Almost here to figured we should have a unified spot for draft bantz.
Sam Vecenie at The Athletic released his big draft guide and interestingly enough, Missi (#20) is ahead of Walter (#23) on his big board. Bridges is #52 which puts him at a mid/late-2nd round grade.
These are long but here are their full (final) write-ups for our three draft guys. Ton of good stuff here and reposting at full length because it's paywalled (and really good). He is not sold (at all) on Walter and I wonder if the prevailing winds among NBA draft scouts is trending the same direction. He seems to be falling the more they look at his tape in the same way Missi is rising.
Yves Missi
BACKGROUND: Parents are Jean-Paul and Annette. Yves comes from an athletic family. Both of his parents were on the Cameroonian national team. His brother, Steve Moundou-Missi, was a three-time All-Ivy League player and won the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2015. His sister, Corinne, played basketball at Spring Hill College. Yves was originally born in Belgium, but his family moved back to Cameroon when he was young. He played soccer when he was young but quickly switched to basketball given his family. He moved to the United States in 2021 and attended West Nottingham Academy in Maryland. He then transferred to basketball powerhouse Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif. and was immediately impactful, averaging nine points and nine rebounds. His athleticism, tools and rapid development rate were clear indicators that colleges should have wanted to get involved early before his breakout. He was also productive at the Nike EYBL level, playing for PSA Cardinals and nearly averaging a double-double. He ended up as a consensus high-end four-star recruit. He attended Nike Hoop Summit and was a rostered player for the World Team. He committed to Baylor in Jan. 2023 over Texas and Stanford. Originally a Class of 2024 player, Missi reclassified and entered the Class of 2023 in May after a strong spring and became a member of a tremendous Baylor class that included Ja'Kobe Walter and Miro Little. Missi made an immediate impact at Baylor, with the scouting community discussing him as a potential pop-up one-and-done following fall workouts and practices attended by NBA scouts. That came to fruition, as Missi earned All-Defense and All-Freshman honors in the Big 12 this season as Baylor's starting center. He helped the Bears to a third-place finish in the Big 12 and declared for the 2024 NBA Draft following the season.
STRENGTHS: Missi has good size for an NBA center. At 6-10 3/4 without shoes with a 7-2 wingspan and a 9-1 1/2 standing reach, he looks the part of a low-usage, high-impact defensive big man in the NBA. He possesses elite physical tools and played above the rim as often as anyone in college basketball this season. He gets off the ground quickly and is a remarkable leaper with terrific explosiveness. He posted a 38.5-inch vertical leap at 230 pounds at the NBA combine. Because of that length and ability to sky, he has an enormous catch radius that allows guards to throw ambitious lobs to him. He also plays with a high-level motor. He has good hands, especially above his waist and head area, and runs end to end with ease.
Missi lives at the rim on offense. At Baylor, he took 92 percent of his shots at the rim, per Synergy, and did not attempt a single jump shot. He made 70.1 percent of his shots at the rim in half-court settings, with a large portion being dunks. In total, Missi had 63 dunks this season. Baylor used him in a few different roles. The Bears would often put him in the dunker spot to create chances for dump-offs or lobs, but they also used him regularly as a rim-runner. A few times per game, they'd run off-ball sets to get him a backdoor look at the rim. More often, he'd screen and then roll downhill immediately. He made 70.5 percent of his shots as the roller, per Synergy. He plays with downhill force when he can get a head of steam. Opponents must tag him or he'll go up to finish. That force ends up sucking defenders into the paint.
Missi is comfortable timing his rolls based on where the surrounding defenders are. He knows when he can get the slice of space he needs to get a clear path. He's an elite offensive rebounder, grabbing 2.6 per game this season in about 20 minutes per contest. He reads the ball incredibly well off the glass, seemingly knowing where his teammates' misses will fall, and positions himself in those areas to go for the ball. He constantly attempts to get tip-outs or put-backs, jumping higher than defensive rebounders using his length and vertical. He uses his motor and ability to get off the ground quickly to wreak havoc with second and third efforts. He carves out space for his drivers when they go to the rim, then maintains that position to get second-chance looks. He's terrific in trailer situations. Missi's physical presence around the rim extends to the defensive end. He's a good shot blocker who's smart at creating angles to swat the ball. He blocked 1.5 shots per game but contested countless more. He's smart rotating around the rim, using a blend of coordination and explosiveness to turns his hips well for his size. He knows how to backpedal while staying big and is powerful enough to prevent opponents from going through his chest to carve out space at the rim. He's great when recovering if beat in ball screens.
Generally, Missi is OK when he's just dropping back and back-pedaling, though some are concerned with his feel. Out in space, he moves well when going against guards. With his physical tools, Missi likely won't be used as a switch defender, but he should be able to hold up decently on the perimeter or when placed on an island with guards. He can stay in front for a couple of slides before recovering back to his man. That won't be his bread and butter, but he should be functional when required. In general, he's an active, athletic, hard-working defender, and the combination of those tools matters when projecting player growth.
WEAKNESSES: His skill set is limited. He is a typical non-shooting, non-playmaking, non-shot-creating big man.
Missi does not project to be a shot creator at any point. That's OK, but it limits his upside to that of a starter-caliber role player. He's not comfortable putting the ball on the deck regularly against centers. He doesn't have much in the way of post moves. He took only 15 hook shots all year, making four of them, per Synergy. He can occasionally drop step, but his motion is not fluid. He's still learning to access his athleticism and explosiveness after dribbling. He seems to lose his touch when he puts the ball on the floor and drives to the rim, often throwing up hard balls off the glass and rim. He made just 57.8 percent of his layups, a poor number for a big his size.
