Top 30 NBA Prospects From Last Six Drafts (Including This Year's) Part One: Anthony Davis Goes Number One, Andrew Wiggins Fifth
ByTodd McShay recently released a list of the NFL/college football's 32 highest rated (by him) prospects of the last five years entering their draft year, rankings topped by Andrew Luck, Von Miller, and then 30 other guys I don't have the privilege of seeing because I don't have ESPN Insider. In response, below is my list of the 30 (for the number of NBA teams) best NBA/college basketball/foreign prospects of the last six years (counting this year's draft class) the year before their draft, University Herald Insider NOT required (because it doesn't exist). My list combines my own loose pre-draft rankings with the rankings of experts. Basically, if every player from the 2009-2014 draft classes were put into one pool (without knowing the futures of 2009-2013 players), this is how I believe the order would and should go.
Note: just like on McShay's list, players can leap frog those drafted before them in the same year. For example, Demarcus Cousins was probably the second highest regarded prospect in the 2010 draft but was taken fifth that year because of character concerns. Second note: It was really hard not to take current performance into account. I probably did on a few occasions.
1. Anthony Davis: In college, Davis already had the physical and mental makings of a solid NBA player without taking into account his enormous potential and largely untapped offensive repertoire (he also won the national championship as a freshman, demonstrating his winning attitude). Fewer surer things have ever been drafted in the history of the NBA. The only reason Davis isn't more famous because he plays in a second-rate market like New Orleans, which also happens to be buried in the elite group of teams that make up the Western Conference. Only Lebron James would have been taken over Davis since maybe Hakeem Olajuwon in 1986 or Shaquille O'Neal in 1992 (probably he goes behind Shaq that year but before Alonzo Mourning, who went number two, also to the Hornets). Third note: I may be overly obsessed with Anthony Davis.
2. Blake Griffin: Griffin is right up there among Davis, Lebron, Yao Ming, Derrick Rose, and more in terms of players who have owned the number one pick. He isn't the bruiser he was thought to be in college, but instead has developed a surprisingly nuanced game (both on and off the court) for a player some believed to be a bit robotic. Who'd have thought Blake Griffin would be such a good passer and actor?
3. Jabari Parker: He may only go third in the upcoming draft, but he's the best player right now and is the safest bet at the next level. For a rebuilding team hoping to cash in again on 2015's draft, Joel Embiid might be the better pick. For a team worried about whiffing on one of the most loaded drafts of all time (referring to the actual 2014 draft), Parker would be the best pick. Because he plays the same position as Wiggins, I think there's a greater chance he goes first or second. I also think he becomes the best pro of the three. His selection against Embiid's has the sniffings of Kevin Durant versus Greg Oden.
4. John Wall: Wall was probably a nanometer below Rose status when he also left John Calipari after a single season. As a point guard, he's a more unique piece than Parker, but had far more holes in his game before his draft. We'd see those holes gradually expose themselves during Wall's sometimes spectacular, sometimes not first few seasons. Now, we're finally seeing the potential that made him the easy number one four years ago.
5. Andrew Wiggins: No player was more hyped entering college in the game's history. He nearly lived up to it. The only knock on Wiggins before Kansas was his intensity. Again, he mostly dispelled those notions. Wiggins is going to be at the least a good professional -- and his defense could one day make him a more valuable player than Parker -- but he doesn't have the same guaranteed star status. If I was an NBA team, I'd put my chips on Parker.
For more, sign up for University Herald Insider... or click here for Part Two.