Taylor Hendricks: Lottery Pick Potential of University of Central Florida Freshman
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The path to being a college basketball one-and-done was not nearly as clear for Taylor Hendricks as most. While Hendricks was a top 100 prospect, being consensus ranked in the bottom half of that does not usually lead to just one year of college basketball before turning pro.
It also appeared that the school of choice, Central Florida, would not put him on that path either. Hendricks was just one of two players in the top 70 not to attend a power five school, alongside Collin Chandler (No. 37, BYU).
At the end of the day, those rankings and playing for a mid major did not matter, as Hendricks put together a sensational freshman season that had him sky rocketing up draft boards. He chose Central Florida so he would be able to play with his brother (Tyler) at the college level.
Not only is the Fort Lauderdale, FL native now a guaranteed one-and-done, he is also a likely lottery pick. The real question around Hendricks NBA Draft stock is just how high he can go.
The 6-foot-9 forward has a game that is prototypical for what the modern NBA is looking for in its combo forwards.
He has a nice shooting touch, 78% from the free throw line, and is able to knock down shots from beyond the arc, 39% on 4.5 attempts per game.
He knocked down two or more triples in 19 of his 34 games this season and had a stretch of games in February where he did it for eight straight contests.
Hendricks takes that 3-point shooting ability and combines with incredible defensive playmaking that will have NBA scouts excited about his 3-and-D potential.
The Calvary Christian High School alum averaged 1.74 blocks per game, and did so without getting in foul trouble, along with just under one steal.
The 19-year-old also makes an impact on the boards on both ends of the court, just under seven per game, but especially offensively with 2.4 per game.
The Cerebro Sports metrics love him as well, coming in with an overall C-RAM score of 10.3 and four of the five individual metrics over 70.
Alabama wing Brandon Miller was the only other freshman in the country to post 70+ in those four metrics which excluded floor general skills (FGS).
All of this combines for an incredibly high floor that makes it easy to see why Hendricks will get strong consideration for the middle to back half of the lottery.
Creeping into the top five seems like it would be hard for Hendricks at this point, especially considering he offers very little off the dribble and with creation, but a range of six to ten seems very reasonable.
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