So we've done the quantitative allocations of numbers to prospects in the last post, but let's get to the heart of it and qualitatively explain why it's logical to pick them at that position. If they're expected to be at that position, from NBADraft, Draftexpress, I won't comment on it.
Without further ado...
| 1 | Anthony Davis | | 17.77129 | | H: 6' 10" | W: 220 lbs | PF |
He's the consensus #1 pick, and in my algorithm waayy above everyone else. Out of curiosity, Kyrie Irving, my consensus #1 rating last year, had an ULTPER of 14.01. Davis was at 15.57 using the same algorithm, but accounting for height and ballhandling he's now at 16.77. Needless to say he's a cornerstone type player.
| 2 | Bradley Beal | | 13.091 | | H: 6' 4" | W: 201 lbs | SG |
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This is where things start to break down a bit. Beal, normally with that sort of ULTPER, would be the 4th or 5th overall pick in the draft, but I think it's hard to find a real consensus after Davis. There will some players my algorithm isn't high on (we'll get into it later), but he's definitely a SG with few, if any discernable, PG skills. What he excels at is at offense--his ability to shoot from deep and slash effectively will translate to the NBA level, and he's tough and a very good rebounder. However, I've said this before, and I think he'll have a good first five years in the league as a Ben Gordon type. Thus, he is a toxic contract candidate, like Gordon, who can waver in the second half of his career given that he isn't particularly dimensional in his game, and isn't particularly gifted athletically (ranked 26th out of 56 prospects in the combine). But for the now, instant production. I don't think perennial all star upside though given his PG limitations.
| 3 | Terrence Jones | | 12.28055 | | H: 6' 9" | W: 249 lbs | PF |
Jones is not a star, but then again, is anyone going to consider Beal (scorer with few dimensions) and Kidd-Gilchrist/Henson (defensive guys with questionable offense) stars? Jones makes a ton of defensive plays and rebounds well for his size. His jumper needs work and his passing is nondescript. He has a good build, even if the height isn't super ideal, and the fear is that he'll lapse into Marvin Williams type mediocrity. He's a decent enough athlete, but nothing extraordinary (19th out of 56 prospects at the combine). Possible, but I'm betting Jones is better defensively than Williams.
| 4 | Michael Gilchrist | | 12.15789 | | H: 6' 7" | W: 228 lbs | SF |
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Kidd-Gilchrist is one that scouts repeatedly say doesn't carry the statistical weight, but he passes the eye test for his position and the words "intelligence", "hard working" and "winner" are always thrown around him. At first glance that sounds like the recipe for disaster--overachieving college player, flop in the NBA? We've heard that with Adam Morrison, Redick, Tyus Edney, whoever for as long as we can remember. Yeah, those guys were unathletic and/or undersized and it was easily to see their despise, and while Kidd-Gilchrist looks the part, does he play the part? Kidd Gilchrist isn't a particularly gifted passer or shooter, and his athleticism is not standout (ranked 30th out of 56 prospects at the combine). So really, I'm second-guessing my algorithm here, but my algorithm thinks he has the markers for good defense--he looks the part for his position, he rebounds very well, and that's the stuff that often that could translate to good defense. But as a defense-first guy as the third overall pick? Like Beal, he continually ranks well in various algorithms, which might attest to whether this draft is weak in the top portion, or whether he has something that can easily translate to the NBA. A part of me wonders if he's more like Luc Richard Mbah a Moute though. Hmmm...
| 5 | John Henson | | 12.04917 | | H: 6' 10" | W: 200 lbs | PF |
One of the favorite guys in the draft, Henson is an absolute monster defensive playmaker and rebounder for his position, and does this all without picking up fouls. He isn't particularly gifted in terms of the overall physical picture (33rd out of 56 prospects in the combine), however, so that might give some pause--still, his length gets the job done. His offense is a wreck--he shoots below 50% cumulatively from the line, has a completely nonelusive offensive game, and doesn't pass the ball particularly well--and this might be holding him from a higher placement. But the defense, combined with good height for a PF, makes him awfully appealing, and while prototypes like Anthony Randolph and Brandan Wright aren't particularly excelling in the league, Henson might not be as inconsistent as Randolph or injury prone as Wright, and might turn out to be better. The offense is worse than the both of them, yes, but again, with a weak top heavy portion, he could be a good choice here.
