Which of the Brooklyn Nets’ late first-round picks are STARS in the making? | NBA Draft analysis

Which of the Brooklyn Nets’ late first-round picks are STARS in the making? | NBA Draft analysis

Coming up, which of the Net’s late round picks could have star upside? I’ll answer that after this. [Music] You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to the Locked Onets podcast right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets, every single day. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn Nets beat reporter for clutchoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen of the day. This show is 100% free on all those great platforms. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. And on today’s show, I’m going to be joined by a draft analyst to discuss the Nets’s four first round picks after Jaor Deon, breaking down which have the most potential and which were the most surprising selections. So obviously those four first round picks after Jaor Deon at number eight were Nolan Trouore at 19, Drake Pal at 22, Ben Saraf at 26, and Danny Wolf at 27. And I’m going to touch on each of them briefly. I think all of them have interesting skill sets and bring different things to the table. But the player among the group that I’m most excited about outside of Demen is Nolan Troy, the Net’s second selection at 19th overall. A player who really had some, you know, high pass pedigree, which was a theme of the Nets draft, you know, betting on guys who had, you know, really high standing in previous draft evaluations. Um, we had that with Diego or Demmond, Drake Pal, I’ll touch on that in a little bit. But Troy was one of those guys, you know, a point guard who was at this time last year, a lot of people considered him a top five prospect in this draft, which is a really highly regarded draft at the top obviously. So, Troy being in that standing, it means something. And then he struggled a little bit during this season over there in France, but he’s a player when you look at what he can do with the ball in his hands. There’s a lot to like there. First, just the measurables. I think all the guys, you know, were impressive from a measurable standpoint that the Nets drafted. But Troy is actually the smallest of the group, but still a point guard who’s 6’3 without shoes. So probably plays at, you know, between 6’4 and 6’5, 6’8 wingspan. Really great size there. And then if we’re just going to talk about the athleticism, the speed I think is going to be a huge asset for the Nets when they have the ball in Troy’s hands. We talked to Jordi Fernandez and Shawn Marks the other day at the Nets introductory press conference for all these rookies. And one of the things that Jordy Fernandez talked about was wanting to play with pace, wanting to play in transition. And he said that he believes that the Nets got the fastest player in the draft. And the implication there was that he was talking about Nolan Troy, who I do I think and a lot of draft analysts thinks was the fastest north south player in this year’s class. And that just allows him to do a lot of things with the ball in his hands. It makes him dynamic. It gives him, you know, half court also he uses that speed, but also the fullcourt transition game with his playmaking ability. I think it’s really intriguing. And, you know, he does have high level playmaking ability. Nolan Troy and, you know, Jaor Deon like that was obviously a theme of the Nets draft class with Jagor Deon. Also, I’ll touch on it with Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf. You know, high IQ, high feel, and they got two point guards at the top and Demond and Troy, who are both really high level playmakers. I’d say, you know, Demond’s a better passer. I think a lot of people think that he was the best passer in this year’s draft, but Troy is still a very good passer and the knock on Demond is that he can’t create advantages with the ball in his hand and you know that limits what he can do obviously from a scoring standpoint and what people think he’ll be able to do against NBA defenses. But you look at Troy who might not be the same level of playmaker because he’s you know limited in size. I think he doesn’t process at quite as high a level as Deon, but he can create advantages with the ball in his hands. There might not be a better player in the draft in turning the corner off a screen using their speed than Tori. So, he’s able to create separation. He’s able to get downhill in a variety of ways. And then once he gets downhill, he has a good handle. He has a lot of counter moves. He has a lot of ways that he can get to his spots. You know, draw help defenders, you know, hold the the drop coverage guy, the big man in the pick and roll. He holds that guy really well and has a lot of different ways that he creates advantages in the pick and roll and also selfcreation. So that’s something that Demen, you know, doesn’t do as well and Troy brings that to the table while also having, you know, very good playmaking ability even if not at Demen’s level. So I think that that’s really intriguing. And like Demen and like also Ben Sarra, who I’ll touch on, the jump shots a question for Troy. You know, he didn’t shoot well this past season. I think he was around like 31.6% from three. I’m pretty high volume, but struggled with the shot. And you know, he’s he’s big. I said for a point guard obviously like six foot three without shoes isn’t bad size but when you’re a smaller player just overall in the NBA you have to be able to shoot the ball you got to be able to shoot threes and wall Nolan is a really you know fast and dynamic player with the ball in his hands he’s not really an exceptional leaper he