NBA Draft 2025

Jack Williams said:
Sometimes landing on a tanking team can be good for our NBA hopefuls. I still remember the Sixers tanking so hard during the mid 2010s they actually had Jakarr Sampson running a little point guard😂
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JaKarr is a good example for non draftees to keep their heads up. 7 years in the league, after his first 2 seasons with Philly, spent time with Denver, Sacramento, Chicago and Indy.
 
lawmanfan said:
Interesting observations about and from RJ, as well as other draft notes:


www.cbssports.com

RJ Luis miscalculates market, transfers attract attention and more takeaways after 2025 NBA Draft

The early data on the 2025 NBA Draft is eyebrow-raising for the 2024 recruiting class and the 2024 transfer portal haul
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com
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"Say I go back to college, I get a large amount of money, but then what?"

Then you can sleep a little better at night knowing you have developed an adult size nest egg before you even enter the professional work force.
 
austour said:
"Say I go back to college, I get a large amount of money, but then what?"

Then you can sleep a little better at night knowing you have developed an adult size nest egg before you even enter the professional work force.
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I get where he's coming from. He figures that his stock is never going to be higher. If he comes out now he has a chance to be drafted, and if he doesn't get drafted he has a shot of playing his way in. Whereas if he waits another year he banks more money now, but his stock will not improve and may go down, and thus reduces his chances of being drafted or of a team giving him a serious chance to play his way in (due in part to age).

So he decided to seize the moment with the best chance of potential success, and he was willing to give up the surer money to do that.

I am not saying it is the decision I would have made or advised my kid to make, but then I tend to be risk-averse. But if he believes in himself and wants to bet on himself and pursue his dream, that's his choice. Hope it works out for him.
 
lawmanfan said:
I am not saying it is the decision I would have made or advised my kid to make, but then I tend to be risk-averse.
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Ditto. I guess as parents we have a different perspective. Apparently either his parents feel differently or didn't have as much influence as I pretend to have over my kids decisions.
 
Redenbacher said:
Good for him. By the way, Kalkbrenner is almost one year older than RJ. He clearly decided last year that playing a senior year in college wouldn't hurt his draft prospects and he was right. I hope it works out for RJ, I have a sickening feeling he got some very bad advice.
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I hear what you're saying but I think Kalk to RJ is something of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Kalk had a very consistent trajectory over a five year college career. There's barely any difference between what he was last year and what he was this year. His draft valuation was probably just about the same both years. My guess is the NIL money was about the same for him coming out or staying and he preferred to stay.

RJ on the other hand went from zero to 60 from last year to this one. There's a lot of uncertainty about what you're getting from him as a pro - could be great, but could go the other way too. And if he came back in a different system with a different coach there's no way to know what that would have looked like or what impact it would have had on his draft stock.

Overall I think they both made the right decision, Kalk staying the extra year and RJ not. And hopefully it will work out for both of them.
 
lawmanfan said:
I hear what you're saying but I think Kalk to RJ is something of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Kalk had a very consistent trajectory over a five year college career. There's barely any difference between what he was last year and what he was this year. His draft valuation was probably just about the same both years. My guess is the NIL money was about the same for him coming out or staying and he preferred to stay.
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I may be wrong about this, but I thought Kalkbrenner last year was projected as a late second round pick at best--ie, similar situation as to RJ this year. He improved his standing quite a bit this year.
 
paultzman said:
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Good for Kalk. I get all the Hornets games on TV here and for last few years only dialed them in when they were playing the Knicks. But this year with Ball, Miller and Bridges back and newbies Knueppel, McNeely & Kalk they will be an interesting watch. They are weak in the middle so Kalk may get some playing time.
 
lawmanfan said:
I hear what you're saying but I think Kalk to RJ is something of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Kalk had a very consistent trajectory over a five year college career. There's barely any difference between what he was last year and what he was this year. His draft valuation was probably just about the same both years. My guess is the NIL money was about the same for him coming out or staying and he preferred to stay.

RJ on the other hand went from zero to 60 from last year to this one. There's a lot of uncertainty about what you're getting from him as a pro - could be great, but could go the other way too. And if he came back in a different system with a different coach there's no way to know what that would have looked like or what impact it would have had on his draft stock.

Overall I think they both made the right decision, Kalk staying the extra year and RJ not. And hopefully it will work out for both of them.
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Yeah, Kalk was in a similar position to RJ. heading into the year. As you know, they are very different players and positions, so I always figured Kalk would end up getting drafted in the 2nd at worst. You won't have to worry about him taking too many shots, letting offense impact defense, and his size. He's a classic high floor, low ceiling prospect.

The only thing that can lead me to believe RJ was given bad advice is that he said he was a late first, early second guy. That was always objectively not true. Every informed NBA mock guy barely had him in, and when they had a chance to talk about him, it was never flattering. I'm not sure if he was fed that info, or if it was self-delusion.

The 2026 draft is also expected to be deep. So if you're RJ and you're one year older, are you really giving yourself a better chance to be drafted? It's questionable. Maybe if he was here and was more satisfied in a 3/D role + we won big, he would. But that notion is laughable, which is why he wasn't drafted in the first place.

I am curious to see what decisions Jackson and Sanon make.
 
Interesting to keep in mind as we start to track our own guy's draft stocks for next year

www.espn.com

NBA summer league buzz: Hansen impresses, Wemby returns and storylines to watch

What are league insiders buzzing about at 2025 NBA summer league in Las Vegas?
www.espn.com www.espn.com

"The most forward-thinking of those executives are already ringing alarm bells in their front offices for the 2027 NBA draft, which appears to be an especially weak group of rising high school seniors and international players born in 2007 and 2008.

"This is one of the weakest high school classes I've seen in a long time," one grizzled talent evaluator with extensive experience in the amateur youth space told ESPN.

"There might not be a single All-Star in this group, and after the first few prospects, I'm not sure how many NBA starters I see either from the other five-star recruits. New players always emerge, but by now we usually have a pretty good idea of who the most elite prospects are, and it's looking like slim pickings, even more so than the weak 2024 NBA draft, which at least had several high-end international prospects we could point to."

College coaches making the rounds at summer league have echoed similar thoughts, saying they've been largely underwhelmed by the lack of star power among prospects ranked at the top of the 2026 recruiting class. This is causing them to plan on being even more aggressive in the transfer portal rather than spending significant sums on five-star prospects who might not be good enough to make impacts as freshmen at the college level."

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This becomes relevant to us in thinking about Jackson and Sanon. If they are in that 25-40 range at the end of the season, does returning become more plausible because of how apparently weak the 2027 draft is projected to be?

Obviously its July and all premature, but definitely will be on the back of my mind as the season starts
 
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