| 6 | Jeremy Lamb | | 11.77514 | | H: 6' 5" | W: 185 lbs | SG |
Lamb looks the part of the NBA SG and has OK ballhandling/passing ability for the position, but his real calling card is that he's a scorer with very good touch, even though his offense is awfully mid-range happy and might limit his potential. He shows a real aversion to the line, though. For a guy with smooth athleticism and long arms, he doesn't make many defensive plays or rebound the ball well at all either. He might be a bit overrated--he's largely just an OK scorer/shooter who looks the part at this stage, but that's something many players have, and he looks a bit unidimensional, as a sort of MarShon Brooks type. Between to the free throw aversion, lack of rebounding/defense, is he soft? But what elevates him to this spot is his good showing at the combine is his excellent physical tools, which should make him better suited for the up-and-down NBA game than at college, so this is more of a potential than production grab, although the production is very worrisome. Again, that's why this part of the draft is very question mark-y.
| 7 | Dion Waiters | | 11.55661 | | H: 6' 4" | W: 210 lbs | SG |
Waiters is a scorer/shooter type with quick hands on defense and perhaps surprisingly excellent ballhandling and passing skills for a shooting guard. That's a large part of the battle--he's a bit mid-range happy, but if he can score, pass and rack up steals, that's an NBA starter right there. He's a bit undersized, but I imagine teams think he can play PG at a pinch, sort of like a Rodney Stuckey type. Waiters didn't take part in the combine, but he's assumed to be a good athlete, and his ULTPER was altered accordingly.
| 8 | Jae Crowder | | 11.52522 | | H: 6' 6" | W: 235 lbs | SF |
Crowder is active--he makes defensive plays, rebounds very well for his size, passes extremely well for a small forward, and has a pretty viable offensive game with the ability to draw fouls and stretch the floor, even if the jumper is suspect. People like to think of him as a 6'6" power forward but I think the transition should be very easy for him to become a small forward--he doesn't rank uber-athletically, but he's decent enough (21st out of 56 prospects at the combine). He doesn't have the ideal body for a small forward which docks him some, but his game has enough tricks where he can be another one of those underappreciated seniors.
| 9 | Thomas Robinson | | 11.47007 | | H: 6' 9" | W: 240 lbs | PF |
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Here's the thing about Robinson: my algorithms haven't liked him. He's been 24th, 28th, 32nd...but that was all before his combine testing. And that's why I account for these combine tests--Robinson ranked the best (1st) out of all 56 prospects at the combine, and that elevates him all the way to the lottery. The good thing about my algorithm is that in the past it's had an awful time predicting the success rate of undersized athletic PFs--Millsap, David Lee come to mind immediately. T-Rob could be of that mold. So before you scream about why he isn't 2nd as he is in virtually all mock drafts, there's that disclaimer. Looking further into the statistics, I might be underrating Robinson, particularly defensively: while he's foul prone, he amasses a lot of defensive plays and rebounds at a freakishly excellent rate for his size, and as we all know rebounding's the best attribute that translates across leagues. He also looks the part of the NBA PF. Here's the thing about Robinson's offense though: besides the putbacks he gets, I'm thinking it doesn't look too good. His jumper in the past has been super poor, and I'm wondering if it's broke, and his ball skills are never center levels. He seems to struggle to draw fouls with a predictable offensive framework. But, if we can discount John Henson for horrible offense and excellent defense/rebounding, we should do the same for Robinson. His calling card is clearly the rebounding and a few defensive playmakes, as well as the top notch physical tools, but how much higher can he take his skills above Reggie Evans? That's probably the biggest question. As mentioned, though, his sort of skills are exactly the thing my algorithm predicts wrong, and I could still see him as the next Millsap.
