Draft 2026 NBA Draft Prospects Thread

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2027907086210695433

 

[Duncan2150]

I can’t unsee Sochan in the way Morez plays and I don’t understand how people can’t see it. Yeah Sochan is dumb, low iq, yadda yadda yadda… but come on, squint your eyes and see they play so similar…

I guess I want to hear from anyone explain why they are different.

If we were so handicapped so severely with Sochan’s unreliable shooting, why won’t we be with Morez?

i see two huge differencies; morez plays center and his ft % looks good, they're totally diffrent type of player imo.

 

[Duncan2150]

As i think the spurs will focus on a young inside player if they draft with the atl pick i have that guys in my list :

morez johnson, i really like him
steinback, would be great to have him, i think he can develop into something really good

cenac could be interesting too
i was high on haug but im cooling down a little bit
mara is intriguing

and im really not a fan of lendeborg

 

[OK Computer]

i see two huge differencies; morez plays center and his ft % looks good, they're totally diffrent type of player imo.

Ok, so the hope is that he’ll be the backup C one day after Kornet is gone. I guess people think he has Bam Adebayo upside? Looks a little more like Kevin Looney to me, IMO.

 

[CGD]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2027737713332424839

It’s amazing to think that after 15 years of this archetype of player basically disappearing, that the presence of Victor is now gonna get a bunch of them PAID for the foreseeable future.

 

[ace3g]

 

[Mugen]

I know it's a lukewarm take here but I'm more interested in what they do in the 2nd round tbh.

It's absolutely critical that they use at least one of their 2nd rounders to draft an actual guy and not some stash that will never come over or, worse yet, sell it off again.

Like draft a JT Toppin or Richie Saunders and let them rehab for a year in Austin. Chinyelu is another 2nd round target that they can look at.

The 3rd unit badly needs an upgrade and they'll have plenty of roster spots available.

 

[Correct Crusader]

It’s amazing to think that after 15 years of this archetype of player basically disappearing, that the presence of Victor is now gonna get a bunch of them PAID for the foreseeable future.

Same way Shaq got a bunch of "big for nothing" players paid

 

[mo7888]

I know it's a lukewarm take here but I'm more interested in what they do in the 2nd round tbh.

It's absolutely critical that they use at least one of their 2nd rounders to draft an actual guy and not some stash that will never come over or, worse yet, sell it off again.

Like draft a JT Toppin or Richie Saunders and let them rehab for a year in Austin. Chinyelu is another 2nd round target that they can look at.

The 3rd unit badly needs an upgrade and they'll have plenty of roster spots available.

I'm on record as wanting 3 rookies on next years team. I think.we can get a couple that are interesting in the 2nd to replace some of our deep bench guys.

 

[Duncan2150]

Ok, so the hope is that he’ll be the backup C one day after Kornet is gone. I guess people think he has Bam Adebayo upside? Looks a little more like Kevin Looney to me, IMO.

The hope for the first season and the upside are two different things. Nobody could saw what adebayo will be when he was drafted.

IMO the hope is just to have some youg depth inside to replace olynik, pulmee, bismack in first place.

 

[Ariel]

I can’t unsee Sochan in the way Morez plays and I don’t understand how people can’t see it. Yeah Sochan is dumb, low iq, yadda yadda yadda… but come on, squint your eyes and see they play so similar…

I guess I want to hear from anyone explain why they are different.

If we were so handicapped so severely with Sochan’s unreliable shooting, why won’t we be with Morez?

This is a summary of where I think we went wrong with Sochan:
1) severely overestimated his iq / playmaking abilities, he didn't even reach the level to be called a connector, let alone the point forward ceiling.
2) severely overestimated his physicality and motor. He had very good lateral mobility but didn't match up well with taller, stronger PFs. Functionally he was more of a combo forward on defense and didn't gain much strength. Rebounding stats oversell his impact on the boards.
3) didn't properly identify lack of touch and bad hands, which played a lot into his inability to catch and finish in traffic. This is a non negotiable for a big man.
4) we knew his shot was broken, but assumed with hard work he could reach a passable level of 33% - 35%. Shot mechanics remained horrendous and confidence regressed, ended up passing open shots and became unplayable on offense.
5) Conflated colorful personality and multiculturalism with high character. You need strong work ethic and drive, he doesn't strike me as the relentless type.

I think his unusual developmental path made tracking his steps more difficult than usual, making it harder to get a read on his limitations. As a result we over-indexed his lone college season and, especially, march madness performance. I will own up I was sold in the game vs North Carolina, in retrospect it was nowhere near enough to get a good read. To be completely honest, his strengths didn't justify the red flags, and I'm guilty of this as much as anyone else.

Where I think you can make a comparison with Morez Johnson is that there's not enough evidence to assess his skill level, coordination and touch, this is critical in a big man and I'll openly admit I can't pass judgement here with any degree of confidence. But I will say that his finishing, rebounding, free throw shooting, and (admittedly small) 3 pt sample, all seem to suggest significantly better foundations in terms of physicality, touch, coordination and motor.

To sum up, I think your concerns are valid but I think by linking him to Kevon Looney or Sochan you might be falling prey of "once bitten, twice shy", not saying skepticism isn't justified but I haven't seen a prospect I'm a lot more confident in right now so he's among those at the top of my list because he fits a need and, if he hits, he's a long term piece, whereas a smallish wing shooter or backup center might not. But this might of course change in the next few weeks and months, in fact I expect it to, and we'll continue to debate it here.

 

[spurraider21]

I know it's a lukewarm take here but I'm more interested in what they do in the 2nd round tbh.

It's absolutely critical that they use at least one of their 2nd rounders to draft an actual guy and not some stash that will never come over or, worse yet, sell it off again.

Like draft a JT Toppin or Richie Saunders and let them rehab for a year in Austin. Chinyelu is another 2nd round target that they can look at.

The 3rd unit badly needs an upgrade and they'll have plenty of roster spots available.

its not a lukewarm take to say we need to be better with our second rounders, but being more interested in that than the outcome of the first rounder is just being a contrarian

 

[scott]

its not a lukewarm take to say we need to be better with our second rounders, but being more interested in that than the outcome of the first rounder is just being a contrarian

Maybe I'm just being contrarian, but I agree with Mugen. I am confident in the first round the Spurs will take someone with good tools who has a decent shot at developing. Much is made about the drafts we missed right before Wemby... but aside from Primo I can't really complain too much about any of those picks. They all kind of fell in the normal range of outcomes for picks in that range (with Vassell at the high end of the range of outcomes). It's easy to look at the guy you passed on, but I think that's a little foolish (since they are always guys taken later to vastly exceed their draft position... beating yourself up for not picking them is akin to beating yourself up because you didn't put your entire 401k into NVDA or something).

So... I feel confident that the Spurs will make a good decision with their FRP (even if they trade it out). I'm not convinced they'll do anything to contribute to team success with any SRP... and thus, I'm more interested in what they do there.