I guess what I saw was from his junior year; he must have really fallen off as a senior. ?Evans (6-9, 190) is ranked as the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2023 class and the top-ranked power forward according to both 247Sports and the industry average 247Sports Composite. "
Spot on. I'd like to see more 3P volume for Williams. That's it. But I still have him ahead of all the other SF prospects. "Craftiness" is kind of underrated. Him and Walter have plenty enough to make up for the first step.
I've been flirting with the idea of taking him with our first pick. He's going to produce in the NBA. I guess it depends on how confident you are in Scoot and if we trade Simons. So, right now he's not a good fit. I can already see how annoying it would be to have him producing as a backup PG, being great at Scoots weaknesses, and everyone on this site clamoring to have Scoot benched or traded. Also, I don't think he'll go past #8
Cody Williams excelled against a decent Oregon squad last night. Some complaints were that he hasn't faced strong enough competition but the Seminoles and Ducks play decent enough competition while having winning records and Colorado State was a ranked team he went up against. Williams has excelled against all three teams. Not sure who to compare him to but there is a bit of Kawhi and Butler to his game. Playmaking SF. Not as naturally strong or powerful as those players but more agile and more finesse involved as he wills his way to the rim. Potentially clutch, as a player. His brother is also a solid comp but as a prospect, he's probably better than his brother at the same age. Not saying he'll be better than his brother but I'd honestly expect a Jalen Williams clone with more potential due to being taller. Rebounding is weak, though. Regardless, that's the kind of player you put next to Sharpe and Simons/Scoot and then, try to get a rim runner center like Missi with the Warriors pick to help supplement his rebounding weakness while amplifying his playmaking. Ideally, Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, and Cam Boozer are on the horizon as future Blazer PFs who could fulfill a role as the forward that helps complete a championship squad (look at every championship team in the last decade and a half aka since KG/Pierce.....a strong 3/4 combo seems to matter)
Risacher just had like 23 pts in 20 minutes. Had a few fast break dunks, looks really confident taking deep 3's without thinking. There's talk of him going #1 ahead of Sarr, depending on who wins the lottery.
Yes, indeed, Risacher is doing very well in recent weeks. On top of his shooting stroke, he has decent ball handling skills which will allow him to perform situational slashing. He's not like Ben McLemore or Martell Webster, in that sense. Reminds me of Glen Rice. Likewise, another comp is a Michael Porter Jr. if he retained some athleticism and was willing to pass more. Ideal fit for the Pistons imo. But if Cody Williams is gone, he'd fit well in Portland, too.....just not as well as Williams, who would compliment Simon's lack of PG skills as a secondary ball handler type and fix certain issues Portland has with Simons being the starting PG. If Sarr is the Bargnani of the draft, I'd call Risacher the LaMarcus Aldridge of this draft (not as flashy, effective jumper, hidden athleticism, lowkey good defender) while Cody Williams is the Brandon Roy (well rounded, point skills, practically no weakness, can do no wrong, possibly clutch). I'm beginning to feel more certain about these two and of Stephon Castle (the 'Kyle Lowry', I suppose, in terms of his 'starpower' and impact). Maybe Topic is some combo of Rondo and JJ in terms of the player tier he'll be (good scorer, good playmaking, not necessarily a big star). Holland, I see as the Rudy Gay. Don't think too directly about these comparisons but my point is that there should be 5 All Stars here and 2-3 borderline All Stars (guys who can hit 17-20ppg at some point) just like the 2006 draft had. That is a very normal and average draft and not bad like a 2013 or 2000 NBA Draft where you only had a few All-Stars (maybe only 1-2 multiple time All-Stars out of those few, with only 2 borderline All-Stars at most).
D69 and I found him last year, and then he didn't enter the Draft. He has some unique abilities, but due to the level of play, it's tough to gauge him.
Will be interesting to watch him the rest of the season at Kentucky. Could be a surprise super riser.
I certainly hope he's really this good. This year's draft really needs somebody to stand out. It was hard to put any kind of grade on him based on the first video clip and some of his other tape. He can move well for his size, has great instincts, can pass, shoot, attack the basket. The "old" five months ago analysis was that he's a walking bucket, but the defense was not good despite the stocks/game. His lateral quickness was not good at all. I had no idea what to expect in his Kentucky debut. The lateral quickness didn't appear to be an issue and if the shooting is real, he's probably top 5 atm. We may have a new reason to tank! Also, this would push Sarr, Williams and Risacher down another spot with two other low-lottery teams needing a PG. Not a bad consolation if we don't rise up on lottery day.
I noticed that. Also saw that the other draft outlets don't even have him listed. Based on the little I saw he's definitely in my top 10 ( if not top 5) He reminds me a lot of Porziņģis, but with a little more aggression
Like you said, the more guys that can legitimately put themselves in the top 5 conversation, the better for us.
Rare for guys to make that big of a jump in just 5 months. Last year on Feb 2, this was Tankathon's big board: Wemby, Scoot, Amen, Miller, Ausar The year before on Jan 21, they had: Jabari, Chet, Paolo, Ivey, Sharpe.
I would imagine it was more a question of eligibility than skill, but I dunno? Seemed like people were really high on his debut, so imagine most just assumed he wouldn't be available?
perhaps, but he has been on the NBA radar for a while. he'll be 21 at the start of the nba season. ridiculous debut though
