NBA Draft: Looking back at unranked misfires

The 2018 NBA Draft tips off Thursday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. While there will be no shortage of players who were highly ranked in high school that hear their names called, history also tells us that players who didn't finish inside the Rivals150 will also be taken in the first round.

Usually, somewhere in the neighborhood of four players who weren't ranked as high schoolers will be taken in the first round. So, I decided to look back at the 10 biggest rankings misses relative to draft position of the last 10 years. Some of these guys came through high school during my Rivals.com tenure, some preceded me. But, I did see them and with the benefit of hindsight I can't help but wonder if myself, coaches or the recruiting industry should have seen what was coming or if there was just no way to know.

Draft position: No. 2 in 2011

Bossi's take: I remember seeing Williams a decent amount. He was really athletic, had a good motor and seemed like a bit of a tweener. I thought he could be a good player at USC. However, I didn't see him during his senior year. He ended up at Arizona after coaching changes and I can't help but think that in today's environment he wouldn't have slipped through the rankings cracks. Now, guys who come open late because of decommitments are looked over way more closely than they used to be and I think a kid like Williams would have gotten looked at a lot closer. Do I think he would be ranked high enough? Not likely. But I do see him as the type of kid that the industry would be more likely to catch today than 10 years ago.

Draft position: No. 4 in 2008

Bossi's take: I saw Westbrook play a little. Not enough to have a great feel for his game but enough to know who he was and know how athletically gifted he was. I remember when he was close to deciding in the spring of his senior year. I thought there was a decent chance he would end up at Creighton and I really thought he would have been a nice pickup for it. He picked UCLA and based on my limited exposure to him I thought not bad, but not great either. Like Williams above, I think that given another chance to evaluate him that the recruiting industry might not have collectively whiffed on Westbrook. A kid as athletic as him, he would have at least been a lighting rod for discussion and playing in L.A. he would have had lots of opportunity for exposure. He would have been looked at much more closely. Again, he would likely get under ranked, but I think he would at least get ranked today.

Draft position: No. 4 in 2010

Bossi's take: One would think being from Texas with his size, his ability to shoot from deep and his athleticism would have made it impossible to miss on Johnson. Maybe. But, it's hard not to miss on projecting a guy who played on the second team of his summer club when I saw him play as an NBA player. I recall seeing him play one time in a back gym in Las Vegas in the summer of 2005 and thinking he was pretty good for the team he was on, but not thinking more than that. Today, I could see Johnson as the kind of guy who would be missed on again if he were playing for the No. 2 team of a major shoe circuit team like he was 13 years ago.

Draft position: No. 6 in 2010

Bossi's take: I wasn't around at Rivals.com in 2006; I was running a scouting service for college coaches and writing freelance articles for anybody who would have me. Anyway, as I did my research I was a bit surprised to find out that Udoh was an unranked three-star. If my memory serves me, Udoh played on an Athlete's First team that was loaded with Blake Griffin (class of 2007), Sam Bradford and Obi Muenelo among others. So, he was on a team that got watched quite a bit, he blocked a lot of shots and he had length and a great motor. Headed to a high major like Michigan, Udoh is another who I would bet on getting ranked in today's age.

Draft position: No. 6 in 2012

Bossi's take: I saw Lillard play exactly one time. It was at an April event in Las Vegas during his junior year. He went off. He dunked on people, he shot from deep and he sure as heck looked like a Pac-12 player to me. But, I never saw him again and running a scouting service based in Kansas City, I'll be honest I never really thought to dig deeper into Lillard. Apparently, not a lot of other scouts or college coaches did and the rest of what he did at Weber State is history. If things were the same today, I could see myself and the industry missing on Lillard again.

Draft position: No. 7 in 2009

Bossi's take: Curry is another whom I only saw play one time. Well, I guess I technically saw him play a few games at the NBPA Top 100 Camp. Back in those days it was at VCU and what I remember most from that year is how much future pros Darrell Arthur and Lance Thomas appeared to not like playing on the same team, but I digress. I've written this story many times over the years but Curry was probably 6-foot and 150 pounds then. He could shoot, but he had to be wide open to get his shot off and he didn't look like he belonged anywhere near that level of camp. In today's times do I think that a smart and hard-working regional guy could have been astounded that Curry wasn't ranked by the time he finished his high school career? But, there isn't any kind of time machine or advanced scouting that could have allowed somebody to entertain the thought that Curry would end up the best shooter in the history of the game.

Draft position: No. 8 in 2008

Bossi's take: This one is a tough call because frankly, I don't remember seeing Alexander play. I didn't get to as many events back then because I was still working another full-time job and basketball was a part-time gig. These days I would have at least seen Alexander with Hargrave because they are a high-profile prep team, but I can't say if myself or anybody else would have ranked him.

Draft position: No. 9 in 2009

Bossi's take: This is one that I think any of us in the scouting industry who saw Hayward more than once should feel bad about not ranking. The guy was tall with a big-time jumper and he was a pretty decent athlete. Hayward was a stud at Butler and I think with today's grassroots system and the way it works combined with him being from a heavily scouted region, he likely would be ranked in today's recruiting climate.

Draft position: No. 9 in 2015

Bossi's take: Kaminsky played for a highly regarded summer team in the Illinois Wolves. But here's the thing about Frank the Tank, he wasn't even the most highly touted center on his own summer team. That was four-star Nnana Egwu, who ended up at Illinois. Egwu didn't set the world on fire, but neither did Kaminsky during his early years at Wisconsin where he averaged just 1.8 and 4.2 points per game during his freshman and sophomore years. I'm pretty sure a guy like him, in a similar situation, could be missed on again.

Draft position: No. 10 in 2010

Bossi's take: The craziest thing about Paul George? He committed to three different programs and the Pac-12 still never took a flyer on him. So, for as much heat as the scouting industry has taken on not ranking George, the coaching industry missed on him just as badly. Maybe his recruitment scared some people off but George was also ahead of his time. He was a rangy, jump-shooting combo forward and I don't think anybody saw him as anything near what he ended up being. I think these days he would have gotten a lot closer look and perhaps been ranked.