| 10 | Damian Lillard | | 11.38009 | | H: 6' 2" | W: 190 lbs | SG/PG |
Here's my gripe with Lillard: I know combo guards are en vogue in the league, but I question whether this guy is truly a full time PG. His passing is just slightly above average for SG standards, and as a SG, his build his subpar. I've had two initial models--one puts him in the mid lottery, and the other, if he's a SG, puts him into the early 2nd round. But again, that was before the combine...Lillard rated super highly in physical tools (6th out of 56 prospects), so he appears to be an elite athlete--that propelled him to 10th and further convinced me that he can succeed in this league. Elsewhere, he's not much of a defensive playmaker and is just a decent rebounder. However, where I think he'll make his money is that he'll be as close to a sure thing as there is as a sparkplug: he's got one of the best offensive games in the entire draft, being able to slash to the basket and stretch out the floor with excellent touch consistently. He's super tough, drawing fouls at will on his slashes and being able to splash down long range shots at a pretty good rate. I think the overall picture with Lillard is maybe a very athletic Chauncey Billups, but I seriously doubt whether he can do anything else besides being an excellent scorer. That has a role for his brand of tough inside scoring/jumpshooting in the league, however, and he'll gain a 10-year career out of it, if not more.
| 11 | Quincy Miller | | 11.27616 | | H: 6' 9" | W: 200 lbs | PF/SF |
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Miller's offense isn't terribly elusive, but I'm thinking he has a good jumper especially for his size, which could make him a good spot-up role player type. He's also a very good rebounder for his size. His defensive playmaking and passing are poor--the passing is in fact why I'm really thinking that he operates best as a smallball PF in this league, where he has the height to hold his own against power forwards, especially once he puts on weight. In that vein, an Al Harrington type, which is even moreso given that he didn't rank well at all in the combine for athletic testing (38th out of 56 prospects) so maybe being more of a jumpshooter will help him out.
| 12 | Tony Wroten | | 11.25562 | | H: 6' 5" | W: 180 lbs | SG/PG |
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Wroten's game is characterized by many haves and have-nots, and that makes him awfully polarizing as a player. First of all, he's really a SG--he's way too turnover prone as a PG, and as a SG while again, he's awfully turnover prone for the position, at least he can hold his own in terms of the ballhandling/passing. By and large, the passing ability at the NBA level might be overrated, unless he gets some really good coaching. At SG, he has a good build for the position, with reasonable but not overpowering athleticism (22nd out of 56 prospects). He's also a good defensive playmaker and decent rebounder, and in fact I think it's the build+defense which is the appeal for him, with the side element of passing if he can ever rein it together. He has a decent offensive framework, but his jumper is broke, so it's looking like a poor man's Tyreke Evans. Risk /reward type, once again.
| 13 | Moe Harkless | | 11.01188 | | H: 6' 8" | W: 208 lbs | PF/SF |
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So after a trio of seniors with NBA-defined attributes follow suit from a bunch of underclassmen with potential but enough holes to limit their all-star upside, Harkless is next. He makes a bunch of defensive plays and rebounds well, and really his calling card will likely be in defense, since his offense is completely nonelusive and mid-range heavy, and his overall jumper itself is suspect. Again, that's what makes Harkless best as power forward: between the jumper and the very poor passing ability, he has the height to not look terribly out of place at the 4, and that could be his optimal position. Think Trevor Ariza when he first came into the league. Raw--interestingly though, he didn't rank that well in the combine (31st out of 56 prospects) so one has to wonder if his athleticism heavy game will completely translate to the league--but again, this part of the draft is relatively weak, so his hustling style of play could be a good grab at the lottery fringes.
