Building Blocks & Bold Calls: A scout’s guide to the 2025 NBA Draft

Building Blocks & Bold Calls: A scout’s guide to the 2025 NBA Draft

the 2025 NBA draft is almost here and while this year’s class may not have the superstar buzz that we’ve seen in past years it is loaded with a ton of intrigue from Cooper Flags potential to a pair of first round picks for the Brooklyn Nets that they’ve got to in the top 14 to what the Knicks might do at number 50 so to break it all down I’m joined by somebody who knows the draft room and scouting prospects inside and out is former NBA scout Michael Vandergard who spent over 17 years evaluating talent at the highest level he’s seen the misses the steals the grind that goes into building a roster throughout the draft and Michael is here with me now mike great to have you here uh how are you doing i’m doing great today i’m doing great today uh my son’s had AU games all day long and now I’m you know getting ready to watch some NBA Finals so uh everything is great today that was great all right so we we want to get back to watching that game so let’s just dive right into it with this draft class and when we look at this year’s draft class Mike from a scout’s perspective what defines this 2025 draft class and how does it stack up in terms of overall talent compared to recent years yeah you know as you mentioned this is the draft of Cooper Flag you know Cooper Flag has been talked about since Victor Webbyama as the next big thing um and I would totally agree with that he’s exceeded expectations while he’s been at Duke um everything that we’ve seen about him you know says he’s going to be a great player he’s going to be an elite NBA player um but then getting back to the overall draft in general um you know I’m excited about the first eight to 10 picks and then I think the drafts lacks a little bit of depth um you know there’s there’s going to be some guys past eight or 10 late lottery you know that are going to be diamonds in the rough you’re going to find some hidden gems but this draft’s all about Cooper uh Cooper Flag and then I think the first eight or 10 picks all right Cooper Flag and the first eight to 10 picks let’s go back to Flag here because we know the skill set with him versatile defender we saw that at Duke and good shot maker high IQ forward can handle the ball as well too but how high is his ceiling in the NBA and what type of franchise corner stone can he realistically become or what the Mavericks who have the number one pick would hope that he could be for them yeah um I think he’s special i actually saw him for the first time live when he was a sophomore um and within 10 minutes I said to myself he’s the best sophomore that I’ve ever seen um I got to say I didn’t see LeBron James when he was a sophomore so don’t don’t don’t jump on me for that but he’s the best sophomore that I had ever seen at that time um and and people forget you know he reclassed he’s technically supposed to be a high school senior this year and he would be a college freshman next year so being as young as he is to exceed the expectations he did at Duke being the national player of the year is almost you know only a few other guys have ever done that at the collegiate level as a freshman um I would project he’s going to be an elite scorer at his position he’s going to be an elite rebounder at his position i’d project he’s an elite defender at his position if you get one of those things you’re a heck of a player if you get two of those things you’re special if you’re three of those things the sky’s is the limit so you know Cooper Flag is everything you know you want in a prospect and there’s no guarantees but man he’s about as good as they come all right as good as they come very high praise for Cooper Flag we’ll see how that all pans out with him expected to go to Dallas with that number one pick i want to talk to you about some local teams here the Brooklyn Nets they’re intriguing they’ve got two picks in the top 14 you talked to me about how you like the top eight to 10 of this draft the Nets do have a roster in flux if you’re in that Nets war room what’s the strategy with picks eight and 14 uh are there guys you would target to jump start a rebuild or is there guys you’d even move up for if you’re the Nets yeah you know I’d be really excited about that pick number eight i think there’s going to be a really really good player there um I think you find some really high upside guys um you know Jeremiah Fears even Ace Bailey you know there’s some real question marks about going what’s going on with you know Ace Bailey and and where he’s going to fall in the draft and then there’s a couple other high upside guys VJ Edcom um and so on you know I don’t expect a few of those guys to be there at eight but it wouldn’t surprise me if one of them’s there at eight and I’d be super excited the Nets are absolutely you know looking for their next star um and I think you need to swing for the fences and take the guy with the most upside i do think there’s some really solid players you know that can build out a roster at 14 but I’d be a little bit nervous that I’m going to find my next superstar at 14 um you could obviously package those picks and try to move up there’s not a lot