NBA Draft: This year’s big man class is full of WEIRDOS; should the Toronto Raptors pick one 9th?

NBA Draft: This year’s big man class is full of WEIRDOS; should the Toronto Raptors pick one 9th?

On your Friday episode of Locked on Raptors, those who listen to this show know that I love nothing more than a big man who throws dank passes, but we’re talking about three such players who could be in the mix at nine for the Raptors [Music] today. You are Locked On Raptors, your daily Toronto Raptors podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Hey, what’s going on and welcome to another episode of Locked On Raptors, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. It is Friday, May the 23rd. We love Friday, don’t we? I’m your host Sean Woodley. Been covering the Toronto Raptor now for 11 seasons on various platforms. You can find all my work over on Blue Sky. You can find the show on Instagram. You can join us in the lockdown Raptors Discord server. Link in the description of the podcast. Come hang out. Talk ball. Great place to be. We’d love to see you be part of our listener community. And uh today’s show, it’s brought to you by my friends over at FanDuel. Right now, new customers get 200 bucks in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. On today’s show, we’re talking about my favorite type of basketball player, big men who throw cool passes. Yes, this is a thing I have long enjoyed. I have long sung the praises of many a big man that throws cool passes here on this podcast over the years. And with the Raptors picking at nine and a bit of a strange kind of drop off between the top eight-ish prospects who are expected to go and the Raptors at nine, I think there’s a real chance the Raptors kind of broaden their horizons here and entertain all kinds of options with that ninth pick. And a big man would certainly be someone the Raptors could use. Messiah Jiri himself said at his end of season presser that a young big is something they’d love to go and try to acquire in the draft this summer. So, we’ll talk about three young bigs who maybe aren’t being mocked to the Raptors at nine, but certainly could very much be in the mix if they are going to pinpoint and target a big man. We’ll get into Danny Wolf, the uh face up point center from Michigan, one of the most bizarre prospects you’ll ever see. He’s very cool. We’ll talk about Thomas Sorber, the more sort of traditional screen and dive big man out of Georgetown who also throws a cool pass or two here and there. And then Maxim Ray, who plays for Stanford, who was crazy productive, who’s kind of a like kind of a badass, frankly. We’ll get into him as well. Let’s start with Danny Wolf, who I had just buckets of fun watching in preparation for this show. Whenever I’ve checked him out in the sort of this leadup to the draft process, I’ve had a very good time. He’s just a weirdass funky player, dude. And I really dig it. He is essentially a 7 foot point center. He’s technically 610 and a half without shoes as measured at the combine, but he’s thick. He’s huge. He’s got a 72 plus wingspan. He’s a big guy. He’s a classic center. And again, he played point center for Michigan this season. He had the ball in his hands a ton for a pretty good Wolverines team. Him and Vlad Golden were a really fun twoman, sevenfooter combination, and he was a delight to watch in the tournament. And if you go back and watch any of his games, any of his highlight films, whatever it is from this season, you’re going to have yourself a good time. Danny Wolf just turned 21 years old a couple years, sorry, just turned 21 a couple of weeks ago. 13.2 points a game this year. 9.7 boards, 3.6 assists, 7 steals, 1.4 blocks in his first and only season with Michigan, assuming he stays in the draft and doesn’t go back to school. He transferred over after two years at Yale where he was very similarly productive. Uh the shooting numbers from him are really weird and hard to sus out and figure out what the hell they all mean. Frankly, uh pretty good three-point shooter considering the difficulty of looks he took. A lot of pull-up stuff. He had some stepbacks mixed in in there as well. Again, this man is nearly seven feet tall and was stepping back on dudes with the ball in his hands, playing with his face to the basket. Uh about 34% from deep. shot very well on his twos. Uh 57% from two, you know, pretty solid around the rim. A lot of mid-range in there. A lot of floaters, poach push shots, post up work. Uh and then like a really strange 59% from the line last year. That’s a red flag. Obviously, when you’re trying to project a big man forward to see, oh, are they going to be able to shoot, which is obviously the most prized commodity among bigs in today’s NBA, the free throw is usually a thing you’re going to look at as an indicator. And it hasn’t always been this bad for Danny Wolf. When he was at Yale, he was about a 70% free throw shooter. 