Today’s writing contribution will come from Hoopville, with a special edition of the Morning Dish looking back at the NBA Draft last night.
Back on Monday with more thoughts. Here’s an excerpt from Hoopville:
“The first 11 players selected on Thursday night were either freshmen in college this past season or an international player. We finally had someone more experienced when Luke Kennard – a sophomore – went to Detroit with the 12th pick, then Donovan Mitchell right behind him. In all, a record 16 players who had completed just their freshman year of college were drafted in the first round on Thursday night. Add in seven sophomores, plus Terrance Ferguson, who would have been a college freshman this year but chose to play overseas instead, and the NBA Draft being about potential was very much reinforced on Thursday night.
On the other end of the scale, only two seniors were selected in the first round, and the were the last two picks. Colorado guard Derrick White went to San Antonio, then Villanova guard Josh Hart went to Utah. With Hart being selected, the Villanova team that won the 2016 national championship ends up having a future NBA first round draft pick after all, something that seemed like a long shot.”