of opportunity there because there’s some other teams that are looking for their superstars as well but maybe Philly um maybe the Pelicans you know they have some established superstars if they can get them healthy and even the Utah Jazz you know Danny A is always looking to make a deal so there’s definitely going to be some intrigue in those picks but I think they could get a heck of a player and maybe a budding superstar at eight yeah that’s intriguing what they could get eight and I misspoke sorry they’re not 14 they have a pick at 19 so eight and 19 oh sorry about that eight and 19 that was me i miss I misspoke on that but they do have eight and 19 and 19 like you said you might not be able to find a superstar there but I wonder if the Nets would want to try to package the two of those together maybe move up i know there’s been some interest in VJ Edgecomb and others that you mentioned so Nets are in a pretty interesting spot there Michael now I want to talk about the Knicks they don’t have first round pick they’re picking at number 50 not a spot where you usually find rotation guys but we’ve seen the Knicks have some smart drafting before particularly in the second round who are some names that you think might be available late in the second round that fit what the Knicks might be trying to do next year because still a lot unknown we don’t know who the coach is going to be but are there some names that you think they could get at 50 that could fit you know winning culture that they have right now yeah absolutely absolutely it will be really interesting to see what direction they go with a new coach and new staff and everything like that but a guy that I love that I would be targeting for them is a guy named Michael Peaveey um he’s a Duncanville High School kid his dad’s a coach there duncanville High School is one of the premier you know public schools in the nation they’re always competing against the best prep schools in the country uh Michael PB played his last uh year here at Georgetown every year his uh scoring has gotten better every year his shooting’s got better he was shooting 40% from three on four attempts a game but he’s just a grinded out winner he understands the game his mom and dad and brother all played college athletics um and college basketball so I really think he could be you know an absolute great player you can get in the late second round and he would fit Nick Culture to a te because you know how how hard it is uh to make it at this level oh it is indeed he can shoot the ball there his name has come up i’ve seen on a couple of draft boards that Knicks could take him there with the 50th pick final thing for me here Michael who’s the one player in this draft that you feel maybe isn’t getting enough buzz right now maybe a guy that you believe could outperform his draft position and make teams regret passing up on him who’s that guy for you yeah you know um I I I was thinking about this a little bit today ryan Kulken Brener the guy at Kraton um there’s a lot of these sevenfooters you know with length uh that can protect the rim and he’s one of the most agile ones of the bunch he was fourtime Big East player of the year or defensive player of the year so he’s a rim protector he’s got great length and he’s starting to show that he can really shoot the basketball i know at the combine he really shot it well um from the three-point line and he actually shot it in the mid 30% um for his you know his senior year so he’s a guy that I really think somebody you know in the 18 to 28 range um is really going to like the possibility of him being a great backup center and if he gets bigger and stronger um he can definitely be a guy that uh you know could maybe be a starting center in the league someday and then the other the other name I’ll mention is Dick Dink Pate um he was highly regarded a couple years ago he went to the GLeague he’s one of the youngest kids in the GLeague and he’s played there and he’s gotten better over his two years um and I know he signed a big deal with Reebok so you know Shaq and Allen Iverson were all excited about him back in the day too so uh he’s a guy I would definitely keep my eye on that’s you know projected to go late late second round or not drafted at all all right keep your eyes on those guys going to be a fun night nba draft going down Wednesday night at the Barclay Center we’ll see if teams make some good picks some are going to make some bad picks it always happens every year but that is Michael Vandergard former NBA scout 17 years of experience breaking down the draft with me here mike I appreciate the time thank you so much and we’ll talk down the road thank you thanks have a great evening you too

Dexter Henry is joined by former NBA scout Michael Vandegarde to break down the intrigue of the 2025 NBA Draft. From Cooper Flagg’s superstar ceiling to the Brooklyn Nets’ two lottery picks and the Knicks’ hunt for value at No. 50, no storyline goes untouched. Vandegarde brings 17 years of front-office insight to spotlight the sleepers, the strategy, and the surprises fans should watch for on draft night.

#cooperflagg #newyorkknicks #brooklynnets #acebailey #nbadraft #2025nbadraft

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