Try and think back to the hype, the videos, the articles, all the intel you had acquired over the last few years leading up to the last three drafts and how they influenced your opinion on the players we drafted. Try and remember how you felt about that player before being drafted and after being drafted but before they started playing. Which of the the 9 First Round Picks do you think was most ready to walk on the court in the NBA and dominate? Poll provided. * Cam Whitmore - #20 (Can't fix the poll)
I don't think any of them (or most draft prospects really) were ready to dominate, but I think Tari was the most prepared to step into the NBA and contribute right away, being an older, two-year college player with versatile skills. His minutes this season would have been valuable even on a contender. Green, Sengun, Smith were all super young and it showed. This year, Cam is also very young and has issues with his IQ/feel for the game that I think will keep him from being much of a contributor as a rookie. Amen might do better, but OTE and his shooting issues make it such a wild card what his rookie season is going to look like. I wouldn't be surprised to see him have the best rookie season of any of these guys, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he kinda sucks and barely earns minutes off the bench. All the other guys on this list just aren't that talented sadly.
These guys were ready to dominate the summer league or g-league NBA is a vets league so I don’t expect guys to dominate anything until at least year 3 or 4.
Well, usually when you're working with 1st picks fans are excited about the players high level of talent and immediate impact on winning or at least being far better than the average NBA player in some regard. Generally, a top tier talent in the draft should dominate in some way or another of the average NBA level of talent. It may take them a few years to reach their full potential but the expectation is that their floor is at least high and unique with some skill/s
Hmm, what do I remember… Jalen Green - #2 — Jalen Green was pro ready (or near pro ready) because he was playing in the G League against actual players while Mobley and the others were playing against future accountants. Jabari Smith Jr - #3 — that sweet, sweet stroke is ready! And defensively, he can help from day one! Amen Thompson - #4 — not pro ready, was playing against 15 year olds as a 20-year old and didn’t dominate. Already declared a bust. Alperen Sengun - #16 — MVP of some league or something? Tari Eason - #17 — don’t recall Cam Whitmore - #20 — “consummate ball stopper” Usman Garuba - #23 — don’t recall Josh Christopher - #24 — don’t recall TyTy Washington Jr. - #30 — don’t recall
Most nba ready were Sengun and Tari but dominating is for guys like lebron, luka that are very special cases. With the average draft age going down, dominating from the beginning became even harder.
LOL. Oh I know what it means but it's a subjective term to a degree. Most fans think in those terms when it comes to a top prospect entering the draft.
Tari Eason - missed layups and all - is the only obvious answer. You could easily picture him on the Heat or Nuggets making hustle plays. The other guys are generally too deficient.
Picked Jabari. Thought he was like Wemby, in that their defense would be apparent from day 1, with the offense to follow. And if your defense is good, you'll be able to immediately contribute to an NBA team. With someone like Sengun, he'd need chemistry with his teammates before he's "better" than Jabari.
I think Sengun is the most NBA-ready player we drafted. He was the MVP in the Turkish league and showcased his talent in the summer league effortlessly. It's impressive and says a lot about him.
Sengun...... Tari.............Jalen, ...............................................Jabari,............Garuba................................................................................................Jaygup
So NBA ready for people apparently is being a Luka or Lebron type player when they were 19-21. You guys are going to be perpetually disappointed.
The hustle play thing is role dependent. Guys like Green if asked to be tertiary scorers who stand around and just wait for drive and kicks like Tari, they have energy to be a hustle "hard nosed" player. Green having the talent to self create at a young age being drafted to a horrible team that needs a self-creator means he never got that opportunity to play as the hustle dog type player. The laws of thermodynamics apply to NBA players. They have finite energy. 10-21 year olds who have been used to 30-40 game seasons before joining the NBA asked to create of the bounce as much as Green was asked to do leaves little energy to do the things you praise guys with smaller roles to do. Also in terms of judging impact, remember when you look at on/off stats, Tari played against opposing bench units while Green played against the opposing team's A team most of the time.
Alpi and Tate were ready to play but Tate was already mid 20s. But who I thought pre draft? It had to be Green. I think having him stand on the corner to watch kpj and Wood do their thing really affected his game.