| 14 | Kendall Marshall | | 11.00622 | | H: 6' 4" | W: 197 lbs | PG |
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Marshall is polarizing in my algorithm--I've had my rank in the early! 2nd round for one, but then, scaling for his PG/NBA body, he was second on that list. Splitting the difference, he goes to be about 14th. As mentioned, Marshall is a pure PG through and through--in fact, one of only about five in this draft (many are masquerading as shooting guards/combos). With good size for his position, that will also help his case in the NBA. He doesn't give much in way of rebounding, defensive plays, and the shooting looks suspect overall, so the fear is that there's another Chris Duhon (a one trick passer) in the horizon--that's especially disconcerting given that he ranked 47th out of 56 athletes in the combine, so he's not an athlete at all. There's definite bust potential with him, since the league is trending more towards athleticism. But with that sort of elite passing and height, he has a unique quality that few players have, so there's a risk/reward aspect with that. The lotto fringes seem like an interesting place to bet on his game.
| 15 | Will Barton | | 10.64504 | | H: 6' 6" | W: 175 lbs | SF |
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I'm thinking Barton's intrigue will come on the defensive end. He's a very good rebounder and a good defensive playmaker for his build, and where there are questions with Harkless, there are fewer questions with Barton given that he ranks highly as an athlete (13th out of 56 prospects at the combine). On offense, his game is slashing heavy, which is interesting as a lot of the swing crop this year doesn't seem slashing oriented. However, the overall offense is nonelusive and involves a fair share of mid-range J's, not to mention that his shot looks mediocre at best. He actually passes on par with NBA SFs, but his build is just OK for the position. Overall, he's an active roleplayer with very good defensive potential, with side elements of slashing and passing--maybe a skinnier Dahntay Jones.
| 16 | Perry Jones | | 10.56991 | | H: 6' 11" | W: 220 lbs | PF |
Jones is a super polarizing player--again, let's go with my model splits. Jones does virtually nothing of use statistically--if I were looking at his stats, I'd be assuming I'm looking at a 6'7" small forward, not a 6'11" power forward. As such, he ranked even in the late second in one model I had, but after I accounted for his height/ballhandling, he moved to 11th. So 16th occurred through splitting the difference. As a PF, Jones is a nondescript passer, has a completely non-elusive, mid-range heavy offensive game, and even then his jumper is just middling at best for his size. Defensively, for someone that long and athletic he makes very few defensive plays and is just a OK rebounder. Really, there's not much to base his game off of--it doesn't look too promising. Largely, he's working off his build: he has such a height advantage at the power forward position, which is likely where a lot of the intrigue comes from: moreover, accounting for his physical tools, he ranked well (16th out of 56 prospects), so the intrigue is through the tools and his overall build, rather than his game. Sort of like Jeremy Lamb, but a more extreme case, this one's about potential, especially since he's that tall and athletic.
| 17 | Orlando Johnson | | 10.33208 | | H: 6' 5" | W: 205 lbs | SG |
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Johnson's a very interesting player: based on his measurements, he ranked extremely well (in fact, 4th out of a measured 56 prospects) so physically he could have a leg up in the league, in fact. The skills also jibe with the tools--he has a diverse offensive game and will both shoot from deep and slash proficiently, and in fact he seems to be a more prolific slasher. While he's shot 39-43% from deep over the past three years, though, the free throw shooting paints him as a more mediocre shooter, but he should be at least decent in this area. Johnson's also a very good rebounder for his size, and has OK enough passing ability to masquerade as a NBA shooting guard as well. He's not an active participant in making defensive plays though, but still, with the physical tools and diverse offense (slashing/decent shooting) and rebounding, he has a very good platform to build off of, and could develop into a high end role player if the cards fall right. Really, he's better than my projections of Jeremy Lamb at this stage, but since Johnson's a senior and a late bloomer, his types tend to be overlooked, and thus drafted later.
