Mark WiedmerAt first glance, tonight's 2017 NBA draft class would appear less than overwhelming, at least as it pertains to these one-and-dones winning the big prize.
After all, the only one-and-doner to play in the NCAA title game who's expected to go in the opening round is Gonzaga reserve Zach Collins, whose Zags fell to North Carolina. Not a single other player listed among NBA.com's expected lottery picks (first 14 selected) so much as reached the Final Four.
So unlike 2012 - when NCAA champ Kentucky had both the overall No. 1 pick (Anthony Davis) and No. 2 pick (Michael Kidd Gilchrist) - or 2015, when national champ Duke had Jahlil Okafor (3), Justise Winslow (10) and Tyus Jones (24), however good this crop of one-year wonders is, it hasn't shown much championship mettle to date.
Yet to watch all these NBA teams falling all over themselves trading away veteran stars in order to secure more draft picks, you'd think this class was filled with cloned versions of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James.
Is it smart? Who knows? The one-and-doners in this class were viewed as an exceptional group coming in and their individual numbers mostly mirrored that through their one year of college basketball purgatory before declaring for the draft.
But the guy everyone expects to go No. 1 to Philadelphia thanks to Boston trading down to No. 3 - former University of Washington guard Markelle Fultz - played on a Huskies team that finished 9-22. On that fact alone, one has to wonder about either his greatness or his intelligence in choosing Washington for his one year of college.
Then there's the point guard most believe will go No. 2 to the LA Lakers - Lonzo Ball. The kid's really good and pro teams tend to not care much about what an out-of-control mom or dad says or does. Still, LaVar Ball is on his own planet when it comes to stage parents. Does Magic - now that he's in the Lakers' front office - really want the headache of LaVar when everyone but LaVar realizes his son isn't the second coming of Magic?
The Lakers are expected to take Ball anyway, partly because no one since Jason Kidd more than 20 years ago has come close to passing the ball in the open court like the UCLA product.
That said, from this vantage point, the player with the biggest on-court upside may be former Kansas wing Josh Jackson, who should be the closest thing out there to current San Antonio superstar Kawhi Leonard. He's long, deceptively strong, a freakish athlete on the order of Leonard and possessing both the desire and skills to guard every position on the floor save a center.
Yet even then, Jackson had more than one off-court issue at KU, which could rightly give any NBA general manager pause to consider whether Jackson's more Michael Beasley than Michael Jordan in the character department.
Then there's the former Kentucky backcourt duo of De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk. According to an ESPN study, Fox is faster end-to-end than Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving, and Monk can effortlessly swish jumpers from 30 feet. If you could combine the best traits of the two, you'd easily have the No. 1 pick.
But Fox hit less than 25 percent from the 3-point line during his coffee break with the Cats and Monk's next great defensive performance will be his first.
Still, Fox - though two inches shorter - seems a much more complete player than Ball, having outscored him 39-10 in an NCAA tourney game, and Monk is the only potential lottery pick in the draft whose shooting range approaches that of Golden State's Stephen Curry.
Throw in former Duke star Jayson Tatum - he may be the most polished player of the bunch - and it would be tough to go terribly wrong among the first seven or eight picks if sticking to the Fultz-Ball-Jackson-Fox-Monk-Tatum six pack.
Add 6-foot-10 Florida State product Jonathan Isaac and there's a lot of perceived can't-miss talent at the top.
Still, all this 11th-hour jostling for cap room and draft picks - remember when Atlanta native Dwight Howard, just traded to Charlotte for the decidedly underwhelming duo of Miles Plumlee and Marco Belinelli, was one of the hottest commodities in the league? - makes one wonder if there's too much focus on the foggy future rather than the precious present.
In their infinite insanity, the 76ers have wasted the last six years building for the future. The Lakers are supposedly already scheming and scamming to land King James a year from now. The Clippers just brought in the all-time Laker Jerry West _ who has a statue of himself in Lakers, not Clippers, gear in front of the Staples Center - to possibly steer James to them.
And you can't blame them in a way. The Warriors went to two straight Finals, losing the second after winning a record 73 regular season games, then brought in Kevin Durant to regain the title earlier this month. Now everyone else worth a darn figures if they can land James they can challenge the Warriors. Especially if the Clippers can also keep Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
But at this point, in tonight's draft class, the only player who looks like a sure bet to one day become an important piece to a championship team is Jackson. And that's only if he can grow up off the court.
Of course, that may also be why we're seeing all this scheming and scamming for a possible run at LeBron, since unlike the expected lottery picks in this draft, King James long ago proved he could win championships.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com