The first round of the 2024 draft came to an end today, and several more teams made deals in today's draft! The first is the Spurs, who traded the No. 8 pick for a future unprotected first-round pick and a first-round swap for the Timberwolves, while the Nuggets also traded up with four chips to get the Suns' first-round pick No. 22 and selected Daron Holmes II in one fell swoop.
Daron Holmes is one of the few frontcourt players to watch this year, because he is an older rookie born in 2002, so the overall popularity is not as hot as a few young players in the lotto area, but this does not affect his future development prospects, and the good quality that has been shown so far.
In his junior season, Holmes averaged 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, shooting 38.6% from three-point range! Overall, Holmes is a mobile No. 4, mainly on the offensive end, mainly on the offensive end, because of his explosive power and good ball handling, so many scouts give him a high template of Chris Bosh and a low template of Christian Wood.
Holmes' physical stats also show that this is a very athletic player, and his 3/4 speed is already comparable to many of the wingers in this edition, such as Cornekt. At the same time, Holmes has an excellent rebound speed, and he can immediately complete the second jump with a slight bend of his knees, although the bounce height is not top-notch, but it is enough.
At present, there are two main reasons for Holmes's drop, the first is age. Holmes' current style of play is relatively mature, and if he develops well, he has a chance to grow into an All-Star level, and according to normal circumstances, he is likely to be a good starter. Secondly, Holmes's confrontation ability is still not enough, and the current playoff scale continues to be looser and encourage interior confrontation, and if Holmes does not continue to gain weight, he is likely to suffer.
After the Nuggets were eliminated by the Timberwolves, it seemed that they were obsessed with big man basketball. Holmes II is 206 centimeters tall and weighs only 106 kilograms, so he often plays the number four position, swings to the number three position for a small part of the time, and almost never plays the number five position! The Nuggets' selection of him also seems to be intent on strengthening the bench inside!
It is worth mentioning that the Rockets used to be very fond of Holmes, and they also wanted to trade for the Suns' No. 22 pick. But Stone should have started negotiations, and in the end, it may have fallen out because he didn't join the first-round pick, because the Rockets' first-round pick is likely to be in the middle and before, and the trade may not be worth it now.