Carter Bryant vs Noa Essengue

Noa has better size but Carter is an athletic freak. But I’d take Noa as he is one of the youngest in the draft and has greater upside IMO.

I’ve never seen Essengue play a game so its hard to say. Carter Bryant did not show very much shot creation and seems to be more of a high level role player. He gets compared to OG Anunoby but OG’s wingspan is 4 inches longer. For his projected role his size and length is just good its nothing crazy. Arizona fans have made a case that Carter Bryant’s role was held down in order to get him back for a sophmore season which makes no sense to me because if he felt he wasnt getting touches or minutes he could just transfer if the draft didnt work out but even before he fully committed to the draft he didnt enter the transfer portal.

Both of these players are still question marks for me but I would have Essengue higher. I’ve had Essengue as high as mid lottery and as low as 20 and I think thats his range whereas I feel Bryant is more likely a 10- mid 20’s pick.

I must admit I did Carter a disservice as I thought his height was 6 ft 5.5ins not 6 ft 6.5ins.. But the idea that he is held back to make him return unless there was a huge NIL offer made me laugh.

Bryant does have a good wingspan for his height but Cedric Coward beats it by several inches so do you draft on age/upside or wingspan.

PensareBasketball is great but hes a big time overthinker. Seems like a smart guy who is outsmarting himself and using his intelligence to prove his theory correct. I do like his content though and could listen to him ramble for hours at work.

I’m moving Essengue up on my board. His shot has improved. Hes shooting around 33% from three in his pastn 13 games and knocking down his FT’s. He’s also just so young and undeveloped physicaly. Its going to be interesting to see him develop.

Spurs at 14 with their French connection and ability to develop players would seem like Noa’s downside landing spot. But I could well see him going higher.

I wouldn’t think he’d be a good fit for Toronto personally as they have a lot of players in his position.

There is a Patrick Williams/Jarace Walker vibe to Carter Bryant. Sure, they look the part, but being content to stand at the arc with your hands out makes it hard to justify a lottery pick. An activity level with these guys is problematic. They have the length, strength, and athleticism to do more than they have. It is worrisome. You don’t want a player capable of having a Tony Snell meme line. With Essengue, I feel the activity level is there, sometimes to his detriment. It is easy to sense his desire to make things happen. It is generally an endearing quality, even if he sometimes tries to push off a rebound and turns it over, or flops aimlessly. He isn’t as raw as Tidjane Salaun, but there are similarities. In a better environment than Charlotte. My concern with Essengue would be if he goes out West and is too slight to play the 5 and doesn’t get guarded at the 4, then he gets lost in the mix, ends up being thrown in trade, and doesn’t develop. I feel like Brooklyn at #8 is a possibility. They went for Claxton and gave him time. They have tried to bring Noah Clowney along, which isn’t awful but not great. If they don’t love the guard options, it might be an option. Masai has a type, and Essengue fits it with his obvious length. Part of me thinks Essengue might be part of Washington’s Peter Pan rebuild plan of just accumulating the youngest guys possible to never have to grow up and try to win. It wouldn’t be a great spot necessarily, but cannot be dismissed out of hand.

Accurate measurements have been released for Noa Essengue. 6’10 barefoot, 7’1 wingspan, 9’2 standing reach. Thats pretty impressive. He has byfar the largest standing reach of any non Center in the draft. Also his 7’1 wingspan is incredible considering how narrow his chest is. And being 18 and born in December he’s very likely still growing. There are some similarities to Giannis at the same age physically. With his shot coming around late in the season I’m wondering if he is this drafts gem hiding in plain sight.

Very impressive measurements if he can bulk up he’d give a team an option at C too. But if the Raptors took him then the issue of playing against bigger C’s which Oh Canada mentions would be the issue.

With his upside I could put Noa potentially in the top 8. But I think the top 3 is set, we then have Tre, VJ, Fears the Ears and Maluach in contention for the next 4 places. I couldn’t put Noa ahead of VJ or Tre honestly and teams wanting a big would surely have Maluach due to his defensive upside ahead of Noa. So 7 or 8 would be my upside for him at this moment.

Maluach and Noa are both very much works in progress. Noa could well have a higher upside as an all round player but I just think Maluach gets drafted before him.

Noa to Brooklyn at 8 makes a lot of sense to me. He’d be a player the likes of the Raptors would surely want to work out. I’ll be interested to see how high up the draft teams look to work Noa out.

Heres some of the storylines.

-It seems as though Edgecombe has solidified himself as the #3 prospect. He had a good workout for Philly and Tyrese Maxey was present. I think Bailey is dropping and may end up going 5th.
-Atlanta is trying to move up to draft Maluach. That would likely be 5, 6 or 7.
-Brooklyn wants Fears there may even be a promise, or they may need to move up.
-Toronto and Houston are both trying to get KD. It seems like the 9th and 10th pick would need to be included and Phoenix would be drafting a Center (probably Derik Queen). Reports say Toronto’s offer is Quickley, Barrett and 9 and Houston’s offer is Green and 10. Neither team seems to be promised an extension. KD wanted to go to the Knicks but they said no.

These are all just rumors so who knows what was reported falsely but thats what I’ve gathered so far.

Houston would honestly be willing to give up Jalen Green to get KD?

I thought Jeff Green at first but he is a FA.

As a Suns fan I’d like both these deals.

NBA Draft Room has Ace at Number 5 so it might be possible he falls to there. But the guy who is widely regarded as potentially the 2nd best player in the draft falling to 5 would seem strange as there haven’t been major red flags about his attitude or effort. Typically he falls into Danny Ainge’s lap.

With Fears it depends what Wizards and NOP do. The Wizards are seen as possible trade partners with the Hawks if the Hawks want Maluach. So what are NOP’s intentions.?

The Nets if they really want Fears could offer one of their other first rounders if they were all in on Fears then the 19th pick thrown in would be very tempting to NOP to drop down one spot.