2025 draft thread: THE MAVS SELECT COOPER FLAGG

[Chicagojk]

Will Riley 6'8 freshman from Illinois. Sort of fits with Jase Richardson and Carter Bryant who should all come back, but if they do declare you have to measure upside vs being NBA ready. Riley was a 5 star recruit. Very skinny. Needs to get much stronger. But at 6'8 with decent skills, he is intriguing. A little like Max Chrisite no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRjATJbtlf4

[myconsumerclub]

Our area of greatest need is the 5 and 4/5 so I like guys like Danny Wolf and he should probably be available to give us an insurance policy for when AD wants to retire. Also later on in the 2nd are two twins the Ivisic brothers and that pair would certainly offer further insurance to give us size with 3 point threat bigs that can play both the 4 and 5

[HoosierDaddyKid]

What do you guys think about Ace Bailey of Rutgers? He's been mentioned as a top 5 pick if he comes out.

[Chicagojk]

Is the solution right in front of our eyes? Dallas has made a focus to be big, outside of Kyrie. Looking at the late lottery/mid first round there are several bigger foreign guards who could fit what Dallas is needing. The consensus on all of them are mixed and there appears none are sure bets. But a few of these guys should be in Dallas range if they kept their pick. I am not very familar with most of these.

1) Egor Demin- his stock has slipped where he was in the top 5 to start the year. Tall and just turned 19. Has struggled scoring and also has concerns if he can beat people off the dribble. Elite passer though.

2) Ban Saraf- 6'5 19 year old point guard

3) Nolan Traore- 6'3 19 year old point guard. Before the season, he was in the top 5 conversation. Up and down play has pushed him down.

Interesting Sam Vecenie has Jase Richardson at number 11 now. He is not a point guard and still needs a lot of work dribbling with his right hand. He has Jeremiah Fears 6'4 18 listed at 17. Fears is more of a scoring guard.

[Chicagojk]

Here is his writeup on Fears and a note on Carter Bryant from Vecenie.  I think Bryant fills the eye test in my brief half of watching him.    Still a long ways away, but he just looks like an eventual starting wing in the NBA.

Jeremiah Fears | 6-4 freshman guard | Oklahoma | 18 years old | No. 17
It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster season for Fears. A late reclassification from the recruiting class of 2025, Fears is still 18 years old and was a monster to begin the season. In his first 13 games, he averaged 18.1 points and 4.5 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field, 31 percent from 3 and 86 percent from the line to lead Oklahoma to a stunning unbeaten record and a top-15 ranking in the country. Then in his next 12 games, Oklahoma went 3-9 as SEC play heated up, and Fears’ game dropped off a cliff. He averaged 12 points and three assists while shooting just 36 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3.

The good news? His recent games have been better, as he posted a 22-point outing against a top-10 defense in Florida (although he had 14 points on 5-of-11 from the field in the first half before the game got completely out of hand) and then a 27-point, 10-assist showcase against Mississippi State. The latter was one of the best prospect games of the season. Fears showcased serious creativity off the bounce to get to pull-up jumpers from both 3 and from midrange. He dished out terrific passes, mostly down to his rollers around the rim. He lived at the foul line, taking 14 attempts.

Fears looked like a contender to be a top-five pick in the nonconference season, looked like he wouldn’t be a player in this draft in his next 12 games, then turned it around again. Unsurprisingly, that — along with his defense and shooting in general — has made him fairly polarizing for NBA teams. Some think he’s still a lottery-level player. Others are not quite as enthused about taking a project point guard who will essentially be position-locked into one role. You’d have to really buy into high-end, starter-level upside to take this bet because of how difficult the learning curve is for young guards. In the last decade, the only small guard — NBA personnel who have seen him in person do not expect Fears to measure at his listed 6-4 at the combine  — to have rookie success in the NBA is Trae Young. Assuming he’s in this draft, there’s a long way to go here given that Fears’ defense is a serious question, he struggles as a shooter and he hasn’t made a ton of shots at the rim this season.

I think the context surrounding Fears’ play is important, though. First, reclassified point guards are basically never good. You can look through the past of Deryck Thornton, Khristian Lander, Meechie Johnson, Kira Lewis, Devin Askew, Josh Primo, A.J. Lawson and Ashton Hagans to find a seriously mixed track record but essentially zero first-year success. Second, Oklahoma is entirely reliant upon him to do anything. The Sooners have very little secondary creation. The team does have pretty real floor-spacing around him but doesn’t have a particularly good rim-runner.

Where does all of that leave Fears? At the very least, NBA teams agree that if he enters the draft, he will be a first-round pick. Someone will take the plunge and try to develop him. A name that has come up often from teams is Monta Ellis, another extremely fast, young guard with a quick handle whom teams saw as a project entering the NBA. Ellis made over $100 million entering the league back in the mid-2000s, so they don’t mean that as a slight at Fears’ game. Ellis had a nine-year peak in which he averaged over 20 points and five assists while starting nearly 600 games. Fears’ development might be helped by returning to college basketball next year given the finances involved in the sport on that level now, but as long as he doesn’t tank the rest of the season, he should be well-positioned to be a top-20 pick with serious upside beyond that into the middle portion of the lottery if he performs well to close the year and in pre-draft workouts.

