With the 2017 NBA Finals looking like they’ll be over sooner than later, the 2017 NBA Draft is the next big event on the calendar. Here are five sleepers to keep your eyes on.
This draft class has gotten a lot of attention over the past year and the talent at the top of mock drafts and leaderboards have a lot to do with that. But, it isn’t always the players taken early that have the biggest impact on the league.
Teams can find star-caliber players at any slot in the draft. The San Antonio Spurs completed their Tim Duncan dynasty with players selected No. 28 (Tony Parker) and No. 57 (Manu Ginobili). Then they found the next face of the franchise, Kawhi Leonard, with the No. 15 pick.
It’s not just the Spurs that have been able to find gems deeper into the draft. Golden State selected Draymond Green No. 35 overall. The Milwaukee Bucks struck gold getting Giannis Antetokounmpo with the No. 15 pick. Marc Gasol fell to the Lakers at No, 48. Paul Millsap stayed on the board until the No. 47 selection. Rajon Rondo went No. 21. Kyle Lowry was drafted No. 24. ISAIAH THOMAS WAS THE LAST PLAYER PICKED IN THE 2011 NBA DRAFT!
There are going to be good players selected outside of the lottery, it seemingly happens every year. Whether it’s due to age, inexperience, unfinished product, height, etc. players will often slip through the cracks of NBA scouting departments and front offices. Team’s don’t always get it right and it’s fun for us when they don’t. The NBA Draft is the ultimate crapshoot. Every pick offers its own form of gamble.
Here, we take a look at some of the prospects that could potentially fill the role of sleepers in the 2017 class.
5. Jawun Evans, PG, Oklahoma State
Jawun Evans is the latest diminutive guard (he measured in at 5-foot-11.5 at the 2017 NBA Draft Combine) to set the NCAA ablaze. As the head of the snake for the Oklahoma State Cowboys offense, Evans helped lead Oklahoma State to the top of KenPom’s Adjusted Offensive Efficiency ratings. Better than such heavyweights as UCLA, Duke, North Carolina, Gonzaga, and Oregon.
Evans did that with Jeffrey Carroll and Phil Forte III as the next two best players, decent players, but neither held a candle to the multiple All-Americans that bolstered the roster of the teams mentioned above.
The main reason for Oklahoma State’s offensive potency was Evans’ ability to orchestrate out of the pick-and-roll. The Cowboys lacked an interior presence and to counter that they opted to play four-out and five-out most of the time. With the floor spread, Evans was able to use that space to his advantage — knifing in and out of the lane and hitting open shooters on the perimeter when the defense over helped.
Despite this, and likely because he doesn’t wow you with size and athleticism, Evans is projected to go anywhere from the mid-to-late first round in the 2017 NBA Draft.
That’s too low.
Evans is on this sleepers list and though his name is well-known in draft circles he finds himself on here because of how overlooked he is. From the start of his sophomore campaign, Evans has made noise on the court. He dominated UCONN at Maui, hung 22 points and 15 assists on Kansas’ backcourt, outplayed Monte Morris, and dropped 42 points in the Bedlam faceoff against Oklahoma.
The modern NBA is dominated by pick-and-roll, having Evans come in as a change of pace guard to begin his career makes him one of the best plug-and-play options in this class. Evans is not the normal diamond in the rough type that makes this list, but he is likely to outplay wherever he ends up selected on June 22.