Thon Maker declares for the 2016 NBA Draft; must be ruled eligible.

[SHAQATTACK]

ESPN has us drafting him at 23.

Once Danny gets him in front of CBS .   He won't back out like Giannis and other recent foreign bigs he has ignored or let other teams draft .

KG. 2.0

[mmmmm]

Would anyone be upset if Celtics took Maker with the Brooklyn pick?

Thon Maker will not be a top 5 pick. I will bet every possession I have on it.

Last summer he got outplayed in the Nike Hoop summit by Skal Labissiere. He didn't have enough strength to hold off Skal when receiving entry passes.

I don't think this is a completely accurate characterization.  Skal and Thon were both on the World Team.  They competed against each other in 1-on-1 drills and scrimmages, but didn't really compete in a full competitive game against each other. 

It's interesting that there are different videos of the drills, the one DraftExpress put together  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_OlIxqaobM) that only shows their on-the-block post-up/iso drill against each other and another by CLH (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J236hoslYdc) that shows a much wider variety of each of their highlights and face-offs from the event.

I'd encourage you to watch both and form your own opinion, but keep in mind it will still be an under-informed opinion.  There just isn't enough information.

In the actual World vs US _game_, Skal got the start and posted pretty good stats, scoring 21 points and 6 rebounds in 27 minutes.  Maker came off the bench and struggled offensively, scoring just 2 points on 0-5 shooting, but played very well on defense and grabbed 10 rebounds in just 14 minutes. 

It was only one game.   Folks should not read too much into it.  But as a result, Maker's stock slipped and Labissiere leaped to the #1 spot on most early draft boards.   Well, since then, after a season at Kentucky, Labissiere has settled into somewhere between #10 and #16 on various draft boards.   So maybe that one game wasn't a comprehensive indicator of his talent.

It probably wasn't a comprehensive indicator of Maker's talent, either.

With what we now know about Skal from this season, there is no way Maker is a top 5 pick.

I nominate him for the 2nd annual Robert Upshaw award as the guy on Celticsblog people think should go way higher than he actually does.

This is probably true.

I think where he goes will depend very much on how much he impresses GMs in workouts.  And because of that, we (the public) are not going to have enough information to really say where he should go, because we are not usually privy to those workouts and even when we are we are even less privy to the assessments by the GMs and their staffs.

Where ever Maker gets picked, some folks will scream it is too high or too low.

Not too unlike what happened with Rozier.    Then we'll just have to see how he pans out.

I'm going to just put my faith in Danny to make a proper assessment.  Unless he trades a bunch of his picks away, Danny has to look at practically every player in this draft because  he has picks in every possible tier.  So I'm sure he's going to look closely into Maker and he'll put him on his board in a tier that is around one of his picks.   But that could be anywhere from a top 5 all the way down to the bottom of the 2nd round.

[mmmmm]

I shot a little over 90% from the line over the past two seasons.

Wait, what?

I don't know how he shot in 2014-15 or 2015-16, but he shot a fairly solid 78% in 2013-14 from the FT line on a massive 281 attempts in his sophomore season at Martinsville (reference:  maxpreps.com ).

I can't confirm the 90% over the last two seasons yet or if it's an exaggeration.  But the prior season confirms he's at least competent from the line.

[mmmmm]

Hopefully he is declared eligible. It seems unfair that the nba gets to decide, it sounds like a conflict of interest. Also I have no respect for people like Chad Ford. All the criticism Thon Maker is getting sounds a lot like a smear campaign to me. I hope we draft him and I hope the nba doesn't collude and not draft him, I'm worried they will.

What would be the motivation behind Woj, Ford, and Givony to "smear" him? That statement is baseless.

Their sources have an incentive to rate him negatively

?  What's the incentive?

The nba doesn't even want players to leave college after one year, let alone out of high school.

It happens, though.   Didn't guys like Brandon Jennings and Mudiay just spend a year overseas?   Dante Exum jumped from a foreign high school to the pros.  Thon Maker just spent an extra year playing High School ball.

I haven't researched this closely, but it really does sound like a kid who got a ton of hype from an overrated mix tape, has a real shot to make a ton of money by being drafted in the 1st round of the NBA, and is desperate not to be exposed on the College level as a mediocre prospect.  Best he enter the NBA now while there's still a shot his hype will get him paid.

This is certainly possible.  His buddy Skal Labissiere just went through that.   Skal emerged out of the same Hoop Summit that dampened enthusiasm for Maker as the #1 prospect but slowly then fell down the rankings this season.

He also has to have seen the result of failure to meet unrealistic expectations in a mismatched college situation as has happened with Simmons.  Constant nit-picking under a microscope.

Maker could be afraid that if he were to enter a college season ranked much lower -- say middle of the 1st round, he runs the risk of enduring a season of unpaid exploitation and nit-picky criticism that sends him drifting right off the draft board by next year.

