2018 NBA Mock Draft: Time for the Final Four

First impressions can be problematic when scouting players in college basketball, and it was difficult for me the first couple times I watched Texas Tech this season not to fall in love with Culver and value him too highly. The freshman looks too much like an NBA player, I thought, not to get drafted by a smart team and developed into one. Fortunately for Culver, should he enter the draft, he will slot right around the back end of the first round, where the best teams draft. Landing somewhere like Boston could help him a lot.

Culver shot 38 percent on nearly four 3s per game this year, spotting up around Keenan Evans drives to the basket and using a high, quick release to get shots off over recovering defenders. Yet Culver’s free-throw percentage makes you wonder a little about his shooting efficiency at the NBA level. He made just 65 percent of his foul shots this year, though the sample size on those shots is actually smaller than for 3s. It’s tough to know how he’ll shoot, especially with so few shots on the move.

Defense will be an easy fall-back for Culver. His 3.2 block percentage is great for a 6-5 player, nearly as high as that of his more athletic teammate, Zhaire Smith. Whereas Smith and the rest of Texas Tech’s roster is quick and explosive, Culver’s frame gives him a strength advantage against most matchups. You could see him defending wings more easily at the next level.

Basically, Culver is a perfect Celtic, someone Brad Stevens could mold into the perfect Boston guy like he has done with Semi Ojeleye, Guerschon Yabusele and Marcus Smart.