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Sam Vecenie

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
1143 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

DeVance is, like, a way better prospect than Ace Bailey, to be clear.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

But, you know, big wing creator, you know, it's very possible that coming from that Oklahoma City tree that โ€“

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

they might just value the intersection of like size and shot creation and everything that AJ can bring.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

Now, like I think Darren is just a lot more polished and is a better shooter and makes better decisions as a passer.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

That's the thing that we haven't gotten to see with Darren yet this year, to be honest with you, Andrew, like in high school, like,

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

For his first couple years in high school, Darren Peterson was like a gunner.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

Kind of similar a little bit to what we've seen at Kansas, honestly.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

And then in his last year at Prolific Prep, he really grew as a passer and was hitting cross-corner kick-out reads, was hitting skip passes, was really good at playing within ball screens and understanding where his teammates were at all times.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

But...

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

At Kansas, I think probably because of the injuries as much as anything, we haven't gotten to see him get into that flow and rhythm quite as well.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

So that's what I'm most interested in watching with Darren the rest of the year.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

Between the hamstring that turned into quad cramping that didn't lead to but was followed by an ankle injury, it's just been so stop-starty with Darren that it's really, really hard.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

to get him into rhythm and yet you look up and even with all of those injuries that we've seen darren is averaging 22 5 and 2 shooting 49 42 82 as a teenager right like it's just crazy how good and how efficient and how sharp he is so look

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

I think that there are teams that will look at AJ's tools and will say, well, there's a guy here who's 6'9 and is a better athlete than Darren, and if we can teach him some of the experience-based things that will come as he gets more game time and more reps, we think he has the highest upside, right?

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

And I wouldn't blame anybody that has that opinion, to be honest.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

what about what about for cam what about for cam boozer though yeah like and i think there are teams that like i just look you know i look at the memphis grizzlies for example right and memphis says jaron jackson right now they have zach edie like you might look at it and be like the last thing that they need is another front court player they've said your coward who's going to be a three right like

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

but this team, like if you look at their track is draft history, they take the dudes that are just wildly productive in college.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

Right.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

And it's really worked out for them.

The Athletic NBA Daily
How good is the 2026 NBA Draft Class? with Sam Vecenie | Slam N Jam

Like they are probably the best team at drafting in the league outside of maybe Oklahoma city.