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His play does most of his talking.

“Grateful to get this opportunity, any opportunity, to any team, to be able to hear my name called on draft night and to shake Adam Silver’s hand,” Cooper Flagg said last month at the NBA’s Draft Combine in Chicago. “I’m just really excited for this whole opportunity, this environment, to go through this process. Not everybody gets to do this.”

But for the last few years, Flagg has been building step by step to do exactly this: be the first pick in next week’s draft. From Maine to Montverde Academy in Florida to scrimmaging against the U.S. men’s Olympics team last summer in Vegas to leading Duke to the NCAA Final Four, the 18-year-old phenom has stacked days, practices and winning moments on courts all over the world to arrive at this spot: being the most anticipated U.S.-born basketball player to enter the draft since at least Anthony Davis in 2012.

Before that? Maybe Blake Griffin in 2009, or either of Kevin Durant and Greg Oden in 2007. (The modern line stops at LeBron James in 2003.)

Flagg will go No. 1, there is no doubt. Nor is there doubt who will take him: the Dallas Mavericks, who somehow beat the odds coming into the NBA Draft Lottery — a 1.8 percent chance of getting the top pick — to walk right into their post-Luka Dončiċ era without breaking stride. Flagg is only working out for Dallas, and Dallas isn’t contemplating anyone else.

That’s where we begin today’s NBA Draft Confidential, focusing on Flagg and most (not all!) of the top wing/forward prospects in this year’s draft. We started with the guards on Wednesday. Today is for the wings; tomorrow will be for the bigs.

As regular readers know, this series is the basketball version of my colleague Bruce Feldman’s NFL Draft Confidential. And it serves, as Bruce’s pieces do to Dane Brugler’s NFL Beast, as my complement to Sam Vecenie’s annual and unconquerable NBA Draft Guide. Sam’s so deep into the weeds on draft prospects that he needs Roundup to find his way home. No one is more comprehensive. I’m one of “the others,” to quote Shaquille O’Neal, by way of comparison.

But I have spent, as I’ve done for the last 15 years or so, more than two months talking with … well, it’s now approaching three dozen college head and assistant coaches, NBA executives, scouts and others for their unvarnished insights on this year’s prospects, whom they’ve played and scouted against or at least seen practice in person. (I don’t ask coaches about their own players; it’s hard to expect them to be as honest about their own guys as they tend to be about opposing players.)

In exchange for anonymity, they tell me the truth, both good and bad, about what they actually think — which, I think, serves you and me best.

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The Man

Absolutely no one involved with basketball, at any level, begrudges Flagg this moment — his moment — in the spotlight. The sentiment is universal, as it’s been since the moment he burst onto the scene as a teenager out of Newport, Maine, a few years ago. Cooper Flagg is The Man. He doesn’t duck anyone; he’ll play anyone anytime, anywhere, and his team will usually win.

The fact that he’s White matters not in the least to real ballers, as it didn’t matter when Larry Bird came into the national consciousness at Indiana State in the late ’70s, or John Stockton in the ’80s, or Steve Nash in the ’90s. White kids — and Black kids or Latino or Asian kids — need people to emulate. And by the way, a lot of those Black and Latino and Asian kids will emulate Flagg, too!  If you can play, no one who loves the orange leather cares about your skin color. Cooper can hoop.

On that ridiculously stacked Montverde team, which featured three other future stars — Maryland’s Derik Queen, Georgia’s Asa Newell and UConn’s Liam McNeeley — Flagg still stood out, after winning a state title in Maine as a freshman at Nokomis High School. Montverde went 33-0 in 2023-24, the second year that Flagg, Queen, Newell and McNeeley played there, and won the Chipotle High School Nationals championship.

Flagg and Duke fell just short of reaching the NCAA national title game, blowing a late lead to Houston in the semifinal last April and finishing 35-4. But Flagg’s terrestrial and advanced stats still popped: 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks. He led the nation in box plus-minus (16.3), was third nationally in both offensive (5.1) and defensive (3.3) win shares and was fifth in PER (30.4).

There’s no reason to believe Flagg won’t be just as impactful in Dallas — which, despite trading Donċić, does have a deep frontcourt featuring Davis and centers Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford, along with Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Naji Marshall, and will hopefully get Kyrie Irving back at some point late next season from the torn ACL he suffered last March. Whether Flagg starts at small forward for Dallas or comes off the bench doesn’t matter: He won’t have the burden on him of trying to lift a terrible team into relevance. He can fit right in.

Of course, ultimately, Flagg resonates, wherever he’s playing.

