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2017 NBA Draft: 1st-Round Order and Prospects Who Could Slide on Draft Day

Published by Bleacher Report on Sat, 27 May 2017


Every year, one or two NBA prospects have the unfortunate distinction of being draft-day sliders.Whether it's team fit, questions about health or character, or just bad luck, a player can find himself a lot further down the board than he anticipated. And the shots of him in the green room are a draft staple.Those who could wind up dropping a few slots on June 22 follow the mock draft below:Dennis SmithYou can never count out a surprise on draft night, but the general consensus is that the top two point guards (and overall picks) are Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball.NC State's Dennis Smith, Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox and 18-year-old Frenchman Frank Ntilikina are in the next tier. Heck, even Kentucky's Malik Monk has been discussed as having the potential to switch to the 1.That means there's an awful lot of competition for the honor of being the third point guard taken. And recently, Smith has gained some momentum, per Stefan Bondy of theNew York Daily News:Smith was originally in the range around the New York Knicks (No. 8) and Dallas Mavericks (No. 9), but the Philadelphia 76ers could be falling for the explosiveness seen in this highlight reel from Basketball Insiders' Tommy Beer:But if Philly goes more with conventional wisdom and takes the best player available (Kansas' Josh Jackson), Smith could slide.The Sacramento Kings (No. 5) could use a point guard, but Fox is pegged there in a lot of mock drafts. The next team linked to taking a 1 is the Knicks. They could go with Ntilikina, who was recently spotted working out in Carmelo Anthony's gym.Then, if the Mavericks decide they're content with Yogi Ferrell and Seth Curry, they could shoot for a Dirk Nowitzki replacement in Lauri Markkanen (DraftExpress' latest mock goes this direction).From that point on, Smith would be a great value for about any team left in the lottery, but falling to the edge or outside the top 10 probably isn't what he had in mind a few months ago.Frank JacksonAfter an impressive NBA Draft Combine, where he registered a 42" vertical leap and looked like one of the best players in Chicago during the five-on-five action, Frank Jackson suffered an unfortunate setback, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical:The injury was a stress reaction suffered during his freshman year at Duke. And though Wojnarowski reported that it caused Jackson no pain as a Blue Devil, foot problems are always concerning for a basketball player.After forcing his way into first-round consideration, Jackson could now be firmly entrenched outside the top 30. That is, unless, some team with a second pick in the 20s trusts that Jackson will be 100 percent by the time training camps open.Lauri MarkkanenFor the first few months of the 2016-17 season, Markkanen looked like a lock to be in the top 10 of the June 22 draft.From November through January, he averaged 16.8 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 50.5 percent from three (on 107 attempts).In February and March, those numbers dropped to 13.8 points and 6.6 rebounds at 43.9 percent from the field and 26.8 percent from three.The running problem throughout the year' His block rate. Markkanen averaged 0.5 swats a game, not an encouraging number for a seven-footer.And if a team isn't certain he can maintain the red-hot shooting he showed in the first three months of his freshman season, his potential to be a defensive liability gets pretty tough to ignore. Andy Bailey covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter@AndrewDBailey.
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