Yeah I just don’t see how he provides top 5 value in the league if he can’t really be on ball in the NBA. He has to turn up defensively for that to be in the case imo.

He moves like he’s a 6’8 big forward but he’s only 6’5 and slow for his size

Even Derrick White is strong as shit and decently athletic. Like my personal upper end comp for Wagler is D’Angelo Russell with better basketball iq but even then I don’t think he’s the passer that D-Lo is.

I watched him play at Illinois and nothing jumped out at me. I figured he would be more like a late first round / early second round pick.

It’s a little ridiculous to draft him as your secondary ball handler when you already have Garland. I don’t see other teams trading for Garland so I can see why you needed the tallest of the 3 guards, but jeez.

It isnt about this game in particular because he will have good and bad nights but I would’ve traded down if I were LA. Take a swing on some others to build depth. Even trading down for one prospect and using other acquired picks to get more guys. I don’t know man. They need a shit ton of talent to compete in the West and while they may not see Darius as a long-term fixture, Wagler definitely seems a little redundant.

well Mikel Brown it’s injury stuff and Acuff it’s a short guard who not only doesn’t play defense but was so bad a defender people had to praise Trae Young. There has been exactly ONE summer league game where his team didn’t play through him at all, he didn’t have a true center etc.

comments on this post are ridiculous tbh.

Acuff stats were generationally bad defensively. Other wise he’d have an argument to go top 3. Mikel brown just like Wagler has limitations. Star doesn’t always come from athletics and speed. Putting all ur stock in that is how u end up not taking luka 1st and leaving reaves undrafted, among many other guys.

Wagler is a guy who’s iq is super high, very crafty, a good playmaker and a guy who’s versatile enough to play off ball as well. One of His best skills was pnr and this summer league team don’t even have a center to do that with. Mikel brown had the eye test that tells u three level scorer but way less efficient and not as good a decision maker.

I’m not saying whether or not any of these guys turn out good or bad. But it’s wild to say the Wagler pick In the top 5 was a stupid choice. As a prospect he’s right Where he should be, no one summer league game with a bad roster doesn’t prove he doesn’t have it. No his weaknesses don’t automatically mean he can’t be a star. There’s sm talented players in the league whose weakness was athletics who ended up being great players.

We’ll see what happens but can we not act like Wagler is all of a sudden a bad draft pick after a bad SUMMER league

I’m still TBD on Mikel Brown. Acuff I loved since draft season, but the combination of inefficient passing and too much love for his own shot puts me a little off on MBJ. If he learns how to improve his shot selection and efficiency, yes; if not, I was too scarred by the 2 months of D’Lo to enjoy him. I do not want my point guard having heat checks as his primary offensive choice.

This is exactly how I felt about the Moses Moody pick back when. Trey Murphy was a sgnificantly better shooter statistically if you wanted to go that way (one of the Warriors needs abck then) and Jalen Johnson (guy I wanted) was the more complete player. Moody’s athleticism was so underwhleming and even though I feel like he has maxed out his potential, he was clearly an inferior pick.

It felt like they were intentionally icing him out

That was honestly my takeaway. I doubt it’s intentional, but sometimes SL players are too focused in showing off their own abilities and iso-ing. This game was worse than any I’ve seen though.

There were so many plays where he was wide open and a teammate just looked him off and drove into traffic. It was odd to watch.

yaxel is the opposite of a project no?

1-9 will be 20 or younger starting the year, Burries will be 21. Yaxel will be 24.

Top 9 was an odd choice but not for continuing on to 10/11…should’ve just mentioned the top 8 as that’s seen by many as a clear tier break in the top prospects of this draft.

Big 3 of Aj, Peterson, Boozer.

Caleb Wilson was clear #4.

And then there was this mess of guards with all great qualities but no clear order. Wagler, MBJ, Acuff, and Flemings.

Any other prospect jumping into that top 8 would’ve been a complete shock.

he also got completely bodied by a Kai Jones dunk in that game. Most guys are not going to be their true selves in the summer league.

I still feel that MBJ has similar bust potential given his back injuries + suspect decision making/poor 3PT% in college.

People think not having 30 and 10 as a top prospect means you played like garbage.

He’s an incredible screen shooter, which gave him a lot of separation to make shots in college

There’s so much talent in this draft that I can’t believe he went 5 imo. So many guys with ridiculous talent already going into the draft and get at pick 5 the clippers got Wagler. I honestly don’t see much potential in him. He looks behind physically. He looks lost in the nba trying to create his own shot. And in this first game it looked like he has zero dog in him to make a change and impact during the game. I was skeptical of his hustle and ambition going into the summer league but this just confirms it to me. (Obvious overreaction, but overreactions in the nba have been paying dividends the past couple years)

Of course I’d love to be proved wrong. I’m fully willing to accept that I was an idiot judging him pre season.

I don’t think that’s clear at all. I really doubt the Clippers drafted to play along side Garland.

I expect people will realize that more as they see him play, but his defense is not going to be nearly good enough for that back court to work.

He’s tall enough to play next to Garland and that’s about it. The athleticism was poor for B1G standards and that’s why he wasn’t particularly good on defense at Illinois and I expect it to only be worse in the NBA.

It’s refreshing to see someone actually have basketball knowledge and understanding. Thank you

Egor struggled with plantar fascia his rookie year I mean he’s definitely still not athletic but it seems like he got a bit stronger n cleaned up his handle so hopefully it translates. But yeah I just don’t know why they went with Wagler top 5 anything later in the lotto I would’ve understood

Eh Flemings is definitely capable of contributing now, the thing with him is that his ceiling isn’t high and best case scenario he runs point guard on a contending team where he’s the 4th option or something

Watch the game. I don’t recall a single time he got past anybody

Summer league isnt the whole story but it can certainly be an indicator for somethings. He looked rough out there.

The process looked awful

Reacting to summer league box scores is stupid. But you can learn info from watching them play

I hate them so much lmao

His handle is fine he’s just lacking athleticism to actually do anything

Least he took shots and was aggressive. Wagler honestly looked like a little pussy out there

7-19 22 points a steal and a 2blocks in 28 minutes. Don’t hate cuz you mad they drafted a bum instead of Acuff.

Wagler can’t even get shots off.

Yes but it did happen. Dont get over excited about summer league

Huh? I’m pretty sure Hali never even played in summer league dude

Not the same though wagler literally didn’t do anything results don’t matter

tyrese didn’t play in the summer league

In the last couple years RJ has developed into a very good player. Not star but a very good nba player.

So you think that Acuff is inefficient and “Cam Thomas” because of 3 summer league games?

So far, he’s shot terribly in every summer game.

Just because he knows that he’s “got to be better” doesn’t mean he’s going to be able “to be an all star early in his career”, especially since he’s on the Kings.

How can you trust the clippers know what they are doing, they literally traded all their picks away and now have assembled the middest team ever and are stuck with it because of how all in they were with Kawhi.

And as for acuff, he has been incredibly inefficient and just chucking in the summer league. Hopefully that will change once regular season starts, but with his play style and the way the kings are giving him the green light, I feel like right now he is similar to Trae young in that they always command the ball and put up lots of inefficient shooting stat lines even if they are acting as the engine of their team

I think he’s one of those guys that will be signing 1 year deals after his first contract