plays mostly below the rim so if you’re going to be a guy that size who plays below the rim you’re going to need to shoot threes obviously but you’re also going to need to get comfortable in the mid-range with a pull-up game with a floater game with all that and I’m confident that I think he will be able to shoot the call it a decent clip at the NBA level, but he’ll need to. But with the speed, with the playmaking, with, you know, the measurables, all of that, I think there’s a lot of intriguing tools there offensively. And I think defensively, he has the athleticism where he should be able to pressure some ball handlers and stick with some guys if the Nets development staff can get him to buy in on that end of the floor. So, Troy, you know, a guy obviously with some high upside, some pass pedigree. I think there’s a lot of things, a lot of NBA tools in that toolbox. And that’s something that we heard Shawn Marks talk about. If you guys watch the scout series, he said, “We’re looking for guys who can do certain things on the court.” And you’ll say, they’ll say to themselves in that scouting staff like, “That’s an NBA move. We can work with that.” And I think when you look at Trayor’s film, there’s a ton of that. Whether you’re talking about him handling the ball in transition, pick and roll, ball handling, self-creation, there’s just a lot to work with there. And I think that he’s an exciting player, and I think he’s going to end up being good value at 19. I think the Nets were happy that he was available at that point. Uh, just touching on some of the other guys, you know, Troy is the guy I’m most excited about, but Drake Pal, you know, I’m just going to go in order from here. Another guy that I think Nets fans have reason to be excited about because this guy’s a freak athlete and the Nets are a team that obviously have had an athleticism deficiency, I think, in a lot of years since moving to Brooklyn. And this guy, you know, they took a lot of high field playmaker type guys. you know, they really looking at ball handlers, pass first guys, you know, guys who can do things with the ball in their hands. Obviously, I think Pal was a lone deviation for that and they went for a little bit of an upside swing with a guy who’s extremely athletic and I think a lot of the tools that he have should lend itself to a high floor as well. You look at Pal, you know, quickly, he’s 6’5, barefoot, 7 foot wingspan, so great measurables there. Recorded was a 43 inch max vertical leap. That was the highest at this year’s combine. also the 14th highest in combine history. So obviously just elite athleticism there from a leaping ability and then also you look at the speed and agility. There were 73 players who tested at the combine athletic testing. He was out of 73 was seventh in the shuttle run, eighth in the three/arter court sprint, 10th in lane agility. So obviously elite athleticism there. I think one of the most if not the most one of the most athletic draft picks in Nets franchise history. and you look at what he’s going to be able to do potentially as a three and D win. He shot 38% from three on lower volume, only 2.6 attempts per game, but the jumper went in at a pretty efficient clip there at North Car Carolina. So, that speed, that athleticism, the defensive capabilities, really a guy who’s known for his defense and I think was North Carolina’s best defender. Like you you heard some people say what he did against Cooper Flag and Coniple and some of the guys in that uh North Carolina Duke matchup. There might not be a better player a player who guarded those guys better than Drake Pal. So you have the baseline skills of the defensive capabilities with that athleticism and also the jump shot going in at a respectable clip last year. Those are encouraging. You know, you would think high floor qualities that he could have. And if you look at some of the other stuff outside of that, I think a reason that a lot of people had him maybe ranked a little bit lower than 22 was he was really limited outside of the spot up role at North Carolina. He was at a 13.8% usage rate last season. That was the lowest among North Carolina’s nine rotation players. A few more stats. I got a couple of these from the athletics. Sam Vine, who does a great job. His draft guide is amazing. But Sam pulled some stats that said no wing has ever been drafted with a usage rate as low as PAL uh in a pre-draft season. I said 13.8% usage. So that was really low. Also prospects drafted with usage rates below 17%. So at that really low threshold. They haven’t really had a great track record of translating to the NBA. But when you look at a guy like Pal, he’s another guy said like Troy, like Deon, past pedigree. He was a former five-star recruit. He was a number two ranked small forward in the country. He had a lot of onball juice and different things that he did in high school. So, if the Nets maybe think they can unlock some of that, he could have more upside here as a player who potentially do some more things offensively than what we saw in North Carolina. So, I think he’s a guy who could have the floor. If the jump shot keeps going in, that’s obviously going to be a huge thing for any wing player. But, if the three-point shot is respectable, coupled with his defensive capabilities, that should give you some floor. And if the Nets can unlock some of the offensive tools that he had in high school, that could lend itself to more upside. And another guy said, you know, transition game, all that’s all Jordy Fernandez has been talking about with Deon handling and passing the ball, Troy passing the ball, handling and passing the ball in transition. You have a guy like Drake Pal running