4. Darius Garland
The first of two intriguing options atop the 2019 NBA Draft. However, this one is more of a mystery than the standard incoming prospect.
Playing just five games of college hoops as a Vanderbilt Commodore, Darius Garland averaged 16.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. Ranked the nation’s No. 14 prospect by 247Sports, Garland is a valuable young player without a ton of tape.
Drawing comparisons to Damian Lillard and Jeff Teague by The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, Garland is more of a scoring guard.
While he does have solid enough passing skills to get by in the NBA, no one will mistake Garland for an elite distributor. His low assist rate in five games at Vanderbilt reflect his score-first mentality.
He could still be a plenty good-enough guard for Chicago, but he’s not a tremendous boost as a distributor. Spending time with an NBA training staff could change that narrative, but for now, it’s just a reality of his five game tape.
Not to mention, his left meniscus injury at such a young age puts whatever team selects him in a bit of a worried state.
In a few seasons, I might regret not ranking Garland higher on this list. He didn’t play very much college basketball, so it’s hard to buy too much of his stock. Until we learn more at the NBA combine later this month, we just can’t conclude too many things about this young player.