A lot of players use the very moment when they were drafted as motivation to keep grinding forward, as they feel as they could’ve and should’ve been taken earlier and most people slept on them.
This year’s Draft class wasn’t the exception to that rule, and there were a handful of players everybody had going way higher but that eventually slept after their Draft stock took major hits.
Even so, they were still honored with the chance of joining an NBA team, so they’ll have a chance to prove their doubters wrong as soon as the season starts, and here are our candidates to break out and hush their haters:
5. Bol Bol
Bol Bol was a top 5 pick before suffering a stress fracture on his foot and he was eventually taken with the 44th overall pick by the Miami Heat and then traded to the Denver Nuggets. Bol is incredibly skilled for his size, especially in the offensive end, and is quite an intriguing talent.
Also, Nikola Jokic’s mentorship would be more than enough to help him bring the best out of his offensive repertoire, so, assuming he’s healthy enough to play, at least on a limited minutes basis, I truly think he’s going to prove he was worthy of at least a late 1st round pick.
4. Sekou Doumboya
Doumboya was another intriguing prospect whose Draft stock took a major blow as the season went by, mostly because he was playing overseas and several scouts thought he was just like Bruno Caboclo (two years away from being two years away), but I kindly disagree with them.
While Doumboya is still a work in progress and his – lack of – a jump shot is going to be an issue, he’s got the physical tools to dominate in this league, and other than that, his game has no major flaw that should’ve been a big as a deal-breaker to make him slip to the 14th spot.
3. Goga Bitadze
Goga Bitadze is not your average European big man and he’s not the next Zaza Pachulia just because he’s also from Georgia. But, as a matter of fact, I think he has the skills to have quite a long career in the NBA, as he showed during his last year in Europe where he led the Euroleague in PER.
Bitadze has great basketball instincts and contrary to popular belief, he’s actually quite mobile, let alone his playmaking abilities which exceed what most would expect out of a big man. He was a solid pick at 18th, but the fact that the media ignored him to focus entirely on Zion Williamson may be more than enough motivation for him.
2. Nassir Little
We were all vastly disappointed with Nassir Little during his time at North Carolina, where he wound up coming off the bench and playing just over 18 minutes a night because of his offensive inconsistency and proneness to foul in the defensive end of the hardwood.
Still, it was kind of shocking and disrespectful to see him slip all the way down to the 25th spot. Luckily for him, he’s now on a great position to prove his worth next to a couple of underdogs like Lillard and McCollum. Also, he’s got the defensive upside to show he was the steal of the Draft.
1. Cam Reddish
Cameron Reddish was vastly disappointing at Duke, and he’ll be put in quite a similar position in the NBA as the Atlanta Hawks third scoring option. Still, we’re talking about a guy whose raw talent once made him be considered as the best prospect of his class coming out of high school.
Reddish’ inconsistency in the offensive end is a major concern but he has the intangibles and skills to completely outplay his Draft stock. Truth to be told, the gap between him and RJ Barrett wasn’t that wide, talent-wise, and he should be quite motivated to prove he belonged in this year’s top-5.
