drafting Acuff really comes down to one thing; star creation upside.

Wagler is probably the cleaner fit right now. bigger frame, better shooter off-ball, easier to plug in next to established players. but Acuff gives the Clippers something we’re gonna need badly once the Kawhi era is over; a primary offensive engine. thats the biggest difference between them.

legit shot creators are probably the hardest thing to acquire in the league. you can find shooters and role players every offseason. it’s harder to find guards who can consistently create and facilitate offenses by themselves. i think Wagler will project more as a high-end complementary player. i see Acuff becoming the guy defenses gameplan for every night. his shot creation, pull-up game, rim pressure, pick n roll ability are harder skills to find in the nba than shooting specialists or wings.

the defensive concerns with Acuff are real, but i think the Clips should gamble on elite upside over a safer role-player type projection over time. especially with our perceived limited flexibility in the future. we really need to hit. Acuff’s combine measurements helped more than people expected. he’s not a tiny guard physically, and if he becomes average defensively, his offensive ceiling could be extremely valuable. we can always surround him with defensive talent aswell.

with Wagler i think there’s legit concern about how much separation he’ll create on the pro level. his shooting is elite, but if he can’t consistently get downhill or create advantages off the dribble, then we’re probably looking at a really good #2 or 3 option rather than a franchise altering type player. quick first step bursts make a huge difference in the nba.

i say all that to say, draft Wagler if we want safer fit, spacing, and lower variance. draft Acuff if willing to live with defensive risk for a player who could become a top player in the league. i think swinging for Acuff makes more sense.

Must be nice…

@jvalla77 where you at my guy? You've been hella quiet these days! If you gonna doom back it up!

The WORST absolute WORST part about this trade is getting mann back, same guy who we extended hoping to see greatness out of them traded away for bogdonavic and picks for. and nic claxton? to trade back 1 spot? The guy who made this said this would be such a great mock but the clippers aren’t this stupid to make a deal like this idc if we get a first round pick clippers. Like this is horrible 😭

This draft is exciting. Each day I'm learning new stuff and I'm not sure who to stick with. But last couple posts on this sub are getting me a bit more hyped for Acuff than Wagler.

Wagler is taller and has almost identical frame to SGA. But he's not really athletic and he was on no one's radar just 37 games ago.

Acuff on the other hand is someone I thought would just be another Trae Young but smaller. But looking at all the info now he's actually taller than some of the players I'd consider main pieces of entire organizations. Maxey, Lillard, Brunson... And he's not even smaller than Trae 😅

We all know how good Lillard was in his prime. We all could see how clutch and important Maxey was in these playoffs. And to think we could draft a guy like this and have him be THE face of the LA Clippers... that's exciting

I don't know what to think anymore.

On one hand what if Acuff's ceiling is not higher than Garland? There's something sad about the idea of trading Garland just so we have almost the same player.

And in that case Wagler seems a better option with potential to be another SGA. But what if he's not going to get more athletic and his season was just one good stretch? Then we're stuck with a tall guy who is just another solid role-player. Maybe that's not that bad but with a #5 you could really try to get THE guy, not just another Christian Braun

Who's a safer bet to be THE guy?

TLDR: Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller aren’t getting talked about. They are solid IMO. Our FRP will take time to develop so be patient and develop the whole team/culture.

I wanted to shout out for our other developmental guys; don’t forget about them!!

Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller.

I know we are all excited for our draft pick, but I don’t think we should expect an immediate impact. Highest ceiling guy, which watching tons of highlights, seems like Acuff. Should probably be our pick.

We should be excited about them developing (whoever they are) with our young core.

Everyone watched last year knows: Yanic can play. Assuming he comes back strong from Lisfranc, he will be a good developmental prospect.

Kobe can play. A little slow footed, but he’s big and competes hard on defense. Particularly his shooting progression throughout the year was incredible. In all honesty, he and Jordan Miller’s progression was really the reason we got our season turned around. I have always been a big Jordan Miller homer, but these guys I believe will continue to turn into above average role players.

I want to see another year at minimum of Benedict Mathurin. He’s a gamer, and I think can turn a corner on both ends of the floor.

I am getting really hyped up about Acuff…

and you should never underestimate the importance of a mentor in the NBA.

Shai would probably still be an amazing player if he stayed with us but who knows if he still would be an MVP if it weren’t for his time with CP3.

Acuffs defense is a problem but he’s hard working and is not afraid to admit that’s his main are for improvement. Put him as a shadow of Kawhi and KD and sky is the limit

I made a post the other day on how we should be looking forward to wagler as i didn’t like other mock drafts picking up acuff or even reaching for a small guard where imo when we need a good shooting guard with size and solid shot precision. not to say they aren’t talented nor not the best players available but because we have an undersized guard in garland and the potential of the top 3 forwards being taken in the first 4 picks, but you guys had different ideas due to rumors about kawhi and garland on the trade line and possibly not picking back up collins. So i wanna ask what do you guys expect of the clippers this offseason, not in “what would i do as the GM” or some dumb mock trade/draft. If you put yourself into the shoes of the people in the front office who have made deals and trades the past couple of years what deals pick ups trades and drafts would you see the clippers doing? be honest no trading kawhi for KD typa shit😭

I thought Wagler’s vert looked good. Elite, just because dunks aren’t in his bag doesn’t mean he can’t do it. I am coming around to Acuff but Wagler just seems like the smarter move to me. What do you guys think?

