Donovan Clingan or Alexander Sarr: Battle of 1st overall pick

[thecampster]

39 minutes ago, JTB said:

May be true but camp…he’s going to have to put on more weight either way. He don’t have to get Giannis muscular but he need to be strong.

i don’t think the extra weight he has now is playing too much of a heavy role on his lateral quickness but that’s just my opinion. He’s still on the smallish thin mint side to me.

My comments relate directly to him as a 5. I see his best fit as a 4 but only if he improves from 3.

[Spud2nique]

13 minutes ago, bird_dirt said:

Risacher does not look spectacular in any way to me. French Vanilla is a basic bitch. His offense is good, but I haven’t seen anything that particularly exciting. And scoring points is all I see him doing anywhere above average. 

I will be pissed if they take him at one. I was pissed we didn’t keep Luka. I like Trae, but I still wish we would’ve kept Luka. I hated we didn’t keep him then, and I will hate the Risacher pick 10x more if we take him. 

I see this too. Flavor of the month is Luka clone don’t fall for that go Sarr.

[AtLaS]

1 hour ago, thecampster said:

And he won't move near as well because of it. You don't put on 30lbs and get better laterally.

Bro, he just turned 19 a month ago.  Did Dwight, Giannis, Davis get less athletic after beefing up from where they were as teenagers?  

Even if you are right, if he is 7’1 250 with “only” a 35” vert he will be just fine.  He could absolutely play the 5 at that size.  
 

Being 7’1 covers for lots of things.

[Jody23]

Definitely worth a watch.

[JTB]

45 minutes ago, thecampster said:

My comments relate directly to him as a 5. I see his best fit as a 4 but only if he improves from 3.

Gotcha! Yes I share similar concerns with him as a full time 5 .

 

[JTB]

32 minutes ago, AtLaS said:

Bro, he just turned 19 a month ago.  Did Dwight, Giannis, Davis get less athletic after beefing up from where they were as teenagers?  

Even if you are right, if he is 7’1 250 with “only” a 35” vert he will be just fine.  He could absolutely play the 5 at that size.  
 

Being 7’1 covers for lots of things.

Camp is saying he’s not a 5 today which is indeed a true statement. He may be able to play the 5 for certain matchups however.

in the long run it’s going to be completely up to him if he’s a 4 or 5 for the longevity of his career.

[AtLaS]

Risacher looks good in highlights but Im just not sold.  He looks like a Hunter clone, no assists, no rebounding, doesnt really get steals or blocks.  Hes not even a good FT shooter.  Lots of question marks on him.  And he is listed at 6’8.  Has he grown 2”?  
 

I just dont see the point of spending a #1 overall on a guy like that.  Sarr is a true freak, you take the chance on him every time. 

[AtLaS]

7 minutes ago, JTB said:

Camp is saying he’s not a 5 today which is indeed a true statement. He may be able to play the 5 for certain matchups however.

in the long run it’s going to be completely up to him if he’s a 4 or 5 for the longevity of his career.

Agreed he isn't a full time 5 yet.  Im just saying in a league where so many teams go small ball, he can absolutely play minutes at the 5.  He wouldnt be able to against the bigger stronger Cs until he gains weight.  But hell neither can OO.  The reality is he can be a rotational big who plays minutes at the 4 and the 5.

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, Jody23 said:

Definitely worth a watch.

The first few minutes where he talked about all the past draft day fails...

Pau for Shareef because we didn't want to wait for him to develop  

[bird_dirt]

1 hour ago, Spud2nique said:

I see this too. Flavor of the month is Luka clone don’t fall for that go Sarr.

To put it in SpudSpeak, Risacher doesn’t seem to have “it.”

[Vol4ever]

54 minutes ago, AtLaS said:

Risacher looks good in highlights but Im just not sold.  He looks like a Hunter clone, no assists, no rebounding, doesnt really get steals or blocks.  Hes not even a good FT shooter.  Lots of question marks on him.  And he is listed at 6’8.  Has he grown 2”?  
 

I just dont see the point of spending a #1 overall on a guy like that.  Sarr is a true freak, you take the chance on him every time. 

I agree.  Please don't do this again Hawks.  We need to stay at 1 and pick Sarr.   We already screwed up trading Luka.  

[JayBirdHawk]

Interesting stuff scrolling the internet about the Wiz:

1. Seems they prefer Sarr in lieu of Zacc

2. Would look to trade out of  #2 and move down.

3. Concerns about Zacc's hand size and wingspan

4. Compared him to Michael Porter Jr

This was funny:

Wizards fans are afraid Risacher = Otto Porter 

Atlanta fans are afraid Risacher = DeAndre Hunter.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[AHF]

9 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

This is similar to Anthony Davis’s backstory fwiw.  Obviously Sarr wasn’t as impactful last year as AD was in his season in college but AD was a nobody guard who hit a late massive growth spurt.

[thecampster]

9 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

This is very true. If you skip the highlights and go straight to "needs to improve" in the highlight videos, there are many instances of him getting abused down low and by shorter players. He gets bullied in the post and struggles when he is the primary defender. If he's the primary defender you can give up on him getting a rebound. 90% of his blocks come on help defense, weak side blocks, chase downs. But 1v1 defense near the basket (post ups, big men 1v1 drives, etc) he gets owned on the regular. Not growing up as a big shows.