Cooper Flagg | 6-8 forward | 18 years old | Duke

Western Conference executive No. 1: I think he’s a big, big-timer. You have to take him No. 1. I could see how (Dylan) Harper might become a better scorer, kind of maybe go the James Harden route. But Flagg, when you consider what he did after reclassifying. … The ACC isn’t what it was, but he’s still in a Power 4 conference. Just dominated the league. They lost one game. They breezed through. They had Houston until the thing slipped on them. I thought his shooting has gotten better. The scoring has gotten better. When I saw him in high school, I was a huge fan. But I thought, if you really wanted to make a comp, it was, like, Andrei Kirilenko. I think now, he’s going to be more dangerous as a scorer. He may not be an elite scorer, like the guys we see in the playoffs, where they just throw them the ball and down the stretch, they get basket after basket, but he’s going to be more than capable at it.

And defensively, he comes in pretty damn advanced. He knows what he’s doing. He locks in. You can tell he takes pride in it. He’s a real threat as a chase-down shot blocker, a weak-side shot blocker. And he’s got a variety of passes. He plays under control, at his own pace. The year he had, most of the guys at that level, one and done, they have some soft spots in the schedule. Like, he hasn’t broken double figures in two weeks. This guy was good to great every game out, from the beginning.

I mean, I get a little tired of hearing about Duke, but they have a way of doing it. He embraced it and was a great teammate. I just think he was a fabulous winning player this year, which is not always the case with these guys in that one year. … I just don’t think he has any major weakness. He just may not be a guy to be all-universe as a scorer, but I think he’s going to be pretty damn good. He’s going to throw some big games at you. I don’t think you have to really wait on him. Turn the crank in the back, and he’s ready to go opening day, even though he’s young. Think how ready he is, how he generated winning, had such a great year … and he’s that young. He’s going to get better, too.

College head coach No. 1 (his team played Duke): Cooper’s about the right stuff. He makes it really easy not to be jealous.

Western Conference scout No. 1: He’s a good dude, and he comes to play. Everybody knows … I mean, he knows everybody’s coming out to see him, and he puts on a show at both ends. Plays the right way, all of that. If you saw him last year with the pros in Vegas, you knew right away.

College assistant coach No. 1 (his team played Duke): He’s got swag, but he’s a likeable dude. There’s no p—k (in him), none of that b—s— entitlement to him. I like how he plays. He plays the right way. … That was the best Duke team I played against — best team — since I’ve been in the ACC. Put well together. They did it all. I was very impressed. All of those guys were good pieces, Flagg being a generational talent. He’s different.

College assistant coach No. 2 (his team played Duke): The thing we were kind of hoping was his ability to not hurt us by taking jump shots — and he was making those. His competitive spirit, how hard he played, how skilled he was defensively, he checked a lot of boxes. To see his growth … early, he had a couple of fumbles late in games that cost them. And, man, did he improve. He didn’t have them late. He carried them.

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After Flagg, multiple wing players could shine. But for almost all of them, fit and team will matter. That’s especially true for Ace Bailey, the Rutgers freshman whose offensive skills scream three-level scorer in the pros. But he has some improving to do — shooting from deep (just 35 percent on 3-pointers last season) and making plays for others (an anemic 1.3 assists per game) and at the defensive end. Bailey did not measure out at 6-10, as he was advertised all year at Rutgers — he was 6-7 1/2 at the NBA Draft Combine — but he can score with anyone.

Duke’s Kon Knueppel was a terrific passer and shooter (40.5 percent on 3s) who is as close to a plug-and-play guy as there is in the lottery. But he’ll have to show he can stay in front of people on defense. Washington State forward Cedric Coward is on a meteoric rise up draft boards, despite playing just six games last season for the Cougars before a shoulder injury ended his season. NBA teams were still swayed by Coward’s work over two seasons at Eastern Washington before he transferred to Pullman, as well as the great workouts both individually and in Chicago. Arizona freshman Carter Bryant came off the bench most of the year for the Wildcats and averaged less than 20 minutes per game, but he showed all the signs of being a future 3-and-D specialist in the NBA.

Ace Bailey | 6-8 wing/forward | 18 years old | Rutgers

College assistant coach No. 3 (his team played Rutgers): I like Ace a lot. I think he’s a pretty one-sided ballplayer. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of desire on defense. I hate criticizing kids on stuff like that when I haven’t coached them. I don’t know what they were asking or what they were trying to get him to do. Maybe he was doing what they were asking him to do. He certainly has the measurables to be a good defender. He’s got good athleticism, he’s got good length, he’s got quickness. He seems to be a pretty smart kid. He’s a hard shot maker, which always worries me in terms of replicating that at that level, ’cause he’s not that strong, and he’s not going to knock guys off their spot. And he’s not going to be the best athlete on the floor, either, anymore.

