Top Players to Watch For NBA Draft Options

[ZoomSlowik]

Since this is a Bulls' board, we might as well get going on what guys could factor into the fortunes of our Bulls in the future (not so much for us since the lottery days are gone). Here are my thoughts, though obviously the opinions of others factor into this.

Feel free to comment on any of these guys, or toss in some other guys you like/dislike.

1) Michael Beasley, K-State

I think when all is said and done, he's going to end up being #1, he has quite a few similarities to Kevin Durant (though not as polished). He's very athletic, can play inside or out, and has a very diverse offensive game. He's also already stronger than Durant, he's listed at 235. The things scouts worry about with him so far is his effort, especially on the defensive end. Still, he has immense talent, and I think teams will look past that when they have a chance to draft him, especially if/when he does well at K-State.

2) Derrick Rose, Memphis

He's the best PG prospect to come along in a while. He has great size at 6'4", is very athletic and strong, and is very tough to stop from driving. Not just a scorer either, he is a willing distributor with good court vision and a tenacious defender. He has the ability to dominate a game without lighting up the scoreboard. About the only complaints so far are that he's a streaky shooter, and has yet to develop a solid mid-range game. Still, he is definitely an elite prospect that has a decent chance of going #1 overall.

3) OJ Mayo, USC

Another big PG, though he's more of a scorer. He's more of a Gibert Arenas style guard, in that he can run the team but prefers to be a scorer. A solid athlete with an advanced scoring touch, so he can play both guard spots. A capable shooter that can kill you with his midrange game as well as driving. The pros will want him to show that he can be a true PG, though his NBA future isn't in jeapordy if he can't make the transition. There are also some attitude concerns, he had a few incidents in high school and has developed a reputation as a primadonna. His stock has dropped a bit as other guys in his class have emerged, but a solid year at USC will likely make people forget about all of that.

4) Darrell Arthur, Kansas

A long, athletic PF that can play in the post or stretch the defense with a solid mid-range jumper. He'll play a much bigger role for Kansas this year with Julian Wright leaving. He still has some developing to do though, he's probably not quite NBA ready at this point (though that can change as the year goes on). He needs to develop some more back to the basket skills and bulk up a little. He could also stand to improve his ball-handling a bit to be a bigger driving threat to complement his jumper. He'll also likely start the year a little rusty as he recovers from a stress fracture.

5) Eric Gordon, Indiana

An elite athlete and scorer. Gordon is built like a tank at 6'4" 220 and still displays great quickness. He can drive at will and will often finish with a thunderous dunk. He can also hit from outside with regularity and can finish off the drive or pull up from mid-range. On pure ability he can easily be higher on my list, but some scouts will inevitably worry about his position in the pros. So far he hasn't shown that he can be a pure PG, and at 6'4" he's undersized for a 2-guard. Still, with his athleticism and scoring ability he should be able to pull it off since he has a lot of the same assets as Dwayne Wade and Ben Gordon.


6) Chase Buddinger, Arizona

Chase is a long, athletic wing player with explosive leaping ability. Also is a dangerous shooter with serious range and a decent mid-range game. He's still learning a lot of the nuances of the game though, as he split his time between basketball and volleyball in high school (could have had a full scholarship in either sport). He needs to work on taking the ball to the basket and finishing, as he prefers to launch jumpers at this point. He also needs to bulk up, and can struggle against smaller, quicker guards defensively.

7) DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M

Has the raw ability to go in the top-3, maybe even #1. Jordan is an impressive athlete, and when you combine that with his 7'0" 240 frame that gives him considerable potential. Some have compared him to Dwight Howard. He'll eventually be a top-5 pick, the only question is whether or not it'll be this year. He has decent touch around the basket, but he still needs to develop his offensive repetoire.

8) Darren Collison, UCLA

Collison could go very high in the draft with a solid year. He's extremely quick and can really knock an opposing guard off their game with his defense. He's another guy that can do some damage on the drive, and has shown he can run the offense at any tempo. Though it's generally not considered a major strength, he was a deadly outside shooter last year. The biggest thing with him is size, though bulk more than height. He's a little over 6-feet tall with long arms, but he's only about 170, which makes durability on the next level a bit of an issue, as well as his ability to stand up to post ups or drives against stronger players.


