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The Step Back Composite NBA Draft Big Board: The best 30 draft prospects of the 2010s

By Trevor Magnotti

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 19: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans and John Wall #2 of the Washington Wizards talk following the Wizards 116-106 win at Capital One Arena on December 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 19: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans and John Wall #2 of the Washington Wizards talk following the Wizards 116-106 win at Capital One Arena on December 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images /

Tier 3 – Near-Certain All-Star, Franchise-Changing Upside

No. 1 overall pick, Cleveland Cavaliers, 2014

Our first top overall pick on this list (well, second technically, but it’s a 30-player ranking and we might get to the 50s before we get to Anthony Bennett). It feels like forever ago, but Andrew Wiggins might be the player who had the biggest shift from pre-draft prognosis to actual NBA outcome. NBA Wiggins is a three-level scoring success who has never really figured out how to do much else and is a fairly mediocre defender.

But college Wiggins was knocked for struggling to figure out how to be an on-ball scorer, and instead seemed like he was a super 3-and-D type who had the upside to become a franchise-changing scorer if he could iron out the kinks of his outside shooting and finishing through contact. Both of those things progressed at a good level in the NBA, as he got comfortable shooting on volume and filled out physically. But the other stuff just hasn’t translated, especially on defense, where his effort level has been negligible, and he just hasn’t shown the instincts to be an impactful weakside defender like he was at Kansas.

The top-tier projections of Wiggins being another Kevin Durant-type of No. 1 option were never really accurate, but remembering Wiggins the prospect, he did seem like the type of player who would fit in a modern NBA context quite well. He had shown several good indications of being at the absolute least a strong second banana, but those reasons never materialized in the NBA even as he rounded out as a scorer. That Wiggins wasn’t an All-Star was one of the biggest shocks of the surprisingly underwhelming 2014 NBA Draft.

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