59% this year is extremely weird. I don’t know what to do with it. 56% true shooting overall for him. And I think for me, I’m kind of talking myself into the free throw thing, not meaning too much, because when you watch him play, like there’s clearly a lot of touch to the way he shoots. Way better as a catch-and guy than he was as a pull-up guy, as is the case with most dudes, especially sevenfooters. Um, you know, I I I think he’s going to be at least a solid three-point shooter in the NBA. When you look at the stroke, it looks clean. It looks solid. It looks balanced. All of the things you’re looking for. Again, I’m no shot doctor, but I feel like you can sort of tell when you see a guy whether a jump shot looks busted or not. And it certainly doesn’t look busted by any means. And I don’t know if the free throws are the thing I’m going to use here to guide my belief or lack thereof in Danny Wolf becoming a three-point shooter. The thing that really gets you when you watch Danny Wolf is the passing. The offensive package is just so damn fun. The handle is legit for a guy that size. Look, he’s not Kyrie Irving, but for big men, he’s basically the Kyrie Irving of big men in college. That’s like how good his handle is. He can put it on the deck, turn the corner on guys, get all the way to the rim. Again, it’s against college competition, and you have to see how that’ll scale up against NBA athletes. We’ll talk about the athleticism concerns in a second here, but the handle is real. And the passing, man, passes out of postups, passes out of pick and roll, passes with a live dribble with both hands. Like every single pass you could possibly want, anyone who has the ball in their hands a lot, Danny Wolf has it at nearly seven feet tall. It’s kind of baffling. Um, you know, I I just think that’s such a skill, such an outlier skill. If we’re talking about what really hits in the NBA, we’re always talking about outliers. We’re talking about guys who do things that no one else does. And Danny Wolf does a lot of things that nobody else at his size can pull off. And I think that is worth noting. Like, I’m such a sucker for guys who defy comparison because that’s usually something that’s going to translate well into the NBA. My favorite thing about basketball is that everyone is their own man. Everyone is their own player. Everyone has their own uh like certain style and cadence and rhythm and skill set and everything and play style and it’s just Danny Wolf. It’s hard to find anyone who plays quite like Danny Wolf does. It’s very cool. You know, obviously if you watch him play, the thing that stands out is he’s not like the most obvious athletic specimen, right? He’s this again very sort of lumbering kind of upright big man. He’s got this handle, which is great, but you know, in the NBA, maybe that gets picked a little bit more, maybe it’s tougher to get it, you know, get turn the corner around defenders, things like that. But when you have a three-point shot that teams are scared of, then that helps matters as well, too, if you’re trying to attack closeouts and stuff like that. Um, I think the thing with him, yeah, like the athletic testing, you know, didn’t grade out super well at the combine, um, near the bottom among all guys measured and like the leaping metrics and all of that stuff. That said, he’s still got a 72 wingspan and a very tall standing reach. is huge. So, I’m not super concerned about that the way you would be with like a wing or a guard. Um, and I mean, when it comes to speed testing, you know, he was like kind of middle of the pack, you know, among all of the players, not just big men, like kind of among he runs the floor pretty well. He can kind of get out up to speed in the full court. And, you know, who he graded out better than in basically all of the speed testing is a guy who’s been projected to be a top 10 pick all along, which is Derek Queen, who I I’ve really kind of fallen off on as a as an ideal target for the Raptors. don’t think the Raptors should be in the Derrick Queen business. I actually think if I’m ranking the bigs in this draft, Danny Wolf and maybe even a couple of guys we’re going to talk about later in today’s show, I put ahead of Derrick Queen at this point because I just think there’s an NBA role waiting for them in a way I just don’t quite see it with Derrick Queen unless he is truly like an absolute hub of efficient offense as a number one option. Um, which I don’t quite think is there for him, especially at his size and his lack of position on defense. Um, but yeah, when it comes to Danny Wolf, back to the offense stuff, about a quarter of his points, this is from Derek Parker on his heat check series talking about Danny Wolf, about a quarter of his points this year came as a pick and roll creator. That’s unheard of for a guy his size. Like, he would have the ball, run pick and roll, snake the pick and roll, you know, had that sort of, you know, maneuverability with the handle, keep things alive. And again, the passing out of that was remarkable. Both hands, you know, skips to the corner, left hand, right hand, on the move, live dribble, all of that stuff. It’s really cool. Um, you know, and it’s not like the the Big 10 is bad competition either. He was doing it in a pretty good conference, you know, on on a good Michigan team. I I think there’s a lot to like here defensively. Let’s get into that. That’s where the athleticism concerns come in. I don’t think he’s going to be some switch big man who’s coming out and sort of dancing with dudes on the perimeter, though he did it a lot at Michigan and had some success here and there. Certainly some times where it didn’t work as well. Um, but