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Flanigan & Cardwell Testing NBA Draft Potential


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2 more Auburn players enter NBA draft process

2 hours ago

Auburn’s pool of NBA draft entrants will be doubled, though the odds of the latter two remaining in the draft are, in all likelihood, very low.

According to the NBA’s official list of draft declarations, published Tuesday, Auburn’s Allen Flanigan and Dylan Cardwell have joined possible No. 1 overall pick Jabari Smith and projected first-rounder Walker Kessler in the draft process.

Entrants have until June 1 to withdraw in order to maintain their college eligibility. 

Entrance into the draft process is now much more common, given the rule changes a few years ago that allow for an easier return to school. Even if a player isn’t projected to be drafted, or even a high-profile undrafted free agent, he can still receive feedback from the league in workouts and evaluations to get a clear understanding of where his pro prospects currently stand, and what he needs to improve in the coming college season(s). 

In 2018, for example, Auburn saw Jared Harper, Bryce Brown, Austin Wiley and Mustapha Heron all dip their toes into the draft waters. All four returned to school, though Heron opted to transfer.

A rising senior who started 20 games at the 3 position, Flanigan missed Auburn’s first 11 games of the season while recovering from surgery to repair a torn Achilles. His offensive efficiency (48.2% from 2-point range and 20.5% from deep) fell off from his standout sophomore campaign, where he was one of the SEC’s most improved players at 14.3 points per game, though he was still one of the Tigers’ top on-ball defenders.

“You’ve got to feel for him,” Pearl said in February. “And I want our fans to feel for him. … You talk about catching an injury that takes you out three and a half months in September and, obviously, working his way back from it — not the same player he was a year ago offensively. That can wear on you.”

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Cardwell, a rising junior and former four-star recruit, backed up Kessler last season and served as a consistent hustle player in the frontcourt. Per 100 possessions, he was Auburn’s second-best rebounder behind Kessler, and he finished tied for sixth in the SEC in blocks per game (1.3), despite averaging the fewest minutes of any player in the top 20 in the conference in blocks.

The 2022 NBA draft is set for June 23 in Brooklyn.

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  • ellitor changed the title to Flanigan & Cardwell Testing NBA Draft Potential




 

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With *his* defensive prowess, I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that Dylan wanted to go through this process to get feedback about what he needs to work on to have a shot at the NBA. I'm sure both he and Allen will be back next season, but I can't fault them for trying to find out where they stand currently and what needs improvement to get them where they want to be.

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Smart move by both of them. They will get a complete analyses of their game their strength's and weaknesses. They can then use that to improve thier game next year helping Auburn but more importantly improving their own chances to get to the NBA or some other Pro league.

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37 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

DYLAN Cardwell?

Yes, why so surprised? I know you really dislike him but if you don't take advantage of the opportunity to get graded by professionals you're stupid.

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35 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

DYLAN Cardwell?

He DID tie for 6th in the league in blocks per game while playing a paltry 11.6 minutes per game. Did pretty good in rebounds, too, when you factor in how few minutes he played. He's not going pro this year, he just wants to know how close he is to making an NBA team and what he needs to work on to get there.

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24 minutes ago, tgrogan21 said:

Yes, why so surprised? I know you really dislike him but if you don't take advantage of the opportunity to get graded by professionals you're stupid.

Slow it down 

Why do you think I dislike Dylan Cardwell? If you’ve seen me say I don’t think he should be a starter for this team (if they want to compete for a championship), that doesn’t mean I dislike him. I dont think a lot of players on this planet should (if Auburn wants to compete for a championship!) 

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25 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

He DID tie for 6th in the league in blocks per game while playing a paltry 11.6 minutes per game. Did pretty good in rebounds, too, when you factor in how few minutes he played. He's not going pro this year, he just wants to know how close he is to making an NBA team and what he needs to work on to get there.

All I wanted to do was make sure the title was referring to Dylan and not another Cardwell, innocent question

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8 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Slow it down 

Why do you think I dislike Dylan Cardwell? If you’ve seen me say I don’t think he should be a starter for this team (if they want to compete for a championship), that doesn’t mean I dislike him. I dont think a lot of players on this planet should (if Auburn wants to compete for a championship!) 

Because you take any opportunity you can to talk bad about him despite being proven multiple times that his stats are not bad and he's not as bad of a player as you think he is.

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7 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

All I wanted to do was make sure the title was referring to Dylan and not another Cardwell, innocent question

You could have actually read the post before asking an "innocent" question. It literally says his name in the first two sentences.

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6 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

All I wanted to do was make sure the title was referring to Dylan and not another Cardwell, innocent question

Is there another Cardwell who might be mentioned alongside Allen Flanigan? More to the point, if that was truly an innocent question, why didn't you read the text of the OP, where it clearly says "Dylan Cardwell?" I mean, forgive me here, but you certainly came across as questioning why on earth DC would be looking into his chances for playing at the next level...

