2019 NBA Draft: Where Are They Now?

Two years ago no one could have predicted what the world would be going through right now, the same could be said about the draft class of 2019. The draft was dubbed the “Zion” draft, because of the amount of hype around Zion Williams out of Duke, unseen since Lebron James from St. Vincent Mary highschool declared for the draft in 2003. Though, two years later and a whole rookie season past them, how are each of the lottery picks of 2019? Where do they stand now? Have they lived up to the hype or have they been added to the bust list? Let’s start from the bottom up. First up, Romeo Langford. Langford had a very mundane rookie season as for the most he was either injured or putting up only 2.5 points per eleven minutes. The Celtics eventually opted for the young Robot “time lord” Williams to take Romeo Langfords position backup center position. As of now Langford is injured and is expected to make his return soon. Next the bucket himself, Tyler Herro. Oh how the Heat struck gold on this pick. His rookie season was nothing less than a spectacle to watch. From last second game-winners to being the only rookie to put up 37 points in 36 minutes type numbers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. He earned All-Rookie 2nd team honors. Currently he’s been an amazing off the bench player for the Heat averaging 15 points on 33% 3-pt shooting. His potential is off the roof and everyone will be in anticipation to see the Heat’s playoff Herro do what he does best this playoffs. Another member of the 2019-2020 All-Rookie 2nd team was Pj Washington. Pj had a more than solid rookie year averaging 12 points, 3 assist, and 5 rebounds a game. The Hornets were very keen on improving his “In-the-paint” abilities as they encouraged him to be a board crashing power-forward. Well he listened, and it paid off, his rookie season was very promising. Today, a year later his stats have improved to what the Hornets want to see from him. 12 points, one block, one steal, three assists, and six rebounds shows how much he improved his defensive and big forward game in one year. Even shooting 50%, there’s a reason he still gets the same amount of minutes even though Miles Bridges is the star big forward for the Hornets. Moving on, we have Cameron Johnson. Being twenty-four years old when he was drafted, Cam was one of the oldest prospects in his draft. Cam didn’t live up to the hype for being a 11th pick. He only averaged 8 points on below average fg%. He impact wasn’t truly felt during his rookie season. Moving into this season with the addition of Chris Paul onto the Suns team, Cam wanted to get better. While he hasn’t done anything dramatically different, Cam is still a big bench role in helping the Suns be the 5th best team in the league. Another Cam would be Cam Reddish. Cam Reddish, Killer Cam came into the league as something the Hawks needed, a 3 & D small-forward. That’s just what they received as Cam averaged 10 points and 1 steal. He didn’t live up to the potential but was really solid. This season he’s averaging the same stats and is still a solid 3 & D guy. He’s value to the team is being the grit and grind player they desperately need. Another hyped pick was Rui Hachimura from Gonzaga. Rui came into the league as a mid-range shooting big. His rookie season was pretty good, he averaged 13 points on 46% shooting. He earned all-NBA rookie second team for his contributions. Today, Rui is on a talented Wizards team who has trouble winning games. Rui starts for the team and is averaging the same points. His game needs a lot more sculpting as he isn't aggressive enough for his size and should perfect his playmaking abilities to adhere to the Wizards playbook. Next up we have Jaxon Hayes. Hayes’s rookie season wasn’t anything special, only averaging 7 points and 4 rebounds, but shooting 67% from the field showed he knows how to utilize his seven-foot abilities. This year, because of less minutes, he took a dip in points per game with 5. However, his fg% has increased to 73%, which technically leads the league. His flashy highlights, like ending Reggie Jackson’s career on a poster dunk, shows he was both an efficient and fun player for the Pelicans. When Coby White was drafted, Bulls fans celebrated in hopes that their plight of a good point-guard was solved. White averaged 13 points as a back-up point-guard in his rookie seasons and earned all-NBA rookie second team. The rookie seasons impressed the coaching staff enough to put him into the starting role for his second season. This gave both good and bad news. Good news: White has proved to be an all around scorer as he averaged 15 points. Bad News: he’s in no way a point guard. He functions much more like an iso-shooting guard as he can put the defender on an island and get a bucket. White does average 5 assists this season which is impressive, but it's really inflated because he’s getting so thirty-two minutes. His playstyle is not what the Bulls need in terms of a point-guard. From Texas Tech, Jarrett Culver is our next