Chet Holmgren may not wind up joining Jalen Suggs with the Magic, but he’s been getting draft advice from his long-time friend and high school teammate, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Before both players headed to Gonzaga for one-year stays, they teamed up at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis.
“He said try to slow things down as fast as you can because everyone at that level plays slow, even when there’s seven seconds on the shot clock, nobody rushes,” Holmgren said. “Everyone knows seven seconds is a lot of time — in the NBA, you can get almost two more actions in that [time]. Other pointers, tips like that, about the NBA style of play.”
Holmgren met with Orlando’s front office this week and will be under consideration for the No. 1 pick, although most draft experts expect Auburn’s Jabari Smith to be taken first.
There’s more on the draft:
- Ryan Blake, who has been helping to direct NBA scouting services since 1996, views Smith as worthy of the No. 1 selection, per Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. Blake believes Smith will display skills that were inhibited by the more restricted college atmosphere. “His offensive game is going to be so much better in the NBA,” Blake said. “He had the confidence and maturity to play within the system at Auburn. You have a prototypical forward who can play two spots that can really almost be a Jayson Tatum-type of player. He has a great shooting stroke — the release [and] the soft touch. He’s a versatile defender. He’s intense. He’s moving his feet. He’s always looking around. He’s also a leader, too. He’s always in the mix.”
- Josh Giddey was the first NBA Academy graduate to be drafted and three more players are expected to join him this year, Maurice Brooks writes for NBA.com. Dyson Daniels and Bennedict Mathurin will likely be lottery picks, while Hyunjung Lee is projected to be taken in the second round. The NBA Academy was created in 2016 to provide more opportunities for international players.
- Six players will attend a workout for the Hornets today, the team announced on Twitter. They are Jules Bernard of UCLA, Nysier Brooks of Mississippi, Terrell Brown Jr. of Washington, Josh Carlton of Houston, Dereon Seabron of North Carolina State and Ben Shungu of Vermont.
Chet is unlikely to play good defense against big man
Great in college, but not nba
No one will be top 20 player in the nba on this draft?
While it is much to early to tell for sure I’d guess no top 20 guys here. Probably no top 50
Teams that game-plan to go power vs Holmgren will regret it. It’s not the Shaq era, and it’s risky to try to knock a player down… good way to rack up fouls.
Holmgren is not the gentle giant type.
That is always a good bet but short of the obvious ones how many of the top 20 would you have said the same of on draft day? Clearly Jokic, but add in Giannis, Kawhi, Booker, Mitchell, Lavine, George none of those guys seemed a good bet to be top 20 at the time.
Let’s say
Deandre Ayton is 40th best player in the nba
Nikola Vucevic is 60th best player in the nba.
Will the top 3 picks on this draft be better than Deandre Ayton and Nikola Vucevic?
Maybe not Ayton, but in 2 years they will be better than Vucevic.
Holmgren especially if he ends up in OKC seems likely to blow past Vuc
Holmgren needs to put on about 100 pounds.
50 LBs this yr would be a nice start.
Giddey is such a good player, with size. I’d take a long look at Dyson. He’s still very young. Has tremendous upside imo.
Who can play right away. Cause he plays Elite D.
Personally I like others.
Dyson would have to fall to wind up at #11 pick.