Six prospects the Indiana Pacers should target in the 2024 NBA Draft

Six prospects the Indiana Pacers should target in the 2024 NBA Draft

who or what should the Pacers be targeting in this draft Ben Fifer one my favorite draft analysts and I break down six prospects the Pacers should be looking at early or later into the second round we’ll get to all of it today on the lockon Pacers podcast you are locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team f every day what up y’all happy Monday hope you had a great weekend and welcome into another edition of the lockon Pacers podcast where we of course talk about the Indiana Pacers as always my name’s Tony East I cover the team for Forbes and Si and today getting more into the draft haven’t talked much draft about the Pacers this year no first rounder not a good draft less to talk about but still some value to be had some fun intriguing prospects at a wide variety of positions Pacers have already worked out about 25 guys plenty more to come this week plenty more draft coverage to come the closer it comes to it and it’s time to dive in a little bit with Ben Fifer one of my favorite people covering the draft we talked about the Thompson Twins on this show last year this year we get into some second rounders the Pacers could Target at various positions I got into three Ben got into three Ben does this year round I dive in once the NBA’s over so I don’t have as much depth of knowledge on these guys but he is great for this and we share a lot lot of opinions on these specific players so six prospects for the Pacers to consider in this draft coming your way today on lock down Pacers let’s just get right to it well boy are we talking about a different level of player than we did last year three years in the lottery Pacers done with that this year no first rounder at all they traded both of their first to the Raptors for yakum their best pick is 36 a much different level of prospect in a much worse draft and yet I’m calling on the sa big guns to help me break down these players last year we talked about the th and Twins and uh we look pretty good for being high on those guys right now and this year we’re talking about much worse players but we’re going to give you six prospects that the Pacers should consider in the second round picks 36 49 and 50 as of right now joining me to break down all things 2024 draft writing for sports ke and heart of the paint and with his own YouTube page where you can watch a lot of these breakdowns including ones that I have watched to get a feel for some of the people talk about today including the guy I’m gonna go with first it’s Ben Fifer who’s been doing draft stuff with me on this show for years because he’s the best what’s up Ben how are you Tony that was excellent thank you I I appreciate that pitching for draft people I like because there are a lot of draft people I don’t like so I am very I’m gonna say nothing about that today but yeah um I’m always always happy to be here like I said we’ve literally been doing this I I think I’ve like known you the longest out of like basically any like podcast person I have known you for a very long time seven years eight years a long time when he used to be the guy complain to him people would be like they they’d be talking about like that 11th or 12th pick and they’re like I see shades of kg and Ben Wallace I’m like that’s the best player like if that’s really what you see in this guy that’s the best player and they’d have him like 12 I’m like what anyway I don’t have to complain about that this year because no one in the second round of the 2024 draft is getting any shades of kg or Ben was we’re gonna be talking three guys each that we like in the second round including at least two given our pre-recording discussion that have already worked out for the Indiana Pacers one of whom very quickly Rose to Tony draft Crush status and that is Weaver State’s Dylan Jones I thought you g say Jack Goki Jack man you look you have that game against Kentucky you’ve earned some workouts oh yeah absolutely he probably Cooks in workouts too just bombs away well the perfect he’s perfectly engineered to just like make future NBA players look stupid in pre-draft workouts from Michigan state was in that workout and Oakland played Michigan State That season and Walker was like yeah I did Chase that dud around like for a whole game it kind of sucked like he’s good um all right Dylan Jones played Four Seasons at Weber State the next game I’m just joking just because of the school dude can the pitch is that he’s a wing who like played five for them basically he’s like Point big man and he could really score he’s always been a good scorer and pretty efficiently he’s not the best shooter and I don’t really care because he can get to the rim like crazy with his drives and what really evolved and made him pop to me uh this year is his passing looks so much better like he was throwing skips to the corners he was Finding teammates when he would occasionally run pick and rolls he hits the glass like a mad man on defense the only downside I would say with his heavy ball handling is he turns it over a bit but this dude is really good and kind of can do a little bit of everything 30 assist rate 29 usage almost 60% true shooting this past season a lot to like has already been in the building for the Pacers I believe