One of the best NBA draft analysts, in my opinion, is Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. His mock draft for The Athletic is now in its fifth iteration as we continue to move towards a draft that might happen in June, at least that is the current plan. Michigan State has three draft-eligible players in this year’s draft and Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman were both drafted in the 2nd Round of Sam Vecenie’s latest mock draft.
While I highly recommend you get a subscription to The Athletic and read the mock draft yourself, here is where each player ended up:
- PG Cassius Winston drafted in Round 2 with pick 34 by the Philadelphia 76ers.
- F Xavier Tillman drafted in Round 2 with pick 37 by the Washington Wizards.
So, this is an interesting outcome for the Spartans in the draft. First of all, Aaron Henry isn’t listed, which, if he isn’t currently being highly touted as a draft prospect could factor into his decision to pull out of the draft to head back to MSU for another season.
The 76ers are an interesting landing spot for Cassius. The team doesn’t have a traditional point guard on the roster and instead uses Ben Simmons as their primary ball-handler along with running the offense through Joel Embiid. The Sixers are in “win now” mode so drafting someone like Winston makes a lot of sense. He would also walk into the season as one of their best shooters.
Xavier Tillman going to the Wizards is similarly interesting to me. Of course, he would have to contend with former Michigan rival Mo Wagner for minutes at the PF/C position. While the Wizards were pretty bad last year, I suspect that if John Wall is healthy they will want to win some games with him and Beal, and Tillman is another player, like Winston, who will be able to contribute positively at the next level. One interesting note from the Vecenie piece was that he said that Tillman should be a ten-year starter in the league, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.
