The 2025 NBA Draft Class Is Doing The Impossible...

We all knew the 2025 EMEA Draft Class was going to be good, but this is one of the best starts to a season we've ever seen from a draft class. And it's not just guys at the top. It's throughout the draft. It's in the second round. It's in the late second round. Guys contributing to winning teams. This has been such an unbelievable start for this class. And of course, we have to start at the top with Cooper Flagg. It's been a weird start to the year for Dallas in general, but Flagg has looked like he belonged in every single game. He had a rough debut, obviously, on national TV, a little bit of nerves. But ever since then, all of the in-between stuff that people were excited about about Cooper Flagg that made him such a well-rounded prospect, it's all been there. He's been able to playmake. He's rebounding. He's guarding. He's getting out in transition. And you're seeing some of the flashes of on-ball creation, of taking dribble handoffs and getting to a one-dribble pull-up, even some pull-up threes. And that's what you want to see. You want to see all of the stuff that he was always supposed to be as a prospect. High energy, competitive, just plays a winning brand of basketball. And then you want to see him develop those other level of skills that are going to take him to being a potential superstar. And you also have to keep in mind, every single time you watch Cooper Flagg play, two things. One, he's not even 19 years old yet. He's the youngest guy in the league. It's unbelievable what he's been able to do after reclassifying in high school, getting to college a year early, and thus, obviously, getting to the NBA a year early. It's completely unprecedented, with the exception of a couple of guys throughout the history of the league, to have high statistical output at the age that Cooper Flagg is. There's other guys. Trey Murphy talked about this the other day. There's other guys that are really good in the league right now that, thinking back on when they were 18, almost 19 years old, thinking about trying to contribute in an NBA game and then seeing what Cooper Flagg has been able to do makes absolutely no sense. The other thing you have to keep in mind, anytime you're watching Cooper Flagg play, is this is a very weird situation from a roster perspective. As Jason Kidd said the other day, they are shorthanded at the point guard position. He's barely playing D'Angelo Russell at all. He's barely playing any guards at all, and it's Flagg and a bunch of big guys, which helps you, obviously, with defense and with rebounding. But for someone like Cooper Flagg that already needs some development in terms of being an on-ball playmaker, in terms of creation, in terms of working within space, having limited space because there's two bigs, there's a bunch of guys out there that aren't going to playmake around him, that makes it that much more difficult. And to still see him contribute in a meaningful way is unbelievably positive for Mavs fans. There's still some turnover issues. There's still going to be a lot of stuff he's going to have to deal with and work through throughout the year, but almost all of those things come from either the situation in Dallas or how young he is, and I can't wait to see Cooper Flagg continue to grow and develop. He's been absolutely worth the number one pick through a couple of games. Now let's talk about Dylan Harper. The Spurs in general have been very good to start the year, and I think Harper's actually been a little bit overshadowed because obviously Victor Wemenyama has been incredible, Steph Castle had a really good opening game. Dylan Harper has been everything you would want him to be, and then some. We talked about how Cooper Flagg's game is translating the way you would want it to, how he looks exactly like what you would want him to, given the skills and the profile that he brought to the NBA level. Dylan Harper looks like exactly the kind of prospect he was supposed to be. He's strong, he's able to get to the rim, he uses his shoulders to create space, can work a little bit in the mid-range, and his playmaking is continuing to grow and develop in San Antonio as well, to the point that, between him and Steph Castle and a couple of other guys, people are already having conversations about, okay, did they really need De'Aaron Fox if they knew they were going to be getting Dylan Harper, would they have traded for De'Aaron Fox, who obviously still hasn't come back yet due to injury. I've loved everything about what I've seen from Dylan Harper, and I think this is actually a really good situation for him in San Antonio, because if there was a knock on his game, it was, he's a high volume guy, he really wants to get up a lot of shots, and seeing how exactly that would work within a Spurs team that wants to be really good this year, it could have potentially limited his opportunities overall, because the coaching staff is looking at this like, okay, this guy's taking a lot of shots away from other people, he's not shooting very efficiently, but he's playing in this role that works really well for him, where they're not relying on him a ton, and then once De'Aaron Fox comes back, they won't be relying on him even more so, and it allows him to kind of scale down his game, work on his game, develop it, but do it in a much smaller sample, and I think in the long term, throughout the year, that's really going to help him better understand how to play winning basketball in San Antonio, which is not something he experienced a ton at Rutgers last year. Love the fact that Dylan Harper is in this situation in San Antonio, obviously alongside Wemby, those are the foundations in San Antonio, I can't wait to see that guy just continue to grow and develop throughout his rookie season, to the point that maybe De'Aaron Fox isn't a San Antonio Spur in a year, we'll see. But this next guy is probably, I wouldn't say the surprise of the class, but definitely the thing that kind of takes them over the top, and it's Vijay Edgecombe. There was obviously a lot of conversations at the time of the draft in terms of who Philadelphia was going to take third overall. One of the kind of big