the floor. He’s going to be really effective there. He was at North Carolina. So, another player who I think is pretty exciting for the Nets. Going to touch on the last two quickly. Ben Saraf, I think some people might say the most surprising pick of the Nets draft, but you know, I understand where they were going with this. I said have outlined the draft strategy numerous times since draft night, and I think the Nets were really just, you know, throwing darts, looking for a few of these guys to stick. And you look at Ben Saraf, a guy they got at 26, uh, Israeli point guard, played for Ratzio Farm in Germany this past season. And he’s a guy who is has great measurables like some of these other guys. He’s 6’6 barefoot, 6’8 wingspan. And you know, a guy that size handling the ball with the playmaking ability that he has. There really isn’t a pass that Ben Saraf can’t make. He has good ball handling skills. He creates separation and variety of ways to jump shots a question. But he’s another guy who’s sizable, has self-creation upside, is a really good playmaker. If you can get the jump shot and some of the other things to click, that’s another guy that I think has some upside for the Nets there. So, I see where they were going with that. While it still may be surprising that they took a third, you know, international point guard after taking Deon Troyer, if they thought that he was BPA at 26 and he has some upside there, you can understand that pick there. And last pick being Danny Wolf, a guy who think was one of the most exciting players in college basketball last season. A 6’10, 6’11 centerpower forward who really handled the ball as a point guard a lot of the year and has pick and roll ball handling capabilities. you look at, you know, what he was able to do at Michigan, I think it adds, you know, it lends itself to a lot of possibilities offensively with him as a pick and roll guy who can handle and create and, you know, kind of some inverted sets. You can play him alongside a center or screen with smaller guys. You could also have him screen and be a short roll guy with some finishing ability, also some short roll playmaking ability. So, that’s really exciting. And then you have, you know, the three-point shot can come around. He has a really smooth stroke. Didn’t shoot it necessarily at an extremely high clip at Michigan. I think it was like 34% or something along those lines. But if the Nets think that that’s going to be, you know, that’s going to go in, that would be really big for some of his ability, you know, to be just a complimentary floor spacing guy. And you you just look at some of the guys that Jordi Fernandez has coached throughout his um NBA coaching career. You look at Nicole Joic obviously with the Nuggets, Damont Sabonis with the Kings. Now you have a guy like Danny Wolf who Jordy Fernandez has talked about wanting some big man who could be halfcourt hub playmakers. And you have that. Absolutely. And Danny Wolf also a guy who can handle the ball and do some of those things. So I think defensively there are definitely some questions because he’s not a rim protector. He’s a grounded player. You know, is he going to be able to guard centers and do things like that without, you know, being such a below the rim player, not necessarily being a deterrent at the rim. We’ll see. And then, you know, if he’s playing power forward, how does he stick with some guys? If he gets switched on wings or if he has to guard more athletic force, how does he stick there? But he’s not a guy who moves his feet terribly. So, I think there could be some stuff to work with defensively there. And offensively, we obviously know, you know, the the upside and the intrigue that we’ll have there with Danny Wolf. So, all really exciting players. And coming up after a quick break, I have an interview with Derek Parker, who’s done numerous appearances on this pod leading up to and after the draft. So, really great to talk, really great talk with him to discuss who he thinks is the most excited among this group and what he sees from some of those other players. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at FanDuel. 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The other shocking aspect of the Nets draft was that they made all five picks. They targeted three guys who were, you know, lead ball handlers, somewhat redundant skills. Obviously took Nolan Trayori at 19, Drake Pal at 22, Ben Saraf 26, Danny Wolf 27. So, of those four guys, when you saw them be picked and go to Brooklyn, which one were you most excited about or would you be most excited about if you were a Nets fan? 100% Nolan Trayor. Like, this is a guy who previously was a top five player in this class. And while he didn’t necessarily have the season most thought he would, like I still think he has really, really immense upside as a lead handler, like really, really good athlete horizontally. He’s got shake. He’s got some shimmy. like probably the fastest player in this class with the ball in his hands. Like I really believe in the feel as a scorer and passer moving forward. So I think getting him at 19 was was truly a steal. I was talking with a friend earlier who does a lot of draft evaluation stuff. And the difference between Nolan Trayor and a guy like Jeremiah Fears, while statistically it’s pretty far away, like I don’t know that the gap is as wide as people think. Like had Nolan Trayor played for the Oklahoma Sooners in college last season, like could he have done 17, four and four? It’s a question. It’s certainly a question. So I think they they got a steal and especially given the fact that they had three other picks, too. Like I think Treyor at 19 was a home run swing.