Away from the rim, Missi is a non-shooter. He made 61.6 percent from the foul line. His release looks OK, and he should improve his free-throw percentage, but he won't be able to make shots in the run of action. His touch and shot mechanics do not make one believe he will ever become a 3-point threat. On the perimeter, he can at least put the ball on the deck once or twice to get into a dribble handoff if he has space, but he can't do it if crowded. He was just an average screener this season. When he wanted to make contact, he was solid, but he seemed to prefer slipping early and trying to get downhill using his speed. He'd do well to make more consistent contact on screens and find open areas into the defense to get his ballhandler more separation. Also, I worry about him in short-roll situations. I don't trust him to put the ball on the deck in the middle of the floor. He's a non-passer, notching just 13 assists in 780 minutes this season while posting a historically low 3.4 assist rate. He doesn't see open passes; every play is either a finish or escape pass. Baylor limited him to those situations.
Defensively, Missi's technique is messy. His positioning is all over the map and indicative of a player still learning the game. He sometimes gets turned all the way around in ball-screen coverages. Despite his athleticism and length, guards were more capable of turning the corner on him when he played closer to the level of the screen. He does not play the cat-and-mouse game between the big and the ballhandler well enough to take both options away. Sometimes, he plays with low hands and gets caught in no-man's land too often. These issues are fixable, but he's more of a project in ball screen coverages. He needs to improve his anticipation at the rim. He knows where he needs to be, but if the driver adjusts, he does not make the necessary counter. He seems to pre-determine where and when he's going to jump. He tries to block everything, which can lead to fouls at times. He will swat at the ball, which is fine when he's backpedaling in drop coverage, but results in fouls after wild swings at the ball while rotating. He wasn't an effective defender in the post for his size and strength, occasionally getting pushed backward by smaller players. That will likely change as his frame fills out, but he needs to grow more physical. His overeagerness as a shot blocker also impacts his ability to end possessions with defensive rebounds. Missi is a poor defensive glass cleaner for a center, averaging fewer than three per game. He understands how to read the ball coming off the rim based on his offensive rebounding game, but his tendency to go for the block puts him out of position too frequently. He must better understand what he can and can't get to when trying to block shots. These defensive flaws are fixable, and he seems to have the right motor and attitude to address them, but it will take some time.
SUMMARY: Missi's athletic tools are superb. While his 9-1 1/2 standing reach didn't stand out for a player of this skill set at the combine, it's more than enough when accounting for how vertically he plays. In many ways, he's one of the safer picks in the draft in terms of projecting rotation players. Players this big, athletic and hard-working rarely fail. Given his attitude, it's hard to imagine him not at least becoming a backup center. Beyond that, he must clean up some of the technical flaws within his game and continue to grow more comfortable with the ball in his hands when the defense takes away his first option. I believe he'll be a starter eventually, but he has limitations. HIs upside is in the ballpark of Clint Capela, a player picked 25th overall who returned lottery value to Houston in 2014 before being traded to Atlanta. However, Capela significantly improved his game over the course of his first season-and-a-half in the NBA, and Missi must follow a similar trajectory to reach that level.
Ja'Kobe Walter
BACKGROUND: Parents are Sabrina and Eddie. Walter's father, Eddie, played at Birmingham-Southern. Walter got into basketball at a young age and continued to grow. He also played football and had a potential Division I future in that sport but decided to focus on basketball as a freshman in high school. He was identified early as an elite player within his age group and has won on every level.
He began his career at McKinney High School in the suburban Dallas area and got his first high-major offer from Baylor before his sophomore season. He continued to blow up as a junior, leading McKinney to a runner-up finish in the 6A Texas state tournament behind a Duncanville team led by current NBAer Anthony Black and fellow 2024 draft class member Ron Holland. Due to some absurd Texas court rulings, McKinney was declared the winner of that game after Black was ruled an ineligible transfer. Walter left McKinney following that season to attend powerhouse Link Academy in Missouri, where he played alongside other high-end prospects such as Elliot Cadeau, Aaron Rowe, Cam Carr, James Brown and more. Walter led Link to victory in the GEICO Nationals tournament, in effect becoming the best player on the country's best high school team. A five-star recruit, Walter committed to Baylor in the summer before his senior season exactly two years after it became the first school to send him a scholarship offer. He had a solid freshman season at Baylor, doing whatever coach Scott Drew asked of him with a great attitude. He helped Baylor to a 24-11 record and a third-place finish in the Big 12, leading the team in scoring, making third-team All-Big-12 and winning the conference's Rookie of the Year award. The Bears were then eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
STRENGTHS: Walter has good measurements for an off-ball 2-guard at 6-4 1/4 with a 6-10 wingspan. He has a long, lean frame with broad shoulders and has continued to put on weight as he ages. He should have no problems adding more strength over the course of his career. He consistently plays hard and seems to want to play the right way by being effective with or without the ball.
His game is very polished, especially as a shooter. Though he made just 34.1 percent of his 3s, Walter is confident and comfortable firing from distance, having attempted 6.3 shots per game from long range. His shot prep off the catch is superb; he gets his body square to the rim and maintains balance with his entire body in alignment. He sways forward slightly on his shot, with his right leg drifting in front of his left, but his motion is consistent. He can take 3s directly off the hop or with 1- 2, left-right footwork. His elbow stays directly underneath the ball, creating a beautiful high trajectory on the shot's release. He should knock down shots from NBA distance consistently.
