Last night a John Calipari coached team finally reached its potential as Kentucky overwhelmed Kansas to win the 2012 national championship. Now for a lot of us is when the fun begins. Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis won the tournament Most Outstanding Player, Naismith Player of the Year and Associated Press Player of the Year. Davis will be the first pick in the NBA draft this June, but he’s just one of several NBA lottery picks we saw this weekend during the Final Four and he is most likely the next NBA franchise altering big man.
Davis is super long, super athletic and would already be one of the best defensive big men in the NBA. I remember watching him early in the season against UNC thinking he was going to be an elite defender (seriously, check out this photo from last night’s game) but I wasn’t sure what his offensive game was going to turn in to. I thought the Marcus Camby comparison was apt. After watching him during the SEC and NCAA tournaments, I think Davis is going to be Camby at the worst. We’ve seen Davis hit 18 foot jumpers on more than one occasion and we’ve seen him do it in some big moments. Against Louisville, Davis was posting up on the right block and hit a left handed hook that looked a little funky, but the confidence with which he shot it was the most impressive. He still needs to add a lot of weight and there’s nothing special about his offensive game yet, but Davis is going to be very special. I tweeted that I’d love to see Davis anchoring the Monty Williams’ defense in New Orleans. Not that the Southwest Division needs any more stud big men.
Aside from Davis, Kentucky also has a guy in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist that could be a the second pick in the draft and is at worst a top five pick. Kidd-Gilchrist has every tool except consistent jumper. ESPN’s Chad Ford has him listed as his number two prospect, Draft Express’ Jonathan Givony has him third on his board. The best word I can think to describe Kidd-Gilchrist is aggressive. Everything he does looks like he’s out for blood. I haven’t seen a game where he’s stayed out of foul trouble, but he’s also 19, he’ll learn how to stay aggressive without fouling. He’s a lot of fun to watch play. You’ll love this guy if he’s on your team. There’s also Terrence Jones, who Ford has ranked as his 10th best prospect and Givony has ranked 12th. Jones, a lefty, has the size of a hybrid forward, but the length, athleticism and ability to be a power forward. If you’re thinking this guy sounds a lot like Josh Smith, you’d be right. He can even fall in love with a 20 foot jumper, though we didn’t see too many of those during the tourney.
Kansas isn’t over flowing in lottery talent like Kentucky, but they’ve got another guy who is a lock to be a top five pick in the draft. All that stuff I said about Anthony Davis needing to work on his body? Forget about all that when we’re talking about Thomas Robinson. He has a motor that doesn’t quit. He’s a rebounding machine, he’s super athletic and he can guard multiple positions. The problem is he’s a little short to play power forward and he’ll have trouble scoring in isolation plays. Essentially he needs a good point guard to reach his full potential on offense. If Phoenix can get a top three pick by either luck or through trade, Nash feeding Robinson for a couple years could be very good for them. He’d also be exactly what the Wizards need as they try to move on the from the JaVale McGee/Andray Blatche experiment.
The only other name from Final Four weekend that is a lottery potential is Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, who struggled against Kansas’ length inside, which Chad Ford writes gives scouts who were already down on Sullinger even more ammunition against him. Facts remain that he’s still a rebounding machine, he still has great footwork in the post and he can hit an 18 foot jumper. He’s not a top five pick anymore, but he’ll go somewhere between ten and 15 and be a productive guy for a team.
Stay with Crossover Chronicles between now and June. We’ll be keeping track of workouts, trade rumors and other draft tidbits.