Okay, let’s talk about Troy and more then because I thought that was the guy that you were going to say say and that seems to be, you know, the pick because as you said another theme of the draft, you know, it was, you know, volume of picks, ball handlers, playmakers, all that thing. But then another theme was targeting guys with past pedigree. You look at Jaor Demond, like people think it’s a reach now, but he’s a guy a lot of people had in the top 10 at this time last year. You look at Drake Pal, another guy was, you know, a five-star recruit, number two ranked small forward in the country coming out of high school. A lot of people thought maybe he could be a lottery talent, so they take a swing there. Troy had probably the most pedigree of the group. Like at this time last year when this draft was being just hyped up and built up, you know, as this generational draft, he was a guy a lot of people had in the top five. So, you know, there definitely is an upside swing here, but let’s start on that. He was a guy some people saw in the top five, had some struggles in France, and then he fell to, you know, some people saw him going in the 20s. So, what did you see, you know, on his tape from this year’s France League that really led him to drop on a lot of boards?
Yeah, one of the better passers in this class. I don’t know that he is the best, but when you couple like his exact skill set together, like it it potentially makes the best. Like we talked about Demond when he has the ball and when people are open and moving like he’s probably the best. But Trayore is different and that he has the ball he can create for himself and spray the ball too. So like he’s got the athleticism to really break down that first line of defense where maybe Demond can’t, which is a big thing for passing. I mean obviously you have to get yourself open too and then collapse that defense, get others open. So that’s huge. I would I would urge any Nets fans even slightly excited about Nolan Trayor to go watch his like BBE U8 stuff. Like he was killing dudes. Like he he looked like the best player on the floor and that includes a lot of guys that got drafted ahead of him. So he he’s a stud. He’s a player I would be really really excited about. Now I don’t know that he’ll necessarily offer like true lead number one type potential, but if he’s a guy you’re rolling out as your backup point guard, like that’s a stellar pick at number 19. and another guy who’s, you know, they picked three ball handlers who are all high field, high IQ playmakers, but the three-point shot, none of them shot well from three last season. You said on our last show that you were pretty hopeful, as is the Nets front office, that Jagor Demon’s three-point shot is going to come around. Do you feel that same way about Tori? Because he’s a guy who, you know, there’s different ways that it’s important and not important for him, you know, compared to Deon because he’s better at creating advantages and breaking guys down off the dribble than Deon. So that, you know, doesn’t make the three-point shot as much of a necessity, but he’s also he’s he’s a has great size for a point guard, but he’s still a smaller player. He’s 6’3, barefoot, and things along those lines. So, usually those guys have to be able to shoot at least respectably in the NBA. Are you confident also that his three-point shots going to come around? I don’t feel as great as I did about Dem. I think just like based off his his pace of play and the the way that he plays, I don’t know that he’ll be in like pure spot up situations very often, but I I think I feel solidly like I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll just be a complete non-shooter or shoot like in the teens or anything like that. I would expect it to get better. He’s got some workability in the mid-range like he as we touched on, he’s just got feel for the game in general. So, I always expect players like that to to come around in the shooting department. And he’s still a really high level passer. Obviously, that’s a lot of what draw drew him to. We said a lot of people have said that they think Demond’s the highest the best passer in this year’s class. So, I wouldn’t say Troy’s playmaking also just because he’s shorter. He can’t see as see over as many defenders as Deon can. So, that limits it a little bit. But, as I said, he is better breaking guys down off the dribble, creating advantages on his own. So, in terms of the scoring potential, you know, at his position, how do you feel about kind of his handle, you know, what he can do in the pick and roll also in isolation and, you know, kind of using that speed and athleticism and all that stuff. How do you think he projects as a scorer at the next level?