you know, I think he’s pretty smart in terms of how he covers ground. Again, he’s very big and so that allows him to kind of play the angles and cover ground, too. He’s I think a pretty good help rim protector. You know, he played next to Vlad Golden who’s just this like mountain of a man who was the primary rim protector for Michigan. And I thought Danny Wolf showed a lot of like pretty good instincts as like coming over swatting shots um you know in help coming over as the second defender to help at the rim. I I think that’s a thing he can certainly do at his size with his feel for the game which is off the charts. Um and I just think, you know, there’s other stuff too, right? I think the the footwork on defense kind of in close, you know, and like the way he just uses his body and size, I think it all looks pretty good. He kind of does the Mark Gasol thing. I’m not saying he’s Marcusaul, but he kind of does the Mar Casall thing where he doesn’t jump. He doesn’t get like he doesn’t bite on pump fakes. He just knows he’s huge and he’ll just wall up, hands in the air, feet planted on the ground, not getting duped by punk fakes, and he just kind of forces guys to kick it out or put up tough contested shots. As a result, I I think there’s he’s not going to be an ace defender by any means. They’re drafting Danny Wolf for his offense, but I do think there’s a world in which his defense is passable and his offense is so interesting and um sort of dynamic and you know creates such matchup problems for other teams that you get by just fine without him being an incredible defensive player. And I do think as a compliment behind Yakob Purle just as a different change of pace, I think he’d be a really fun fit in the front court next to Scotty Barnes, especially with what we’ve seen Scotty do as a helpside rim protector as well. I think he could get by just fine there. on offense. I mean, just the way Danny Wolf could help grease the wheels, add some space, you know, take some of the burden of ball handling a little bit as well. Um, you know, be part of the Raptors egalitarian offense. I think it would really work. Again, I’m not saying that he should be the pick at nine necessarily. I’ve got Kaman Malawash, Jeremiah Fears, Noah Asen kind of is my three favorite dudes at number nine right now. Hoping one of those first two guys falls from the top eight where they’re projected to go. And I think as Sen will be there in all likelihood unless he has a really big climb here before the draft. But if the Raptors took Danny Wolf at nine, I couldn’t fault them. I’d be all right with it because I think they would sort of see the vision there of how he would work within a dark offense, how he’d work with Scotty Barnes. And like you just can’t put a price on how valuable it is to get bigs who can shoot. And maybe you don’t buy the shot. I think if the Raptors took Danny Wolf at nine, it’s because they buy the shot and believe it can hit in the NBA. And if that’s the case, yeah, he’s as skilled as big men get. And I I think we’re seeing, you know, if you can have skill at the big man position, shooting at the big man position, you can get by. And you can get creative with how you sort of orient the defense around them and all that stuff. Um, just a cool ass player, man. Very, very fun to watch. Would definitely have him over Derek Queen on my big man rankings. He might be number two for me behind Kaman Balawash, who’s still number one. Um, we’re going to come back on the other side. talk about another big who throws cool passes. A little bit more traditional in the way he plays the rest of the game. We’re going to talk about Thomas Sorber out of Georgetown, who I think is a favorite of some who watch the Raptors and are hoping they pick a big with this upcoming draft or draft pick at number nine. We’ll get into Sorber and his whole deal coming up in just one sec. Today’s show is brought to my friends over at FanDuel. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can’t miss moment moments. Whether it’s a game-winning shot for a breakout player, there’s never been a better time to get in on the action. FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live with player props, performance trends, and same game parlays. Fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big. Seems like the OKC Thunder are just rolling now. They’ve gotten through the Denver Nuggets. Maybe you just take them to cover the spread against the Wolves every single night in this se in this series and maybe you’ll be just fine. You can go and do that and so much more by perusing the very easy to use FanDuel website right now. New to FanDuel? It’s the perfect time to sign up, of course. Head to fanduel.com and place your first $5 bet. If it wins, you get 200 bucks in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Back at it here talking about cool bigs who sling passes, baby. And uh next up on the list here, Thomas Sorber. Uh the youngest of the three guys we’re going to talk about today, a freshman out of Georgetown, 19. Doesn’t turn 20 until I believe December. Um and he’s there’s a lot to like about Thomas Sorber. He’s someone who, you know, I haven’t had like super high on my radar throughout this leadup to the draft process because it just kind of felt like he was going to