His 36.7 percent off the catch from 3 came on high volume, and he made 39 percent of his 106 catch-and-shoot 3s at Link during his senior high school season, per Synergy. I love the way Walter moves without the ball, particularly as he flows into his shot. He made the 32nd-most 3s off screening actions in the country this season and drilled 40 percent of those shots. He knows how to run around curls and how to come off screens to get free from his defender. He gets his feet underneath him well off movement and can fire quickly to generate his usual high finish.
In general, Walter has an excellent understanding of spacing, with an innate sense of the most dangerous areas for him to relocate. He generates many of his 3-point attempts by sliding subtly across the perimeter and presenting himself as an option to his teammates. Despite his so-so college percentages, I believe in Walter becoming a high-level marksman from 3 in the NBA. Walter uses the threat of his shot to create offense on his drives. He has a nose for the bucket and an understanding of how to score in those situations. He's best when he can attack a closeout in a straight line after a teammate creates an advantage. His footwork and handle in those situations are polished, and he changes speeds effectively. He has shown flashes of a solid floater game; his 42 percent mark on those shots was solid for a freshman.
His defense has a chance to be impactful even if it was hit or miss last season. He's a solid team defender who makes the right reads, tags rollers effectively and understands where he needs to be. Many of his off-ball gambles come through with steals because he regularly keeps his arms up. He had some positive moments on the ball, although he does sometimes struggle there.
WEAKNESSES: Walter won't be a plus athlete by NBA standards.
He's a bit stiff, lacking high-level vertical explosiveness and quickness. He keeps things simple, which is a good indicator he can be a good NBA role player. But some scouts wonder if he has the upside to do more and whether he can add significant additional skills as he ages. He's not particularly shifty on the ball, so don't expect him to break anyone down in isolation situations unless he's setting up a stepback jumper. He has a polished handle but struggles to take it anywhere on the court due to his lack of shake or quickness. The result: He rarely turns the corner on defenders and his drives tend to loop if he lacks a clear advantage.
He attempted less than two shots at the rim per game in half-court settings last season and only made 47.1 percent of his attempts at the rim overall. Both are startlingly low numbers that should concern teams. The result is Walter settles for a lot of contested pull-up jumpers when he's forced to create for himself. He made 25 percent of his 3-point attempts off the dribble, per Synergy, and just 32.7 percent of his pull-up 2-point jumpers. He's not a creative passer and rarely forces enough help to get opponents into rotation and make plays for teammates. He tends to require a gather before making a pass, rather than being someone who delivers them off a live dribble. He showed improvement in this area as the season progressed, and I don't think he's selfish or possesses poor vision. But he is often too late in making those reads, which leads to more contested pull-up 2-pointers than ideal.
If the hope is for Walter to become a 3-and-D player, his defensive tape at Baylor was not encouraging. He plays too stiffly, without great hip flexibility, and comes up too high in his stance. His closeouts are too hoppy he often drops his hips a beat late, which results in him getting beat, sometimes even in a straight line. He gets turned around on multi-stage moves, sometimes over-pursuing the initial one and unbalancing his feet. He has the potential to be a fine defender given his length and willingness to battle, but he's not a plus on the ball now and needs to be.
SUMMARY: I want to like Walter more than I do because I'm a big fan of prospects with legitimate size, length and shooting ability. Walter is the kind of physical archetype a team can sell itself on physically playing off the ball next to a primary shot creator, then potentially cross-match to annoy the opponent's best on-ball players on the other end of the floor. However, he's not there as an on-ball defender yet. Maybe he can improve we've seen guys with this body type make that kind of leap before but he has a long way to go. That deficit is on top of him not being a monster athlete, high-level passer or effective driver. I have a first-round grade on Walter because I believe in him becoming an excellent shotmaker given his adeptness off movement. But to be a difference-maker rather than just an NBA rotation player, he must make a defensive leap.
Jalen Bridges
BACKGROUND: Parents are Megan and Cory. Bridges attended Fairmont Senior High School in Fairmont, W. Va., where he grew up, and became one of the most impressive winners in state history. He was a key player on teams that won the state title in his first two high school years and was honorable mention all-state in that second season. He broke out in his third year, winning all-state honors for the first time and leading his team back to the title game, which it lost. In his fourth year, he was named all-state again and won the Bill Evans Award as the best player in West Virginia. He averaged 21 points and led his team back to the title game, which it lost again. Bridges was considered a solid four-star prospect at this point and had offers from Miami (Fla.), Alabama and Xavier, among others.
He was originally a Class of 2020 recruit, but stayed home and enrolled early at West Virginia, making him a top-100 Class of 2019 recruit. He redshirted his first season, but was named to the All-Academic Rookie team in the Big 12. Bridges immediately entered the rotation during his redshirt freshman season, starting 19 games by the end of the campaign and earning All-Freshman honors in the Big 12. He looked like a potential breakout candidate for the NBA Draft in 2022, but he was just OK as a sophomore. Though he was the only player on their team to start every game, he wasn't as effective an offensive player. He transferred to Baylor following that season, choosing the Bears over Alabama.
He started and played every game on a team that finished third in the Big 12. Bridges declared for the 2023 NBA Draft following the season and flirted with turning pro overseas before deciding to go back to Baylor. The Bears finished third in the league again in 2024 and Bridges was named third-team All-Big 12. Despite having one year of eligibility left, Bridges declared for the 2024 NBA Draft and stayed in.
