Every NBA draft has a theme of sorts. You might want to call this "The Year of the Freshman."
Our 2011 NBA Draft Big Board has an unprecedented 10 freshmen projected as one-and-done lottery picks. Freshmen have been the rage for NBA scouts since high school seniors were banned from entering the draft in 2007. But we've never seen a season quite like this.
In 2007, a record six freshmen -- Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Mike Conley Jr., Brandan Wright, Spencer Hawes and Thaddeus Young -- were drafted in the lottery.
In 2008, seven freshmen -- Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, Eric Gordon, Jerryd Bayless and Anthony Randolph -- broke that record.
In 2009, just two college freshmen -- Tyreke Evans and DeMar DeRozan -- were drafted in the lottery.
2010 had four college freshmen in the lottery -- John Wall, Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins and Xavier Henry.
It's ridiculously early to do a stock watch (many college teams have played just one game and the competition for top teams is shaky at best) but given how brightly a number of freshmen debuted ... here's an early read on where they might be heading.
To see Chad Ford's early analysis of this season's top freshmen and their NBA draft stock, you must be an ESPN Insider.
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Chad Ford
Chad Ford covers the NBA and NBA draft for ESPN Insider. He also is a frequent contributor to ESPN The Magazine and makes weekly appearances on ESPN Radio and ESPNEWS.
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Fran Fraschilla
Fran Fraschilla is a college basketball analyst for ESPN and ESPN Insider. He formerly was the head coach at Manhattan, St. John's and New Mexico. He has been part of ESPN's NBA draft broadcast coverage each of the past five seasons.
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David Thorpe
David Thorpe is an NBA analyst for ESPN.com's Scouts Inc. and the executive director of the Pro Training Center in Clearwater, Fla., where he oversees the player development program for NBA and college players. David has trained Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer, Omri Casspi, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Yi Jianlian, Courtney Lee, Kyrylo Fesenko, Earl Clark, Jrue Holiday, DeJuan Blair and others.
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