be a little bit lowered down and wasn’t much of a shooting threat. And I think if you’re going to draft a big if you’re the Raptors, you got to be banking on the shooting being a thing. Um, but there’s a lot to like here with Thomas Sorber as well. He measured quite well at the combine. A 76 wingspan. Pretty big. It’s long arms. That’s right up there with Rashir Fleming and just shy of Kaman Malawash’s 77 wingspan because Kaman Malawash is a pterodactyl. Um, but yeah, Thomas Sorber, you know, the whole deal on him this year, 19 years old, like I said, 14 and a half points a game at Georgetown, eight and a half boards, 2.4 assists. Uh, steal and a half and two blocks. The defense with him is kind of the selling point. We’ll get into that. Uh, nearly 60% on his twos, 16% from deep on, just over an attempt a game, 72% from the line, 58% true shooting overall for the Georgetown freshman. Um, let’s start with the defense with Sorber because that is the big ticket item with him. Um, the Georgetown defense this year was 26 points per 100 possessions better when he was on the floor versus when he was off. He was kind of everything for their defense. He’s built like a fire hydrant. Yeah, he only measured 69 and a quarter without shoes at the combine. It’s a little on the small side for a big man that’s only like a quarter inch taller than Derek Queen, for example. It’s not super ideal if you’re thinking about him as like a classic drop big man, which you know, if you kind of listen to those who’ve watched a lot of Georgetown basketball this year, really studied up. Um, our pal Keandre Hoopin Elect always one that I really love to sort of lean on because he knows his stuff. Um, he kind of sees Sorber as more of a drop big ideally with that wingspan and just maybe the mobility concerns. Um, which I actually think the mobility is not super bad. I think he can play up to the level of the screen. Um, he’s not gonna be a switch big probably. He’s kind of slow moving side to side, moving his feet. Um, but yeah, I think the defensive package there, just the build again, he’s a brick wall. You can’t post him up. You can’t move him in the post. He’s just going to stay there. Um, that’s really impressive. He’s got really good timing, good second jumps, uh, awesome hands, all this stuff. Good in rotation. Looks like he’s going to be at least relatively scheme versatile in the NBA. And he’s a damn good rebounder as well. I I think all that stuff kind of points to a classic good defensive big man. Um offensively, you know, finished well around the rim, 68.2% at the rim this season. To me, his offensive package is actually not dissimilar from Yakob Purle. It is kind of below the rim. He’ll catch it. He’ll probe. He’ll maybe put up a little push shot floater. He’ll drive in for a layup. He’s not going to be like a vertical threat, it seems. He’s not someone who’s getting up and dunking on your head and things like that, which is I think I think the Raptors could probably use. Um he does have a pretty fun postup bag. And look, how much do you value a postup game in today’s NBA? It is way more, it seems, a thing where um sort of it’s sort of the province of stars almost where you’re trying to punish mismatches and take advantage if you’re getting, you know, favorable switches on you and stuff like that as opposed to a thing you’re just going to run for your third or fourth best player in a lineup, right? Like this isn’t the days where the Raptors are going to toss it into Jonas Valenunis and have him post up 10 times a game anymore. U maybe not 10 times. That’s a lot of post ups per game, but you get the point. I I I think it’s, you know, the post-up stuff is more of a, hey, if he gets a small guy on him, maybe that’s an all right thing to go and punish. He’s a little smaller, too. Again, he’s only 69 and a quarter without shoes. So, maybe in the NBA, his postup game runs into more interference and resistance, and it’s not quite as good. But, um, he’s certainly got a fun bag. He’s got some nice spin moves and counters and things like that. Good with the pivot foot. So, there’s that. Um, you know, it’s on offense, he is sort of I not to mention another Raptors big man or big man adjacent player here. Um, but just to kind of put it in context for you, he is sort of like a bigger, more refined version of Jonathan Mo honestly where he’s got less of a handle than Bobo for sure. Mobile’s got way more just like in terms of like natural handle and passing ability, but um, as far as like what he does as a scorer in that sort of in close range, he can kind of beat guys quick off the bounce from 10 feet and in. he can put up that little push shot. It actually kind of goes in more than it does for Jonathan Mo, which barely goes in right now at all. Um, you know, he’s got the good connective passing stuff. I think he’s going to be a really nice short role player, much like Yakob Purle is. And I think he’s also going to be a guy you can run dribble handoffs and stuff for, right? Like that’s going to be a big part of what the Raptors do on offense going forward. One would assume that’s what they’ve always done under Daryakovich. And I I think they like their bigs to kind of pull out, especially if they’re not classic shooting bigs. you kind of manufacture space a little bit by doing that