consensus points was that Ace Bailey was probably the third best player in the class, and thus a player that would make a lot of sense for Philly to take. They end up going with Vijay Edgecombe, partially because Ace Bailey is trying to get himself to a certain situation, and also because they really liked Edgecombe as a prospect, especially as this connecting piece. Not necessarily someone that's going to be profiled as a super-duper star if everything hits the way maybe Ace Bailey is, but still someone that's very good. And then all of a sudden, Vijay Edgecombe shows up and looks unbelievable. He's getting to the rim, he's defending, he's a crazy good athlete, all of these things we knew about him as a prospect, but now he's hitting jump shots, he's hitting spot-up threes, he's hitting pull-up jumpers. He has been probably, relative to expectations, the most impressive rookie to begin this season across the entire league, which is an unbelievable development for a Sixers team that had to nail this pick. They didn't have a choice. They have Maxie, they don't know what they're getting from Paul George, and Bede's playing like 20 minutes a night. They needed somebody else. They get gifted this third overall pick because they had a terrible year last year. They move up in the lottery, and Vijay Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxie, that's the team now, in my opinion. As far as I'm concerned, given that Joel Embiid looks terrible from a health perspective, Paul George just is not playing still. That's the team, Vijay Edgecombe, Tyrese Maxie, and that has been a lifeline for this franchise to start the season, and I can't wait to see what they continue to ask him to do, because they're heavily relying on Vijay Edgecombe now. They've got some other nice depth pieces in the rotation, but he's a starter for them. He's one of their starting guards. He's going to play a ton all year, and if he can continue to shoot like this and grow the other parts of his game, seriously, the sky is the limit for him, because overshadowed a little bit by the Ace Bailey of it all, he's an unbelievable athlete, and his ceiling is extremely high. The questions were shot making and shot creation, and so far, he has answered those questions. The most exciting guy, apart from maybe Cooper Flagg in the entire class right now. This is how you know the class is really good, because I haven't even skipped any picks yet. Con Canippa, fourth overall in Charlotte, has also been really, really good. Obviously, the upside and the ceiling and the potential is not as high for some of the other guys. Even someone like Ace Bailey, they got picked right after him, but the concept of him in Charlotte was, he's going to shoot the ball really well. He's going to attack closeouts well, and he's just going to be really, really solid, a connecting piece for us. The definition of a connecting piece for a Charlotte team that has LaMelo, who you know is going to be able to create, who has Brandon Miller, who you know is going to grow offensively, take a ton of shots, and also be pretty good on the defensive end of the floor. They'll figure out the front yard stuff later, and he has just been exactly what you would want. He's shooting unbelievably well from three. He's able to attack closeouts when teams are too aggressive, closing out on him. He's had some nice finishes at the rim, and he hasn't been completely terrible on defense. That's all Charlotte wanted. Charlotte knew that if this version of the team was going to be successful, it was going to be built around LaMelo and Brandon Miller. They needed someone to bridge the gap between those two playstyles of an on-ball guard that's going to create for everyone, get out in transition, and Brandon Miller as this potential Paul George light, get out in transition, hit a couple of mid-range jumpers, have a high volume of three-point shooting, and be really good on defense. They needed to bridge the gap between that with just a really solid, elite three-point shooter that's going to make the right play every time, and that's exactly what Conn Canipple has been in Charlotte. And we're just going to go ahead and skip, by the way, a little bit here and talk about all of the Charlotte rookies, because they are the winner of the draft class right now, which the Charlotte Hornets. They have Canipple. They have James and Kalkbrenner as well they picked in the second round, both of which are not just playing a ton, but contributing in winning ways. There's rim protection. There's three-point shooting, which is not something that James really did at all in college. That was one of the knocks on him as a prospect, was he wasn't a good three-point shooter, and he's shooting really, really well in Charlotte. And for a team that has some interesting pieces in Brandon Miller, LaMelo, a couple of other guys, having three potential hits, including a guy in the top five in this draft class, changes everything for Charlotte moving forward. It's exactly what they need, and they are the winner of the draft class right now. Still not skipping picks. Number five, Ace Bailey hasn't played well so far, obviously. He was sick in his first game, wasn't very good in the second game. But in the preseason, he was the story of the preseason, right? He looked like a mini version of Kevin Durant, in some people's opinion. He looked really, really good. I'm not worried about Ace Bailey at all. Utah has actually been more competent and more watchable than I expected them to be to begin the season, and I think eventually Ace Bailey is going to become a part of that. There's just too big of an opportunity here for him to not show flashes at some point during the season. And even if he's not particularly good, even if Utah's not particularly good, I'm not worried about Ace Bailey through a couple of games. Still not skipping picks. Number six, Trey Johnson in Washington, a Washington team that's been a pretty big storyline to start the year. Keyshawn George playing out of his mind in the first two games of the year, and right alongside him is Trey Johnson, who just looks like exactly what you want him to be. I know I've said that about probably four of the guys we've