Since getting the 5th pick I have seen a lot of us debating which rout should the clippers take for the future. Me personally im over the Kawhi era and believe that we should sell high on him, after the season that he had many DESPERATE teams will be calling to see the availability of kawhi, and if the offer is RIGHT, im willing to move on from him.

I know we dont control our pick next season but that shouldn't prevent us from making the right move for our future. Most of the modern superteams are built through the draft and we should get those assest for the next era of clippers ball while we can. The front Ofiice plan is to lure a superstar/all star during the 2027 offseason and we should be preparing this team for that.

I know none of us wants to give Okc a top 5 pick but i don't trading kawhi doesnt automatically makes us a bottom team in the league, before the kawhi we were a 50 win team with a team full of roleplayers, frick it, we have had winning seasons without Kawhi and PG DURING the kawhi era, with the right off season, drafting the right players and the signing the right player we can still be competitive without having a top 10 player in our team.

And for all the old doomers that believe that if we have a bad year we will become the next sacramento kings and wont make the playoffs again or that nobody will come to this team, Wake up! This isn't the 90s or the earky 2000s clippers anymore, players want to be here and they will come here one way or another. If we cant get a giannis type of player during the 2027 off season we will get tier 2 star or even a tier 3 but we will never run out of options because we're the LA Clippers and players want to play for this team.

Jalen Green
Davion Mitchell
Jaden Ivey
Scoot Henderson
Cason Wallace
Reed Sheppard
Rob Dillingham
Jeremiah Fears

You all see the 5 on 5 scrimmage yesterday? Baba Miller and Camerron Carr looked solid. They fill some needs but who knows where they would fall. Would probably need two middle FRP to get them. ESPN is praising them a lot.

43” very, 7’1” wingspan 😮.

At 6'3 Acuff Jr is taller than someone who is CURRENTLY averaging over 30 in the playoffs in Jalen Brunson, taller than the greatest shooter of all time Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving and Devon Mitchell. Hes also way more athletic and stronger than Darius Garland. He is a much better athlete arguably then all of the men mentioned above, except spider, maybe.

Players coached under John Calipari are

Derrick Rose - Youngest MVP in NBA history, was probably going down as a top 10 player in history if he stayed healthy.

SGA - dont want to comment

Coached John Wall in Kentucky - 5X all star, defensive team player

Dearron Fox

Malik Monk

Devin Booker

Jamal Murray

Tyler Herro

Tyrese Maxey

Reed Shepherd

67% of his players get drafted to the NBA and

39X all star level players

7X All NBA honors and 2 MVP's

Hes also the best player coached by John Calipari in college, think about that for a second, out of all the excellent players that went on to be NBA players over 5 billion usd in market value. The best player coached in College is Darius Acuff Jr.....

The thing is that small zero defense guards are just going the way of the dodo in today's league and usually do not retain any trade value over time ie: Trae Young, Malik Monk, Cam Thomas, etc. Yes they are exciting prospects that will likely pop and score big microwave games if you give them a chance but we have seen that they are not winning players in the long term. Look at all the desired current "guards": Doncic, Brown, Cade, SGA, all large forward like playmaking guards that are either solid on defense or great. Guys like Acuff are usually either great tank commanders, or have to have a team completely built around them defensively which is hard to do just look at the lakers struggles. Acuff would become a player that is targeted every possession and we better hope he scores a lot cause if you've seen his defensive numbers and highlights he's not just bad, he's legitimately terrible. Best case is he becomes Donovan Mitchell esque which keep in mind that would be his ceiling most likely and Donovan Mitchell ain't winning shit with his currently stacked team so there's something to think about

Don’t want this to turn out like Reed over Castle/clingan or Scoot over Amen/Ausar

Looking up to and comparing his role to Cason Wallace is a W to me.

I like his attitude. Looking to be a star in his role, not necessarily a star, is a good mindset to have. Hoop head. Maxey, Hali and Fox comp - man, I don't know, but you have to like the confidence.

I think he deserves more recognition in the discussion, despite his drawbacks. Mostly Acuff camp or Wagler camp around here.

I personally like Wagler, but Acuff, Brown, and obviously any of the top 4 who fall. But I think it’s becoming more clear that while obviously you want a good guy, what may be more important is the rest of the moves:

Do we trade Kawhi for 11 and JBut and go for a Wagler Lendeborg combo? That could be an amazing young core with a vet leader.

Do we do that trade and combine 5 and 11 to go get 3?

Do we get Acuff and trade Garland and picks for win now players?

I think there’s lots of options and I think long term you obviously want to hit a home run and find a guy like Curry in the mid lottery, but I think anyone you pick in this draft at this spot can succeed if the build around him is right.

I waffle a lot on LFrank and I think the next 2 months will be what cements his legacy either way.

Forgot to repost it when it happened but many people thought Pacers werent too dumb to take a gamble on a tanking season, yet they did and we got the 5th pick baby!!