I spent the week at the Maui Invitational with a horde of NBA scouts watching Syracuse, Baylor, Gonzaga, Cal, Arkansas and Minnesota. I also watched a number of games on television and talked to a huge contingent of NBA scouts who were at tournaments all over the country: the NIT Season Tip-Off, the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Old Spice Classic, the Las Vegas Invitational and the Wooden Legacy tournament.
Here's a look at which NBA prospects helped or hurt their draft stock:
THE BIG 5
Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle and Marcus Smart finally fell back to earth last week after red-hot starts.
• Parker had his first subpar game for Duke on Friday against Arizona. He went 7-for-21 from the field, with five turnovers in a loss. While Parker has been the most consistent of the elite freshmen, scouts are watching closely to see how he handles more athletic defenders. The only time he's struggled this season has been when Wiggins, Aaron Gordon, Brandon Ashley and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson were guarding him. All four of those players are elite NBA prospects with length. If Parker has a weakness (and he doesn't have many), this might be it.
• Wiggins raised the most eyebrows after a series of three straight mediocre performances for Kansas at the Battle 4 Atlantis. To be fair, Wiggins was battling a bug all week, but that didn't totally explain his lackluster showing. Scouts are scratching their heads a bit at his sudden reticence on offense. He was 3-for-8 in a loss against Villanova on Friday, and 2-for-9 in a win against UTEP on Saturday. Those aren't exactly lights-out performances.
Then again, several scouts pointed out that at times he showed excellent defense (and almost won the game against Villanova with two big defensive plays at the end). The scouts said they don't expect Wiggins to be a dominant offensive presence every night; he has an all-around game that doesn't always require that, and Kansas has plenty of other options. But for those looking for reasons to doubt Wiggins, he gave his haters some ammunition. If Wiggins wants to be the No. 1 pick in a field as loaded as this, he's going to have to show some of Parker's alpha-dog tendencies.
• Randle's streak of seven straight double-doubles ended against Providence on Sunday. The Kentucky forward still had eight rebounds, so that's not a big drop. But he shot a combined 7-for-20 against Cleveland State and Providence -- unusually poor numbers for a player who makes a living around the basket.
• The narrative that Oklahoma State's Smart has fixed all of his shooting woes after dropping 39 points and shooting 5-for-10 from 3-point range Nov. 19 against Memphis has taken a hit. Since then, Smart has continued to score, but his 3-point shot found its mark only against Purdue. He was a combined 2-for-15 from 3 against South Florida, Butler and in a rematch against Memphis on Sunday, and had two costly turnovers late in the game. Smart has a lot of momentum right now, and has moved back into the discussion for the No. 1 pick, but scouts will be watching those shooting numbers (as well as his turnovers) closely all season.
• As for Dante Exum: He's playing high school ball in Australia, well below the radar of NBA scouts. And given the week the other guys had, he's probably thankful for that.
STOCK: HOT
Joel Embiid, C, Kansas Jayhawks Top 100 Rank: 6 If Embiid's breakout game Nov. 19 against Iona was the eye-opener for NBA scouts, then it was his game against Villanova on Friday that legitimized the discussion of Embiid as a potential No. 1 pick. With Wiggins and the rest of the KU team struggling, it was Embiid (and freshman backup point guard Frank Mason) who kept Kansas in the game. Embiid was a force on both ends of the floor and showed off his unique size and athletic abilities. It's clear his basketball IQ isn't quite there yet, and he's going to have to work to stay out of foul trouble. But he has all of the building blocks of a successful NBA big man, and we are seeing it much earlier in the season than we expected.
Zach LaVine, G, UCLA Bruins Top 100 rank: 12
This is an incredible freshman class. We currently have nine freshmen ranked in the top 14, and 11 in the first round. We have three more sitting on the first-round bubble. All of them draw praise from scouts, but outside the group at the top -- Wiggins, Randle, Parker, Embiid, Gordon -- no one is a hotter name right now than LaVine.
LaVine was a late bloomer in high school, and didn't shoot up the rankings until his senior year, when he grew a few extra inches. His progression has continued, and now he's dominating at UCLA. LaVine is an explosive, 6-foot-5 combo guard who is both an incredible athlete and a polished scorer. He's averaging 14 PPG, shooting 64 percent from the field, 57 percent from 3-point range, and he's sporting a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. And he's doing all of this coming off the bench for UCLA for 25 minutes per night.
NBA scouts love big, athletic point guards, and LaVine appears to have all of the qualities a scout could look for. He has weaknesses, though: He needs to add strength, and he still can focus too much on scoring instead of distributing the ball (especially when he's playing at the 2, which is where he's seeing most of his minutes this season). Still, given his age, those are minor complaints.
UCLA sophomores Jordan Adams and Kyle Anderson are also drawing early raves as potential first-rounders, but it has been LaVine who scouts claim should be in the lottery discussion right now. When a few scouts call him "Russell Westbrook with a jump shot," you have to start paying attention.
Jerami Grant, F, Syracuse Orangemen Top 100 rank: 16 Scouts have been high on Grant all summer, and after a slowish start to the season, he had his breakout game in Maui, scoring 19 points, grabbing eight rebounds and making one of the most athletic plays of the year in an amazing putback dunk. Grant followed with another 19-point performance against Baylor in the championship game, and proved to be explosive enough to score over the top of Baylor's long, athletic front line. Grant is showing the ability to hit the mid-range jumper and to get to the basket. If he can show a 3-point shot, too, he will get serious looks from teams in the top 10. He's one of the best athletes in the draft, and has the motor that could make him special someday.
And speaking of Grant, scouts haven't forgotten about his brother, Jerian Grant, at Notre Dame. While Jerami might be the sexier prospect because of his size (6-8, 210 pounds) and age (19), Jerian Grant was brought up by multiple scouts the past few days. He's averaging nearly 20 PPG, is shooting 48 percent from 3-point range and has a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio this season. Jerian Grant (6-5, 203) looks well on his way toward hearing his name called in the first round as well, especially if there are teams looking for a big and athletic point guard.
Willie Cauley-Stein, C, Kentucky Wildcats Top 100 rank: 17 Scouts were down early on Cauley-Stein after a so-so start to the season offensively (he didn't crack double digits in scoring in his first four games). However, he's come on strong lately for Kentucky. In his past four games, he's averaged 13.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and just over five blocks per game. He's still pretty far from being a dominant player offensively, but if he can maintain those sorts of numbers all season, he's going to be back in the conversation as a lottery pick.
Ron Baker, G, Wichita State Shockers Top 100 rank: 37 Baker might be this year's biggest draft sleeper. His play as a freshman during Wichita State's Sweet 16 run last season turned heads (he handled Louisville's press about as well as a freshman could), but it's been his performance early this season for the Shockers that has many NBA scouts believing he could be a first-round pick in 2014.
Baker is a terrific shooter, but he's shown this season he's a more versatile scorer than scouting reports have suggested. He's also playing some backup point this season, which is a good thing, as most scouts believe he'll have to be a point guard in the NBA given his relative lack of size (6-3) and length. Thus far, he has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.7-to-1. He'll never be a lockdown defender because of his lack of elite athletic ability, but Baker's skills and high basketball IQ could easily land him in the first round. Think of the Indiana Pacers' George Hill for a comparison.
Chad Ford @chadfordinsider6m
