5 best NBA Draft prospects in the NCAA Tournament

1. DeAndre Ayton

For starters, Ayton looks like the end result of a bunch of scientists designing the perfect basketball center. The Nassau, Bahamas native checks in a 7-foot-1, 260 pounds, with a 7-foot-5 wingspan and he can jump like this:

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/912691082365829120

Ayton is averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Arizona Wildcats, leading them to a conference championship in the Pac-12. Throughout his freshman season, he’s drawn comparisons to Kevin Garnett, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Shaquille O’Neal. He finished the season with back-to-back 32 point performances with double-digit rebounds in the conference tournament, capping a season that will see Arizona finish in the top 25 in the country.

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While Ayton has the physical tools to be a generational talent, he hasn’t quite connected that part of his game to the mental aspect of the game yet. He hasn’t been playing basketball for a long time, and it shows up on the defensive end. For a player of his size, NBA teams are going to expect him to be a plus defender, capable of defending the rim while also containing guards on the perimeter. There were so many examples of Ayton wandering around on defense, facing the wrong way or not rotating to the right player.

The Wildcats are an interesting mix of athletes on the perimeter and size in the post, leaving Ayton to play power forward next to Dusan Ristic. Once he reaches the NBA, there isn’t a single team that will play him there, freeing him up to operate in the post on on offense and not worry about the rotations that power forwards have to make in the NBA.