Will be very interested to see the rationale for having Derik Queen in the second round. Based on his play and the weight he's already lost, he's likely to lose more, I'd be surprised if he's not a lottery pick.
I'm happy you said this. People give me slack for not ranking Jakucionis and Queen. In the heat of the moment, fair and understandable. For Queen, the high production - which I don't take away from him - overshadows the defensive challenges an undersized true five has. The NBA mostly uses a five as a play-finisher without featuring them much. The usage he has at Maryland isn't representative of what he will do on an NBA floor. Regardless, Queen shows he can be productive while defensively not being effective as a shot-blocker.
Blocks are a good measure to look to his NBA role, as he HAS to block shots to be effective. And he has to be physical against NBA-caliber fives. Queen is a terrific passer and low-block scorer. I like him as a prospect, but not for 2025. I hope he'll return to school to challenge a top-10 selection next year while improving his defense in the mean time. It's early in the year with conference play yet to fully start. If Queen answers some of my doubts, I might consider ranking him. But for now, he's unranked because of the above-mentioned reasons, where the opportunity to play, his NBA role, and too much impact on a team's defensive rating are the reasons for me to not go with the consensus who have him as a lottery pick.
Great in depth list & evaluation. One error - in your First Round list/narrative #12 Joson Sanon attends Arizona State not Arizona.
Thank you for correcting me, Steve! Indeed a bad error on my side, knowing how fierce the rivalry is!
Will be very interested to see the rationale for having Derik Queen in the second round. Based on his play and the weight he's already lost, he's likely to lose more, I'd be surprised if he's not a lottery pick.
I'm happy you said this. People give me slack for not ranking Jakucionis and Queen. In the heat of the moment, fair and understandable. For Queen, the high production - which I don't take away from him - overshadows the defensive challenges an undersized true five has. The NBA mostly uses a five as a play-finisher without featuring them much. The usage he has at Maryland isn't representative of what he will do on an NBA floor. Regardless, Queen shows he can be productive while defensively not being effective as a shot-blocker.
Blocks are a good measure to look to his NBA role, as he HAS to block shots to be effective. And he has to be physical against NBA-caliber fives. Queen is a terrific passer and low-block scorer. I like him as a prospect, but not for 2025. I hope he'll return to school to challenge a top-10 selection next year while improving his defense in the mean time. It's early in the year with conference play yet to fully start. If Queen answers some of my doubts, I might consider ranking him. But for now, he's unranked because of the above-mentioned reasons, where the opportunity to play, his NBA role, and too much impact on a team's defensive rating are the reasons for me to not go with the consensus who have him as a lottery pick.