2014 NBA Draft Ratings

For more in-depth analysis on these guys, check out my player capsules article. The way I rank players is in three ways. Ceiling, floor, and final grade. Pretty simple. The tiers are based on the number grade each prospect gets. I will introduce that here. This class is looking MUCH stronger than last year's, which I think was Josh's favorite draft since 2000. Anthony Davis is the best most recent prospect drafted in 2012, grading out in my system as a 96. Nobody here hit Tier 1, but at least we have some guys that have potential to get there and some really good Tier 2 guys. I spent more time than usual looking at the top guys, so I will be honest, this isn't my top 30 ranked players, these are 30 players I have ranked. I will probably be missing some late round jewels and nice rotation pieces in the second round.

Grading system 1-100

A+/A 100-95 = Can't miss franchise player. Best player on championship contender potential. Perennial MVP candidate. (LeBron and Duncan would have been graded 100)

A/A- 94-90 = Potential multiple All-Star and All-NBA 1st and 2nd team potential. Potential franchise player. Might be good enough to be the best player on championship contender with good supporting cast or be and excellent sidekick (D-Wade and Westbrook)

B+/B 89-95 = Potential All-Star 1-3 times n career. All-NBA 3rd team potential. Average to low end second sidekick on championship contender. High-end 3rd best.

B/B- 84-80 = Might be 3rd best player on championship contender on high end. Solid starter on low end.

C+/C 79-75 = Starter on high end. Impactful rotation player on low end (6th or 7th man)

C/C- 74-70 = Potential rotation player on high end. Quality backup on low end.

D+/D 69-65 = Bench filler.

D/D- 64-60 = 12th man. Never seen this dude without warmups on.

F - 59-0 = Bust on high end. Bobby Thompson blowing out his knee after getting crossed over on the 0 end.

1. Andrew Wiggins 6'9" 200 lbs. SF Kansas
Ceiling 97          Floor 79          Grade 93

2. Joel Embiid 7'1" 245 lbs. C Kansas
Ceiling 98          Floor 65          Grade 93

3. Jabari Parker 6'9" 240 lbs. SF Duke
Ceiling 92          Floor 76          Grade 90

4. Dante Exum 6'6" 196 lbs. PG Australia
Ceiling 93          Floor 66          Grade 87

5. Aaron Gordon 6'9" 220 lbs. PF Arizona
Ceiling 90          Floor 76          Grade 86 


6. Julis Randle 6'9" 250 lbs. PF Kentucky
Ceiling 91          Floor 74          Grade 85

7. Marcus Smart 6'3" 227 lbs. PG Oklahoma St.
Ceiling 89          Floor 72          Grade 82

8. Gary Harris 6'4.5" 205 lbs. SG Michigan St.
Ceiling 85          Floor 71          Grade 80

9. Dario Saric 6'10" 220 lbs. PF Croatia
Ceiling 87          Floor 67          Grade 80

10. Noah Vonleh 6'9.5" 247 lbs. PF Indiana
Ceiling 91          Floor 64          Grade 77

11. Elfrid Payton 6'4" 185 lbs. Louisiana-Lafayette
Ceiling 86          Floor 64          Grade 77

12. Clint Capela 6'11" 222 lbs. Switzerland
Ceiling 87          Floor 67          Grade 75

13. Adrien Payne 6'10" 240 lbs. PF Michigan St.
Ceiling 82          Floor 69          Grade 75

14. Tyler Ennis 6'2.5" 182 lbs. PG Syracuse
Ceiling 81          Floor 68          Grade 75

15. Doug McDermott 6'8" 218 lbs. SF Crieghton
Ceiling 80          Floor 68          Grade 75

16. James Young 6'7" 213 lbs. SG/SF Kentucky
Ceiling 84          Floor 60          Grade 74

17. Rodney Hood 6'8.5" 208 lbs. SG/SF Duke
Ceiling 82          Floor 67          Grade 74

18. Nik Stauskas 6'6.5" 207 lbs. SG Michigan
Ceiling 80          Floor 66          Grade 73

19. Shabazz Napier 6'1" 175 lbs. UConn
Ceiling 82          Floor 67          Grade 72

20. Kyle Anderson 6'8.5" 230 lbs. SF UCLA
Ceiling 82          Floor 62          Grade 72

21. Glenn Robinson III 6'7" 211 lbs. SF Michigan
Ceiling 83          Floor 63          Grade 71

22. Jerami Grant 6'8" 214 lbs. SF Syracuse
Ceiling 82          Floor 64          Grade 70

23. Patric Young 6'10" 247 lbs. PF Florida
Ceiling 80          Floor 68          Grade 70

24. Thanasis Antetokounmpo 6'6" 205 lbs. Greece/D League
Ceiling 83          Floor 66          Grade 70

25. P.J. Hairston 6'5" 229 lbs. SG UNC/D League
Ceiling 81          Floor 60          Grade 69

26. Mitch McGary 6'10" 260 lbs. PF Michigan
Ceiling 80          Floor 60          Grade 69

27. Zach Lavine 6'6" 180 lbs. SG UCLA
Ceiling 88          Floor 50          Grade 68

28. Jusuf Nurkic 6'11" 280 lbs. C Bosnia
Ceiling 83          Floor 60          Grade 68

29. Jordan Adams 6'5" 209 lbs. SG UCLA
Ceiling 78          Floor 60          Grade 64

30. T.J. Warren 6'8" 220 lbs. SF NC St.
Ceiling 75          Floor 50          Grade 61

A few bullet points here.

• 2 guys posting over 95 upside and 7 over 90 is damn good.
• Wiggins has the highest floor due to his athleticism and skills.
• Embiid has higher upside slightly, but much lower floor because of injury concerns. This is why I take Wiggins first.
• Gary Harris will be a really good 2 guard and I think he's underrated right now. He shouldn't be lumped in with the Stauskas, Young, Hood group.
• Dario Saric will be worth the wait for a team outside the top 10.
• Vonleh has a really wide range of possibilities. I don't ever see him getting close to his projections though.
• Clint Capela will be a nice value outside the lottery. People are sleeping on him after a rough game at the Hoop Summit. Great size and athlete.
• I haven't seen this many good shooters in a draft in a very long time. Most of them can't play D though.
• I wanted to like Zach Lavine, but I think he's too dumb of a kid to ever come close to his massive potential. J.R. Smith is a best-case scenario.
• Nurkic is also very overvalued in my opinion. I just don't see it. He's an oaf.

I will be watching the draft live at Barclays tomorrow night. I'm up in the nosebleeds, but I will try to get some pics/vids. Next post will be after the draft. Most likely Tuesday. I'll be giving teams draft grades. It's very similar to what Chad Ford does, except I'm doing it.