Top 10 prospects

Here’s a look at the top 10 players ranked by their accomplishments to this point and potential for a bright future.

1. Ben Simmons, F, LSU: The 76ers on Wednesday said Simmong will be their man. He is capable of notching a triple-double every time he steps on the floor, and he has the potential and length to be a standout defender.

2. Brandon Ingram, F, Duke: The best pure scorer in the field, Ingram meshes a knockdown perimeter game with a seemingly effortless mid-range touch. He wasn’t quite as efficient finishing around the rim and through contact during his one year at Duke – per Hoop-Math.com, roughly a quarter of his attempts in the halfcourt were around the bucket, one of the squad’s lowest rates – but that should improve at the next level.

3. Kris Dunn, G, Providence: You can talk about the turnovers (20.9 percent turnover rate), you can talk about the inconsistencies in his jump shot (37.2 percent from deep in Big East play, but each time he rose into the air, the ball always seemed sure to dent the backboard more so than ripple the net), but Dunn’s in-game speed shiftiness and vision are unique.

4. Jamal Murray, G, Kentucky: There were few Division I players in 2016 who could get as hot as the 6-foot-4 Murray. Much of his offense was assisted – per Hoop-Math.com, nearly 90 percent of his overall three-point attempts came via a pass – and his lack of explosive speed and athleticism to separate himself could be an issue at the next level, but no player was better spotting up coming off a curl or a screen than Murray (1.22 points per play).

5. Dragan Bender, F, International: An uber-athletic stretch four who, in the uncertainty of this draft (outside of Simmons and Ingram, it is all very murky), might be the surest thing.

6. Marquese Chriss, F, Washington: Chriss has been the fastest riser on the draft board, and while the deficiencies are puzzling (he rarely crashed the defensive glass, and he connected on just 31.4 percent of his threes in Pac-12 play), the 6-9 Chriss is near automatic offense around the rim. Nearly 40 percent of his shots, according to Hoop-Math.com, were within a few feet of the bucket, and he made 65 percent. He can finish high above and through the thicket.

7. Jaylen Brown, G, California: The 6-7 guard’s shooting touch may be a ways off, but thanks to how referees are whistling the NBA game nowadays, Brown, who drew a whopping seven fouls per 40 minutes at Cal, should be able to use his aggressiveness to live at the free throw line.

8. Buddy Hield, G, Oklahoma: There has been so much said about Hield, a 6-4 marksman of a shooter. At the moment, it seems the negatives focus on his struggles to create for himself and how long it took him to reach the level we saw in 2016 (seriously?). It shouldn’t matter – he’s got range for days, and became a much better finisher at the rim in his senior season (58 percent around the basket, up from 50 percent as a junior).

9. Jakob Poeltl, C, Utah: A decade ago, Poeltl, a 7-footer with an array of post moves, would be a top-five pick. But while the NBA has changed, there should still be a high demand for the big, who significantly tightened his handle as a sophomore (possession rate of 26 percent, which led the team, while only giving the ball away on 14 percent of his possessions, per Ken Pomeroy).

10. Skal Labissiere, F, Kentucky: The potential is there, but it wasn’t apparent until March, when Labissiere began to find his niche outside of the post and in the mid-range. Coupled with his defensive potential – 11.5 percent block rate while using a little more than a third of Kentucky’s minutes – and he could blossom in the right system.

– The Washington Post