| 18 | Robbie Hummel | | 10.2939 | | H: 6' 8" | W: 208 lbs | SF |
Hummel is highly useful as a roleplayer, sort of in the mold of Shurna--again, he can really shoot the basketball, and also he also does a good mix of slashing and shooting of threes, which could be an interesting roleplayer wrinkle for him in the league. In addition to that, he makes a decent number of defensive plays and can rebound quite well, but in particular the guy can really pass the ball--almost near PG levels, given the ballhandling and court vision. He also has good size for the position. Hummel's two flaws are quite severe, such that they seem to have completely obliterated him from being among the top 60 picks for most draftniks: 1) he's injury prone and has missed whole seasons, and 2) he's extremely weak athletically and in terms of physical tools (ranked 55th out of 56 prospects). But, still, he's a skill player and has size for the position, and does a lot of different things quite well, such that I do think he can be a steal. Some have heard Landry Fields thrown around with him, but he's a way better shooter and in general seems more active, so the upside could be higher. Could be a real sleeper in this draft.
| 19 | Meyers Leonard | | 10.29139 | | H: 7' 0" | W: 240 lbs | C |
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Leonard gains advantages due to the fact that he looks like a NBA center, and he's reasonable at making defensive plays. He's also a good athlete on top of that (15th out of the 56 prospects). However, he's super averse to drawing fouls and given that his ball skills are poor, I'd also question his finishing skills: he's largely a catch and shoot type, where he's got good touch for the size. In fact, he seems to be a particularly poor rebounder for his size. If we're to make comparisons between Harrison Barnes and Quincy Miller as smallball PFs, we should make side comparisons between Tyler Zeller and Meyers Leonard: they are both very similar catch-and-shoot jumpshooting centers, but the difference is that Zeller can rebound, and Leonard...I'm doubting it. Still, Leonard looks the part and has the athleticism, and the latter part (plus younger age) is why he's deemed with more upside. However, Leonard might be a bit soft in the league, between the free throw aversion and lack of rebounding. If he's just a jumpshooting center, well, Earl Barron can do that. That's all I'm going to say. A bit of a potential grab here, but there's bust potential for sure.
| 20 | Harrison Barnes | | 10.29124 | | H: 6' 8" | W: 210 lbs | PF/SF |
I've always had a gripe with Barnes, so I'll let loose on it: he's just not that good. He's a good rebounder, but nonexistent in making defensive plays. Offensively, he's a role player: his framework is non-elusive and mid-range J heavy, and his shot is middling, and all indications point to this; moreover, his passing is at PF levels. That's why he's more of a smallball PF, where his frame is just OK. In fact, that's the major difference between someone like Barnes and Quincy Miller: they're awfully similar in virtually everything, but my models point that Miller looks to have the better stroke: as a smallball PF one needs to stretch the defense, and if Barnes can't stretch the defense with his middling shot, he doesn't have other facets of his game that are particularly useful. Barnes is a better athlete than Miller, but in the aggregate he's rather nondescript (25th out of 56) and Miller's coming off of an injury. Miller looks to be a better Al Harrington/Dorell Wright type than Barnes is. And that's the difference between #8 and #24 right here.
| 21 | Jared Sullinger | | 10.23679 | | H: 6' 8" | W: 250 lbs | C |
So the question to ask: why is Sully rated so low? Sullinger can really board and for his size, has decent touch, but his offensive framework isn't all that special. On offense, also, what really hurts him is that I don't think he can pass the ball--it's at center levels. And if we're going to treat him as a center, he's undersized and overweight for the position, which hurts him. And even worse than that, he didn't rate well at the combine (49th out of 56 players), indicating a severe lack of athleticism. His offense might be relegated to Ike Diogu levels, and to be honest, the only thing I think is a certainty is his rebounding. The undersized/unathletic aspect is severely going to hurt him. I can see bust potential with him, a la Mike Sweetney (another former lotto pick). He's also my prime candidate to drop in this draft, even if I want Austin Rivers to really do so (read more for that).
