NBA Mock Draft 2017, Week 19: March Madness edition

The Indiana Hoosiers’ season ended on Tuesday night with a loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the NIT, but star forward OG Anunoby’s season was finished back in January after he suffered an undisclosed knee injury. The school announced that Anunoby would make a full recovery, though, and that’s critical to his draft stock as two of Anunoby’s most important traits are his athleticism and mobility.

Anunoby’s best asset is his defense and his ability to move laterally is critical to how he defends smaller players. The sophomore became famous for his performance against Jamal Murray in last year’s NCAA Tournament where he used his quickness and his length to constantly hound the current NBA guard. In two seasons with the Hoosiers, Anunoby has made quite the statistical impact on the defensive end by averaging 8.2 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 2.2 blocks per 40 minutes.

The concerns about Anunoby center around his offensive ability. There’s no jump shot to be found in the 6-foot-8 forward’s repertoire and he can’t create for himself at this stage. Although he was averaging 11.1 points per game prior to his injury, most of those points came off of cuts and rebounds. Still, the face that he’s shot better than 60 percent inside the arc in both college seasons is a nice sign.

Anunoby unfortunately won’t be playing this March, but his recuperation process is more important to his NBA value anyways.

Learn more about OG Anunoby at The Step Back.