We shall call this "The Cla s That Couldn't Shoot Straight."
As the game of basketball continues to move inexorably in the direction of the elite long-distance shooter, the next group of prospects wishing to be evaluated,drafted and paidat the NBA level arrives with little accomplishment in the area of 3-point shooting, the skill that made Stephen Curryan All-NBA First Team pick for the fourth time this past season.
There is a truckload of highly regarded prospects for the who have elite athleticism,pa sing skill or positional size but haven't shown substantial proficiency as 3-point shooters. Sometimes, middling numbers at the pre-NBA level are corrected through the repetition that comes with basketball being a full- Trevon Wesco Jersey time job and with a decrease in the pre sure attached to each attempt in games that contain about 30 percent more po se sions per game. Sometimes, it's just that guys can't shoot.
NBA MOCK DRAFT:
That'll be the trick for teams navigating the two rounds and 60 picks of this year'sdraft, to discern which players have a gift for this skill that supersedes all other aspects of their game, which can be trained to elevate themselves into dangerous if not elite shooters and which will be identified on opponents'scouting reports as a "non-shooter."
Sporting News, though, is tasked with providing you the Big Board of top 60 prospects now. So here it is, subject to revision in advance of the draft:
NBA Draft prospects 2021: Big board of top 60 players
1. Cade Cunningham, 6-8, PG, Oklahoma State
There was so much to love about what Cunningham put on display as a Cowboys freshman, and it starts with the skill that so many others in this draft have not yet mastered. Cunningham shot 40 percent from three on 62 makes for the Big 12 Tournament runners-up. He should have little trouble translating that ability to the NBA level. He is a winner who helped OklahomaState Tim Ward Jersey advance from 18-14 to 21-9, from out of the NCAA Tournament to a No. 4 seed. He also was a gold medal winner with the U.S. at the 2019 FIBA U-19 World Cup.
He can play all three perimeter positions, though he always has been listed and almost exclusively deployed as a point guard. In that position, Cunningham is an effective pa ser but not elite; he does not have Penny Hardaway or Magic Johnson-level vision. And he struggles sometimes with his ball handling; his turnover average of 4.0 per game is disconcerting only because so many of those involved him simply losing his grip on the ball. He must improve in that discipline to prove himself worthy of the first overall selection.
2. Evan Mobley, 6-11 C, Southern California
It's po sible Mobley could rise to the very top of this draft because he so beautifully fits the ideal of the modern NBA big man. He is exceptionally mobile and should become an elite pick-and-roll defender. Ty Johnson Jersey He protects the rim to the tune of 2.9 blocks per game in his only college season. He finishes strong at the goal and shot 58 percent on 2-pointers. He attempted only 40 3-pointers but made 30 percent, suggesting there is a foundation for him as a jump shooter.
Mobley will have to grow stronger to survive along an NBA baseline, but he'sgot a fine frame for carrying more muscle.
3. Jalen Green, 6-6 SG, G League Ignite
Entering the G League bubble for an accelerated 15-game schedule turned out to be a much better proving New York Jets Polos ground for Green than thehodgepodge of G League and international exhibitions that had been proposed at the Ignite program's introduction. Green got to play legit competition for 32 minutes per game and averaged 17.9 points on 46.1 percent shooting. He hit 36.5 percent on threes from the NBA distance, making two per game.
Green has A-level NBA dynamism and could become an unstoppable scorer. The team that wins the lottery also will be tempted by Green's promise. Yes, he played in games that didn't matter much, but last year's No. 1 overall pick (Anthony Edwards) was on a bad college team and thus in much the same situation, and the No. 2 pick (James Wiseman) barely played any post-high school ball.
4. Jalen Suggs, 6-5 PG, Gonzaga
You want to know why Suggs is a fabulous prospect?Forget about the buzzer-beating shot that put the Zags into the NCAA championship game and put in the tape of the final 20 minutes of their West Coast Conference title game against BYU. Suggs put on an astonishing display of shot creation, shot-making anddefensive insistence that allowed the Zags to recover from a double-digit halftime deficit and become the fourth team since 1980 to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated.
