Detroit Pistons: Steal or bust? 5 controversial 2021 NBA Draft prospects

Detroit Pistons: NBA Draft prospect, Cameron Thomas

Cameron Thomas is another guy who used a strong NCAA Tournament to get some national attention and potentially help his draft status.

He had two huge games in the tournament and finished the season averaging 23 points per game for LSU, albeit on some inefficient shooting numbers.

Thomas is projected to go anywhere from the middle first round all the way to the early second, though he is another guy I could see some team reaching for just outside the lottery.

Teams will likely have concerns about his inefficient shooting numbers and the fact that he didn’t hit a high percentage of 3-point shots.

But he shot a lot of them (7.2 per game) and was the primary focus of the other team’s defense as a freshman. He still scored 23 a game, which is nothing to ignore in college and shot 88 percent from the free-throw line, another sign that the shot is there.

I wrote that Thomas may be a guy worth trading up to get and if he is still there in the late first round the Pistons should consider it, as he is going to get points in the NBA, especially if he is used as an instant offense scorer off the bench.

A lottery pick would be a big reach for Thomas in my opinion, but if he falls to the end of the first round or even into the second, he’d be a nice get.

Verdict: Steal