Other prospects
• One hot name among scouts right now is Arizona wing Carter Bryant, who has continued to take strides. His counting numbers of 6.3 points and 3.8 rebounds don’t jump off of the page, but he’s a 6-8 wing who has hit 36 percent of his 3s and been quite impactful on defense. When Bryant is on the court, Arizona beats its opponents by over 15 points per 100 possessions, per CBB Analytics. That’s second-best on the team behind Henri Veesaar, and it’s drastically ahead of third place. He’ll need to go into workouts and impress to be a one-and-done, but there is real buzz for Bryant as teams start looking at their boards and pinpointing potentially undervalued players.

[myconsumerclub]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGbCKFcxueE we just got this guy to replace Moses

[ThisIStheYear]

Yes, a Euro is probably the best pick at the bottom of the lottery, beginning of the non lottery, but if you think Nico is drafting a Euro, you haven't been paying attention.

[Chicagojk]

I like three of the big man, but haven't studied them much. The Duke Big, Queen from MD and Sorber from Georgetown. Are all interesting and all different. Unfortunately, I don't think any would be Mavs targets.

Egor, Traor, Saraf and Fears are also all different. Some wild swings in them, but I think Dallas would have interest in these types of players. May not help much next year but add a veteran guard like Tyus Jones and resign an Exum type and that allows those guys to grow.

Kasparas from Illinois is interesting. Lacks the explosion but is pretty big. While he lacks explosion, I think he is the guy I would like to watch.

I like Knoeppel and McNeeley, but I am not sure Dallas would target these players.

Flagg looks great and Dylan Harper looks like a bigger Brunson (but Brunson was so much more than just skill). After that it gets a little messy. All so young but tough to say who is going to pan out. I do like the Baylor kid.

[SleepingHero]

Put me down as a tentative big fan of Will Riley from Illinois. Currently slated to go 34th to Detroit , but he is a big SG/SF type. He’s 6’8 big dude with fluid handles and can shoot.

If he’s around near the end of the first round I’d love to get a flyer on him.

[Chicagojk]

Put me down as a tentative big fan of Will Riley from Illinois. Currently slated to go 34th to Detroit , but he is a big SG/SF type. He’s 6’8  big dude with fluid handles and can shoot.

If he’s around near the end of the first round I’d love to get a flyer on him.

There were three guys who looked like they should come back to school when I did a quick glance.  Especially with NIL.   You could add Jase Richardson to that as well, but with his recent hot play he may come out.

The hree was Riley, Carter Bryant from Arizona, and Isaiah Evans from Duke.   All were 5 star recruits.   This draft looks sort of eh to me in the 20's, but I don't know many of them yet.  So all could go in the 20's if they come out.   They could go higher if they finish the year good.   

Riley has been getting the most playing time.   He is really skinny but at his height and skill there is something there.   Carter Bryant looks the part.  Evans is interesting.  He wasn't gettting a lot of playing time.  He is getting more lately and makes Jaden Hardy blush with his shot attempts he gets up.   He is also 6'8 but even skinnier than Riley.

[SleepingHero]

There were three guys who looked like they should come back to school when I did a quick glance.  Especially with NIL.   You could add Jase Richardson to that as well, but with his recent hot play he may come out.

The hree was Riley, Carter Bryant from Arizona, and Isaiah Evans from Duke.   All were 5 star recruits.   This draft looks sort of eh to me in the 20's, but I don't know many of them yet.  So all could go in the 20's if they come out.   They could go higher if they finish the year good.   

Riley has been getting the most playing time.   He is really skinny but at his height and skill there is something there.   Carter Bryant looks the part.  Evans is interesting.  He wasn't gettting a lot of playing time.  He is getting more lately and makes Jaden Hardy blush with his shot attempts he gets up.   He is also 6'8 but even skinnier than Riley.

I also really have to brush up on the prospects for this draft. But I did catch the Illinois vs. Perdue game and I kept watching this talk lanky dude on Illinois play super well. Sure enough it was Riley. If he went back to school I’d understand. His height and skill is a rare pairing and is something every team is looking for. He could definitely rise.

[Chicagojk]

I love everything about Knueppel, except his first and last name…just awful. That Duke team is the exception of playing a lot of young players. They play as a team. Flagg and Knueppel deserve a lot of the credit. Flagg is the star but Kim is really good. I do have some concerns with him in the nba but think he is an easy top 10 pick.

Just don’t think the Mavs would target him though. He is a good passer and can do a pick and roll well but not really a true creator. I will also be interested in his true height.

[Chicagojk]

Pretty polarizing prospect who some have in the top 10. Collin Murray-Boyles (soph). He sort of looks like a little taller Marshall.

