Eye on the draft: NBA executives poll - Jabari Parker is the best player in the draft


Through ups and downs, many have perceived Andrew Wiggins as a lock to be the top pick in June's NBA draft, or at least the favorite to be the first player off the board. Chad Ford's mock draft even has the Celtics taking Wiggins if they were to win the lottery -- Joel Embiid and Jabari Parker had each previously held that title this season.

But not so fast . . . a poll of 30 NBA executives from Jeff Goodman's piece for ESPN Insider says otherwise. Jabari Parker is the favorite according to the poll, and it's not even close:
It's almost assumed these days that the top overall pick in the NBA draft will come out of the Kansas program, whether it's Andrew Wiggins or freshman teammate Joel Embiid. However, in an ESPN poll of 30 NBA executives, it was Duke's Jabari Parker who racked up more votes than both Wiggins and Embiid.
Parker finished with 17 total votes, while Embiid had eight and Wiggins had five. An overwhelming edge for Parker according to the 30 executives that were polled.

So what does this mean? It means we still do not know who the first pick will be, and most likely still won't after the lottery. This is because the top of the draft is so wide open. There are a lot of good players, and a lot of good talents that will be available to GMs, but the order that they are selected in is no where near determined.

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Source: ESPN's Jeff Goodman