Another interesting mock from Jeremy Woo at SI:
The Auburn forward has scouts raving about his upside. See where other prospects land in our 2022 draft rankings.
www.si.com
1. Jabari Smith
2.
Paolo Banchero
3. Chet Holmgren
4. Jaden Ivey
5. Johnny Davis, SG, Wisconsin, So
The numbers are great, as you would expect for someone who rises this high out of nowhere. They’re not crazy phenomenal, though, so I worry he doesn’t have the NBA prototype size (6-5) to warrant such a high pick as a guard who can’t really be your point guard.
6. Kendall Brown, F, Baylor, Fr
74% 2pt on high volume, 50% 3pt on very low volume. This is a high upside pick.
9. Patrick Baldwin
10.
Trevor Keels
I can’t get behind this. 32% 3pt, 70% ft at Duke, consistent with the limited numbers available from high school. He’s 6-4 and a good playmaker, so to realize the value in picking him this high, he needs to play point in the NBA. That would make him a chunkier poor man’s of Russell Westbrook, without the otherworldly athleticism, but with potentially much better defense and fewer dumb turnovers.
17.
Wendell Moore
This seems right. A lack of size, length and explosiveness will limit his upside, but he’s just so good at basketball now, and he’s shown so much rapid improvement, that it would be silly not to use a pick on him in the back half of the 1st round. His floor appears to be a positive 6th-8th man for an average NBA team. His ceiling appears to be a positive 6th-8th man for an average NBA team.
18.
Mark Williams
32.
AJ Griffin
If you were setting an over/under on where Griffin ends up, maybe this is the spot, but it seems highly unlikely he ends up anywhere close to here, for better or for worse. If he blows up, there’s a good chance Duke has 5 1st rounders on its roster this season, while no one else has more than 2. Duke will be the title favorite.
In the entire ACC aside from Duke, there are only 3 prospects in this 2-round mock, including a guard I’ve never heard of at ND, a raw 7-1 project at FSU, and
54. Caleb Love
Duke failing to win the ACC this season would be one of the most tragic underperformances of K’s career.