NBA News 2011: Top 15 NBA draft sleepers

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No one recognized Klay Thompson as he chomped on a blackened catfish salad for lunch this past week at the Oakland Grill, located just blocks from the Golden State Warriors’ practice facility. The former Washington State shooting guard said such anonymity has been par for the course while traveling nationally working out for teams in hopes of improving his draft stock.

But come Thursday night at the NBA draft, Thompson’s anonymity could end if he goes from draft sleeper to top-10 pick. The son of ex-NBA player Mychal Thompson leads Yahoo! Sports’ draft sleepers list.

Here’s a look at 14 other potential draft sleepers:

1. Markieff Morris, 6-10, 245 pounds, PF, Kansas
2. Marshon Brooks, 6-5, 200, SF, Providence
3. Tobias Harris, 6-8, 225, SF, Tennessee
4. Darius Morris, 6-4, 190, PG, Michigan
5. Nikola Vucevic, 6-10, 260, C, Southern California
6. Josh Selby, 6-2, 183, PG, Kansas
7. Iman Shumpert, 6-5, 212, PG/SG, Georgia Tech
8. Norris Cole, 6-2, 170, PG, Cleveland State
9. Jimmy Butler, 6-7, 220, SF, Marquette
10. Justin Harper, 6-10, 225, SF-PF, Richmond
11. Charles Jenkins, 6-3, 220, PG-SG, Hofstra
12. Nikola Mirotic, 6-10, 220, C, Real Madrid (Spain)
13. Jeremy Tyler, 6-10, 255, PF-C, Tokyo Apache (Japan)
14. Davis Bertrans, 6-10, 211 pounds, SF, KK Union Olimpija (Slovenia)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AuMbS4C0cctaYsBtqKYCakW8vLYF?slug=mc-spears_nba_draft_top_15_sleepers061911

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NBA News 2011: NBA Prospect Klay Thompson

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Klay Thompson, 6-6, SG/SF, Junior, Washington State
22.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.1 steals, 3.1 turnovers, 49% FG, 83% FT, 42% 3PT

Coming off an inconsistent sophomore season, Klay Thompson has taken his game up another notch through the first 13 games of his junior year, increasing his production and efficiency across the board while making subtle improvements in a few areas of his game.

On the offensive end, Thompson is still as dynamic a scorer as ever, except he's been more efficient and done a better job playing within his team's offense, showing improved discipline with his shot selection and opting to dish the ball off a bit more than he used to.

The majority of his offense is still coming from the perimeter, with 85 of his 194 field-goal attempts thus far from behind the arc, but much fewer of his shots are coming off the dribble or early in the shot clock, having a better focus on getting open for spot-up shots and showing more consistency knocking them down. He's scoring a blistering 2.0 points per shot on open catch-and-shoot jumpers thus far and 1.35 on jumpers overall, being as dangerous as ever putting the ball in the hole, even from NBA three-point range.

On the defensive end, Thompson's problems are still largely the same, and he'll always be at a disadvantage athletically, not having the foot speed to stay in front of most NBA-caliber athletes consistently. His effort level on this end of the floor has improved throughout his three years in school, and he does do a good job using his length to compensate for some of his other shortcomings, but this is still an area he needs to continue working on. His problems are even more pronounced in pick-and-rolls and when coming off screens, as once his defender has a half-step on him he has little chance of recovering from behind.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Trending-Prospects-12302010--3604/

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