Skal Labissiere, once the projected No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft according to DraftExpress.com, has now tumbled out of the lottery.
The 7-foot Kentucky freshman fell to No. 19 on the latest Mock Draft for 2016 released late Monday.
The Haitian Sensation is averaging 6.2 points and 2.8 rebounds and has fallen behind Marcus Lee and Isaac Humphries in head coach John Calipari’s big man rotation. He hasn’t scored in double-figures in his last nine games and amassed 1 rebound and no points in 8 minutes in Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt.
“No matter how Skal looked this season, so much of how people valued him in the draft was based on potential and physical ability,” NBA Draft analyst Ed Isaacson told Larry Vaught. “Even with the flashes he showed in high school, everyone realized he was very raw, which isn’t itself bad, but things took a turn for the worse when he turned out to be timid and slow to pick up on things.
“I still think he could be a good project for an NBA team which has multiple picks this year or doesn’t need to count on their pick this year having to play right away.”
The Top 10 remained unchanged: No. 1 Ben Simmons of LSU, No. 2 Brandon Ingram of Duke, No. 3 Jaylen Brown of Cal, No. 4 Dragan Bender of Maccabi Tel Aviv, No. 5 Kris Dunn of Providence, No. 6 Jakob Poeltl of Utah, No. 7 Jamal Murray of Kentucky, No. 8 Henry Ellenson of Marquette, No. 9 Diamond Stone of Maryland and No. 10 Buddy Hield of Oklahoma.
Six of the Top 10 projected picks are college freshmen.
Among Kentucky players, only two (Murray and Labissiere) are projected first-rounders with sophomore Tyler Ulis now at 47 and freshman Isaiah Briscoe at 48.
Kansas, the new No. 1 team in the nation, doesn’t have a single projected first-round pick. Freshman Cheick Diallo is listed at No. 31.
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