January NBA Draft Big Board Update: Current Top 100 For 2019

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.

https://twitter.com/JHoyNBA/status/1079806487273398273

6. Romeo Langford

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

18. Jordan Poole

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

NBA Legend Makes Shocking Claims On LeBron James’ GOAT Status

When dissecting LeBron James’ illustrious game and NBA trajectory, inevitable parallels arise, often drawing comparisons to the iconic Michael Jordan or the legendary Magic Johnson.

Report: Mavericks ‘Came Close’ To Acquiring Kyle Kuzma From Wizards

According to NBA insider Josh Robbins of The Athletic, the Dallas Mavericks “came close” to acquiring Kyle Kuzma from the Washington Wizards. The Mavericks were

Report: Darvin Ham Told Lakers Not To Trade Taurean Prince

According to NBA insider Jovan Buha of The Athletic, head coach Darvin Ham told the Los Angeles Lakers’ front office not to trade Taurean Prince.