I love what he could be, (but) there are some things I worry about in terms of being a real dude in the NBA. Ace, I worry about physically, being able to translate, certainly next year. But there’s definitely real potential there. Shoots off either foot, shoots off either hip, shoots off the move, shoots off the bounce. He should probably be a better rebounder. Not much of a playmaker for others, but he’s a scorer.

Western Conference executive No. 1: There (are) questions about how good his feel for the game is, and how locked in he is, and the team was disappointing, and he was a little up and down. But on his game, you could sit there and squint and tell yourself you’re getting some version of Durant. His ability to get to his spot in the midrange, you can’t really alter or block that shot. He’s got a ton of offensive talent. Sometimes, these one-and-done guys, that freshman year just doesn’t click where they are. … I would like them to at least make the NCAA tournament. I mean, you have two top-three picks, and you can’t be one of the top 68 teams? But I don’t know (if) that matters anymore. Anthony Edwards couldn’t do that for Georgia. LaMelo Ball’s team was way below .500 in Australia when he left.

The playmaking, I feel in part is not there. My experience has been while we can get guys slimmer, put weight on, get them stronger, a lot of guys improve their jump shots and everything. But if that (playmaking) is not there, we don’t have a computer chip to insert to get them to do that. … That’s not going to improve. You have to — have to, in almost all cases — bring that to the NBA, or you just don’t have it.

College assistant coach No. 4 (his team played Rutgers):  He is a fun-loving kid who’s always got a smile on his face most of the time. They said he acts like a (kid) sometimes. Tremendous talent, but very young. He had an incredible game against us. He made all kinds of shots. But I’ve seen him disappear in games where he had two or four points. Their team is hard to figure out. They’re going to have the second and third pick in the draft, and they didn’t make the tournament. His player comp is Jabari Smith, who may never be a bona fide starter in the NBA. But you’ve got to remember he’s only (18). He’s got great size. He can really shoot it deep, but his maturity and decision making are very suspect. I’m higher on him than some of the others.

College head coach No. 2 (his team played Rutgers): Has to get stronger. In college, he can play three/four. In the NBA, he has to be a two/three. Tough shot maker. Shot quality might have to improve. Really good shot maker off the bounce.

Western Conference executive No. 2: Is he a talented kid? Yes. But he better get to the right environment. … If he gets in a dysfunctional situation, he could be out of the league in five years.

Kon Knueppel | 6-5 wing/guard | 19 years old | Duke

Eastern Conference scout No. 1: Saw him against Cooper in AAU two years ago. They were both playing on smaller teams. He’s a good shooter, but he knows how to play. He’s not a great athlete, but he knows how to play on the defensive end, too. He doesn’t get taken advantage of a lot. I have a hard (time) thinking of him as a top-10 player. Maybe he is, because he’s safer. Is he better than Aaron Nesmith? No. And Aaron Nesmith is in the right spot (now); he wasn’t initially. You’re picking him to be a knock-down shooter, and I think he can do that. If you put him on the Celtics, he would fit. If he was in Charlotte, would he make a difference? No.

College head coach No. 1 (his team played Duke): He was way better than I thought he was. I saw him a little bit in high school, and he was a good player, but I wondered how that would translate (in college), especially with the athleticism. He really knows how to play. To me, he’s in the same boat as a Gordon Hayward, before Gordon got hurt. He’s better with the ball than you think. … He understands how to move without it. He can put it on the floor a little better than you think. He’s bigger than you think. He’s more athletic than you think. He’s super, super competitive.

He’s not a guy that brings it up all the time, but he can help you initiate some offense. He can play some second-side ball screen stuff. You can run him off stuff, kind of like what Portland used to do with Dame (Lillard) and C.J. McCollum, and then get him in ball screens that way. Because of his size, he can pass it. I think he’s a really, really good basketball player. The thing I would have concerns with him is that’s a different level of athlete up there. Who would he guard up there?

Eastern Conference executive No. 1: He’s going to at least stick his nose in there. When I saw him at Jordan Brand, I told someone, this guy was talking about (2023 Duke commit) T.J. Power, what a great shooter he is. And Kon’s a better shooter than T.J. I told him, “They’ve got Kon Knueppel coming in, and he’s going to take those minutes.”

(Note: Power transferred to Virginia after one season in Durham.)

