Unsurprisingly, the “freshmen” Brandon Miller And Nick Smith Jr. have formalized their registration for the Draft 2023, joining Keyonte George in a group still set to expand in the coming weeks of “one-and-done” from the very talented high school class of 2022.
Stars in high school and logically considered as such in pre-season last year, the two players had a very different “freshman” season, since the Alabama player started with his feet on the floor and never lifted his foot from the accelerator until the end of the exercise, winning the double “Freshman Of The Year” and “Player Of The Year” in the SEC conference, when the leader of Arkansas had more difficulty finding his rhythm because of various physical glitches which deprived him of 19 of the 36 games of his team!
Brandon Miller expected in the Top 5
As a result, the NBA ratings of the two “freshmen” went in opposite directions as the season played out.
More expected at the end of the Top 10 ahead of the season, Brandon Miller propelled himself into the Top 5 over the weeks, despite a media storm that surrounded his team from February and in which he is found at center, playing excellent basketball on an equally excellent team (18.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists).
When Nick Smith Jr (12.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists), ranked first among the best players of the class of 2022 last summer at the end of his last season in “high school” and projected into the Top 5 in the earliest Mock Drafts, has lost a few places, finding itself today in a bracket going from 10th to 20th position.
