NBA Draft 2011: Brandon Knight and the Top 10 Best SEC Draft Prospects
Enes Kanter did not play a second in a college basketball game this past season but that doesn’t mean he was not one of the best players in the SEC last year since he attended classes in Lexington, KY at the University of Kentucky.
Is Brandon Knight or Tobias Harris a better NBA prospect than Enes Kanter?
That’s the question we will ask when we count down the list of the top 10 best SEC players in the NBA Draft this year.
10. Josh Harrelson
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Coming in to his senior season, Josh Harrelson was not going to play significant minutes and be anything other than a player with five fouls to give. Then Enes Kanter came to Kentucky and was not allowed play college basketball.
Josh Harrelson realized then that he now held the Kentucky basketball team in his hands. He was going to have to play significant minutes and contribute to the team in those minutes.
Every day in practice Josh went up against Enes Kanter who is projected by Chad Ford to go fourth overall to the Cavaliers. Those reps against a phenomenal talent this past season have been invaluable to Josh and the Kentucky team.
Josh Harrelson against Kentucky’s arch rival Louisville and in the NCAA Tournament won games for the Kentucky Wildcats that otherwise he would not have been able to do.
Josh has learned how hard you have to work to play at a high level. Josh could someday, with his hard work, be the twelfth man on a NBA team.
9. Alex Tyus
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Alex Tyus tested the NBA draft market last year after his Junior season and decided to come back to school for one more year.
If he wasn’t good enough to make it in the league last year, he may not have improved his stock much in his senior season. Tyus scored less points, played less minutes, grabbed less rebounds, and had less blocks in his senior year compared to his junior year.
8. Trey Thompkins
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Like Alex Tyus, Trey Thompkins did worst statistically from his sophomore year to his junior year. Less points, less assist, less rebounds.
However, Thompkins can still play at the next level.
At 6’10” 240 pounds Thompkins will play the power forward position in the NBA. He will need to work on his post game, but if he can get a low post game he can become a versatile player because he can knock down a mid-range jump shot and even step out and drain a three if he is open.
7. Scotty Hopson
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Coming out of High School Scotty Hopson was supposed to be the best player at Tennessee since Allen Houston. Rivals.com had Scotty Hopson as the No. 5 best player in the nation in the 2008 recruiting class.
However, that ranking didn’t show his character flaws he displayed on high school team, only getting that number five ranking based solely on his AAU play. Scotty got kicked his high school team his junior year because he didn’t show up to practice the day before the first game of the postseason.
Having this kind of attitude in high school to skip practice prior to the postseason is a character flaw that I would not want on any team.
6. Chandler Parsons
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Chandler Parsons came to Florida with Alex Tyus in 2007 and hasn’t achieved the success that was hoped for from the Florida faithful.
Two NIT tournaments and an unsuccessful NCAA tournament run his junior it wasn’t until his senior year that he played at the level he was expected to be at.
However he lacks size and strength for the NBA. He does have a high basketball IQ and a hard work ethic to where if he can continue to work hard and get better he could make an NBA squad.
5. DeAndre Liggins
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DeAndre Liggins could be the best sleeper in this draft. A tall lanky player who is fast and athletic, all traits NBA executives are looking for. Prior to John Calipari showing up in Lexington DeAndre Liggins was a head case. He didn’t see the floor for the first part of the season his sophomore year.
Then something happened. Not only did he turn a corner but he became a key player on a championship contending team. The beginning of the season Liggins was in the dog house and wouldn’t see a second of playing time, at the end of the season he was being asked to play a large role in winning a national championship.
Now that year the Wildcats lost in the Elite Eight, but the following year as a junior Liggins was asked to be a leader on a Final Four team. This kind of improvement shows that Liggins can be coached and can help a team win games.
DeAndre’s only weakness is he is not a great scorer, but no team that drafts Liggins will need nor want him to score. They will want him to play lights out defense by shutting down the likes of Kobe Bryant or Dwayne Wade and make open threes. Liggins can do that exceptionally well.
4. Travis Leslie
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Travis Leslie could be the best scorer in the SEC the past two years. Single handily winning games for the Bulldogs in games Georgia should not have won.
Leslie, if he continues to work on his handling and passing, could be an even better J.J. Barea. Lighting fast and athletic, if Leslie is not the star player and opposing teams do not game plan against him, Travis could light up the scoreboard
3. Tobias Harris
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After one year at Tennessee Tobias Harris proved how good of a player he is. Rivals.com had Tobias Harris as the number seven best player in the nation coming out of high school.
Tobias had a great year at Tennessee even with all the distractions that surrounded the program the entire season.
Tobias Harris has a great basketball IQ, completely unselfish, and could do anything you ask him to do on the floor.
Right now Tobias Harris is projected to go 22nd overall to the Denver Nuggets. George Carl will be a great coach for Tobias. George Carl expects tremendous defense and will teach Tobias how to win. He had a hard time learning how to do that with the issues following Bruce Pearl.
2. Brandon Knight
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Brandon Knight may be drafted ahead of Enes Kanter but Brandon may not be a better player than Enes. The Utah Jazz needs a point guard significantly more so than they need a front court player.
Brandon is a great scorer and a great leader. DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller were asked to be the leader of the Kentucky Basketball team but Brandon half way through the season took over as team leader.
Brandon Knight is super smart and can shoot the three. Brandon Knight if he is drafted by the Jazz has a chance at being the rookie of the year. The pick-and-role offense is a staple in the NBA and a proven successful way to score.
Knight can do anything you ask him to do, from not scoring and setting everybody else up or scoring like crazy if nobody else has it going.
The Jazz went from John Stockton to Deron Williams and now could go to Brandon Knight.
1. Enes Kanter
10 of 10The only question about Enes Kanter is that he has not played an organized basketball in over a year.
Yes he practiced with the Kentucky Wildcats the past season but it is impossible to replicate a real game life atmosphere. Enes without question coming into the season, if he was able to play, would have jumped the Wildcats to one of the top five teams in the nation.
Instead, because he was ruled ineligible, the Wildcats took all year and needed Josh Harrelson to come around to become one of the best teams in the nation and make it to the Final Four.
Enes is the most NBA ready player maybe in the whole draft, but definitely the best SEC player going into the draft.
