NBA Draft 2025

Thoughts from Fran Fraschilla

Some random NBA Drafts thoughts today:
1. Forget that Frenchman, Noa Essengue walked out on his team before Game 4 of German league finals. That was strange. (He averaged under four points in the first three.) More importantly, how do you play a 198 lb. power forward in the NBA? Trying to figure that out.

2. 7-1 Maxine Raynaud, another Frenchman, was the second best player in the ACC behind Cooper Flagg. The seven footer made 2 3’s a game & will be a steal.

3. Love Carter Bryant & Cedric Coward. Saw them both more than anybody in person. But both slightly overrated via the mock drafts. Put Danny Wolfe in that mix also.

4. Rasheer Fleming, Nique Clifford, Collin Murray Boyles, Thomas Sorber will be valuable NBA playoff team role players for 10+ years.

5. Clifford will help a team immediately.

6. North Carolina’s Drake Powell is the best wing defender in the draft.

7. If Derik Queen gets coached & utilized well, he could be an NBA star.

8. I am pulling for Ace Bailey who is a great young man. Most offensively gifted player in this draft.

9. The top five players in this draft and next will all be Americans. That’s a switch.

10. I love both Flagg and Harper, but history shows that the likely best player in this draft will be somebody else. SGA and Halliburton were both drafted 11th. We can go right on down the list.

11. If Kon Knueppel is the best shooter in this draft, then career 40% three-point shooter Chaz Lanier is not far behind. And he will come far cheaper.

12. Keep in mind that when you see college coaches quoted in some of the pre-draft articles, very, very few of them watch NBA basketball and often don’t understand the translation. They don’t have time during the season.
 
Thoughts from Fran Fraschilla

Some random NBA Drafts thoughts today:
1. Forget that Frenchman, Noa Essengue walked out on his team before Game 4 of German league finals. That was strange. (He averaged under four points in the first three.) More importantly, how do you play a 198 lb. power forward in the NBA? Trying to figure that out.

2. 7-1 Maxine Raynaud, another Frenchman, was the second best player in the ACC behind Cooper Flagg. The seven footer made 2 3’s a game & will be a steal.

3. Love Carter Bryant & Cedric Coward. Saw them both more than anybody in person. But both slightly overrated via the mock drafts. Put Danny Wolfe in that mix also.

4. Rasheer Fleming, Nique Clifford, Collin Murray Boyles, Thomas Sorber will be valuable NBA playoff team role players for 10+ years.

5. Clifford will help a team immediately.

6. North Carolina’s Drake Powell is the best wing defender in the draft.

7. If Derik Queen gets coached & utilized well, he could be an NBA star.

8. I am pulling for Ace Bailey who is a great young man. Most offensively gifted player in this draft.

9. The top five players in this draft and next will all be Americans. That’s a switch.

10. I love both Flagg and Harper, but history shows that the likely best player in this draft will be somebody else. SGA and Halliburton were both drafted 11th. We can go right on down the list.

11. If Kon Knueppel is the best shooter in this draft, then career 40% three-point shooter Chaz Lanier is not far behind. And he will come far cheaper.

12. Keep in mind that when you see college coaches quoted in some of the pre-draft articles, very, very few of them watch NBA basketball and often don’t understand the translation. They don’t have time during the season.
Agree with Fran on a lot of this. If I have five first rounders, I'm looking at Raynaud and Clifford with two of them.

Like Queen a lot but probably needs some body reshaping.

I do not think Cooper is generational talent.
 
So Fran is calling Bailey the most offensively gifted player in the draft. But the previous post said he can't create his own shot at the rim.

Hmmmmmm
 
Gotta be slowest draft in history. TV blocked off 3 hours which with 5 minutes to puck should have given enough time for almost 36 picks and first round is only 30 picks. We are 35 minutes past and it’s still going on.
 
In Big East news, both McNeely and Kalk slipped lower than projected. Most predictions had McNeely in the teens and Kalk was trending to end of first round. Suckish
 
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