| 22 | John Shurna | | 10.23364 | | H: 6' 8" | W: 210 lbs | SF |
Shurna ranks well at pretty much all my qualifying markers--he can actually pass the ball like your prototypical NBA small forward, and he has good size for the position. He's shot the three ball well throughout college, and that should be his calling card in the league, but he's also a surprisingly decent defensive playmaker and fairly elusive as well. So the shooting with side elements of passing and defensive playmaking and other extraneous offense--that sounds like Kyle Korver. The one problem might be that he doesn't rebound well at all, but that's only a small problem given the other facets. I think he's a sure thing as a useful roleplayer in the league. What hurts is that no draftnik ever rated him among their top 60, so he wasn't invited to the combine, so I'm going to assume that he's a horrible athlete, which even accounting for that, puts him in this slot. A late 1st round buy could be useful for him.
| 23 | Royce White | | 9.992397 | | H: 6' 8" | W: 270 lbs | PF |
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White is an excellent rebounder for his size and a good defensive playmaker. However, his offense is a wreck--he has absolutely no jumper and has a nonelusive offensive framework, although his calling card his passing ability. He can be a matchup nightmare with his passing ability at the power forward position, even though he doesn't have the ideal build as a PF. White is like a Boris Diaw clone--the rebounding, the passing, some defense is there, but the offense is far lagging behind. White also has a fear of flying and has had some off the court issues, so that needs to be looked at. On a talent basis, though, no one else in the top 25 presents the sort of matchup problems that he does, so there's potential in that. He isn't particularly renowned for his athleticism and didn't do any combine testing, which is why he ranks so low, so that's my question on him--but he's considered a bit of a poor athlete and had high body fat, so I've given him an allocation that puts his athleticism on par with Kim English. Also, since he's not Euro, I have no problem giving him this allocation.
| 24 | Andre Drummond | | 9.951463 | | H: 6' 11" | W: 251 lbs | C |
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Drummond has an NBA body for the center position, blocks shots extremely well while maintaining his fouls, and is a decent, but not outstanding, rebounder. He's also an excellent athlete, especially for his size (ranked 11th out of 56 prospects) and that's frankly why he propelled himself to this late 1st round spot. He tends to go for the lofted shot instead of boxing out at this stage in time, but he's only a freshman. But the offense is such a wreck on so many different fronts, he'll probably never be anything more than average, at best: he shot below 30% from the free throw line, he struggles to draw fouls despite playing around the basket a lot, and most of all, his passing this year was nonexistent: he seriously lacks ball skills. The NBA build plus shotblocking foundation will help him a lot, but he's completely flawed offensively and might lack the rebounding acumen to be a full fledged defensive type. This is a potential grab based on athleticism and his build, more or less.
| 25 | John Jenkins | | 9.919068 | | H: 6' 4" | W: 215 lbs | SF/SG |
Jenkins was another guy who had the weirdest splits in my algorithm--in my statistical model, he ranked super well in terms of sheer game, even in the late lottery levels. However, after scaling for his ballhandling/ability to play his designated position, he fell to 46th. This is the difference, and a lot of draftniks have also placed him in the early second, but after seeing the combine results showing him to be a decent enough athlete (24th out of 56 prospects), I think he does deserve a first round shot. Jenkins has an elite trick--he has an excellent offensive framework, on par with the Damian Lillards, and wastes little time avoiding mid-range J's like most players should. He's a very good shooter and he knows it--his game is three point heavy (shot 40-48% from three in college) and could actually get to the line a bit. This would be an excellent trait as a SG if he actually passed/handled the ball like one--I project Jenkins to have very few ball skills, on par with SFs, so largely that might just relegate him to spot-up three shooter. Elsewhere, Jenkins is an atrocious rebounder and defensive playmaker, and that's what will hurt him the most--if he really has a SF style of game and is forced to play SF, then with his build he's at a massive disadvantage. He's largely just a excellent catch-and-shoot player in the league, with decent athleticism as it appears, and while that has its uses and might grant him a 10-year career, he's a perennial bench player given all the crossmatching and cover-ups that the team that owns him will have to do to hide his lack of anything other than shooting. Very one-dimensional.