STRENGTHS: Bridges possess great size and a great frame for an NBA wing at 6-6 3/4 without shoes, a 6-10 wingspan and an 8-9 standing reach.
He doesn't have an enormous physical build at 213 pounds, but he's strong enough to hold up. He's not explosive as an athlete but has functional lateral ability. The idea is for Bridges to be a 3-and-D big. With his marriage of size and speed, he has the prototypical tools of what teams will look for compared to a smaller player. Bridges made 41.2 percent of his 177 3-point attempts this season (about five per game). Over the final 51 games of his collegiate career, Bridges made 41.7 percent of his 3s on 230 attempts. More than 75 percent of his shots from distance this season either came from a spot-up or in transition, per Synergy. He drilled 40.9 percent of his attempts off the catch and hit 43.8 percent of his 32 attempts off the bounce. Most of these were relocation attempts, but it's a good sign that he could take a dribble and side-step into a shot. He has a good pump fake into a one-dribble side-step 3, mostly going to his left.
He has a quiet shot with simple mechanics. He has a wide base to generate power. He has great shot prep, getting his hands ready to receive with his knees bent and ready to fire. He gets his shot off quickly because of that. Bridges improved this season at moving without the ball, either to come off screens to shoot or to relocate to fire. He didn't take many shots off screens, but his reps looked good. He made 13 of his 21 3-point attempts in such situations, with a few of those involving his momentum going away from the rim before he stopped and fired. He has always been a sharp cutter. He knows how to use the threat of his shot well to open angles for himself. He's excellent operating the baseline.
He also crashes the offensive glass aggressively, averaging more than two offensive rebounds per game in his two years at Baylor. Bridges is an active and engaged team defender whom I like most off the ball. He uses his length well and keeps his arms extended out. He manages one-on-two situations on the back side well. He understands where he needs to be in those situations and cuts off angles, putting himself in position to contest either player and at times working his way into steals and blocks. He rotates along the back line of the defense well. Bridges covers a lot of ground, which is key for NBA defense in scrambles and rotations. He averaged more than a steal per game, adding more than a block every two games. He is disruptive often enough to make teams nervous and anticipates the play well.
On the ball, Bridges is solid and plays hard. He's not the speediest or most switchable player, but he has enough quickness and lateral flexibility to manage against guards. He bodies wings well. I think he does a solid job getting through screens, using good technique to get over and get skinny. He takes good angles, and his effort is also good. Bridges is a conscientious defender. He's not elite, but his presence is additive because he has good tools, he cares and his instincts are sound.
WEAKNESSES: Bridges is not an explosive athlete by NBA standards. He posted a 32-inch vertical, and that lack of pop shows up on tape. He doesn't have a quick first step. He won't be behind the eight-ball because he's functional in terms of flexibility and strength, but the opposition is unlikely to feel his downhill power or force. My big worry for Bridges is his skill level on offense beyond shooting. I wouldn't feel comfortable with him putting the ball on the ground more than once or twice.
He is not a shot creator; in college, he posted a usage rate of 17.5, a low number for a wing. He doesn't have the inherent creativity or tight handle off the bounce. On his drives, he needs to have a straight line available to get to the rim. I don't think that he navigates bodies on the interior well. He had a few solid rip-through drives off heavy closeouts, but most of those came when he had a lot of space to drive into. Even then, he needs to be able to pick up the ball off the second dribble.
He covers ground quickly from outside the 3-point line, but if you help, where is he going? He has zero in-between game; he took just 15 jumpers and 10 floaters inside the arc all season. He made 56.9 percent of his half-court attempts at the rim. That isn't bad without context, but the self-created attempts were much worse. If you remove his shots off cuts, he was below 50 percent as a finisher. He's not all that vertical unless he can load into his leap. He's not a strong passer, and I don't think he sees the court well.
Bridges is not a selfish player or bad decision-maker. He knows how to stay within himself, which is to be commended. But he doesn't make consistently threatening passes. He averaged only 1.4 assists per game this year, and that was a career high. He averaged just one turnover per game, but that's more of a statement on how little he was doing with the ball. Can Bridges do enough offensively to play in the NBA? His repertoire is limited. NBA teams love low-usage players who are willing to fill a role, make shots and defend, but they also need to be able to adjust to the defense.
The only counter I saw semi-consistently from Bridges this season was a one-dribble pull-up from distance. He doesn't have a midrange game and he was not a great finisher on the interior. He also didn't make many high-level passes when teams rotated over. How will he beat better defenders in the NBA when they close out on him and take away the threat of his shot, as well as his side-step pull up? He needs an answer there, or else it'll be hard for him to make an offensive impact.
SUMMARY: I like the idea of Bridges as a 3-and-D wing, but wings at this age with such low usage entering the NBA have a narrow pathway toward making it long-term. Justin Holiday and Danny Green are two examples of players like this who have succeeded, but both were much more disruptive on-ball defenders coming out of college than Bridges is now. They both made All-Defense in their leagues in college, whereas Bridges did not. He's a positive defender, but I'm not convinced that will outweigh what is almost certain to be negative offensive production because of his low usage. I like him as a depth player on a two-way contract. He's not going to make mistakes; he can shoot and he'll perform within a team's scheme on defense. Players like that are useful to have around, even if they never carve out a rotational role. He'd need to become a 40 percent 3-point marksman from NBA distance on real volume to reach that threshold, which will necessitate becoming lethal shooting off screens
Sam Vecenie at The Athletic released his big draft guide and interestingly enough, Missi (#20) is ahead of Walter (#23) on his big board. Bridges is #52 which puts him at a mid/late-2nd round grade.
