[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Hello posters of NBADraft.net! The NBA is back! Bol Bol just played a game and caused a giant Twitter divide! I was a long time writer and contributor for the site, and posted quite a bit on the message board. My brother and I have started a podcast we are calling “Viseland” (our last name is Visenberg), and wanted to post our past two episodes. Having had the chance to see many of these players as prospects, plus wondering what their future might hold in the cards, we ranked the #1 picks from 2010-2019 by where we feel they will be ranked when all is said done in their NBA careers. Think we made some bold selections, but wanted to know how other people would feel if they were to rank these players by career projection?

To view the episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXZIhXVyf-I&t=3s

Also, in our most recent episode, I made a list for research purposes on who I felt was the best player in every draft since the league has been called the NBA. Was quite interesting, found out that in my list it includes 18 number 1 picks, 10 number 2 picks and 8 number 3 picks, with quite a bit fewer as we go down the list. So, Jason and I went over who we felt in retrospect should have gone #1 in the past 10 drafts, and gave runner-up selections for the drafts where we felt the original #1 pick should remain in that spot. However, we didn’t rank these as much as give a perspective of what they looked like as prospects. Plus, I do shoutout EuroBaller as posting about Giannis Antetokounmpo before any of the major sites had done so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tEhXPpi0Cc&t=2s

Beyond YouTube, Viseland is available on SoundCloud, Apple and Spotify. Would appreciate any shares, likes, subscriptions or comments. Plus, you can drop us an e-mail at [email protected]. Will be checking in on this and am definitely down to see other peoples lists, thoughts on who should have gone #1 in 2014 (seems to be the most debated draft class with the top 2 players in that draft) and if anyone else wants to try to predict the future outcomes of the last 10 #1 picks by career projection.

[RUDEBOY-Participant]

1.Zion Williamson-Not Doncic,Giannis ,Simmons or Embiid..But Zion that will become the face of the nba once Lebron retires…He has began to garner the commercial success,kids immiate him on the playground..now he only needs to stay healthy and win some playoff games and possibly a ring or 2 he’s on the path to become a Top 30 all time player…

2.Anthony Davis-Staying healthy is the only thing stopping AD from becoming an all time great..He’s the complete package…

3.Ben Simmons- A unique blend of Pippen & Grant Hill….When Embiid was out Simmons kept the 76ers afloat…..I doubt Simmons want how much longer he wants to be 2nd fiddle to Embiid much longer…For some reason i feel the Simmons-Embiid duo will be separated soon, via free agency or trade..

4.Kyrie Irving-On the path to be a first ballot HOFer…1 of the most clutch players in league history…Seems to take his game to another level when paired with other great players, than being the lone guy…..

5.Karl Anthony Towns-I still dont think he’s fully reached his potential…..

6.John Wall-I debated on who i should rank number 6 Wall or Wiggins…What Wiggins can become or Wall has done..Wall’s resume won out…Interested to see how he performs when he gets back….

7.Andrew Wiggins-I didnt buy the Riggin for Wiggins hype..He wasnt a generational player..His handles were shaky,he didnt have the Alpha Dawg Mentality to take over games ,nor the ball handling or playmaking ability….But has displayed the talent to become an all star..And with the Warriors in a secondary role he will thrive…

8.DeAndre Ayton-Kid has received a bad rap..Becuz Luka Doncic who was drafted 2 spots below him has risen to become an all nba performer and some say a top 5 player ..But in only 2 seasons Ayton has averaged a double double & shot over 50% …

9.Markelle Fultz-I thought number 1 for him was a bit too high…Seemed like a 6th man type to me..And that might be his role in the league….

10.Anthony Bennett-In 2013 the Cavs front office voted 9-1 in favor of drafting Bennett..The only no vote was GM Chris Grant and drafting Bennett was 1 of the reasons Cavs fired him….Bennett lacked the conditioning, motivation ,workethic and dedication to become a better player….

[OhCanada-Participant]

MikeyV…really good to have you pop in every now and then and remind me to check out your podcasts. I enjoy listening to them and I’m gonna start downloading them for my commute to work. I’ll be looking forward to more content your really starting to hone your craft keep it up!

Now time for me to get on your ass about a few things. First of all Porzingis is overrated. Booker is leaps and bounds better than him and so is Trez. Montrezl Harrell. I’ll take Harrell over Porzingis any day if I want to win a basketball game. I doubt anybody agrees with that but he at least deserved a mention.