Or, maybe he simply feels he is good enough to make an NBA roster right now.  Who knows?   I don't think anybody on this board knows.

I can't blame him for thinking enough of himself to try to impress the scouts in workouts and at the combines and hopefully get drafted and get paid.  The NCAA sucks.

However he shows, for good or bad, I just care that Danny scouts him more accurately than we are going to be able to do on this blog.

[mmmmm]

I'm not sure exactly what to make of the situation, but I've never fully trusted the scouts to be close to 100% accurate in their assessments.

I don't think it's as much to do with ulterior motives as with the fact that much of the work that goes into determining who ends up having successful NBA careers occurs after the kids are drafted.

I think that's a good point.

A big factor for any player is getting drafted into the right situation for that player.

[Dino Pitino]

I shot a little over 90% from the line over the past two seasons.

Wait, what?

I don't know how he shot in 2014-15 or 2015-16, but he shot a fairly solid 78% in 2013-14 from the FT line on a massive 281 attempts in his sophomore season at Martinsville (reference:  maxpreps.com ).

I can't confirm the 90% over the last two seasons yet or if it's an exaggeration.  But the prior season confirms he's at least competent from the line.

I'm not surprised he shot nearly 80%, his routine and form at the line are great. But over 90%, for two years, at 8 attempts a game...that would put him in rare company. It would speak to something special about his potential as a shooter overall, and about his work ethic and ability to develop skills in general.

His HS stats must be available somewhere, right? I can't picture him misrepresenting or misremembering his own stats like that, but it'd be cool to see the numbers directly.

[moiso]

I shot a little over 90% from the line over the past two seasons.

Wait, what?

I don't know how he shot in 2014-15 or 2015-16, but he shot a fairly solid 78% in 2013-14 from the FT line on a massive 281 attempts in his sophomore season at Martinsville (reference:  maxpreps.com ).

I can't confirm the 90% over the last two seasons yet or if it's an exaggeration.  But the prior season confirms he's at least competent from the line.

I'm not surprised he shot nearly 80%, his routine and form at the line are great. But over 90%, for two years, at 8 attempts a game...that would put him in rare company. It would speak to something special about his potential as a shooter overall, and about his work ethic and ability to develop skills in general.

His HS stats must be available somewhere, right? I can't picture him misrepresenting or misremembering his own stats like that, but it'd be cool to see the numbers directly.

I would have to see them because I don't believe him one bit.  I mean, Dirk is the greatest shooting 7 footer of all time and he's only shot 90% 3 times in 17 years.  The name is Maker but he can't be that good of a free throw maker.

[SHAQATTACK]

I'm not sure exactly what to make of the situation, but I've never fully trusted the scouts to be close to 100% accurate in their assessments.

I don't think it's as much to do with ulterior motives as with the fact that much of the work that goes into determining who ends up having successful NBA careers occurs after the kids are drafted.

I think that's a good point.

A big factor for any player is getting drafted into the right situation for that player.

TP .......right on Brother

[Dino Pitino]

I shot a little over 90% from the line over the past two seasons.

Wait, what?

I don't know how he shot in 2014-15 or 2015-16, but he shot a fairly solid 78% in 2013-14 from the FT line on a massive 281 attempts in his sophomore season at Martinsville (reference:  maxpreps.com ).

I can't confirm the 90% over the last two seasons yet or if it's an exaggeration.  But the prior season confirms he's at least competent from the line.

I'm not surprised he shot nearly 80%, his routine and form at the line are great. But over 90%, for two years, at 8 attempts a game...that would put him in rare company. It would speak to something special about his potential as a shooter overall, and about his work ethic and ability to develop skills in general.

His HS stats must be available somewhere, right? I can't picture him misrepresenting or misremembering his own stats like that, but it'd be cool to see the numbers directly.

I would have to see them because I don't believe him one bit.  I mean, Dirk is the greatest shooting 7 footer of all time and he's only shot 90% 3 times in 17 years.  The name is Maker but he can't be that good of a free throw maker.

Yeah, to be honest, I only believe him two bits. He's gotta be off by a little, it has to be below 90. If it's 90, then in all seriousness, neither for s***s nor for giggles, he should be a lottery pick. If it's 90, then we have to take him with the Dallas pick. It can't be 90.

[chilidawg]

Would anyone be upset if Celtics took Maker with the Brooklyn pick?

Thon Maker will not be a top 5 pick. I will bet every possession I have on it.

Last summer he got outplayed in the Nike Hoop summit by Skal Labissiere. He didn't have enough strength to hold off Skal when receiving entry passes.

I don't think this is a completely accurate characterization.  Skal and Thon were both on the World Team.  They competed against each other in 1-on-1 drills and scrimmages, but didn't really compete in a full competitive game against each other. 

It's interesting that there are different videos of the drills, the one DraftExpress put together  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_OlIxqaobM) that only shows their on-the-block post-up/iso drill against each other and another by CLH (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J236hoslYdc) that shows a much wider variety of each of their highlights and face-offs from the event.

