This would seem to be pretty definitive. Unless all 8 have the top 8 picks or something, 1 of them is going to draft him.
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Good stuff; thanks BE! It wouldāve been nice if they took the time to find the SCU logo, but good for Allen!
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Itās been said here before, but this is the best case scenario for Santa Clara. Landing another player in the league as a first round pick is great. And hopefully Allen will be as supportive of the University as Jalen and Podz have been. The fact that Duke was recruiting him back to college also boosts our programās image as developing that caliber of player. And it goes without saying but I am very excited for Allen. Go be great!
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Not to be nitpicky, but heās technically āin the portalā
Yeah no kidding!
I agree with Dooger as well ā if Graves goes to the NBA, itās better that itās this year with Santa Clara as his only school.
If he has a 1st round guarantee, go and be great and add to the Bronco basketball brand!
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On a related note about (being from one school), Adama Balās ESPN page now lists his school as Santa Clara. It had been listed as Arizona initially.
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In a time where it seems like many of the smaller schools are struggling and shutting down, our Broncos are flourishing. From a likely 3 players (4 if you count Adama!!) to the NBA in 4 years to record-breaking applications and a new medical school, we have much to be excited about. Proud to be a Bronco and watch this school grow. Good luck to Graves!
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Rookie Wire reports Allen Graves has visited two NBA teams - OKC Thunder and San Antonio Spursā¦
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Allen is staying in! Go Broncos!
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Letās hope he goes to the Toronto Raptors at 19. They passed on Jalen and Podz so hopefully they pull the trigger on Graves at 19. Being a Raptor fan, that would be great and the Raptors are on the up!
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Iād love to see him join OKC (then I could watch JW and him, double the reason to watch) or the Spurs (because letās be honest, San Antonio is going to win a championship or two sometime in the next decade), it would be nice to see another Bronco get a ring.
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Take or leaveā¦ESPN article puts up a potential Jalen trade to keep OKC out of the ādreaded second apron.ā
It is only a matter of time that piling up draft picks that turn out to be diamonds is going to cost a team. OKCs is this year.
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Saw that story as well.
With salary cap, apron rules/penalties and huge $ for the salaries and penalties itās nearly impossible to keep great squads together forever.
OKC has succeeded for several w/ a very deep bench and fairly young bench thatās cost effective. As they pay their stars: SGA, JW, etc. it becomes harder for them to maintain the strong bench that has been key to their success.
Tough decisions will need to be made. If not JW, then someone like Holmgren or Dort will have to go, or they have to sign and trade a good young bench guy like Ajay Mitchell or Cason Wallace both of whom have filled in well this season for JW as heās been out a lot with injuries.
Thereās also no way Sam Presti doesnāt already have a plan for this. I think itās unlikely that trading Jalen is part of that plan.
Watching Cason Wallace and his hand activity and positioning, I can see why they have worked out Allen.
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I guarantee you after that mess of a Game 7 that unloading Jalen Williams is anywhere near the top of Prestiās list.
Unloading Chet Holmgren might be, though. Woof.
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Agree, Thunder sorely missed JW. You need a 2nd if not 3rd scorer it was mostly SGA, plus Caruso played solid throughout the series but need more from other guys. Some of the guys who stepped in w/ more minutes did a solid job: Cam Wallace, Ajay Mitchel, Jared McCain; their contributions were hit/miss and donāt necessarily do it consistently and none of them provide the length, playmaking of JW. Cam does match JWās defensive impact (on All-Defensive team) but others less so. Plus Mitchell was also hurt for most of the series.
One other observationā¦theyāve had a very small roster and playing rotation for the last 2 seasons. Obviously it has worked for them with the championship last year and best record in the league this year but I think they need to make changes. Only 3 true bigs on their 15man playoff roster: Holmgren, Hartenstein and Jaylin Williamsā¦each of those have areas of weakness (literally for Chet). Hartenstein is big and rebounds well and decent mid range scoring but a limited athlete and not much of back-to-basket game. Jaylin is shortish, below the rim guy. Chet is skilled, a shot blocker, good defender and theoretically can score but he can be pushed around and the Spurs smaller but stronger and athletic wings took Chet out of the game offensively.
Thunder need at least one traditional center who has the length, strength and athleticism to impact the game at the rim and in the keyā¦they donāt really have that anywhere on their roster as Chet is effectively a 7-1 wing.
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Back to thread topicā¦Graves.
I do think he made the right choice, no guarantee that his stock will be higher in the future if he returned to college.
Graves has gotten a lot of attention, partly because of his very high ranking, some Top 10 or even Top 5 in various player efficiency and advanced analytical ratings. This has peaked the interest of many. But IMO there isnāt much room for improvement in several areas that have landed him so high in those analytics.
Graves played very aggressively but for relatively limited minutes (~23/game) and off the bench. His aggressive play aided his steals, off rebs and block shots but also led to some foul trouble. He kind of cracked the code with the analytics as he maxed productivity rates in several areas at the cost of foul trouble; but most of the analytics donāt penalize you for fouling.
He also benefitted by coming of the bench. Especially in his first rotation of each half heās more likely to be playing against more 2nd unit guys from the opposing team. Most of the analytics donāt adjust for that.
If he had returned to the Broncos, he would have started and they would have likely encouraged him to be more careful with fouls in the hope he could stay on the floor for ~30+mins a game. This may have impacted his steal, off rebounding and block rate. He could have improved his overall game (3pt shooting, post game, etc.) and had an even greater impact for the Broncos yet see has efficiency ratings and advanced analytics drop a little. Letās say he drops out of the Top 10 on these rankings to say 50th. Thatās still outstanding considering there are 2,500+ D1 rotational guys who play enough mins to qualify for rankings. But then he doesnāt get all the attention and mentions on the twitterverse from the basketball pundits and maybe NBA guys donāt have him top of mind or start to question if heās worth a 1st round pick.
Wishing Allen well and hoping heās the next Bronco to have an impact in the NBA. I think in todayās NBA he can carve out a role with his ability to act as a hub or playmaker, knock down a few 3ās while also rebounding and defending reasonably well. Pivoting back to the Thunder roster, if you compare Allen to the Thunderās Jaylin Williams you could project Allen having an even bigger role and impact.
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The Athletic has Graves going to Charlotte at 18 with Vecenie commenting that this seems like a big swing (he would personally have Graves in the 25-30 range).
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Wherever heās drafted, as long as heās a first rounder, Allen will be getting quite the raise from time at SCU
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Lots of noise that Graves will not slide past the Spurs at 20 if he is there. Imagine Graves going to the Spurs and being on an instantly great young team.
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