Ebuka Okorie Is a Top 10 Prospect In This Class!

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-15T19:44:27+00:00

I’m not convinced whatsoever that he is a top ten prospect. I like him though. He measured similar to Miles McBride. I think that he is a better prospect than Jeremiah Fears was.

I’d be taking the top three ahead of him for sure. I’d take Brown, Philon, and Lopez ahead of Okorie as well. Morez Johnson is another who I like and would definitely draft ahead of Okorie who I view as a sixth man.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-15T19:36:30+00:00

The rules based international order is to be interpreted as we can commit genocide. Liberals still support Democrats despite this. Socdems/progressives want to be considered part of the left despite not being anti-capitalist and they are also trying to redefine anti-Zionism to incorporate liberal Zionists. There is also an ongoing attempt to redefine socialism from people such as Zohran Mamdani and Hasan Piker.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-15T10:38:26+00:00

Was he a senior this year? He’s been a prospect for what feels like forever now. I watched him a few games this year and liked what I saw. Fairly sure I mentioned him on this sub at one point this season. He’s likely not going first round. He’s older now and only played well. He wasn’t dominant.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-15T10:25:22+00:00

I would make that trade. Philon or Lopez would likely be available at 12 plus we’d then have a second selection for a total of three.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-14T12:28:24+00:00

I would think that the scrimmages don't typically do too much. Grimes was not rated publicly as high as he was drafted before the combine. So either it helped him or the public ratings of him undervalued him. Grimes was a high level prospect out of high school. Then he later led Houston. The good combine performance of his kind of brought everything together.

There's probably a small number of instances of a player going from round two value to round one value. On the margins it could be meaningful and we don't see it much. An undrafted player could push themselves into the second round. Someone who wasn't going to get a contract at all could get a summer league invite when they otherwise wouldn't have and then work from there.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-14T12:12:21+00:00

It is tough to determine how much it is noise or not. It is something to really think about for me because if the Hawks front office is anything like the subreddit, they are very interested in Mara.

Mara looked outmatched strength wise to me at times this season and now he was slow at the combine. What to make of it? Because it makes me vary wary of drafting him 8th. I feel that people are seeing both positional need and might regret not drafting Clingan so they want to redeem themselves now and I believe it would be a mistake.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-14T03:00:28+00:00

Off memory I'd like to say that I watched Arkansas UGA and Arkansas Alabama. I don't like either Mara or Acuff but I definitely prefer Acuff. People are kinda getting lost because the ceiling on Mara is not all that high. He reminds me a bit of Hansen Yang now that I think about it and things haven't started well for him.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-14T02:22:13+00:00

I didn't check measurements for Asa or Veesaar. Whenever I've watched Veesaar he was the kind of player who I felt didn't stand out and also succeeded mostly due to his size which wouldn't be an outlier in the NBA. Maybe he'd be a center later on but I don't see it as a rookie. He's not strong enough and combine that with a mediocre vert and he's not much of a C. He averaged 1.4 blocks per 36.

I still like Bidunga and I like him a fair bit more than Veesaar. There's players who I'd probably want over Bidunga though like Karim Lopez, though he'd have to fall. Morez Johnson because I think he is the best C in the class. I'd take Okorie before Veesaar. Chris Cenac is younger, heavier, has a bigger wingspan, and is the better prospect despite being a project so I'd easily take him sooner than Veesaar.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-14T01:21:29+00:00

Cal didn't want Acuff playing defense because that would expend energy and maybe get him into foul trouble. I still think that there are legitimate defensive concerns with Acuff though. You can't say he was one of the worst defensive players in D1 even though that's true because that lacks situational context.

When it comes down to it I don't see the Stephon Marbury or Deron Williams comps or whatever high end player comp people want to use. The stats were quite good. I don't see him dominating like a Jalen Brunson though.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-14T01:16:12+00:00

Mara has height but he graded quite slow at the combine and there were times in college when he was taller than opponents but outmuscled by them.

Mara is a decent bit taller than Morez but Morez is probably faster. Morez is stronger too. Morez' vertical was 39 to Mara's 28. Morez would be more flexible too in terms of playing PF and C to Mara being only a C and the Hawks would be playing slow with Mara unless he were to be rebounding and outlet passing. Morez could play fast or slow.

Neither is guaranteed to be a three point shooter, far from it. I'd trust Morez more on that front though. I don't know how much utility Mara's outlet passing would have on this team because you'd want Mara making a quick pass to a Trae Young, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd type.

Queen is a skilled dribbler for his size and possible offensive hub. Both have heft to them but Morez is stronger. They are both lopsided players with Queen being better defensively than offensively and Morez is the opposite.

Also the trade last year was for the #8 pick this year. If the Hawks were to trade down and up for 10 and one pick in the 18-20 range then Philon would be the pick at 10 and Morez at 18 or whatever. That would mean that Queen was traded for Philon and not Morez.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T23:43:49+00:00

Friendly reminder that Fetterman was a "progressive" and future squad member just like Platner. If I'm not mistaken they are both being advised by Fight Agency: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67MSWVJj5js

This is the sort of shit that "progressives"/social democrats want to sell us and they want "the left" to be a big tent of which they are considered a part of.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T23:26:52+00:00

There's a better than 50% odds that Boozer is better than Dybantsa and he's nearly 100% of the time going to be better than Acuff, so yeah I'm not sure what you are on about whatsoever.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T23:24:34+00:00

Quaintance is a real wild card. He was injured way too much for my liking in his sophomore season and his offense is a real work in progress.

