A little over a month into the college basketball season, here are five prospects who have worked their way into the NBA draft conversation and might continue to rise as the year moves on.
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Alen Smailagic | 6-10 | Center | Santa Cruz Warriors
Rank: Unranked to No. 62
The Santa Cruz Warriors liked Smailagic so much that they executed a trade on the night of the G League draft to move up six spots, ensuring they were able to secure his rights with the No. 4 pick. Many executives around the G League raised an eyebrow and wondered what compelled Santa Cruz to do so considering that Smailagic had never played at any level higher than the Serbian third division or the under-19 junior league. He had averaged only 5 PPG in his lone appearance in a national team uniform at the FIBA level in the 2016 U16 European Championship.
So far, Smailagic has justified their confidence in a huge way and emerged as a very pleasant surprise after getting off to a slow start. He's the youngest player in the history of the G League, having turned 18 less than four months ago, and he won't turn 19 until well after summer league in August. He's averaging 24 points per 40 minutes on solid efficiency (59 percent true shooting) to go along with 11 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals, which is remarkable considering his lack of experience. He had his best game of the season this weekend against the South Bay Lakers, putting up 25 points on just 10 field goal attempts, plus 12 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks.
Standing 6-foot-10 with a fairly developed but not well-defined frame, Smailagic is one of the more skilled offensive big men you'll find in the league. He has excellent form on his jump shot, handles the ball with excellent body control and displays polished footwork and touch around the basket. He attacks closeouts with pace and force, brings an array of floaters and finishing moves and shows intriguing passing ability, having quite a bit of freedom to make plays from the perimeter in Santa Cruz's offense. He plays with extreme confidence, unafraid to throw his body around against players significantly older and more experienced than he is.
Smailagic's skill level and productivity at his age make it easy to envision him getting drafted next June, though he'll have to show a lot more defensively to make a stronger case for first-round consideration. He plays the game very hunched over, struggling to change directions quickly on the fly and getting burned off the dribble in space far more frequently than you'd like. He plays mostly as a center in the G League but doesn't have ideal length, reach or lateral quickness to avoid getting targeted frequently in one-on-one situations by big men and guards alike when switching on pick-and-rolls. He's also not much of a defensive rebounder. He does show intriguing instincts and timing, getting in the passing lanes and making plays around the rim, and it is fair to wonder how much his youth and inexperience should be held against him considering the incredible jump he has made in level of competition from Serbia to the U.S.
Smailagic will be studied closely next week at the G League Showcase in Las Vegas, as the dearth of international prospects -- and particularly big men -- in the 2019 class makes him an intriguing second-round prospect. The question teams will be asking: How much room does he have left to grow considering his unique trajectory yet relatively pedestrian physical tools?
KZ Okpala | 6-9 | SF/PF | Stanford
Rank: Unranked to No. 20
Okpala is someone we were perhaps a little too early on, projecting him as a first-round pick in the very first iteration of our 2019 mock draft back in September 2017. A late bloomer who shot up from 5-10 as a freshman in high school to 6-9½, Okpala was set back by being ruled academically ineligible for the fall semester by Stanford, which robbed him of the valuable nonconference portion of the schedule that most freshmen need to get their feet wet in college basketball. He's been up and down as a sophomore but showed his NBA potential in a serious way in an impressive 22-point, 8-rebound, 4-assist outing at Kansas, almost helping his team pull off a stunning upset before ultimately falling in overtime.
Okpala is an intriguing fit in the modern game with his terrific size, 7-foot wingspan, excellent frame and versatile skill set. He's seeing most of his minutes as a playmaking power forward who can see over the top of defenses out of pick-and-roll sets for lobs or corner 3s. He can also get to the basket and draw fouls by using long strides, polished footwork and the ability to operate at different speeds. He's very rangy defensively, covering ground nicely on switches and using his length to make plays in the passing lanes or protecting the rim. He's not taking many 3-pointers, but he has hit 10 of 21 attempts on the season, as well as 82 percent of his free throws.
He's still fairly raw in terms of his understanding of the game and overall polish, which is not surprising considering his trajectory, but the flashes he has shown have been extremely impressive when projecting him out long-term despite the inconsistencies from game to game. Okpala is far from a finished product, particularly as a shooter, but there's a huge market for players in his mold in today's NBA, and it wouldn't be surprising if a team fell in love with his upside. The question is whether that will come this year or next, as he's in a very strong development situation at Stanford.
Grant Williams | 6-7 | PF/C | Tennessee
Rank: Unranked to No. 42
After beating out three lottery picks for SEC player of the year as a sophomore last season, Williams was hardly a sleeper, but it's safe to say his NBA prospects were definitely underrated. Williams has taken his game to another level as a junior, posting an impressive 26 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks per 40 minutes thus far for No. 3 Tennessee. He is fresh off one of the most complete games of his college career in a win over then-No. 1 Gonzaga on Sunday.
Standing just 6-7 (at best) with a reported 6-11 wingspan and unspectacular athleticism, Williams needed to round out his game to become a more viable NBA prospect. He has done exactly that this season, improving his rebounding numbers considerably, nearly doubling his assist rate and shooting more than twice as many 3s. After making just 3 of 25 of his attempts from beyond the arc last season, Williams is a more respectable 5-of-11 from deep through seven games (14-of-28 on jumpers overall), and he's knocking down 80 percent of his free throws.
The way Tennessee is moving Williams all over the floor offensively has also been a major boon. Whereas half of his possessions last season came with his back to the basket, that number has dropped to just a third this year, with Williams showing a lot more in terms of passing, ballhandling and one-on-one shot-creating prowess -- things that translate better to the NBA than just overpowering mismatched college opponents in the post.
