The pre-draft process has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Duke's Isaiah Evans. His stock has continuously fluctuated to the point that it became a question of whether or not he made the right decision to leave college two years early to enter the NBA Draft.
Evans has been a projected first-round pick for the majority of the process, but had seen his stock drop toward the end of the first and even into the second round in some projections.
Evans had a so-so performance at the Combine, but plenty of stay-or-go decisions ultimately went Evans' way, with other projected mid-to-late first-round picks deciding to return to school for another year. That has allowed Evans' stock to stabilize a bit recently.
In Jeremy Woo's latest mock draft on ESPN, Evans climbed back into the 20s.
Isaiah Evans goes No. 23 overall in ESPN's latest mock draft
Woo projects Evans at No. 23 to the Atlanta Hawks, the team in the NBA Playoffs who gave the world champion New York Knicks the most trouble.
Woo explains that interest in Evans has remained high in that range of the draft due to his ability as a shooter:
"Evans' long-range shotmaking has kept first-round interest high, and he appears likely to come off the board in the 20s," Woo writes. "He has nice size for a wing shooter, measuring 6-5½ barefoot at the combine, and has a pathway to becoming a valuable role player if he can continue to flesh out his game, particularly on defense. Though he is more of a play-finisher and spacer than a creator, Evans' ability to hit shots off movement is rare and perpetually coveted by NBA teams."
Evans projects as a quality 3-and-D wing at the next level, the type of player that NBA teams are always in the market for.
There are quite a few teams in that range of the draft that could use a shooter of Evans' caliber. The draft probably starts for the former Duke star at No. 21 with the Detroit Pistons, who are desperate for shot-making to surround star guard Cade Cunningham.
If he slips a little, it's still difficult to imagine that he'll fall out of the first round entirely, with teams like the Denver Nuggets (No. 26), Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 28), and Dallas Mavericks (No 30) all being known to covet a guard/wing who can shoot the ball like Evans.
Evans' second year at Duke showed that he could be more than just a specialist, too. His most translatable trait is the three-point shooting, but he showed that he could also go get his own shot. He was also a strong on and off-ball defender for the Blue Devils, but will undoubtedly need to add weight to his frame to be able to make a similar impact in the NBA.
Add us as a preferred source on Google