A look at the Triangle, ACC's NBA Draft projections
Posted June 18, 2019 9:05 a.m. EDT
Updated June 18, 2019 1:46 p.m. EDT
The ACC has 19 players (18 if you count NC State recruit Jalen Lecque and 19 if you count Sacha Killeya-Jones, who transferred to NC State but didn't play) who declared and left their names in the NBA Draft. Of those, five played in the Triangle and seven were supposed to play in the Triangle with Lecque and Killeya-Jones.
All of the Triangle's early entrants but Killeya-Jones are expected to be drafted, and all but one of them is likely to go in the first round.
Six total players from UNC and Duke are expected to go in the first round - and all could even be gone by the 18th pick, if some projections are right.
Looking at four NBA mock drafts ahead of Thursday (from SI.com, NBADraft.net, The Ringer and CBS Sports), here's a look at where the players are projected to go, and their highest and lowest projection:
The Triangle's ACC NBA prospects
Zion Williamson, Duke
High: 1
Low: 1
The consensus is that Zion Williamson will go No. 1 overall to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans recently made a blockbuster trade to move Anthony Davis to the Lakers while getting quite a few first-round picks in return. The Pelicans may not be great next year or the year after, but they appear pretty well set up for the future. It's also becoming Duke central as Brandon Ingram was part of the trade and the Pelicans already had Jahlil Okafor and Frank Jackson on the roster. Add Trajan Langdon as the new GM and it's practically a Duke alumni game.
R.J. Barrett, Duke
High: 3
Low: 3
Barrett is almost universally expected to go to the New York Knicks at No. 3 overall (Ja Morant from Murray State is also almost universally expected to go No. 2 to the Memphis Grizzlies). The Knicks wanted to make off-season moves, but it would appear no high-profile free agent was interested and no teams were interested enough in their young pieces. So Barrett will join said young pieces - 12 current Knicks players are 24 or younger, including former NC State point guard Dennis Smith Jr. - and try to revive the Knicks.
Coby White, North Carolina
High: 5
Low: 7
North Carolina's sensational and fun freshman point guard was slotted at 5 to Cleveland by NBADraft.net but every other outlet has him going to the Bulls at No. 7. He's not going to be rushed into full-time starting duties - the Bulls already have Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine (if the latter isn't traded) - but it's a need the Bulls are expected to address, and he's expected to be the best available.
Cam Reddish, Duke
High: 8
Low: 9
In spite of how polarizing Reddish is as a prospect, the projects of him are not. Almost every mock draft has him going 8th to the Atlanta Hawks; one has him falling to the Wizards at 9. Reddish has a ton of raw gifts and potential, but he didn't show some of the steadiness that his teammates did. Of course, his teammates are projected to go No. 1 and No. 3 in the draft, so it's all relative. Teams love his - wait for it - upside, though.
Nassir Little, North Carolina
High: 11
Low: 18
Speaking of upside, North Carolina's talented but up and down freshman has plenty of it. It was his raw athleticism that had him rated as a top recruit out of high school in the first place, and while his basketball savvy was starting to catch up amid him learning multiple positions at North Carolina, it still left NBA teams wondering about him. It's still a mystery which team takes a chance on him, though; one mock has him going to the Hornets at No. 12 while another has him falling out of the lottery to the Pacers at 18.
Cam Johnson, North Carolina
High: 18
Low: 32
The projection range on Johnson varies in terms of where he'll be picked, but NBA teams won't have to wonder what they're getting. The lone senior in this group, he does one thing very well, and it's something the NBA values very much - shoot 3-pointers. But he's 23, and NBA teams hate that. You know what you're getting with Johnson, but the tantalizing "upside" word isn't one that will apply to him. He's as safe a pick as you can get.
Jalen Lecque, (almost) NC State (Brewster Academy)
High: 36
Low: 55
The almost NC State freshman guard decided to eschew college in favor of going straight to the draft. That seems like a pretty good decision as some draft analysts call him the second-best athlete in the draft behind Zion Williamson.
The rest of the ACC
De'Andre Hunter, Virginia
High: 4
Low: 6
It's looking more and more like the New Orleans Pelicans will use the No. 4 pick they acquired from the Lakers in the trade to get the former Virginia star. Hunter really boosted his stock by coming up huge on the biggest stage imaginable in the national title game, and his ability to defend most positions on the floor makes him a huge asset as well.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Virginia Tech
High: 14
Low: 18
His athleticism, skill and versatility make him a lock to go anywhere in the teens.
Mfiondu Kabengele, Florida State
High: 15
Low: 30
Projections range widely on the stunning sixth man from FSU, but he looks to be a steal for whoever gets him. Any time he was on the court for the Seminoles, you noticed. A shot-blocker and a skilled finisher, he's going to be a nice piece for any team that gets him.
Ty Jerome, Virginia
High: 22
Low: 26
Virginia's steady point guard kept his name in the draft, and that appears to be the right move as teams get higher and higher on him as the process moves along. Most who watched Virginia all year would call him their most important piece, even if he wasn't their most NBA-ready.
Jaylen Hoard, Wake Forest
High: 43
Low: Unranked
Don't look now, but another talented underclassman left Wake Forest early again. But this time, it's an underclassman very likely to get drafted. The 6-8 freshman was really a freshman in name only as he got to play with the French national program growing up there. He's still a project, but a lower-risk project than some others.
Terance Mann, Florida State
High: 38
Low: Unranked
He and Johnson are the only two ACC seniors that appear in mock drafts. Mann may have done himself some favors with the way he played in the NCAA Tournament. It would be a very cool moment to see a senior that his teammates loved so much get drafted or at least latch on with a team if not.
Ky Bowman, Boston College
High: 41
Low: Not ranked
The stat-stuffing Havelock, NC native is not projected to be picked at all by some mock drafts but the junior decided to forgo his senior season anyway just to see. At 6-1, he doesn't have the size NBA teams like to see in a point guard, but he certainly put enough solid tape out to warrant someone taking a chance.
Kyle Guy, Virginia
High: 45
Low: Unranked
Guy's decision to stay in the draft was one he made early enough to surprise some people, as he's not necessarily projected to get drafted at all, depending on the source. But the MOP of the Final Four likely decided there was nothing left to achieve for him in college. Other coaches have compared him to J.J. Redick, though, and a guy who can shoot 3-pointers like Guy can should certainly be able to find an NBA home at some point.
And then, of course, there are guys who don't appear in any of the four mock drafts. Of the 19 ACC players to enter the draft early and stay there, six don't.
Two of them - Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett - left Syracuse as juniors. And if neither is drafted, it'll mark the first time in 20 years that Syracuse has gone back-to-back drafts without a player taken.
Duke's Marques Bolden is also on this list, as is Miami's Dewan Hernandez (who was suspended by the NCAA last season), Killeya-Jones and Louisville's V.J. King.
Often times, though, those players are plenty content to either develop in the G League or just start making money playing overseas.
And all it takes is one team to like a player like that for them to take a second-round flyer on them. It's the most difficult round to project.
