Consensus has Wemby as a clear #1 with Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller battling it out for #2, and then the draft gets wide open at #4 with a broad tier.
How do you think Kobe Bufkin fits in within the Cason Wallace/Scoot Henderson top lead guard convo he lacks the PG skills of both and doesn't have the Jrue defensive potential of Wallace due weaker frame but has solid offensive package and is young for his class if he shown more range on his jumper or looked more dominant slashing he would be getting top 5 hype in my opinion
I’ve got Bufkin in next tier. You laid out the case for why he isn’t in the top 5 convo or my top 10-- he offers a bit of everything but doesn’t have a strong go to skill.
For instance Cason has strong passing and defense to rely on, and is in a similar tier of creation + shooting to Kobe, so that puts him in a higher tier
I'm looking into Hendriks and Walker and don't hate them, but I think their value is very inflated since this draft is so short on big men. I think they would often be taken in the mid to late teens, but since they are the best of the bunch they are considered top 8. No one seems to bring up their competition and everyone brings up Podz's despite their competition being the same level, possibly a little worse.
Podz was also a one man team and they both played on good (Hendriks) to stacked (Walker) teams:
It's mostly about where the NBA is trending. I don't think either of them have a huge upside, but everybody needs guys who can handle, pass, shoot, and defend multiple positions and they cannot get enough of them.
Gradey Dick is in a similar boat but is more shooty with less defense.
I'm leaning toward sticking all of these guys in the 8-10 range and Podz at 7...but I don't know who else to put ahead of them as the talent is pretty uninspiring otherwise.
Good point about them having similar SOS to Podzi...it's pretty much the same, except they are younger and toolsier so maybe people have an easier time not caring about them.
Considering Podziemski has only been playing basketball for 7 years with one of them being cancelled for covid I don’t think you can state that he is more of a playmaking SG and not a point guard. I remember many years ago you talked about the added bonus of oRB% in point guards and how they always seemed to outperform for whatever reason. He absolutely could play a style like Curry with his shooting and be a point guard most of the time while then being a SG off ball as he runs around screens and spaces the floor, impacting the game off ball too or just waiting a few feet back of the 3pt line while he rests and waits for the defender to relax before some quick movement to get open. No one moves like Steph off ball, but Santa Clara's bigs were terrible at setting screens so there is hope he can develop significantly in that area and make it a strength.
I think the one hindrance to him being a pg in the NBA as a rookie is his handle as it's more NBA SG than PG currently. Given his youth/ inexperience and skill elsewhere I think he's far more likely to improve significantly in that area than not at all.
It's amazing that he has been playing for so briefly because he looks like he has been playing since he was 3 years old.
That said, you still need to evaluate prospects based on what they have done. There is room to project him to become a full PG, but it's just so much better to actually be one at the same age like Haliburton.
I'm still struggling to understand why he didn't get more assists, but it could have something to do with his somewhat limited creation to be able to get to his spots. Against Pepperdine's terrible defense he was getting where he wanted and dropping dimes all over the place. Against UCF he had some nice passes but because he struggled to create for himself he was not dropping nearly the same volume of elite passes.
Hello Dean
How do you think Kobe Bufkin fits in within the Cason Wallace/Scoot Henderson top lead guard convo he lacks the PG skills of both and doesn't have the Jrue defensive potential of Wallace due weaker frame but has solid offensive package and is young for his class if he shown more range on his jumper or looked more dominant slashing he would be getting top 5 hype in my opinion
I’ve got Bufkin in next tier. You laid out the case for why he isn’t in the top 5 convo or my top 10-- he offers a bit of everything but doesn’t have a strong go to skill.
For instance Cason has strong passing and defense to rely on, and is in a similar tier of creation + shooting to Kobe, so that puts him in a higher tier
I'm looking into Hendriks and Walker and don't hate them, but I think their value is very inflated since this draft is so short on big men. I think they would often be taken in the mid to late teens, but since they are the best of the bunch they are considered top 8. No one seems to bring up their competition and everyone brings up Podz's despite their competition being the same level, possibly a little worse.
Podz was also a one man team and they both played on good (Hendriks) to stacked (Walker) teams:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/houston/men/2023.html
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/central-florida/men/2023.html
It's mostly about where the NBA is trending. I don't think either of them have a huge upside, but everybody needs guys who can handle, pass, shoot, and defend multiple positions and they cannot get enough of them.
Gradey Dick is in a similar boat but is more shooty with less defense.
I'm leaning toward sticking all of these guys in the 8-10 range and Podz at 7...but I don't know who else to put ahead of them as the talent is pretty uninspiring otherwise.
Good point about them having similar SOS to Podzi...it's pretty much the same, except they are younger and toolsier so maybe people have an easier time not caring about them.
Considering Podziemski has only been playing basketball for 7 years with one of them being cancelled for covid I don’t think you can state that he is more of a playmaking SG and not a point guard. I remember many years ago you talked about the added bonus of oRB% in point guards and how they always seemed to outperform for whatever reason. He absolutely could play a style like Curry with his shooting and be a point guard most of the time while then being a SG off ball as he runs around screens and spaces the floor, impacting the game off ball too or just waiting a few feet back of the 3pt line while he rests and waits for the defender to relax before some quick movement to get open. No one moves like Steph off ball, but Santa Clara's bigs were terrible at setting screens so there is hope he can develop significantly in that area and make it a strength.
I think the one hindrance to him being a pg in the NBA as a rookie is his handle as it's more NBA SG than PG currently. Given his youth/ inexperience and skill elsewhere I think he's far more likely to improve significantly in that area than not at all.
It's amazing that he has been playing for so briefly because he looks like he has been playing since he was 3 years old.
That said, you still need to evaluate prospects based on what they have done. There is room to project him to become a full PG, but it's just so much better to actually be one at the same age like Haliburton.
I'm still struggling to understand why he didn't get more assists, but it could have something to do with his somewhat limited creation to be able to get to his spots. Against Pepperdine's terrible defense he was getting where he wanted and dropping dimes all over the place. Against UCF he had some nice passes but because he struggled to create for himself he was not dropping nearly the same volume of elite passes.