2020 NBA Draft thread
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The NBA has sent ballots to teams to vote on the prospects who will receive invites for the 2020 Draft Combine. The combine, however, has been postponed indefinitely.
The league office is evaluating possible dates for the Combine as well as the potential for a virtual version.
Prospects are measured at the combine in a number of categories and also meet with teams for interviews.
The league office is evaluating possible dates for the Combine as well as the potential for a virtual version.
Prospects are measured at the combine in a number of categories and also meet with teams for interviews.
NBA Sends Ballots To Teams To Vote On Players For Indefinitely Suspended Draft Combine
NBA Sends Ballots To Teams To Vote On Players For Indefinitely Suspended Draft Combine - RealGM Wiretap
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His numbers were that "wow" for him to make that decision???Mac mclung declared for the draft
He averaged like 13-15ppg both seasons but if they don’t get this cocky cracka outta here
That was quick... so where you think he hope to transfer to and be that dude
I don’t watch college so Idgaf
I just know mclung from a few high school mixtapes and being known for being edgy and dunking and playing bone collector I think that time
I hate his fucking name
Athleticism / Frame Overview: Very quick – quick hips and feet; quick reflexes. Solid vertical athlete. Average wingspan for C and below average standing reach for a C, but his quick leaping ability allow him to play a bit taller. Not an elite vertical athlete, but the quickness with which he jumps is solid. Needs to get stronger – weighed in at 207.2 last year at the combine, but is reportedly around 230 now. Diakite uses lower body leverage/positioning to maintain his spot in the post, but still has to get stronger…lack of strength is apparent on drives (and even when protecting the rim) because he can be pushed off his spot on drives.
Mentality Overview: Versatile and very help-ready defender; play finisher (non-passer) on offense
Offensive Role: Play finisher (non-passer), C&S (spacing out to 3) and paint big
Defensive Role: Versatile defender, high-level rim protector.
Mamadi Diakite Scouting Report - The Stepien
Net Rating (+/- in parentheses): +5 (+3.7) Athleticism / Frame Overview: Very quick – quick hips and feet; quick reflexes. Solid vertical athlete. Average wingspan for C and below average...
www.thestepien.com
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Finishing: Solid finisher who can finish above the rim with lobs, either hand (right hand a bit better in traffic/through contact), has soft touch, and through contact a bit. Active on the offensive glass with a nice second jump and putback. High release point on paint attempts makes him difficult to contest – wingspan / standing reach allows him to finish above defenses, even when he’s not finishing with a dunk. Uses his body well in the paint, as well – doesn’t displace place defenses in a major way, but does a nice job getting his body on them, clearing a bit of room, and catching balance before going up (shows pretty nice footwork, too). Has a few misses that look a bit off on film – like the ball just comes off his hand funny – but he’s a good finisher overall when not forced to handle beforehand. When attacking the rim off the bounce, he is prone to missing passing lanes and forcing up a misguided attempt…just not a good finisher off the bounce at all and gets a bit out of control. 22/24 on dunks/lobs in the halfcourt (excluding post ups and transitions), 33/66 on all other attempts (solid, not great – number is much lower than it would be if you removed/reduced his attempts off the bounce). * NOTE, shot chart above includes ALL attempts in the paint in the HC excluding post ups, including dunks…which is why the numbers are different. * Prone to forcing looks in the paint and does not “feel” help coming well.
Post Up: Not the most efficient player in the post, but can score down there. Right hand dominant (over left shoulder) and prefers facing up vs backing down – thin frame (and role) probably precludes him from backing guys down aside from mismatches in the NBA (which is where he’ll be getting the vast majority of his post up attempts, if he even gets to a number outside of a tiny sample size) . Has a nice jabstep jumper after the defender bites. He has shown pretty nice footwork overall in the post with drop steps, up and unders, and moving away from the defense on help (or away from the initial spot if the defender beats him there). Pretty physical in the post as well, though stronger defenders will be able to withstand his bumps. Another thing to note – he is not a good post passer. When the ball gets to him in the post, he’s almost always shooting it … leading to forced attempts despite there being easy kickouts. As with paint finishes, he does not “feel” help well when help comes.
