2018 NBA Draft: 5 under-the-radar prospects at center

1. Mitchell Robinson, N/A

Robinson was always going to fly under the radar, as a commitment to Western Kentucky set him up for limited exposure on a national scale. His decision to leave school and take a year off for draft preparation, however, could make him one of the bigger question marks come 2018.

Physically, Robinson has all the tools you’d want in a modern center. He’s mobile, springy and stands around 7’1” with a 7’4” wingspan, which in and of itself is enough to give him a high defensive ceiling. He’s also a historically great rebounder at the high school level, which gives him a decent two-way floor to build off of moving forward.

Aside from his defensive potential, however, Robinson has a lot left to prove. He never really found himself offensively, and won’t have the opportunity to do so at the collegiate level. A full year of working on his game gives him some time to muster a workable jumper and better his touch around the rim, but a good chunk of his draft stock will boil down to how well he performs in individual and team-based workouts next summer.

Robinson has shown flashes of a mid-range jumper in the past, but it’s still a ways away from becoming a reliable part of his game. He still has value as an easy lob target and bouncy finisher at the rim, but his potential is capped if he doesn’t expand his game any further.

Next: 5 best center prospects in the 2018 NBA Draft

Being somebody who has the basic tool kit needed to find NBA success, there’s a lot to like about Robinson moving forward — enough to make him a top-five prospect at his position. His name won’t be mentioned nearly as much as others once the season gets underway, though, which makes monitoring his progress all the more important.