At the end of each draft, analysts come out with their too-early mock draft. Most of the time the top 10 players are the top 10 freshman coming out of high school. As in the past the top high school players are usually in the lottery. But lately there have been some struggles for these prospects in their freshman years of college, causing their stock to fall. For most of them they declare because they can’t risk having their stock take a hit again, also gaining a year of life for some reason that I don’t understand why it hurts your draft stock.
This year's draft is loaded with prospects who were high end recruits but maybe did not live up to the hype in college. The teams that can benefit the most are playoff teams and teams who have traded away a lot of draft capital and might only have a late second. Let me breakdown some of the players who were projected lottery picks before the college season and show you were they are ranked now.
Bleacher Report did a way too early NBA mock draft back on November 26, 2020 and here are some of their predictions that standout as one and done’s who underperformed in college.
Brandon Boston Jr was projected as the 2nd overall pick he is now projected to be, according to bleacher reports most recent mock draft, as an early second round pick going 39th. So what happened to Boston? It did not help that it was not a good year for Kentucky, missing the NCAA tournament and not being the usual dominant Kentucky team. Some might blame the pandemic, that a team that brings in almost a new team every year did not have time to gel. Whatever the case may be Boston did not put up the numbers that many were expecting. . He struggled shooting at Kentucky and being the big time scorer that everyone thought he would be.
Only averaging 11.5 ppg, shooting 35% from the field, 30% from behind the arc and not showing that he could be a playmaker only averaging 1.6 ast. His numbers not being anywhere what people predicted is the reason he is falling on draft boards. But in the late rounds he is a steal and a player that a playoff team could take a risk on and really reap the benefits. The former Kentucky player has good guard size and could play some forward at 6’7”, and put up solid defensive numbers averaging almost 2 steals a game. His potential would be too hard to pass up for many teams later on in the draft. Teams that Boston would be a nice addition for are teams like the Brooklyn Nets, who could use a young asset as either trade bait or someone who can help out on a cheap contract. Or how about the Utah Jazz who as a team seem kinda stuck, maybe they take a swing at someone like Boston.
Boston’s former high school teammate is our next one and who took a hit from his college season compared to before the season started. That player would be Zaire Williams, a former 5-star prospect who played at Stanford and before his freshman season was projected to go 6th overall. Now he is projected to be a late first round pick going 26th. Now Williams had a better freshman season than Boston and showcased some of his abilities of why scouts loved him.
At 6’8 Williams can space the floor and is a capable 3 point shooter but where I like him the most is as a solid wing defender. He can help teams out who need depth at the wing position and wing defenders are a must in today’s NBA. He still needs to improve on the offensive end and struggled in college but he could help playoff teams as a defender and grow as an offensive player with not as much of the offense going through him. I like a team like Denver for Williams, a solidified playoff team who has a solid core already but might lose players in free agency. Denver needs the depth and actually reminds me a lot of Jerami Grant.
These two former projected lottery picks can be real steals for some potential playoff teams later on the draft.