r/NBA_Draft

Just curious but when did this narrative start and why?
Looking back over the decade, the avg height of PGs that reach the conference finals is 6 foor 3.

I remember people saying they wouldn't touch a prospect like prime Dame Lillard top 10 because he a small guard. The level of disdain for small guards has reached an extreme. But when did this start and why?

Let me know if I'm dumb, delusional, or both! I posted this as a comment in r/sixers but figured i'd post here.

Trade up guys: (I think realistically, if we are just trading 22 and future seconds (or a first i guess...) we could get up to the 12 at the absolute highest. I don't think the warriors or bucks would do a trade back that far, but starting with OKC at 12, its feasible enough)

- Yaxel- sixers need versatility on the wing very badly. Yaxel is older, but he projects as a least a starting caliber wing who is maybe a 15/5/5 guy one day. 7'3 wingspan. Maturity issues- not great for a 23 year old prospect.

- Aday Mara- although i'm not huge on 1 position players, center is kind of the exception to that, and Mara has elite size, is an elite shot blocker, and is a terrific passer for his position. Good hands and has some touch. He would help maxey and edgecombe excel. anything we can do to put less playmaking load on maxey the better. This is a terrible big man class overall, so i have a feeling he will go higher than 12, but I can dream.

- Cameron Carr- this is more of a talent play if he is available in the early teens. ideally he'd be 6'7 and not 6'4 but if that were the case he'd go top 10. he does have a 7'0 wingspan. kind of a quentin grimes type player but with more upside. I'd be happy to come away with him but there are potential fit issues down the line.

- Hannes Steinbach: REBOUNDING. He is the best rebounder in the class and has real offensive talent. Upside as a stretch shooter. 6'11 in socks. Swing skill would be if he can actually defend the rim in the NBA- if he can he is basically Brook Lopez that can jump.

- Morez Johnson: Strong athlete with size. tenacious rebounder and efficient play finisher. upside as a shooter but its theoretical at this point. Another 7'3 wingspan guy. I like guys that can be positionally versatile- he can feasibly play the 4 or the 5 in the NBA

- Dailyn Swain: Originally was slated as a 20s guy, some scouts think his combine performance and measurements will have him shoot up. Elite wing slasher that can pass. shooting is a question- shot a decent percentage this year but the form is iffy. good FT shooter. Will be 21 to start the season. If he can't shoot, how valuable is his archetype? As mentioned earlier

Stand pat at 22 guys:

- Joshua Jefferson: high IQ, big bodied strong wing with decent athleticism. NBA level body but only a +1 wingspan. Shooting is a question. Is he kyle anderson? one of the best passers in the class at 6'9. might be too slow for the league. Chucking Darts on twitter called him Wing Broome. That scares me but his archetype is much more valuable than Broome's.

- Amari Allen: Productive 6'6 freshman at Bama. Shot the ball alright. Good rebounder and passer for his position. Good at a lot of things but no stand out skill. Kind of a boring prospect but he should stick in the league. The kind of pick you can't really complain about.

Isaiah Evans: Smooth shooting Duke wing with decent measurements. Very willing shooter. Very skinny, kind of reminds me of Isaiah Joe but a little bigger. Sure.

Guards I like but should we really prioritize this archetype?:

- Bennett Stirtz: probably a trade up candidate. one of the most skilled players in the class. Most productive pnr player in college basketball- there is an insane sample of pnr activity from him over his 4 years. Good shot creator and playmaker, and a solid shooter. Big questions about his size and if he can scale down. Guys with size gave him problems. He is soooo skilled though. Idk if the Sixers are the right environment for him. Feels like an OKC guy. But maybe we should prioritize OKC guys!!!

- Christian Anderson: small and slight guard but a dynamite pull up shooter and playmaker. Good wingspan for his size. hard to ignore his efficiency numbers as a freshman. is he able to scale down?? is he good enough to run a good nba's team offense? the league is telling us that they aren't fans of smaller guards these days. He cannot start with maxey and edgecombe if we want to be a serious team. could be an incredible sixth man.

Ebuka Okorie: elite scorer. another small guard. carried the hell out of stanford's offense. again- does he get to do this in the NBA? If not, what does he do?

Bruce Thornton: not a first round prospect, but he's a 223 pound 6'1 guard who was incredibly productive in his last year at Ohio State. I have to mention him for that.

