NBA 2023 Draft Preview, Part 4: Cason Wallace, Anthony Black, Jordan Hawkins, and more!

It increasingly looks like the Knicks might have a late lotto pick from the Mavericks in this year’s draft… so time to check out some more prospects!

Welcome back to The Strickland’s early draft preview! If you missed part one, you can check it out here, part two here and part three here.

Prospects are listed in no particular order; this ain’t a mock or a big board! Almost everyone on this list – and it is a long list, hence breaking it up into multiple parts – has a case to be a lottery guy in a normal, not-too-bad-but-not-too-great year. Which is kind of nuts.

Jordan Hawkins
6-foot-5
Wing
University of Connecticut
20 years old

Stacy Patton: Jordan Hawkins is one of the most elite shooting prospects I’ve ever seen. Though he has cooled a bit after a very hot start, he’s still shooting a blistering 39% from three on 15 3PA/100 (for comparison, Quentin Grimes shot a similar percentage on 14.9 3PA/100). A versatile shooter that can come off screens, shoot off movement, relocation, and pull-ups, he scored the second-most points in the country off of screens and shot nearly 90% from the line. He’s a shooter’s shooter.

UConn is very creative using his shooting ability to stress defenses and he should be even more deadly in an NBA offense, especially since he can shoot with ease from NBA range. Though he is not a great driver yet, he sports a respectable free throw rate as well, which is important for a player who does as much damage from outside as he does: he’s still able to punish closeouts with crafty dribble moves and solid burst downhill.  

Hawkins is by no means an elite athlete, but he’s solid and is a terrific defender.  He should be able to guard both backcourt positions and even some wings as he continues to fill out, and is most impressive with his ability to navigate screens getting skinny, as well as his instincts in passing lanes and tenacity at the point of attack. The lack of passing and 2-point scoring likely caps his on-ball ceiling, but Hawkins fits the profile of someone who makes winning plays (box plus/minus [BPM] over 7), shoots the leather off the ball, and defends like his hair is on fire. Not too hard to see him fitting in with the Knicks, who are still searching for a truly elite jump shooter.  

Brice Sensabaugh
6-foot-6
Wing
Ohio State
19 years old

Prez: Brice Sensabaugh gets buckets. Above all else, that is the sales pitch. The 235-lb., 6-foot-6 big boy wing is a true freshman at Ohio State, and though he began the year off the bench, he cemented himself as their best offensive player and shotmaker. He is a historic shooter, efficient at hitting jumpers off the catch, off the dribble, from three, from two, in the post, off of movement and so on. While neither the most explosive athlete nor an elite ball handler, he has tremendous footwork and craft and is learning to use his strong frame to create space for both the jumper and drives. The result is a high-volume scorer with a true shooting percentage (TS%) well north of 60%, unheard of for a jump-shooting freshman. His combination of talent, efficiency, and volume screams NBA offensive talent with real upside.

What interested parties will be watching moving forward is whether his defense can improve, whether he can be less reliant on his jump shot while getting more capable around the rim and drawing fouls and whether his explosiveness and wingspan are a real limitation or just a non-factor. Those are all valid concerns, but shot creation will always be the name of the game in the NBA, and the fact is that young prospects who do it as well as Brice does are usually very high picks.

Julian Strawther
6-foot-7
Wing
Gonzaga
20 years old

Prez: In his third year as a Zag yet still only 20, Strawther is a pretty straightforward prospect, and I mean that in the best way possible. He has wing size at 6-foot-7, 210 lbs., with a 6-foot-10 wingspan. He shoots the cover off of the ball with a low, lightning release, reminiscent of Immanuel Quickley or Anfernee Simons, and is similarly comfortable shooting it off movement or off the dribble. Like those guys, he also has incredible touch and one of if not the best floater of any prospect this year, allowing him to attack the paint if defenses panic and close out too hard on him at the 3-point line. Simple stuff. 

He already plays the role of secondary weapon to college scoring gawd big man Drew Timme, therefore his role in the NBA will not be a huge adjustment – play off guys, get buckets, space the floor, attack, draw fouls, get boards. He could definitely stand to pass more (and by more I mean ever, at all), and his defense waxes and wanes more than you would like, but he’s an easy sell to a front office looking to plug-and-play a wing with some scoring upside.

