St. John's coach Rick Pitino sees high-impact players in NBA Draft
Count Rick Pitino in the majority. The St. John’s coach looks at the 2025 NBA Draft and sees a few players who could be high-impact players in the pros either next season or a short time from now and Duke’s Cooper Flagg, Rutgers’ Dylan Harper and Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe — Newsday’s two-time Long Island Player of the Year from LuHi — as right at the top.
Pitino appeared Wednesday afternoon on FS1’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” and was asked his thoughts on the field of candidates up for selection on Wednesday and Thursday in the first and second rounds, respectively, at Barclays Center.
“This draft is not as strong as others,” Pitino said. “I look at how [players] can contribute, not only right away but down the road. Who has great upside? And there are players here that have upside.”
Flagg has been the consensus No. 1 pick since he started college and Pitino said, “He’s physically ready, he’s extremely athletic, he shoots the basketball, he’s a tough young man and he’s maybe one of like three players that are ready to have an impact right away.”
“He’s got a good inside game, good outside game,” Pitino added. “He drives with force, knows how to play the game. He actually is young [because] he skipped a year of high school . . . He’s ready for the NBA and will be an impact player right away.”
Pitino has firsthand experience going against Harper, who had 20 points in an exhibition game last season, and with Edgecombe, from his time in New York and the one-point overtime loss to Baylor in the Bahamas last season.
“There are very few players out there that totally get the game and how it should be played [and] Dylan Harper is someone that understands the game,” Pitino said. “He has great pace, great tempo, gets his shot off in traffic, but really understands how to make other players better. There aren’t too many guys in the draft that make players better.”
“VJ is a tremendous athlete,” he said. “He’s fast. He plays way, way above the rim. He’s lightning-quick in the open court . . . He needs a lot of work on his jump shot, but most guys, when they go to the NBA from being declared non-shooters, become great shooters by the time they’re in their second or third year.”
If there are knocks on Walter Clayton Jr., who averaged 18.3 points and 4.2 assists as the Gators won the national championship, they are his 6-2 height and his age, 22. In the draft, NBA teams look at youth as an asset. Clayton on Tuesday said, “I’m not older — I’m 22.”
“Walter Clayton won two high school championships back-to-back, comes [to] us and wins a MAAC championships [at Iona] and MVP of the league, then he goes to Florida as a transfer, elevates his game and wins the national championship right away,” Pitino said. “He’s a little older [but] if I’m a coach, I want Walter Clayton Jr. I know he’s a knockdown shooter. I know he makes free throws . . . He knows how to pass. He has good verticality. He does everything I want [and] is a winner.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
