What does the board think of Whitehead? I think he would be available at the Clippers pick and would be a swing for the fences type if his medicals check out. Good shooter with potential to be a good defender if his athleticism returns after an injury plagued year at Duke. Could see a nice front court of him playing the 3, Eason getting minutes at the 3/4, Smith at the 4/5 and Sengun at the 5. IDK, he just seems like a guy with potential to be a high level role player down the line who would fit into the structure of the team that is already there. Thoughts?
If healthy for his freshman season at Duke, Dariq Whitehead would have been a lock for top 10 if not top 5. Whitehead was in and out of the lineup. Scheyer struggled in his rookie year as coach. Scheyer failed to showcase his top freshman recruiting class, leaving everyone to wonder what was up with Mark Mitchell, Dereck Lively II, and Dariq Whitehead. Whitehead had his wow moments, where you easily project him as a FRP, if not lottery. The few draft boards that I have seen have Whitehead have him as a FRP, but not lottery. Comparing Whitehead to those ahead of him in the mock, he has more upside potential. I suspect that by the NBA draft, Whitehead will move up in most mocks to fringe lottery.
This probably pushes him out of the first round. He could still come back and be great, but foot injuries are scary. Some team will take a flyer on him in round 2 though, so we'll see. Best of luck to him
Being a round 2 pick means Whitehead gets paid less in the short term but becomes FA sooner, with a potential for his first serious money contact.
Truly bad news. While I'm not totally out in Whitehead, I'm more of a Cissoko lean if the Rockets are targeting a wing in the mid to late first.
I like Cissoko. I'm also interested in Rayan Rupert and James Nnaji. I especially like those guys if the Rockets are interested in a draft and stash guy at this point. It's hard to keep adding multiple rookies when you're trying to win.
