Early mock drafts slot Marquette's Ellenson as top-10 pick

By foxsports
Published

On Tuesday, Henry Ellenson announced he was leaving Marquette after his freshman season to enter the NBA. Ellenson also announced he would be signing with an agent, meaning he can't change his mind and return to the Golden Eagles.

Ellenson is considered one of the top prospects in the draft, seen as a likely stretch four at the professional level.

Now that Ellenson has made his intentions known, was it a good decision?

The draft is still a couple of months away -- and the NBA season still hasn't concluded, plus the draft order needs to be sorted out -- but here's where some early mocks view Ellenson going.

NBADraft.net: No. 18 to Denver.

DraftExpress.com: No. 9 to Toronto.

SI.com's Andrew Sharp: No. 8 to Denver. "Ellenson has incredible size, moves well, and can shoot threes. You have to think if he were from Slovenia instead of Wisconsin, he'd be a lock for the top five. As it stands, he will need to fill out his frame to succeed, but his ability to stretch the floor next to Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic could be a nice long-term solution in Denver if Kenneth Faried moves on." (Note: Also listed at No. 8 on SI's Big Board.)

USA Today's Derek Brodner: No. 8 to Sacramento. "Ellenson has the ability to both stretch the floor and crash the defensive glass, both attributes which are sure to make him extremely sought-after in June's NBA draft."

ESPN.com Insider Chad Ford: No. 5 to Minnesota. "Hield would be very tempting here for the Timberwolves. They could use more shooting, and Hield is instant offense. However, I keep hearing they are very high on Ellenson. He fits a need at the 4, has the ability to stretch the floor and looks like a great fit next to Karl-Anthony Towns. Also, he's three years younger than Hield. That matters to NBA folks. If he starts hitting 3s at a higher clip, he's going to be very, very good."

Walter Football's Paul Banks (Washington Times) and David Kay (The Sports Bank): No. 9 to Toronto. "Extremely skilled and versatile, Ellenson can shoot it from the outside, take defenders off the bounce, or operate down low."

NBA Draft Room: No. 9 to Toronto.

Certainly a lot can happen between now and June 23, but with the consensus showing Ellenson being taken in the single digits, it would appear as though he won't have to wait long to hear his name called during the NBA Draft. Sounds he made a good decision.