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This player will be the second pick in the 2023 NBA Draft

By Donald Hamilton

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 29: NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during the 2021 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center on July 29, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 29: NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during the 2021 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center on July 29, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images) /
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With the Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, the college basketball world now has the spotlight as conference tournament play and March Madness inch closer and closer with each passing day. With the draft a little over four months away, one player who has helped his stock skyrocket on NBA mock drafts is Alabama forward Brandon Miller.

Miller is currently slated by the NBA Draft Room as the No. 3 overall pick for the San Antonio Spurs to play for Gregg Popovich. Miller is a little older than most true freshmen, who are already 20 years old. The only two players slotted ahead of him in the mock draft are NBA G-League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson at No. 2, and the Metropolitan 92’s generational 7’4 freak of nature Victor Wenbayama, locked in at No. 1, who is considered a “once in a lifetime” prospect.

Miller is the ideal wing for the modern NBA; he has great size at 6-foot-9, weighs around 200 pounds, and has long arms. He is an elite scorer and shooter, averaging 18.8 points per game on 46% shooting from the field and a staggering 42% from three-point range against elite competition in the SEC Conference.

Most NBA Draft pundits have Henderson as the favorite to go No. 2 in the draft, but Miller’s size, ability to shoot and score, and potential as a wing defender make for a very enticing package that’ll be hard to pass up for most NBA GMs. He has had some virtuoso performances this college basketball season, whether it was the back-to-back 30-point performances against the LSU Tigers and Vanderbilt Commodores in January or the 36-point outing he displayed on December 17 against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in a 100-96 loss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Z1abBtfXA

Miller can also play above the rim and is very athletic, considering most don’t view him as an elite athlete. He has a compelling case, especially since Henderson has had some injury concerns as of late and will probably cause some GMs to be weary of a freakishly athletic point guard who plays above the rim a lot and takes a lot of beatings due to his downhill ability with his elite burst.

Alabama is currently 22-3 overall and undefeated in conference play at 12-0, ahead of teams such as Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas A&M, to name a few, who are all having tremendous seasons. Miller has proven he can help contribute to winning, helping improve Alabama’s record from last year, which was (19-14) and (9-9) in conference play.

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It’s going to be an interesting debate in the war rooms come Draft night if Miller continues to play at the level he’s playing, as he’s also in the running for the Julius Erving Award, which is given to the best small forward in the country. With his play this season against college basketball’s best, he has made a case for why Henderson shouldn’t be locked in as the presumptive No. 2 pick and has now put his name in the conversation for the top three.