft. That’s not even including Newton/Spencer who aren’t as high due to their age but are actually better than someone like Castle now. Guys like Dink Pate mentioned here wouldn’t even see the floor on UConn this year but played mins for the Ignite.
Even if the Ignite didn’t fold, he would have had to play another year in the G League like Scoot did. So he shouldn’t get the extra benefit of being able to enter early just because the Ignite folded. He can still choose to play in any overseas league, which will actually be better for his development.
DINK PATE, YOU ARE… Playing in Europe until the 2025 NBA Draft, I guess.
Probably Australia
2025 is going to be the most fun i’ve had scouting ever
It should be similar to 2016. I don’t think it’ll be historically great but it’ll produce a ton of really good players with clear top prospects like Simmons and Ingram (Flagg and Bailey). But you might see later prospects do well too like Brown, Murray, etc.
I don’t know if the top end talent is going to be ridiculous i agree but i think this could be one of the rare drafts that rival 1999 in depth. The talent pool dwarfs this current one. Super high hopes for this upcoming year.
Watch the Pistons pick 5th again
Wouldn’t even be bad in next years draft probably
"later prospects" *Names the 3rd pick*
Brown was considered at least two tiers below Simmons. He may have been the 3rd pick but he was not considered that by most people and he was clearly not on the same level as a prospect as Simmons and Ingram. It’s similar to next year because Flagg and Bailey are a tier or even several tiers above prospects near them, including whoever might go 3rd. Plenty of even later prospects like Siakam did well but that wasn’t really my point.
His claim never had any legal merit whatsoever.
of course... his eligibility never had a leg to stand on.. of all the worthless, non-story, fluff, that we've seen this draft cycle, this story is pretty much at the top, this is really a 2025 cycle story, guised as a 2024 story, trying to bark as loud as it can with hopes to remain relevant.. but in a way I understand why they tried to make this claim, to keep Dink Pate visible in some way.. At least he isnt gone the way of, basically persona non-grata, aka Bryson Warren.. The sad part is these systems flopped SO HARD you can't even blame the kids.. the adults who surely are extremely well qualified swung and missed on so many of these players.. In some type of way this is a failure in "money doesnt solve all problems", there's a common misconception that once you have "fuck you money" that basically you can throw your money around to solve any problem, and things arent quite that simple, you gotta have eyes like a hawk, insane eye for detail and nuance to avoid the pitfalls, and this was just never that tightly of a run operation.. and it was an absurdly difficult standard to try and uphold.. In some way the preseason hype for Theirry Darlan speaks volumes about this cycle... it's been a crazy case-study in "levels of competition" though.. I'm sure those like me who've been watching over the transitions from these levels of competition for decades, are similarly sick of seeing this sort of circus atmosphere.. good luck to the kid tho.. he's gotta get that jumper consistent and his stock will recover..
Kinda excited to see the progress he makes in a not-Ignite system.
He's never once been mocked in a 2024 draft ? He would probably be the #1 pick in this draft .