Williams is still not the most confident outside shooter, often passing up open 3s to execute the Vols' methodical and unselfish offense, but the flashes he has shown in this area are very encouraging. He steps into trail 3s confidently, attacks closeouts to pull up for midrange jumpers on occasion and shows a high release point and great touch that indicate there's plenty of room for optimism. The fact that he's also an elite screener, a tremendous rebounder, an intelligent defender and a reportedly awesome teammate will also work in his favor. He just turned 20 and is younger than all but four of the 17 sophomores -- and all of the juniors -- currently in our top 100.
While his average physical tools might be difficult for some teams to get past, there likely will be executives who find his combination of outstanding basketball IQ, toughness, skill, productivity, age and intangibles appealing come draft time. He has a chance to continue rising with a deep NCAA tournament run.
Charlie Brown | 6-7 | SG/SF | Saint Joe's
Rank: Unranked to No. 51
Brown is making up for lost time after missing all of last season with a wrist injury, averaging a smooth 27 points per 40 minutes on spectacular efficiency (70 percent true shooting). Although it's likely Brown will come down to earth at some point with his 3-point shooting -- he's making 52 percent of his attempts after converting 38 percent as a freshman -- he has proved to be much more than just an outside shooter. Brown has excellent size for a wing at 6-7 with good length and impressive athletic ability. He's fluid and highly coordinated, capable of creating offense from a standstill without a ball screen and appearing to be one of the more talented one-on-one scorers you'll find in college. He handles the ball on a string, uses both hands to dribble and finish, and plays with superb confidence, showing no fear rising up off the bounce from well beyond NBA range. He has elite footwork and touch on his jump shot, as well as the high release point needed to get his shot off almost whenever he pleases at his size. He regularly converts with a hand in his face, sometimes coming off screens and using step-backs, rip-throughs and banks shots skillfully from midrange.
While Brown is an incredibly gifted isolation scorer, he's still figuring out how to round out the rest of his game and become a more complete player. His shot selection and decision-making appear to be works in progress, though it's tough to nitpick the degree of difficulty of his attempts considering how little help he appears to have and the incredible rate at which his shots have dropped thus far this season. NBA scouts will likely want to see him show more playmaking for teammates as the season moves on, especially when opposing teams load up on him like they often have in the nonconference. He has generated just six assists in nine games.
Brown's defense is also a major point of emphasis, as he's pretty nonchalant on that end of the floor, looking upright in his stance and not showing the type of physicality or intensity scouts would like to see. At just 199 pounds, he's very much on the lean side considering he turns 22 in February.
Brown missed a terrific opportunity to reconfirm the tremendous season he's having when he was ruled out of a crosstown rivalry game against defending national champion Villanova this past weekend. Playing in Philadelphia for an Atlantic 10 team that is returning to Brooklyn for its conference tournament, he'll have plenty more opportunities to be evaluated by NBA scouts as the season moves on, and he will get consideration in the first round if he can sustain his scoring.
Miye Oni | 6-6 | SF | Yale
Rank: No. 80 to No. 57
Oni broke onto the NBA radar in the summer of 2017 when he reportedly more than held his own among a talented group of college basketball prospects competing at the Nike Basketball Academy in Los Angeles. His subsequent sophomore season was highly inconsistent, as his usage skyrocketed, his scoring efficiency cratered and his team struggled to a disappointing 16-15 record. It appears Oni is ready to work his way back into NBA conversations now in what has been a pretty intriguing start to his junior season. Oni capitalized on the opportunity to play in front of a hoard of NBA scouts at the Hoophall Invitational in Miami at the beginning of the month by scoring 29 points on 15 shots in a win over an ACC foe in Miami -- Yale's second win over a Power 5 opponent after defeating Cal on a neutral floor in the season opener. Yale traveled to Duke this past weekend and Oni again had some nice moments, with 12 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 turnovers while fouling out in 26 minutes of action.
Oni ticks a lot of boxes scouts like to see from a wing prospect, particularly from a physical standpoint. He's 6-6 with a 6-10 wingspan, a big-shouldered frame that should fill out nicely in time and impressive athletic ability. He's explosive vertically, covers a ton of ground in the open floor with long strides, can change speeds impressively and gets from the 3-point line to the rim with a single dribble. His jump shot is somewhat mechanical, but it's certainly workable, as he's made 129 3-pointers in 64 college games while knocking down 77 percent of his free throws. He shows some potential rising up in midrange spots thanks to his athleticism, but he's inconsistent with his release point off the dribble, sometimes shooting from his chest with too much elbow action.
On the downside, Oni is not a very instinctual basketball player, which isn't all that surprising as a late bloomer. He was labeled a Division III-caliber player out of high school in California, but he decided to do a prep school year in New England, where he eventually landed a scholarship to play in the Ivy League. He's still figuring out how to utilize his athletic tools to his advantage on both ends. He is just an average ball handler who struggles to see the floor in traffic, and he gets very careless with his decision-making. He has terrific tools defensively and will come up with some impressive possessions from time to time, but he doesn't always play up to his potential on that end, particularly losing focus off the ball.
Oni is already 21, but he has made real progress in the past few years, and he has a bit of a following among NBA scouts who are intrigued by his long-term potential. He is the type of prospect a team could take a flyer on in the second round to see if it can help round out the rough edges in his game with a comprehensive player development program and plenty of G League reps. He has some things you can't teach, and that will keep teams interested as long as he continues to make progress with his skill level and productivity.