NBA Draft 2022: Which first round draft picks recieved the best grades?
16. Atlanta Hawks: Adrian Griffin Jr. – Wing – Duke
Grade: A-
The Hawks were rumored to have been looking to move up or out of the 16th spot, but when a perceived lottery pick fell into their lap, they wisely snatched him up. Griffin Jr. was viewed as a potential top-ten pick at the beginning and end of the cycle, but I think he may have had more fans online than in the NBA. After finding his groove in conference play, Griffin Jr. excelled as a shooter, knocking down 44% of his attempts from deep. The rest of his game (playmaking and self-creation) came and went, but he showed moments of the player that dominated the U16 World Cup a few years back. The defense was flat-out bad, but a lost year of game reps could have hurt him in that regard. He has the frame to guard fours with his strength and wingspan.
Griffin should be able to space the floor right away and the Hawks have a bevy of wings so there won’t be too much pressure on him. He was the best player available and as long as his body holds up, he should be able to return value.
17. Houston Rockets: Tari Eason – Forward – LSU
Grade: A
Eason somehow grew on me as the draft happened and I realized “oh he’d actually make a lot of sense here”. A big slasher that should guard well across the front-court, the Rockets added two plus defenders (the other one being Jabari Smith), which is good considering Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green are lacking on that end of the court. Smith is the best shooting forward in the class, and Eason is a great antithesis as a slasher. A Smith-Eason-Sengun pairing is funky, but I think it could yield some high-end results, especially with Green on the ball.
I don’t totally buy Eason’s shot, but it may not be a huge deal with the pieces around him. This is around where I had Eason on my board, the fit is good, so I like the pick.
18. Chicago Bulls: Dalen Terry – Wing – Arizona
Grade: C
The Bulls were rumored to have been shopping this pick and Coby White for a veteran but ultimately used it to select the swiss-army-knife Dalen Terry. My gut reaction was I didn’t love the pick as it seemed a bit early for Terry (although he was picking up major steam in the pre-draft process) and didn’t have him super-high on my board. But with Eason off the board here, I’m not sure exactly what the best option was. The best players on my board were Blake Wesley and Malaki Branham but the Bulls didn’t need to take a project in the backcourt (Wesley) and Branham’s current skill set directly overlaps with the Bulls’ current stars, Zach Lavine Demar Derozan.
Terry should be a good connecting piece. He’s a willing ball-mover with plus passing skills for his size. He should theoretically guard a few positions, giving the Bulls a multitude of good perimeter defenders. I am concerned with the shooting as Terry routinely passed up open looks and doesn’t have the smoothest shot. I’m worried without shooting that defenses won’t give him the attention he needs to create.
Ultimately though, Terry fills a role as a connecting piece with potential to be more. He should be able to help the Bulls from day one as they try to win on the margins. If they were going the connector route, I would have preferred Jake Laravia here.
19. Memphis Grizzlies (via Minnesota Timberwolves): Jake Laravia – Forward – Wake Forest
Grade: B
Another player that grew on both me and NBA teams in the pre-draft process, Laravia’s high basketball IQ clearly won teams over. I had a late first-round grade on him so it was a bit of a reach on my board, but I don’t think he would have fallen much further. With Tyus Jones entering unrestricted free agency, I had backup point guard as their biggest need but it was probably too early to take Andrew Nembhard or Kennedy Chandler. So, drafting a cerebral player that can make a good team better is never a bad option.
Laravia does a bunch of ancillary things well at his size. He’s a good cutter, passer, and compensates for not being the best athlete with elite instincts on that end. He uses his strength to cut off driving and lanes and is typically in the right spot in the help. I wish he took more threes to make me feel better about him as a shooter. However, I’m not concerned about him hitting open shots. Laravia is just a flat-out good basketball player and will maybe be someone we talk about impacting a playoff series in a few months.
20. San Antonio Spurs: Malaki Branham – Wing – Ohio State
Grade: A
A late-lottery grade for me, Branham slipped a little bit and the Spurs widely scooped him up. I didn’t feel like they had a specific need to fill after drafting Jeremy Sochan.
The Spurs have a collection of interesting young wing talent, but Branham might be the best pure-scorer of the bunch. He excelled at getting to his spot and knocking down shots in the mid-range, is a good finisher at the rim, and projects to shoot it well from deep.
Ideally, you’d like to see the defense and ancillary skills improve, but those are improvable skills. The Spurs got better while taking a player with upside that I had at 13 on my board, so hard to fault them here. Branham is maybe the only true “score-first” wing though so he should complement two-way guys Dejounte Murray, Keldon Johnson, and Devin Vassell. A strong value pick.