Suggs averaged 4.5 a sists functioning as the primary ball handler in Gonzaga'sdouble point guard lineup. Has has considerable room to improve as a deep shooter.
5. Davion Mitchell, 6-2 PG, Baylor
Mitchell's respect level as a prospect progre sed nicely as the Bears progre sed toward the NCAA championship, but it soared when he flat wrecked every guard Gonzaga put in front of him in the title game. That included Suggs, who managed to score 22 points Bart Scott Jersey on 8-of-15 shooting while Mitchell denied him the opportunity to have any influence on actually winning the game. Mitchell's on-ball defense always had been respected and admired. He was second-team All-American largely for that reason. But to do it against elite opposition with so much on the line, while also scoring 15 points and pa sing for fivea sists, made it clear he was a big-time prospect.
Mitchell improved from a 28.8 percent deep shooter as a freshman at Auburn to 32.4 percent in his first season after transferring to Baylor, but then made a ma sive jump last seasonto 44.7 percent. He can be a long-term starting point at the NBA level.
6. Scottie Barnes, 6-9 PG, Florida State
Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton has done a wonderful job with the many pro prospects he has recruited to Tallaha see over the past decade, but one wonders what might have been po sible for Barnes if Hamilton's approach spreading the minutes among 9-10 players, with no one averaging 30-plus had been set aside. Barnes only played 24 minutes and averaged only eightshots per game. The Seminoles might have been his team but never really were.
He'sa powerful talent, though, with absurd size for a playmaking guard. He is another player who did not show himself to be a proficient deep shooter. Ihad him lower on this list thefirst time around. I'm blaming Leonard for that. (Just kidding, coach.)
7. Jonathan Kuminga, 6-8 SF, G League Ignite
Kuminga's dynamism Jeff Smith Jersey is at an A-plus level,perhaps not quite Andrew Wiggins-level, but not far from it. But Wiggins has been viewed as a disappointment to date, even as he has aver
We shall call this "The Cla s That Couldn't Shoot Straight."
As the game of basketball continues to move inexorably in the direction of the elite long-distance shooter, the next group of prospects wishing to be evaluated,drafted and paidat the NBA level arrives with little accomplishment in the area of 3-point shooting, the skill that made Stephen Curryan All-NBA First Team pick for the fourth time this past season.
There is a truckload of highly regarded prospects for the who have elite athleticism,pa sing skill or positional size but haven't shown substantial proficiency as 3-point shooters. Sometimes, middling numbers at the pre-NBA level are corrected through the repetition that comes with basketball being a full- Trevon Wesco Jersey time job and with a decrease in the pre sure attached to each attempt in games that contain about 30 percent more po se sions per game. Sometimes, it's just that guys can't shoot.
NBA MOCK DRAFT:
That'll be the trick for teams navigating the two rounds and 60 picks of this year'sdraft, to discern which players have a gift for this skill that supersedes all other aspects of their game, which can be trained to elevate themselves into dangerous if not elite shooters and which will be identified on opponents'scouting reports as a "non-shooter."
Sporting News, though, is tasked with providing you the Big Board of top 60 prospects now. So here it is, subject to revision in advance of the draft:
NBA Draft prospects 2021: Big board of top 60 players
1. Cade Cunningham, 6-8, PG, Oklahoma State
There was so much to love about what Cunningham put on display as a Cowboys freshman, and it starts with the skill that so many others in this draft have not yet mastered. Cunningham shot 40 percent from three on 62 makes for the Big 12 Tournament runners-up. He should have little trouble translating that ability to the NBA level. He is a winner who helped OklahomaState Tim Ward Jersey advance from 18-14 to 21-9, from out of the NCAA Tournament to a No. 4 seed. He also was a gold medal winner with the U.S. at the 2019 FIBA U-19 World Cup.
