Why Ace Bailey is the most polarizing prospect in the 2025 NBA Draft and where the Rutgers star would fit best

[satnom]

Why Ace Bailey is the most polarizing prospect in the 2025 NBA Draft and where the Rutgers star would fit best

There are there are questions surrounding Bailey, who could go as high as No. 3 in next month's NBA Draft

www.cbssports.com

GO RU

 

[red sail]

This excerpt from the article reiterates what a tragic failure Pike was coaching this team last year. ​

​

Team success lacked during his time at Rutgers​

As I wrote earlier this spring, Rutgers fumbled its most talented roster in program history. It's not uncommon for a projected top-five pick to never play in the NCAA Tournament because their respective team is bad. That's happened several times over the last 10 years. But for two potential top-three picks to go 15-17 overall and miss out on the NCAA Tournament entirely? That's never happened.

Ten teams in the modern recruiting era have landed two high school prospects ranked in the top five of their respective class. Nine of those squads reached the NCAA Tournament (Duke's 2024-25 team is the other).

 

[lion1983]

That was a pretty well-reasoning discussion of Bailey's fits and prospects.

Interesting that he shot WAY better taking contested 2-pointers than wide open 2-pointers (48% to 30%). I have no idea what to make of that.

 

[satnom]

I think most of us are surprised that Ace’s standing and max vertical leaps were less than Dylan’s numbers.

PLAYER	POS	LANE AGILITY TIME (SECONDS)	SHUTTLE RUN (SECONDS)	THREE QUARTER SPRINT (SECONDS)	STANDING VERTICAL LEAP (INCHES)	MAX VERTICAL LEAP (INCHES)	MAX BENCH PRESS

Dylan Harper

PG-SG

11.07

3.05

3.16

30.5

36.5

Ace Bailey

SF-PF

10.97

2.78

3.12

27.5

34.5

-

Draft Combine Agility | Stats | NBA.com

Draft Combine Agility data

www.nba.com

GO RU

 

[seansherm]

I think most of us are surprised that Ace’s standing and max vertical leaps were less than Dylan’s numbers.

PLAYER	POS	LANE AGILITY TIME (SECONDS)	SHUTTLE RUN (SECONDS)	THREE QUARTER SPRINT (SECONDS)	STANDING VERTICAL LEAP (INCHES)	MAX VERTICAL LEAP (INCHES)	MAX BENCH PRESS

Dylan Harper

PG-SG

11.07

3.05

3.16

30.5

36.5

Ace Bailey

SF-PF

10.97

2.78

3.12

27.5

34.5

-

Draft Combine Agility | Stats | NBA.com

Draft Combine Agility data

www.nba.com

GO RU

Dylan is about maxed out physically, think Ace still has some athletic growth to him.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

Dylan is about maxed out physically, think Ace still has some athletic growth to him.

That may be true, but when Luka Doncic was drafted, most teams thought he was a very talented player who would make an immediate impact, but wasn’t going to get much better because he had been a pro for 6 years, and they all turned out to be wrong.

 

[Plum Street]

there is way too much talk here about guys that player on a lousy Rutgers team

 

[DaveSNJ]

It was a record breaking season. Sorry but we did make the ncaas and we did reach the sweet sixteen everything else you read is fake news.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

there is way too much talk here about guys that player on a lousy Rutgers team

This. I wish them the best but honestly, for Rutgers, what happens with them at this point doesn’t much matter.

The best thing that could happen for Rutgers basketball would be to go to Vegas and shock the world going 2-1 or better. A full season of success is unlikely but any given day…. It’s uncertain just how bad we’ll be with so many unknown parts. I don’t know why I’m not more pessimistic but it would just be so “Rutgers” (and Pike) for us to get off to a hot start and continue to polarize the media. I could just picture the headlines “somehow, Rutgers is better without 2 top 5 draft picks? How?” Of course it would likely turn out that the 2 teams we beat have bust seasons and aren’t NCAA caliber teams, because that too, is typical Rutgers.

 

[seansherm]

That may be true, but when Luka Doncic was drafted, most teams thought he was a very talented player who would make an immediate impact, but wasn’t going to get much better because he had been a pro for 6 years, and they all turned out to be wrong.

Has he gotten much better? He was rookie of the year then 1st team all nba from then on. He made his immediate impact and has been great offensively since. He just played slightly fewer minutes and took slightly less shots year one.

 

[urbanecane]

"Most talented roster in program history" is a major stretch.

 

[hinson32]

there is way too much talk here about guys that player on a lousy Rutgers team

Sarcasm? Or you actually think talking about RU have the 2 and 3 picks in the NBA draft can be talked about too much?