The Houston Rockets are once again a top-3 lottery team and the team is expected to draft another promising prospect with high ceiling. ESPN’s NBA draft insider Jonathan Givony shared his thoughts on what the Rockets are expected to do in the upcoming draft.
“At this stage, it feels like Houston is comfortable with Paolo (Banchero). That’s the overwhelming expectation around the league,” Givony said in an extended conversation with ESPN’s Jorge Sedano, Kevin Pelton, and Bobby Marks.
Even though Givony reported earlier this week the Rockets will take a look on Jordan Ivey as a potential pick at no.3, Banchero remains their first choice as far as talent and fitting goes in the Houston’s roster.
Givony is projecting Auburn’s Jabari Smith to Orlando at No. 1, followed by Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren to Oklahoma City at No. 2 in the first round. However, the Duke product has many fans among the NBA teams.
“A lot of NBA teams still think (Paolo) is the number one player in this draft,” Givony said. “It’s not a consensus here that Chet or Jabari are number one. More people have that than not, but Paolo has a lot of fans.”
Banchero was excellent in his lone year in the NCAA leading Duke to the Final-4. He averaged 17.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game shooting 47.8 from the field as a freshman.
He was 1st among true freshmen in the 2021-22 season in scoring, 5th among true freshmen in the 2021-22 season in field-goal percentage 47.8 percent, in addition to being 6th among true freshmen in rebounding.
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