These are long but here are their full (final) write-ups for our three draft guys. Ton of good stuff here and reposting at full length because it's paywalled (and really good). He is not sold (at all) on Walter and I wonder if the prevailing winds among NBA draft scouts is trending the same direction. He seems to be falling the more they look at his tape in the same way Missi is rising.
Yves Missi
BACKGROUND: Parents are Jean-Paul and Annette. Yves comes from an athletic family. Both of his parents were on the Cameroonian national team. His brother, Steve Moundou-Missi, was a three-time All-Ivy League player and won the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2015. His sister, Corinne, played basketball at Spring Hill College. Yves was originally born in Belgium, but his family moved back to Cameroon when he was young. He played soccer when he was young but quickly switched to basketball given his family. He moved to the United States in 2021 and attended West Nottingham Academy in Maryland. He then transferred to basketball powerhouse Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif. and was immediately impactful, averaging nine points and nine rebounds. His athleticism, tools and rapid development rate were clear indicators that colleges should have wanted to get involved early before his breakout. He was also productive at the Nike EYBL level, playing for PSA Cardinals and nearly averaging a double-double. He ended up as a consensus high-end four-star recruit. He attended Nike Hoop Summit and was a rostered player for the World Team. He committed to Baylor in Jan. 2023 over Texas and Stanford. Originally a Class of 2024 player, Missi reclassified and entered the Class of 2023 in May after a strong spring and became a member of a tremendous Baylor class that included Ja'Kobe Walter and Miro Little. Missi made an immediate impact at Baylor, with the scouting community discussing him as a potential pop-up one-and-done following fall workouts and practices attended by NBA scouts. That came to fruition, as Missi earned All-Defense and All-Freshman honors in the Big 12 this season as Baylor's starting center. He helped the Bears to a third-place finish in the Big 12 and declared for the 2024 NBA Draft following the season.
STRENGTHS: Missi has good size for an NBA center. At 6-10 3/4 without shoes with a 7-2 wingspan and a 9-1 1/2 standing reach, he looks the part of a low-usage, high-impact defensive big man in the NBA. He possesses elite physical tools and played above the rim as often as anyone in college basketball this season. He gets off the ground quickly and is a remarkable leaper with terrific explosiveness. He posted a 38.5-inch vertical leap at 230 pounds at the NBA combine. Because of that length and ability to sky, he has an enormous catch radius that allows guards to throw ambitious lobs to him. He also plays with a high-level motor. He has good hands, especially above his waist and head area, and runs end to end with ease.
Missi lives at the rim on offense. At Baylor, he took 92 percent of his shots at the rim, per Synergy, and did not attempt a single jump shot. He made 70.1 percent of his shots at the rim in half-court settings, with a large portion being dunks. In total, Missi had 63 dunks this season. Baylor used him in a few different roles. The Bears would often put him in the dunker spot to create chances for dump-offs or lobs, but they also used him regularly as a rim-runner. A few times per game, they'd run off-ball sets to get him a backdoor look at the rim. More often, he'd screen and then roll downhill immediately. He made 70.5 percent of his shots as the roller, per Synergy. He plays with downhill force when he can get a head of steam. Opponents must tag him or he'll go up to finish. That force ends up sucking defenders into the paint.
Missi is comfortable timing his rolls based on where the surrounding defenders are. He knows when he can get the slice of space he needs to get a clear path. He's an elite offensive rebounder, grabbing 2.6 per game this season in about 20 minutes per contest. He reads the ball incredibly well off the glass, seemingly knowing where his teammates' misses will fall, and positions himself in those areas to go for the ball. He constantly attempts to get tip-outs or put-backs, jumping higher than defensive rebounders using his length and vertical. He uses his motor and ability to get off the ground quickly to wreak havoc with second and third efforts. He carves out space for his drivers when they go to the rim, then maintains that position to get second-chance looks. He's terrific in trailer situations. Missi's physical presence around the rim extends to the defensive end. He's a good shot blocker who's smart at creating angles to swat the ball. He blocked 1.5 shots per game but contested countless more. He's smart rotating around the rim, using a blend of coordination and explosiveness to turns his hips well for his size. He knows how to backpedal while staying big and is powerful enough to prevent opponents from going through his chest to carve out space at the rim. He's great when recovering if beat in ball screens.
Generally, Missi is OK when he's just dropping back and back-pedaling, though some are concerned with his feel. Out in space, he moves well when going against guards. With his physical tools, Missi likely won't be used as a switch defender, but he should be able to hold up decently on the perimeter or when placed on an island with guards. He can stay in front for a couple of slides before recovering back to his man. That won't be his bread and butter, but he should be functional when required. In general, he's an active, athletic, hard-working defender, and the combination of those tools matters when projecting player growth.
WEAKNESSES: His skill set is limited. He is a typical non-shooting, non-playmaking, non-shot-creating big man.
Missi does not project to be a shot creator at any point. That's OK, but it limits his upside to that of a starter-caliber role player. He's not comfortable putting the ball on the deck regularly against centers. He doesn't have much in the way of post moves. He took only 15 hook shots all year, making four of them, per Synergy. He can occasionally drop step, but his motion is not fluid. He's still learning to access his athleticism and explosiveness after dribbling. He seems to lose his touch when he puts the ball on the floor and drives to the rim, often throwing up hard balls off the glass and rim. He made just 57.8 percent of his layups, a poor number for a big his size.