he said to Mike Scot on Hoops type that his range is 20 to 40 which is with in fact 36 so I’m a Dylan Jones fan my dream that would be such a dream coming through oh my God you love him too you made a video about him I did make a video about Dylan Jones yeah he’s one of my favorite prospects and he passes an important heric which is well actually two it’s like the weird body type obviously which like what is he like 64 with like a six 11 wingspan like like he’s good tht body like that’s his but but also because he dominated like the combine scrimmages like both years in different ways um that was like the first time I was really keute on to him last year’s g-league like invite scrimmage like the combine before the combine and he just was bullying people um he’s such a unique player like like you said was the the primary initiator High usage guy for his his team but played the five basically on defense and he was incredibly effective Jones scored efficiently all over the floor with his awesome like touch and strength creation and incredible like mid-range scoring as well he’s such a talented shot creator with his handle he genuinely has an incredible handle like using it to get in and out of breaks and to move people off the ball and just to like wedge out space for all of his shots it’s very impressive to see the kind of things he does as a Creator and like you said he is one of the best passers in the class he’s one of the best decision makers in terms of like where to place the ball and skipping to the weak side he’s so awesome and then on defense I think like it’s weird right because it’s hard to project that role forward but he has good feel he’s very smart he’s very well positioned and Dylan also I think in the comine scrimmages has done like more point of attack defense and it’s been good that’s a small data point but it’s a data point but yeah I love Dylan I have him stupidly high I would take him in the top 20 woo yeah I had some hot takes last year I had GG Jackson and Colby Jones in my lottery last year so I appreciate a good hot Tak the GG take is gonna age really well I feel good about that one also feel good about Kobe Jones but I feel good about the GG take he was interesting and I thought Kobe Jones was pretty interesting at at times this year honestly someone traded up for him someone thought he was good not as good as I did but someone thought he was good yeah that the pitch for Dylan Jones is is the offensive guy who can do a little bit everything right and and that is of course Very Val at any position but he in the NBA do you think he can be Wing sized enough right like like to me he’s Aaron n Smith size and Aaron n Smith has trouble where like I look no one can guard these players but like bigger Wings he can yeah always handle and Jones might be a little taller but not I think Jones is probably more of like a true small forward Defender but like probably more guarding down because he is pretty quick laterally and with his crazy like wings span and and like strength you can just like bump people off of their spot so easily and he’s good on the ball because of that I think um yeah maybe because of his his wings fan but probably not just because Dylan Jones is a non- rim protector it’s genuinely kind of weird like he has like 15 20 blocks in his entire career has like a fouryear who whoa you’re really overselling he has eight eight eight okay eight blocks so it’s weird because like he can he like he’s not a great vertical athlete but he can jump and he’s well positioned and he’s got long arms I’m like and I feel like I’ve seen him go for rotations in games I’m like how does he not have more blocks I feel like that’s weird but yeah point being that I’m just rambling he was he’s probably best as a wing or as like a two guard Defender all right give me a player I’m gonna say one more thing on Dylan Jones so yes love it Dylan Jones is the only player in the history of B so since 2008 Dylan Jones is the only player in college basketball who has seasons of 30 plus 30 usage plus 30 um assist rate and plus 30 defensive rebounding rate like he is a statistical anomaly he’s a statistical anomaly in every sense of the word like literally nobody has done the 30 3030 usage offensive defensive rebounding assist rate um you have to drop it to like 25 to even drop them all to get like I think the only guys at 25 25 defensive rebound rate assist rate and US Dre are Ben Simmons and Daniel Hamilton those are the only other guys Legends also trevan Williams by the way hey which is great just H some indie people there you go um and then yeah I love Dylan he’s just he’s an anomaly I I think those are the guys you you want to draft like the ones who are just weird and good at everything okay I’m doing a player yes anybody so as we talked a little bit about before um Tony picked all of like the rangy wings which is what the Pacers need so I’m going to do like guards and other positions that probably won’t play this year um unless of like injuries or whatever but I think are still really good players and I’ll start with a guy that we both like which is AJ Mitchell he’s a 65 guard out of UC Santa Barbara and the basic pitch for the pitch for him is that he gets into the paint on every single play um he’s smart and he can defend that’s that’s that’s it like that’s obviously not it I’m wildly oversimplifying