2016 NBA Draft Big Board 3.0
As the calendar turns to March, it is time for a new update to the 2016 NBA Draft Big Board. There have been plenty of changes since the last version, and here are some of the things to highlight:
- For the majority of the season, Ben Simmons has had a solid hold on the top spot in this big board. Now, it seems like the race for the No. 1 pick gets tighter and tighter with each weekend. Simmons has had a few performances where he has mailed it in and it has opened the door for Ingram to shine. LSU is most likely not going to make the NCAA tournament, giving Ingram another chance to prove himself when the whole world is watching. It feels like Ingram is one huge performance in the tournament away from overtaking Simmons in the eyes of fans as the No. 1 pick in June.
- When we last put together our big board at the beginning of January, Buddy Hield was a fringe first rounder. Hield’s improvement from his junior season was obvious, but had yet to be sustained for a full season. As we enter March, the 22-year-old is still posting ridiculous shooting numbers including a 61.9 True Shooting Percentage while knocking down 47.6 percent of his 3-pointers. While Hield’s Sooners lost four games during February, his production remained steady despite Oklahoma’s lagging results. Hield is still in need of improvement in some areas — it would be nice if he could more consistently beat his man off the dribble, for example. Nevertheless, Hield may be this draft’s best shooter and that alone will make him a very valuable NBA player.
- Most of our biggest movers since the January iteration of our big board are freshmen who have started to clarify their potential value. Both Kentucky’s Skal Labissiere and Kansas’ Cheick Diallo continue to struggle to find consistent roles on their respective teams. Labissiere has shown flashes of brilliance, including an 11-point, 8-rebound outing against Florida, which is why he remains in the lottery. Other freshmen — Washington’s Marquese Chriss, Michigan State’s Deyonta Davis, and Florida State’s Malik Beasley — have made impressive strides up the board. Both Chriss and Davis are raw but talented bigs with the potential to make significant impacts down the line. Beasley, meanwhile, has become the more prized of the Seminoles’ two freshmen, moving ahead of teammate Dwayne Bacon on our board.
- This year, more than most, has a strong crop of international players. It will be interesting to see who stays in this draft and who opts to move into the more highly touted 2017 NBA Draft class. Guys like Dragan Bender, Furkan Korkmaz, and Timothe Luwawu all seem like locks to go in the lottery, making it likely they stay in through their deadline. Other players, such as Jonathan Jeanne, Petr Cornelie, Juan Hernangomez, Isaiah Cordinier, and a few others may feel more confident in withdrawing their name this year and moving into next year’s draft. Regardless of the outcome, this deep international pool could see a new record of players taken from foreign countries set this draft. It is not out of the question.
Now, let’s take a look at the pre-March Madness list of the top-60 2016 NBA Draft prospects.
BIG BOARD
- Ben Simmons — 6-10, PF, LSU
- Brandon Ingram — 6-9, SF, Duke
