The Step Back’s 2018 NBA Draft Big Board: Version 2.0

The second edition of the Step Back’s 2018 NBA Draft Big Board is here, and a lot has changed since we released version 1.0 before the season. The first two months of college basketball unveiled a lot about this year’s crop of freshmen, and as always, players we were previously high on disappointed, while some diamonds in the rough have stepped up to solidify their place in the draft conversation. This board looks a lot different than it did two months ago, and likely will look much different a month from now as players continue to come into themselves during conference play.

The play of players like Trae Young of Oklahoma and Mohamed Bamba of Texas has dominated recent draft talk, but the overarching theme of the 2018 Draft is the heavy influence of players who have not stepped on a basketball court at all this season. Four players in our top 30 will not play a game of basketball between now and June, and that really muddies the waters as we try to evaluate some of the most deserving prospects.

Injuries have of course played a large factor, with Michael Porter Jr. of Missouri missing the rest of the season with a back injury, Jarred Vanderbilt of Kentucky shelved with a foot injury, and Andrew Jones of Texas out with a wrist fracture. Additionally, the presence of Mitchell Robinson and Anfernee Simons creates a tough scouting proposition: Robinson isn’t playing basketball after leaving Western Kentucky, and Simons may attempt to go straight to the draft from prep school. And we can’t forget the continuing FBI probe into the underworld of college basketball, which has kept players like De’Anthony Melton of USC and Austin Wiley of Auburn off the court for reasons that have nothing to do with their play.

Despite this, the draft looks top-heavy, with as many as 8 players that might have All-Star potential at this point. However, the uncertainty of several players down the draft board has made finding potential late-1st round steals a challenge to this point. While Luka Doncic and Young are stealing the narratives, pay attention to the players at the bottom of this list, too. It won’t take much for two or three of them to rocket past their peers into the back half of the first round in June.