9) Tywon Lawson, UNC

Though he definitely has lottery talent, his stock will flucuate a lot because of his size. He's listed at 5'11", but may be even shorter. Still, his ability is hard to ignore, he plays kind of like Mike Conley Jr. He's jet-quick and is dangerous on the drive. So far he has shown the ability to finish very well, though scouts will worry that he might get beat up a bit against NBA players. He has NBA range on his jumper, but he's streaky. Also, his mid-range game leaves something to be desired. Teams will also want to see him perform in a half court set (which could be a problem with the UNC secondary break).

10) Roy Hibbert, Georgetown

Really built up his hype with his play late in the year. Is absolutely huge (7'2", around 275) with a long reach. Has shown a nice touch around the basket and shot a ridiculous 67.1% from the floor last year. He probably would have been in this year's draft, except that he's pretty limited athletically. He's not very quick and doesn't get off the floor well. Though his size lets him get away without those assets, it does limit his ceiling a bit. There's some chance his stock will fall during the year, though with his size he can still physically dominate any college player.


Others to watch:

Brandon Rush, Kansas

Personally, I don't know why his buzz is so weak. He has good length, solid athleticism, he can shoot, and is a pretty solid defender. I guess teams would like to see him drive more, as he can get enamored with his outside shot (though he makes a lot of them). Obviously now his ACL surgery is an issue.

Hasheem Tabeet, UConn

Ridiculous package of size and athleticsm, but is still extremely raw. Has a total lack of offensive moves, and is very foul prone. He's still learning how to apply his physical gifts to the game. Could still crack the top-10 due to potential though.

Brook/Robin Lopez, Stanford

Both are athletic 7-footers that have shown some flashes, so obviously there's considerable NBA interest. Robin started out stronger but faded late, as Brook dominated several games late. Both will need to show continued development.

Jerryd Bayliss, Arizona

He's a solid athlete with good scoring ability, but he could need more than one year in college. A little bit of Daniel Gibson in him, in that he'll have to prove he can play PG to fufill his lottery potential.

Kevin Love, UCLA

A little bit like Spencer Hawes last year. Though not as tall, he's built at 6'9" 260, with advanced post moves and impressive passing ability. He can also dominate the glass with decent length and leaping ability, as well as good agility. Like Hawes though, his raw speed is a question mark, and he's better in a half court set.

Gerald Henderson/Kyle Singler, Duke

Henderson kind of seems like the guard version of Josh McRoberts from last year. He's a gifted athlete that is quick and explosive, and has also shown the ability to score well in the past. But he has yet to show that on the college level, and there are numerous other wing options at Duke with Nelson, Scheyer, Singler, King, and Smith that could theoretically limit his chances. Talent-wise he could be a high lottery pick, but he wouldn't be the first guy to stall/regress in their development at Duke. Singler is kind of similar. He's more of a SF, though he'll likely play as a small PF, much like Deng did when he was there. At 6'8" he has shown solid scoring ability inside and out, and is a pretty good athlete (okay, so maybe he fits in the McRoberts mold too). The question is if he can capitalize on that talent for a team with a deep depth chart on the wings.

[ZoomSlowik]

Now that these guys have some games under their belt, I'll re-do my list a bit...

1) Michael Beasley, PF, K-State

Looks to be on par with Durant as a prospect, arguably better. Not quite as good a long distance shooter as KD, but he's definitely stronger and a bigger threat inside, and might be a better athlete. Carmelo Anthony is a popular comparison. Scouts keep harping on his work ethic, but I find it hard to believe that he got that good offensively without putting in some serious practice time, though he does have a reputation for coasting through games, especially defensively.

2) Derek Rose, PG, Memphis

His AST/TO numbers don't show it right now, but he has serious ability and should be an elite PG in the future. Great quickness and size, defenders have a really hard time staying in front of him. With the style he's playing right now at Memphis he'd profile as more of a Tony Parker style style PG, but most experts say he's somewhere between Deron Williams (quicker, will probably rebound more but not as good from the outside yet) and Jason Kidd at his peak (better scorer, though probably not as many boards). He has to develop his passing a bit to get to that point, but he clearly has the ability.

3) Eric Gordon, SG, Indiana

He's just a ridiculous scorer. He can kill you from outside or take you off the dribble. If he were 6'6" or 6'7" he'd be in the conversation for #1, but he's closer to 6'4". Still, it's not hard to see him having a huge impact offensively. Scouts would like to see him improve his ball-handling and passing so they could project him as a PG, but teams don't exactly pass on guys that might score 25 a game.