how good of a player he is but AJ Mitchell he’s not like the he has really good burst but it’s not like the best burst you’ve ever seen but it’s just like his ability to dribble and to use footwork and timing and like he’s got amazing amazing touch at The Rim um the shooting isn’t also a good passer like pretty versatile can can do pick and roll reads the shooting is like eh um and the defense I think it’s like inconsistent because of his crazy usage but overall good I am a little wary of these guys after like Grant reer types totally flamed out these like super high usage mid major creators who just like dominate with their athletic like maybe but like I think Mitchell like critically is like actually a real Defender which rer was horrible on that end um I don’t know if you remember really but he was oh yeah he was nut Charlotte oh no Philly draft pick and then ended up in Charlotte and everybody loved him or I get that backwards everyone always loves him yeah I think AJ can can be like that kind of vibe but good yeah he gets to the line a lot which I am infatuated by and I think that goes back to what you said where he can really get into the paint like every time he has the ball he’s just like Shi Shifty I hate that word because it means something different for everybody you kind of applied to I mean he’s he’s hard to he’s just hard to contain it’s hard to figure out where he’s going and even if you do it’s hard to stop it I think he has that kind of like SI sense for just like which driving move to pick which footwork to use you know how to best exploit the defense like you kind of just like have it or you don’t I think AJ very much had that I mean then again I thought realer had that too but like that was a whole different thing 47.3% free throw this last year 12 free throw attempts per 100 very good and he makes them which at least gives you some faith that the three-point shooting jump he had his last season in college is real I think he’s probably going to end up being a good enough shooter good enough shooter just because like I mean he’s been an amazing free throw shooter pretty much his whole career he’s an amazing like long mid-range pull-up shooter which translates a lot yeah and the volume like I said this year did increase to not still not great like low three-point attempt rate 21.6 low volume 5.3 but still workable and with the with that kind of driving skill you don’t need an incredible shot like you just need one to be good enough and like that guy plus like a smart Team Defender who’s well positioned you not the craziest athlete but just has size and is smart like he seems like a really good bet in this range of the draft that is getting kind of undervalued I agree um I forgot oh yeah uh he came he has also worked out for the Pacers we got to talk to him that’s awesome that’s awesome very worldly I didn’t realize he was born in Belgium like I didn’t I didn’t know any of that his dad was a pro before and and he’s a guy who’s in this doesn’t really make sense but there’s players like this every year and this happened last year so I can talk about it he’s a guy that’s good but like clearly has stuff to work on and I if those guys get picked by like Miami San Antonio some I’m like oh they’re gonna be great and last year hakz was one of those guys for me and then he got like uh oh he’s G be great he awesome AJ Mitchell goes to the heat I will immediately think he’s going to be a good player that’s gonna be absurd um there’s a lot of those guys here yeah I mean he’s just one of these players that is just so damn good at basketball even if it doesn’t always work honestly like kind of like Dylan but just like more pure Guard versus a guy who is maybe more positionally versatile I think AJ is just a guard like he’s not like a wing or anything um but yeah he was phenomenal this year and he’s been phenomenal and just like a guy with his level of driving and passing just a a pure bet on advantage creation which I always love hey guys short little break here so we can talk about LinkedIn jobs when you’re hiring for your small business you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role and that is why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help find the 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and conditions apply let’s go to the probably the the highest conventionally mocked guy that we’re GNA talk about today I guess I don’t know who your other two are going to be the defensive Beast some have called him I have to really think about this some have called him the best defender in this draft class I would like you to speak to that in a second and that’s Virginia’s Ryan Dunn who did get the Ben at bump for a year um so let let’s start with just a numeric pitch uh if you search for stock percentages you know a lot of times I see like two and a half two I’m like that’s plus block by the way yes for don’t stock is it’s people talking about Ste box you have two and a half two-ish for either I’m like that’s pretty good you know if you hit three okay yeah this guy’s got some defensive instincts Ryan dun steel percentage this is not a center he can probably defend five the pr his steel percentage is 3.1 that’s good his block percentage last year was 10.4 and that was worse than his freshman year when it was 10.6 this dude is everywhere on defense blows up plays protects