Bailey touches the ball; Bailey shoots the ball. In 18 of his 30 games at Rutgers, he recorded one or fewer assists, including 10 games with zero assists. Bailey’s shot attempt-to-pass ratio simply won’t fly in the NBA. Coaches won’t tolerate it and teammates will hate playing with him.
It’s not just the complete disregard for involving his teammates that should concern teams, Bailey’s not efficient from the field or free-throw line (46-34.6-69.2 shooting splits). Moreover, he’s not a great ball-handler and averaged more turnovers (two) than assists (1.3) per game in his only collegiate season.
Bailey is the kind of player who gets a general manager fired. The team that selects him better have a good plan for him and a great player development program.
The developmental risk| Duke center Khaman Maluach
In the past 10 NBA drafts, 21 centers were selected in the top 10 of the draft, which is where Maluach is projected to go. Of those 21, only three — Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis and Victor Wembanyama — have made an All-Star Game. And at least 10 — Jahlil Okafor, Willie Cauley-Stein, Frank Kaminski, Thon Maker, Zach Collins, Marvin Bagley III, Jaxson Hayes, Mo Bamba, James Wiseman and Jalen Smith — are underwhelming or outright busts.
So, based on the sample size above, Maluach — who is about as raw a prospect as you will find (he began playing the sport at 13) — has about a 14 percent chance to be an All-Star and roughly a 50 percent chance of being disappointing. We’ve seen that you can find great centers at any point in the draft — heck, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic was selected with the 41st pick in the 2014 draft by the Denver Nuggets — so why even take the risk?
Obviously, the sins of past centers shouldn’t necessarily make teams totally overlook the 7-foot-2, 250-pound Maluach, but the team that selects him had better have good guard play and a patient head coach or else he could spend the next few seasons as a fringe rotation player.
Major flaws in their game | Maryland center Derik Queen and Michigan center Danny Wolf
Have you been watching the NBA Finals? Have you seen any players who aren’t competent defenders get any playing time? Maybe Indiana’s Thomas Bryant? His inconsistent defense has limited him to only 31 minutes the whole series, mostly during garbage time.
Queen (6-foot-10 and 246 pounds) and Wolf (7-foot, 250 pounds) have a little more offensive potential than Bryant, but both have a long way to go from a conditioning standpoint to be ready to compete on defense in the NBA playoffs.
Both of these big men received green room invites for draft night, so that suggests they have the chance at going in the top 10. That makes everything we just discussed about the risk associated with selecting centers in the top 10 potentially applicable.
Queen and Wolf are the inverse of Maluach, however. Both are extremely gifted with the ball in their hands. Queen has the skill set and feel to develop into an offensive hub a la Alperen Sengun (Houston Rockets) or Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings). And Wolf plays like a slower, AAU version of Jokic with all of his flare and step-back threes out of the pick-and-roll.
The NBA graveyard is littered with slow-footed big men who couldn’t move well enough on defense to earn their coach’s trust. Let’s hope these two avoid that fate by learning the importance of dieting, conditioning and training.