4) Donte Green, SF, Syracuse

He's having a big-time impact at Syracuse with his scoring, rebounding, and shot-blocking. He's a long athletic forward that's playing the 4 in college but is really more of a SF. He's a good shooter that can also take the ball to the basket. He does get a bit enamored with his jumper though and makes defensive plays more because of his length and leaping ability than his effort. Probably profiles somewhere between Marvin Williams and Rudy Gay.

5) O.J. Mayo, SG, USC

Some teams won't like him because he generally acts/plays like a me-first player and his best profile is as a shoot-first PG. He doesn't quite have the prototypical size for a 2-guard, and doesn't really create enough for his teammates to be a PG. But man, can he score. He's a good finisher around the basket and is a good but streaky jump-shooter. Most would put his ceiling as somewhere between Ben Gordon and Gilbert Arenas right now. He's likely to be an impact scorer, but his stats could end up looking better than his overall impact on the team.

6) DeAndre Jordan, C, Texas A&M

I gotta admit, he's going to go higher than this if he comes out on pure potential. Athletically he's on par with Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire. He has great size and leaping ability. He's also REALLY raw though. He's an awful shooter, as shown by his 29.8 FT%. He also has basically no post moves and gets his points almost exclusively on dunks and put-backs. Because of that he has a tendency to disappear for long stretches, and that could get worse on the next level playing against guys closer to his size and ability. Still, his potential is staggering if he puts in the effort.

7) Marresse Speights, PF, Florida

He doesn't have the hype yet to be drafted this early, but he's definitely got the game to go this high, or possibly even a little higher. He was overshadowed last year by Noah and Horford, but he's really starting to come into his own. He's highly productive despite the fact that he has limited on-court experience, and is still only getting around 20 minutes a game. He has very good size for a PF (might be able to play C in a pinch), is a solid athlete, can finish around the basket, and is a capable defender. He's very similar to his former teammate Al Horford, and right now would be an absolute steal in the late lottery with several more raw players that are listed below projected to go ahead of him. Probably my favorite prospect in the draft.


8) Darrell Arthur, PF, Kansas

He's not as impressive on paper given his stress fracture in the summer and Kansas' absurd depth that limits his playing time, but the pros won't forget about him. Another good athlete with solid length. Decent finisher inside and can hit mid-range jumpers. The problem is he isn't really great at either at this point, making him a bit of a tweener. He could slide a bit as some of the sexier big man prospects listed below pass him up, especially since it'll be hard for him to put up dominant performaces that get people's attention until the NCAA tournament. It's hard to say how he projects right now, he's not the first athletic big guy that's not bulky enough for PF yet and not skilled enough to play SF, though he is more skilled than most. He might turn into David West, or he might join the host of long players that can't find a true position.

9) Brook Lopez, C, Stanford

The better of the two Lopez twins. You would have thought that his stock would drop considering he was suspended for the first semester, but that hasn't been the case. He already has a decent NBA body, though he does need to get a bit stronger. His biggest strength is on the offensive end, where he shows a pretty solid touch around the basket and can hit the mid-range jumper. He's a good but not great athlete, though he makes up for that with his size and offensive touch. He's a good defender, but is weak on the boards. He kind of reminds me of Spencer Hawes, only a bit quicker and bigger.

10) Chase Budinger, SG/SF, Arizona

He continues to show that he's an explosive leaper that can score, but he doesn't seem to have progressed much. He also has great size for a wing player and very good range on his jumper. He still needs some polish. His lateral quickness also is a little lacking. My best guess would be similar to Wally Sczcerbiak with much better athleticism.



Others to watch (roughly in order of draft potential):

Kosta Koufos, PF/C, Ohio State
Nicholas Batum, SF, Le Mans (France)
Roy Hibbert, C, Georgetown
Blake Griffin, PF, Oklahoma
Jerryd Bayliss, PG, Arizona
Hasheem Thabeet, C, UConn
Earl Clark, SF, Louisville
Gerald Henderson, SG/SF, Duke
DJ Augustin, PG, Texas (size the only thing holding him back, would be 8th if he were about 6'2" instead of under 6-feet)
John Riek, C (HS player that could be draft eligible, EXTREMELY hard to predict)
Kevin Love, PF, UCLA
Ty Lawson, PG, UNC