At this point in the NCAA Men’s Basketball season, I have a good grasp on many of the prospects in this class. I haven’t had a chance to watch everyone in my top 100 but the vast majority I have. Since this will be my first top 100 ranking for the upcoming NBA Draft, I am not going to write an explanation for every single prospect. I don’t want you to spend all day reading this board. Here are a few explanations on players I expect to receive a lot of questions about:
R.J. Barrett
There isn’t too much separation between guys in my tier III but I know the appearance of RJ Barrett and Ja Morant outside of the top 10 will be off-putting to some people. As for RJ, inefficient volume scorers are rarely valuable when it comes to winning championships and that’s what RJ is. I have a difficult time seeing him scaling his game down to lower efficiency. There’s a lot to like with RJ’s strength, athleticism, and some spot shooting upside but I have a hard time getting past the lack of touch, willingness to pass, lack of movement shooting, and terrible effort on D. This might be a bit too low for RJ but I’m just not that into him.
Ja Morant
As for Ja Morant, spending a top five or even a top two pick on a small point guard who won’t shoot, won’t defend, and will turn the ball over like crazy is a bad idea. Some of his indicators are encouraging but Morant’s form is god-awful. There is some potential to a better than horrible defender for Morant but from the sample we have so far, it’s not looking good. Due to his gaudy stat lines and highlight dunks, Morant seems to be a lock to go in the top five and that’s a bit too rich for me in the next NBA Draft.
One last note: I haven’t had a chance to watch too much international basketball so far. So if I left off someone international who you think should be in the top 100 for the next NBA Draft, chances are I haven’t seen him yet. Some specific guys I have ranked lower than I probably should or not at all that I need to watch more of are Zoran Paunovic, Yovel Zoosman, and Luka Samanic. If you have any questions on any prospect, feel free to ask me on Twitter. Let’s get right into the board.
Tier I
1.Zion Williamson
The Zion sweepstakes are officially underway and NBA teams have been devising tricky ways to improve their shot at one of the best prospects in decades. There’s nothing I can say about Zion that hasn’t already been said; he’s head and shoulders above the other prospects in the upcoming NBA Draft.
Tier II
2. Jarrett Culver
3. Jontay Porter
4. Cam Reddish
5. Jaxson Hayes
Jaxson Hayes is an incredibly raw prospect but it is easy to bet on a guy with his physical tools and some of the flashes he has shown. His coordination, fluidity, and mobility are dodo bird-rare for humans his size, undergoing massive growth spurts. At this point, Hayes is way too jumpy on defense and his feel for the game is still developing. But flashes like these make him hard for me to ignore in the top 6 discussion, given the lack of true tier II level guys in this class.
Tier III
7. Tre Jones
8. Darius Garland
9. De’Andre Hunter
10. Brandon Clarke
11. Grant Williams
12. RJ Barrett
13. Killian Tillie
14. Kevin Porter Jr.
15. Bol Bol
16. Ja Morant
17. Keldon Johnson
19. Coby White
Tier IV
20. Nickeil Alexander-Walker
21. Talen Horton-Tucker
22. Nassir Little
23. Ignas Brazdeikis
24. Sekou Doumbouya
25. Isaiah Roby
26. Carsen Edwards
27. Daniel Gafford
28. Shamorie Ponds
29. Ty Jerome
30. Bruno Fernando
31. Charles Matthews
32. PJ Washington
33. Matisse Thybulle
34. Goga Bitadze
35. Devidas Sirvydas
36. Devon Dotson
37. Kezie Okpala
38. Simi Shittu
39. Tyrese Haliburton
40. Xavier Johnson
41. Aric Holman
42. Zach Norvell
Tier V
44. Sagaba Konate
45. Yovel Zoosman
46. Admiral Schofield
47. Nicolas Claxton
48. Eric Paschall
49. Charles Bassey
50. Aaron Nesmith
51. Luguentz Dort
52. Rui Hachimura
53. Jon Teske
54. Jalen Smith
55. Chuma Okeke
56. Cameron Johnson
57. Naz Reid
58. Jalen McDaniels
59. Isaiah Joe
60. Neemias Queta
61. Juwan Morgan
62. Dean Wade
63. Josh LeBlanc
64. Miye Oni
65. Ky Bowman
66. Rayshaun Hammonds
67. Kerwin Roach
Tier VI
68. Ayo Dosunmu
69. Zoran Paunovic
70. Jaylen Nowell
71. Luka Samanic
72. Dylan Windler
73. Mfiondu Kabangele
74. Markus Howard
75. Tyus Battle
76. Yves Pons
77. Desmond Bane
78. Sam Hauser
79. Cameron McGriff
80. Louis King
81. Udoka Azibuke
82. Donta HAll
83. Seth Towns
84. AJ Lawson
85. Jack White
86. Josh Perkins
87. Kris Wilkes
88. Ethan Happ
89. Xavier Sneed
90. D’Marcus Simonds
91. Mike Wang
92. Tyler Herro
93. Dedric Lawson
94. Justin Wright-Foreman
95. Jaylen Hoard
96. Quentin Grimes
97. Cassius Winston
98. Paul Scruggs
99. Kouat Noi
100. Charlie Brown