[OhCanada-Participant]

I went back and looked at all the Centers drafted since the Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic 2014 draft to see if my theory is at least reasonable.The theory is that unless you can get a clearcut top 5 talent the best place to pick a Center is in the early 2nd round. I intend to do this for the other positions as well if I get around to it (may have to wait until next weekend).

TOP 5 CENTERS (6 players, 4 stars, 1 starter, 1 role player, 0 no impact
1st pick Deandre Ayton ‘2019 *Star
1st pick Karl Anthony Towns ‘2015 *Star
3rd pick Jahlil Okafor ‘2015 *Role Player
3rd pick Joel Embiid ‘2014 *Star
4th pick Jaren Jackson Jr. ‘2019 *Starter
4th pick Kristaps Porzingis ‘2015 *Star
————————————————————
LOTTERY CENTERS (14 players, 2 stars, 2 starters, 9 role players, 1 no impact)

6th pick Mo Bamba ‘2019 *Role Player
6th pick Willie Caulie-Stein ‘2015 *Role Player
7th pick Wendell Carter ‘2019 *Starter
8th pick Jaxson Hayes ‘2020 *Role Player
9th pick Jakob Poeltl ‘2016 *Role Player
9th pick Frank Kaminsky ‘2015 *Role Player
9th pick Noah Vonleh ‘2014 *Role Player
10th pick Zach Collins ‘2018 *Role Player
10th pick Thon Maker ‘2016 *Role Player
11th pick Domantas Sabonis ‘2016 *Star
11th pick Myles Turner ‘2015 *Starter
12th pick Trey Lyles ‘2015 *Role Player
13th pick Georgios Papagiannis ‘2016 *No Impact
14th pick Bam Adebayo ‘2017 *Star
—————————————————————–
1ST ROUND CENTERS (16 players, 1 star, 2 starters, 8 role players, 5 no impact)

16th pick Justin Patton ‘2017 *No Impact
16th pick Jusuf Nurkic ‘2014 *Star
18th pick Goga Bitadze ‘2020 *Role Player
20th pick Harry Giles ‘2017 *Role Player
21st pick Mitch Mcgary ‘2014 *No Impact
22nd pick Jarrett Allen ‘2017 *Starter
23rd pick Ante Zizic ‘2016 *No Impact
25th pick Anzejs Pasecniks ‘2017 *Role Player
25th pick Clint Capela ‘2015 *Starter
26th pick Nikola Milutinov ‘2017 *No Impact
27th pick Mifonde Kabangele ‘2020 *No Impact
28th pick Skal Labissiere ‘2016 *Role Player
27th pick Robert Williams ‘2019 *Role Player
28th pick Tony Bradley ‘2017 *Role Player
30th pick Damian Jones ‘2016 *Role Player
30th pick Kevon Looney ‘2015 *Role Player
———————————————————————–
EARLY 2ND ROUND CENTERS (17 players, 1 star, 4 starters, 6 role players, 6 no impact)

31st pick Deyonta Davis ‘2016 *No Impact
32nd pick Ivica Zubac ‘2016 *Role Player
34th pick Bruno Fernando ‘2020 *Role Player
35th pick Guillermo Hernangomez ‘2015 *Role Player
36th pick Mitchell Robinson ‘2019 *Starter
37th pick Chinanu Onuaku ‘2016 *No Impact
37th pick Richuan Holmes ‘2015 *Starter
38th pick Daniel Gafford ‘2020 *Role Player
38th pick Jordan Bell ‘2017 *Role Player
40th pick Diamond Stone ‘2016 *No Impact
41st pick Stephen Zimmerman ‘2016 *No Impact
41st pick Nikola Jokic ‘2014 *Star
42nd pick Thomas Bryant ‘2017 *Starter
43rd pick Zhou Qi ‘2016 *No Impact
43rd pick Walter Tavares ‘2014 *No Impact
44th pick Bol Bol ‘2020 *Role Player
45th pick Dwight Powell ‘2014 *Starter
————————————————————
LATE 2ND CENTERS (10 players, 0 stars, 0 starters, 0 role players, 10 no impact)

46th pick AJ Hammons ‘2016 *No Impact
47th pick Ike Anigbogu ‘2017 *No Impact
47th pick Arturas Gudaitis ‘2015 *No Impact
48th pick Dakari Johnson ‘2015 *No Impact
50th pick Alec Brown ‘2014 *No Impact
52nd pick Satnam Singh ‘2015 *No Impact
55th pick Cady Lalanne ‘2015 *No Impact
57th pick Wang Zhelin ‘2016 *No Impact
58th pick Thomas Welsh ‘2019 *No Impact
59th pick Dewan Hernandez ‘2020 *No Impact

UNDRAFTED NOTABLES
Naz Reid
Tacko Fall
Luke Kornet

[BKGingerSnapParticipant]

Great analysis, what I feel like this shows is that NBA scouting on Centers is actually pretty good. NBA execs are easily able to identify elite talent and jump on the opportunity to draft them. NBA execs are also pretty good at identifying centers who project to borderline all stars to solid role players in the late lottery while being able to avoid busts. It’s possible in the late 1st round/non-lottery to get a star or real asset but here is where no impact players start showing up. I even go further in saying that Bitadze, Giles, Labissiere as no impact. What I think a big takeaway reading this is that 14 NBA centers evaluate a center and decide to pass, there are holes or red flags in the center’s game. early 2nd round is similar late 1st with more no impact players and then late 2nd round is a junk yard.

[bt102Participant]

Definitely good analysis. I will also mention that Nikola Milutinov would probably be role player if he came over now. But yeah, I’m not seeing star center in this draft. I’m seeing a high level starter in Okongwu but not much else in terms of center.

[HitsterParticipant]

Good point, a lot of guys it is hard to judge where they are. Bol Bol has literally played a few NBA minutes so far. Maybe for C the drop off after the top of the draft is steeper so you are just as well waiting for the late first early 2nd round.

[Author]

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