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It's funny that every year at the NBA Draft, once the end of the guaranteed money and live appearances arrives at the end of the first round, everybody tunes out and refers to the 60th pick as "Mr.Irrelevant". That's not very accurate though, is it? Speaking historically, the title of "Mr.Irrelevant" could just as easily be applied to each pick in the draft, as organizations differ greatly in their evaluation of talent and their own needs, particularly in a year without the NCAA tournament. The nickname just doesn't reflect how basketball works anymore. Executives strategically stockpile second-round draft picks for the less burdensome financial obligations, and organizations in down years get super creative to field a team on a budget. With the right situation, the right under-the-radar player can be an immediate breakout. A virtually unknown four-year graduate from a mid-major program could find himself with volume minutes in the Knicks lineup on Day One (We've seen them do it).
The last few seasons alone have seen scores of second-rounders and UDFAs who wasted no time in making a name for themselves, with Eric Paschall (All-Rookie First Team), Kendrick Nunn (All-Rookie First Team), and Terence Davis (All-Rookie Second Team) serving as the most recent of shining examples.
We are going to discuss a handful of 2020 second-round picks and undrafted free agent signees who, given their individual skill set and circumstances, should be on the radar of Fantasy Basketball managers heading into the season, starting today with the second-round picks.
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Vernon Carey Jr. (C, CHA, 32nd Overall)
The Hornets have plenty of reasons to feel better about their chances for the 2020-2021 campaign. They inked Gordon Hayward, they landed LaMelo Ball in the draft, and they saw encouraging performances last season from young assets like PJ Washington, Devonte' Graham, Miles Bridges, Malik Monk, and the brother pairing of Cody and Caleb Martin. Their returning cast includes incumbent centers Cody Zeller and Bismack Biyombo, yet they still opted to pick Carey out of Duke and then spent a later pick on Kentucky center Nick Richards.
Despite this, out of the crowd, Carey is by far the most complete package, and that will save James Borrego a lot of time when crafting the rotation. Carey has a huge frame at 6'10, 270-pounds, and even though he played just 24.9 minutes per game in his lone season as a Blue Devil, he demonstrated his full arsenal in that time with 17.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 0.7 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game. That translates to 28.6 points, 14.1 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, and 1.1 steals over forty minutes, and what's even more attention-grabbing: Carey converted on eight of 21 three-point attempts over 31 games for a 38.1% success rate.
That's the rebounding and defensive intimidation that Zeller lacks, the scoring ability and overall finesse that Biyombo lacks, and is just a little bit better than Richards across the board except for FT and 2-PT FG percentage. Compared to other Hornets' acquisitions, Vernon Carey won't be grabbing headlines in winter months (remember how far he dropped from early mock drafts?), but he is definitely someone to watch for a fast transition to the pros, with possible contributions in points, rebounds, blocks, and threes from the frontcourt slots.
Theo Maledon (G, OKC, 34th Overall)
Originally selected by Philadelphia then traded to OKC, Theo Maledon is a 19-year-old, 6'5 point guard from France. Now...I'll be the first to admit, I am typically very skeptical of most out of the many European teenagers that get drafted every year. For every Luka Doncic, there are hundreds of Georgios Papagiannis. It blows me away every year on draft day how many GMs choose to pass on a 20-year-old who has been a star at the highest level of college basketball in favor of a 17-year-old from France, Lithuania, or Serbia who barely have any statistics to speak of from the elite levels of their country. However, Maledon immediately strikes me differently.
In his three years with Lyon-Villeurbanne (LNB Pro A) and ASVEL (EuroCup/LNB Pro A/EuroLeague), he racked up a Pro A title, French Cup title, LNB All-Star honors in 2018, a 2019 "Pro A Best Young Player" distinction, and the 2019 French Cup Finals MVP hardware. He has also spent time with the French Junior and Senior National teams. In all, playing 15.9 minutes a contest over 104 games at one of Europe's most challenging platforms spanning three years, Maledon averaged 6.4 points, 2.1 assists, and 1.9 rebounds per game with a free-throw rate of 82.2% and a career three-point percentage of 34.6%, though it has been as low as 29.4% and as high as 40.6% for a full year.
