3 NBA lottery picks Bulls’ rookie Dalen Terry will have a better career than

1. Shaedon Sharpe, Pick #7

Exiting high school as one of the top draft prospects in the country, NBA fame was there for the taking as Shaedon Sharpe readied himself for a freshman season at the collegiate basketball powerhouse University of Kentucky.

… Or at least, that’s what we believed he was doing when he accepted a scholarship offer to play under head coach John Calipari with the Wildcats. Instead, Sharpe would actively look to preserve his draft stock by intentionally not playing in games despite being perfectly healthy and available to do so.

This obviously earned the ire of Wildcats fans, but to those outside of Kentucky, many saw it as a smart decision for his career by remaining risk-averse. After all, Jaden Hardy was practically guaranteed to be a top-five pick in this year’s draft before a dismal season with the NBA’s G League Ignite program. As we now know, Hardy ended up sliding all the way to No. 37, so it’s interesting to think about what might have happened if he had also sat out just like Sharpe.

As for Sharpe, he’ll be 19 years old and halfway to 20 by the time the season starts when we finally get to see how he can handle anything above the high school level of competition. His time in the Las Vegas Summer League was cut short before it even got started, as he suffered a labral tear in his shoulder.

Sharpe has already shown he’s willing to prioritize his individual success over helping his team win at any cost. We don’t even know if Sharpe was worthy of a mid-lottery selection yet, and this just adds fuel to the panic fire. If I were Portland’s general manager, I’d be absolutely terrified at the prospect he just isn’t as good as advertised.

Unlike Sharpe, there’s far more substance than style to Terry’s game which could mean the No. 18 overall pick ends up outpacing the 7th selection in the long run.