NBA Draft 2011: Enes Kanter and the 5 Most Overrated Big Men of the Draft
With the NBA Draft right around the corner (June 23rd) there are inevitably going to be prospects who are under or overrated.
It's just an unavoidable part of the process in today's age of 24-hour media coverage and speculation. Every prospect's game will be praised and condemned countless times between now and when they actually get to play in meaningful games.
Of course, it's incredibly difficult to project how players will respond to the rigors of the NBA game just by watching them in workouts and examining their medical information. There are so many intangible aspects such as heart, aggressiveness, work ethic, and mindset that simply cannot be gathered by watching prospects run through cones.
This year's draft class is particularly tricky because none of the players have the aura of a bona fide superstar. Also, this draft is riddled with unproven commodities: college players who only played in 20 or 30 games and international players who we've seen even less.
Without a large sample size of games to analyze, there is a lot of guesswork involved in rating players. Some will receive too much hype, others not enough. But we won't know which was justified and which was not until months and years later.
As much as I hate to criticize young men who are simply trying to live out their dream, here are five big men that are currently overrated.
Enes Kanter
1 of 5
Turkish big man Enes Kanter is headlining this list because he is being touted as perhaps the only prospect with superstar potential, and yet the majority of NBA teams have only seen him play one game.
What's more, this game was at the Nike Hoops Summit, which is an All-Star game and not necessarily "real" basketball. Prospects are playing with teammates they've never met before, with little practice time, against a team that they haven't had a chance to gameplan against.
Kanter was indeed spectacular, posting a tournament record 34 points to go along with 13 rebounds in just 23 minutes of playing time. And he did do it against a solid USA frontline of Jared Sullinger, Tristan Thompson, and Harrison Barnes.
But to draft a player in the top five is incredibly risky when they are as unknown of a commodity as Kanter. He could certainly turn out to be an elite player and has too much potential to slide out of the top four.
Hopefully he is selected by the right coaching staff to nurture his talents and help him reach his ceiling.
If not, he could be the next Darko. And nobody wants to see that.
Bismack Biyombo
2 of 5
Bismack Biyombo is similar to Kanter in that he was completely unknown to NBA scouts before bursting onto the scene at the Nike Hoops Summit in April.
Biyombo showed potential to be a defensive aficionado in the mold of Serge Ibaka or Joel Anthony. He registered a triple-double at the Hoops Summit with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and an absurd 10 blocked shots.
But also like Kanter, we have such a small sample size of basketball to analyze when dealing with Biyombo.
He is obviously a great athlete with good defensive instincts, but he is very raw offensively. He has an NBA body (6'9", 243 pounds) but won't physically overwhelm opponents as easily as he did at the Hoops Summit.
Biyombo will likely go in the top ten and I expect him to be a beast defensively. But I doubt he will ever be an All-Star in the league.
Jonas Valanciunas
3 of 5
Jonas Valanciunas is a 6'11" Lithuanian center who pretty much defines the words "potential" and "upside". ESPN's Chad Ford has him going eighth to the Piston's in his latest mock draft.
So why is he on this list?
Well first of all, he has prior contractual obligations with his Euroleague team, meaning it will likely take a year or two for him to arrive in the states.
With the current state of some of the NBA's lottery-bound teams, waiting that long for such a high draft pick can be an agonizing process (just ask Minnesota about Ricky Rubio).
Also, Valanciunas desperately needs to add some weight before coming to the NBA. At just 230 pounds, he's closer to the size of a small forward than his natural position at center.
Unless he adds a substantial amount of muscle over the next couple years, he will be bullied on a nightly basis.
Marcus Morris
4 of 5
Marcus Morris had a great year at Kansas last season, averaging 17.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, while also showing off a polished repertoire of offensive moves.
However, I don't see him being nearly as effective on the offensive end at the next level. He doesn't have a natural position in the NBA as he is undersized at power forward but not fast or athletic enough to play the 3.
During the playoffs, we saw that very skilled, yet undersized power forwards (namely Carlos Boozer and Glen Davis) struggled mightily against longer defenders.
He will also have a tough time defending in the league as bigger players will expose him in the post and quicker ones can blow by him on the perimeter.
Don't get me wrong—Morris can be a solid contributor on a decent team, as his shooting ability will make him a fixture in someone's rotation.
But I don't believe he is the top ten pick that many are projecting him to be.
Tristan Thompson
5 of 5
Tristan Thompson, like Morris, is a bit undersized as a 6'9" power forward. Luckily for Thompson however, he has a 7'2" wingspan which should at least partially negate his height issues.
Thompson also differs from Morris in that he is very raw offensively. His jump shot needs serious work and he doesn't have a solid set of go-to post moves.
He is a tough, aggressive player, but he's not great at one thing, and that's often a very dangerous caveat for a lottery pick.
He will be drafted somewhere in the 8-13 range because there simply isn't an abundance of quality big men in this class.
Thompson will bring a lot of energy and emotion to whichever team drafts him, but I don't see him as ever being anything more than a Tyrus Thomas type of player.
