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As predicted, Wade Baldwin IV had enough hype amongst the Liberty Ballers community to carry him to victory in Big Board No. 7. His 35 percent votes topped second place vote getter Jaylen Brown of California by 13 percent. Timothe Luwawu continues to struggle to gather the momentum I thought he would.
Kyle mentioned this in yesterday's big board, but this part of the draft is really a shot in the dark. All you have left is to project that the one notable skill that player possesses is enough to carry him while he learns to figure out the rest of his game. Brown is speedy and incredibly bouncy, but is that going to be enough to carry him while he figures out how to handle the ball and learns how to shoot? Denzel Valentine seems to have that ever enticing Draymond Green ceiling (in terms of his effectiveness as a facilitator, ball handler and shooter), but he's a horrendous defender and struggled to score against bigger bodies. Can he still be that jack of all trades at the NBA level?
These things are the part of the NBA Draft that makes it so difficult, and for guys like Timothe Luwawu and the youthful Furkan Korkmaz, it's going to be even harder with the stigma of foreign players.
Personally, I think Luwawu might be the safest of them all. His offensive game has shown signs of growth with a serious interest in playing good defense. Solid coaching seems enough to fix his problems. Although shooting seems to be the easiest skill to teach, guards with weak jump shots scare me, and the fact that he can't dribble makes me feel like he'll be useless. I still don't have a real feel for which way Valentine may go, but he might be a good enough niche player to hack it with some team for a handful of years.
Regardless, anyone available this point is a legitimate project. Whoever takes them could lose their job in what they prioritize.