2023 Big Board 2.0
Our February Update to the Top 100 Big Board
With only a few games left before conference tournaments start in NCAA Basketball, it is time to update the Big Board!
I will update this board every month until the 2023 NBA Draft. This being the February edition, love is in the air and heartbreak tag along as some prospects climb the rankings and others fall or get kicked off the board completely. While the top of the board changes very little, the Race for the Third Overall Pick has narrowed to fewer prospects. Also, from 21 on down, there are new faces and much more shifting of prospects.
I always like to break my big board into Tiers based on potential, and before we dive into the rankings, let me take a minute to explain the tiers this year. Normally, I will start with Tier 1, but since Victor and Scoot are such rare prospects I am breaking out the Platinum-Diamond Tier because these are players you do not pass nor make deals to trade away their rights. Take them, do all you can to ensure their health, and watch them create a Hall of Fame resume. After the Platinum-Diamond, Tier 1 is The Race for the Third Overall Pick this year—for all the reasons I just mentioned. If you haven’t seen games of any player in this Tier, go look them up right now!
Tier 2 is players that have a defined skillset that gives them clear starter potential with a glimpse or two that perhaps they can be more than a solid starter. Tier 3 is players that have AT LEAST one clearly defined skill that projects them to be a reliable a part of an NBA rotation. And lastly, Tier 4 are the Undrafted Free Agents that NBA teams should be calling right away if their names are not chosen among the 60 picks of the 2023 NBA Draft.
Along the way, I will highlight one or two players in each tier. Every time I update my big board, I will highlight one or two different players so we can try and get as much coverage on these players as possible. So now, without further adieu, let’s jump back into the top 100!
Platinum Diamond Tier: Put them in the Hall of Fame Already
1) Victor Wembanyama, C/PF Metropolitans 92
2) Scoot Henderson, PG/SG G League Ignite
Scoot Henderson’s skills as a point guard are rare to say the least. Foregoing his senior year in high school, the six-foot two-inch tall 195 pound Scoot joined the NBA’s G League Ignite squad in the 2021-22 season at just 17 years old. While most kids his age were getting ready for prom and graduation, Scoot was putting up per game stats of: 14.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.5 steals. He also posted 88 assists to just 47 turnovers and shot 48.6% on pull-up jumpers inside the arc (36 of 74 in 21 games; he was also 3/6 on his pull-up threes), and his ability to get to the rim and finish posting 64.0% (48 of 74 on shots within 5 feet of the basket).
Fast forward to this season and we see Scoot produce per game stats of: 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 1.4 steals. His overall field goal percentage as well as his three point percentage have both gone up at 47.9% for the overall and 38.1% from three. It is clear Scoot can run an professional offense already while being a primary scorer…and he has been doing it for two years as a 17 and 18 year old! Defensively he will have work to do and his shot selection can be questioned at times, but there are very few prospects who have Scoot’s combination of explosiveness, IQ, and upside.
Tier 1: The Race for the Third Overall Pick
3) Ausar Thompson, SF/PF Overtime Elite
4) Cam Whitmore, SF/PF Villanova
5) Brandon Miller, PF/SF Alabama
6) Jarace Walker, PF/C Houston
7) Amen Thompson, PG/SG Overtime Elite
8) Keyonte George, SG/PG Baylor
9) Nick Smith Jr, SG/PG Arkansas
Jarace Walker continues to climb up boards as this process wears on. As a Detroit Pistons fan you KNOW I love defense and Jarace Walker plays like he was meant to be a Bad Boy or is always Goin’ To Work. At six-foot eight-inches tall and every bit of 240 pounds, Jarace Walker defends every position in college and has a budding offensive game that gets better the more he has touched the ball.
Defensively is where Jarace Walker excels. With the lateral athleticism to guard point guards and wings as well as the strength and length to wall up centers and power forwards, I believe Jarace Walker is the best defender in this draft (after Victor Wembanyama of course!). His defensive skillset is what NBA teams covet as he can slot into a few different spots on the floor. He may not be quick enough to stay with NBA-level point guards, but that means he is still a FOUR position defender—which you can say about very few basketball players in the world.
In his first 11 games, Jarace Walker scored just 9.4 points per game on 8.1 field goal attempts per game and recorded double digits in scoring in just four games. In his past 16 games, however, Walker has scored 12.6 points per game on 10.1 field goal attempts per game and recorded double digits in scoring in 8 of these 16 games. And his three-point percentage dipped only slightly to 36.5% in these 16 games as his attempts have gone up.
