Matt Powers

This is my favorite column every year, where I go deep on my evaluatory framework. It was a fun cycle.

Ebuka Okorie is a lottery talent hiding in plain sight. @beyondtheRK provides a comprehensive look into his game, featuring data visualizations, game tape, interviews, and more. Learn all about the Stanford freshman below ⤵️

In the first installment of my "Path to the Pros" series, I cover Dailyn Swain's strengths, weaknesses, and overall value proposition as he looks to be drafted this summer. Below is the link to my article, along with a one-page scouting report on Dailyn's game.

Glancing my old boards bc I'm debating even making one for '26 - thought my '23 was trash but my t30 is the best on Tawny Park Metrics. Obv early and boards look better/worse quickly, but this is proof consensus doesn't equal results. s/o @ZP12Hoops and @DraftPow too, my guys!

Michigan's three bigs are all projected 1st round NBA picks I asked Yaxel, Morez, and Aday after the Wolverine's win over Ohio State this afternoon which NBA players they like to watch and learn from

@DraftPow few players (elite leaping speed/low load time) come to mind but first def jt toppin, malachi moreno, massamba diop (lacks high max vert but quick off floor), kingston flemings come to mind, and for the opposite (higher max very but load leaping) i think of koa, tounde and haugh

Who does this remind you of in the 2026 draft class?

Alabama freshman Amari Allen has been productive and versatile, but what about his NBA ceiling? @JoeHulbertNBA dives deep into the film, making the case for Allen to return to continue developing his intriguing skill set. Read below!⤵️

Love Joe bringing his schematic-heavy analysis to the draft world. Great insights into a relatively polarizing prospect.

ebuka okorie deserves more nba draft buzz.

is there an NBA draft college senior market inefficiency? [THREAD] every NBA team wants to max out and build around a superstar that they’ve drafted themselves, so, they swing for ‘the upside’. Most of the time, the lottery selections are largely comprised of collegiate freshmen; since they are the youngest, they are considered to have the most ‘upside’ but a lot of highly regarded freshmen end up disappointing or straight up busting, while older guys get punished for their age and drafted outside of the lotto or even the 1st round, only to blossom into very good or even great NBA players this got me thinking of testing a potential market inefficiency - do older guys collectivelly overperform the freshmen in terms of their draft pick return? to explain this phenomenon, i tested 2011-2022 nba draft data; this analysis includes all players drafted in that timespan who played college basketball and have logged at least 500 minutes in the NBA; i used vorp (value over replacemenet player) as a metric for NBA production, adjusted it to a per 40 minute basis and reduced it to make a baseline curve for expected vorp/40 for every draft pick here’s what i found 👇

Ya’ll tap into part 1 of our episode with @100guaranteed! Always a great time getting in the weeds with Avi and getting to debate some of the more intriguing prospects in the class

@WxZachary top 5 for you?

@DraftPow Darius Acuff at #19 is WILD brother

2026 NBA Draft Board 3.0

@Dscottph325 ATO is an important stat! there are other ones though

@DraftPow 193assists / 60 turnovers 150assists / 60 turnovers Which one is better? I’ll give you a hint, 193 is better!!! That’s Acuff vs Tanner!

@TreFourE I have AJ 2

Lmao geek spreadsheet draft Twitter loves them some Tyler Tanner and Pat Ngonba while dropping Acuff and Dybansta 😭

@bloomkral the biggest thing is I wish I trusted the handle more, idk if i can see him commanding huge usage without that

@DraftPow Why so low on Mikel

@CarolinaCoach69 yea he's one of the few I really need to spend more time with to solidify my opinion

@DraftPow Chinyelu?

@903coleman @FinnDraft I think there is maybe an anchoring bias towards Brazile being too low-feel to be an NBA player, which I'm unsure is fair to him. So def might be in my final top 40 as I reconsider, but career 6% AST/17% TO on only 17% usage is kinda brutal

@DraftPow @FinnDraft Thoughts on Brazile? I might have missed him

@dancingwithnoah probably not, and I know this call is hanging on by a thread, but he just has so many traits I'm appealed by

@DraftPow You think Folgueiras goes? As an Iowa fan, have been frustrated with the inconsistency and lack strength. When the skill pops, it’s been great, just hasn’t been reliable.

@AAa66206155 Size, really that's it.

@DraftPow What is your argument for Wagler over Stirtz? I have Stirtz t2 (second on my board *two tiers below Boozer *)

@Okachukwudi The gulf in FT%, really. I buy Krivas a lot as a stretch big, despite low 3PA. And Mara's turnovers bother me, given the sell.

@DraftPow what's your reasoning for krievus over mara, if you can say?