NBA Draft 2023: 5 best undrafted free agents who could make teams look silly

2023 NBA Draft: No. 1 undrafted free agent Ricky Council IV, 76ers

Ricky Council IV was the highest-rated prospect here at FanSided to go undrafted. He came in at No. 24 on our board, meaning the Sixers essentially got two borderline first-round talents in undrafted free agency. Council joins the aforementioned Terq Smith on a two-way contract for Philadelphia.

While Council has one glaring red flag — his rocky 3-point shooting — it’s wise to bet on well-defined, elite skills in the NBA Draft. Especially when those elite skills are paired with plus athleticism,  positional size, and enough ancillary skill to beget long-term upside.

Council is 6-foot-6 with an excellent first step and broad shoulders. He’s a ferocious downhill driver and he’s one of the best rim finishers on the board who’s not seven feet tall. His ability to hang, contort, and find angles to finish through traffic is legitimately special. If he can get the 3-point shot to even a respectable level over time, it gets pretty easy to imagine Council’s path to productive NBA basketball as a bench scorer. He competes with fire on the defensive end too.

The Sixers are more reliant than most teams on having wings who can shoot, so Council will have to make strides in order to make logistical sense next to Joel Embiid. He also has to clean up his decision-making, especially given Nick Nurse’s notoriously short leash for mistake-prone young players.

Council will face an uphill battle having gone undrafted, but he is easily the best player who didn’t hear his name called. The Sixers absolutely dominated the undrafted free-agent market.