Apricot's NBA Draft Tourney Group 3: Morez Johnson Jr., Bennett Stirtz, Nate Ament
You vote, I count, they draft
Here are all the Draft Tournaments and Live Draft Day threads since 2020. The 2026 page describes how the field was chosen, analyzes the relevance of BPM and other gory details.
Why do we do this Draft Tournament?
The tournament is designed for people who are not draft experts to catch up at a casual pace on prospects in the Warriors range. For this reason, I have sliced it up into a series of smaller votes instead of a massive 16+ player scouting report. These will be spaced out over the next few weeks until the NBA Draft.
The ultimate goal is for you to develop opinions and attachments about the different prospects, so you can
argue with others,
dream about the future,
enjoy the draft with more suspense and emotional investment,
be angry that your favorite wasn’t selected,
and then in the future tell everyone how you had it right and the drafters were a bunch of idiots.
Despite our stellar track record, it’s unlikely we’ll guess exactly whom the Warriors will draft.
And yes yes everyone always wants to trade the pick for someone ready to contribute. Please don’t be obvious and boring and suggest that.
The reason we don’t contemplate this possibility is that there is absolutely no good way to tell trades are possible and what is fan fantasy. I have a low opinion of people making up trades and complaining they haven’t happened.
How To Vote
Simply vote in this embedded poll. If you are moved, you can make a COMMENT VOTE that counts as 10 votes. However, I will not count any vote unless it has
some justification of your vote
exactly one hashtag with the last name of your candidate, like #CURRY, #GREEN, #THOMPSON.
I know many of you are very creative, but any deviations from these instructions will make my life harder and annoy me. Please channel your creativity elsewhere.
The scouting reports
Morez Johnson Jr.
Avg: 16.86 | Range: 14–19 | Draftballr | B-Ref
Height: 6’9” | Position: PF/C | College: Michigan | PPG: 13.7 | RPG: 7.3 | APG: 1.2
Bleacher Report Pick 17
Morez Johnson could have only helped himself at the NBA combine. After measuring 6’9” barefoot, 250 pounds with a 7’3.5” wingspan, he surprised with 17-of-25 makes in the three-point star drill, got up for a 39.5” max vertical and one of the top lane agility times.
NBA teams understand his offensive limitations, but they also value what he does well and believe that physicality, finishing, defensive versatility and motor are sure to translate.
He could wind up earning lottery consideration if he continues to shoot well during workouts.
ESPN Pick 17
Johnson was another combine-week beneficiary, measuring taller than some around the NBA expected with a plus-6½ wingspan and viable tools for an undersized center, and also posting a top-five lane agility time. He also looked surprisingly comfortable shooting the ball from long range relative to some of his peers in drills, helping reaffirm his path to a useful rotation role and room to develop as a floor spacer. His rise up boards could give Michigan three players inside the top 20, with most of the teams in the 14-to-20 range likely to consider selecting a big.
The Thunder also held two first-rounders entering last year’s draft, choosing to roster Thomas Sorber at No. 15, then traded the 24th pick for a future protected first. Considering their current situation, they could take a similar approach and look to flip this pick for a future asset, which might be easier than consolidating picks to move up in a strong lottery.
The Athletic Pick 17
Johnson was one of my favorite players in college basketball. He was one of the most efficient players in the country, averaging 13.1 points per game while shooting 62.3 percent from the field. He got to the foul line four times per game and made 78 percent of those. He’s a tough rebounder who is physical on the interior and crashes with his long arms. But I love Johnson the most on defense; he was the best all-around defender on one of the three best defenses in the nation, and that included Lendeborg and Mara. He’s tremendous as a post defender, flying around in help and showcasing switchability on the perimeter.
But Johnson is undersized for his role despite his strength and doesn’t have a ton of offensive versatility. Essentially, he’s a play finisher around the interior. That skill set is reminiscent of Isaiah Stewart, and Stewart has turned into a very valuable player for the Pistons. Oklahoma City has been linked to Stewart before, and even though the Thunder took Thomas Sorber last season, they’re loaded everywhere and can afford to take another big. Teams across the league look at Oklahoma City, as well, as a team primed to likely try to combine its picks to move up or to try to move one of these picks to move out of the draft.
