![]() ![]() Any scout who watched us for the two days had Jabari in the top two or three guys there. Just so happens, Jabari Smith is there, and he killed it. That camp was the first time NBA scouts were allowed to come to our training camps for the younger teams. He’s one of the few guys in that setting I didn’t see struggle the first time through. Everyone’s first experience, it’s always the ball’s different, the rules are different, the other guys have been here before, so I’ve got to kind of find my way. That was his first USA experience, the camp in Florida when we were picking the team. He had never been invited to the three previous minicamps. He literally showed up to camp when we picked the team. USA Basketball Member: Jabari came out of nowhere. But they’re elite, the kind of players around which franchises can soar. Each is a foundational player, though both have vastly different skill sets. Neither Smith nor Banchero will be there after three, when Houston picks, following Orlando at one and Oklahoma City at two. Either, along with Gonzaga big man Chet Holmgren, could go first. The two freshmen phenoms are their own two-man tier, at the top of the draft. Picking between Jabari Smith Jr., the 6-10, smooth shooting (42 percent on 3s) 19-year-old forward from Auburn, and Paolo Banchero, Duke’s do-everything freshman who lived up to his substantial hype coming to Durham, obviously is a matter of both preference and existing team roster construction. We started with the guards last week we’ll finish with the bigs next week, just before draft night. Are they coachable? Do they blend in with their teams, whether they were the obvious, lone star, or part of a collective of future first-rounders on a Power 6 team? It’s been a fair exchange over the years: unvarnished opinions of strengths and weaknesses, comps, how college teams tried to defend them, how they project at the next level – and, when it can be fairly determined, the makeup of a young man. ![]() ![]() But they give that in exchange for obviously desired relative anonymity. It is my annual cross-section of opinions from people who I’ve come to trust over the decades - people who tell the truth. What this compilation is not, though, is a mock draft. So, this year’s group of prospects runs the gamut, and will be populated throughout the first round of the June 23 draft. And so have the needed skill sets to play in the frontcourt. The league has adapted, suddenly and completely. But players who had formerly been dismissed as “tweeners” back in the day have found their calling in today’s league: think Grant Williams, Julius Randle, Lugentz Dort, Terance Mann and others. More traditional, taller fours like Evan Mobley are certainly still in high demand. ![]()
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