dribble handoff stuff um and kind of clearing out the back line just a little bit while you do it. And I think Sorber has the juice to be able to do that. I I I do think he’s going to end up being like a you know sort of your classic screen and dive big man as well where you know maybe he’s working in the short role, maybe he’s just kind of finishing below the rim like we see with Yaka Purle like very just sort of like traditional big man stuff here from Sorber. Um, I think if you’re taking him at nine, it’s a bet on the three-point shot because if the three-point shot comes around, as is the case with any big man, it totally changes their trajectory as a player. I’m just not sure I’d buy the three-point shot. 16% in college on low volume is a tough thing to square. And I know we do this thing with every big man prospect. Well, what if they can teach him to shoot? What if they teach him to shoot? More often than not, you don’t teach the guy to shoot. It’s just a really hard thing, a much harder thing than we give it credit for for a guy to figure out at the NBA level. And if you watch Thomas Sorber’s jump shot, it looks kind of bricky. Like it just doesn’t look super smooth. It looks a little bit labored. I’m not again I always I don’t like doing the shot doctor stuff because, you know, every everyone has their own different way of doing it and it can work for everybody in its own specific way. But, you know, his misses look pretty clangy if for lack of a more eloquent term. like they they don’t look like they’re oh well she’s just like a little bit off from those going in like he shot 16% and a lot of them are bricks and so with that I’m not super high on banking on the shot hitting to me Sorber looks more like a kind of guy who’s going to be like a really nice you know like a solid starting center if everything hits like you know the 25th best center in the NBA type of thing a guy where you’re not upset if he’s like making a pretty reasonable amount for you just kind of as like a a guy who fills in that spot for you. If you have other talent elsewhere playing alongside better players, likely with a lot of shooting around him, I think you can get by just fine. I also think there’s a real chance he’s just like one of the best backup bigs in all of basketball. Like Mitchell Robinson style, right? You bring this guy in, he’s almost like an extra starter for you. He’s not quite good enough to be a full-time starter for you. Maybe a little bit matchup prone where things can go wrong against certain types of teams. He can be schemed out of series, whatever it might be. But you’re happy to have that guy around for his connective passing, for his rim protection, for his just overall defensive acumen and his ability to just kind of finish around the rim, get the garbage buckets, be a good rebounder, all that stuff. Um, you know, that’s I think the Thomas Sorber outlook. And for me at number nine, not quite cutting it for me there. If there was a little bit more in terms of the offensive package, I’d be close to being all right, you know what? Hey, like bank on the defensive floor and hope that the offense fills in. But without the three-point shot being even just like a little bit passable in college, I have a hard time thinking Sorber is going to be the guy at nine. But he could totally work out, right? If he figures out shooting in the NBA, he’s going to be a damn good player. Um the type of guy that every team is after. But there’s a reason every team is after big men who can shoot. It’s just there aren’t that many of them. And as many as, you know, guys who actually do hit where it’s like, oh, he figured out how to shoot, there are 10 that just didn’t. And they become backups or they wash out of the league eventually. and they’re just not long-term highle starters. For every Miles Turner, there are 10 guys who are not Miles Turner. And so, I’m a little skeptical on the shot with Sorber. Still like him as a prospect. Don’t think I’d be thrilled if he was the pick at number nine. But if they were to trade back and get a couple picks later or whatever, you know, move into the back part of the first round, could certainly see him being a totally fine backup big who probably comes in next year. And yes, even though he’s 19 years old right now, won’t be 20 until the season starts or deep into the season actually. I still think he could be someone who kind of fills in nice backup minutes for you and is very sort of like similar role-wise to what Yakob Purle does. You can kind of have some continuity from starters to bench with how you run your stuff. Um, but yeah, not my favorite option at number nine. I’d probably put him a little bit below. Uh, Danny Wolf for sure. The next guy we’ll talk about, I probably have him below as well. And he’s kind of in that sort of Derek Queen tier for me. Um, you know, I actually think if I was betting on who has a longer, you know, who’s more likely to have a 10-year NBA career, I might say it’s Sorber, even though Queen’s got the higher upside. I I just I the Queen freaks me out, man. The lack of shooting, lack of size, lack of defensive position, all that stuff. It’s all kind of troubling to me. Either way, we’ll come back on the other side. We’re going to talk about Maxim Ray, who is very cool, kind of a bastard, uh, in