Chris McCullough’s basketball career was thrown in a blender by an awkward fall on the Carrier Dome baseline, which tore the ACL in his right knee and ended his college basketball career on the spot.

Due to the injury, McCullough played just 16 games for Syracuse and declared for the NBA Draft at season’s end. The 20-year-old from the Bronx, New York, measured 6 feet 9 inches and 199 pounds at the NBA Draft Combine in May. He is being projected as a late first-round pick by a majority of mock drafts, while some have him slipping into the second round.

Based on research and conversations with a small handful of NBA Draft analysts, here are three reasons why teams shouldn’t draft McCullough on Thursday night.

Click here for three reasons why a team should draft the wiry forward.

A team should not draft McCullough because of his… 

1. Right knee 

There is no saying how a player will recover from an ACL tear, and that’s concerning for any draft prospect.

There have been players who were drafted after not playing full freshman seasons and recovered (see Kyrie Irving and Nerlens Noel in recent years), and McCullough could be a similar case. But he also could either be permanently slowed by his right knee, or headed down a road of frequent injuries.

There’s no way of knowing. And while McCullough’s untapped potential is a strength heading into the draft, his injury situation is similarly a glaring weakness.

2. Lack of size (weight) and strength

While there are ways for McCullough to use athleticism and length to shade his frame, he’s not built for the strength of the NBA game.

Of course, he can work on his size so he can guard stronger fours at the next level. But then there’s the possibility of more strength compromising the more attractive parts of his game, like his jump shot and leaping ability.

In the second half of his 16-game season last year, his lack of strength gave him trouble on both ends of the floor. On offense, teams pushed McCullough away from the rim and pressed up on his jump shot. On defense, they attacked him with bigger players and he often found himself in foul trouble early in games.

He grabbed double-digit rebounds in three of his first seven games, then wasn’t able to do so in his last nine. Teams keying on his slim frame factored into a significant dip in production in all areas.

3. Inconsistency in a small sample size 

McCullough isn’t ready to play in the NBA, injury or not, and whatever team picks him will know that. But his mercurial 16 college games will raise some concerns about his consistency, even if it isn’t across a full season.

Here are his points, shooting numbers and minutes in those 16 games.

First eight

Kennesaw State: 16, 6-of-14, 29 minutes

Hampton: 13, 4-of-7, 27 minutes

California: 12, 5-of-8, 38 minutes

Iowa: 20, 7-of-12, 39 minutes

Loyola (Maryland): 17, 6-of-7, 29 minutes

Holy Cross: 14, 7-of-11, 35 minutes

Michigan: 10, 5-of-8, 39 minutes

St. John’s: 13, 5-of-12, 40 minutes

Last eight

Louisiana Tech: 5, 1-of-6, 26 minutes (fouled out)

Villanova: 3, 0-of-4, 25 minutes (fouled out)

Colgate: 4, 1-of-6, 26 minutes

Long Beach State: 7, 1-of-3, 23 minutes

Cornell: 6, 3-of-4, 24 minutes

Virginia Tech: 2, 1-of-2, 18 minutes

Georgia Tech: 3, 1-of-7, 24 minutes

Florida State: 4, 1-of-2, 8 minutes (tore ACL)

Not only was McCullough starkly less effective in his last eight games, but he looked unconfident and even disinterested at times. At the start of the season he was playing close to full games, shooting regularly and making a good percentage of his shots.

In the second half of his season he never played 30 minutes, shot considerably less and didn’t make a majority of the shots he did take. Most times, especially against teams like Colgate, Long Beach State, Cornell, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, he was by far the most athletic player on the floor and should have been leading Syracuse offensively.

But he simply didn’t, and there’s no way of knowing right now which McCullough shows up if and when he recovers from the ACL tear.

Published on June 24, 2015 at 10:19 am