Over 36 minutes, those numbers average out to 14.6 points, 1.2 steals, 4.8 assists, and 4.2 boards. Maledon landed on a Thunder squad that has undergone some major changes, and as it currently stands, the only obstacle in Maledon's path to coming in at backup-point guard is veteran George Hill, and the only people potentially blocking him from the starting lineup are Hamidou Diallo and Luguentz Dort. Those are hurdles that Maledon could conquer quickly en route to becoming a significant contributor alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, especially if he has more showings like his preseason debut 20-point, five-rebound, two-assist, two of four three-point shooting arrival that he had in 29 minutes against San Antonio.
Tyler Bey (F, DAL, 36th Overall)
It was a bit surprising that Tyler Bey, the 6'7, 218-pound forward from Colorado dropped to #36, as it seemed probable that the pre-draft momentum he had gathered would carry him safely into the mid to late-20s. But alas, he fell to the 76ers (yet again) who traded him (yet again) to Dallas, and fortunately for Bey and those who believe in his skillset, it seems like an ideal setting for the 2019 Pac-12 Most Improved Player and 2020 Pac-12 Defensive POY. As Bey's time at Colorado went on over three years and he steadily received more playing time (19.7 to 29 minutes per game), there's almost no aspect of his game that didn't improve in an impactful way.
As a sophomore playing 26.3 minutes per night, he put up 13.6 points, 1.2 blocks, 0.8 steals, and 9.9 rebounds a game, while making only five of 22 attempted three-pointers (22.7%). As a junior playing 29 minutes an evening, Bey did see his rebounding average drop to 9.0, his FT rate drop by 3.9%, and his FG rate drop by 1.1%; however, he increased his scoring average to 13.8 a game, maintained 1.2 blocks, nearly doubled his steal frequency at 1.5, and tremendously improved from long-range by hitting 13 of 31 (41.9%). Now, as we all know, between Luka, Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Richardson, and Kristaps Porzingis, a certain amount of production for the Mavs is already accounted for; plus Jalen Brunson, Trey Burke, and fellow rookie guards Josh Green and Tyrell Terry will be contending for their share of the action.
However, Bey is a much more well-rounded player at this moment than Green at least, and when it comes to the forward slots occupied by Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith, James Johnson, and Wes Iwundu (especially with Porzingis missing the start of the season), those spots can be taken. Nothing will earn you immediate NBA playing time like the ability to rebound much bigger than your height and play versatile, disruptive defense. Now that he is putting the shot together, he's less of a liability on offense, and if he seizes the opportunity, he could be a quick contributor in rebounds, steals, and blocks.
Tre Jones (G, SA, 41st Overall)
If you're a part of most college basketball fan bases, you weren't over the moon to see yet another set of Duke basketball brothers in the NBA at the same time (Miles/Mason/Marshall actually grew on me), and while Tyus Jones has finally settled into an ideal environment in Memphis behind Ja Morant, Tre Jones got drafted to about the best place a basketball player could ask for to develop as a pro (imagine going straight from Coach K to Gregg Popovich). With the current Spurs backcourt, Jones is really only behind the likes of Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, and Patty Mills for playing time at guard (likely just two of the three specifically at point guard) coming into his rookie campaign, and while other young-guns Lonnie Walker IV and Keldon Johnson will have something to say about that, the 2019-2020 ACC DPOY and POY should be on everyone's late-December/January radar.
Tre is two inches taller than his brother Tyus, which is always good news in the NBA. As a freshman at Duke, Tre was far from a threat on offense, even over 34.2 minutes per game, averaging just 9.4 points with a .758/.414 FT/FG slash, and converting just 27 of 103 shots from deep (26.2%). Even with those ugly numbers, he still dished out 5.3 assists on average and grabbed 1.9 steals per game on the way to ACC All-Defense honors. This past season, we saw a brand new version of Tre Jones that looked confident and super competent when looking to score, improving his stat line to 16.2 points, 1.8 steals, 6.4 assists, and 4.2 rebounds in 35.4 minutes per game.
