[holefillers1Participant]

 De’Aaron Fox just dropped 39 on UCLA while checking Ball for most of the game.  One of the greatest performances I’ve seen in a while.  Might be time to shift some guys around at the top of the board.

[Robb_CParticipant]

 Fox is a bigger verison of Rajon Rondo.. 

 

 

[holefillers1Participant]

 I saw shades of Westbrook last night.  Plus he is left handed, gonna mess up a lot of defenders in the league.

[Robb_CParticipant]

 UCLA looked completely uninspired this whole tournament, Absolutely no desire to play defense.. Fox being at the free throw line a ton padded his numbers, his transition and off the screen play is an absolute nightmare.. Hes defintely not the athlete strength wise Westbrook is but hes defintely one of those guards always on Turbo mode like him.. 

Steve Alford never made any adjustments and was completely out coached by Calipari. 

 

[kobyzParticipant]

 i was the first to say Fox should be the first PG taken in the draft…

[Robb_CParticipant]

 Fox wont be the first PG off the board.. His shooting numbers are just not there to warrant the selection.

[Jean_31Participant]

 Altough Fox shooting numbers are not great, the shooting form is good and his effiency at the line suggest that he might improve alot in this category. That being said, the others parts of his game is elite and better than the other top pgs in the draft (except the passing for Ball). I can see him go in the top 5, and I can see him being the second point guard taken behind Fultz.

[kobyzParticipant]

 Fultz is not a PG, any team drafting him should refuse playing him that position, he could be good as SG, not PG…

[BeastMode716Participant]

 how hard it is to defend a Lefthander – it’s why Boxers Hate to fight Southpaws – Every instinct you hone in practice is thrown out & you are thinking instead of playing. Fox is going to be a Beast in the NBA.

He runs a beautiful Pick & Roll, he glides to any spot he wants to get to on the court.

This is why I have always believed Ben Simmons will shred NBA pro’s at the PG spot. He’s a lefthanded giant w/ freakish athletic ability. No one is stopping that.

As for Ball he was Exposed tonight. Every NBA team in the NBA runs a set w/ the PG at the top of the Key running the pick & roll on offense. 

Ball can Not run the P&R, he can Not get his own shot & he can not defend Anyone. Sound like anyone else you know – D’Angelo Russell a left hander who is so poor athletically that he can’t break down Anyone at the NBA level off the dribble – No one & we saw this in college when frigging TJ McConnell shut him down in the Tourney for Arizona but we Still drafted him.

If the Lakers draft Ball they will have right handed & left handed versions of a Non penetrating, No defense, Combo guard who can’t run a P&R and can not iniate a Pro style offense. Good luck with that

 

 

 

 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

 Fox is up to 4 on Aran’s site mock which now has Josh Jackson at number 1, so he has moved up the board.

Considering that he plays for a powerhouse team, he hasn’t had the same hype that Fultz, Ball and even Dennis Smith have had.

I think he definitely goes top 5 now possibly top 3. With so many PGs at the top of the draft we can second guess today who might go where.

 

 

[SubZeroParticipant]

I’ve been saying all season while Monk’s gotten all the attention, Fox is my favorite player on the team and he’s the real deal. I can definitely see him making some All-Defense teams in the future

[apb540Participant]

Fox showed the world that he is capable of shutting down any PG at any given time. If I had to pick one dude right now to try and check Westbrook for 40 minutes, it seriously might be him. Personally, I have a hard time finding a good comparison for him, but I’m envisioning a taller, stronger, more skilled version of Patrick Beverley. Much more skilled lol.

While I certainly won’t argue that Lonzo Ball looked like he was trying not to break a sweat all game, a lot of credit needs to also go to Coach Cal & the rest of that Kentucky team. No doubt they were a lot more athletic from the 1 to the 5, but the coach used his week to prepare his guys to the fullest. UCLA looked quite the opposite and Kentucky outplayed them for a good bit of the game.

Lonzo Ball is a very weird prospect. He’s a 6’6" PG who led the whole NCAA in assists per game as a freshman playing in one of, if not the best, conferences in the nation. Made over 2 treys a game – shot over 40% doing it. His overall FG percentage of 55% was very impressive, but pales in comparison to his eye-popping 66.8% Effective FG percentage (6th best in the entire NCAA). Add in almost two steals & a block and this dude should be the top prospect by a large margain right?

