{"id":17826,"date":"2019-02-04T08:42:37","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T13:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportswtbu.com\/?p=17822"},"modified":"2020-01-09T17:30:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T22:30:30","slug":"ncaa-zakarins-top-5-2019-draft-prospects-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2019\/02\/04\/ncaa-zakarins-top-5-2019-draft-prospects-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA: Zakarin’s Top 5 2019 Draft Prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"JaMorant1218\"
Photo from http:\/\/murraysports.net\/1227181.htm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By: Ethan Zakarin<\/p>\n

With college basketball conference play heating up, the standouts who will hear
\ntheir names called by Adam Silver have made themselves known to the basketball-focused world.<\/p>\n

It would be hard to find a basketball observer \u2013 let alone any sports fan, who is unfamiliar with the name and highlight reel of Zion Williamson, yet many
\nsay the high flyer from South Carolina may not even be the best prospect on his own
\nteam (I still think he is).<\/p>\n

Follow me as I take a look at the Top 5 current college basketball players who will join the NBA ranks next season.<\/p>\n

5. Cam Reddish
\n<\/strong>The 6\u2019 8\u201d forward is the least talked about of the Duke trio of super freshman, but if
\nthis were a normal year, it\u2019s likely the buzz around Reddish would be significantly
\nlouder.<\/p>\n

Reddish is more skilled than both RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson: his smooth,
\nmethodical style, tight handle, and ability to get to his spots compare favorably to
\nPaul George. He\u2019s shown that he can perform against the best of the best, as he
\nopened the year with 22 points (including 7-7 from the free throw line) against then
\n#2 Kentucky, as well as a 23-point performance against #11 Florida State which
\nincluded a number of big shots, in addition to a game winning three ball.<\/p>\n

However, questions about Reddish persist, most notably about his motor and aggressiveness; questions that have followed the Pennsylvania native since high school. He\u2019s disappeared in games this season, such as a five-point effort against Hartford where he went 2-12 from the field, as well as a three-point game against Eastern Michigan which Reddish only attempted five shots.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Reddish, as ACC play heats up and we get into March Madness, opportunities for him to correct his faults in front of NBA eyes will only increase.<\/p>\n

4. Romeo Langford<\/strong>
\nOne of the more intriguing long term propsects in the draft, Langford has been in the
\nspotlight for awhile now, after spending his high school basketball career as one of
\nthe most highly touted prospects to emerge from the Hoosier state in a long time.<\/p>\n

His career at Indiana so far has been rock solid, as he\u2019s currently averaging 17 points,
\n6 rebounds, and 2 assists, and clearly is a gifted scorer. He\u2019s been a beacon of
\nconsistency for an Indiana team that has really struggled in conference play, which
\nis impressive for a freshman in the Big Ten. Despite his athleticism and finishing
\nability around the basket, his three point shooting woes are a cause for concern
\namong front offices thinking about drafting Langford.<\/p>\n

Shooting 21 percent from the three point line is a cause for concern, and the three point line won\u2019t be getting any closer in the NBA. The bottom line is Langford has enough tools to get him drafted in the top five, but needs to show an improved outside shot to rise up the draft board.<\/p>\n

3. RJ Barrett<\/strong>
\nBarrett came into the season as the most popular #1 overall pick, and while his play
\nhasn\u2019t caused his stock to dramatically fall, most observers no longer predict the
\nCanadian point guard to be the first player off of the board in June.<\/p>\n

Barrett\u2019s ability to score is without question. He\u2019s 11th in the country in scoring, and one of only two players in the top 15 to come from a major conference. An issue for Barrett,
\nhowever, has been what it takes for him to get there, as evidenced by an 8-30
\nperformance in a home loss against Syracuse. His average of four assists per game
\nseems fine, but with the amount of time the ball is in his hands on offense, and the
\nwealth of talent around him at Duke, NBA scouts likely are looking for this number
\nto be a bit higher. In addition, his 3-point percentage of 31 is another clear area of his
\ngame that could use improvement.<\/p>\n

Despite his flaws though, Barrett\u2019s ability to get to the basket and use his strong, physical frame to his advantage is something that will keep his name called early on draft night, no matter what.<\/p>\n

2. Zion Williamson<\/strong>
\nA name almost all sports fans are familiar with, Zion Williamson has been a
\nSportsCenter staple even before his days at Cameron Indoor Stadium began. Scouts
\nstruggle to compare the 6\u2019 7\u201d, 285 pound freak of nature to anyone, but from a
\nphysical standpoint, LeBron James doesn\u2019t seem like a bad place to start. He\u2019s known
\nfor his ability to finish plays explosively, but he has wowed so far this year with his
\nskilled footwork in the post and handle in traffic, both which enable him to create
\nspace to gather and explode using his legendary leaping ability to find a good angle
\ninside.<\/p>\n

This figures to translate very well to the NBA with an even more spaced out
\nfloor. His ability as a passer has been better than expected, as he didn\u2019t have enough
\nweapons around him to move off the ball in high school. Questions remain about his
\nshooting ability (he\u2019s currently a 27 percent 3-point shooter), but Williamson has shown
\nso far that he\u2019s a surefire immediate impact player at the next level.<\/p>\n

1. Ja Morant<\/strong>
\nOne of the biggest stories of this college basketball season, Murray State point guard
\nJa Morant has exploded up draft boards with a combination of explosive athleticism,
\nscoring prowess, and playmaking ability. While his Russell Westbrook like speed
\nand explosion in the fast break have mesmerized fans and lit up highlight reels,
\nMorant\u2019s ability to find his teammates for buckets have impressed NBA front offices
\nthe most.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s no stranger to putting up big numbers scoring the ball; he\u2019s averaging
\n24.1 points a game and has scored 34 and 40 in conference games, and leads the
\ncountry with 10.5 assists per game, easily eclipsing the next best finisher (Kai Toews
\nof UNCW with 7.8 assists per game).<\/p>\n

Morant\u2019s ability as both a scorer and a passer make him too remarkable of a talent for any team to pass up on, and I believe the next few months of college basketball will only reinforce this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Ethan Zakarin With college basketball conference play heating up, the standouts who will hear their names called by Adam Silver have made themselves known to the basketball-focused world. It would be hard to find a basketball observer \u2013 let alone any sports fan, who is unfamiliar with the name and highlight reel of Zion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17192,"featured_media":17823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1023,1024],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20760,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17826\/revisions\/20760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}