I think he projects very well to be honest. Like I I think he’ll be able to get downhill at a great rate like you said in the pick and roll, just getting out in transition. He he’s a guy, we talk about grab and go. He’s a guy who if he gets the ball in transition, he is like as fast as possible running the court. Like he is so so fast. Kind of almost like in a John Wall way where like maybe not quite as quick, but he tries his best. Like he is so so fast. And then in the mid-range, I would expect him to have some shake we as we touched on like his shooting should be fine. So I think there’s a lot of three level potential. Uh I think he’ll be able to hammer the paint and then if they end up do collapsing like as we touched on, he’s got the passing ability to spray out. So, as an offensive player in general, I I would project him to be pretty good. The speed is just really intriguing to me because I know the Nets want to play fast. We talked about Jordie Fernandez is uh on our last episode with Deon. You know, Jordi Fernandez told Deon he wants him to be a grab-and-go guy. He wants to play in transition. And, you know, a lot of people had concerns about how these guys could fit together. You said you view you’d envision, you know, Deon playing a little bit of a wing spot. So if they could have him, they could have Triayor, they have an athletic guy who can run the floor like Drake Pal, maybe Nick Claxton is in there, like there’s just a lot of speed, a lot of playmaking that you could utilize in transition. And I think that would be really exciting obviously for him. For Trayor, you mentioned John Wall in terms of some of those aspects. Do you have a player comp or somebody you view him, you know, like growing in a similar mold to?
I don’t know that I do. Uh, like I said, the speed of John Wall. He’s got some of the things like when the Nets signed Killian Hayes, I almost wondered if it would eventually be like a do they like Trayore? Like is that what they’re is that what they’re angling at? There’s there’s some aspects of his stuff there. Um, but like we touched on like playing fast with that pace of play and stuff. Like we just saw the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals play that exact brand of basketball. Like that’s very exciting to me to add all these players that can eventually do that with that high field with the quick processing like like Trayor and Demon and Moore have. So really exciting group that I think they’ve accumulated. All right, coming out of the break, we’ll touch on the Nets’s other draft picks. You know, give some projections for how we feel they’ll fit into their system and whether we think that they came away with good value at those spots overall. Closing out today’s locked on Nets episode talking with Derek Parker, draft analyst on YouTube and on SI. Our previous episode we talked about Jagor Deon. We just talked about Nolan Tore. You said that outside of Deon Troy is the guy you’d be the most excited about if you were a Nets fan. Also have Drake Pal. They have Ben Sarra. They have Danny Wolf. So let’s just kind of go rapid fire. We’ll talk about all three of those guys. Pal is a guy that, you know, was a five-star recruit, number two ranked small forward in the country coming out of high school, was really, you know, low usage at North Carolina. I think didn’t fit into a role that some people envisioned. Still a great defender, best athlete, and a lot of people think best athlete in the class, like 43 in Max Vert, you know, tested high in all the agility and sprint stuff. Definitely the I think probably the best athlete the Nets have ever drafted. I think that that’s, you know, I would definitely say that they’re not a team that has had a lot of stud athletes in recent years, or at least since moving to Brooklyn, but there’s some offensive concerns there, obviously. So, you know, some people seem to envision that he has somewhat of a high floor if the jump shot can stay consistent, but there might be a little bit more to unlock to his game. How do you feel that about that pick? And do you envision him kind of like as a higher floor prospect with a little bit more upside?