the best possible way. We’re going to talk about the French big from Stanford to close out the show in just one sec. Wrapping things up here on Cool Big Man Friday here on the podcast with another look at a potential Raptors big man target if in fact they do want to just say, “Hey, we need a big man. We’re going to go get one in this draft.” This is a guy who uh a couple weeks ago on the show, like two weeks ago today, Raphael Barlo shouted out as a guy who’s rising up boards. He also go check out his interview on the Lockton NBA big board show. It’s a really good interview. It’s a one-on-one Raphael and Maxim Reno. Um you know, really just like a lot of I don’t want to spoil it for you, but some illusions to other big man prospects who he thinks he’s better than that are pretty fun. um and kind of allude to the thing where he’s just like kind of an MF for a little bit. Um Maxim Reo out of Stanford, four-year college player. He’s 22 years old, older prospect, oldest guy we’ve talked about today. 7 foot one. I measured just below 7 foot one out of shoes. Um seven and a seven feet and a quarter out of shoes. So, you know, 71 once he put shoes on, I guess. Uh and a 71 and a quarter wingspan of the combine. By the way, the combine was a really good run for Maxim Rayo. He kind of flew up boards it seemed and he kicked ass like in those scrimmages. He was really effective. He was one of the best players on the floor in the combine scrimmages he played in. That’s going to do wonders for a guy’s draft stock and see him rise up boards and become a sexy riser name. The whole deal with Maxim Reno, an incredibly productive player at Stanford this year and he was throughout his time there. But this year, their first year in the ACC after moving from the pack 12, the better competition, uh he was damn effective. 20 points, 11 boards, nearly two assists with a steal and 1.4 blocks a game in his senior year at Stanford. Um, you know, just a damn fun offensive player. Does a whole lot of stuff that really pops off the screen offensively. Takes a high volume of threes. Shot 35% on I think it was north of five attempts a game this year. I lost the tab, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. Um, like the shot looks kind of bizarre. It’s like got this sort of slow catapult rhythm to it. takes a little bit, but he’s seven feet tall, so it’s pretty impossible to block. Even if it is a bit of a slower shot, he’ll he’s like pretty audacious with it, too. Like, he’ll take it contested. He’ll take it deep. Like, he’ll take some really like two, three feet behind the three-point line, he’s happy to jack it up. Um, and I I buy the three-point shot probably more than any other big man in this class. Even though it’s a little bit of an unorthodox release, it looks good and it goes in at a 35% clip, which for a sevenfooter, you’re taking that to the bank all day long. And I think too, you know, the sort of slow catapult thing for him almost works really effectively because it lends itself to a damn effective pump fake. He’s so good at kind of looking like he’s going to shoot, taking forever to wind it up. And then it almost gives him more time to decide whether or not he’s just going to let it go or attack a closeout. And he draws a lot of closeouts as a guy who shoots shoot 35% from deep. And he can do stuff off those closeouts. He can make a couple dribbles, put it on the deck, get to the rim, dunk. Like there there’s a lot there with a guy that size with that much ball skill who can draw closeouts. The kind of the possibilities become endless. He’s also a solid passer. Bit of an errant passer. He had more turnovers than assists this year, 2.4 turnovers a game to 1.7. We’ll get into that a little bit more and why I’m not so concerned about that in the NBA. Um, but you know, I I think just the the shooting, the 777% from the line, like that’s a pretty good number as an indicator that the shooting is real. He shot 35% both this year and last season as well. um you know on high volume I I just think I buy the three-point shot and I think he’s probably got the best shot of any of these bigs in this class to truly be a stretch big man who changes how defenses have to orient themselves because they’re terrified of the sevenfooter banging triples on their heads. Um, you know, if there’s a red flag, he had a weird season shooting from two, just 53% from two this past year by far a career low. Always in the high 50s, low 60s from two-point range before this year. Um, you know, maybe it’s to move from the Pack 12 to the to the ACC. Tougher competition, stuff like that, bigger bodies. Maybe it’s just that he carried more burden and, you know, was sort of the hub of the Stanford team this year that um, you know, saw a lot of attention, saw a lot of help around the rim. I also think there was a lot of mid-range stuff that just didn’t work for him. The mid-range shot’s not very good. Um, again, that sort of slow catapult rhythm works for the three-point shot, less so when you’re trying to rise up in traffic from 18 ft. And I think that’s where a lot of his two-point struggles came from. Um, and so I think if you kind of coach those shots out a little bit and he becomes kind of a threes and rim shots kind of guy, you’re you’re totally fine. And at the rim, like he gets up, he’s