For this year's NBA Draft, Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid and Jabari Parker are in a class of their own, but there are several other tiers of players that will shape the draft.
In a new ESPN Insider piece, Chad Ford divided some of the top NBA Draft prospects into six tiers. Predictably, only three occupied Tier 1, but in a class deep with talent, the next five tiers will be more important than some realize.
"I'm not sure you can go wrong," an unnamed NBA executive whose team has a top-5 draft pick, told Ford. "Wiggins, Embiid and Parker. I think they're all going to have great careers. I don't see how any of them fail if they can stay healthy."
The ESPN basketball insider predicted Embiid going to the Cavaliers in his latest mock draft, but noted the seven-foot center should not be considered a lock to go there. Jeff Goodman reported for ESPN Embiid had touched down in Cleveland earlier this week so the Cavaliers can conduct a physical with their own doctors.
Embiid is physically imposing, has all the tools a traditional seven-foot center should have, but he experienced back trouble toward the end of his season at Kansas. Even a brief history of back trouble could influence the Cavs to go with Wiggins with the first overall selection.
Ford developed the tier system by weighing several factors like team needs, evaluations from all 30 teams and more. Last year, there was not a single player in Tier 1 and only three players have landed there since 2009: Blake Griffin, John Wall and Anthony Davis.
Tier 2:
Dante Exum
Aaron Gordon
Julius Randle
Dario Saric
Marcus Smart
Noah Vonleh
Tier 3:
Gary Harris
Doug McDermott
Nik Stauskas
While only nine players make up the second and third tiers, Ford noted that this was significant because, by his metric this means there are 13 potential All-Stars in the NBA Draft. As for the other three tiers, players grouped there show the depth of the draft, Ford noted.
