Very nice half from Flemings. Looked controlled and confident but also like he knew he was the guy.

My bad. 12/25 and 1/7 from 3. I added them together.

Was about as good a day as you could ask for if you're watching guys through an NBA lens.

Dybantsa really is that guy. A true 1-1 type of talent. I think he'll have to learn to adjust in the NBA and play more within a system at times, but he's the real freaking deal. Same for Acuff. I have nothing to add about either of those guys. They are both legit.

I also thought Boozer was great but for different reasons. IMO, he quickly figured out that his guards around him DID NOT have it outside of his brother, so especially after half he got in the dirty areas and went to work. He hammered the boards and got fouled a ton. Not a great shooting night but I think he knew that's what they needed from him to win.

Wagler and Flemings equally good. Penn began the game pretty determined to not let Wagler have the ball too much, and so after that he became primarily a facilitator to the tune 7 assists and shot the ball extremely well from 3. Wagler fascinates me because you can tell he's still a 19 year old kid that hasn't filled out yet at all, but he's so slinky and smooth in a good way, and he's a willing defender.

Aggies are going to have a tough time with Flemings. We do have good athletes at guard, but Flemings is a different level.

I checked the box score after the Duke game and expected to see that Boozer had 20 rebounds. He must not have had many in the first half, because it seemed like he grabbed every rebound in the 2nd half.

Ags are running in to a buzz saw tomorrow. Houston has the guard play to break the press easily and they'll guard our best player with one of the best defensive college basketball players ever lol. Best chance for us is foul trouble and a 3 point variance game.

Agreed on the Aggies. If I were Bucky I would mix-up the full court press and half court press, because like you said Flemings and company are good enough to beat the full court press if that is all you are going to do. I would change it up.

Also, UH isn't nearly as big of a team as St. Mary's was, so our chances in the half-court are a little better imo.

Interesting video from Slightly Biased talking about Acuff and the archetype of shorter guards who are offense only players.

Graves almost won it for Santa Clara then Oweh hits a 40 footer to send it to OT.

Just get to watch more Allen Graves.

100%

Good post. A couple rebuttals.

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I mean ya the analysis is pretty superficial and frankly, flawed. Everyone already knows that it's better to be tall than short in the NBA so everyone skews their bias of talent evaluation towards tall players. They rely so heavily on physical traits that everything else is secondary.

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The problem isn't just that he's short, it's that he's also terrible defensively. You can be short and still be a positive on defense. See: Tyler Tanner, who Evan Miya has as the best defender on Vanderbilt.

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If I were to counter Slightly, I'd say this: The best indicator for 'short' players and whether they can succeed in the NBA is their ability to finish around the rim. Jalen Brunson was a prolific shotmaker at the rim in college. Particularly his senior season as he got stronger. Kyrie hardly played in college but it's clearly evident based on his NBA resume he would have been an elite at rim finisher. Acuff's at rim FG% is 60% (source). That would be good for big men and is elite for guards.

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That article is extremely flawed. The first problem is that the article says his at rim FG% is "nearly 60%" and he doesn't give an exact number or the source. He also doesn't say if it's 60% in conference play or if fast breaks were removed. Not going to nitpick that point, but it's a minor blemish in an article that is completely incorrect a lot of the time. The guy goes on to compare him to 6'8" Luka and the best shooter of all time on one of the best dynasties of all time.

The article says he's not a bad defender and that he has an above average defensive win shares in league play. That's just blatantly false, or extremely misleading, as he has negative defensive win shares in conference play. Only the worst defensive guards on the worst teams in the league have worse defensive win shares than Acuff. He has the worst defensive win shares on Arkansas in SEC play. For reference, nobody on A&M has defensive win shares as bad as Acuff's in conference games.

It also touts his +13 net rating as proof that his offense far outweighs his defense. Again, he doesn't cite the source, but on basketballreference, Acuff has a +9 net rating in conference play, which is good for 5th best on Arkansas. Best offensive rating, but worst defensive rating.

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But his question at the end...would you rather have a Dame Lillard or Derrick White?...how is that even a question? Derrick White is good but he's a role player who was traded for very little by SA (a bunch of contract fluff, a nothing first, and a pick swap in '28). Dame Lillard, despite his flaws, was the best player on a team consistently in playoff contention in the West. Portland's inability to supplement Lillard's weaknesses isn't an indictment on an inarguably Hall of Fame player.

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This is where it can get interesting and where personal preference matters more. In my opinion, guys like Lillard, and probably Acuff, are floor raisers, but not ceiling raisers. Like Slightly said in the video, you have to build your team very specifically to fit the small guard who doesn't play defense. White is a ceiling raiser for an already good team, but not a floor raiser for a bad team. You also only have to pay guys like White about half of what you have to pay guys like Lillard.