He can play all three perimeter positions, though he always has been listed and almost exclusively deployed as a point guard. In that position, Cunningham is an effective pa ser but not elite; he does not have Penny Hardaway or Magic Johnson-level vision. And he struggles sometimes with his ball handling; his turnover average of 4.0 per game is disconcerting only because so many of those involved him simply losing his grip on the ball. He must improve in that discipline to prove himself worthy of the first overall selection.
2. Evan Mobley, 6-11 C, Southern California
It's po sible Mobley could rise to the very top of this draft because he so beautifully fits the ideal of the modern NBA big man. He is exceptionally mobile and should become an elite pick-and-roll defender. Ty Johnson Jersey He protects the rim to the tune of 2.9 blocks per game in his only college season. He finishes strong at the goal and shot 58 percent on 2-pointers. He attempted only 40 3-pointers but made 30 percent, suggesting there is a foundation for him as a jump shooter.
Mobley will have to grow stronger to survive along an NBA baseline, but he'sgot a fine frame for carrying more muscle.
3. Jalen Green, 6-6 SG, G League Ignite
Entering the G League bubble for an accelerated 15-game schedule turned out to be a much better proving New York Jets Polos ground for Green than thehodgepodge of G League and international exhibitions that had been proposed at the Ignite program's introduction. Green got to play legit competition for 32 minutes per game and averaged 17.9 points on 46.1 percent shooting. He hit 36.5 percent on threes from the NBA distance, making two per game.
Green has A-level NBA dynamism and could become an unstoppable scorer. The team that wins the lottery also will be tempted by Green's promise. Yes, he played in games that didn't matter much, but last year's No. 1 overall pick (Anthony Edwards) was on a bad college team and thus in much the same situation, and the No. 2 pick (James Wiseman) barely played any post-high school ball.
4. Jalen Suggs, 6-5 PG, Gonzaga
You want to know why Suggs is a fabulous prospect?Forget about the buzzer-beating shot that put the Zags into the NCAA championship game and put in the tape of the final 20 minutes of their West Coast Conference title game against BYU. Suggs put on an astonishing display of shot creation, shot-making anddefensive insistence that allowed the Zags to recover from a double-digit halftime deficit and become the fourth team since 1980 to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated.
Suggs averaged 4.5 a sists functioning as the primary ball handler in Gonzaga'sdouble point guard lineup. Has has considerable room to improve as a deep shooter.
5. Davion Mitchell, 6-2 PG, Baylor
Mitchell's respect level as a prospect progre sed nicely as the Bears progre sed toward the NCAA championship, but it soared when he flat wrecked every guard Gonzaga put in front of him in the title game. That included Suggs, who managed to score 22 points Bart Scott Jersey on 8-of-15 shooting while Mitchell denied him the opportunity to have any influence on actually winning the game. Mitchell's on-ball defense always had been respected and admired. He was second-team All-American largely for that reason. But to do it against elite opposition with so much on the line, while also scoring 15 points and pa sing for fivea sists, made it clear he was a big-time prospect.
Mitchell improved from a 28.8 percent deep shooter as a freshman at Auburn to 32.4 percent in his first season after transferring to Baylor, but then made a ma sive jump last seasonto 44.7 percent. He can be a long-term starting point at the NBA level.
6. Scottie Barnes, 6-9 PG, Florida State
Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton has done a wonderful job with the many pro prospects he has recruited to Tallaha see over the past decade, but one wonders what might have been po sible for Barnes if Hamilton's approach spreading the minutes among 9-10 players, with no one averaging 30-plus had been set aside. Barnes only played 24 minutes and averaged only eightshots per game. The Seminoles might have been his team but never really were.
He'sa powerful talent, though, with absurd size for a playmaking guard. He is another player who did not show himself to be a proficient deep shooter. Ihad him lower on this list thefirst time around. I'm blaming Leonard for that. (Just kidding, coach.)
7. Jonathan Kuminga, 6-8 SF, G League Ignite
Kuminga's dynamism Jeff Smith Jersey is at an A-plus level,perhaps not quite Andrew Wiggins-level, but not far from it. But Wiggins has been viewed as a disappointment to date, even as he has aver