NBA Draft 2019: 5 Biggest reaches of the draft
The 2019 NBA draft was held in at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. There are a total of 60 players that the teams can choose The picks were decided on 14th May 2019 in the Draft Lottery at Chicago during the post season, with the New Orleans Pelicans landing the top draft pick.
The 2019 NBA draft was one of the best drafts in recent memory. After initially being labelled as a weak draft, which was top heavy, a lot of players were touted to be great and NBA ready role players, looking to take the next step to stardom. There are a huge number of trades that took place as teams looked to draft exactly the player they wanted.
Without waiting for the season to decide for us, let's take a look at the 5 biggest players that can be considered as the ones who went up the most compared to their mock draft positions and how they ended up going higher than expected.
#5 Jordan Poole (Michigan): drafted #28 by the Golden State Warriors:
Jordan Poole was projected to be a late 2nd round pick or to go undrafted in the 2019 NBA draft but was a surprise pick at #28 for the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors seem to have made a shrewd selection as he is a NBA ready guard according to his pre-draft reports.
Standing in at 6 feet 4 in with a wingspan of 6 foot 7 inches, Poole has the potential to become one of the premier defenders in the league. He is an impressive ball handler, who can take down almost any defenders with his handles. He is a good shooter from the deep and a smooth shooting stroke.
He averaged 12.8 points, 3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals a game for Michigan this season and shot 37% from the 3. While he is solid passer, he dribbles a lot before passing which is not something good in a point guard.
He is not able to play great defense, misses rotations and cannot navigate his way through screens. His poor fundamentals on defense need to be worked on if the Warriors want to develop him into one of the premier guards in the NBA.