If you put these offensive numbers against many of his peers, however, it shows that Jarace Walker is currently lacking on offense. Walker is not someone who readily creates his own shot, nor does Houston ask him to do much creating for others. While he has remained efficient and has a HIGH floor as a role player with the offensive skills he does possess, many a scout question if Walker has any shot creation ability for himself that would warrant top 10 consideration.
I will find it hard not to write 1000 words on Jarace Walker every time I do these Big Board updates as he is someone I buy into 100%. He did average 4.0 assists per game as a senior at IMG Academy—which is something he got better and better at in high school as his 364 assists attest to in his four year high school career. Houston does not ask or allow him to bust out these passing chops, but Jarace still flashes them so add this passing to the defense and the budding offensive game and it is easy to see a VERY impactful NBA Player on both sides of the ball.
Tier 2: Starter Potential, Maybe More…
10) Jalen Hood-Schifino, PG/SG Indiana
11) Anthony Black, PG/SG Arkansas
12) Cason Wallace, PG/SG Kentucky
13) Taylor Hendricks, SF/PF UCF
14) Kris Murray, PF/SF Iowa
15) Gradey Dick, SG/SF Kansas
16) Dariq Whitehead, SG/SF Duke
17) GG Jackson, PF/C South Carolina
18) Jett Howard, SF/SG Michigan
19) Rayan Rupert, SF/SG New Zealand Breakers
20) Jordan Walsh, SF/PF Arkansas
One of the first major adjustments to my big board this year is GG Jackson. On the Big Board 1.0 Jackson was in The Race for the Third Overall Pick checking in at number 6. So why the tumble to number 17 after just one month?
Well for starters look at GG’s production against non-conference teams versus against his own conference-mates in the SEC. In the 13 game non-conference schedule to start the year, GG put up per game stats of: 17.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks on shooting splits of 44.7% from two, 37.3% from three, and 65.2% from the free throw line. In the 12 games that have followed against the SEC, GG’s per game stats are: 14.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks with shooting splits of 38.2% from two, 30.6% from three, and 64.4% from the free throw line. The SEC is known for having some of the best athletes in college sports and it is clear GG has struggled much more when the level of athleticism and competition went up.
Next, is the unfortunate outbursts he had in two games and a post game rant on Instagram live. This started on February 4, 2023 in an Instagram Live post after a loss to Arkansas where GG complained to the world that the coaches did not play him in crunch time and were not drawing up plays for him to close out games like the one they just lost. Then, after a loss to Vanderbilt on Valentine’s Day, David Cloninger of The Post and Courier reported that,
Jackson engaged in what’s become a troubling pastime — publicly displaying a churlish attitude, standing well apart from his teammates during the huddle and removing his wrist tape.
While Jackson has apologized for all these instances, it will be something teams in the lottery will want to question him and those around him about. Many teams in the lottery will be in the NBA’s equivalent of the situation South Carolina finds themselves in at the bottom of the pecking order. If your ONE lottery pick is going to act like this as the season wears on, then it is not good for the team or their overall development.
I am a BIG believer in GG’s talent and would love to get him onto my team if I were an NBA team. However, I feel strongly that the bet on GG would work much better if I already had strong leadership and a clear plan for GG going in. GG’s dip in production against SEC athletes is something that has made me re-evaluate GG as a multi-year development guy similar to mid first round picks of Drafts past like: Zach LaVine and Aleksej Pokusevski. I use these two as examples because GG has the same profile of these two: THE TALENT IS THERE, but it needs seasoning.
I write all this to say: GG’s final four games and play in the SEC tournament mean a TON to his draft stock right now. I WILL be moving him back up the board quite a bit if he responds to all the negativity that has happened with big games. I also believe in the young man and do not think he is a bad teammate or any of the other negative labels that are getting put on him as a result of the past five games. The silver lining of all of this negativity around GG is the fact that he cares. He is frustrated at losing and not playing when the game matters most.
As the youngest member of this 2023 NBA Draft Class GG has shown a ton of promise and I imagine it must be pull-out-your-hair-frustrating playing for a bottom of the barrel Division I team. If you can’t allow an 18 year-old young man a few moments of frustration, then you need to seriously reevaluate your own self.