Isaiah Crawford
6-foot-6
Wing
Lousiana Tech 
21 years old

Prez: Crawford is a 21-year-old senior who has flown under the radar due to playing at Louisiana Tech and suffering an injury that ended his junior year after three games. His highlight package? Boring. His game? Consistent. His stats? Outstanding. He’s built like a prototype wing at 6-foot-6, 220 lbs., with at least a 7-foot wingspan, and he does a bit of everything: he’s a heady passer, he defends both guards and bigs, he gets garbage buckets, he spaces the floor well, he can kill a mismatch, he racks up free throws and stocks with aplomb. 

So what’s the drawback, and why haven’t you heard noise about him? Well, he’s asked to create a lot, and he does so via post-ups and midrange shots in a way that wouldn’t be out of place in the NBA of 2008. His offensive translation is up in the air, even though he has proven himself to be a tremendous spot-up shooter. The defense is there though, so if you think there’s a bit of bully ball waiting to be unlocked, or that he still might regain some athleticism post-injury in the year to come, then he’s a worthwhile wing gamble in this class for sure.

Cason Wallace
6-foot-4
Kentucky
Guard
19 years old

Avinash: Cason is a remarkable prospect, exhibiting a rare combination of technical and physical prowess. While his shooting proficiency from beyond the arc is noteworthy – he is an absolute knockdown shooter from three – it is his uncanny ability to excel at the intermediate level that sets him apart. His mastery of the midrange game, manifested in impressive self-created pull-up shots and surprisingly high-flying dunks, is why he often seems like a seasoned vet despite being a freshman guard. Cason's physical abilities are not to be underestimated. Though he looks like a normal, average height combo guard, his build belies impressive strength and athleticism. When coupled with his formidable touch, you see how he might eclipse what is considered typical for a 6-foot-4 guard who doesn’t have the obvious explosiveness of someone like Scoot Henderson.

Finally, despite solid athleticism, Cason’s trademark playmaking and defensive disruptive abilities are the main attraction. He’s a consistent PnR operator, laying down some nifty pocket passes for Oscar Tshiebwe even when every single player on the court knows the pass to the roller is coming. He’s a functionally strong athlete on defense, able to contain wings despite his smaller frame and somewhat average wingspan. “Cason the weakside rim protector” may not naturally roll off the tongue, but it’s a fitting title for probably the best shot-blocker under 6-foot-7 in this class. Put it all together, and Cason’s unique blend of technical and physical skills challenges us to reconsider our preconceptions of what it means to be “undersized.” 

Anthony Black
6-foot-7
Arkansas
Point forward
19 years old

Prez: Black is a freshman point forward who plays like a wizard. He has a very real claim to be the best passing ballhandler in this entire draft class, including would-be top-five guys like Scoot and Amen Thompson. He’s a lean 6-foot-7 who got into the paint at will, despite playing on a team with pretty much no spacing, because of his mix of size, craft, handle and burst. The result was a ridiculous free throw rate over 55%. Although finishing can be an adventure for him once he gets into the paint, when you’re that tall and athletic, easy dunks and layups will present themselves to you. Defensively, the same brilliant processing he has on offense shines through on defense off-ball, where he can nail rotations and predict passes to pick off like a veteran. He’s productive, young, and has been a top-10 level talent pretty much since early on this season.

The questions over how helpful he can be revolve around his 3-point shooting and midrange scoring. Bully ball without a middle game or a 3-point game is not a recipe for efficiency in today’s NBA – even a wunderkind like Josh Giddey had to rely on a deadly floater until his jump shot began to come around. And make no mistake, Ant has no jumper or floater right now. Neither are completely broken, but both need a lot of work. 

The good news? Guys improve as shooters all the time. If his spot-up shooting becomes consistent, all of a sudden you have a 6-foot-7 Swiss Army knife who can be both a connector and primary ball handler. Expect him to go in the lottery.