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3 hours ago, Rednilla said:

Is there another Cardwell who might be mentioned alongside Allen Flanigan? More to the point, if that was truly an innocent question, why didn't you read the text of the OP, where it clearly says "Dylan Cardwell?" I mean, forgive me here, but you certainly came across as questioning why on earth DC would be looking into his chances for playing at the next level...

Spurring conversation. A thankless job, it appears 

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3 hours ago, tgrogan21 said:

Because you take any opportunity you can to talk bad about him despite being proven multiple times that his stats are not bad and he's not as bad of a player as you think he is.

You had the opportunity to provide an example of such a thing and didn’t?

I wouldn’t project how someone looks like as a starter based purely on stats. Someone can look fantastic in a role and that doesn’t extrapolate in a larger role. The block numbers look great and the foul numbers look abhorrent.
 

if I was purely stat watching, I would derive that he goes up for a ton of contests, plays good D but is far too grabby to be a full time starter (if I were to ask him to be playing a normal workload for a starter, say 28 minutes). To put it in context, Kessler who had occasional fouling issues, had 2.6 fouls in 25.6 minutes. Matching Cardwell’s 2021-22 minutes with Kessler’s, he’d have about 4.122 fouls a game, just multiplying their minute gap times the foul rate Cardwell already had. That’s completely untenable as a starter 

Now, I could also add that’s essentially the same foul rate he had the prior season, on more minutes and while being asked to do more as an overall player, so this is just who that guy has shown to be to this point, or how the foul + blocks both match the eye test with Dylan, but I genuinely don’t feel like I need to. I just don’t see how me acknowledging that none of his stats paint him as a championship caliber starter, but a high end backup. Not to mention that he had virtually zero offensive value when the pick and rolls were being tapered off. Not everyone that’s good in their role is meant to expand past that. 

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One thing that’s going to massively hinder Cardwell in a 20+ minute extended role is that he does a ton of resting his arm on opposing drivers, esp on a pick and roll. It’s not something he does exclusively of course, but in regular officiating, that’s gonna get you caught up maybe once. In tight officiating, you’re going to be in a bad spot. And that’s just one habit he has. He also looks to block shots by going through the opposing player’s body often, which can lead to a ton of blocks for someone who’s fairly athletic like that guy. But as often occurred, some refs are not privy to that. The Miami first half was a good example of refs letting his tendencies go, if you wanted a quick example to go watch

he could clean those tendencies up, but this has been who he’s been for 2 straight years. I gotta see it before I buy stock! 

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29 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Spurring conversation. A thankless job, it appears 

If you were just spurring conversation, then I'm not so sure I'd call it an innocent question as much as a challenge to the notion of him being good enough to warrant an NBA evaluation, not to mention that my initial response to your flabbergasted reaction was perfectly warranted. You sure you're not just trying to cover for the fact that you don't think he's anywhere near an NBA-caliber player?

One thing to keep in mind is that he was playing behind a projected first rounder, and thus might have reason to wonder where *he* stands regarding the NBA. He has the size to play center in the NBA, after all, and probably has the coordination, too, so long as he can get rid of some bad habits.

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10 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

If you were just spurring conversation, then I'm not so sure I'd call it an innocent question as much as a challenge to the notion of him being good enough to warrant an NBA evaluation, not to mention that my initial response to your flabbergasted reaction was perfectly warranted. You sure you're not just trying to cover for the fact that you don't think he's anywhere near an NBA-caliber player?

One thing to keep in mind is that he was playing behind a projected first rounder, and thus might have reason to wonder where *he* stands regarding the NBA. He has the size to play center in the NBA, after all, and probably has the coordination, too, so long as he can get rid of some bad habits.

I dont think there’s a ton of value in looking into deeper meanings behind my earlier post, as I already told you the motive lol. We’re having the conversation now and I think it’s been a prudent one in listing some of his strengths and weaknesses. To capitulate to some of the people who think I do not like this guy (and I do “like” him, my real life experiences around and related to him have been positive), there’s been examples of guys making good strides during their last couple years. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for him to be a healthy Anfernee McLemore, 2020 Jvon McCormick tier of player. Those are what I’d consider a high-end utility player that’s in the upper rung of his position within the SEC

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So can any player do this? Any qualifications required or can literally any player get a pro analysis of their game? 

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3 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

So can any player do this? Any qualifications required or can literally any player get a pro analysis of their game? 

Pretty sure they have to be a college player...

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4 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

So can any player do this? Any qualifications required or can literally any player get a pro analysis of their game? 

@NoALtiger Yes. They can do it 2 times then would have to stay in the draft process.

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41 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

Pretty sure they have to be a college player...

Thought that part of his question was assumed but it also can be G League or a player not in high school in other countries also.

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8 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Thought that part of his question was assumed but it also can be G League or a player not in high school in other countries also.

I was trying to remember the name of the G League, all I was coming up with was Ignite (which I guess would have counted, as well). I didn't know that about foreign players, but I suppose it makes sense.

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3 hours ago, alexava said:

Cardwell is going to be an excellent NBA player. Not yet. 

I would think he would need to become a starter here before he becomes an excellent NBA player though. Hopefully he progresses. I’d love to see it. 

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