Hasn't shown any hint of a three point shot and has some thinking he may be a 6'7 center. Good defender and passer though. He plays on a bad team this year while he team last year was pretty good. Tough evaluation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA0ywcSlByI&t=313s

[myconsumerclub]

With the heft of injuries this team has had to indure we an use help at every position. However with the Doncic trade made the team has to add another scoring guard that can pass and get looks for the other guys on the team. A PG would be who I would think to add in that capacity and one with size to replace the Luka role in that capacity where you get looks for others. A Draymond Green type that can score more would be perfect. Egor is skinny and may lack the foot speed still that handle and with his 6'9 size while passing that well is sure to get him a lot of attention. That may be the guy they target. I would think that a 6'9 PG has an easier time passing to guys that are open since he can pass over most folks a lot easier. Adapting to the pros may be a challenge so I would expect him to take some time to develop but what a talent for passing the call. Luka and Ky fit well enough next to each other so I see no issue with using a PG next to KY if he is a guy that can also provide size and defense. The doncic scoring punch wasa great while we had it to rely on but now that he is gone we need to find a way to replace that scoring threat to create gravity that can open things up for others to score plus a guy like that is able to give us a starting PG when Ky is down from an injury.

AD gets his points mostly inside and that takes passing to make happen. a guy like Doncic was a threat from outside so he opened up the middle more. A core of bigs like we have is enough that we do not add any starting level bigs in the draft but later on in the second we may grab an Ivisic. If we get high enough do we trade down to get a guy like Egor and additional picks to snag a big so we can develop someone to back up AD when he is hurt.

Egor is looking like the guy we target also because we have a PG that is a small PF again and we have a PF in AD that also plays the 5 when needed so at 6'9 Egor will add enough size that you tower over other PG's and Wings. Kyries size is not an issue when you can bring in a 6'9 PG. The gamble with Egor is mitigated by having Kyrie as well. Hardy Din Exum and Brandon is a lot of guys to back up Kyrie and with the premium on PG in this league we could trade any of them and get something useful at another area of need. What other area of need exists though we are solid at the 4 an 5 once healthy.

SF is crowded more than any position we have: PJ, Klay, Naji, Kessler, OMax, Martin, and you can play others there as well if you needed to. guys like Max, Exum and even Din if he was better on D.

With Irving out long stretches of next year I would think we think long and hard about trading away any of our young guys like Hardy. His scoring ability may still jump another level as he gets more comfortable in the role he carves out. His game mimics Kyries in a lot of ways. All the trades may happen at the TDL.

With 12 guys 1 through 3 all needing minutes you could play each for a quarter. They have to decide who the keepers are and trade for picks and other areas of need. 4/5 you have 5 guys so that makes 17 when you add in 12. That leaves room for one more to take us to 18 and that assumes you have 3 with 2 way deals. Who plays on a 2 way deal? Is Kai Jones happy doing that. He showed skills worth keeping in the one game he scored 21 points. With AD you need a guy that can score at the 4 in case he goes down again and I should say when he goes down again. That guy you use behind AD has to be a bigger guy too not PJ like. Do they like Kai enough to put him there in that kind of role. As a 3rd center he is also useful so can he play that 4th big role better becase he is useful at both the 4 and 5? Is Powell still a keeper? PJ still can play the 4 as well. Moves are coming there are too many role players that other teams will want.

[SleepingHero]

Cooper Flagg went down with a gnarly ankle injury last night.

[Chicagojk]

Looking forward to the tournament so I can actually enjoy watching basketball again. I haven't watched much college basketball this year. I really like Kon Knuepel even though I still have NBA questions about him. I don't think the Mavs would target him anyway. Same I am really intrigued by Derik Queen and the Duke center. Sorber from Georgetown is injured but he is intriguing as well. I don't think Dallas would target a center eitehr.

The player who I have no idea on is Jase Richardson. He is listed at 6'3 but he looks smaller. He is also very left handed. He is not a point guard now and I think he would have to learn how to run an offense to get the most of out his potential. He is the son of Jason Richardson (former Nike guy?) and just has some creatitivy to his game that you don't see with a lot of players. He has also flirted with a 40/50/90 shooting mark as a freshman and has gotten better as the year went on.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W-eAtOR5dY&t=373s

[SleepingHero]

I want to ask, does anyone want to do a March madness bracket?

I can make a group if so.

[Knutsen]

So the very best case is we end up with the 9th worst record and would have very good chances of a top 10 pick then. It would mean that all the play-in teams in the east surpass us and also the Suns and the Trailblazers do in the Western conference.

Since we are a couple of wins up on all of these teams we need to lose every single game from here on out. I hope we do the right thing for once in a season where we did everything as wrong as possible so far!

[SleepingHero]

March Madness coming up.

Going to be taking a close look at the Illinois PG Jakucionis.

I am mad Rutgers never made it, but their season was a mess. Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey would've been entertaining to watch in the tournament.

[Knutsen]

Actually wouldn’t mind a Suns loss tonight since they are playing the Bulls who are also hovering between 9th-12th. We need the Suns to start winning against good teams.

Great thing I learned yesterday: 
If two teams with a worse record than the Mavs win the play-in-games in the East they fall behind the Mavs in the draft order. So we have to hope for the worse teams to get through in the east while Atlanta keeps a better record than we do, so we could improve our draft position for one or two slots.