Yeah, I felt solid about the pick. probably the one I was like least excited about from an objective standpoint in just terms of like rolling out like Danny Wolf’s going to be fun then’s going to be fun but like Drake Pal’s a good pick like I do think he’s high floor as you touched on like one of the better athletes in the class he has prototypical size I believe he’s 6’5 like 7 foot wingspan
he shot the ball decently at North Carolina like obviously function mostly as just a a play finisher shooting cutting getting out in transition that actually excites me a little bit for Pal in that he did like scale down because he was expected to be so much more. Obviously, it would have been cooler if he had averaged like 18, seven and five at North Carolina, but him being able to kind of morph between like a high floor and a and a high ceiling role, like that’s exciting. I think he’s definitely a worthy gamble for a team like Brooklyn who in the least could help him into that like kind of two guard like just do it all, play the right way guy. But there could be more kind of lurking in the shadows with Drake Pal too.
Yeah. And he’s a guy who had extremely like low usage as I said at North Carolina. I think he was I think Sam Bassine said that he was the lowest player to be drafted since 2008 or no player uh since 2008 had ever been drafted. No wing player with that low of a usage. I think it was around like 13. But there could be some more to unlock unlock to his game. Uh let’s get into some of the other guys. You know, Ben Saraf, I think another really fun player. How did you kind of feel about what you saw on his tape and how what he could bring as another, you know, lead ball handler, uh playmaking type of guy? Yeah, I did my own mocks over on YouTube and I I was always kind of fidgeting with the the 26 and 27 uh seeing what they would do back toback. I think I had at least one video where I drafted both of these players at 26 and 27. I just didn’t quite know what to do with Ben Saraf. Like I think he’s a really really good basketball player in general. There’s maybe not any like truly elite skills that jump out to me like solely. Like I don’t know that there’s one thing we could point to Ben Saraf does well, but there’s also not really one thing that he does poorly either. He’s just a good player. Handles the ball uh for Ratio Farm in the Bunesliga like 19 years old out there handling the ball for a pro team. I think that’s impressive. I’ve always kind of projected Saraf to be a wing, which is why I was so surprised that everyone was like, “Oh, they took three handlers.” Like I think Saraf will probably play more of like a two three. Like sure, he’ll be able to handle the ball as much as you want, but I also think he’ll be smart enough to cut, maybe play in like a smart dunker spot kind of role, like get out in transition, offer his nice passing, and then I think he’ll be able to shoot better than what he’s shown, too. So, I thought it was a fine pick. Uh definitely a good swing at at 26. Yeah, another guy that the shooting will obviously unlock some of that positional versatility and also what he’s able to do on the ball but really fun player like as you said like I Noah Sen was viewed as a target from potentially at eight and they were playing together so I got to see kind of both of them playing on the floor together and you saw some exciting connections from them and what he could do with an athletic guy like that NBA level guy like that on his team and it doesn’t really seem like there’s like a pass that he can’t make. He made, you know, a ton of really exciting looks. Um, you know, with the ball in his hands, a guy who can handle in the pick and roll and also can separate from some guys like has some really nice like spin moves that he goes to and, you know, other things along those lines. So, a guy I’d be excited about um, you know, for the Nets and I think there is some positional versatility like when we asked Sean, why did you draft you know, three ball handlers who a lot of people view to have, you know, similar skill sets, he said, you know, the direction NBA is going, you know, positional versatility, scheme versatility, defensive versatility. And I think that he’s higher on these guys or maybe viewing these guys different uh positionally, you know, relative to how the draft community was. Last guy might be one of the most exciting guys in the draft, at least from what he did in college last season. Danny Wolf, a player that some people had as like a mid- teens, you know, on the big board and in the mock drafts and he falls in the nets at 27. He seemed upset, you know, that he was falling, but then he got picked and um, you know, could be a really fun guy for them, especially for a guy like Jordy Fernandez, who who has coached other really talented ball handling and passing bigs like Nicole Yic and Damonte Sabonis. So, you know, what excites you about Wolf and how do you envision him fitting in with Brooklyn?