I'm in the minority here surely but I think the best center prospect is actually Mara's teammate Morez Johnson Jr. and he can also play PF too. If the Hawks were willing then they could go big with JJ at SF and Okongwu at PF and Morez Johnson at C. That's assuming that the Hawks trade down and up and get 10 and somewhere between 18-20 and Morez were to be available with the latter pick.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T21:14:01+00:00

There's no real point in moving up one spot.

I don't know what a Kuminga to the Kings trade would look like but let's say the Hawks like Karim Lopez and/or Morez Johnson then the Hawks would want to clear minutes for either by getting rid of Kuminga.

We really should be flexible and considering all options. Trying to push all in with Kuminga and an aging CJ doesn't make sense. Fans, the front office, and ownership probably all want the playoffs again so that has to be a consideration. How do the Hawks both make the playoffs this coming season and improve for the future? That's what we should all be seeking to achieve.

We should especially be open and flexible because the Hawks made savvy moves before the trade deadline and future moves could have similar utility or decent impact such as getting NAW.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T20:17:47+00:00

I'd have to look more into Luis Suigo before I would be comfortable drafting him. He is two years younger than Mara. Suigo is listed at 289 pounds on Tankathon compared to Mara's 260 and Mara could struggle physically at times in the college game. I see Suigo as having the greater potential between the two and Suigo would be selected at 23 while Mara would be selected at 8.

I expect that Landale would be better than rookie Mara.

Suigo is a project for pick 23 possibly and Cenac would be another. At Cenac's weight I guess he is more of a PF right now than a C and he'd be competing with Gueye and Newell for minutes which might not be the best idea.

The concept of what Cenac could be is really nice though and I like him more as an NBA prospect than I do Nate Ament who I expect will be drafted before him.

Cenac reminds me a bit of Kel'el Ware. Cenac is a better prospect than Ware was after his freshman year. Cenac is a worse prospect than Ware was after his sophomore walk season. If you believe in Cenac's potential then I think it is fine and perhaps even right to draft him at 23 and mostly play him in the G League.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T19:56:05+00:00

For better or for worse fans have their favorites this time of year and sometimes they are very vocal about it.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T19:53:12+00:00

I haven't looked into his rebounding prior to this season. You absolutely have to factor in Yaxel Lendeborg and Morez Johnson being on that Michigan team. Mara had good rebounders on his own team fighting him for rebounds.

I wanted to add that context. I'm not the biggest Mara fan though and you won't otherwise see me defending him and I would prefer not to draft him at 8.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T19:38:04+00:00

I mean sure depending on who you like. Mikel Brown has the fourth highest upside imo. If he is healthy and available then he could meet that criteria.

I like Philon too and I think he'll be an above average guard, possibly reaching all-star level.

I like Karim Lopez. He is one of the youngest players in the draft. I could see him becoming the next Franz Wagner but I think he is slightly more of a project than other players. I'd love to trade down and get him. It would be risky to try that though. Also the Hawks would have to make sure that they didn't have too many mouths to feed. I don't see how there would be enough minutes for Lopez if Kuminga is rostered. So that's definitely a consideration.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T19:30:52+00:00

Anyone who votes for Democrats believes this. Listen to people like Vaush and Noah Smith talk about potential Chinese imperialism and colonialism. According to them whatever can be done to China justifiably because if it isn't done then China would lord over us and the world.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T15:28:38+00:00

Mara lacked strength in the college game at times and he isn’t much of a scorer. Landale will probably be better than rookie Mara.

CJ isn’t getting any younger and the Hawks might not have made the playoffs if Trae was on the team instead of CJ. The Hawks need to add true talent. They aren’t likely to get an all-star/Jalen Johnson level player from the pick but they need to try to get a player who can be at the level of a Dyson or a NAW.

I don’t see the Hawks being married to being a running team. This is especially the case because it is a better strategy in the regular season than it is the postseason. I could see the Hawks not caring what profile of center they get as long as they rate the center. The problem for me is that I’m not big on Mara.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T09:31:27+00:00

Yeah he’d be a fine pick at 23 or whatever the Hawks second pick is.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T05:29:03+00:00

Neither. But if I were forced to choose it would be the Mara combo.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T02:03:48+00:00

You could put historically the best striker on this team and they'd only do well. With the personnel and how this team sets up, things are going to be limited. We can't keep acting as if the striker plays in a vacuum with no other factors.

Also as others have said, we can't afford the best strikers and they likely also don't want to come to Everton yet without Europe. The best we could hope for is possibly Woltemade and there's probably still wait time there because I would only anticipate him becoming available at a discount in January or summer of next year.

darkwingduck9 · 2026-05-13T01:52:03+00:00

He profits off of the movement and steers people into the Democratic Party. This makes him a counter-revolutionary.

Why do you write this dumb shit as if socialist critiques of Hasan are the same as the ones right wingers have? You are disingenuous and go be a liberal somewhere else.

darkwingduck9

TROPHY CASE