Well I don’t have cable or consume ESPN in any way so I personally do not give a s*** what his father says. You do all realize he wouldn’t even exist in your minds if the media didn’t give him an insane amount of run (leading up to a massive money making tournament where UCLA got a questionable 3 seed to all but guarantee this matchup with Kentucky. Just random right?)…. Anyway, my issues with Lonzo Ball as a prospect lie soley with him.

First I’d like to question his toughness. Maybe I’m bias as an east coast guy but this dude seems to be the new-age, rich Cali kid type who are soft. He looked like he wanted no parts of De’aaron Fox so that question remains. Second issue is his athleticism, speed, and quickness. I know everyone wants to scream ‘he’s the next De’Angelo Russell’ but the other side of the coin is a guy like Steph Curry. Personally, I do believe Ball has the neccessary physical abilities to be a star in the NBA, but won’t fault anyone for seeing different. My third and final issue with Ball may end up being the most relevant – his unwillingness to draw contact & get to the line. The dude shot 67% from the stripe on 1.8/2.7 a game; less than 3 FTA/game is just brutal for a guy getting into the paint as often as him in over 35 MPG. 67% is also brutal for anyone, let alone a PG. How you almost gonna have a higher eFG % than FT% as a PG?? Maybe this goes back to his softness, maybe it’s his athelticism, but honestly I’m not really sure at this point. All I know is it should be something every NBA team is wondering too.

 

 

 

 

 

  

[EndlessknightParticipant]

Is Fox really any better than Elfrid Payton? Serious question, not a rhetorical statement. When I watch them the seem eerily similar with the same strengths and weaknesses. Where would you take Payton in this draft?

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 Theyre wired completely different.  Fox has Westbrook level athleticism and mentality always attacking on both sides.  Payton is not the athlete or dog Fox is.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 Ball reminds me of the basketball version of a spread QB in college who got great receivers.  UCLAS whole team shot lights out this year and most of Balls assists came from swinging the ball and making the pass ahead in transition.   He had very few eye popping assists this year from a half court set where he generated the action off his dribble.

I would draft both Fox and Monk in a heart beat over Ball.

 

 

 

[machu46Participant]

It’s kind of a weird comparison, and for the record, I think Ball is a much better prospect than Tyler Ennis was (and the fact that Ennis hasn’t panned out will make this comparison look even worse), but in terms of his strengths and weaknesses, Ball reminds me of Ennis quite a bit.

Both were really talented passers, but are more of "if my teammate gets open, I’ll find him" type players, rather than "if my opponent is covered, I’ll break the defense down to get him open". Ennis projected as a guy that would struggle with foot speed defensively, and I think that same concern is there with Ball. However, both Ennis and Ball have good hands defensively. Ennis was a decent shooter, but struggled to create his shot. Ball is a great shooter, but I think he too will struggle to create his shot, especially going right. Ennis struggled to break his man down due to his relative lack of quickness and I believe that same weakness is there with Ball. Ball is definitely a much better finisher around the rim than Ennis was though.

All in all, I’d still take Ball around the #6 pick this year, but I worry he’ll end up being a bust like Ennis.

 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

 Fox has been compared to Dennis Schroeder for his speed but I also like his ability on defence despite not being the biggest PG. He is a menace to opposing ball carriers in the passing lane ands is waiting to pounce for the steal, like CP3 was when he first came into the NBA.

Like CP3, I can see his defence getting better still as his basketball IQ matures and he learns when to judge the steals even better.

As I said before Fox despite being the best player on a powerhouse team with the best record for producing high picks for the last decade or so has been a bit over looked with all the hype around Fultz, Ball and to a lesser extent Smith. Then we have the top Euro in the draft Frank Ntilikina whose stock may well depend on how work outs go as scouts won’t have seen him matched up like the other PGs have been.

All these guys have the USPs – Fultz perhaps most likely to be a superstar, Ball perhaps the best pass first PG to be drafted in over a decade, Smith the expolosive guy who could be a great scorer, Fox the lightning quick jack in the box, a steal waiting to happen and Ntilikina the unknown guy who could be a total lockdown defender.

 

 

 

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