Guys I'm kinda out on:

- Koa Peat: idk what his role is in the NBA. Good size for sure but he feels like he will be what i thought Rui Hachimura would be (derogatory). Some people see Aaron Gordon but I don't. Also if you've seen his quotes: he has AJ Griffin/Jaden Ivey potential. Not hating (I am a Christian) but can't say I would take that risk on my basketball team

- Allen Graves: I get it, but be forreal. He's not an NBA athlete. We don't need more of these guys. g league all star

- Jayden Quaintance: too much injury risk- if he for some reason slipped to round 2, i'd take him

- Karim Lopez: too slow for me

Things I want the sixers to prioritize:

- Strength/rebounding

- Playmaking/IQ

- Athleticism

I always am down to draft a good scorer or a shooter with size, but there aren't many of those here. I would rather they try to get a young ish veteran that has size and shooting than try to find one in this class.

To be honest, I am not really in love with anyone past the top 10 in this class. There are certainly a lot of talented players, it is a good draft, but there doesn't seem to be a home run fit here. It's why if they take one of these guards, I can't say I'd be too mad, because I feel like those guys are just way more talented than the wings and bigs. I would not be surpised if they traded out of this draft for a future pick and or for a solid, Melton-esque tier guy.

Boozer weighed in at 253 at the combine, has gained significantly mass over the years from high school and seems to look less agile than he was before putting all this mass on him. What would teams want him to have his playing weight to be at to help alleviate his athleticism concerns?

First let me just say - I'm literally just a draft nerd who didn't make my high school basketball team. I've never made content before (basketball or otherwise), I just am scouting tape anyway and now I have the tools to share what I see with other people. So thanks to this board for taking it seriously! Reddit tells me 90K people saw those two videos which is shocking to me.

I'm wondering: is there a prospect that you would like a tape grind on? I'm watching a lot of tape lol but I'd love to make the video that you all are actually interested in.

Leave your requests in the comments and I'll do whatever player gets the most upvotes. Also, please let me know what specifically you'd like me to scout - like should I do Cam Boozer's defense? Darius Acuff's passing? Etc.

Thanks again for the positive energy, I'm looking forward to doing another one!

Harper and Castle combined for 12 turnovers in Game 1 and you’d probably guess the 19 year old rookie PG in his spot start had most of them right?

Well, Harper had 1 while being +14. Castle had the other 11, while being the lone starter with a negative +/-.

Game 2? Same story again. Harper with 1 turnover and a team best +6(!) in the loss. Castle with 9 turnovers and another team worst -11.

This isn’t a coincidence. It’s been a trend all year. The Spurs look better with Harper at the helm and the on/off numbers back it up with and without Wemby.

Harper just processes the game quicker and looks far more natural on ball. The offense is calmer and more organized when he’s initiating. Possessions shouldn’t be Castle dribbling for half the shot clock while Harper stands off ball.

This isn’t only about this series either, it’s about the future. Harper is clearly the running mate and second superstar next to Wemby. Mitch Johnson needs to lean more into that. The Spurs need more movement and the ball in Harper’s hands more often while Castle grows as a secondary creator, slasher, and occasional DHO hub.

These guards who have an innate ability to process the game like Harper came into the draft with. Never undervalue that ability because it always translates!

I heard someone make the case that the Thunder have been clearly eying boozer for a while and they mentioned they could use their assets and ajay mitchell to get up and take him, it was a passing comment but it did worry me. I think if there was a draft where the Thunder could drop a stack of picks to get up there it’s this one.

i think you need more picks than 12 and 17 but ajay mitchell on that second round contract looking like a star is appealing I imagine

What are your hot takes for this draft? Just curious, since this draft has sort of become a little too predictable, and I know for a fact that something unexpected, like a Yang Hansen to Portland, or Cam Whitmore falling down from top-5 to pick 20 something might be in the books.

It's hard to find the right balance with the draft lottery, where bad teams should be rewarded with higher draft picks, but tanking shouldn't be encouraged.

With a points system, it tries to reward teams that are competitive against stronger teams during the regular season.

How Lottery Points are calculated:

Qualifying Wins:

A qualifying win is any win where the opponent's final regular season win count is greater than the team's own final regular season win count.

Points:

For each qualifying win, the opponent's final regular season win count is added to a running tally. This tally is then divided by the team's own final regular season win count, to normalise the number.

Examples (with original teams):

2026 Draft Order with this metric:

https://preview.redd.it/3tvbrwrjng2h1.png?width=896&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f041b060aa70210567254e49595086d378171b2

2025 Draft Order with this metric:

https://preview.redd.it/2xnh667nng2h1.png?width=1217&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c21cab05f9464622e1ef8a02b1db13552ddc8dd

The intention of calculating points using the final regular season win count is to discourage teams from manipulating the system during the season, as they won't be 100% certain how many wins the opponent and themselves would end up with.

