NBA Draft 2022: 5 most overrated prospects

2. Kennedy Chandler

Chandler really seemed to wrestle with his decision to leave Tennesse after one year and he could have really benefited from another season in Knoxville. As it stands, he’s coming into the league as a late first-round pick who doesn’t look ready to play serious minutes as a rookie.

The big knock on Chandler as a prospect is that he lacks ideal size or strength. That deficiency was easily hidden at the college level but it’s going to be exposed in a major way once he arrives in the NBA. His physical deficiencies remove any margin for error from the other aspects of his game.

Scouts that like Chandler as a first-rounder buy into his ability to be an efficient pick-and-roll operator. He showed flashes of elite feel at Tennessee but there’s a reason Rick Barnes frequently played him off the ball. His inability to make floaters at a high level is going to cause quality defenders to play him for the pass until he proves he can score at a sufficient level.

Chandler’s one chance to really pay off as a high-level starter is to become an elite shooter from behind the arc. He flashed a good perimeter stroke in college but his overall numbers were mediocre. GMs should be looking for bigger, more athletic prospects in Round 1. Chandler’s body makes him more of a backup.