NBA Draft 2018 News: Why the Arizona Wildcats' DeAndre Ayton Is Going Number One Overall in Many Recent Mock Drafts
The 2018 NBA draft is now just a little under two months away, and this is around the time when scouts and teams are trying to figure out which players deserve the hype.
What's interesting about this year's crop of young players is that, for the most part, there hasn't really been anyone who's stood out from the pack as the guy who should clearly be taken with the first overall selection, but that may be changing just a bit.
Recent mock drafts from the Sporting News, Land of 10 and Bleacher Report all have the same player going number one overall, with that being the Arizona Wildcats' DeAndre Ayton.
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Ayton has certainly been mentioned before as a potential number one overall pick, but why is it that he's starting to get more buzz as the clear cut number one guy in recent weeks?
Well, part of that is obviously because Ayton is one truly intriguing NBA prospect.
Per The Ringer's draft guide, Ayton is expected to be a player who should be able to finish efficiently at the rim, and he complements that with a solid if still not completely reliable outside shot and an ability to put the ball on the floor every now and then to catch opposing bigs off guard.
Traditional big men probably won't be getting picked high in any upcoming NBA drafts, but Ayton has shown enough to suggest that he is not enough one of them, and he may be close to someone like a Karl-Anthony Towns at least on offense, which is a good thing.
Plus, it probably doesn't hurt Ayton's chances of going number one overall that the Phoenix Suns are the team with the best odds to land the highest selection in this year's draft. With Ayton having attended college in the same state that the Suns play in, there may be more than a few fans hoping that the team will indeed select the 19-year-old center if they obtain the first overall pick in the draft.
So is Ayton deserving of the number one spot in the draft?
Again, with there being no once-in-a-generation prospect like a LeBron James or an Anthony Davis in this draft, a good case can be made for certain players to go number one overall and Ayton is among them.
Real Madrid's Luka Doncic is a dynamic playmaker who has a case for being the first player selected because he's precisely the type of player who can thrive in the modern NBA, and the Duke Blue Devils' Marvin Bagley III may be a good player to take with that pick as well given how great of an athlete he is and how relentless he is when he's on the court.
There's a good chance that who goes number one overall will depend on which team actually has that pick, so this matter may become clearer once the draft lottery is completed on May 15.
More news about which prospect may end up going number one overall in the 2018 NBA draft should be made available soon.
