Top draft expert sees three lottery picks on Duke basketball roster

Which 2022-23 Blue Devil boasts the most pro potential?

Duke basketball freshman Dariq Whitehead (Landon Bost-USA TODAY Sports)

Nobody knows how many of the seven Duke basketball rookies, not to mention junior point guard Jeremy Roach, will turn pro in the spring. Much depends on how they perform throughout the 2022-23 season, which tips off for the Blue Devils on Nov. 7 at home against Jacksonville.

That said, mock-drafters of the world do their best to project top-shelf players' draft stocks years in advance.

Speaking of those experts, the final 2022 mock draft of SI.com draft insider Jeremy Woo earned the highest grade. Only two of the 30 first-rounders in the actual NBA Draft were not first-rounders in Woo's eyes leading up to the big day. And all but one of his projected 14 lottery picks became, well, a lottery pick.

In other words, Woo has a knack for this sort of thing. So he seems worth paying attention to when it comes to next year's edition, even though we're still about 10 months away from the 2023 NBA Draft.

On that note, Woo revealed his first 2023 big board on Tuesday — first round only — including three projected lottery picks from Duke.

All three are freshmen, although not necessarily the trio many Duke basketball fans may expect. They are the only three Blue Devils who landed anywhere on Woo's list, and here's where they stand:

• Small forward Dariq Whitehead at No. 7
• Point guard Tyrese Proctor at No. 11
• Center Dereck Lively II at No. 14

Perhaps Proctor's appearance that high is a surprise to some, for it seems that many of Woo's peers don't list the Australian sensation at all.

But Woo provided the following justification for placing Proctor among his projected lottery picks:

"From the Australia-to-NBA Global Academy development pipeline that brought you Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels, Proctor is next up. He chose to attend college rather than take the pro route but shares many of their same fundamental strengths as a well-rounded, unselfish playmaker with good positional size. Proctor is more of a traditional point guard than Giddy and Daniels, and he's at his best pushing tempo and putting pressure on defenses in the open floor, but he's similarly mature and well-rounded for his age, plays with urgency, and his jumper is a key growth area that will determine his ceiling."

Woo continued, suggesting Proctor's ceiling as a professional could be higher than any other member of the Blue Devil roster, which is certainly saying something given the abundance of talent in Durham:

"He also has the tools to be an excellent perimeter defender, with length and quick feet that let him play close to ballhandlers and be disruptive. I'd expect Proctor to have a significant role at Duke from the get-go, and some around the NBA suspect he might wind up as the team's top long-term prospect. Admittedly, this ranking is setting the bar high, but I'm pretty excited to see him debut in college."

RELATED: Stacking up all 26 Duke one-and-dones in history

Assume three Blue Devils become lottery picks. If so, they'd tie the 2019 trio (Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish) and the 1999 trio (Elton Brand, Trajan Langdon, Corey Maggette) for the Duke record (William Avery went No. 14 in 1999 when the lottery consisted of only 13 picks).

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