Everything excites me about Danny Wolf. Like, I literally cannot wait to watch him play Brooklyn Nets basketball. Uh, regardless of whether it goes good or bad, he’s going to be fun to watch. like for better or worse, he’s going to be out there and and I’m going to be honed in. I think he probably slipped just due to like the overarching negatives. Like he isn’t athletic defensively. He’s kind of a tough projection. Uh but on the other hand, like he does things at 7 foot that most people his size just cannot do. Like I think he scored an entire quarter of his points as the pick and roll handler, which is really exciting for a Nick Claxton Danny Wolf duo. Uh, I think he’s going to be smart enough defensively to make it work. Like, is he going to be a rim protector at the five? Probably not. But you don’t have to necessarily play him at the five. He’s mobile enough. And then I think he’ll be handsy enough. I think he’s just good enough at positioning himself that he’ll be okay defensively. And then the passing is obviously the most fun thing. You talk about guys that that can do things that others simply can’t. The Nets potentially got four of these guys in Dem, Trayor, Saraf, Danny Wolf. These guys are legit legit passers. Uh, I think he’s got great feel for the game. I obviously do the heat checks over on YouTube. I only did one for Wolf and Demon. I had them as like four out of five feel for the game guys. I would have had Trayor there. I would have had Sarra there. So, I think there’s there’s certainly like a worse core of players and a worse skill to bet on generally than feel for the game. And I think Danny Wolf has that and I think these other guys have that as well.
And Wol, you know, he’s a guy who, like you said, you know, he’s not a rim protector. I think there’s some questions defensively about how he’s, you know, going to be able to hold up against forwards or wing players or things along those lines at the next level. And that, you know, there is a question about what position is he going to play because he went to Michigan and he played next to a sevenfooter a lot of the time. He did a lot of pick and roll ball handling and all that stuff, but you know, defensively playing against NBA, you know, level scorers is a whole different animal. So when you take into account his defensive, you know, deficiencies, how do you feel, you know, like is there a position power forward or center that you view as the more likely time more likely for him to spend more time at? Yeah, I think it would definitely be four. I think he’s good enough shooting the ball that he’ll be able to space the floor. Obviously, the rim protection isn’t there. So, I would expect him to guard more of fours. He is bulky enough and just big enough in general to kind of rack up steals and blocks just naturally. He did that at Michigan. So, I would project him to be a four. Now, that’s not to say you can’t roll him out as a small ball five or even like play him higher than four. Like, it’s the potential’s there. He is a wing for all intents and purposes. He plays the wing. So, exceptionally fun player. I’m so glad he landed somewhere that’s really going to roll him out in like a decent capacity.
Yeah, I think it’s going to be really fun. The Nets made a lot of picks, a lot of dart throws. We talked about all of them with you and we’ll see which ones hit, but um you know, it’s going to be fun watching some of these guys develop in Brooklyn. Derek, thank you for taking the time. Really appreciate it. If you guys do not already, go check out Derek’s work on YouTube. Also, his writing on SI. As he said, there are Jaor Deon and Danny Wolf videos on his heat check series that give you, you know, a really great look at all the different aspects of their game. So, definitely go check that out. Appreciate it, Derek. And, uh, hopefully we’ll talk again soon.
100%. Appreciate it, man. That does it for this episode of Locked on Nets. Hope you guys enjoyed the talk with Derek and our breakdown of the Nets late round draft picks. I think a lot of good info there and you guys will get to see some of these guys play at summer league in a few days. So, you know, take some of what I said and what Derek said and see if you see some of what we saw on their tapes on the court in the summer league with the Nets. But if you guys do not already, make sure to subscribe to Lockdown Nets wherever you get your podcast, whether Apple Podcast or Spotify. Also, hit up the YouTube channel. Like this, comment on it. Anything you can do to engage is much appreciated. Let me know who you’re most excited about among the Nets group, you know, beyond Jaor Deon with these late draft picks. I think there’s going to be a lot of to talk about obviously in the coming days. So, just let me know what you think. Love some discussion there. But I’ll be back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball.

Erik Slater and NBA Draft analyst Derek Parker break down the Brooklyn Nets’ late first-round selections. They delve into which player fans should get most excited about and which selections were the most surprising.

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