Best Draft Prospects: Point Guards

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Jun 18, 2012

Best Draft Prospects: Point Guards

Damian Lillard

(Note: Most heights and weights are from the combine, with fractions rounded up. For the complete list of official measurements, click here .) Lillard is atop a very short list of quality point guards in this draft (only a few are projected to be surefire first-round picks) and could find his way into the top 10 as a result. The score-first point guard averaged 24.5 points (second in the nation) for the Big Sky Conference's Weber State last season, when he shot 46.7 percent from the field, 40.9 percent from three-point range and 88.7 percent from the free-throw line. He can penetrate, his athleticism is underrated and he's shown good playmaking skills.

Kendall Marshall

General managers who saw the impact of Ricky Rubio in his rookie season with the Timberwolves might be tempted to ignore Marshall's lack of athleticism or consistent shot and select him (perhaps in the top half of the first round) because of his passing prowess. He ranked second in the country in assists per game (9.7) and led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.51 to 1).

Tony Wroten

He has the speed, athleticism, aggressive scorer's mentality, passing skills and physicality to be a top talent. But Wroten also struggles with his shot and ability to play under control. Wroten, who averaged 16 points (on 44.3 percent shooting overall and 16.1 percent from three-point range), 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.9 steals, could go anywhere from the lottery to the late first round.

Marquis Teague

With the way the NBA is being ruled by the Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook types, point guards who can't defend are being exposed more than ever. Teague has the ability to slow speedy point guards while applying pressure himself. While his regular-season numbers weren't spectacular (10 points on 41.2 percent shooting, 4.8 assists and 2.7 turnovers), he produced better when it counted most (13.3 points on 45.9 percent shooting, 4.8 assists and 2.5 turnovers in six NCAA tournament games). He could be a quality pick late in the first round.

Tyshawn Taylor

Taylor nearly doubled his scoring from his junior (9.3 points) to senior (16.6) senior seasons while making nearly as many three-pointers as a senior (58) as he did in his first three seasons combined (62). He's dangerous in the open court and as a penetrator in half-court sets because of his quickness, athleticism and leaping ability -- some of those same strengths make him a capable defender -- but he'll need to become a better decision maker to run an NBA team. Taylor averaged 4.8 assists and 3.5 turnovers last season, for an underwhelming assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.35 to 1. He's viewed as being on the fringe of the first round.

Scott Machado

The speedy Machado improved across the board as a senior, raising his averages to career bests of 13.6 points, an NCAA-leading 9.9 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 49.5 percent shooting from the field, 40.4 percent from three-point range and 81.1 percent from the free-throw line. Before last season, Machado shot 41 percent or worse from the floor in his first three seasons. He's a likely second-round pick.

J'Covan Brown

He has the size of a point guard but is much more of a scorer than a pure playmaker. Brown led the Big 12 with 20.1 points a game but shot only 41.7 percent from the field last season, his first as a full-time starter.

Tu Holloway

Holloway lacks size and he never shot better than 43 percent from the field or 35 percent from three-point range in his four college seasons. But he's quick and can get to the basket, the keys to his averaging 17.5 points as a senior and getting to the free-throw line more than seven times per game.

Jordan Taylor

A subpar senior season didn't help Taylor, whose scoring declined from 18.1 points to 14.8, field-goal shooting from 43.3 percent to 40.2 and three-point shooting from 42.9 percent to 36.9. But he's a solid defender, he takes care of the ball and he knows how to run a team. Whether that's good enough to get drafted remains to be seen.

Casper Ware

What Ware lacks in size he makes up for in feistiness, speed and deep shooting range. Ware was named Big West Player of the Year the last two seasons and the conference's Defensive Player of the Year as a junior. He had eight three-pointers and 33 points in the Big West tournament championship game to lift Long Beach State into the Big Dance.