Cedric Coward | 6-5 wing | 21 years old | Washington State

College head coach No. 3 (his team played Eastern Washington while Coward was there): He was a COVID kid, graduated from high school in 2021. We knew he had already played at Eastern for a year and had modest numbers but made the transition pretty well. I popped on the scout tape, getting ready to play them. First thing I told my staff was, “Guys, this guy might be an NBA player.” His measurables, the way he moves were so smooth and fluid. I just loved him. I had such a man crush on his game. We were fortunate when we competed against them. The way we played defense against their system really helped us when we played them. … I was not surprised at all he started climbing up draft boards the last 16 months. Humble kid. Easy to root for.

When he gets on the floor with more good players around him, more spacing and close-out situations, I think a lot of his college basketball was played in these compartments of post-ups and 3-point shots. He doesn’t seem like a bad ballhandler. I just think there’s a lot more to his game. … He got a lot of layups posting people up with his size. And the turnaround jumper, he’s got that kind of natural, old-school MJ fade to his game. And he’s really become a consistent 3-point shooter. I didn’t think they really featured him like you’d think they’d feature an NBA player. Like Dylan Jones at Weber State, the whole deal ran through him. He had the ball in his hands the whole time. One of the benefits of Cedric being in that system, though, is that he’ll know how to fit into a team. That’s probably one of the things people value about him. He’s a freak in terms of his measurables, and he just fits in with good players.

College assistant coach No. 5 (his team played Eastern Washington while Coward was there): I saw him a ton. We had Dalton Knecht in the league, and Cedric was in the league as a sophomore. He was good. But then that second year, Knecht went to Tennessee. We also had Dylan Jones from Weber State. I think Cedric Coward is better than these guys. … (Coward) can hit you from 3, he can post you up. He worked on his handle and the little things you saw before you played them. They’re running 17s before the game. He had a pro mentality from afar. When you look at his measurables, he’s got long arms. Kind of plays like a pro. His coach at Washington State, they ran a lot of intricate stuff, and he could really pick it up. He could score at all facets of their offense, which was like a kind of five-out deal. I was like, that’s a pro. You could see it. … On the court, he was an SOB. He lets you know about it on the court. When they got in trouble, they put him on the point.

Carter Bryant | 6-7 wing | 19 years old | Arizona

College assistant coach No. 6 (his team played Arizona): We go to Arizona, and we got there two hours before, a little earlier than we usually do. I just watched him go through his routine, and I was like, “Oh, this dude’s a pro.” He’s out there, nobody else out there. One-foot hops. He’s going through it. I was like, this guy’s got a routine to his game. And he was coming off the bench. He plays, whatever, 20 minutes a game. He’s big, good shoulders. You can tell. Obviously, he’s not getting the volume of shots and everything you want, but probably, for his benefit, if he was, he’d probably have gotten exposed a little bit more. So, it was like, OK, this is my role: I catch and shoot shots, I make 3s. For a freshman, it was ideal as it’s gonna get. They didn’t give him a ton, so what he got, he made shots. I’d bet he’s going to be a good pro. He’ll figure it out. He’s got a good base to him. But I do remember, specifically, the routine.

Eastern Conference scout No. 1: He’s tricky. What we knew about him before the season started didn’t change. He’s got a great body. They did him a favor because they played him at four, and he didn’t have to dribble. He’s a good passer, and his rebounding stood out because he had to rebound at the four. But you don’t want him to be a four in the NBA. He can shoot 3s, and he’s a potentially switchable defender. And, he can pass. Maybe he has to play four at the beginning.

Keegan Murray had been in school for five years. We knew more about him. That might be what Carter’s role is. There’s intrigue with him, like there was with Peyton Watson. You have to go with what you know. The analytics people say you look at his per 36s, and they’re unbelievable. But the more he plays, do his weaknesses become more apparent? College coaches aren’t stupid. Some of them may be bad people, but they want to win. If they thought Carter Bryant could help them win, they would play him.

Eastern Conference executive No. 2: More quiet, on the reserved side. But when you watch him play, he does a lot of things that impact winning. Blend player. Not somebody who’s going to break you down like Nique Clifford, but he has the potential to do more. Consistency was an issue coming out of high school. Very willing and aware to do what helps the team. You look at the box score and you say, “This kid’s a first-round pick?” But then you watch him play. His shot’s fluid, especially in spot-up situations. He’s not somebody who’ll create his own shots, at least his first few years in the league. He’s good at relocating to open space. His shot comes out of his hand really well, and the defense is high-level. He moves really well. He’s long; he has a frame that’s going to be able to hold contact. Everybody can use a guy like him.

