NBA Draft 2019: Profiling the top 5 picks from this year's draft
The NBA draft is one of the biggest events in the NBA and is the first major event that kicks off any new season. The 2019 NBA draft will be held on June 20th, 2019 and at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the home of the Brooklyn Nets. Each team has 1 pick in the first round of the draft and 1 pick in the second round of the draft. The odds this season have been changed as follows:
- The team with the worst record will receive no lower than the 5th pick as compared to getting no lower than the 4th pick in previous years.
- The teams with the 3 worst regular season records have a 14% of landing the top pick, while earlier, the worst team had 25%, the second worst had 19.9% and the third worst team had 15.6%.
These changes are implemented from the 2019 NBA draft which is next season, the first change since 2004; where Charlotte were added into the lottery. With the lottery taking place on May 14th in Chicago, teams will find out what pick they have received. As of right now, The New York Knicks, The Phoenix Suns and the Cleveland Cavaliers are the teams with the 3 worst records in the NBA and have a 14% chance at the first pick. Let us look at the top 5 picks from this year's NBA draft.
#5 Jarrett Culver: (Texas Tech) - Atlanta Hawks:
Jarrett Culver is turning heads in the college basketball scene this year as he is playing some really great basketball. The 6-foot 6-inch guard from Texas Tech weighs 195 pounds and plays the shooting guard position. He has risen up the boards with his performances this season.
Strengths:
- Culver has averaged 18.5 points, 6.3 rebounds. 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals in his sophomore year.
- Culver has the traits of being a professional scorer with his length and versatility and has a long frame that can help defensively too. He is one of those guards that can rebound the ball well.
- He is still growing and could end up as a 6 feet 8 inches or 6 feet 10 inches player that drastically alters his potential or even his position in the NBA.
Weaknesses:
- His downside is that while he is a good defender, his judgment on defense makes him somewhat of a liability.
- Along with his frail frame, he is unable to take on players stronger than him that just push him aside. His dribbling has improved on the whole but it suffers when he tries to push through traffic.
- His shot selection is somewhat poor as he forces too many shots if he is unable to find an open man.
Final Conclusion:
His pros definitely outweigh his cons and if the draft goes as it is supposed to and the Hawks get Culver as the 5th pick, they might have gotten the potential steal of the draft.