While he did commit more turnovers in that time (2.7 a game), he also improved his field goal percentage (42.3%), free throw percentage (77.1%), and was a different man beyond the three-point line, hitting 39 out of 108 tries (36.1%). Jones is no stranger to Hall of Fame coaching or sharing the floor with NBA talent (Marques Bolden, Cam Reddish, R.J. Barrett, and Zion Williamson were all with him in 2018-2019). The trio of Murray/White/Mills has a sturdy veteran presence and the trust of Gregg Popovich, while the duo of Walker/Johnson has shown very recent flashes of serious talent. Having said that, Jones offers a very potent combo of floor general abilities and swarming perimeter defense, with a couple of extra inches and a fast-improving jump shoot to sweeten the deal. With the state of San Antonio's depth chart, Jones could pitch in meaningfully, sooner rather than later, in the form of voluminous steals and assists.
Jordan Nwora (F, MIL, 45th Overall)
Milwaukee tried trading quantity (and still very high quality) for very high quality in shipping George Hill, Eric Bledsoe, and a trio of first-round picks for Jrue Holiday, then shoring up the gaps by signing Bobby Portis, Torrey Craig, Bryn Forbes, and D.J. Augustin. The Bucks are returning Pat Connaughton (who penned a new three-year deal), Donte Divincenzo, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and the newly max-deal-minted Greek Freak, looking for vengeance after the early playoff exit in the bubble, courtesy of the Heat. So, with that stacked starting lineup and familiar supporting cast, does Jordan Nwora have any chance of pitching in through 2021?I like his odds, because Jordan Nwora is really, really good at scoring, in ways that the Bucks will soon find out their returning resident substitutions are not.
Of the players that occupied the bench on the Bucks depth chart for 2019-2020 or are newly acquired, most probably for the role of reinforcements, they either lack Nwora's size (6'7, 225-pounds), his shooting touch, or his ability to score in high volume, or at least two of those three traits. College standards or not, over his final two seasons at Louisville under Chris Mack (between Mack and Mick Cronin, Cincinnati-based college coaches really pull off the "Toby Flenderson" look), Nwora averaged 17.0 and 18.0 points with 7.6 and 7.7 rebounds over 31.9 and 33.1 minutes per game.
Over his three-year career as a Cardinal, he shot 78.5% from the FT-line, 44.5% from the field, and 39.4% from deep, hitting 76 of 189 (40.2%) in his final go-round. He'll obviously be a scoring option long, long, long behind Giannis, Middleton, Holiday, and Lopez. But with an NBA-ready frame and 6'10.5 wingspan leading the charge towards rebounding and scoring of every kind at the top level, and having already produced ten points, four boards, an assist, a steal, and one of two shooting from distance in 16 minutes of preseason play, I strongly believe that Nwora will waste no time in proving that he's going to be a problem for opposing defenders, and Milwaukee should take notice when he sets himself apart from the assembled crowd.
Cassius Stanley (G, IND, 54th Overall)
I'm not sure what you thought, but I was downright flabbergasted when Cassius Stanley dropped so deep into the second round that the Pacers were able to snag him with their only pick of the evening. Cassius Stanley, despite the ups and downs of his single season at Duke, was touted as a very talented prospect and projected to go anywhere from late-lottery to late-first round. Then, he falls to a Pacers organization that is phenomenal at compiling microwave scorers and proverbial pieces of the puzzle, whatever that niche style may be (thinking all the way back to Lance Stephenson's break-out year). Indiana already has a very complete starting-five in Malcolm Brogdon, Victor Oladipo, T.J. Warren, Domantas Sabonis, and Myles Turner, and an interesting reinforcements staff, highlighted by scorers (Jeremy Lamb and Doug McDermott), and guard-skill players (Justin Holiday, Aaron Holiday, T.J. McConnell).
