Kris Joseph has been a stellar player for the Orange for the last three years after coming out of his proverbial basketball shell to be one of the co-captains of the last two Syracuse teams. But his Draft stock seems to have been taking a hit in the last season.
Why is that?
As a person that has watched a fair share of Joseph in the last few years at Syracuse, I can't say anything other than he is a very solid player. And that may be the reason why - he's a solid player.
In a recent story that I found that talks about Joseph and his next level projection, the story makes a case for him being nothing more than a role player in the NBA. When I found it, I was initially skeptical of the headline but as I kept reading I began to think about the games I've seen and the boxscores I've read. There was nothing that stood out to me as his signature "thing". He wasn't a huge point scorer regularly, he didn't dominate the glass, he wasn't a dime dropping machine, nor was he a deft long range bomber. He was exactly as I thought he was - solid.
But is that his destiny because he's not the most impressive in one or two facets of the game?
It's a little hard to say right now. At the present time, Draft Express have Joseph listed as the 26th pick in the second round and incidentally heading to Toronto. That's a far cry to the mid first round that he was garnering three years ago when he had that breakout NCAA Tournament performance but that is not entirely on Joseph. The players in this Draft are very good across the board and at the win position, there will easily be ten players that will not be chosen who are of equal ability as him.
We'll have to wait and see what transpires tonight but in the precarious position of the fifth last pick in the entire Draft right now is not looking good for a guaranteed contract in the fall.