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McNeeley, one of Flagg’s Montverde teammates, had a solid season (14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds per game) for a UConn team that couldn’t live up to the expectations created by the back-to-back national championship teams that preceded the 2024-25 version. But he’s got suitors. Eighteen-year-old Noa Essengue is one of the few international prospects this year that NBA scouts truly believe can have an impact going forward. He plays at Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany’s Bundesliga with Ben Saraf, one of the top guard prospects in the draft. Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez, a year older than Essengue, has mid- to late-first-round grades from multiple teams.

Illinois’ Will Riley was the Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman. Colorado State’s Nique Clifford was one of the toughest two-way players in college basketball last season. Saint Joseph’s Rasheer Fleming already had the size (6-8 1/4, 232 pounds, 7-5 1/4 wingspan) to play power forward in the pros, but he improved his draft standing this past season by showing he could shoot comfortably from deep (39 percent on 4.5 attempts per game for the Hawks).

Liam McNeeley | 6-7 wing | 19 years old | Connecticut

College assistant coach No. 7 (his team played UConn): I’m not as high on him as most people are. I was talking to somebody and one of the scouts came and I was like, “I don’t know.” He said, “Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re saying.” He’s a little heavy-legged. I don’t know who he’s guarding. He was the guy we went at defensively. We wanted to try and attack him defensively. I like Knueppel better than him. I know he’s got great size and is skilled. I just didn’t see it like that. He’s a good player, but I didn’t think he was a lottery pick.

College assistant coach No. 8 (his team played UConn): His size is terrific. Kind of an old-school senior (type of) player, not afraid to take a shot, make a shot and bark at the bench. For a young kid, he had that — more than I anticipated. I expected more of that from a guy like Alex Karaban, who’s seasoned, a national champion, all of that stuff. But (McNeeley) had a lot of that pretty early on, and that was impressive.

His size is real. He’s tall and long. I was most impressed with the brass … he showed, being so young, so early in his conference season. He was the real deal in that regard. His playmaking ability at his size is terrific. He can see reads and make passes over people. His combination of size, playmaking ability, shooting and bravado for such a young player, I was incredibly impressed with that. Stephon Castle, the year before, he didn’t even really have that. We dared Castle to make 3s. He was struggling to shoot it. … McNeeley, it was the complete opposite. He was almost like, this is my s— from the jump ball. I was blown away by that.

He was fine (defensively). We tried to pick on him with some off-ball stuff, and he tried. He had some of your normal freshman deficiencies: all the size and length, but he’s not terribly strong. He’s competitive, so it’s not for a lack of trying. He’s not shying away from bar fights, but he’s not winning many.

Eastern Conference executive No. 2: UConn didn’t have a true point guard this year, so they needed him to play in a little more pick-and-roll than he’s probably comfortable with. I think it was a challenge for him … playing with four other first-round picks. It was tough in that type of offense they run. He was coming off screens, cutting and then coming off secondary pick-and-rolls. It was an adjustment, but he showed he could run some second-side stuff. Elite 3-point shooter. His 3-point percentage this year (.317) won’t show it, but at Montverde, he shot 45 percent from 3. The 3-point percentage you saw at UConn, you might as well throw that out. He’s a lot better than what he shot this year.

Noa Essengue | 6-10 forward | 18 years old | Ratiopharm Ulm

Eastern Conference executive No. 3: He’s coming on real strong. They’re going to play deep into the playoffs, and he has a really, really good role. He’s shooting the ball better. The getting to the rim and stuff like that, he’s been good at that. He has some pretty freakish dimensions. He has a bunch of kids that he grew up playing with, and they’re all having success. Arguably, he’s more talented than them. He’s more talented than (Zaccharie) Risacher. If you had those guys in a gym together, Noa’s more talented. He does things and you’re like, damn, he’s like Scottie Pippen. It’ll be a team like Washington that’s patient and can wait, but in a year or two, people are gonna be like, “He went, what? Nine? Ten?”

He actually has a decent feel. He can attack a closeout and get to the rim, and he can make an open shot. You can hide him as your fifth-best player in a starting lineup. He can guard his yard, and at the other end, you can’t not guard him. He’ll cut and he’ll put it on your head. And if you don’t guard him, he can make a catch-and-shoot shot. He’s kind of safe in the way that he’s not gonna bust. His worst-case scenario, he’s a long 3-and-D guy that has a good feel to pass the ball and cut. The upside is, when the ball skills start to come and the defense starts to come … once he puts on weight, he’ll be able to guard bigs. … Low key, he was talking s— (at Ratiopharm). His buddy (guard Ben Saraf) was struggling. He was, like, let me help you out with this. These kids started coming at him, and he was like, “Nah, you can’t get your shot off against me.” He’s long, he has quick feet. If his mentality is right, he comes over to the NBA and looks around and starts to measure himself and goes, “I’m better than a lot of these MFs.” If he has that mentality, be careful with him.

