This year's NBA Draft is said to be the weakest since the Cleveland Cavaliers wasted the No. 1 overall pick on Anthony Bennett. There are no consensus awards or catchy tank phrases. The Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards, and Portland Trail Blazers are all competing to see who can ruin the season in the worst way. But there's one overlooked storyline that hasn't happened in 50 years.
If Dalton Knecht and Reed Shepard are selected in the top five, it would be the first time two white Americans have been selected in the first five since Bill Walton and Bobby Jones in 1974.
According to NBADraft.net, Best source for mock drafts without paywalls, Knecht and Shepard are the fourth and fifth best prospects in this player pool. The former just led Tennessee to its first regular-season SEC sweep since 2008, and the latter, like many unassuming ball handlers, has stolen the hearts of Kentucky fans around the world. (Why certain Wildcat believers jumped on Shepard's jock is none of my business. You know there are plenty of people in the Bluegrass State who do so for reasons that border on white supremacy.)
Knecht is a fifth-year player who spent two years at Northeastern Junior College in Colorado, then transferred to Northern Colorado for two more seasons and played his final season at UT's Rick Barnes. (Long live the transfer portal!) He's a 6-foot-6 guard from Fargo, North Dakota, and his stock has risen after a late growth spurt.
He currently scores 20 points per game on the No. 4 team in the nation, and a solid performance in the conference tournament could lead the Volantes to the No. 1 seed in the Big Dance. I'm not going to compare players on a white-on-white basis, so think of the poorest guy, Glenn Robinson. He's a great shooter/scorer and athletic, but he doesn't wow or stop many on the other side of the court.
Shepard is a wild card for me. That's because he's a true freshman and Kentucky product who appears to be fulfilling his wildest dreams in Lexington despite coming off the bench. Considering what he declared, he should. Because if he's expected to be in the top 10, he has to be. Otherwise, like Tyler Handsborough, he risks overstaying his welcome on his way to the back end of the lottery.
If Shepard were to take the long shot and forgo the rest of his career in Big Blue, he would join players like Zach and a handful of high-profile non-college lottery picks. He will be one of the players. LaVine, Russell Westbrook, Devin Booker, Marvin Williams. At 6 feet 3 inches tall, he is definitely the shortest.
Shepard does everything well, posting shooting splits of 53/51/83 and averaging 2.5 steals per game. Guards DJ Wagner and Rob Dillingham received more attention entering the season, but Shepard leads that trio in minutes, assists and rebounds per game. Although Dillingham scores more points per shot (15.1 points per night on his 11 shots), he is much less efficient than Shepard (he has 12 points on 7 attempts).
The caveat to everything I'm saying is that this draft sucks, and the only sources I've found that have this pair in the top five are websites ending in .net, and In other words, Knecht and Shepard will be rotation players or sixth men this year. For example, would you trust them more than the members of this year's G League Ignite? Yes. Do they have a better side? No, but Ignite makes players develop worse habits than John Calipari, so that's concerning.
Either way, this is a fun story for people who ride with Kevin Love, Rick Smits, Tom Chambers, etc. for reasons other than „Let's restore white status in basketball.“ Maybe Cooper Flagg will follow suit next year, becoming the first white American No. 1 overall pick since Kent Benson in 1977 and ushering in a resurgence of white American hoopers.