2026 NBA draft thread

[KillerLeft]

Brunson's midrange game was always a factor.  We'll disagree on that.

If the argument is could he have gone to the next level as the main guy without a consistent 3, that's a different argument.  But he needs his 3 only to keep defenses honest. His bread and butter is still his midrange game.  There is nothing so far that Flemings has shown to say that he can't do the same.  

Plus with Flagg here, no one is asking Flemings to come in and carry this team.  As a legit 2nd option, you very rarely get a chance at such a guy at #9.

Oooof. Hardest of disagrees here. Maybe we're using the phrase "a factor" differently, but to me it seems pretty simple. 

Goal #1: try to get two feet in the paint. When a guy is a threat to do that off the dribble, defenses back off and cheat in the lanes to take that away. They defend you by going under screens. The counter to that is to shoot from the perimeter. When the the defense is tight, it's easier to get a a driving angle. Even then, modern NBA defenses (good ones, at least) can take away the 3 AND the paint. That, to me, is where the open midrange becomes the deciding factor and yes, at that specific point, I agree that the midrange is where superstars make their names. 

Obviously there are some players who receive the ball in the midrange the way Dirk or Carmello Anthony used to, but that obviously doesn't apply to Brunson. 

We talk a ton around here about how "most people didn't see this in Brunson's future" at various points during his time here, and while I think you and I were probably both early adopters of his stock, I still vividly remember thinking his ceiling was lower than it should be, not because he couldn't shoot from the outside, but because he wouldn't. I feel pretty strongly that a pick and roll guard (which is EXACTLY what Brunson is) must be taken seriously enough as an outside shooter to prevent defenders from going under. That's basically the first step along the path to success for those guys nowadays, imho. Once Brunson got there, a whole slew of options opened up for him, expert midrange counters among them.