Kofi Cockburn isanother of the top prospects who was not selected during the 2022 NBA Draft, that is the question that many people ask after he and others like Scotty Pippen Jr were not selected directly in the draft.
The 2022 NBA Draft went more or less as people expected it to be, the top three picks were drafted in almost the same order after so many predictions with the exception of Chet Holmgren using a trick to prevent the Orlando Magic from drafting him.
Kofi Cockburn was one of the top prospects available in the 2022 NBA Draft but at the end of the day no team was interested in him during the draft, but the good news is that he signed a two-way contract to play in the G League.
Why Kofi Cockburn was not selected in the 2022 NBA draft?
As Cockburn plays in the G League for the Utah Jazz, we have to check and understand why he wasn’t drafted. The answer is simple, Cockburn bears a resemblance to Shaquille O’Neal (body type) but his skills, passing, dunking are not the same as Shaq’s. Passing is highly important in the NBA and unfortunately it’s not something that Cockburn has fully mastered yet.
O’neal during his Lakers tenure
During his college years he was a perfect player with his vertical movements, pick and roll, defense strategy, as center he was perfect during his college career. But that same talent isn’t enough for the NBA as Cockburn’s free throw percentage is too low for a player expected to have a higher percentage. Cockburn is likely to end up being a good bench player.
Other weak points of Cockburn:
- Weak field goal percentage
- Closing perimeter is not easy for him
- Too slow to play inside the paint sides