Eastern Conference executive No. 4: He’s playing better at home in the playoffs than on the road. Long, athletic, can run. He’s been, for lack of a better term, very French over the years, but he’s playing with more effort. I’ve just seen too many times him not impacting the game like he should. Somebody is going to take him and bet on the upside. He can impact the game just by running the floor. I just can’t trust that he’s going to play hard. All of a sudden, we’re two months out from the draft, and he starts playing great.

Western Conference executive No. 3: The wild card of the draft. Long wingspan, high motor. Needs to develop his body. Kid has some (Pippen) in him. He’s my wild card in this draft. Can go anywhere from (No.) 5 to 15, I think. Hard worker. Will develop an offensive game eventually because of how dedicated he is.  

Will Riley | 6-7 wing | 19 years old | Illinois

Western Conference scout No. 2: He’s an upside guy. He’s the quintessential wing for this league. Pretty athletic, shoots it (well). Not much of a ballhandler yet, but certainly has the upside. Comparable to (Atlanta’s Jalen) Johnson. I think he can do that. Give him a year or two.

College assistant coach No. 9 (his team played Illinois): Came on at the end of the year. One of the biggest floppers in the league. Sticks his legs out like he got shot on every attempt. I think he’s going to be a good role player, but he’s so young. He’s got to fill out and grow into his body and get a little tougher. Deep, deep shooter. Does a good job when given angles. He can get to the rim; he’s just not the toughest bear in the woods right now.

Nique Clifford | 6-5 wing | 23 years old | Colorado State

College head coach No. 4 (his team played Colorado State): I’m a big fan. To me, he’s a no-brainer, because he really guards at a high level. Clifford’s got some strength to him. In our league, if you looked at two-way guys, he was the best in our league. (New Mexico guard Donovan) Dent was the best player. (Clifford) guards the best player on the other team, and then he gets 19, 20 (points) a game. Once he put it on the floor, there’s not too many guards you had to come at off the bounce. We really tried to take things away once he bounced it, but that complicated because he really can pass the ball. Can post guards. Pretty good finisher.

College head coach No. 5 (his team played Colorado State): When we played them, he didn’t get much done on us. We doubled everything in the post. He wasn’t as efficient as I thought he would be. I thought he was just OK. People say first round … I didn’t see that.

Eastern Conference scout No. 1: It’s hard for me to stand on the table for him, but he had an incredibly big load this year. He performed with all those expectations and needs. He shot it well on 3s. I don’t think he’s going to be a catch-and-shoot guy. He’s a good defender. He’s the guy that could disappear, or the guy who could be a 10-year pro. I don’t know. … He’s a good athlete. He’s tougher than Chandler Hutchison, but those are the vibes I get. He played the four, and he needs to be a three. Can he can create shots? I don’t think so.

Eastern Conference executive No. 2: He’s one of the older guys that’s really helped his draft stock. This year, he put the whole team, the whole school, on his back. He carried a heavy load. Last year, he played with Isaiah Stevens. He played a little more off the ball. He didn’t get as many pick-and-roll reps. He played one through four offensively. Really talented kid. He can score from all three levels. He got stronger. He didn’t have the best showing last year at the combine, and my man just put his head down and worked. He worked on his body; he worked on his game. You see guys like Podz (Golden State’s Brandin Podziemski) go to different schools and flourish. It took him a little longer. The (playmaking) approach was always there. I just think the game slowed down. His passing is really high-level from the inside out. It just clicked for him. They let him play through mistakes. They had no one else at his level that could do what he could do. He’ll guard. He’s strong, but he’s 6-5 without shoes. The good thing about him (defensively) is that the kid’s tough. He doesn’t back down.

Hugo González | 6-6 wing/forward | 19 years old | Real Madrid

Eastern Conference executive No. 3: People are not really gonna get a chance to see him, because Real Madrid is going to play really meaningful games, and it’s going to be hard to put him out there. Catch-and-shoot guy who can guard his position a little bit. Good athlete for a Euro, but when you compare him with Americans … he’s fine. He’s not a non-athlete; it’s just that people make a big deal of his athleticism over in Europe, and if you compare him to American kids, he’s just a guy. He’s just a regular good athlete. His shooting has improved, but it’s not where it really needs to be. He probably needs to improve that part of his game.

Solid kid. His family is tied to the Real program, so he’s grown up in that club. Pedigree, professional. All of those things, he’s rock solid. A big wing shooter that will be able to guard and be able to attack a closeout and finish. I don’t think he’s a star guy; I think he’s a nice rotation player. Hugo has an aggressive mindset and will try to dunk on you. Competitive kid overall.