the rim it’s insane he’s he’s a much better on the glass he does not do much on offense to put it kindly um he can dunk and finish plays around the basket so the the bet with him would be that you can turn him into something thing on offense because he is an unbelievable Defender and are you of the opinion he is the best defender in this class right now yes I would say as defensive prospects I think SAR is better and probably Holland um but right I mean I I’ll say I think that’s a totally defensible take that I can’t argue with he is a truly special defensive player um I think I definitely speaks to his the extent of his offensive limitations that we’re talking about him as a second round pick um but his there truly truly absurd um the weak side Rim protection his ability to get up off of two feet and react and also make plays in the passing Lanes he truly is has he has the herb Jones thing where he can literally do everything on defense like it does not matter what position you ask him to play if you ask him to guard the ball if you ask him to guard screens if you ask him to chase off ball if you ask him to be your Center your wiim protector if you ask him to be your primary stop he can do it he will do it he has to be your nail Defender he’ll do it because of his incredible tools and you know like he’s not like the greatest like on ball point of attack Defender ever like he does get beat there sometimes um he’s not the greatest like screen Navigator in the world but he’s absurd his defense is absurd it’s going to If he if if and it’s a huge if the offense ends up being workable it’s it’s over super over but that’s the problem he made 123 in two years in college and this isn’t like a big you know no he’s not he’s not a like you don’t want to playing I didn’t mean to make it sound like you want him like playing you know maybe eventually but he’s like 200 pounds right now you know like he can’t yeah play the five in the NBA yet at all no so the the reason he’s not like Taylor Hendrick thought of or you know he’s probably a better Defender than Hendricks was coming coming out of the of college but hendrickx could shoot and had way more offensive pop right and there’s just none of that here right like he had nine assists as a freshman you know we’re not we’re not talking about like oh they could teach this guy some stuff it’s like this guy could just be nothing on offense in the pros and yet the defense is so good he might go in the first round right and that’s why it’s so tant it wouldn’t be crazy I I don’t think it’ be crazy at all and that’s why it’s so tantalizing to me if you’re the Pacers who can work maybe not slowly but can work him along a bit because they don’t have minutes to offer I’ll say one thing I have um so I’ve been doing like grading I’ve been working on like a defensive grading system to like try to pay more attention like actual defensive stuff and like basically just assigning a numeric a weighted numerical value to like Rim protection tools team defense screen navigation positioning all that stuff right dun Dunn like breaks scale like he breaks the scale he’s he just like great everything like he is the same distance between the second best guy who’s Alex SAR that SAR is from like the fourth the fifth best guy which is Eve Mei and I’m like that’s that’s nuts but yeah I really worry that he could be totally unplayable on offense in the league like I yeah I don’t know who has there who’s the last guy like this in the pros who was like he’s like v v can dribble a little bit right I was GNA say I think he’s a worse offensive player than V because like we’re not but like Veno can drive and can pass and like dun’s a fine passer I think he can he flashes some stuff but it’s not like nearly to the rate that you need it to be for his role um like I said the the shooting projection is extremely poor and also I do want to give him some Grace because he played in Tony Bennett’s offense um like so God the tournament there are limits to what how good you can be um I think we saw that for like I think that’s genuinely like a consistent thing like we saw it with Trey Murphy we saw it with DeAndre Hunter um I think to extents with Hower maybe and I think we’re gonna see it with ree beakman um but yeah I I do think I’m like maybe there’s some of that but again I just struggle to see how it’s not like a Jared Vanderbilt type situation where yeah he’s like a super valuable defensive player in specific matchups like Vanderbilt chased Steph curer on screens in the playoff and he bothered him like yeah I don’t know if dun can do that specific thing he’s not he’s not Bando in that way but he is like the defense is absurd so the worst offensive player who’s like unbelievable on defense in the league right now slowmo maybe herb Jones maybe although he can shoot now no herbs offense is good now I’ll say probably it’s hard it’s very rare you know like I’m struggling to get it’s like the Roberson Tony Allen yeah but they but those guys are out of the league like Roberson’s career was just over all of a sudden I mean I mean but like if you’re getting a peak Roberson or Tony Allen in you’re winning that is a huge but yeah all right give me another guy all right um I don’t want to do another guard all of my favorites are guards that’s okay it doesn’t matter position be danged you know who my last guys just don’t