Philon is currently 6’2.5(barefoot) with an 6’6.5 wingspan and a 8’3.5 standing reach (impressive for his height) but the biggest problem is he is 176 he needs to get to like 190-200 at some point(if he does this he is gonna be way more athletic and strong)

People say he is a average athlete but he is a good athlete super quick,very good first step,crazy body control ,good vertical(he may not dunk a lot but watch he gets very high on some of his shots)

He took a huge jump from his freshman year to sophomore year he went from very good defender to an elite offensive engine.

In my opinion Labaron Philon has the most upside out of every guard not called Darryn Peterson and you can argue Acuff and Mikel to me he has the 1-3 most offensive potential after Acuff/Mikel and has the 2nd/3rd most defensive potential after Flemings and Burries

Freshman year
10.6 PPG
3.3 RPG
3.8 APG
1.4 SPG
0.3 BPG
45.2 FG%
31.5 3PT%
76.7 FT%
24.7 MPG
37 games played
29 starts

Sophomore year
22.0 PPG
3.5 RPG
5.0 APG
1.2 SPG
0.2 BPG
50.1 FG%
39.9 3PT%
79.8 FT%
30.9 MPG
33 games played
32 starts

If he can truly lock in he can be a 2 way star he has elite offensive potential I could see him giving you 1.6-1.9 steals and 0.3-0.6 blocks if he is truly locked in on the defensive end

QUOTE:

"Yeah. Uh, up until last year, I was on the ball pretty much my whole life. But, uh, at Kansas, they put me off the ball. Coach said it gave our team the best chance to win. So, I'm a winner. And, uh, he said that. So, that's what I was going to do."

"Uh, I think something that's huge in the NBA right now is like gravity. I feel like uh the court I'm on, I get a lot of gravity. I feel like there's I'm getting guarded by all five guys sometimes. So, I think it'll be easy for me to make plays for my teammates with all the gravity that I think I might get at the next level."

During his interviews, He emphasized that he is "a winner," so when his coach at Kansas decided it gave the team the best chance to win if he played off the ball, he accepted that role without question.

He noted that teams were surprisingly not asking too many questions about his medical history, as he felt he had already provided clarity through his previous discussions with ESPN.

He opened up about the mental challenges he faced last year while dealing with health issues he didn't fully understand at the time. He explained that finally identifying the cause helped him mentally recover and return to his peak athletic form.

People say "lottery teams shouldn't draft for fit and do BPA" which I think is a logic I dissagree with. You should actually consider how a player will play within a roster. Now if they're good enough and you're just going to build around them, that's awesome but that's certainly not guaranteed to happen for anyone, especially not for the guys picked 5 and later.

I'd say the consensus lottery guys are

SAFE BET LOTTERY PICKS:

The big four (we're skipping them)

The Big four FIVE: guard edition (we're not skipping them)

Brayden Burries (combo guards aren't allowed with the other 4 i guess)

Aday Mara

Yexel Linderborg

GOING TO BE A LOTTERY PICK AND THE FANBASE THAT PICKS HIM WILL HATE IT

Nate Ament

PRETTY CONSENSUS TOP 20 GUYS NOT GUARANTEED TO GO LOTTERY:

Jayden Quaintance

Cameron Carr

Morez Johnson

Hannes Steinbach

I'm probably missing guys but these are the ones I think it's safe to expect to see in that range.

Wagler is probably my favorite guard in the draft but I see the Labaron people and I am starting to come around. I think both players actually do put on weight, I know people say that since he's a sophomore he's not as certain to actually put on weight but I don't think him being a sophomore matters as much as people seem to think and bulking up will be easier at the nba level.

Yes we only have the 19th pick but there is some legitimate talent that will most likely get picked right before us and we cant let that happen. OKC picks 2 before us at 12 and 17 and they will absolutely get the bpa. We need to try and get one of those picks from them and giving up a future 1st will be the price. I think if we offer up our 27 1st with little to no protection(and maybe a sweetener) we could land 12, its been rumored theyd be willing to deal

Okorie/Johnson/Graves/Cenec/Stirtz all look like they can be legit players, coming away with 2 of them could set us up for years. Next years draft isnt supposed to be anything like this, i feel like the stars are aligning for this to happen, I would like to see our FO under Bobby be more decisive, cmon Bobby, be a man!