Shooting: Solid shooter – better shooter than people generally think and someone who I think has a projectable jumper going forward. He’s not particularly versatile and will likely be limited to C&S, some PnP jumpers, and maybe a faceup in the post, but that’s it. Therefore, that he shot only 5/21 on off the bounce jumpers is not a major concern due to role projection – obviously he should look to improve here, but given that these shots will be few and far between, his effectiveness as a shooter is not dependent on his off-bounce jumper. He shot 18/44 on no dribble spot up jumpers, 5/18 on PnP jumpers, 20/55 from 3 and 75.4% from the line this year – 72% in college over 246 attempts. When he’s spotting up from the outside, he has a bit of a slower load from the catch into the shooting motion, but once it gets to chest/shoulder level, it speeds up a bit. Fluid form on the shot with a nice and high release point, nice follow through, consistent release, good balance, and nice arc. No unnecessary off-hand action, elbow flares, etc. Can speed it up a bit when necessary, but the percentages drop a bit here – Synergy has him at 8/29 on “guarded C&S attempts,” which sounds right watching all of the clips of his jumpers (and the games). May turn *slightly* to the inside on some attempts, but not often. More comfortable shooting off 1-2 step than jumping into the shot.
www.thestepien.com
Post Up: Not the most efficient player in the post, but can score down there. Right hand dominant (over left shoulder) and prefers facing up vs backing down – thin frame (and role) probably precludes him from backing guys down aside from mismatches in the NBA (which is where he’ll be getting the vast majority of his post up attempts, if he even gets to a number outside of a tiny sample size) . Has a nice jabstep jumper after the defender bites. He has shown pretty nice footwork overall in the post with drop steps, up and unders, and moving away from the defense on help (or away from the initial spot if the defender beats him there). Pretty physical in the post as well, though stronger defenders will be able to withstand his bumps. Another thing to note – he is not a good post passer. When the ball gets to him in the post, he’s almost always shooting it … leading to forced attempts despite there being easy kickouts. As with paint finishes, he does not “feel” help well when help comes.
Shooting: Solid shooter – better shooter than people generally think and someone who I think has a projectable jumper going forward. He’s not particularly versatile and will likely be limited to C&S, some PnP jumpers, and maybe a faceup in the post, but that’s it. Therefore, that he shot only 5/21 on off the bounce jumpers is not a major concern due to role projection – obviously he should look to improve here, but given that these shots will be few and far between, his effectiveness as a shooter is not dependent on his off-bounce jumper. He shot 18/44 on no dribble spot up jumpers, 5/18 on PnP jumpers, 20/55 from 3 and 75.4% from the line this year – 72% in college over 246 attempts. When he’s spotting up from the outside, he has a bit of a slower load from the catch into the shooting motion, but once it gets to chest/shoulder level, it speeds up a bit. Fluid form on the shot with a nice and high release point, nice follow through, consistent release, good balance, and nice arc. No unnecessary off-hand action, elbow flares, etc. Can speed it up a bit when necessary, but the percentages drop a bit here – Synergy has him at 8/29 on “guarded C&S attempts,” which sounds right watching all of the clips of his jumpers (and the games). May turn *slightly* to the inside on some attempts, but not often. More comfortable shooting off 1-2 step than jumping into the shot.
Mamadi Diakite Scouting Report - The Stepien
Net Rating (+/- in parentheses): +5 (+3.7) Athleticism / Frame Overview: Very quick – quick hips and feet; quick reflexes. Solid vertical athlete. Average wingspan for C and below average...
www.thestepien.com
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Shot IQ: Shot selection took a dip this year with the increase in usage, which is to be expected to at least a certain extent, but I was not a huge fan of some of the shots he took. Though he was not someone who tried isolating or taking defenses off the bounce often (21 FGA off bounce, 24 ISO FGA), he took a few too many contested shots (including those with open teammates) in addition to taking nearly 1/3 (95 FGA, 41 jumpers) between the 20-14 range of the shot clock…which is more than enough time to keep the ball moving and get a better look. As mentioned in the “post-up” section, Diakite was prone too forcing looks and not kicking the ball back out after he got it. Role related, I expect his shot selection to be mostly in the paint (dump-offs, some PnRs, offensive rebounds) and C&S with a few PnPs sprinkled in at a lower usage, so I do not think his shot IQ is something to worry about going forward, but getting him to focus on swing passes/keeping the ball moving in an attempt to get a better look is going to be very important.