Away from the rim, Missi is a non-shooter. He made 61.6 percent from the foul line. His release looks OK, and he should improve his free-throw percentage, but he won't be able to make shots in the run of action. His touch and shot mechanics do not make one believe he will ever become a 3-point threat. On the perimeter, he can at least put the ball on the deck once or twice to get into a dribble handoff if he has space, but he can't do it if crowded. He was just an average screener this season. When he wanted to make contact, he was solid, but he seemed to prefer slipping early and trying to get downhill using his speed. He'd do well to make more consistent contact on screens and find open areas into the defense to get his ballhandler more separation. Also, I worry about him in short-roll situations. I don't trust him to put the ball on the deck in the middle of the floor. He's a non-passer, notching just 13 assists in 780 minutes this season while posting a historically low 3.4 assist rate. He doesn't see open passes; every play is either a finish or escape pass. Baylor limited him to those situations.
Defensively, Missi's technique is messy. His positioning is all over the map and indicative of a player still learning the game. He sometimes gets turned all the way around in ball-screen coverages. Despite his athleticism and length, guards were more capable of turning the corner on him when he played closer to the level of the screen. He does not play the cat-and-mouse game between the big and the ballhandler well enough to take both options away. Sometimes, he plays with low hands and gets caught in no-man's land too often. These issues are fixable, but he's more of a project in ball screen coverages. He needs to improve his anticipation at the rim. He knows where he needs to be, but if the driver adjusts, he does not make the necessary counter. He seems to pre-determine where and when he's going to jump. He tries to block everything, which can lead to fouls at times. He will swat at the ball, which is fine when he's backpedaling in drop coverage, but results in fouls after wild swings at the ball while rotating. He wasn't an effective defender in the post for his size and strength, occasionally getting pushed backward by smaller players. That will likely change as his frame fills out, but he needs to grow more physical. His overeagerness as a shot blocker also impacts his ability to end possessions with defensive rebounds. Missi is a poor defensive glass cleaner for a center, averaging fewer than three per game. He understands how to read the ball coming off the rim based on his offensive rebounding game, but his tendency to go for the block puts him out of position too frequently. He must better understand what he can and can't get to when trying to block shots. These defensive flaws are fixable, and he seems to have the right motor and attitude to address them, but it will take some time.
SUMMARY: Missi's athletic tools are superb. While his 9-1 1/2 standing reach didn't stand out for a player of this skill set at the combine, it's more than enough when accounting for how vertically he plays. In many ways, he's one of the safer picks in the draft in terms of projecting rotation players. Players this big, athletic and hard-working rarely fail. Given his attitude, it's hard to imagine him not at least becoming a backup center. Beyond that, he must clean up some of the technical flaws within his game and continue to grow more comfortable with the ball in his hands when the defense takes away his first option. I believe he'll be a starter eventually, but he has limitations. HIs upside is in the ballpark of Clint Capela, a player picked 25th overall who returned lottery value to Houston in 2014 before being traded to Atlanta. However, Capela significantly improved his game over the course of his first season-and-a-half in the NBA, and Missi must follow a similar trajectory to reach that level.
Ja'Kobe Walter
BACKGROUND: Parents are Sabrina and Eddie. Walter's father, Eddie, played at Birmingham-Southern. Walter got into basketball at a young age and continued to grow. He also played football and had a potential Division I future in that sport but decided to focus on basketball as a freshman in high school. He was identified early as an elite player within his age group and has won on every level.
He began his career at McKinney High School in the suburban Dallas area and got his first high-major offer from Baylor before his sophomore season. He continued to blow up as a junior, leading McKinney to a runner-up finish in the 6A Texas state tournament behind a Duncanville team led by current NBAer Anthony Black and fellow 2024 draft class member Ron Holland. Due to some absurd Texas court rulings, McKinney was declared the winner of that game after Black was ruled an ineligible transfer. Walter left McKinney following that season to attend powerhouse Link Academy in Missouri, where he played alongside other high-end prospects such as Elliot Cadeau, Aaron Rowe, Cam Carr, James Brown and more. Walter led Link to victory in the GEICO Nationals tournament, in effect becoming the best player on the country's best high school team. A five-star recruit, Walter committed to Baylor in the summer before his senior season exactly two years after it became the first school to send him a scholarship offer. He had a solid freshman season at Baylor, doing whatever coach Scott Drew asked of him with a great attitude. He helped Baylor to a 24-11 record and a third-place finish in the Big 12, leading the team in scoring, making third-team All-Big-12 and winning the conference's Rookie of the Year award. The Bears were then eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
STRENGTHS: Walter has good measurements for an off-ball 2-guard at 6-4 1/4 with a 6-10 wingspan. He has a long, lean frame with broad shoulders and has continued to put on weight as he ages. He should have no problems adding more strength over the course of his career. He consistently plays hard and seems to want to play the right way by being effective with or without the ball.
His game is very polished, especially as a shooter. Though he made just 34.1 percent of his 3s, Walter is confident and comfortable firing from distance, having attempted 6.3 shots per game from long range. His shot prep off the catch is superb; he gets his body square to the rim and maintains balance with his entire body in alignment. He sways forward slightly on his shot, with his right leg drifting in front of his left, but his motion is consistent. He can take 3s directly off the hop or with 1- 2, left-right footwork. His elbow stays directly underneath the ball, creating a beautiful high trajectory on the shot's release. He should knock down shots from NBA distance consistently.