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My point is...Acuff will never have to be the best player in Dallas if Flagg is who we think he is. A Flagg/Lively frontcourt perfectly compliments Acuff's weaknesses and that MUST be factored in when evaluating his role in the NBA. Beyond that, I see a player that can make every pass, every shot, and has a deep bag of tools to deploy against any NBA defense. Anyone who drops Acuff on their big board because of 2.5cm is making a mistake IMO.

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It's a fair point, but I'd say he's not being dinged just for his height, it's that he's an extreme negative on defense. Ideally, none of the guys we draft are better than Flagg, but how do they contribute to winning basketball?

I think a fun way to think about these guys is imagining them in a playoff series against OKC or Boston. The smaller guard will just be switched on to SGA/JWill//Tatum/Brown incessantly. It's hard to see it going well for him on that end while being able to keep up offensively.

I think when you look at all the guys at the top, you can see them (or their ideal growth/progression) being successful in a playoff series more so than Acuff.

I'm not going to complain if we end up with him at 8 or 9, but these things seem like fair nitpicks when you are talking about a top 6 or 7 pick with your last chance to draft a star for a long time.

I don't see how you can watch acuff and not drool over the kid. He's a sure thing offensively, as in today. I get that other guys might have better overall potential, but it's just that, potential. There's just not too many sure thing players that go into that lotto each year and he's a surefire offensive superstar.

He's extremely good offensively. Any other year he'd be a top 3 pick. Heck, I wouldn't even be surprised if a dumb team starving for a marketable offensive star like Sacramento took him in the top 4 this year.

This draft is really good though, and you have to nitpick 5-9 to figure out who to draft. We just haven't seen a guy on this good of a team have this bad defensive metrics to know what it's going to look like on that end. Especially not a guy who will probably measure around 6'1" at the combine.

Philon went nuts today too. Just crazy talent out there this year.

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It's a fair point, but I'd say he's not being dinged just for his height, it's that he's an extreme negative on defense. Ideally, none of the guys we draft are better than Flagg, but how do they contribute to winning basketball?

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Individual defense is overrated and can be mitigated by scheme, roster construction, and frankly effort. I can't wait to see Acuff's defensive metrics in the tourney vs reg season. When rotations get shorter and the pressure ramps up, lesser players clam up and great players elevate.

But how does he contribute to winning? Easy, by making everyone's job on offense SO MUCH EASIER. Flagg's life will be so much better with Acuff driving the car. We'll also see value return to guys like Gafford and Lively who are basically nothing without a playmaker to unlock their vertical lob threat. Acuff will do all that. I truly believe when he's on the court, he'll take care of the offense.

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I think a fun way to think about these guys is imagining them in a playoff series against OKC or Boston. The smaller guard will just be switched on to SGA/JWill//Tatum/Brown incessantly. It's hard to see it going well for him on that end while being able to keep up offensively.

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Yea he'll be attacked but we saw that with Luka. Develop a scheme (soft switch, hedge, mix doubles), add appropriate personnel (help defenders like PJ and Flagg and a rim protector), and give effort.

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I'm not going to complain if we end up with him at 8 or 9, but these things seem like fair nitpicks when you are talking about a top 6 or 7 pick with your last chance to draft a star for a long time.

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My entire view of Acuff is with the understanding the mavs will not be drafting top 4. Which means it'll be 6 or later. I think he should be the pick at 6 because Flemings is all potential. I see the "Jrue Holiday" comp as his ceiling but he's light years away from that. If Flemings doesn't develop into an elite POA defender, then I'm not sure what his value is. Whereas I KNOW Acuff has NBA passing and shooting right now. And those are the Mavs 2 biggest needs. That's why I'd take him as high as pick 5 if Mavs had the chance.

M.C. Swag said:

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Individual defense is overrated and can be mitigated by scheme, roster construction, and frankly effort. I can't wait to see Acuff's defensive metrics in the tourney vs reg season. When rotations get shorter and the pressure ramps up, lesser players clam up and great players elevate.

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For what it's worth, his defensive performance rating on Evan Miya went down pretty significantly after their game yesterday.

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Yea he'll be attacked but we saw that with Luka. Develop a scheme (soft switch, hedge, mix doubles), add appropriate personnel (help defenders like PJ and Flagg and a rim protector), and give effort.

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This is the crux of it really. It's hard for anybody to be that bad at defense if you give effort. He does not. And it really does not look like he has any understanding of how to defend what offenses are trying to do. Or he has no idea how to use his speed and athleticism to stop it. That's probably why his steal rate is so low.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBA_Draft/comments/1rycyrb/steph_noh_i_heard_that_darius_acuff_jr_might_be/?rdt=40172

Sure, this is one game with cherry-picked clips, but I think they are fairly representative and backed by data.

