2023 NBA Mock Draft: Spurs land franchise PG, tanking pays off for Pistons

The G-League Ignite’s Leonard Miller is one of the funkiest and most fascinating prospects in the entire draft and is being criminally under-talked-about after some of the novelty of his draft analysis from last season wore off. If you’re asking me, though, I couldn’t be happier that I kept stock in him, as there were multiple times throughout the G-League regular season when Miller looked like the Ignite’s best draft prospect.

An all-around poor performance in last year’s draft combine scrimmages scared many evaluators away from Miller purely because of how unrefined his game looked at the time, but if there’s any good indicator of just how talented he is, it’s how rapidly he’s improved over the course of a year in the G-League.

Miller ended the Ignite’s regular season having put up 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. As the counting stats indicate, he’s already an elite rebounder and just as elite of a scorer inside the arc, having made 60% of his two-point shots (including 66% of his shots around the rim). He also displayed very convincing touch around the rim with both hands and sunk 79% of his free throws, indicating that a more reliable jump shot could be in his future with some mechanical tweaks to his form.

With all of this in mind, though, I think it’s Miller’s upside as a transition threat, versatile defender, and ball-handler in the half-court that could convince a team to take a swing on him a bit earlier than the consensus suggests right now.