pick him anybody I’m gonna pick KJ Simpson another point guard out of Colorado he is insanely good like I feel like people kind of don’t realize how good he is is as we were talking about this kind of before Simpson really is one of those guys who like you’re watching Colorado for Cody Williams and Tristan Silva who were you know knocked in be up I did that yeah yeah exactly who who are not in the me too me too absolutely um he was not like a guy that we were looking at um but he ends up like like who is this guy like who is this guy popping every single play and he really I think has the best bet to become this like second round point guard who turn into like a legit stud like not to the level of Brunson I’m thinking more of like a Brogden type um could be like an impact level that he could hit like a really good tertiary offensive guard I don’t think he’s as good as Brockton but Simpson is an incredible driver his burst is awesome he’s crazy good leaper um he’s a great finisher his touch is amazing he can really pass out of the pick and roll he’s improved every year as a shooter and was an awesome pullup shooter this year basically just does everything you want your third backup guard to do can play off the ball can play on the ball um like I said I think his shot making growth being steady year to year is really encouraging he’s consistently gotten better as a shooter and a shot maker and he’s a pretty solid Defender as well get Steels is generally well positioned pretty solid on ball Defender he passes your free throw Rate Check he draws a bunch of fouls strong as hell he’s just like a really good player that like we said does not have a path to playing time currently he just doesn’t on this Pacers team but let’s say you know McConnell declines someone gets injured or you know declines in general then he’s someone who I think can like legit play right now in the NBA but also has the ceiling to be like really good but also maybe like I acknowledge the downside with him because it’s just so hard with small point guards like you could be like someone like Malachi Flynn who I just like who was an incredible player in college and like 50 point game Malik I was gonna say 50 point Malachi but you know I had Malachi like top 20 in that draft which was aggressive but yeah I love I love KJ again I watched Colorado for not KJ so I know something one thing he didn’t say that is fascinating to me and I don’t know how much this will matter in the NBA pretty dang good rebounder for a guy barely tired than me oh yeah he is you know he goes and gets the ball which is impressive so the Wonder is gonna be for everybody how real is this year of shooting because yeah it clearly looks good like the free throw rate or right excuse me free throw percentage suggested his H career that he was a better shooter than he was but two years under 28% to all of a sudden oh my gosh he 43 like if you know what is this is he a good shooter is he a great shooter is he not a good shooter at a hot year yeah who knows because there is a lot to like but if he can’t really shoot it you’re kind of just looking at like a nose for the ball rebound he passer type and if he can shoot then I agree with you that this guy could contribute sooner rather than later yeah I mean if you average out his career it’s 35% about on eight attempts per 100 like that’s pretty D that that feels close closer to what it actually is and that’s pretty good like I think if he’s at that level like 35% on like pretty good volume and probably with off the drible stuff like you you take that and he’s probably an awesome player but I do think that like you said the the shooting indicators for him to be legit have always been there he’s an amazing shooter his touch is amazing always been a really prolific like long mid-range jump shot score like we talked about that um like long mid-range scoring stuff being an important translator for Dylan Jones and AJ Mitchell I think it also applies for Simpson where I’m more willing to buy that his shooting Improvement is real because of like the consistent uptick and the indicators we already knew it’s not like it’s like oh this guy like not did literally nothing and is shooting 45% from three on like two attempts it’s like no that’s probably not going to be anything real right but overall I buy I do buy the shooting I mean I think KJ is like a top 25 pick in this draft W but I’m very intrigued by guards a lot who play with good players too and like he has two NBA teammates like you have to know how to do stuff to make that team good and that Colorado wasn’t awesome but like that matters like I think one more thing like the shooting leap that Devin Carter took this year was crazy huge yeah and I think that people kind of don’t give it the like the same kind of scrutiny they’ve given the KJ Simpson one where Carter was an incredible shooter this year he looked like a shooter he was you know he shoots from deeper range than basically free throw shooting bad indicators he shoots but it’s it’s not just the free throw shooting to me um because that definitely matters but it’s not like it’s not not huge like 72 75 I feel like it’s hard a lot it’s not like going to be a green or red flag either way um but like never really shoots long or mid-range twos and doesn’t have the greatest touch in in that area and then like just a huge Spike