Only 30 men heard their names called on the first night of the NBA Draft. Former Duke Blue Devils standout Isaiah Evans was not one of them. Evans may be one of the first players taken in round two, but it does not change the fact how disappointing round one was for him. He had two more years of eligibility. In hindsight, he should have stayed at Duke. Henri Veesaar should have stayed at UNC, too.
Not only did Evans fall into the second round, but so too did former North Carolina star. Throughout much of the draft process, both were slated to come off the board somewhere in the 20s. Drafts always go like this, but at least Duke did not get beat out by UNC. These bitter Tobacco Road rivals had been pretty much neck-and-neck throughout the process. Now that enters day two of the draft.
Evans' draft-day slide only put the slightest damper on his former Duke teammate Cameron Boozer's big night. As Boozer walks into Memphis, Evans is still waiting to see where his basketball journey takes him. While his score-first mindset could be to the boon of whoever takes him, Evans may be more of an unfinished product that we ever realized. As for Veesaar, he is about at his ceiling already.
Players fall into day two of the draft all the time, but misery loves company over on Tobacco Road.
Isaiah Evans' decision to turn pro is landing better than Henri Veesaar's
Look. There is no turning back now. Evans and Veesaar made their decisions to turn pro, and now they must stick with them. While other notable prospects such as Morez Johnson Jr. coming out of Michigan got the first-round assurances they needed to keep their names in the draft, it is not like Evans and Veesaar's former college coaches were able to select them in the NBA Draft. What a world!
Even though Evans had multiple years of eligibility left, his game could translate to the NBA much easier than Veesaar's. A wing that can score and has length could be molded into something much easier than a 22-year-old center. In short, there could be more teams chomping at the bit to draft Evans on Thursday night than Veesaar. Both will get drafted at some point, but Evans should go first.
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Overall, this is not about Evans making a bad decision. Up until very recently, it seemed he was going to be picked in the 20s. He did not get bad intel, only a tough draw. As for Veesaar, UNC could have really used him. He was supposedly being offered several million dollars to return to Chapel Hill to play for new head coach Michael Malone, but he declined. Now he will be making far less than that.
Ultimately, Duke still did have the better night over UNC, even without Evans getting drafted. Everyone and their brother raved about Memphis picking Boozer. Meanwhile, Caleb Wilson went a pick later to the Chicago Bulls, the team that former UNC star Michael Jordan made relevant. Wilson thinks highly of himself, so he just put even more pressure on his back with his draft-day comments.
With one more day left in the NBA Draft, Duke cans can only hope to keep UNC in the rearview mirror.
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