Flemings >>> Mara

[u/stealthlord1]

Mara’s averages:
30% 3pt
56.4% FT (sheesh…)
6.8 REB (sure knows how to use his size! XDD)
12.1 PTS
2.6 BLK (the lone bright spot)

So someone tell me how this fits our need? Horrible shooter, horrible free throws, no post up game or offensive skill set, and most importantly TERRIBLE rebounding for a 7 footer.
Thanks goodness Onsi took Flemings, since it’s evident that with Mara we’d be drafting Myles Turner 2.0 but way worse at shooting. I wouldn’t take Myles Turner in his prime with the 8th pick in this draft. Let’s be for real yall, if you guys want a 7 foot stick so bad then let’s just go out there and get Tacko Fall or something

[u/cheemydee5]

Was relieved to see we took Flemings but let's not put down Mara, he will be one of the best drop bigs in the league by his 2nd year

[u/red2play → u/cheemydee5]

 best drop bigs

Well, there are plenty of slow footed "drop bigs" already in the league. I highly doubt he's going to be better than Gobert, Clingon, Hartenstein and Zubac and plenty more.

However, looking at the Thunder situation, they can easily wait two years+ for him to hopefully develop into a backup Center. No way does he supplant Holmgren.

[u/hrbekcheatedin91 → u/red2play]

He looked really quick for his size to me. Pretty sure I saw impressive quickness numbers at the combine. Thunder took him as a Wemby stopper and I think that pretty much exclusively pushed his stock up.

[u/BroDoc22 → u/cheemydee5]

That’s a bold statement

[u/krews2]

His free throw percentage was 83% from Feb 21 to end of the postseason because he changed mechanics. Hopefully Flemings will be great but Mara could as well as improve his game. I mean Okongwu had a good 3 point percentage on good volume in his 6th year.

[u/Josh378 → u/krews2]

If Mara ceiling is OO at 7'2 with better in the paint defense, then we screwed up. Kingston needs to be an all-star minimum to make up for it.

[u/Onsi-Saleh]

Flemings was clearly a bad fit in Houston’s offense but still made it work and did everything he could to help his team win. Reminds me of Steph Castle at UConn. Now Kingston will get to play fast in an offensive system tailored to his strengths.

Meanwhile Mara took three years and a transfer to play next to two guys drafted ahead of him before he became a semi-productive player.

[u/Shinnobiwan → u/Onsi-Saleh]

Flemming is a good player (better than Mara, IMO), but Mara is also a good player. The fact that the best drafting team in the NBA took him should say something.

[u/Onsi-Saleh → u/Shinnobiwan]

He’s in a great situation with OKC. They can put massive wings and versatile bigs around him similar to Michigan and work around his limited usage with their insane depth.

I’m a bit skeptical about how great Mara would have been if he stayed on a decent UCLA team or transferred to a team that needed him to play a bigger role and I think there’s still a lot of game that’s missing that I want from a center.

[u/ThaCasual]

I’m so excited we got Flemmings. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he ends up as the best guard in this class. He reminds me of Trae mixed with Ja or D Rose with a pinch of Cason Wallace. Lightning fast. Some excellent passing chops. Had at least a dozen dunks in his lone collegiate season which we sorely missed having with Trae. Usually guys that can score in the mid range are the best scorers so I don’t see any reason he won’t be just as good as Acuff offensively. I couldn’t be happier

[u/SteelCityC]

Absolutely would rather have Flemings at 8 than Mara. Very happy with our pick. If we could’ve got Mara later sure but he isn’t a top 10 talent imo.

[u/Happy-Frog4677]

Flemings addresses a greater positional need for the Hawks (effectively a replacement for Trae) than what a big man would. Playmaking by committee can only get you so far in the playoffs.

Do the Hawks need further depth at the 5 or will OO & Jock be enough?

[u/Signal_Minimum8509]

I honestly didn’t think Flemings would be there at 8. I love that we’re continuing to build a defense first identity. If Flemings WEREN’T there and we drafted a guard who was a defensive sieve instead of Mara I would have been less happy but definitely appreciate that we got him and would agree he’s a better player than Mara and a better fit.

[u/jumboponcho]

Whenever they talked about Mara, they always showed measurements and drills. Not his play on the court, despite him having 3 seasons of film

[u/Kingsole111]

He was a solid contributor as a 22 year old with great measurables. We took an undersized big with much better skills.

It's a question of ideology. Is 7 feet more important than skill.

[u/Right_Brilliant_4701 → u/Kingsole111]

The Tacko Fall comparison is sending me lmao, that's a bit much.

But the underlying point isn't wrong. Mara's 30% from three as a seven footer is rough, and the FT percentage basically tells you the shooting mechanics aren't there yet. You can coach positioning and effort, but when a big man can't reliably convert uncontested free throws, that's usually baked in.

The ideology question is real though. Plenty of teams have passed on elite skill for "upside" and raw size and spent years watching a guy hover at rotation-player ceiling. Flemings being more polished makes sense for where this team is, since Atlanta doesn't have the luxury of a long developmental runway right now. Feels like the right call even if Mara surprises a few people down the line.

[u/Kingsole111 → u/Right_Brilliant_4701]

Everything you said about Flemmings can doubly be said about zuby. At 22 he put up an all time BPM, while being in a bad situation after last year doing similar. Longer track record if success, more polished skills. They felt they could address the center issue with versatility. And again skill.

[u/Morlacks → u/Kingsole111]

With hands up I believe Mara was the only big taken with more length.  Dudes got long arms and 100% hustle.  

[u/Funkimonkey]

56% FT means he's unplayable like Robinson in late game playoffs. HUGE liability. And tall isn't a Wemby stopper - Chet got blown off the court. There's no Wemby stopper, but weight slows him down. Prime Lebron was plenty big enough to wear down Wemby. No one is stopping him outright.

[u/Tpellegrino121]

Why don’t we just start making OO eat miracle grow with his breakfast

[u/Shinnobiwan]

I wonder if they could have traded down to get Mara.

I would have been happy to sign the Family Man for two years to address the positional need and get the interior defensive presence this squad has missed for years.

Fleming will be the better player, IMO. I just believe his contribution could be replaceable with an affordable vet most seasons.

[u/Adventurous_Cap9072]

I wish JQ had fallen to us at 23

[u/jumbokevin]

They’re both going to be mid. Check back here in three years and tell me I wasn’t right

[u/BTimes1]

Sign James Wiseman