Pistons: Biggest sleeper and other predictions about the 2023 NBA Draft
Detroit Pistons: predictions about the 2023 NBA Draft class
Biggest sleeper of the 2023 NBA Draft
Last year I picked Tari Eason as my sleeper and he went on to make the All-Rookie team after being selected 17th by the Rockets. I’m tempted to pick Whitmore here, but he is hardly a sleeper after being ranked in the top-10 for the entire season. I’d also like to be a homer and just take Marcus Sasser of the Pistons, but it’s unclear if he has an immediate path to minutes.
Instead, I’m going to choose Jaime Jaquez Jr., who went to the Miami Heat with the 18th pick. He’s landed on one of the best franchises in the NBA, and reportedly dominated in the NBA Combine, which is why he shot up most draft boards. He’s a big forward with a high basketball IQ, a very good team defender and can get buckets from all over. The Heat will figure out the best way to deploy him and Jaquez has the experience and talent to play right away.
I can definitely see him playing a huge role in next year’s playoffs and looking like a top-10 pick.
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Biggest reach in the 2023 NBA Draft
The easy choice would be Bilal Coulibaly, as I didn’t see anyone predicting he would go as high as 7th and it may be a few seasons before he gets a real chance, as he was one of the draft’s youngest players.
I am instead going with Dereck Lively II, who ended up going 12th to the Mavericks after they surprisingly traded back to get rid of a contract. Lively II was considered a late first rounder for most of the season until strong pre-draft workouts sent him soaring up big boards.
He’s an athletic 7-footer and those guys usually look great in workouts, but will it translate? Dallas is looking for the next Walker Kessler, but Kessler was a double-double machine in college who averaged an eye-popping 4.6 blocks per game. Lively II averaged five points and five rebounds with half as many blocks.
Lively II is going to be tested right away if he plays, as Dallas has a porous perimeter defense. There is a world in which he’s the perfect fit, as he can clean up some of those mistakes at the rim, but there’s another where he is out of position a ton, can’t switch on the perimeter and just gets pick and rolled to death.