2026 NBA draft thread

[Winter]

"deleted"

[Winter]

This is an article on SI.com about the PYA (productive young athlete) query which is data metrics to help determine longivity in NBA draft picks. Rather than explain it, you can read the article here. Fun read.

Subtitle: "78% of college basketball players who meet four specific criteria play five or more years in the NBA or are currently in the league. Who qualified this past season?"

https://www.si.com/nba/draft/newsfeed/20...lete-query

[Scott41theMavs]

This is an article on SI.com about the PYA (productive young athlete) query which is data metrics to help determine longivity in NBA draft picks. Rather than explain it, you can read the article here. Fun read.

Subtitle: "78% of college basketball players who meet four specific criteria play five or more years in the NBA or are currently in the league. Who qualified this past season?"

https://www.si.com/nba/draft/newsfeed/20...lete-query

So, looking at that, of the 11 players they say qualify for their criteria in this draft, 4 of course are the big 4. The others of the "big 9" who made it were Flemings, Burries and Acuff (i.e. no Brown or Wagler, go figure. Wagler is not a super athlete). The other 4 were Allen Graves, Ebuka Okorie, Hannes Steinbach, and Ivan Kharchenkov (who? oh, he didn't declare for the draft).

[Winter]

So, looking at that, of the 11 players they say qualify for their criteria in this draft, 4 of course are the big 4. The others of the "big 9" who made it were Flemings, Burries and Acuff (i.e. no Brown or Wagler, go figure. Wagler is not a super athlete). The other 4 were Allen Graves, Ebuka Okorie, Hannes Steinbach, and Ivan Kharchenkov (who? oh, he didn't declare for the draft).

Yes, and I thought the Ebuka Okorie selection was interesting. Other PGs missed on the PYA. That includes Brown (probably due to minutes played), Philon, Anderson, Tanner, and Stirtz.

Wagler doesn't dunk which is unusual given his size, and which keeps him from falling into that premium metric. However, it should be noted that even Kon Knueppel rarely dunks.

[dirkfansince1998]

Yes, and I thought the Ebuka Okorie selection was interesting. Other PGs missed on the PYA. That includes Brown (probably due to minutes played), Philon, Anderson, Tanner, and Stirtz.

Wagler doesn't dunk which is unusual given his size, and which keeps him from falling into that premium metric. However, it should be noted that even Kon Knueppel rarely dunks.

I've been spreading the Okorie propaganda for a while now. Statistically he has been on the same level as Dybantsa as far self-created offense goes. Better than any other guard prospect in this years draft class. But he is small and not much of a passer.

[Mavs2021]

I've been spreading the Okorie propaganda for a while now. Statistically he has been on the same level as Dybantsa as far self-created offense goes. Better than any other guard prospect in this years draft class. But he is small and not much of a passer.

It´s 2026. To have the new AI is very important.

[hakeemfaan]

Looking at the last few drafts we had Aleksej Pokuševski, Jeremy Sochan, Ousmane Dieng, Tidiane Salaun, Cody Williams, Nikola Topic (still have some hope) as big wings/forwards with handles picked in the lottery. Not looking great.
Going back even further we had Scottie Barnes and Jonathan Kuminga. Barnes had a low usage role in college but was super efficient. Kuminga might be the best comparisation. Played for the g-league ignite team. Terrible shooting percentages from all over the floor. 
Don't think the big guys with handles rarely bust narrative holds up to reality.

Ament is very young, played in a tough conference, got to the line a lot and his FT % is high which gives some hope for his jump shot. So I'm not sure if all those comparisons are valid.   However, the more I have seen these playoffs and some of the horrendous offensive performances, the more I'm coming around to staying away from Ament. 

However, my philosophy when it comes to the draft has always been consistent. I'm in the Nellie school of swinging for the fences. Sure you can have misses, but FA is there to play it safe.  The Mavs should 100% not be playing it safe with this pick. 

Moving outside the top 10-12 consensus guys, what about Cameron Carr if we move a few spots down? Defense seems to be the knock on him but that athleticism with Coop in transition, will give a lot of easy buckets.  Plus his 3 pt shot looks promising.

[F Gump]

At 8 or 9, the Mavs choice could be having to pick from among leftovers that aren't that enticing. 

Ament - To me, he's too much "projection" (he looks like a player should look like, long and agile) and not enough of an guy who is getting there. His (imagined) upside isn't any more special than those who are farther along and making more progress, and in most cases it's lower (because he has to make more future progress than they do, just to catch up). 

Okorie - I'm not interested. I see him as a very small SG (he is not really a PG in game style or in AST%) who brings all the issues of a small player, and does NOT have a plus ability to make 3s.

The best solution? The NBA needs to ping-pong the Mavs into the top 4, which solves the problem of having iffy players to pick from. I vote for that.