Wall, Towns, Davis make CBS' Top 10 Recent Draft Picks

Kentucky’s churned out some pretty impressive players over the past ten years, which is why it wasn’t surprising to see three NBA Cats make CBS Sports’ list of the Top 20 Recent NBA Draft Picks. Sam Vecenie ranked the most impressive players in the draft (at the time of the draft) since the early-entry rules were adjusted in 2006, and John Wall, Karl Towns, and Anthony Davis all made the top ten at #7, #4, and #3, respectively.

“Like Rose above him, Wall was highly regarded due to his explosive athletic ability and length,” Vecenie writes. “There was no player in amateur basketball who could keep Wall out of the paint, and that quickness translated to the defensive end, where Wall was a ball-hawk and one-man transition opportunity waiting to happen.”

Meanwhile, Vecenie writes that Towns is “everything that the NBA was looking for in terms of a modern big man,” and that “the sky is the limit” for him heading forward. What about Davis?

“Simply put, his presence changed the game on both ends of the floor unlike any other recent player in college hoops,” Vecenie writes of Davis. “There was very little about Davis that wasn’t perfect at the time, and he’s largely lived up to that billing in the NBA despite a spate of injuries that has occasionally affected his play.”

Here’s the top ten:

1. C Greg Oden (2007, Ohio State)
2. SF/PF Kevin Durant (2007, Texas)
3. PF/C Anthony Davis (2012, Kentucky)
4. C Karl-Anthony Towns (2015, Kentucky)
5. PG Derrick Rose (2008, Memphis)
6. SG/SF Andrew Wiggins (2014, Kansas)
7. PG John Wall (2010, Kentucky)
8. PF Blake Griffin (2009, Oklahoma)
9. SF/PF Michael Beasley (2008, Kansas State)
10. SF/PF Jabari Parker (2014, Duke)

Vecenie includes Ben Simmons at #11. To read his reasoning, head on over to CBS Sports.

[CBS Sports]