NBA Draft 2019: 3 players with boom or bust potential

These guys could be absolute steals or dreaded mistakes.

Jarrett Culver, a sophomore basketball player from Texas Tech, attends the NBA Draft media availability, Wednesday, June 19, 2019, in New York.   -  AP

Part of the fun of the NBA Draft is trying to figure out who is going to be good and who isn't.

It's easy say guys like LeBron James or Kevin Durant or Zion Williamson will be good, but what about Kawhi Leonard or Marc Gasol?

Who are those guys who you thought could be good, but a team was still taking a chance on them by taking them?

We're looking at a few of those guys here, the guys who could be All-Stars in three years or who may never make it out of the G-League.



At 7-2 and 235 pounds with athleticism to boot, this one should be easy. Bol Bol has the size to dominate inside and be the odd type of player who can run the court despite being absolutely massive. But here's the issue, for one he is fragile, and two he is incredibly raw.

Coming out of Bishop Miege High School just outside of Kansas City, Kansas, Bol played against competition that simply wasn't up to snuff for him. Private schools play alongside public schools in the state, and at the 4A level, Bol simply didn't see great competition. That's why he transferred to Mater Dei and then to Findlay Prep. He needed to see better competition and he went out and found it.

Read: Are the Nets reconsidering signing Kyrie Irving?

But he didn't play his whole life in tough competition and wasn't truly tested until he got to college when he went to Oregon. And he showed he could play well there averaging 21.0 points and 9.6 rebounds. However, he played just nine games before getting hurt and he showed what a lot of scouts feared in his time there as well. He doesn't want to play inside. He likes to shoot the 3 and doesn't play with the physicality someone of his size would be expected to.

And then if he is to do that can he stand up to the physical nature inside? There are more questions around Bol Bol than answers, but again, he is 7-2, has the potential to dominate inside and can also shoot the 3-pointer. He has a massive skill set, but will it all come together or will he fall apart?


Culver could either be the best player to come out of this draft or one who never gets aggressive enough to succeed. Here's the thing with Culver, where he comes from is both his best asset and his worst. He was a two-star recruit coming out of Lubbock, Texas, but after two years with Texas Tech he was the Big 12 Player of the Year and a Naismith finalist.

Here's the thing though, while he has grown a lot he still has the same issues he had coming out of high school: he's not nearly aggressive enough on the offensive end and often can get overpowered by NBA-bodied guys like De'Andre Hunter of Virginia showed in the National Championship game.

He is still very young and very raw so if a coach sees that and believes he can put on 20 to 30 pounds and maintain the athleticism that makes him as good as he is now he could wind up being absolutely fantastic in the NBA. But if he doesn't get more aggressive and can't put on weight — or if he does and slows down — he could be in for a lot of trouble at the NBA level as a man who should be a stretch-four playing at the size of a smaller small forward.


There is a ton to like about Hachimura. As a guy who didn't start until his last year at Gonzaga, Hachimura took a massive step from Year 2 to Year 3 and showed how he could be a dominant force on the offensive end both featuring post moves and an ability to knock down a shot if you leave him open. He also can run the floor giving teams a lot to dream up with what he could do in a small-ball lineup.

But he really is a four who isn't all that big nor all that athletic. He can struggle defensively at times and may not be quite a good enough shooter to truly be a stretch-four. He could be the type of guy stuck guarding men three inches taller than him who better athletes. That could result in being a mismatch on the floor who can only come off the bench in limited minutes.

But if he continues to develop and adjusts to the NBA 3-point line well he could very well be an absolute steal if he falls down the draft. It depends on which team he ends up with though and he'll need to keep getting better if he wants to be an NBA star.

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