His 36.7 percent off the catch from 3 came on high volume, and he made 39 percent of his 106 catch-and-shoot 3s at Link during his senior high school season, per Synergy. I love the way Walter moves without the ball, particularly as he flows into his shot. He made the 32nd-most 3s off screening actions in the country this season and drilled 40 percent of those shots. He knows how to run around curls and how to come off screens to get free from his defender. He gets his feet underneath him well off movement and can fire quickly to generate his usual high finish.
In general, Walter has an excellent understanding of spacing, with an innate sense of the most dangerous areas for him to relocate. He generates many of his 3-point attempts by sliding subtly across the perimeter and presenting himself as an option to his teammates. Despite his so-so college percentages, I believe in Walter becoming a high-level marksman from 3 in the NBA. Walter uses the threat of his shot to create offense on his drives. He has a nose for the bucket and an understanding of how to score in those situations. He's best when he can attack a closeout in a straight line after a teammate creates an advantage. His footwork and handle in those situations are polished, and he changes speeds effectively. He has shown flashes of a solid floater game; his 42 percent mark on those shots was solid for a freshman.
His defense has a chance to be impactful even if it was hit or miss last season. He's a solid team defender who makes the right reads, tags rollers effectively and understands where he needs to be. Many of his off-ball gambles come through with steals because he regularly keeps his arms up. He had some positive moments on the ball, although he does sometimes struggle there.
WEAKNESSES: Walter won't be a plus athlete by NBA standards.
He's a bit stiff, lacking high-level vertical explosiveness and quickness. He keeps things simple, which is a good indicator he can be a good NBA role player. But some scouts wonder if he has the upside to do more and whether he can add significant additional skills as he ages. He's not particularly shifty on the ball, so don't expect him to break anyone down in isolation situations unless he's setting up a stepback jumper. He has a polished handle but struggles to take it anywhere on the court due to his lack of shake or quickness. The result: He rarely turns the corner on defenders and his drives tend to loop if he lacks a clear advantage.
He attempted less than two shots at the rim per game in half-court settings last season and only made 47.1 percent of his attempts at the rim overall. Both are startlingly low numbers that should concern teams. The result is Walter settles for a lot of contested pull-up jumpers when he's forced to create for himself. He made 25 percent of his 3-point attempts off the dribble, per Synergy, and just 32.7 percent of his pull-up 2-point jumpers. He's not a creative passer and rarely forces enough help to get opponents into rotation and make plays for teammates. He tends to require a gather before making a pass, rather than being someone who delivers them off a live dribble. He showed improvement in this area as the season progressed, and I don't think he's selfish or possesses poor vision. But he is often too late in making those reads, which leads to more contested pull-up 2-pointers than ideal.
If the hope is for Walter to become a 3-and-D player, his defensive tape at Baylor was not encouraging. He plays too stiffly, without great hip flexibility, and comes up too high in his stance. His closeouts are too hoppy he often drops his hips a beat late, which results in him getting beat, sometimes even in a straight line. He gets turned around on multi-stage moves, sometimes over-pursuing the initial one and unbalancing his feet. He has the potential to be a fine defender given his length and willingness to battle, but he's not a plus on the ball now and needs to be.
SUMMARY: I want to like Walter more than I do because I'm a big fan of prospects with legitimate size, length and shooting ability. Walter is the kind of physical archetype a team can sell itself on physically playing off the ball next to a primary shot creator, then potentially cross-match to annoy the opponent's best on-ball players on the other end of the floor. However, he's not there as an on-ball defender yet. Maybe he can improve we've seen guys with this body type make that kind of leap before but he has a long way to go. That deficit is on top of him not being a monster athlete, high-level passer or effective driver. I have a first-round grade on Walter because I believe in him becoming an excellent shotmaker given his adeptness off movement. But to be a difference-maker rather than just an NBA rotation player, he must make a defensive leap.
Jalen Bridges
BACKGROUND: Parents are Megan and Cory. Bridges attended Fairmont Senior High School in Fairmont, W. Va., where he grew up, and became one of the most impressive winners in state history. He was a key player on teams that won the state title in his first two high school years and was honorable mention all-state in that second season. He broke out in his third year, winning all-state honors for the first time and leading his team back to the title game, which it lost. In his fourth year, he was named all-state again and won the Bill Evans Award as the best player in West Virginia. He averaged 21 points and led his team back to the title game, which it lost again. Bridges was considered a solid four-star prospect at this point and had offers from Miami (Fla.), Alabama and Xavier, among others.
He was originally a Class of 2020 recruit, but stayed home and enrolled early at West Virginia, making him a top-100 Class of 2019 recruit. He redshirted his first season, but was named to the All-Academic Rookie team in the Big 12. Bridges immediately entered the rotation during his redshirt freshman season, starting 19 games by the end of the campaign and earning All-Freshman honors in the Big 12. He looked like a potential breakout candidate for the NBA Draft in 2022, but he was just OK as a sophomore. Though he was the only player on their team to start every game, he wasn't as effective an offensive player. He transferred to Baylor following that season, choosing the Bears over Alabama.
He started and played every game on a team that finished third in the Big 12. Bridges declared for the 2023 NBA Draft following the season and flirted with turning pro overseas before deciding to go back to Baylor. The Bears finished third in the league again in 2024 and Bridges was named third-team All-Big 12. Despite having one year of eligibility left, Bridges declared for the 2024 NBA Draft and stayed in.