Bennett Stirtz
Avg: 20.14 | Range: 19–26 | Draftballr | B-Ref
Height: 6’4” | Position: PG | College: Iowa | PPG: 20.4 | RPG: 3.8 | APG: 4.4
Bleacher Report Pick 21
The needle won’t move much for Bennett Stirtz during the predraft process. He proved himself by nearly matching his big numbers at Drake with the same production and an Elite 8 run at Iowa.
He’s not going to win any athletic or physical competitions, and being a 23-year-old rookie will likely dissuade lottery teams in a draft that’s loaded with ball-handlers. But in the teens or 20s, Stirtz will look like a value pick whose college impact, shotmaking, IQ and finishing/touch simply looks too advanced to write off because of age or limited speed/explosion.
ESPN Pick 19
Stirtz shot the ball extremely well in drills at the combine, plus measured and tested fairly well, helping himself overall. He has drawn interest inside the top 20, with teams hoping that his high-level shooting might give him the versatility to play off the ball. Though his shooting was streakier than anticipated at Iowa (35.8% from 3), he carried a heavy workload and was asked to create for himself far more than he’ll need to in the pros. His ability to navigate ball screens, limit mistakes and knock down open shots gives him a path to a useful bench role in the right situation, despite turning 23 in the fall.
Toronto can go a couple of different directions at this slot, with a need for a creative guard as well as a long-term center. Stirtz would be an immediate boost to their backcourt as a plug-and-play option, helping improve spacing and giving them another half-court playmaker.
The Athletic Pick 26
After a slow start, Stirtz dominated while leading Iowa to the Elite Eight. In his final 25 games, he averaged 21.5 points, 4.1 assists and made 47.2 percent of his shots from the field and 33.5 percent of his eight 3-point attempts per game and 87.2 percent of his shots from the line. With his pace and skill, he was a dynamite scorer with elite-level basketball IQ for a team that wasn’t that talented by Big Ten standards. The Hawkeyes also played at one of the slowest paces in college basketball under coach Ben McCollum, making these numbers all the more impressive.
There are some concerns about whether Stirtz can consistently get to the rim in the NBA and whether he can guard at a high-enough level. But teams always want guards who are elite shooters and who can dribble and pass, plus have a tremendous feel for the game. Minnesota, particularly, could use a point guard who gets the team in and out of its sets next to Anthony Edwards.
Nate Ament
Avg: 11.29 | Range: 10–18 | Draftballr | B-Ref
Height: 6’10” | Position: SF/PF | College: Tennessee | PPG: 16.7 | RPG: 6.3 | APG: 2.3
Bleacher Report Pick 18
Nate Ament is working out for top-10 teams and isn’t expected to slip outside the lottery.
He measured well in Chicago, coming in even taller than expected barefoot (6’9.5), an enticing height for a player with his ability to attack and shoot from different spots playing on and off the ball. High-upside traits (positional size, shotmaking, defensive tools) are swaying evaluators to look past some of his inefficient execution at Tennessee.
ESPN Pick 10
Ament was polarizing for teams all season, with some evaluators still enamored with his size and skill, while others view him as a theoretical prospect and are concerned with his struggles in college. In either case, he’s a ways away from impacting winning at the NBA level, which makes him a bit more fit-specific to teams that have minutes available and a runway to develop him. The Bucks might wind up in that position and could opt to roll the dice here.
The Athletic Pick 10
Ament’s season was a true roller coaster, and his draft stock is a bit funky as a result. He averaged 14.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in his first 15 games but was only shooting 40 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3. Those numbers were also buoyed by big games against bad teams, like his 23 points against Northern Kentucky, his 19 against Rice and North Florida and his 20 against Rutgers. Then, over 12 games before he sprained an ankle in Tennessee’s game against Alabama, few players were better in high-major conference play. He averaged 22 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 44 percent from the field, 38 percent from 3 and 84 percent from the line while getting there a ridiculous nine times per game in that run. But when he returned for postseason play, he clearly wasn’t 100 percent. He averaged just 13.3 points while shooting 31.3 percent from the field, including 28.6 percent from inside the arc as he had zero lift.
Still, that issue with his scoring inside the arc showcases problems with his game. He’s still quite skinny, and scouts aren’t sure how his frame will fill out. He added a lot of good weight in the offseason leading into his freshman year, which allowed him to at least deal with the rigors of college basketball. However, he doesn’t have a ton of athletic explosiveness. His finishing at the rim has been concerning when he doesn’t get fouled, as he made a ridiculously low 42 percent of his shots at the rim at 6-10, per Synergy.