I'd encourage you to watch both and form your own opinion, but keep in mind it will still be an under-informed opinion.  There just isn't enough information.

In the actual World vs US _game_, Skal got the start and posted pretty good stats, scoring 21 points and 6 rebounds in 27 minutes.  Maker came off the bench and struggled offensively, scoring just 2 points on 0-5 shooting, but played very well on defense and grabbed 10 rebounds in just 14 minutes. 

It was only one game.   Folks should not read too much into it.  But as a result, Maker's stock slipped and Labissiere leaped to the #1 spot on most early draft boards.   Well, since then, after a season at Kentucky, Labissiere has settled into somewhere between #10 and #16 on various draft boards.   So maybe that one game wasn't a comprehensive indicator of his talent.

It probably wasn't a comprehensive indicator of Maker's talent, either.

With what we now know about Skal from this season, there is no way Maker is a top 5 pick.

I nominate him for the 2nd annual Robert Upshaw award as the guy on Celticsblog people think should go way higher than he actually does.

This is probably true.

I think where he goes will depend very much on how much he impresses GMs in workouts.  And because of that, we (the public) are not going to have enough information to really say where he should go, because we are not usually privy to those workouts and even when we are we are even less privy to the assessments by the GMs and their staffs.

Where ever Maker gets picked, some folks will scream it is too high or too low.

Not too unlike what happened with Rozier.    Then we'll just have to see how he pans out.

I'm going to just put my faith in Danny to make a proper assessment.  Unless he trades a bunch of his picks away, Danny has to look at practically every player in this draft because  he has picks in every possible tier.  So I'm sure he's going to look closely into Maker and he'll put him on his board in a tier that is around one of his picks.   But that could be anywhere from a top 5 all the way down to the bottom of the 2nd round.

Great post.

[Big333223]

One thing to keep in mind is that the Celtics have too many picks. As it is, the team was Young, Rozier, Hunter, and Mickey all looking for playing time and not getting much (Rozier has gotten some more lately) so the prospect of adding 3 more first rounders (to say nothing of all of the 2nd rounders) to this team is crazy. Danny has to do something with some of these picks and prospects that thins the roster at least a little.

In that light, I think if Maker is on the board for the Celtic's pick (#23 or wherever it lands) they should grab him and get him into the D League.

On the other hand, the "weaknesses" portion of the DX video was kind of disturbing. Some of the mistakes he made looked like the kid on the playground who doesn't know how to play basketball. Maybe he can learn but I wouldn't take him anywhere near the lottery. Too risky.

[mmmmm]

I shot a little over 90% from the line over the past two seasons.

Wait, what?

I don't know how he shot in 2014-15 or 2015-16, but he shot a fairly solid 78% in 2013-14 from the FT line on a massive 281 attempts in his sophomore season at Martinsville (reference:  maxpreps.com ).

I can't confirm the 90% over the last two seasons yet or if it's an exaggeration.  But the prior season confirms he's at least competent from the line.

I'm not surprised he shot nearly 80%, his routine and form at the line are great. But over 90%, for two years, at 8 attempts a game...that would put him in rare company. It would speak to something special about his potential as a shooter overall, and about his work ethic and ability to develop skills in general.

His HS stats must be available somewhere, right? I can't picture him misrepresenting or misremembering his own stats like that, but it'd be cool to see the numbers directly.

Stats for his two years at Martinsville, VA are available in his profile at maxpreps.com.  That's where I got those.  But his last two years (his graduating year and then this post-graduate, senior-eligible last year) were in Canada and those stats aren't in the maxpreps database.  I'll try to track them down.

[alldaboston]

sorry if already posted, but here's an interview he had with draftexpress:

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Thon-Maker-Exclusive-Post-NBA-Draft-Decision-Interview-5417/

he sounds serious about this. also, draftexpress has him 44th on top 100 prospects:

http://www.draftexpress.com/rankings/Top-100-Prospects/2/

[Otsje P]

I don't really worry about that one on one video with skal. It just shows his lack of strength, which should come over time. The second video shows his great shooting touch though. His stroke looks really, really solid. That should translate to the NBA three point line.

If you would put our Kelly in such a one on one post up game, it would look exactly like that. I wouldn't worry to much about that. Time for him to watch a KG tape of his fade away turnaround jumper. KG got it of all the time. A go to move like that would open things up.

I would not mind taking Maker with the Dallas pick. But only if we keep the Brooklyn pick for ourselves. So that first pick will be a player to contribute right away, and the second will be a player to develop.

[The One]

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Thon-Maker-Exclusive-Post-NBA-Draft-Decision-Interview-5417

He sounds pretty mature and aware.

Eye opener - he's only been playing since 2011.  Room to develop??

I like where he says he wants to be like KG - a quarterback on the defense.

That would help this Celtics team tremendously!