Rasheer Fleming | 6-8 forward | 20 years old | Saint Joseph’s

College head coach No. 6 (his team played Saint Joseph’s): Young for his grade. His shooting, it really impressed me — not just his shooting, but his movement shooting. If there was any criticism, it’s his physicality and the way he looks. He plays like more of a skill guy. If you look at his rebounding and his 30 work numbers, he may have it in him. It’s not the way they played, necessarily. They’re asking him to do it, but not demanding him to do it. He looks like he belongs on Houston’s team, but he doesn’t play like that. Bump screens, and he just buried 3s against us. You take his body and his shooting, and the answer’s yes.

College head coach No. 7 (his team played Saint Joseph’s): Honestly, their guards were our primary concern. Their two guards are just so dynamic. … Fleming’s ability at his size to shoot the ball — and he has such a big body — he was a tough matchup. With the spacing they had, you had to play him one-on-one. Their system allowed the NBA scouts to see what the transition would be like for him. He was able to showcase his ability to shoot. His first year, he really wasn’t on the scouting report. You say he’s a freshman and he’s going to be good, but how good? By the time he became a sophomore and a junior, you knew he was there. Our focus on him was if we could take away the catch-and-shoot, take away the straight line drives, we’d have success. He had games against us when he scored well, but we had success against their team. For me, I think his skill set will translate to the next level. He’s big, he’s physical, and at his size, he can shoot the ball. I think he’ll have to be a better defender, just understanding he’s playing against the best players in the world now. He’s got the tools to do it; he has to buy into it, though.

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Late first-round to early second-round prospects start with North Carolina’s Drake Powell, who impressed scouts with his willingness to defend point guards and other smalls for the Tar Heels throughout the season. France’s Noah Penda projects as a defensive wing who’ll need to improve his shot. Duke’s Sion James took on a secondary role after transferring from Tulane and wound up making the ACC All-Defensive team. Arkansas’ Adou Thiero continued to show his defensive chops for the Razorbacks after playing two seasons at Kentucky.

Rick Pitino infamously benched his star wing RJ Luis in the final minutes of St. John’s second-round NCAA tournament loss to Arkansas, but Luis still had a great season, winning Big East Player of the Year and consensus All-American honors. Georgetown’s Micah Peavy, Nevada’s Kobe Sanders and Australian forward Alex Touhey all have a chance to hear their names called on the second day of the draft.

Drake Powell | 6-5 wing | 19 years old | North Carolina

College head coach No. 1 (his team played North Carolina): I really like him as a long-term guy. By the second time we played them, to see how much better he got, he really bought into the role of being a defensive guy. They put him on our (two) best players. He was difficult to score on. For a young guy to understand that and take on that challenge speaks volumes. Offensively, he was a catch-and-shoot guy. A straight-line driver, no wiggle in his game. He has to improve that. But long term, as a cutter, a slasher, he seems like a really good dude. With the rep he had coming out of high school, McDonald’s and all that, to embrace the defensive role says a lot.

College assistant coach No. 10: Drake’s going to be a good player; he may not be a good player tomorrow. He’s not going to play in a playoff game. But in two years, that’s all they do up there — player development, whether it’s in the G League or not. To me, he looks like one of those guys at Oklahoma City. He fits their model. I think he can be 3-and-D, and I think he can be good with the ball. He did it in high school. He’s got to improve his ability to shoot and get the rim, be a foul magnet so he can stay on the floor. Defensively, he’s got a chance to be special. He’s rangy. If he drives, if someone levels him off, he’s more liable to take a side step back and go for a middy (jumper). He kind of settles for that.

Noah Penda | 6-7 forward | 20 years old | Le Mans

Eastern Conference executive No. 3: Unique player. Almost like a Draymond — not Draymond’s attitude, but the mentality. Guards everybody. He’s tough. Throws people around. Will get physical with people. Very OK with confrontation. He doesn’t talk, but he’ll just stand there and stare at you and keep coming. If people get offended by how hard he plays, he enjoys it. He’s a defensive playmaker. He’s improved offensively. He’ll attack the basket off the bounce. He’s kind of a tweener. He’s shooting a lot better now. He’ll fit into that three/four, four/three role that’s a Swiss Army knife. Winner.

Plays very hard, someone you’d want on your roster. I don’t know if the talent justifies a first-round pick, but I could see him being a steal in the early second. He could be like the kid (Toumani) Camara in Portland. He’s improved his body. He was chunky, a little round, and now he’s come into his man’s body. This year, he’s figured it out. He has an NBA role.