a vertical rim finisher. He can throw down lobs. He can finish in transition like really quick getting out in the open court for a big man. Um can run the floor with the best of them. Gets down the floor, can throw down lobs on the run. Um you know, a kind of an above the rim finisher. He seems to love to dunk, which is awesome. Um and so you have that as sort of a different type of component. If the Raptors were to draft him, for example, you get that vertical lob threat plus a three-point shot. Just a totally different package that you’re bringing than what Yaka Purle currently brings. And I think having stylistic diversity among your centers is one of the more valuable things you can find. Um, you know, someone as well with the way he shoots. I mean, could you try two big man combos with him, a Purle Reo like double sevenfooter look? I think you could probably mess around with those types of lineups at times in certain matchups. Maybe not in the playoffs. Certainly not, you know, when he’s a rookie or anything like that, but um, you know, if you can put a sevenfooter who can shoot next to a sevenfooter who can protect the rim and be a role threat and, you know, create from the hubs and all that stuff, I mean, that’s pretty exciting to me, too. you can play jumbo ball, which you know me, I love jumbo ball. Um, really good rebounder as well. Good on the offensive glass. Was incredible on the defensive glass. Led the ACC in defensive rebounding percentage and overall rebounding percentage this year as well. The production’s just there, man. Um, it’s like he’s a damn fun offensive player. Like I said, there’s a lot of good stuff going for him. I think if there’s a concern for me, it’s not the two-point shooting, though. That’s something that, you know, is a bit of a red flag you want to monitor because it wasn’t so great this past year. Again, the mid-range stuff. I think brought him down. Um, the thing that really stands out to me is I’m worried about his frame not holding up against bigger dudes in the NBA. Danny Wolf, for example, super thick, pretty strong. Thomas Sorber, brick wall. Reo kind of looks like he might get ragdoll a little bit. And at 22 years old, maybe a little bit less in terms of like growth potential um just like physically to get bigger and stronger. I mean, everyone gets bigger and stronger once you get NBA level nutrition and dietary plans and uh workout regimens and all that stuff, but you know, how much more can he actually pack on and maintain his sort of spry agility, which makes him such a fun offensive player? I think it’s a genuinely fair question. And he might just not be a great defensive player. I think he can protect the rim just fine. Um, you know, I I’m not sure he’s going to be a scheme versatile switch big. He’s probably just like a straight drop guy. But at 7 feet with a 72 wingspan um nearly or 71 and a quarter wingspan I I mean maybe you’re fine with that. You can get by and I think with Scotty Barnes next to him I think you’d be all right too. It’s pretty similar in terms of overall measurements to Yaka Purle actually. So if you think about it that way I think Purle again a little thicker, a little more spry with his feet, a little better moving laterally than Reo is. But um yeah, it’s it’s just the physical stuff with him. I worry he might just like you run into a you know there’s a lot of big thick big Ben in the NBA these days, right? You run into even like a Nicole Vousvich and he might get overpowered physically. You run into a Jokic and he’s probably getting ragdalled like Chad Homegrren was during that last series in the playoffs. Um you know Chad Homegrren I think you know again he’s not Chad Homegrren. Chad Homegrren was the second overall pick. He’s a much more talented overall player. Um, but similar sort of vibe of a guy who, you know, kind of allows you to kind of experiment with multi- big lineups, who maybe in certain matchups is just not physically up to it and gets kind of run out of the, you know, run out the floor or run to a different position, has to guard somebody else, and you have to work around that. Um, but yeah, I I I think he’s got the size to be just sort of like your classic drop rim protector and maybe hold up just fine. Um, it’s the the offensive stuff that you’re drafting him for and there’s a lot of really fun offensive stuff going on with Maxim right now, man. Um, you know, I think in the NBA he probably ends up being more like he kind of like he does a lot for Stanford, did a lot for Stanford, did kind of everything. A lot of postup work. Um, you know, and I think that’s probably the thing kind of going back to the assist to turnover ratio thing. I think you probably see a bit of a lesser situation in terms of like throwing errant passes, getting turned over, getting it pickpocketed because he’s going to see fewer double teams in the NBA. First of all, he was the guy for Stanford. He was the the orbit that, you know, he was the thing that the whole team orbited around. He’s he saw the most attention from defenses. He’s not going to be the offensive hub for whatever team he’s playing for. If he’s on the Raptors, like there’s just other guys who are going to garner more attention than he will. And I think in the NBA, his role probably gets streamlined a little bit to