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NBA Draft 2019: 10 players most likely to overachieve their draft position

By Brian Rauf

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 19: Nassir Little #5 of the North Carolina Tar Heels hangs on the rim after dunking against against the St. Francis Red Flash during the first half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on November 19, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 19: Nassir Little #5 of the North Carolina Tar Heels hangs on the rim after dunking against against the St. Francis Red Flash during the first half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on November 19, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 31: RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils celebrates a basket against the Michigan State Spartans during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 31: RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils celebrates a basket against the Michigan State Spartans during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

R.J. Barrett

Barrett entered the season as the consensus top recruit and the heavy favorite to be the top overall selection in the 2019 draft. But then The Zion Show happened and Barrett was relegated to being the secondary star on his own team, something that hurt his draft stock – he is now expected to go No. 3 overall behind Williamson and Ja Morant.

Of course, some of the reasons for his small slide are self-inflicted. He’s a volume scorer with a tendency to force the issue and take bad shots and, at times, settled for highly contested shots as opposed to passing or deferring to a teammate.

Considering one of those Duke teammates will end up being the No. 1 pick and another will be a top 10 pick, those were issues and are valid criticism’s of Barrett’s game.

However, the Canadian improved in these areas as the season went on, though that was largely overshadowed by Zion’s injury. Barrett recorded a triple-double in a win over NC State and dished out 11 assists against Virginia Tech in the NCAA Tournament, all while drastically improving his shooting percentage.

A first team All-American Barrett averaged 22.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game, on 45.4 percent shooting, showing the kind of production that would draw much more praise if he played on a different team. When Williamson was hurt, Barrett upped his game even more, averaging 26.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists on 49.6 percent shooting.

The 6-7, 202-pounder will develop into a legitimate lead option for an NBA team but has been overshadowed by Williamson and Morant, but he’s now become the kind of talent that is rarely available outside of the top selection.

Since it looks like the New York Knicks, owners of the No. 3 pick, may strike out on their free agency plans, Barrett will be the perfect leader of a young core and future superstar for them – or whoever may draft him.

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