oneyear spike in percentage in volume which that the I think the the volume Spike has me pretty encouraged for like Carter I’m not trying to be like anti- Carter but I think Simpson is like a better example of this because of his steady Improvement as a shooter and I totally buy that one more break here guys so we can talk about prize pick America because number one fantasy sports have with over 5 million members you just pick more than or less than on two or more player stat projections and on price pies you can 10 $10 into a th000 in a single game watching your favorite sports the summer make a lineup in as little as 60 seconds and then just pick those stat projections you’re locked in they have promos every week Tuesdays and Fridays it’s America’s number one F daily fantasy sports app for a reason with so many active members over five million you can get in on the action yourself the finals are rolling in the NHL in the NBA and that is a good time to dive in and give it a shot plus when that’s all over the WBA is still going Caitlin Clark AIA Wilson Brianna Stewart you can up 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throw rate 43.2 sick rebound rate over 10 sick assist rate over 15 who is this is this a good player steel rate 3.8 awesome block rate 5.8 turnover rat’s a little high everything else I’m like oh my God Isaiah Crawford five-year player at Louisiana Tech can score can pass can shoot and looks like he’s going to be a really good shooter over 40% the last two years of his career really rangy big wings fan 6’7 I’m all in on this guy as the Pacers 4950 pick flyer injuries be danged they did it with suar it worked out they did it with Yan bogu and it didn’t maybe it does maybe it doesn’t but I’m all in man I watched him play one game and I was in I I think not considering like how the league values him he would be a home run slam dunk at at 36 like wow 30 I think he’s a first round pick absolutely 30 first you’re hiring me and again awesome it’s hard it’s just hard because of the medical stuff because we don’t know yeah like he looked really good this year when he was healthy he did not look hurt or slow U maybe like a little less explosive on offense but he was still a dominant athlete and his we talk about Dunn like dun to me Crawford to me is like not on the level of Dunn defensively because he’s not that shop blocker but I think he’s like a top five defender in this class pretty easily um he has just unbelievable movement skills for a that Sid can flip his hips turn every direction without speeding up slowing down um crazy long Wings span and Inc incredible like awareness and reactions and he will like manipulate offenses like baiting ball handlers as the low man and help defense stunting and making people think that he can’t do anything but he has the crazy short area quickness and length and reactions not like an amazing on ball Defender he can be a little like choppy and can let pump F goow by and maybe is like the most explosive guy L explosive guy laterally and that would make some sense given the history of knee injuries but there’s an incredible incredible defensive player I do have some concerns about his offense um I worry a little bit about the shooting how real it is because of like the we’ll see overall like individually his volume is pretty low like he doesn’t take a ton of Threes And he takes pretty much just open threes Le has in the past but over his career like 287 attempts at 40.4% is substantial I don’t think it’s like again I think there was a study like a pretty well-known study about threo um stability that it takes like 750 games for threo perent to stabilize it’s crazy and he’s like a third there but I think that’s a solid enough sample to really buy the shooting and he has some like crafty old man mid-range scoring game but yeah like I said I I think he’s fantastic and he’s not like he’s not like that old like normal senior aged and if there’s any kind of you know C C that his health is going to be fin like he’s he’s he’s just going to be awesome he really is yeah I’m all in I hope the Pacers bring him in so I can selfishly do media with him for a few minutes just to see because that like there’s like screaming indicators that this dude’s really good but I I also wonder like I wonder how comfortable he is with his body still because there are flashes where he will like turn on the Jets on a drive or like look unbelievably explosive on a block or something and it’s like where is that the other 80% of the game so I wonder if like maybe there’s still more of that to tap into um because he certainly like regardless of that was just a dominant dominant Defender um utterly dominant and I adore him so the Pacers were all over Terry Taylor out of college right they got him in he’s got a three four year career now going undrafted and he had really good indicators too like this is a thing teams do they do just throw the stats in and go oh I mean it’s it’s not bad good process in the second round well you don’t you don’t pick someone from that but it is a way to be like oh maybe this guy’s good you know yeah yeah no it’s just you know valuing these like guys who are just outliers and don’t really make sense yeah they Rick Carla talked about it he’s like credit our analytics team they helped us find Terry Taylor turn a guy into a three career one more Ben give me one