4/7/2017 basketball Edit

Mock Draft Roundup: Latest NBA Projections For Anunoby, Blackmon, Bryant

Stu Jackson • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

Stu Jackson covers Indiana University basketball, football and recruiting for TheHoosier.com. He also hosts Heard on The Hoosier, the site's official podcast.

Get a FREE 30-day trial using promo code IU30

Indiana sophomore forward OG Anunoby, junior guard James Blackmon Jr. and sophomore center Thomas Bryant will likely face decisions about whether to stay in school or turn pro. Here's where their pro prospects stand according to various draft analysts and experts:

OG Anunoby

• DraftExpress (March 25): No. 14 overall prospect in Top 100, projected to be chosen in the first round (No. 15 overall) by the Portland Trail Blazers. The draft outlook marks the highest spot for Anunoby since being projected as the No. 9 overall pick in January prior to his knee injury.

• ESPN's Chad Ford (April 4): Has Anunoby ranked 15th in his Top 100 NBA Draft prospect rankings, projected to be chosen in the first round (No. 15 overall) by the Indiana Pacers.

• NBADraft.net (April 5): Does not include Anunoby among the 60 players expected to be drafted this summer. However, a consensus draft published today and compiled by selections from 206 users expects Anunoby to be taken in the second round (No. 43 overall) by the Miami Heat. However, the reliability is shaky given that we don't know the credentials of all the users.

Analysis: All three experts are very well connected, but I tend to trust the information from DraftExpress and Ford more so than NBADraft.net. Based on that and the projections, it looks like Anunoby still has a solid chance of being a first-round pick despite suffering a season-ending knee injury early in Big Ten play. From what DraftExpress and Ford are projecting, that injury doesn't appear to be a concern for teams at this point in time.

James Blackmon Jr.

• DraftExpress (March 25): Unranked in the Top 100 and expected to go undrafted. The outlet slots him as the No. 26 junior in its Top 60 rankings for that class and the No. 15 Big Ten prospect out of 44 players ranked from the conference.

• ESPN's Chad Ford (April 4): Doesn't include Blackmon in his Top 100 NBA Draft prospect rankings.

• NBADraft.net (April 5): Does not include Blackmon among the 60 players expected to be drafted this summer. Blackmon is also excluded from Smith's Top 100 rankings.

Analysis: There's a clear consensus among experts and analysts that Blackmon won't get drafted. He's reportedly decided to test the NBA Draft waters without signing with an agent, leaving the door open for a possible return to IU, but he also said back in January that he intended to graduate early. Would another year at Indiana benefit him? It's difficult to tell. NBA teams tend to draft younger players - read: freshman - in the first round, hoping their potential peaks with the franchise. However, he's also not expected to get drafted in 2018 if he chose to return to school, so now might be the best time for him to turn pro.

Thomas Bryant

• DraftExpress (March 25): No. 44 overall prospect in Top 100, projected to be chosen in the second round (No. 39 overall) by the Philadelphia 76ers. Expected to be a first round pick at the beginning of the 2016-17 season, the current draft outlook marks the lowest spot for Bryant. It's also 22 spots lower than his highest projection last season of No. 17 overall. DraftExpress' mock history of Bryant suggests the Rochester, New York, native's stock is trending toward a mid to late second-round pick.

• ESPN's Chad Ford (April 4): Has Bryant ranked 57th in his Top 100 NBA Draft prospect rankings. Ford's latest mock draft only covers the first round, but he expects Bryant to be a second round pick or go undrafted according to his rankings.

• NBADraft.net (April 5): Does not include Bryant among the 60 players expected to be drafted this summer. Smith has Bryant 84th in his latest Top 100 rankings, 31 spots lower than his previous position in the rankings.

Analysis: Bryant clearly has work to do to improve his draft stock. He made statistical gains in points and rebounds per game between his freshman and sophomore year, boosting his scoring average by 0.9 points and his rebounding average by 0.8 points. However, playing further away from the basket appeared to hurt his field goal percentage, which regressed from a program-record 68.3 percent as a freshman to 51.9 percent as a sophomore. Only first-round picks get guaranteed contracts, so perhaps a return to school would benefit Bryant given the majority of the projections currently place him as a second-round pick.