Fortunately, Stanley clearly falls into the scorer category, and he offers something just a little bit different from McDermott and Lamb, the latter of whom will likely be out with a knee injury until mid-January. Even though Stanley ended the college basketball season on the ACC All-Freshman team, his statistical line doesn't really jump off the page: in 27.4 minutes per game, he averaged 12.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 0.7 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game; while shooting 73.3% on free throws, 47.4% from the field, and 36% from long-range (31 threes out of 86 tries on the year). Here's something about Stanley that does jump off the page: he's a 6'6 guard with a 6'7 wingspan, who just so happens to have a freakish vertical leap of 46.5 inches. For reference, that's 2.5 more inches than David Thompson's and 1.5 more than Zion Williamson's.
That kind of extraterrestrial athleticism can make a lot of plays happen for you when your shot isn't stroking as sweet on any given day, and you always have the option to create your own shot from wherever you choose on the court. As evidenced by his college shooting percentages, he is probably a better pure shooter than Jeremy Lamb, and he might have more physical ability than twice that of McDermott and perhaps 1.5x Lamb, which is saying something considering the plays he's capable of. In 22 minutes across the Pacers' first two preseason games against the Cavs, Stanley already has ten points off two of five three-point shooting, three rebounds, and two assists. He has a great chance of seizing the window of opportunity opened by Pacer injuries from the offset and nudging his way into the microwave scoring rotation. If so, Cassius Stanley could contribute in scoring categories of all sorts with a pinch of rebounding that you might not get from other pure scorers.
Paul Reed (F, PHI, 58th Overall)
Full disclosure: obviously, anything involving a team like the Sixers, Bucks, Nets, or Heat, is subject to change in a substantial way if James Harden is able to finesse a trade to one of those teams. In some players' case, Harden making a move to their city would be good news (as long as the rookie isn't a guard who likes to handle the ball and score a lot) because it would probably make the depth chart a little less thick. In Paul Reed's case as a Philadelphia 76er, acquiring Harden would probably be good news, as it would likely mean the departure of Ben Simmons, so that'd be one less 6'9 or 6'10 guy to take up PT. Let's just say that the roster stays the same. That's not a problem, because Paul Reed (from DePaul, which is unicorn-level rare) has the type of skillset that necessitates game action regardless of which stars are on the team because in viewing the current frontcourt depth chart for Philly that features Terrance Ferguson, Mike Scott, Justin Anderson, Tony Bradley, and Matisse Thybulle, there are plenty of gaps that Reed could fill from out of the starting gate.
Reed is a 6'9, 220-pound forward with a gargantuan 7'2 wingspan, and who improved by leaps and bounds across the majority of statistical categories in his three years at DePaul, earning recognition as the 2018-2019 Big East Most Improved Player and a Second-Team All-Big East distinction in 2020. Reed went from cleanup man to doing it all and finally to doing it all with numbers that force one to stop and take notice. In his final season playing college basketball, in playing 31.7 minutes per contest, Reed boosted his line to 15.1 points (up 2.8), 10.7 rebounds (up 2.2), 1.9 steals (up 0.8), and 2.6 blocks (up 1.1) per game.
His shooting did take a hit across the board, posting a 73.8% rate from the free-throw line (down 3.2%), 51.6% shooting from the field (down 4.6%), and only connecting on 16 of 52 three-pointers on the year (30.8%) after being dialed in from deep as a sophomore to the tune of 15 of 37 (40.5%). The shooting success will likely come along gradually, as a large uptick in shots you are asked to take for your team tends to include a learning curve of how to maintain a rhythm over so many more shots of varying quality. Even so, Paul Reed's wingspan enables him to engulf rebounds at a pace that few 6'9 forwards can, and his defense on players both big and small should go rewarded on a squad that saw Matisse Thybulle emerge last season for the same reason. With the lack of imposing frontcourt depth in Philly, Paul Reed has a great chance of having his number called early in the season, and when that happens, he's a solid candidate to contribute in rebounds, steals, and blocks.
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