STRENGTHS: Bridges possess great size and a great frame for an NBA wing at 6-6 3/4 without shoes, a 6-10 wingspan and an 8-9 standing reach.
He doesn't have an enormous physical build at 213 pounds, but he's strong enough to hold up. He's not explosive as an athlete but has functional lateral ability. The idea is for Bridges to be a 3-and-D big. With his marriage of size and speed, he has the prototypical tools of what teams will look for compared to a smaller player. Bridges made 41.2 percent of his 177 3-point attempts this season (about five per game). Over the final 51 games of his collegiate career, Bridges made 41.7 percent of his 3s on 230 attempts. More than 75 percent of his shots from distance this season either came from a spot-up or in transition, per Synergy. He drilled 40.9 percent of his attempts off the catch and hit 43.8 percent of his 32 attempts off the bounce. Most of these were relocation attempts, but it's a good sign that he could take a dribble and side-step into a shot. He has a good pump fake into a one-dribble side-step 3, mostly going to his left.
He has a quiet shot with simple mechanics. He has a wide base to generate power. He has great shot prep, getting his hands ready to receive with his knees bent and ready to fire. He gets his shot off quickly because of that. Bridges improved this season at moving without the ball, either to come off screens to shoot or to relocate to fire. He didn't take many shots off screens, but his reps looked good. He made 13 of his 21 3-point attempts in such situations, with a few of those involving his momentum going away from the rim before he stopped and fired. He has always been a sharp cutter. He knows how to use the threat of his shot well to open angles for himself. He's excellent operating the baseline.
He also crashes the offensive glass aggressively, averaging more than two offensive rebounds per game in his two years at Baylor. Bridges is an active and engaged team defender whom I like most off the ball. He uses his length well and keeps his arms extended out. He manages one-on-two situations on the back side well. He understands where he needs to be in those situations and cuts off angles, putting himself in position to contest either player and at times working his way into steals and blocks. He rotates along the back line of the defense well. Bridges covers a lot of ground, which is key for NBA defense in scrambles and rotations. He averaged more than a steal per game, adding more than a block every two games. He is disruptive often enough to make teams nervous and anticipates the play well.
On the ball, Bridges is solid and plays hard. He's not the speediest or most switchable player, but he has enough quickness and lateral flexibility to manage against guards. He bodies wings well. I think he does a solid job getting through screens, using good technique to get over and get skinny. He takes good angles, and his effort is also good. Bridges is a conscientious defender. He's not elite, but his presence is additive because he has good tools, he cares and his instincts are sound.
WEAKNESSES: Bridges is not an explosive athlete by NBA standards. He posted a 32-inch vertical, and that lack of pop shows up on tape. He doesn't have a quick first step. He won't be behind the eight-ball because he's functional in terms of flexibility and strength, but the opposition is unlikely to feel his downhill power or force. My big worry for Bridges is his skill level on offense beyond shooting. I wouldn't feel comfortable with him putting the ball on the ground more than once or twice.
He is not a shot creator; in college, he posted a usage rate of 17.5, a low number for a wing. He doesn't have the inherent creativity or tight handle off the bounce. On his drives, he needs to have a straight line available to get to the rim. I don't think that he navigates bodies on the interior well. He had a few solid rip-through drives off heavy closeouts, but most of those came when he had a lot of space to drive into. Even then, he needs to be able to pick up the ball off the second dribble.
He covers ground quickly from outside the 3-point line, but if you help, where is he going? He has zero in-between game; he took just 15 jumpers and 10 floaters inside the arc all season. He made 56.9 percent of his half-court attempts at the rim. That isn't bad without context, but the self-created attempts were much worse. If you remove his shots off cuts, he was below 50 percent as a finisher. He's not all that vertical unless he can load into his leap. He's not a strong passer, and I don't think he sees the court well.
Bridges is not a selfish player or bad decision-maker. He knows how to stay within himself, which is to be commended. But he doesn't make consistently threatening passes. He averaged only 1.4 assists per game this year, and that was a career high. He averaged just one turnover per game, but that's more of a statement on how little he was doing with the ball. Can Bridges do enough offensively to play in the NBA? His repertoire is limited. NBA teams love low-usage players who are willing to fill a role, make shots and defend, but they also need to be able to adjust to the defense.
The only counter I saw semi-consistently from Bridges this season was a one-dribble pull-up from distance. He doesn't have a midrange game and he was not a great finisher on the interior. He also didn't make many high-level passes when teams rotated over. How will he beat better defenders in the NBA when they close out on him and take away the threat of his shot, as well as his side-step pull up? He needs an answer there, or else it'll be hard for him to make an offensive impact.
SUMMARY: I like the idea of Bridges as a 3-and-D wing, but wings at this age with such low usage entering the NBA have a narrow pathway toward making it long-term. Justin Holiday and Danny Green are two examples of players like this who have succeeded, but both were much more disruptive on-ball defenders coming out of college than Bridges is now. They both made All-Defense in their leagues in college, whereas Bridges did not. He's a positive defender, but I'm not convinced that will outweigh what is almost certain to be negative offensive production because of his low usage. I like him as a depth player on a two-way contract. He's not going to make mistakes; he can shoot and he'll perform within a team's scheme on defense. Players like that are useful to have around, even if they never carve out a rotational role. He'd need to become a 40 percent 3-point marksman from NBA distance on real volume to reach that threshold, which will necessitate becoming lethal shooting off screens