Now. I know you didn’t just try to tell me Simmons is a better player than Siakam. After Toronto won a championship after eliminating the 76ers with Siakam going for 19-ppg, 6-rpg, 2-apg, 2-spg while SImmons went for 11.6-ppg, 7-rpg, 5-apg 1.5-spg and 1-bpg. SImmons was clearly a scoring liability in that series despite his great defense and physicality while Siakam’s offense and high energy gave Toronto a great boost that won them games. That was last year and this year it isn’t even close. Siakam is clearly the better player. He has better stats, on a better team, with a Championship not to mention teams have been doubling Siakam and giving him the superstar treatment to slow him down and he was just beggining to adapt which is why his stats began to dip a bit. I’d like to here your case for SImmons being better than Siakam.

Thats really all I could find. Your on point as usual. Especially liked your Jokic over Embiid take which probably isn’t too popular.

[CynthiaParticipant]

Wow Mikey V is still alive. Hope all is well with you, I’ll check out your videos when I get time.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Appreciate the comments my friends, sorry it took me so long to get back. Now, Bonner aka OhCanada-, first off, hope things are well for you as they possibly can be in these times. I moved from Toronto to Portland at the end of 2015, have yet to be back. Had hoped to come back in June, though was not able to make it happen for obvious reasons. Maybe one day.

I will agree that Booker is likely better than Porzingis. But I still think I would take Porzingis over Trez. Porzingis definitely has had an up and down season, but the guy is a 7’3 high level shooter. I know he and Booker play very different roles, but the fact they shoot close to the same from 3 is definitely impressive. I feel Porzingis also is kind of getting back into the swing of things after missing a lot of time, and he was the second best player on a team that had the best offensive rating in NBA history, were a legit play-off squad. Trez has had a tremendous season, he is my 6th man of the year vote, but he is older than Kristaps by over a year and a half, plus lets see what happens once he gets paid.

I will also give you that Pascal Siakam played better than Ben Simmons last year in that play-off series. But I still feel like as general players at this point in their career, I give the edge to Simmons, who is also 2 years younger than Pascal. Even if you feel the finals performance and this year moves Pascal ahead, let me give you some insight into my reasoning. Ben Simmons ranks in the 97th percentile in the NBA in possessions+assists, and is first among high volume creators at 1.445 PPP. The guy is a passing virtuoso and the thing I kind of wish is that the NBA had almost a hockey system of points that combined players individual scoring with points off of assists, which I am pretty sure would favor Simmons between he and Siakam this season.

What Pascal has done this year is incredibly impressive and I did have him over Ingram. I think he was their second best player during the Finals run and the strides he has made are fantastic. I still do not think we have seen the best of Ben Simmons, though, and while the same could be said for Siakam, I think the team surroundings have certainly been better for Siakam this season. Philly’s roster did not make things easy for Simmons this season, just think the big log jam is too much. Even so, Simmons played fantastic basketball and he went to another level defensively.

With Simmons, I do not think the divide is as wide as you believe, and actually see them on quite similar levels right now. Simmons could prove me wrong again in the play-offs, where you are absolutely correct that he has struggled at times offensively. But he is so unique as a playmaker and I think the age difference should allow him to have a possibly longer peak. It is part projection and that one more year of playing at a high level that maybe I am overvaluing, but I think I still have Ben’s career ahead for now. Could definitely be wrong and it is in large part projection as well, but rolling with Ben Simmons keeping that top spot. Am hoping Pascal keeps things up and he has certainly made it interesting.

Embiid versus Jokic is not done yet, and I will admit I went more on career up to this point as opposed to projection on that one. But I think even with projection factored in, it will be really interesting. If they do not factor Anthony Davis in as a center (I am not sure he played enough minutes at C for them to do so), it looks like Jokic might make his second straight All-NBA 1st team. Still do not think we have seen Embiid’s best and I feel if you surround he and Simmons with the right pieces, they could win titles. Just not so sure the same can’t be said for Jokic. Both dominant big men in their own way, but Joker has played two more seasons of NBA basketball at this point if you look at total games. I hope Embiid stays durable and it should be really close, though Jokic is off to the early lead. He may be the best passing center of all-time.

[minion89Participant]

Your friend’s blog I have read, I am very impressed with your blog, I hope you will have more blogs or more posts to bring readers
mapquest directions

[Author]

Posts