NBA Draft Analysts Weigh In On Kentucky’s Four Draft Prospects
Kentucky Basketball is onto a new era under head coach Mark Pope. However, four players from last season are still vying to get selected in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham are both projected as top-five picks after performing tremendously as freshmen. Meanwhile, Justin Edwards is projected as a late first-rounder, while Antonio Reeves ranges anywhere from the second round to undrafted.
NBA Draft experts Krysten Peek of Yahoo Sports and Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated each attended the 2024 NBA Draft Combine in Chicago earlier this month. KSR+ talked with both to gauge where UK’s four players stand in NBA Draft circles.
“If this is the last group of the Calipari era, the one-and-done era at Kentucky, these players — particularly Reed and Rob — are going to make Kentucky fans proud,” Peek said. “It’s the end of a chapter, but this is a good group to go out on.”
Reed Sheppard
Reed Sheppard made a huge splash at the NBA Draft Combine earlier this month by showing off his underrated hops. The 6-foot-3 guard posted a 42-inch vertical, the highest among all participants at the Combine.
“A lot of us knew what he could do on the court, but there were a lot of scouts who were surprised by his max vert of 42 inches,” Peek said. “He tied with three other players for the highest max vert. That was great to see.”
Sweeney said that while Sheppard didn’t participate in any of the scrimmage work or five-on-five drills, the athleticism and shooting ability made strong impressions.
“It’s a big deal for him to beat some of the misconceptions about him athletically,” Sweeney said. “It’s amazing to walk past him. He looks like any other person, not necessarily a basketball player at the NBA Combine.”
While Sheppard shot the ball well, Sweeney noted that scouts will likely take more stock in his overall shooting numbers at Kentucky, which were incredibly impressive. Sheppard shot 52.1 percent from three over the course of the season.
“The full season at over 50 percent [from three] is a better indicator of him as a shooter than any one day in an empty gym in Chicago,” Sweeney said.
Meanwhile, Peek called the 2024 NBA Draft “the perfect draft for Reed.” NBA scouts know exactly what they’re getting in the 6-foot-3 guard out of Laurel County.
“That’s a reliable two-way player who is better defensively than people give him credit for,” she said. “That’s going to get him on the floor early. When I say reliable, there’s not a moment when he’s on the court, when he’s asked to do something that he’s not going to do it. If that’s being a facilitator, he knows how to attack off the dribble. If that’s shooting threes in transition, he’s comfortable doing that.”
Rob Dillingham
Rob Dillingham has been battling injury throughout this NBA Draft process. He tweaked a sore ankle and did not participate in any of the combine testing and shooting drills.
“His measurements were a little surprising,” Peek said. “We all know that he’s small and he has been, but at 164 pounds, you don’t realize how small he is until he’s measured.”
The biggest question about Dillingham entering his time at Kentucky was about his ability to create separation. Now that he’s proven that’s not a problem, he’s out to prove that he can be an NBA guard at his size.
“It’s so hard to tell what anybody’s draft range is, especially in this draft,” Peek said. “I’ve seen him as high as three. The lowest he’d go is probably 10 or 11. That sweet spot of the five to eight range would be my guess as to where he’s going to go. It only takes one team.”
Sweeney said it wasn’t an “overly revelatory week” for Dillingham at the NBA Combine. The interviews with teams probably mean more than the on-court or physical items.
“Do his natural gifts on the ball outweigh the fact that he is very much on the small side for a primary ball handler in the NBA? If he can’t be a primary ball handler, then what is he? Is he Immanuel Quickley? Is he a guy of that elk? Bones Hyland? Those are the names you hear,” Sweeney said.
However, Dillingham has shown he can prove people wrong. In a draft that’s considered weaker toward the top, perhaps he could slide into the top five.
“If you have a top-five pick, maybe top-10, but certainly top-five, you probably want more than what those guys as archetypes have been in the NBA,” Sweeney said. “Dillingham has obviously shown, in the film, how dynamic he can be and why he can be an outlier.”
Justin Edwards
Justin Edwards entered the 2023-24 season as the top draft prospect at Kentucky. However, after a hot and cold season, he’s now looking to stake his spot in the first round of the draft.
One way he helped his draft stock was by playing in both of the NBA Combine scrimmages. He played well in both.
“It’s not only the first day when he played well, but he didn’t shut it down and he played the second day,” Peek said. “He was just as good. When you’re looking at the back half of the first round with his length and the fact that he was able to do much better in the NBA spacing against guys who are fighting for their chance to be drafted, he really performed well. He could be the Peyton Watson of this draft who sneaks into the first round.”
Sweeney agreed that Edwards helped himself with his NBA Combine performance. Although the numbers weren’t crazy, he felt that Edwards “made a significant impact on the game.”
“I wouldn’t say he helped his stock, but I’d say he stabilized his stock,” Sweeney said. “Everyone was skeptical coming in, given the season he had at Kentucky and the struggles, how he would look in this setting. I thought he looked good. He made some jumpers, his motor was good, and his body looked alright.”
Edwards’ draft stock has ranged from the top 20 to outside of the top 40. Sweeney believes his combine performance raised his floor.
“I would certainly draft him and give him a guaranteed contract and see what he develops into,” he said. “He has a lot to work on, but this week was a good reminder of the pedigree there.”
Antonio Reeves
Antonio Reeves was perhaps Kentucky’s best player during the 2023-24 season. However, at 23 years old, he’s older than his counterparts, thus limiting his ceiling. Still, many expect him to be drafted.
“I think he’s trending towards being a draft pick,” Sweeney said. “His scoring gifts are pretty impressive. At some point, guys who are wired to score like that and score in every setting, tend to make it in the league.”
In an NBA Draft combine setting where many players are strictly looking out for themselves, a player like Reeves can sometimes disappear. Peek saw that just that happen.
“That’s not to say he didn’t perform well, I just think there were other guys, especially on his team, that popped a little better,” she said.
Peek noted that individual workouts could be very significant for a player like Reeves. His combine performance wasn’t an end all, be all.
“I don’t think it was one of those crushing things where he didn’t play well,” she said. “It was just where there were other players who popped a little bit more.”
Sweeney doesn’t believe Reeves will be getting a guaranteed contract in the mid-second round (30s to 40s). Still, he will have the chance to compete at the next level.
“Reeves is obviously a dynamite shooter, but showed some more stuff off the bounce and in his playmaking,” Sweeney said. “It’s the stuff he’s going to need to have in the bag to compete at the next level. If I was in an NBA organization, he’d be a high-priority two-way.”
The post NBA Draft Analysts Weigh In On Kentucky’s Four Draft Prospects appeared first on On3.
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