He'll get abused in the pick n roll lob game big man drives (Lebron, Giannis, Zion, Jalen Johnson types).  He's got a much better shot as a big 4 (like Garnett, Durant) because much more of that game is played on the perimeter now.  The modern center has too many responsibilities and strength is every bit as important as mobility.  I'm just not sold based on his limitations.

As for the highlight plays. He played the backup center in a much smaller league, where the guard play off the bench was Trent Forrest level. Slow drives, no elite ball handlers. Those watching his perimeter defense are seeing how he'd defend Forrest. They are not seeing how he'd defend Haliburton on the perimeter. His rebounding, post defense was against backup NBL centers. It wasn't against Lopez, Nurkic, Capela types, more or less Embiid/Davis. He is years away. You draft him at 1, you are going to pay him $10 million a year to play a lot at College Park and to come in when we're down 30.  Right now, John Collins would own him in the post.  

You can't even toss it to him in the post for a reset because he doesn't have the post handles for 2 dribbles and punch it back out. He's a project, not a player right now and anyone saying differently is drinking the Kool-aid.

Please read this article before anymore Jamestown kool-aid drinking wastes a #1 overall pick. Focus on the below paragraph.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/nbl-vs-nba-5-major-differences-two-leagues-decoding-makes-nba-better

 

 

He was the backup center in this league getting 9 ppg and 4.7 boards.  He got 7.7/3 in their playoffs.  This is not 1st overall pick worthy.  Please have some sense here.  You draft Sarr, he isn't playing meaningful minutes for 3 years while handicapping the team with a substantial salary. Are you willing to wait?  You draft Clingan, he can at least be a bench center this year.  

[Spud2nique]

10 minutes ago, thecampster said:

he isn't playing meaningful minutes for 3 years

Untrue. 

[thecampster]

How good is the NBL, the home of Perth. I submit to you Isaac Humphries of the Adelaide 36ers, their only Center.

Humphries played basketball at the University of Kentucky in 2015-2016.  In 2015, he had averages of 1.9 points, 2.4 boards in 9.1 minutes as a freshman.  As a sophomore, 2.8 points, 2.8 boards in 8.3 minutes per game.

In 2017 Humphries went to the NBL after going undrafted in the NBA. His rookie year he averaged 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds and was named NBL rookie of the year.

In 2018, Humphries signed a training camp deal with our Atlanta Hawks and was waived the next day. In 2019, he signed with the Hawks in April to finish the season as an emergency player. He played in 5 games, 11.2 minutes per game getting 3 points, 2.2 rpg. He played for but was waived by the LA Clippers in their summer league a few months later. He returned to the NBL.

In 2023 for Adelaide, he averaged 15.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game and was named their club MVP. Despite being 7 feet, 251, and a monster in the NBL, he is not considered NBA worthy.

This stiff who couldn't hold a bench spot in the NBA is a starter in that league and a team MVP.  He gets 6 points, 2.2 more rebounds per game than Sarr.

 

This isn't to say Sarr doesn't have potential but can we please be serious for a moment. This is not who you spend a #1 pick on. This is the competition he's being passed over for.

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, thecampster said:

How good is the NBL, the home of Perth. I submit to you Isaac Humphries of the Adelaide 36ers, their only Center.

Humphries played basketball at the University of Kentucky in 2015-2016.  In 2015, he had averages of 1.9 points, 2.4 boards in 9.1 minutes as a freshman.  As a sophomore, 2.8 points, 2.8 boards in 8.3 minutes per game.

In 2017 Humphries went to the NBL after going undrafted in the NBA. His rookie year he averaged 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds and was named NBL rookie of the year.

In 2018, Humphries signed a training camp deal with our Atlanta Hawks and was waived the next day. In 2019, he signed with the Hawks in April to finish the season as an emergency player. He played in 5 games, 11.2 minutes per game getting 3 points, 2.2 rpg. He played for but was waived by the LA Clippers in their summer league a few months later. He returned to the NBL.

In 2023 for Adelaide, he averaged 15.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game and was named their club MVP. Despite being 7 feet, 251, and a monster in the NBL, he is not considered NBA worthy.

This stiff who couldn't hold a bench spot in the NBA is a starter in that league and a team MVP.  He gets 6 points, 2.2 more rebounds per game than Sarr.

 

This isn't to say Sarr doesn't have potential but can we please be serious for a moment. This is not who you spend a #1 pick on. This is the competition he's being passed over for.

Who did Giannis play against at 18? 

[thecampster]

2 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Who did Giannis play against at 18? 

Everyone is not Giannis. And he played in Greece.  He was drafted 15th because he wasn't considered a sure thing. For every Giannis, there are 30 other guys who don't pan out when drafted. The number 1 reason, the added weight impedes their athleticism. The #2 reason, they discover the NBA is hard.

 

[Final_quest]

I've gone back and forth on Sarr a few times already.  Risacher has really good length for his position and that shot looks like it will translate.  Less of a gamble than Sarr, but I am not fully sold on him either.  His highlight reels are mostly making open shots. 

He'll take some time to develop, but could really see some devastating action with Bogi, Risacher, and Jalen.  Not exciting as a #1 pick, but maybe with this draft it's best to take a Cam Johnson or Trey Murphy type at #1 because there are no stars to be found.