analysis. Jarrett Culver had a average stat line for a being a rookie with 10 points and 4 rebounds, though what truly impressed people was his effort he gave on both defense and training his ethinic. At a young age he gained high respect from his temated by being a quiet observer and worker. As his points went down so did his stats. At the moment he has a sprained ankle and is almost out of recovery. He has a lot of potential; on the right team Culver could be shaped into a good finishing guard. Unfortunately he plays for the worst team in the league at the moment: Minnesota Timberwolves. Now, the other half of the Sexland duo, Darius Garland, had an ok rookie season. Averaging 13 points and 4 assists he only downside was his fg% at 40% in 30 minutes of playing time. His talent as a point guard was definitely tapped into by the Cavaliers. This season the Cavaliers staff pushed their trust into Garland and gave him and Sexton the keys to running the offense, and it worked. Garland now averages 16 points, 6 assists, and 1 steal per game. He also improved his fg% to 46%. His improvement is amazing, and from here it is seeming to only go up. Him and Sexton will truly be the cornerstones of this franchise in years to come. Being the 4th pick cones with a lot of expectations, De’Andre Hunter set out to live up to those expectations. Has a similar rookie season to Garland as he averaged 12 points & 5 rebounds on 41% from the field. Although De’Andre Hunter was not satisfied after no being named to a rookie team. Hunter truly generated a lot of improvement this season. Now averaging 17 points, 2 assists, 5 rebounds, & a fg% of 50% is astonishing improvement for transitioning out of your rookie season. Though getting injured early this season with a right knee, those 18 games gave hope to Atlanta fans that he can become the amazing defending slasher, with a nice jumpshot, that they drafted him for. Now going into the top three picks we have the third pick RJ Barret. It’s honestly confusing why he didn’t make an all-NBA rookie team when he averaged 14 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, and 1 steal as a shooting-guard. Past the disrespect, RJ Barret and the New York Knicks came out to the 2020-2021 NBA season looking to make a name for themselves. Boy oh boy did they ever. The Kincks surprised the entrie NBA fan base after Julius Randle started playing at a MVP level and the Knicks started actually winning. The Maple Mamba is averaging 17 points, 3 assists, & 6 rebounds and acting as the second scoring option for a 6th seed team. Now we move onto the Rookie of the Year himself, the most explosive point-guard we’ve seen since Derrick Rose, the one and only Ja Morant. Ja of course a historic rookie season that we all know, which could serve as its own blog later one, as he matched many rookied records set by Lebron, Jordan, and more. After nearly winning the Rookie of the Year award unanimously (missing it by one vote), Ja was hungry for more. Well, if his rookie season wasn;t enough to prove to you how special this kid is, let me show you his stats from some of the first games of this season. (Game 1) 44 points 9 assists, (Game 2) 28 points, 7 assists, (Game 3) got injured (ankle). This man wasn’t on fire, he was the whole flame at the start of the season. Unfortunately, his injury slowed him down for a whole month. After coming back he’s been averaging a solid 20 points and 7 assists per game, and the path towards where he was at the beginning of the season is already showing. From 360 layups to legit jumping on anyone not scared to put them on his collection of posters, Ja Morant is the future. Hey, if we are talking about the future, let’s point to the kid who’s commonly referred to as the next Lebron and the face of the upcoming generation of NBA players. The hyped up big man himself, Zion Williamson. Coming out of Duke, Zion had enough highlight reels to land himself as the first pick of the 2019-2020 draft. He was injured for most of the first half of the season, but eventually he came back for a stretch of twenty-four games before the season was cancelled. In that stretch he averaged 22 points and proved to a lot of people that he was not only some flashy dunking big forward, he actually displayed his good three skills. His defense was only very polished as utilized his superhuman strength to bully people in the paint. He earned all-NBA rookie first team and put people on the edge of their seats to see what he could do fully healthy in a starting role for a whole season. In my opinion, Zion is living up to the hype. He’s averaging 25 points, 7 assists, and 61% from the field to be 5th in fg% among all players. He’s an awesome play with a lot of skill and some slash in his game too. People may compare him to Lebron, but he’s much more than that. He is one of a kind and his game will continue to be polished through and through till he becomes the superstar that he almost already is. After making the all-star team and putting a few people on some mean posters, Zion Williamson is the next big thing.