- Dragan Bender — 7-1, PF, Maccabi Tel Aviv
- Kris Dunn — 6-4, PG, Providence
- Jakob Poeltl — 7-1, C, Utah
- Jaylen Brown — 6-7, SF, California
- Jamal Murray — 6-5, SG, Kentucky
- Henry Ellenson — 6-10, PF, Marquette
- Furkan Korkmaz — 6-7, SG, Anadolu Efes
- Buddy Hield — 6-4, SG, Oklahoma
- Skal Labissiere — 7-0, PF, Kentucky
- Timothe Luwawu — 6-7, SG, Mega Leks
- Ivan Rabb — 6-10, PF, California
- Diamond Stone — 7-0, C, Maryland
- Denzel Valentine — 6-6, SF, Michigan State
- Demetrius Jackson — 6-1, PG, Notre Dame
- Wade Baldwin IV — 6-3, PG, Vanderbilt
- Marquese Chriss — 6-9, PF, Washington
- Jonathan Jeanne — 7-2, PF, Le Mans
- Deyonta Davis — 6-10, PF, Michigan State
- Domantas Sabonis — 6-10, PF, Gonzaga
- Taurean Prince — 6-7, SF, Baylor
- Melo Trimble — 6-3, PG, Maryland
- Grayson Allen — 6-4, SG, Duke
- Stephen Zimmerman — 7-0, C, UNLV
- Damian Jones — 6-10, C, Vanderbilt
- Nigel Hayes — 6-8, PF, Wisconsin
- Paul Zipser — 6-8, SF, Bayern Munich
- Malik Beasley — 6-4, SG, Florida State
- Cheick Diallo — 6-9, PF, Kansas
- Isaiah Cordinier— 6-5, SG, Denain
- Ante Zizic — 6-11, C, Cibona Zagreb
- Zhou Qi — 7-2, C, Xinjiang
- Gary Payton II — 6-3, PG, Oregon State
- Petr Cornelie — 6-11, PF, Le Mans
- Juan Hernangomez — 6-9, SF, Estudiantes
- Brice Johnson — 6-9, PF, North Carolina
- Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk — 6-8, SG, Kansas
- Justin Jackson — 6-8, SF, North Carolina
- Ivica Zubac — 7-1, C, Mega Leks
- Malik Newman — 6-4, SG, Mississippi State
- Caris LeVert — 6-7, SG, Michigan
- Dwayne Bacon — 6-5, SG, Florida State
- Thomas Bryant — 6-9, C, Indiana
- Monte Morris — 6-3, PG, Iowa State
- Malcolm Brogdon — 6-5, SG, Virginia
- Tyler Ulis — 5-9, PG, Kentucky
- Isaiah Briscoe — 6-3, PG, Kentucky
- Pascal Siakam— 6-9, PF, New Mexico State
- Kay Felder— 5-9, PG, Oakland
- Jake Layman — 6-9, SF, Maryland
- DeAndre Bembry — 6-6, SF, St. Joe’s
- Pat McCaw — 6-7, SG, UNLV
- Tim Quarterman — 6-6, PG, LSU
- Anthony Barber — 6-2, PG, NC State
- Jarrod Uthoff — 6-9, PF, Iowa
- AJ Hammons — 7-0, C, Purdue
- Wayne Selden — 6-6, SG, Kansas
- Dorian Finney-Smith — 6-8, SF, Florida
- Aleksandar Vezenkov — 6-9, PF, Barcelona
STOCK UP
Bender (+1), Dunn (+2), Poeltl (+3), Brown (+3), Korkmaz (+1), Hield (+18), Luwawu (+2), Rabb (+2), Stone (+5), Valentine (+1), Jeanne (+10), Sabonis (+1), Prince (+3), Trimble (+1), Allen (+6), Zipser (+4), Beasley (+22), Payton II (+5), Cornelie (+2), Ulis (+6), Felder (+2), McCaw (+6), Selden (+2)
STOCK DOWN
Murray (-2), Ellenson (-1), Labissiere (-8), D. Jackson (-4), Zimmerman (-12), D. Jones (-6), Hayes (-1), Diallo (-19), Qi (-12), Mykhailiuk (-11), J. Jackson (-7), Newman (-7), LeVert (-24), Bacon (-8), Bryant (-8), Morris (-2), Briscoe (-25), Layman (-9), Bembry (-5), Quarterman (-6), Hammons (-2), Vezenkov (-10)
NEWCOMERS
Chriss (18), Davis (20), Cordinier (31), Zizic (32), Hernangomez (36), B. Johnson (37), Zubac (40), Brogdon (46), Siakam (49), Barber (55), Uthoff (56), Finney-Smith (59)
PREVIOUSLY RANKED
Troy Williams (31), Allonzo Trier (38), Tyrone Wallace (40), Devin Robinson (41), Daniel Hamilton (44), Kennedy Meeks (45), Marcus Lee (46), Chinanu Onuaku (49), Danuel House (54), Alex Poythress (56), Amida Brimah (57), Georges Niang (58)