Top 40 Freshman of 2017, Who Will Be Dominant Sophomores or NBA Players

Year after year, the stats prove even the greatest freshman basketball players are overrated. They simply turn the ball over too much, play bad defense and miss too many bad shots to be as valuable as players with at least one year under the belts. The only players who were truly the greatest players in the country their freshman season were Anthony Davis (greatest in history of ValueAdd in 2012), Michael Beasley (2008), Kevin Durant (2007) and Shelden Williams (2006).

This year, Value Add Basketball indicates 40 of the top 400 Value Add Basketball players were freshman, and for all the long-term potential of the top freshman Lonzo Ball, his value of 9.33 additional points a game for UCLA ranked 14th of all players. You can sort any current players or players going back to the 2002-03 season at www.valueaddbasketball.com.

Here is the list of those 40 freshman, and their projected value in 2018 if they play their sophomore season. Many will be in the NBA, so any team with one or more of the other two dozen on this list start with a huge advantage for the 2017-18 season.

2017 Rnk	Best Freshman 2017	Team	Value Add v5.0 Pts/Game	2018 Proj
14	Lonzo Ball #2	UCLA	9.33	NBA
21	Lauri Markkanen #10	Arizona	8.89	NBA
36	Malik Monk #5	Kentucky	7.79	NBA
37	Josh Jackson #11	Kansas	7.78	NBA
43	TJ Leaf #22	UCLA	7.62	NBA
58	Edrice Adebayo #3	Kentucky	7.31	NBA
67	Shamorie Ponds #2	St. John's	7.13	10.01
69	De'Aaron Fox #0	Kentucky	7.09	NBA
72	Bruce Brown #11	Miami FL	7.02	9.65
83	Mike Watkins #24	Penn St.	6.78	9.36
92	MaCio Teague #31	UNC Asheville	6.68	9.18
97	Josh Okogie #5	Georgia Tech	6.62	8.65
98	Justin Patton #23	Creighton	6.62	NBA
99	Dennis Smith #4	North Carolina St.	6.62	NBA
111	Jonathan Isaac #1	Florida St.	6.39	NBA
113	Zach Collins #32	Gonzaga	6.38	NBA
116	Robert Williams #44	Texas A&M	6.37	8.64
117	Markelle Fultz #20	Washington	6.36	NBA
123	Jarrett Allen #31	Texas	6.29	NBA
126	Nick Ward #44	Michigan St.	6.27	8.36
142	Grant Williams #2	Tennessee	6.13	8.16
145	Landry Shamet #11	Wichita St.	6.12	8.12
147	Miles Bridges #22	Michigan St.	6.06	NBA
162	Jayson Tatum #0	Duke	5.88	NBA
201	Andrew Jones #1	Texas	5.5	7.78
203	Dazon Ingram #12	Alabama	5.49	7.75
260	Rawle Alkins #1	Arizona	5.06	7.71
261	Kevin Huerter #4	Maryland	5.06	7.72
285	Amir Coffey #5	Minnesota	4.87	7.6
287	Anthony Cowan #0	Maryland	4.85	7.38
305	Kamar Baldwin #3	Butler	4.75	7.21
328	Justin Jackson #21	Maryland	4.6	7.09
342	Donte DiVincenzo #10	Villanova	4.47	7
347	Sam Hauser #10	Marquette	4.43	6.77
351	Danjel Purifoy #3	Auburn	4.41	6.68
356	De'Anthony Melton #22	Southern California	4.36	6.29
358	Markus Howard #0	Marquette	4.36	6.25
372	Mustapha Heron #5	Auburn	4.28	6.12
388	Sam Merrill #3	Utah St.	4.2	6.11
399	Marcus LoVett #15	St. John's	4.17	6.02

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