I had the opportunity yesterday to watch Kansas play Oklahoma State in a wonderful basketball game and I got to see who is assuredly a very strong candidate to be the number one draft pick in the upcoming NBA draft if he chooses to leave college after this year.

It’s probably not the player you are thinking of either.  While Andrew Wiggins has been spectacular at times this season, he isn’t the player I am referring to. It’s not even Marcus Smart who is a dynamic play maker and do everything guard for the top ten Cowboys.

The player I am talking about was a reserve for the Jayhawks early in the season but has earned much more time and a starting role because of his remarkable physical gifts.  That player is freshman center Joel Embiid.  Even with the world of talent that was on the floor yesterday in Smart, Wiggins, Le’Bryan Nash, Markel Brown, Wayne Selden and Perry Ellis; Embiid was the most impressive.  He finished the game with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocked shots in the Jayhawks’ nail-biting victory.  He has great hands and fantastic footwork, nice shooting touch, great timing on the defensive end of the floor and a nose for the ball when a shot goes up.

Even with all of those gifts, Embiid is far from a finished product.  He hasn’t been playing the game for very long and still needs to put in considerable work on his back to the basket game and his aggressiveness on offense.  He needs to learn how to use his body on defense without fouling and he definitely needs to bulk up his slight frame to deal with the rigors of the NBA game.

Though he has things to work on, Embiid’s upside is undeniable.  To this point, Embiid has played 17 games at Kansas and is averaging 11 points a game on 68.7 percent shooting from the floor as well as 7.7 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in about 22 minutes a contest. That fact leaves no doubt in my mind that he will be at the top of most GM’s draft boards when he decides it is the right time to enter the draft, whether it be this year or the next.