be more of a screen and dive big man or, you know, pick and pop big man, right? where he’s either popping up for threes on the wing after setting a screen or working in the short role or just being a straight lob finisher. And I don’t think there’ll be a ton of post up to his game. Maybe the odd time if you know you have situations where like we’ve seen in the NBA this season where um you know teams are putting guards or wings onto bigs and kind of changing up the matchups that way um might be harder to do that because he’s a damn good three-point shooter. I don’t think you want a guard closing out on a sevenfooter who can bang threes. But um if you have those situations where those mismatches he can hunt, I think he’s got a good enough post bag to do it. I just don’t think that’s going to be the thing he’s asked to do in the NBA. I think he’ll be pretty traditional in terms of pick and pop, pick and roll, and you know, again, short roll situations. I think he has the passing juice certainly there to be a fine connective passer in those situations as well. Um you know, I don’t think he’s Sorber or Wolf when it comes to the overall passing, but I think he’s a pretty good passer for the position and he’ll get by just fine. Um, and so yeah, those those are three weird bigs. Three fun bigs. I like them all. And again, I look, I don’t think the Raptors are going to take Maxim Ray No at number nine overall. But again, if they did, I think it’s because they believe the three-point shooting is a real thing. And honestly, like I think there’s an argument to be made that if you’re going to like pick at nine, like yeah, you want to take upside for sure. Like upside upside upside, try to swing for the fences. But I do think there’s something to the idea of drafting guys who also allow the other players you already have to reach their upside. And I think if you have like a true stretch big on this team, that unlocks a whole lot for a lot of guys on this team. It allows RJ Barrett to be his best self because the lane is clear for his barreling drives to the rim. It allows Scotty Barnes to be his best self because he is not the the sort of anchor as a non-shooter. he can kind of work as a hub in the post a little bit more and do his thing as a passer, as a mid-range shooter, that type of stuff. I think Brandon Ingram working with a pick and pop big would be awesome. Emanuel Quickley working with a pick and pop big that changes things for him when it comes to him getting to the rim just clears out the space so much. And so, it’s not necessarily an upside play because Ray No is going to be some incredible player. He’s going to be good. I think I think he’s going to be one of the more skilled offensive bigs in this class who gets drafted. If not number one, then number, you know, the number two probably behind Danny Wolf. And I guess Derek Queen’s in there, too. Though, again, I’m a little less sold on Queen than most. I just think, yeah, the upside is not the player you’re drafting. It’s for the roster you’re building. And I do think adding a a true stretch big to this team would be kind of gamechanging for basically everybody on the roster. And um yeah, I think it’s worth considering, honestly. Like I I know, oh, don’t pick for fit, but like if the fit of a guy is so clean and so obviously a need for your team that everyone else you already employ benefits from it, there’s there’s got to be a conversation about it at least, I’d say. So, we’re going to leave it there. That was my uh deep dive into some fun cool weirdo bigs who throw neat passes, etc., etc. Um, thank you for rocking with the show all week. We’ll be back, of course, with more draft coverage and who knows what else. Maybe there’ll be some scuttlebutt drops regarding Giannis at some point soon and we can revisit that. Um, you know, maybe there’ll be some other trade slop flying around. Who knows? But either way, thank you so much for rocking with the show. Back again on Monday. Have a great weekend and uh follow, subscribe, rate, review, tell a friend, do all the good stuff. Listen to the previous episodes this week. They’re all good. Lots of draft talk in there. Uh, and we’ll talk to you very soon. Have a wonderful weekend. Bye-bye. Damn it.

The Toronto Raptors have said they want to add a young big man to the team; what if they added a young and WEIRD big man with the ninth-overall pick? In Episode 1873, Sean Woodley digs into a trio of super interesting big man prospects in this year’s class and gets into whether or not they’d make sense for the Raptors to take a swing on with the ninth-overall pick. Off the top, Sean gets into Michigan point center Danny Wolf, who does things with the ball in his hands that big men are not supposed to do. But is he TOO strange a prospect to really hit in the NBA? Next, Sean gets into Georgetown freshman Thomas Sorber, who’s a bit more traditional as a defense-first, interior scoring big man, but who brings plenty to the table as a connective passer as well. Lastly, Sean talks about Stanford big man Maxime Raynaud, who’s coming off a crazy productive season at Stanford and might be the single best bet in this year’s big man class to be a true stretch big at the NBA level. But can he hang on the defensive end?

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