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Orlando Magic 2022 NBA Draft: 3 rising, 3 falling after the NCAA Tournament

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Ochai Agbaji and Kansas celebrated a national championship and made a statement ahead of the NBA Draft. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Ochai Agbaji and Kansas celebrated a national championship and made a statement ahead of the NBA Draft. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /
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Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga Bulldogs
Chet Holmgren will be at the center of a ton of debates ahead of the NBA Draft process. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

2022 NBA Draft: 3 Rising and 3 Falling after the NCAA Tournament

Falling: Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga

This is not an NBA Draft class that has a ton of generational talent. This is not a class the league has been waiting for.

But there is one player who has the potential to be a truly unique player and someone who is going to be at the center of every debate in this draft.

At this point, you either believe in Chet Holmgren or you do not. You either see how he could be a generational talent with his ball-handling and shooting at 7-feet tall or you think he is too rail-thin at 195 pounds to take the pounding that will come in the NBA.

Everyone is going to see what they want to see in Holmgren. Just be prepared for heated debates in the lead-up to the draft on what Holmgren will be able to do when he hits the league.

Those who like Holmgren saw what they wanted to see in Gonzaga’s NCAA Tournament run.

He averaged 13.0 points, 13.3 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 58.6-percent from the floor in three games. Holmgren was a presence in the paint, able to block shots and grab rebounds. His scoring was fine, even if he struggled from deep.

Those who dislike Holmgren also saw why they dislike him during the tournament too.

Holmgren was pushed off the block a ton and struggled against physical defenses. Despite the block numbers, teams were able to play him off the floor by getting him into foul trouble. Maybe that is because college officiating is just bad, but Holmgren’s impact was blunted by his lack of physicality at times.

And his 3-point shooting, part of what will separate him from his peers and keep him in the league as he tries to add some strength in NBA weight training programs, did not deliver for the Bulldogs. It quieted his offense to just putbacks. Then again, Gonzaga’s guards were not quite impactful this year.

Holmgren will very much be in the eye of the beholder. But those questions are only going to get louder. Holmgren is going to land somewhere. And the team that gets him will need a big (like say, Wendell Carter) to be the physical backstop around him. They will need some patience to develop him.

The issue should not be whether Holmgren can play. But the question that still needs to be answered is how he will hold up in the long run. The tournament only continued to raise those questions.