Handle: Not very good – can get loose with the ball and move the ball too far from his body, opening up strips. Handle is a bit slow. Has to be stronger with the ball and protect it better. Straight line driver for the most part, but has shown the ability to go to spin-moves. Not someone who will break down defenses with his handle, nor will he be asked to do so. If you keep him on a rip and go, catch and drive handling role and not much beyond that, that should be fine – quick first step helps. Beyond that might be asking a bit too much.
Passing: Not a good passer and very read and react…does not possess any tangible passing feel. When the ball goes to him on offense, chances are he’s going to be the one shooting it. Does not processes the court quickly on the catch, and you often see this in hesitations after receiving the ball but with no room to shoot (timing on his passes is just off). Diakite would often miss open/quick swing passes and passes to teammates, settling for early jumpers or bad shots; miss passes on drives to the basket; and really just did not look to pass after he got it, unless it was a designed play with movement after he received the pass. Prone to forcing passes he thinks will be there after coming to a decision to pass. Flashed some swing passes and D&Ks (including one really nice one against UNC in the 9th game of the season with ~19 min left in 2nd half), but they were few and far between…it really just does not appear that he has passing feel or touch.
PnR Passing: N/A. Has not shown the ability to be a short roll passer, and judging by his limited passing feel he showed at UVA, he will need to improve heavily to add this to his game.
PnR Scoring: Potential dual PnR/PnP threat. He has shown some flashes of nice footwork, but the main thing with him will be getting the shot off a bit quicker – he takes his time here getting set, which, against better athletes in the NBA, might not end in favorable percentages…especially when you consider that his contested jumper percentage is much worse than his uncontested percentage. On the flip side, extra space will probably help him a bit here as well…but, either way, I do expect him to be able to hit some PnP. 5/18 on PnP jumpers is a small sample size, but the fluidity and comfortability with which he shot those, combined with his spot up no dribble jumper (and FT%) makes the PnP projection a pretty solid bet. Going back to the above section on shooting, he has a smooth and consistent release, he’s a good FT shooter, and does a nice job staying balanced on the jumpers. Though volume might not be that high, he should have PnP ability in his arsenal. Diakite has solid PnR potential. Though he has to clean up his footwork and work on his release into the paint a bit more (it’s not bad, but he can take extra steps and wait a half second too long), with his reach and pop, Diakite should make a nice lob threat (especially with the added spacing). Though he’s not someone I would want catching on the short roll and attacking the defense head on, as a lob threat, he should be effective due to his good hands, catching radius, and pop. PnR numbers dropped this year due to less spacing and more pops than rolls – last year he was 1/1 on PnP and 24/30 on rolls/slips.
www.thestepien.com
Handle: Not very good – can get loose with the ball and move the ball too far from his body, opening up strips. Handle is a bit slow. Has to be stronger with the ball and protect it better. Straight line driver for the most part, but has shown the ability to go to spin-moves. Not someone who will break down defenses with his handle, nor will he be asked to do so. If you keep him on a rip and go, catch and drive handling role and not much beyond that, that should be fine – quick first step helps. Beyond that might be asking a bit too much.
Passing: Not a good passer and very read and react…does not possess any tangible passing feel. When the ball goes to him on offense, chances are he’s going to be the one shooting it. Does not processes the court quickly on the catch, and you often see this in hesitations after receiving the ball but with no room to shoot (timing on his passes is just off). Diakite would often miss open/quick swing passes and passes to teammates, settling for early jumpers or bad shots; miss passes on drives to the basket; and really just did not look to pass after he got it, unless it was a designed play with movement after he received the pass. Prone to forcing passes he thinks will be there after coming to a decision to pass. Flashed some swing passes and D&Ks (including one really nice one against UNC in the 9th game of the season with ~19 min left in 2nd half), but they were few and far between…it really just does not appear that he has passing feel or touch.