more guy should I do the guy who’s less likely to be there but better or the one who’s worse and more likely to be there well if you were good at content you’d be doing bronnie but uh no I don’t care How likely they got to be there I I’m not gonna do bronny but I do think bronnie is good and is going to be good there you go yeah or like I think he’s gonna be a useful NBA player which which was kind of my always my stance like being like I think he can be a useful player like that’s all right give me yeah don’t worry about rench better guy I’ll do mogbo so this is Jonathan mogbo out of San San Francisco he’s like a 6’7 Center with one of the craziest standing reaches I think yeah mogbo is just mogbo is a 66 and a half in shoes N9 foot standing nine foot standing reach 7 foot2 wingspan 220 like Fast he has a he is has the craziest frame he’s an insane athlete like jump out of the gym crazy coordinated and fast and he was a an utterly dominate dominant college player that’s about it right he was an amazing amazing rim protector defensive playmaker um great foul drawer he he was like not that far behind Zack Edy in terms of the dunk leaders this year which is absurd considering he’s six six and he’s like one of the most prolific dunkers in all of college basketball that’s not normal that’s not what tends to happen and he’s a really great passer as well he plays some like high post stuff um really well like passing to Cutters he has some like manipulation with his eyes and some higher level stuff as well at times there is just like I can’t shake the fact that he’s a seven foot he’s a 66 Center that doesn’t shoot um there’s nothing like he can’t he just doesn’t shoot you know like like he took two threes this year and he’s not a good freeo shooter he’s not a great mid-range shooter he flashed it a little bit in like that loader short mid-range area but I don’t know and then is is he a wing because he has like a really good handle for Bigs but I don’t know if it’s good enough to be a wing that seemed like what they were trying to get out of him at the combine at least was making him more wingy because if that’s the case I think he’s goingon to be incredible but I still think as like a utility rotation big in this he might go in the first but like in the second round would be awesome I know very little of this person to be clear I just looked at their basketball reference page so that is all I can respond to yeah two three-point attempts is fast in 43% from the Fon as a junior SL first entry here certainly does not look like that would be a skill but everything else looks awesome and I went I saw his um when you when you told me about his standing reach I went to his his me bench very good speed things too um good shuttle good three quarter Sprint verts good so maybe this dude’s just this dude just awesome at everything except for shooting um what so I don’t know again I just learned about him four different schools in four years was that just him like getting better because it looks like a Jo two [ __ ] and then a Missouri State and then San France that’s better every year that’s good yeah yeah exactly he was like a late bloomer Joo type which is crazy considering how good he is um by all accounts is just like a very good smart person as well um yeah it is just like the the height will be hard to get over for some teams it just will um it’s like it’s going to be disqualifying like not not necessarily disqualifying but it it’ll be tough like I watched him in person earlier this year um and like he did not look significantly taller than a lot of the other tall players or and it’s just but he is I will say that I don’t worry about this a ton just because he plays above his height more than like any player just because of his crazy wingspan um and like the the vertical and his strength and stuff he really is like jenzy Kenneth fed like he’s like but like but could actually be like very legit is that a thing I’m gonna have to add to my draft lexicon I hope not no um my actual like optimistic idea for him is like a Clark type not as good but like Brandon Clark the idea like super undersized Center who like is a crazy dunker really great touch can pass the ball plays way above his size on defense like I definitely don’t think mogbo is as good as Clark but I think that’s kind of the optimistic this guy can be 70 80% of what Brandon Clark is at his ceiling and that’s like a really useful player like that’s a guy who I think you can get a lot out of and I think with his unique set of skills could be like useful in the playoffs for a creative coach or a creative team and I think he would certainly fit with the Pacers um in terms of his you know incredible athleticism he’d be incredible on the break he would do so well and like their quick read and react game as a pick and roll partner with hiy as like a possibly trying to develop him in like the OB mold but as like not really a shooter but like the the Big Driver kind of guy on that roster um he I don’t think he’s going to be there at 36 but but if he is he should be well I am sold I like unique players and I like good field players and it sounds like he’s right it’s like Mugo might not end up working but he’s he’s someone who you will regret passing on if he hits right a lot of well hey 36 P might even have the chance yeah like there’s some prospects that like might