NBA Draft 2015: 5 non-lottery players who will bring value
By Brad Rowland
The 2015 NBA Draft class is deep.
Very deep.
The majority of attention will, rightly, be paid to the top of the draft, with standout prospects like Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell claiming the headlines as potential impact players at the next level. However, this is an incoming class that is rich in athletes who profile as, at worst, rotation players in the NBA, and given the relative cost savings of rookie contracts, the value extracted at the middle and end of the first round can be immense.
With that in mind, we will take a look at five players who can be found outside of the lottery that should provide significant return on investment. It is fair to say that most of these incoming rookies don’t profile as “stars” in the NBA, but at the same time, value isn’t limited to the “one percent”, and the ability to fill specific roles with highly effective play can’t be overstated in terms of importance.
It must be noted that one or two members of this quintet could land in the lottery. Because it “only takes one” team falling in love with a prospect, nothing is out of the realm of possibility, but when taking into account various NBA Draft mocks, the consensus landing spots for these players appear to be outside the top-14 selections.
Regardless, we are looking for value compared to draft position in this space, and these five NBA Draft prospects fit the bill. Let’s roll out the list.
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