Tier 3: Rotational Piece
21) Kobe Bufkin, PG/SG Michigan
22) Colby Jones, PG/SG Xavier
23) Jalen Wilson, PF/SF Kansas
24) Max Lewis, SF/SG Pepperdine
25) Kel’el Ware, C Oregon
26) Brice Sensabaugh, PF/SF Ohio State
27) Oso Ighodaro, PF/C Marquette
28) Julian Phillips, SF/PF Tennessee
29) Tristan Da Silva, SF/SG Colorado
30) Reece Beekman, PG/SG Virginia
31) Tyler Burton, SF/PF Richmond
32) Jaylen Clark, SG/SF UCLA
33) Jaime Jacquez, PF/C UCLA
34) Tucker DeVries, SF/PF Drake
35) Khalif Battle, SG Temple
36) Jordan Hawkins, SG UConn
37) Julian Strawther, SF/SG Gonzaga
38) Trey Alexander, SG/PG Creighton
39) Isaiah Wong, PG/SG Miami
40) Terquavion Smith, SG NC State
41) Seth Lundy, SF/PF Penn State
42) Daron Holmes II, C Dayton
43) Bryce Hopkins, PF/SF Providence
44) Brandin Podziemski, SG/PG Santa Clara
45) Houston Mallette, SG/SF Pepperdine
46) Azuolas Tubelis, PF/C Arizona
47) Noah Clowney, C/PF Alabama
48) Kyle Filipowski, C Duke
49) Leonard Miller, PF/SF G League Ignite
50) Jalen Pickett, PG/SG Penn State
51) Arthur Kaluma, PF/SF Creighton
52) Dereck Lively II, C/PF Duke
53) Nikola Đurišić, SF/PF Mega
54) Dillon Mitchell, PF/SF Texas
55) Sidy Cissoko, SF/SG G League Ignite
56) Marcus Sasser, PG/SG Houston
57) James Nnaji, C Barcelona
58) Tristan Vukčević, C/PF KK Partizan
59) Terrence Shannon, SG/SF Illinois
60) Mojave King, SG/SF G League Ignite
Kobe Bufkin is someone who friend of RezBall Kellen Voss of MaizeNBrew.com has been hyping up for over a year. Listed at six-foot four-inches tall and weighing in at 175 pounds, Bufkin is going to get the combo guard label, but looking at the film and his numbers he has plenty of point guard skills.
He has dished out 80 assists to just 47 turnovers. He is shooting 59/76 which is 77.6% at the rim. And he is the defensive leader of this Michigan team with great point of attack defensive skills. I see him as a very similar prospect to current Boston Celtics defensive ace guard Derrick White—someone every team needs in my opinion. He also profiles as a more consistent shooter with Bufkin shooting 40.8% from three in his last 23 games.
Bufkin is limited as a shot creator and profiles as more of a role player, but as Kellen Voss and I both stated on the most recent episode of Rezball, he IS a clear first rounder because he profiles as a high-level role player.
Providence’s Bryce Hopkins was someone I was on the fence on all season in terms of being an NBA Draft prospect, but the more I see of him the more I am impressed. Hopkins number one trait that sticks out to me is his physicality. The greatest evidence for this is in the fact that Hopkins leads Providence in rebounding and free throws at six-foot six-inches tall and 220 pounds. Posting a defensive rebounding percentage of 22.7% and a Free Throw Attempt Rate of 49.6% shows just how often Hopkins throws his body around game in and game out.
What Hopkins emphatically is NOT is a plus athlete. He is more ground bound with the occasional dunk or block. On defense is where this shows itself more as Hopkins plays the power forward position for Providence and is unable to leap and block shots against taller players or big time athletes. Some may also see him stuck between positions at his size, but I think that is more a case-by-case situation.
His main skill on offense is attacking closeouts—which he does a fantastic job of in my opinion—and his handle is basic so he is not a flashy prospect. If you are looking for more than a functional role player, then Hopkins is not for you.
Hopkins’ physicality along with his versatility flags him as someone, for me, you take a chance on in the second round. Along with his great rebounding and ability to get to the line, Hopkins also has dished out 65 assists and shot 39.4% from three. He has some many different role player skills that he is tough to ignore in round 2.