PnR Passing: N/A. Has not shown the ability to be a short roll passer, and judging by his limited passing feel he showed at UVA, he will need to improve heavily to add this to his game.
PnR Scoring: Potential dual PnR/PnP threat. He has shown some flashes of nice footwork, but the main thing with him will be getting the shot off a bit quicker – he takes his time here getting set, which, against better athletes in the NBA, might not end in favorable percentages…especially when you consider that his contested jumper percentage is much worse than his uncontested percentage. On the flip side, extra space will probably help him a bit here as well…but, either way, I do expect him to be able to hit some PnP. 5/18 on PnP jumpers is a small sample size, but the fluidity and comfortability with which he shot those, combined with his spot up no dribble jumper (and FT%) makes the PnP projection a pretty solid bet. Going back to the above section on shooting, he has a smooth and consistent release, he’s a good FT shooter, and does a nice job staying balanced on the jumpers. Though volume might not be that high, he should have PnP ability in his arsenal. Diakite has solid PnR potential. Though he has to clean up his footwork and work on his release into the paint a bit more (it’s not bad, but he can take extra steps and wait a half second too long), with his reach and pop, Diakite should make a nice lob threat (especially with the added spacing). Though he’s not someone I would want catching on the short roll and attacking the defense head on, as a lob threat, he should be effective due to his good hands, catching radius, and pop. PnR numbers dropped this year due to less spacing and more pops than rolls – last year he was 1/1 on PnP and 24/30 on rolls/slips.
Mamadi Diakite Scouting Report - The Stepien
Net Rating (+/- in parentheses): +5 (+3.7) Athleticism / Frame Overview: Very quick – quick hips and feet; quick reflexes. Solid vertical athlete. Average wingspan for C and below average...
www.thestepien.com
Awareness / Team Defense: Great awareness / high defensive IQ all over the court. Nice job talking on defense / getting everyone in the right spot. Solid defensive playmaker for a big. Always ready to help on the interior or on the perimeter – one of the things that popped the most was his ability to help off of screens he is not involved in / when he sees his teammate get put out of position. Does a nice job rotating along the perimeter to help cover for teammates when necessary. Nice job keeping his arms out / in the passing lanes. Does a nice job tagging cutters and getting back to his man with a high hand (always right hand, though … more on that below) and has also shown the smarts to also bump cutters as they cut across horizontally – this is something I really like, because it’s another way to get another 2.9 seconds in the paint and disrupts cutters allowing the person defending them to recover. Does a nice job helping in the paint on drivers, cutters, and potential cutters and getting back to his man – just a high IQ team defender. Good positional defender knowing where to be off ball – playing nail/elbow, sink into paint from weak side for strong action shading, etc. Can sometimes overhelp leaving him forced to scramble off ball back to his man or to the next rotation (which he recognizes quickly). Does a good job keeping everything in front of him when he’s one pass away, but he is prone to zoning in on his man and putting his back to the ball or just seeing the action and losing his man on occasion. All in all, very high IQ team defender who knows how and where to rotate everywhere on the court.
Rim Protection: Very good rim protector. Though his defense took a hit this past year, I think it’s due to him getting the bulk of his minutes at the 4 this past season instead of at the 5 like last year last year (in addition to the increased load on offense, which is not a great excuse, in my opinion, but his energy was not always there on defense). Of 771 minutes from last year I have lineup configurations for, Diakite played the 5 for 516 of them (~67%); however, for this past season, of the 948 minutes I have lineup configurations for, Diakite played only 390 minutes as the 5 (~41%). Following the logic there, and simply by watching the games, Diakite played in space more this year than he did last year…which, given his likely NBA position as a 5, probably means we should be looking more at his numbers last year instead of this year. Just to be safe, however, I watched every potential rim protection attempt from the last two years (primary and secondary), in addition to my normal (excessive?) allotment of games I watch while scouting, but double (last year + this year), I have come to the following conclusions:
Diakite is a very good rim protector. He has good timing when contesting shots in the paint (and you can see players adjusting their shots when he’s in the paint), he is quick off the floor, and he is very long. Knows how to use his length – if the person attempting the shot at the rim tries to avoid Diakite’s arms, Diakite does a nice job adjusting their position to mirror the offensive player’s new angle. Can sometimes swipe down on block attempts instead of going straight up, but he generally does a nice job using the rule of verticality to contest shots…which, when combining his length and pop, is usually more than enough. Nice job not being put out of position biting on pump fakes – stopped jumping as high as he did in previous years, but still prone to a little baby jump, which he recovers pretty well from, but still can be better. Nice job rotating down to protect the rim – good interior defensive IQ. On ball rim protection is very good as well – does a nice job transitioning from sliding / defending downhill to contesting the shot at the rim. However, as just mentioned, he can be dislodged by drivers when they get their chest into him and players in air trying to finish.