Kobe Bufkin
6-foot-4
Michigan
Guard
19 years old

Prez: A young sophomore, Bufkin manned combo guard for Juwan Howard’s underwhelming Michigan team. Later on in the year he received more responsibility and delivered, ending his final 10 games scoring 18 per with a remarkable 50/44/90 slash line. He uses good size, good handles, good finishing and a sweet lefty stroke to create shots off the dribble for himself and for teammates. On top of that, he’s a solid defender who racked up stocks aplenty. In fact, he often ended up defending the best perimeter players Michigan faced, while also being their primary or secondary scoring option along with upperclassmen center Hunter Dickinson.

Entering the year, he wasn’t one of the returning NCAA players who many folks had their eye on, but as March wraps up he has a very good claim to being the best returning prospect, due to his all-around play and positive impact metrics on a weak team in a strong conference. Whether you think he is a plug-and-play bench combo or has a ceiling higher than that as an on-ball guard will determine how high you are on Kobe, but he feels like someone who should be closer to the lotto than the second round.

Dariq Whitehead
6-foot-7
Duke
Forward
18 years old

Prez: You may have heard of Dariq. He was one of the top recruits in the class, and was spoken of with awe as a prototypical shot creating wing coming into his freshman year at Duke. At storied Montverde Academy, his highlight tapes were filled with high flying dunks, impressive combo dribbles, and a ridiculous array of step-backs, fade-aways and movement threes. 

And then the lower-body injuries happened. One in high school, one in preseason, and another midseason all caused his year to go off the rails a bit. As a result, he did not take on anything resembling the primary scoring wing role we’ve seen from Dukies like RJ Barrett, Jayson Tatum, Brandon Ingram and Justise Winslow. Instead, as he worked to recover from injury and play his way into shape, he became a 3-and-D wing for a team who desperately needed shooting and defense. To his credit, he filled that role tremendously well, knocking down a very high percentage of threes (both easy catch-and-shoot looks and tough off-the-dribble threes) and free throws while being active and pesky on defense. 

How high he goes on draft night will depend on whether teams think he is “just’’ a role player versus a blossoming young 18-year-old prospect whose shooting is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his on-ball skills. He didn’t get to the line, didn’t pass, and didn’t drive much at all, so picking him is not without risk in a league where even role players have to be increasingly versatile to thrive. 

Taylor Hendricks
6-foot-9
Central Florida
Big forward
19 years old

Tyrese: If you could create the ideal 4 for the modern era, Taylor Hendricks has the majority of those qualities. At 6-foot-9, Hendricks is a legit stretch big on not-insignificant volume, shooting around 40%. He’s a great rim protector, hovering around two blocks a game. He’s one of the better athletes in his class, routinely shaking the rim with thunderous dunks. His budding potential as a perimeter defender, as well as his growing passing efficacy, has shot him up draft boards and has him well-positioned to be one of the more unexpected lottery picks of the cycle after many projected him going late in the first round. While he’s expected to be a solid contributor to any team he’s picked by, questions around his ceiling remain, with doubt around his ability to self-create at a high level. With the Mavs’ pick suddenly becoming an asset with a real chance to be anywhere from just outside the lottery to just inside it, Hendricks’ versatility to play anywhere from the 3 to the 5 in lineups would be tantalizing to the Knicks, immediately slotting into a rotational role as part of a dynamic bench unit with Immanuel Quickley and Josh Hart.

Brandin Podziemski
6-foot-5
Santa Clara
Combo guard
20 years old

Prez: Brandin is a 6-foot-5 combo guard who plied his trade at Santa Clara after transferring out of Illinois, following an injury-prone freshmen year that saw him play 69 total minutes. The crafty lefty averaged 22 points, four assists and an astonishing 10 rebounds a game while running Santa Clara’s offense. As a scorer he was incredibly efficient, and an absolute lights-out high volume shooter from three. His statistics do not compute for someone who has okay size and plays below the rim. How much credence you give to his insane numbers depends on what you think of the West Coast Conference and what that means for his competition level. 

His biggest strength is the mix of his talent and his feel on offense. The 20-year-old processes the game very fast, and knows what he is working with in terms of his strengths and weaknesses. His defense leaves a bit to be desired, but if he can become a neutral on that end, his versatility on offense as a shooter and passer and playmaker make him one of the higher-ceiling sleeper picks in this class. We’ve seen many talented combo guards fall past the 20th pick in recent years, only to appear in top tens of redrafts (ahem, IQ), and it wouldn’t shock me if Brandin is next in that line of players.