Todays NBA is a wing driven league, so it will come as a shock to most people that I do not have a wing currently in my top 5. The best wing in this class so far is the Minnesota Native Kendall Brown from Baylor. The 19-year-old is 6’8 205 lbs. and a +3” wingspan with per 40 minute averages of 22-6-3 2.5 stocks on 74/50/73 shooting or an absurd .747TS%.
Kendall is a defense first wing who is getting some crazy comps. The Matrix, Meta, AK47, The Klaw. While these are probably a bit too strong of takes, I do want to point out some highlights from him.
Related: 2022 NBA Draft Prospect Rankings
First off let’s acknowledge how good of a cutter he is.
And just because his areal dunks and Afro make him look like a baby Dr J.
But now for what we came for. This. This right here is where the lofty comparisons come from.
Now these are lofty goal and are high end outcomes for this archetype, and let us be honest for a second, Brown isn’t going to likely be Dr J he might not even be Shawn Marion. The odds that any prospect becomes Josh Jackson are higher than they will become Kawhi Leonard. That doesn’t mean we don’t look at how he could fit into a team.
Right now I’m looking at him being a 5th-11th pick. According to tankathon.com that’s OKC, San Antonio, Sacramento, Indiana, Portland, NY or Dallas. He’s a perfect fit for all of those teams.
On offense you are looking at someone who can attack off a close out and even has the vision to kick it out to open shooters in those situations, he’s a willing and insanely skilled cutter, and someone who should make a decent amount of open 3s in the league.
On defense you are getting a point of attack defender who can switch. That is what every team covets. We are looking at someone who could be used to shut down an individual or pick apart an offense off ball.
The team who gets Brown is probably hoping for one of the previously mentioned comps but even lower end comps of his type are valuable. Mikel Bridges and Matisse Thybulle, even Dorian Finney-Smith or Jae’Sean Tate. All of those guys are valuable starters on their teams and Brown is going to definitely be better than Dorian and Tate on defense and better than Matisse on offense.
A while ago I wrote about Significant Examples of Now Greatly Underrated Nominee theory or my S.E.N.G.U.N. Theory. Where I said a players archetype can lead to them being over or under valued and sometimes we need to step away from that and look at who they are outside the archetype.
As an athlete and it seems as a decision maker Brown is incredibly fast. His decision making with the ball seems to be getting even faster and his body makes defenses and offenses unable to keep up with him. The shot, his main perceived weakness seems to be doing ok right now with his low volume. I’m not expecting him to be a gunner from 3 but he seems to be able to shoot enough to keep defenses honest.
Brown will take some time to get going on offense but like OG Anunoby he will start off great on defense and will stick with that as he slowly gains confidence on the offense. His passing and smart cutting will make him a valued wing for whichever team takes him in the lotto and his shooting stroke is showing real signs of progress.
Drafting Kendall Brown in the mid lotto would be a slam dunk.
Jordan Ennis lives in West Africa where he is a pastor at an international church, he also co-hosts the Assisted Development Podcast and writes for assisteddevelopmentpod.com. He can be found at Assisted Development Podcast on Facebook and @BaturePreacher on Twitter.
Jordan Ennis
Jordan Ennis lives in West Africa where he is a pastor at an international church, he also co-hosts the Assisted Development Podcast on the HoopSocial Podcasts feed. He can be found at Assisted Development Podcast on Facebook and @HoopSocialDraft on Twitter.