That said, his lack of strength could be problematic going forward. Both on drives and in the air, Diakite can be dislodged from his position by Gs, wings, and bigs – it happens more when he’s upright, but even when balanced and down, he can be knocked off if they get their chest into him. If he is unable to get stronger, though he still has the length to affect shots (and has shown the ability to affect shots at the rim despite being dislodged), his impact becomes diminished. If there is a silver lining here / reason for optimism even without a lot of strength gain, Diakite has shown the ability to take the hit and still use his length to contest the shot despite being dislodged – Diakite’s ability to use his length is great.
www.thestepien.com
Rim Protection: Very good rim protector. Though his defense took a hit this past year, I think it’s due to him getting the bulk of his minutes at the 4 this past season instead of at the 5 like last year last year (in addition to the increased load on offense, which is not a great excuse, in my opinion, but his energy was not always there on defense). Of 771 minutes from last year I have lineup configurations for, Diakite played the 5 for 516 of them (~67%); however, for this past season, of the 948 minutes I have lineup configurations for, Diakite played only 390 minutes as the 5 (~41%). Following the logic there, and simply by watching the games, Diakite played in space more this year than he did last year…which, given his likely NBA position as a 5, probably means we should be looking more at his numbers last year instead of this year. Just to be safe, however, I watched every potential rim protection attempt from the last two years (primary and secondary), in addition to my normal (excessive?) allotment of games I watch while scouting, but double (last year + this year), I have come to the following conclusions:
Diakite is a very good rim protector. He has good timing when contesting shots in the paint (and you can see players adjusting their shots when he’s in the paint), he is quick off the floor, and he is very long. Knows how to use his length – if the person attempting the shot at the rim tries to avoid Diakite’s arms, Diakite does a nice job adjusting their position to mirror the offensive player’s new angle. Can sometimes swipe down on block attempts instead of going straight up, but he generally does a nice job using the rule of verticality to contest shots…which, when combining his length and pop, is usually more than enough. Nice job not being put out of position biting on pump fakes – stopped jumping as high as he did in previous years, but still prone to a little baby jump, which he recovers pretty well from, but still can be better. Nice job rotating down to protect the rim – good interior defensive IQ. On ball rim protection is very good as well – does a nice job transitioning from sliding / defending downhill to contesting the shot at the rim. However, as just mentioned, he can be dislodged by drivers when they get their chest into him and players in air trying to finish.
That said, his lack of strength could be problematic going forward. Both on drives and in the air, Diakite can be dislodged from his position by Gs, wings, and bigs – it happens more when he’s upright, but even when balanced and down, he can be knocked off if they get their chest into him. If he is unable to get stronger, though he still has the length to affect shots (and has shown the ability to affect shots at the rim despite being dislodged), his impact becomes diminished. If there is a silver lining here / reason for optimism even without a lot of strength gain, Diakite has shown the ability to take the hit and still use his length to contest the shot despite being dislodged – Diakite’s ability to use his length is great.
Mamadi Diakite Scouting Report - The Stepien
Net Rating (+/- in parentheses): +5 (+3.7) Athleticism / Frame Overview: Very quick – quick hips and feet; quick reflexes. Solid vertical athlete. Average wingspan for C and below average...
www.thestepien.com