With the NCAA tournament on the horizon and 68 teams to watch, basketball fans will be looking for the best prospects in the upcoming NBA draft to watch. Lucky for you, we’re here to introduce you to a few names to watch, analyze and enjoy if you’re a fan of the game or looking for your NBA team’s next potential star.
1. Auburn’s freshman forward Jabari Smith
Jabari Smith, a freshman from Fayetteville, Georgia, was recently named the SEC Freshman of the Year, as well as a member of the All-SEC Freshman Team. He was heavily involved in leading Auburn to a regular season SEC title and looks to take a conference tournament title as well this upcoming weekend. Smith’s strength is his isolation scoring. His ability to catch the ball at nearly any spot on the floor, size up a defender and shoot over him with his extraordinary length is immensely valuable. It’s the primary reason he is projected by some draft experts to be the No. 1 overall pick in the next NBA draft. He shot 43.6% from three this year on 163 attempts.
With the offensive skill set similar to Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum and Brandon Ingram, Smith is also a decent ball handler and defender. If there’s one criticism to be found, it’s his lateral defensive quickness, which can be improved upon when he gets to the league. A quick guard at the top of the key can sometimes get around him or draw a foul. However, his length and athleticism are often enough at this level to recover and defend well. Watching Smith play in this tournament will be one of the many joys basketball fans experience. Seriously, just sit and soak in how talented a scorer he is. The difficulty of his shot-making is absurd.
2. Purdue’s sophomore guard Jaden Ivey
Draft analysts will tell you this year’s draft is a weak one for guards, but that won’t stop Jaden Ivey. The sophomore from South Bend, Indiana was named to the All Big Ten First Team and has Purdue in a great position to compete for a title. Ivey is the most explosive point of attack ball handler in this class. He loves to get to the rim and make plays for himself and his teammates. His burst is an unteachable ability and something to behold as a basketball fan. Many teams are eyeing him as their offensive initiator, resembling the rising Ja Morant in his ability to explode both past and above defenders.
Ivey is an average shooter, at 45.9% from the field and 37% from the arch. He’s been known to make longer distanced shots in big game situations, but he’s been at his best when getting downhill and collapsing defenses. His quickness aids him in his ability to generate turnovers, averaging a steal per game this year. With all the upside to improve in his court vision and defensive IQ, it is easy to understand why he’s considered the top guard in this class.
3. Wisconsin’s sophomore guard Johnny Davis
You may have been wondering if Ivey was so good, how did he not win Big Ten player of the year? Well, Johnny Davis existed, and unfortunately for Ivey, he rightfully deserved it. Ivey’s All-Big Ten First Team backcourt mate, Davis’s 20 PPG, 8.1 RBG and 2.2 APG led Wisconsin to a regular season Big Ten title. He flashed onto the NBA lottery scouts’ radar out of nowhere, averaging just 7 PPG in his freshman season.
Davis’ strength is with the ball in his hands like Ivey, but unlike Ivey, Davis loves to manipulate ball screens at the top of the key to create opportunities for himself and his team. He is an amazingly intelligent defensive analyzer, knowing exactly when to accept or deny the screen, pull up for a jumper if the big won’t hedge him, or fly by with his great speed when the on-ball defender goes over the screen and can’t catch up to him. His ability to score at his level is reminiscent of the way Devin Booker and Demar DeRozan are experts in using good screens to create shots for themselves.
He is only shooting 33.3% from three this year, a mark that is probably keeping him out of the top five, but the right shooting development should raise that statistic when he gets to the league. Hopefully, he’ll be at full health for the tournament, as he suffered a mild knee sprain near the end of Wisconsin’s regular season, but he is expected to be available for the Big Ten Tournament.
4. Iowa’s sophomore forward Keegan Murray
Another member of the All-Big Ten First Team, with the last two spots awarded to EJ Liddell of Ohio State and Kofi Cockburn of Illinois, Murray was tremendous for Iowa this season. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native will most likely be playing on the lowest-seeded team of the players listed, so his value for the Hawkeyes is even more irreplaceable.
Murray is the prototypical modern NBA power forward. He’s athletic and can run in transition but can also get the ball in a post position and power his way to a bucket. He’s a great rebounder, averaging 8.6 per game this season, and he has plus-physicality, especially for being a tad undersized at 6 foot, 8 inches. He even has the ability to drive the ball himself with a decent enough handle to feel comfortable putting the ball on the floor and powering his way to the basket.
Defensively, Murray’s presence and athleticism make him a nightmare for opposing teams looking for rim pressure. Averaging 2.1 blocks per game, Murray is an eraser for teams thinking it will be easy pickings at the hoop. His primary weakness can be found in some of his pick and roll coverages, but not many players in college have developed that skill to a professional level, so that shouldn’t be held against him.
If you like powerful, ferocious rebounding and brawny finishing at the rim with energy, Murray is the prospect for you.
5. Arizona’s sophomore guard Bennedict Mathurin
There’s nothing quite like physically-imposing guards, and Bennedict Mathurin fits that bill. The only foreign-born player on this list, Mathurin hails from Montreal, Canada. He and his Wildcat teammates are in great position to be a one seed in the upcoming tournament, thanks to an impressive display across Pac-12 play at 18-2.
Mathurin has a beautiful stroke from three, averaging 39.2% from behind the line in his two seasons at Arizona. Combined with professional coordination and bounce, he’s a danger to score at all three levels. The athletic mold with the ability to shoot is exactly what NBA scouts are looking for in their wings these days. Plus, with his size, Mathurin could maybe slot it into some lineups as a guard, giving him some versatility upside.
Mathurin’s biggest weakness tends to show on the defensive end of the floor. He can be a bit slow on his rotations, a simple detail sometimes, but one teams care about when scouting. He has all the tools to develop as a quality NBA defender, though, and if he can find some consistency on that end of the floor, I don’t see how a team can let him fall out of the lottery. Most analysts have him projected in the late lottery range, but there’s too much upside for me to let him fall anywhere past 10.
Bonus: LSU’s sophomore forward Tari Eason
With LSU’s current success, we figured we ought to give you a quick overview of its highest-ranked NBA prospect thus far.
Eason, a 20-year-old sophomore, burst onto the scene as a legitimate NBA prospect after transferring to LSU from Cincinnati, which becomes even more impressive when you realize he comes off the bench. The 6-foot-8, 218-pound forward earned SEC Sixth Man of the Year as well as All SEC First Team Honors this season.
As for NBA projections, mock drafts typically have him slotted right in the middle of the draft around 15th overall. However, Bleacher Report’s most recent mock draft put Eason at 11th overall to the Grizzlies, which would make him a lottery pick. That seems less likely, but it shows that he is considered a legitimate prospect by the NBA world.
Simply put, Eason already has a high floor and he has not reached his ceiling. He may not be the offensive creator that some of the higher lottery picks are right now, but that does not matter. NBA teams will take Eason because he is a quick, versatile defender who plays aggressively on both sides of the court. He does a great job at collecting blocks and steals, and he already developed good defensive skills.
Will he ever be a good 3-point shooter?
At 37% shooting this season, I do not see anything like that happening in his college career or to begin his NBA career. However, he is aggressive with going to the rim and scores in most situations where he does not have to make crazy shots. He averages 16.9 points per game as it is, and that mostly comes from him driving to the rim, scoring in transition and being a really good finisher. He has a decent offensive toolset and he knows his limits.
Eason has the skills to become an excellent defender when he steps onto an NBA court, and he possesses the talent to level up his game to be more than that. He’s a good prospect and should be a massive help to LSU’s post-season ambitions.
Adam Burrus contributed to this column.