Western Conference executive No. 3: Serviceable NBA player at best, a Tony Allen type. Not a great shooter but plays hard. Strong build, good ball IQ, high motor. Will be good on a veteran team.

Sion James | 6-5 guard/wing | 22 years old | Duke

College head coach No. 1 (his team played Duke): One of the things they told me when we played them that I thought was unbelievable was that one of the reasons he wanted to go to Duke when he left Tulane — and they were recruiting him — was that he wanted to show he could play with other really good players. He knew if he was going to make the NBA, it was going to be in a certain role: defensive guy first and things like that. He’s built like a linebacker. He has a competitive spirit: tough, can guard any position, because he’s built like that. He can guard post guys, he can guard perimeter guys. He scored at Tulane; he didn’t have to (at Duke). I think he will become a better shooter.

Built like Lu Dort. If you looked at Dort at Arizona State, I don’t know how well he shot the ball. I think guys will shoot better once they get to the league, because they’ll work. … It shows a maturity that not many young people have. He’s able to think about things in a different way. If I’m in a front office, those are all the things I’m looking at. You look at the measurements and the athleticism and all that, which he has at the top level, but (then) you look at the thought process and the mindset, things like that.

College assistant coach No. 2 (his team played Duke): He doesn’t shoot it great, but he makes the ones he shoots. He made you pay. He was the one you’d leave for when Cooper or Knueppel drives, and he made you pay. He probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

Adou Thiero | 6-6 wing | 21 years old | Arkansas

Western Conference scout No. 1: I saw him when he was 6-5 at Kentucky, at the pro day. Then he grew … He’s a pit bull. He can defend his ass off. He can guard ones, twos, threes and fours. And now his shot has got there. He just got hurt. That’s all. Once he gets healthy, you wait. And everybody’s got him sliding out of the first round. That boy’s a first-round talent. Love him. This dude works, at both ends of the court. And he’s tough.

RJ Luis  | 6-6 wing | 22 years old | St. John’s

College assistant coach No. 8 (his team played St. John’s): Luis actually started shooting 3s and making them at a good clip. Once that happened, St. John’s was unbeatable. … His size is real. His athleticism is real. I think (Rick) Pitino urged him to keep shooting, to keep defenses honest, and he started doing that. He started making them toward the back end of Big East play. Their personnel was just so well-suited to how Pitino coaches, to their scheme. The switching, the hard hedging with (Zuby) Ejiofor. They were just impossible to play against, and Luis was a big reason why.

They had a five who could switch, and then Luis could guard the other team’s best perimeter player. He would smother guys. … Long and aggressive. People remember Pitino sitting him in the tournament, but I honestly think that’s a blip on the radar and was kind of overtalked about. He was one of my favorite players, because he was just so good defensively. Once he started making shots, I was like, all right, he’s a certified pro. He’s the best player in the league, and he’s a certified pro.

Micah Peavy | 6-6 wing | 23 years old | Georgetown

College assistant coach No. 8 (his team played Georgetown): He was as impressive a wing as anyone in our league. Athleticism is real. Size is real. Tough, can score. He can get out in transition. Defensively is where we thought he was a menace. Peavy’s a legit athlete. If (center Thomas) Sorber had stayed healthy and the peripheral players been a little better, they would have had a monster team. Malik Mack was just figuring it out. Legitimately good chasing and in hand-to-hand combat, or the long post or whatever it may be. He won’t get bullied in the post. I’m surprised he isn’t a first-round pick, to be honest with you.

Kobe Sanders | 6-7 wing | 23 years old | Nevada

Western Conference scout No. 1: He was good in Chicago before he got shut down (with an ankle injury). He was great at Portsmouth, and he was great at the conference tournament. He can pass that ball, his shot is coming, and he plays the right way. He’s an old-school guard. He played great — and people now are saying, “Well, I don’t know.” They don’t believe what they see sometimes. And there’s no wrong answer. You see it.

Alex Toohey | 6-7 wing/forward | 21 years old | Sydney Kings

Eastern Conference executive No. 3: An IQ guy. He has improved as a shooter, which was what he really needed to do. Extremely smart player. People aren’t going to be head over heels for him in the draft, but someone will get him on their roster, and he’ll probably outplay his draft slot. If someone gets him in the 40s, he’s going to look like, “Why wasn’t he a first-round pick?” He’s been playing with men. He’s shooting it better, and he’s really smart. Athletically, you want a little bit more, but he’s going to make up for it with IQ.

(Top photo of Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg: Lance King / Getty Images)