NBA Draft 2012: Top 10 Players At Each Position

As a rule, big men develop slower than guards. The 2012 NBA Draft is no exception, as the top two prospects at the center position, Andre Drummond and Meyers Leonard, are nowhere near their ceiling. But while their development could determine the future of the franchise that drafts them, the identity of the franchise that drafts them could also determine how much they develop.

There’s no better example than the career trajectory of JaVale McGee. McGee joined a Washington team where the inmates were running the asylum, where Andray Blatche was considered a veteran leader and who had neither a strong head coach or an established point guard. As a result, McGee developed a series of bad habits that made him one of the laughingstocks of the NBA.

A generation ago, power forwards were some of the least skilled players in the game. They were generally big men not quite tall enough to be centers, enforcers whose primary job was to rebound, provide muscle and stay out of the way offensively.

However, as the game has become more perimeter-oriented, the position has changed with it. Both teams in the NBA Finals prefer to play small, with only one conventional big man on the floor and an All-NBA 6’9+ forward more comfortable playing on the perimeter than in the paint.

Two years ago, Evan Turner was the clear cut No. 1 small forward in the 2010 Draft. He was a do everything 6’7 point forward who won the National Player of the Year Award at Ohio State, but a closer examination of his game would have revealed the holes that have become apparent in his first two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers.

While he is an excellent rebounder and passer for a wing player, he’s an average athlete with a subpar perimeter shot. Without the ability to space the floor, he’s only effective with the ball in his hands, but he’s not a dynamic enough athlete to be a primary offensive option or a defensive difference-maker in the NBA.

There aren’t many basketball players with the combination of skill, size and athleticism to be a high-level NBA wing. The ones who do often have more talent than they know what to do with, especially on the amateur level. A 6’4+ player with a vertical north of 35 inches, three-point range and the ball-handling ability to get through traffic can easily form bad habits coasting through the AAU circuit.

Talent wasn’t the reason why the top shooting guards in the 2004 (J.R. Smith) and 2005 (Gerald Green) drafts have spent time overseas. Instead, poor defense and shot selection have prevented them from living up to the vast potential they showed in their high school days. Smith was rated No. 8 in the class of 2004, ahead of players like LaMarcus Aldridge and JR Smith, and Green was the No. 1 overall prospect in the class of 2005.

NBA teams will scour the Earth for a 7’0 with a pulse, but it’s still easy for a 6’2-and-under college basketball player to slip through the cracks. There are over 300 Division-1 programs, almost all of whom have at least one guard who can rack up impressive statistics.

In his final season at Harvard, Jeremy Lin averaged 16.4 points on 52 percent shooting, 4.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists. In the ACC or the Big East, those statistics might have been enough to get Lin drafted, but they didn’t move the needle all that much in the Ivy League.