Joe Camporeale-USA Today Sports
There is no consensus choice for the No. 1 pick in this June’s NBA Draft. In fact, Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart — who had a chance to be — even announced that he was returning to school next year on Wednesday.
So who gets the edge as we near the end of April? Well it doesn’t particularly matter at the moment. There is a select number of players who will have the chance to hear their names called first, but the NBA lottery hasn’t even occurred yet, so we can’t even glance into particular needs just yet.
Well, Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon did some lobbying for one of his own recently. Of course, he was referring to star forward Alex Len, who is looking like a sure-fired lottery choice. But Turgeon thinks that Len could go at the highest point of that lottery with the No. 1 pick.
“I think he can be the No. 1 pick,” Turgeon said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, according to a report from CSN Washington. “They’re talking about the other guy being No. 1, and you guys saw the same game I saw when we played them earlier in the year. This kid’s going to be special.”
Well, props to Turgeon on supporting Len, it’s simply the attention that he deserves. Len is definitely a top prospect, both at his position and overall in this year’s draft. But the top overall pick? It’s going to take one off-the-chart run during workouts prior to June for him to prove that worth.
Len probably doesn’t have much of a chance to be selected No. 1 overall, but could he hear him name within the top five? Now that’s more realistic.
Follow Paul Seaver on Twitter: @PaulSeaverRS