Tier 4: Get Them on the Phone!: Undrafted Free Agents
61) Andre Jackson, PG/SF UConn
62) Branden Carlson, C Utah
63) Trayce Jackson-Davis, C Indiana
64) Santiago Vescovi, SG/PG Tennessee
65) Jaelen House, PG/SG New Mexico
66) Drew Peterson, SG/SF USC
67) Baylor Scheierman, SG/SF Creighton
68) Adam Flagler, PG/SG Baylor
69) AJ Hoggard, PG/SG Michigan State
70) Tyrese Proctor, PG/SG Duke
71) Coleman Hawkins, PF/SF Illinois
72) Mike Miles, PG TCU
73) Adem Bona, C UCLA
74) Caleb McConnell, SF/SG Rutgers
75) Nate Laszewski, PF/C Notre Dame
76) Spencer Jones, PF/SF Stanford
77) Malik Hall, SF/PF Michigan State
78) Jarod Lucas, SG/PG Nevada
79) JJ Starling, SG/PG Notre Dame
80) Oscar Tshiebwe, C Kentucky
81) Pete Nance, PF/C North Carolina
82) Antonio Reeves, SG Kentucky
83) Ricky Council IV, SG/SF Arkansas
84) Judah Mintz, SG Syracuse
85) Antoine Davis, PG/SG Detroit Mercy
86) Oumar Ballo, C Arizona
87) Adama Sanogo, C/PF UConn
88) Caleb Love, SG/PG North Carolina
89) Efe Abogidi, C/PF G League Ignite
90) Hunter Dickinson, C Michigan
91) Armando Bacot, C North Carolina
92) Drew Timme, C Gonzaga
93) Mousa Cisse, C Oklahoma State
94) Tyler Robertson, PG/SF Portland
95) LJ Cryer, PG/SG Baylor
96) Darin Green, SG Florida State
97) Kevin McCullar, PG/SG Kansas
98) Kamaka Hepa, PF/SF Hawaii
99) JT Shumate, SF/SG Toledo
100)Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu, PF/C Memphis
Santiago Vescovi is an incredibly underrated shooter and defender out of the University of Tennessee. While you may look at his 36.1% from three this season and think it is just okay, there are many things you need to take into context to realize just how impressive this is. First, Vescovi is shooting this percentage on a high volume of attempts at 7.3 per game. Second, Vescovi is the ONLY shooter on Tennessee’s roster who is shooting over 33.7% from deep. And lastly, Vescovi is a career 37.9% shooter from downtown as a four year starter at Tennessee. He is as LEGIT of a shooter as they come.
AT 6’3” tall and weighing in at 188 pounds, teams will question his size and position. He does not have point guard numbers in the assist column with three straight years of under 20% in assist percentage. While I believe this was mainly due to playing with more high profile point guards in all four years in Knoxville, whether or not Vescovi can run the point in the NBA is one of the biggest questions he will have to answer in the predraft process.
I also think Vescovi is an underrated defender and has a background and profile that will help him to become a solid Vet in the NBA. The argument for Vescovi was laid out nicely by fellow Uruguayan, Ignacio Risotto in our breakdown of the International Draft Class of this 2023 Draft cycle.
Kamaka Hepa is an immediate mismatch with his size and shooting ability. At six-foot nine-inches tall and clocking in at 220 pounds Hepa has NBA size. Couple this with his 38.4% from three on 5.4 attempts per game and he also has a clear NBA skillset. He is also posting career highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks while helping lead the University of Hawaii to a 20-8 record and a push for the top spot in the Big West conference.
Age and defense are going to be the biggest factors working against Hepa in terms of his NBA potential. Hepa is a fifth year senior and is currently 23 years old so evaluators that devalue older prospects will count this against him. Defensively is the bigger issue, however. While he is Hawaii’s biggest frontcourt player, he is more perimeter-based and is below average as a shot blocker. This is evidenced not only in his 0.9 blocks per game, but on film where he does not always challenge the opposition at the rim like he should.
Why I will continue to have Kamaka Hepa on my board is because I do believe his perimeter skills at 6’9” 220 pounds could provide immediate mismatch in a rotation. With a similar build and skillset to current Dallas Mavericks power forward Davis Bertans, Kamaka Hepa could make a living providing constant spacing to any and all NBA teams that employ him.
Thank you so much for taking your time to read the Big Board 2.0! We are excited for March Madness and will be dropping the Big Board 3.0 in between conference tournaments and the big dance. Until then, we hope whatever team you route for provides you with plenty of thrills and smiles.