talked about so far, but that's the theme of the class right now, is you take these guys' draft profiles, what everybody kind of thought they were going to be, and you put them in the NBA, and that's exactly what they've been. And in Trey Johnson's case, that is, he's not really going to get to the rim a ton, but if he's got an open shot, it's going to go in way more often than he's going to miss it. And he's going to be able to create off of those closed outs a little bit, where you attack too hard. Okay, I can step to the side, take one dribble and still pull the three. I can get to my mid-range jumper. He looks like someone that is going to be playing in the league for 15 years, based strictly off his jump shooting. Even if he never develops more as a defender, even if he never develops more in terms of someone getting to the rim and playmaking, he is going to be one of the elite shooters in the league for a very long time. That's just what it looks like so far. And for a Washington team that over the years has either struggled to find perimeter shooting in general from some of these high upside swings they've taken in the draft, or they've been able to get only shooting from guys like Corey Kispert, having a high upside guy that already can shoot well and potentially develop the rest of his game in Trey Johnson is going to be really great for them. And I think this section of the draft right here, these top six guys, really establishes a great foundation for the class moving forward. Because no matter what happens, there's a base level of competency that they've all established of what they're going to be, with the exception of Ace Bailey, who like I said has been sick. Apart from that, they've all shown what they can be, even from a floor perspective, already in the NBA and that's super, super exciting for a handful of teams that really needed an infusion of talent. Next, I want to talk about Jeremiah Fierce in New Orleans. New Orleans, a big storyline team around the draft because they traded up for Derrick Queen, who's been fine, had some ups and downs to start the year. But Jeremiah Fierce at number seven, some people thought it was a little bit of a reach because he's a little bit of a smaller, kind of skinnier guard. Is he ever going to be able to defend? Well, offensively, he looks perfect. He looks like a playmaking guard, he's going to be able to get to his spots. He might not ever be like an all NBA caliber guy, but he's going to be a really, really good guard. And for a New Orleans team that has a lot on the line this season, given they traded away their first round pick, to be able to see immediate returns from someone like Fierce and then hopefully some continued growth from someone like Derrick Queen is really, really good for them. You know the thing I said earlier about how VJ Edgecombe, relative to expectations, has been the most impressive rookie in the class? I take that back because at 11, is Cedric Coward from Memphis, who, has he missed a shot yet? I'm not sure that he has. He has been unbelievable. By the way, this is a guy that's supposed to be playing at Duke right now. Like he kind of moved his way up through college basketball, was going to transfer to Duke, became this super late riser in the draft class, all of a sudden he's going 11th overall. So anytime you watch Duke play this season, keep in mind, this guy, who's tearing it up right now for Memphis, was also supposed to be on that team. He has been everything that Memphis has been looking for from A-Wing for half a decade. They've been in rumors about trading for Mikael Bridges, in rumors about trading for OJ Anunobi, they drafted Zyra Williams, they did all of these different things to try and find exactly what Cedric Coward has been through the first couple of games of his NBA career. He's spacing the floor, he's getting out transition, he's guarding, he's an incredible athlete, he's able to get to the rim, he can finish lobs, everything. It's all there. And obviously, we don't know if that's going to continue, but if you could have scripted a perfect start to this pick for Memphis in a transitional offseason for them in which they trade away Desmond Bain, they bring in Ty Jerome, they have a bunch of injuries on the frontcourt in the offseason. You need something to hang onto, especially in a scenario where Job was already dealing with injury stuff, Jaron Jackson was already dealing with injury stuff. Enter Cedric Coward, who has been the most impressive rookie relative to where he was drafted in the entire class, and again, just like with a bunch of the other guys we talked about, it really does change a lot of things for Memphis moving forward. I'm sure people are going to get mad that I don't specifically mention their rookie on their team by name, but a couple of other guys here, Asa Newell at 23 for Atlanta, someone they reportedly kind of wanted to take at 13, then trade it out in New Orleans and end up getting it at 23. He looks like one of these energy athlete guys, hopefully can hit some open threes. He looks really good. We already talked about the other two Charlotte rookies at 33 and 34 in James and Kalkbrenner. 56, Will Richard, I just want to point him out really quick for Golden State. Just immediately looks like he belongs, he's just going to be the ninth man on Golden State all year long and hit some shots and defend and just be a great depth piece for them. And there's been a bunch of other guys as well that throughout this second round kind of have flashed a little bit. I'm not willing to put them in a video quite yet, but really that could potentially end up being the strength of the class given how good it is at the top, like the overall depth on top of obviously having Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper at the top of the class makes this unbelievably exciting. Normally we have to wait. Normally it's like, okay, we see some flashes and then season long we end up seeing really good things from the class. This class just showed up and straight away was like, you know what? We're going to be one of the best draft classes we've seen in recent memory. And I can't wait to continue to watch these guys the rest of the year.