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My entire view of Acuff is with the understanding the mavs will not be drafting top 4. Which means it'll be 6 or later. I think he should be the pick at 6 because Flemings is all potential. I see the "Jrue Holiday" comp as his ceiling but he's light years away from that. If Flemings doesn't develop into an elite POA defender, then I'm not sure what his value is. Whereas I KNOW Acuff has NBA passing and shooting right now. And those are the Mavs 2 biggest needs. That's why I'd take him as high as pick 5 if Mavs had the chance.

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Fair on Flemings, I understand why people have questions. I think I've seen enough quickness and defensive ability to project that forward, but I do understand why some are unsure. On basketball reference he has the second best defensive win shares on Houston in conference play and the best defensive rating of the non-bigs/forwards. On Evan Miya, Fleming's adjusted offensive rating is 3 points lower than Acuff's but his adjusted defensive rating is 11 points lower.

Personally, I'd also have Wagler over Acuff, as well. Wagler has a better adjusted offensive rating and better offensive performance rating on Evan Miya. Not only does he have All-NBA upside, I also think he'd plug right in to the starting and closing lineups for the Mavs next season. I'm not sure I can say that about Acuff.

Lendeborg is also so freaking good lol. His only issue is that he's like 24 which in basketball is a much bigger issue than others.

Tksymm7 said:

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Lendeborg is also so freaking good lol. His only issue is that he's like 24 which in basketball is a much bigger issue than others.

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He's actually older than Paolo Banchero, which is kind of wild.

He's going to end up on the Spurs and he'll be awesome. And they'll never have to pay him a huge contract because of his age, so they can keep all their other young guys.

I could see Aday Mara being in play for the Mavs late in the first. Good Lively insurance and could allow you to trade Gafford.

Mavs could go any direction with that pick. There will be a good player there.

Vessel said:

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He's going to end up on the Spurs and he'll be awesome. And they'll never have to pay him a huge contract because of his age, so they can keep all their other young guys.

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I think OKC might get him before we do. They have both the Philly and the Clippers picks.

Guitarsoup said:

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Vessel said:

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He's going to end up on the Spurs and he'll be awesome. And they'll never have to pay him a huge contract because of his age, so they can keep all their other young guys.

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I think OKC might get him before we do. They have both the Philly and the Clippers picks.

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Cmon clips

wtf are we doing

Thank goodness, we messed around and almost won that

Yeah Peterson is also disgusting. Kansas just has absolutely no help around him.

It's like the worst drug known to man hahah.

We've spoken about this ad nauseum, but if they decide to keep Kyrie, adding him back to this team healthy (even if it is a dimished version of him) will do worlds. It will give them a primary ball handler, primary and/or secondary scorer, and primary or secondary creator. If he's healthy for 62+ games that probably leads to a handful or more wins right there.

Again, we've talked about this before, but the biggest things this team needs that will lead to more wins is (IMO):

1) point of attack defender - I've noticed how awful we are in this category more and more over the last weeks and months; we've been absolutely cooked by quick and fast guards all year. This is a non-negotiable imo.

2) shooting - enough said; would be ideal to use that 20M mid level trade exception here.

3) secondary ball handler/creator - when Coop and Kyrie come off the floor they have to get someone who can run the offense and get people the ball in their sports; Nembhard is okay but I just don't see him as a long term solution, but I would be glad to be wrong.

I think if you do that this team gets back to .500 at minimum. Then add on Coop taking a big step, drafting hopefully a really good lottery pick etc.

Here are the shooting stats for the top guard prospects in the 2026 NBA Draft pic.twitter.com/pUagov9f0Z

— Art Cummings (@ArtTakesNote) March 24, 2026

Interesting data on the top guards in the draft. He notes that Philon's rim% in the graphic should read 66.3%.

We would be easily winning this game if Jamal Murray wasn't having an all timer lol.

Another clutch game.

Absolute botch job by the NCAA to have Acuff, Burries, Flemings, and Wagler all playing at the same time tonight…

FWIW, just heard J Kyle Mann on Simmons' show say that Acuff is shooting 34.8% at the rim in the half court, per Synergy. He didn't exactly say it, but it might have been implied that he filtered out lower level teams.

So he really isn't some Kyrie-level finisher around the rim when going against regular competition.

Mann was much more skeptical of some of the Acuff stuff. Was a little surprising to hear tbh. Didn't say he was bad by any means, but that if you look at him purely through and NBA lens there's a lot more to question.

I'd be curious to see acuff compared stat wise to Brunson coming out of Nova. I still think most are overthinking it with Acuff. Personally, I'll be rooting like hell that he falls to us. Beyond his play, the dude is nails in post game interviews and pressers. He just does his job and lives for ball.