There is a point at which production and projection meet, and it might just be this week in New York City. That’s where a select group of Pac-12 players will hope to be selections in the NBA Draft, with teams either choosing them for what they’ve done, or what they might do. In some cases, the latter reigns. See: Gordon, Aaron and Lavine, Zach.
Heck, Lavine is projected to go about a dozen picks ahead of teammate Kyle Anderson, who outscored him by five, out-rebounded him by six and out-assisted him by five. Come Thursday, that won’t matter much to NBA executives who are wooed by Lavine’s athleticism. So, too, Gordon, whose potential has teams salivating, an athletic wunderkind unseen in the Pac-12 in years.
But then there are those for whom the past is an indication of things to come, guys like Jordan Adams and C.J. Wilcox. The cream of the conference crop filled up the stat sheets in 2013-14, and scouts and general managers had plenty of impressive tape to pore over.
Here’s a look at five Pac-12 first-round hopefuls, and a handful of others who could hear their names selected this week:
