The deeper I go into the film of guys in the mid-late first round to the early second round, the more I start to believe some of these guys are legit talents, and would hold their own in other draft classes. I'll talk about a few of those guys here. Also, when I say "hidden gems," I mean to the general public. Not to us draft scouts. You probably know these guys, but the general public that hates this class does not.

First is Carlton "Bub" Carrington out of Pitt. If you haven't done your film on this kid... do it. He's only 18 and yet has arguably more offensive polish than anyone in the class. He doesn't bring athletic upside or especially great size, but his footwork, handle, and ability to comfortably take his own shot from wherever on the court is super underrated. Honestly, he reminds me a tiny tiny bit of Devin Booker in that regard.

Then there's AJ Johnson, who I touched on in my last post-it note. Just watching him, he looks like a legit lottery talent. It's just that we don't have enough production from him to talk about him as such. But he's clearly talented, athletic, and has excellent feel as a three-level scorer and has fun passing the ball. Also pretty young at 19, I think he stacks up pretty well against other prospects who had similar levels of draft stock, but were viewed as far better prospects.

Last, I really love Jaylen Wells out of Washington State, and I think he's also very underrated. He's an absolute shooter, with a really solid frame for two-way NBA value. Was one of the best shooters in the country this last year, and handled the ball a lot more than a normal wing does. He reminds me of a slightly smaller Trey Murphy, with better ball-handle instincts and a cleaner inside game.

All three of these guys, man. I see something serious. I get why people have said what they've said about this class. But I wanna give these guys their flowers. They might just have what it takes to be all-star-ish level players.