| 26 | Arnett Moultrie | | 9.794316 | | H: 6' 11" | W: 220 lbs | PF |
Moultrie really, really lacks passing ability and ball skills in general, and moreover, he struggles to draw fouls, as his offensive framework is predictable, and his jumper just looks OK at best. Considering that he'll need to receive passes for finishes and jumpers, and both attributes are poor, I'm thinking another Hilton Armstrong here. A large part of his appeal, like Perry Jones, is the height for the position, which gives him a leg up over many other PFs, although he actually puts his body to good use as he rebounds very well, he's just average in defensive playmaking given the length. He also ranked rather poorly in the combine (35th out of 56 prospects), so the athleticism might be overrated and his rebounding might not completely translate. He can be a Chris Johnson, a long guy who can rebound well, but everything else looks weak at this stage, and if expectations are too high, he'll bust out. Considering he's a mid 1st round type, that could very well happen.
| 27 | Tyler Zeller | | 9.725117 | | H: 6' 11" | W: 220 lbs | C |
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Zeller's might be underrated in my algorithm, on second look: my statistical model planted him as a mid-2nd round type. My size algorithm gave him late teens reviews, and this was the difference. Upon further evaluation, however, he's a heavy mid-range shooter who doesn't get to the line much, but at least he looks to have good touch particularly for his size, so that could be a smart play, although he doesn't pass the ball. That really makes his upside as a catch-and-shoot type player only, without the finishing or passing ability. Zeller also makes a good share of defensive plays and rebounds very well. He also really looks the part of the NBA center, but a heavy concern is that he's severely lacking in athleticism and physical tools (ranked 40th out of 56 prospects). The height/rebounding/shooting touch gives him a definitive base to work off of, but considering he's a senior and considering the lack of athleticism his upside is far less than most other prospects, even if he's more NBA ready.
| 28 | Marquis Teague | | 9.721415 | | H: 6' 2" | W: 179 lbs | PG |
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Teague seriously struggled to make defensive plays and rebound well as a first year player, and his offense was very awfully mid-range happy: he slashed more than shot from deep, but early returns show him to be just an OK shooter, at best, if he's to expand his range in the league. However, Teague stood out in two primary things: for one thing, he actually has the potential to handle/pass the ball like a NBA point guard, something that only a select few in this draft are able to do. The second thing is that, for a NBA PG, his build is very good, ranking 9th out of the 56th prospects in the combine. He can absolutely excel in the open court in this league and with the build and passing foundation can definitely be better in the NBA than in college, but his game, both offensively and defensively, needs a lot of work. But there's a lot of potential, between the build and passing construct.
| 29 | JaMychal Green | | 9.671793 | | H: 6' 8" | W: 225 lbs | PF |
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Green fulfills the defensive part of the bargain by being a very active defensive playmaker and an excellent rebounder particularly for his size, and while he's a bit foul prone in doing so since he does both duties well it's easily understandable. And Green's approach can easily translate to the league: in the combine, he ranked 10th out of the 56th prospects, so he has the build and athleticism to continue his all-out defensive approach. On offense, he's not as useful, as he doesn't particularly draw fouls well, but he has OK touch for his position. Also, on offense he's barely a power forward, based on his ball skills, but really might find a bit more hope as a pick-and-pop jumpshooting center. Still, with a great build along with great rebounding/defensive acumen and OK touch, he can be a sleeper candidate to become a good cog piece type roleplayer, in the mold of Udonis Haslem, if the cards fall right.
| 30 | Scott Machado | | 9.662789 | | H: 6' 1" | W: 180 lbs | PG |
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Machado has a good offensive framework, being a slasher and a willing long range participant, but he has a middling shot. His real use is his PG skills--he's a pure PG in this league, something that only a few others can say in this draft. As a PG, he has an OK frame, but nothing terribly special, and he's lacking in the rebounding and defensive playmaking department though. Unlike another pure PG, like Kendall Marshall, he ranked as a far better athlete, which elevated him to this spot, although he's more good than great (20th out of 56 prospects). The offense with the framework and PG passing, and some athleticism is intriguing, and can make him a good buy.
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