Despite unknowns, Brooklyn Nets take Drake Powell at No. 22 | Instant reaction 2025 NBA Draft
all right Liam McNeely with the 22nd pick in the 2025 NBA draft the Atlanta Hawks select Drake Powell drake Powell let’s go let’s go we’re talking about upside brun boy do I have some upside for you folks listen to her listen to her elite defender hear that yeah talk him up talk him up listen Drake Pow is one of my top one of my three guys to watch uh Brun hates him unfortunately but this is a guy who is long and athletic i think can be a really good defender and then also be a uh offball rim protector uh there are questions with his offense a little bit uh wasn’t wasn’t I’m underelling that a little bit um isn’t able to create his own shot that is a problem uh but has shown flashes to where I think you can buy a guy who has a 43 inch vertical is long and athletic and is a young player to turn into something and that’s something for me I wrote down was Herb Jones i think he can be a 3 and wing and Herb Jones type player um again there are concerns really bad free throw rate it was 25% not really a uh player that’s looking to create his own shot or even score for that matter sometimes 65% free throw shooter whoa I am talking sorry kidding just kidding i know you you were busting at the seams to say that there are questions i’m not I’m not discounting those questions but I do think that there is enough there especially just because of his physicals and his him on the defensive end that I I really buy him as a player where do you have him on your board uh he is Let me give you 19 okay um where do I have him probably 34 38 all right um I don’t I don’t want to come in and just go crazy go crazy uh he had a 13.3 usage percentage last year lots of guards in that North Carolina back court north Carolina team yes sure they did have a lot of guards ian Jackson you know go down the list yeah sure uh Kadu Kado so on but 13.3 usage percentage anything that you are saying about him offensively is completely hypothetical 100% hypothetical and you’re going to say “Oh he shot 38% from three.” Okay cool and he shot 40% from three in high school like all right that makes sense right no if you go watch the mechanics and you watch him shoot the basketball in any situation where he doesn’t have two whole seconds to get the shot off you’re like “Oh maybe I don’t love this jump shot.” Two seconds and then you go back and watch look at his EBL stats before the the Peach Jam his last year and he shot 40% from the field 19% from three and again the mechanics are a huge problem when he plays against real athletes here so I I just don’t think the shooting is by any means good enough and then you get his inability to do anything off the dribble where he was 05 on off the dribble threes and seven of 23 on off of the dribble twos um you’re I love my comp for him despite saying all this despite saying all this like I have Lou Dort as the comp because that’s like the absolute ceiling but Lou Dort is now like an incredible 40% three-point shooter maybe if Drake Pal gets there then I’m wrong then I’m wrong i don’t think he’s going to get there as a shooter and I just don’t see he’s not Ryan Dunn level defensively so he’s also not 23 coming into the league well he’s 20 it’s not like he’s 18 three years younger than Ryan Dunn ridiculous so um yeah much worse against good teams and also even though he shot 30% it was on 95 total attempts in 37 games like two and a half attempts per game leave this man alone you weren’t this mad about Hansen Young now look he can defend he can defend he’s a very good defender i don’t think he’s a I don’t think he’s an elite defender right now i think he’s a very very good defender so we’ll see also the rebounding what are we doing here at least go rebound the ball you’re playing 25 minutes a game at North Carolina go rebound the ball he’s only three and a half rebounds per game you’re a hater 7 assists seven blocks you’re a hater he just he stands there he stands around on the court i’m tired of it anyways good luck to Drake Pal at the next level
BCBuckets is split on Drake Powell and the player the Nets are getting at pick 22.