be solid but you’re not going to regret passing on them like you know what they are but gonna be a weird draft there is no reason for the Pacers to pick any specific position it’s a two-day draft um there’s good sense in them trading in some direction or out even of 36 so are extremely strong and and yeah at least but every team knows that right it’s not like you can Swindle somebody out of it fair enough but some teams might value it less that’s fair yeah I’ve wondered how they’ll handle it and there is some sense of just like let’s take the best guy and replace Kendall brown or Doug mcdermit I think it’s generally good practice just like get the best guy the Apple get a cheapo guy in there figure it out right just because just because fit is so like it’s it’s so fluid things that might be need not needs in one year might needs in next year because of trades or aggressions or injuries or anything like that and you do have to pay 36 that’s the one thing that I think will be interesting like that’s that’s Pro what probably above the minimum threshold anymore so that is at least a factor for them to consider like they get like can they go to like 41 and get like a two-year minimum guy with a team option that would be that be the dream that would be nice but yeah I think if they get someone like one of these like mogbo Dylan Jones or totally worth a a pick for if everybody who we talked about today is available I think mogbo selling me on uh him dun or Crawford P I think Crawford would be my favorite for sure I think like worth scary Health but worth the risk and just would be he’s the one out of all this group who would play who would play first I think probably maybe D I don’t maybe look Ty makes everybody tyres halberton a free six field goal percentage points bump no that is genuinely true and I think that’s that’s actually you know what I think we do need to be thinking that more with the PAC because that’s how I’ve framed the Hawks ever since CRA been there as like the team to get bad offensive players to because they’re just gonna look better with Trey young and I think hi is the same kind of guy so yeah Ben has a YouTube channel uh just called his name Ben Fifer PFI f r and there’s an 8192 at the end of that at sign if you would like to see breakdowns of any of these players as well as historic Prospect these are the ones I like your last one was porzingis right of like the going back I think those are so fun I love those I love to like weave them into my like I don’t know if you watched the wear video but no it’s your last it’s your most one but yeah yeah but I invoked but I talked about bomba in that one um not in a bad it the the overall it was overall positive but yeah I will plug my my live draft show type thing where I will be live both days and I will be on I I’m pretty sure I forgot to tell you this I’m pretty sure I will be on there live I’m pretty sure I will be on there yes let’s go let’s go I believe I’ve I’ve figured out my responsibilities and we’ll be let’s go but yeah um I’m gonna be covering the draft live I’m gonna have hopefully Graphics I really want to show film live but I don’t want to get copyrighted so I’m probably not gonna do that um it’s fine for the non NCAA guys but for everything else it’s you know it’s it’s it’s just screwed but yeah gonna have beat writers and like yourself and Scouts and people to smart people to to talk about the draft and react to to what’s happening it’ll be a good time so um if you like Tony then you should come listen to him at least talk talk about whoever hopefully God I just want them to pick one of these players I want one of them I’ll feel very good that I’ll have something to reference like last year I did all the lottery guys I’m like here’s the thing I did about jerus like go watch this except then I didn’t do belal at all and so I was like oh man didn’t he’s sick he’s sick Wizards enjoying is still uh I’m dude same I’m so I’m so optimistic about jarus maybe I shouldn’t be but I think the flashers were there man you were right to be the problem is they will probably have the same team or largely the same yeah it’s tough but yeah anyways you can just follow me on Twitter it’s where I’ll have everything basically yes that would be a smart decision for anyone interested in the draft week away or this will come out Monday so can’t do ma 10 days away from round one um where the Pacers don’t have a pick so we’ll see what happens I probably won’t do more draft stuff until draft week so thank you Ben for this and you can keep up with more draft stuff on his feed tomorrow here we’re talking free agency at the power forward spot for the Pacers and then who’s available Pascal cak’s available here uh and then and we’ll see what happens in game five Monday night but there’s a chance for agency starts Tuesday if the Celtics win so the shows will go on as we see as things go uh thank you Ben for the time everybody hope you enjoyed your weekend and enjoyed this episode we’re getting there tell then everybody take care

The Indiana Pacers have three picks in the 2024 NBA Draft, and all three are currently in the second round. Who should the team target? Host Tony East is joined by Ben Pfeifer from Sportskeeda to break down six draft prospects the blue and gold should consider with their selections.

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