The pre-draft process is in full swing, and opinions vary wildly across the board on who should be the No. 1 pick in next month's NBA Draft.
BYU's AJ Dybantsa is the odds-on favorite, but there are plenty who believe Kansas' Darryn Peterson has the highest upside in the class and should go first.
Then there are others who prefer the consistency of Cameron Boozer, who feels like the safest bet in this draft class.
While some have chosen to ignore his historically great freshman season at Duke to bring his "flaws" as a non-otherworldly athlete to the forefront, others are fighting back at the narrative and making the case not only for Boozer to remain ahead of UNC's Caleb Wilson in the top three, but for the National Player of the Year to be the No. 1 overall pick.
Jonathan Givony stated the case on Tuesday, and he was later joined by CBS Sports' director of basketball scouting, Adam Finkelstein, who laid out the case for Boozer to be the pick by the Washington Wizards.
"When it comes to who is the best player right now, who impacts winning the most right now, the answer has always been Cameron Boozer," Finkelstein said. "We're talking about someone who is the winningest player in the history of modern high school basketball. Won every single championship he participated in, every USA basketball, every high school, every EYBL team, won them all. Clean sweep, four years. Goes to Duke, and he's the best player in college basketball."
Don't buy the lack of upside talk about Cameron Boozer in the NBA Draft process
The winning is an obvious selling point for Boozer. He didn't win the national title at Duke, but he did lead the Blue Devils to the ACC regular season and tournament crowns while being the unquestioned best player in the world. And while Duke fell in the Elite Eight, it took a fluky turnover at the end by his brother to knock the Blue Devils out. Boozer went for 27 points and eight rebounds in the loss despite suffering fractures to his orbital bone.
It's obvious that right now, there's not a better player in the draft than Boozer. He's better right now, and does more to impact winning right now, than any of the other prospects.
But where things get murky is when the conversation shifts to upsides and ceilings. People tend to believe, despite Boozer not yet being 19, that he's close to maxing out as a player. A silly thought, that.
Finkelstein pushed back on the upside notion, too.
"There's always been a conversation about if they reach their potential, then he may not be the athlete or the creator that Peterson, Dybantsa, or maybe even Wilson is," Finkelstein added. "But I would counter with this: the chances that Boozer maximizes his potential are much higher than any of those other guys. That's why I continue to maintain that Boozer should be the pick at 3; I think he should be in the mix at 1. ...I get that's the contrarian opinion, but he has been the most impactful player every step along the way."
Finkelstein brings up a point that many have ignored. Perhaps Dybantsa, Peterson, and maybe even Wilson have an elevator with the potential of reaching a higher floor than Boozer, but potential doesn't always equate to results. Maybe they can max out higher than Boozer, but there's little doubt based on Boozer's trajectory, skill, and work ethic that he's going to max out every single drop of his basketball ability.
And if he does so, it's hard not to see him as an All-NBA type talent who does what he's done at every step of his basketball career.
Win at a high level and hang banners.
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