Bill Self has seen his fair share of NBA drafts. A whole 20, to be exact, and that’s just since he came to Kansas. He’s watched 27 of his players get drafted — one year two twins went back-to-back, one year a record-tying five players got picked from the same team, a few years none got selected at all and one time Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid both went off the board in the top three picks.
“That didn’t suck,” Self recalled Tuesday. “That was a pretty good draft day.”
Still, the novelty hasn’t worn off for Self, and he told reporters he plans to attend Thursday night’s draft in New York City to be with his two draft hopefuls Gradey Dick and Jalen Wilson.
“It’ll have a very exciting feel for me,” Self said, “and I’ll be there (in the green room) with Gradey, and with J-Wil, because he’s planning on going as well and sitting in the stands … I’ll feel good about being there with those guys.”
Dick and Wilson enter the draft with drastically different projections — Dick, who played just one year at Kansas, is expected to go late in the 14-pick lottery (though Self said teams “like him all throughout the lottery”), while the four-year Jayhawk Wilson figures to go off the board near the beginning or in the middle of the second round.
“Jalen won’t get drafted as high, obviously, but he’s had an impressive workout,” Self said. “I’ve talked to some teams that have said that he’s shot it as well as anybody that rolled through there. He’s ultra competitive, people know that, people have seen him play a lot.”
Most mock drafts continue to place Wilson between the late 30s and late 40s. Self said it would be “fantastic” if Wilson slipped into the first round.
He added, though, that teams, as opposed to waiting on the sky-high potential of first rounders, often expect second-rounders to slot directly into filling a particular role.
“Guys with experience sometimes have a better shot at doing that,” Self said.
And sometimes going later on can be the right path to success, he added, pointing to recent NBA champion and 21st overall pick Christian Braun.
“(I tell players) that going to the right place, going to somebody that wants you, is far more important than getting drafted a little bit higher,” Self said.
Kansas head coach Bill Self stands behind Kansas’s Gradey Dick as he shoots the ball in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Mitch Alcala)
