The NBA Draft is a little over a month away, and now that the teams have all been placed in the order they were selected out of the lottery, mock drafts are flying all around. John Tonje is projected a bit all over the place, as high as 40 and as low as undrafted. This is a bit of a wide range, but his stock does seem to be rising due to his impressive showing in the NBA Draft Combine.
He helped his case a ton in the NBA Draft Combine, as he was one of the top five shooters in the shooting drills. He had a really impressive second scrimmage game, and he came in with NBA measurements.
Where do the mock NBA Drafts have Wisconsin's John Tonje?
Yahoo! Sports: No. 40 to the Washington Wizards
New York Times: No. 41 Golden State Warriors
ESPN: No. 47 to the Milwaukee Bucks
Sporting News: 48 to the Memphis Grizzlies
Fansided: Undrafted
Bleacher Report: Undrafted
Sports Illustrated: Undrafted
Is there a chance John Tonje goes undrafted?
There are still a few sites that aren't sure if Tonje will be drafted or not. Is there a chance that happens? Yes, of course, there's a chance any projected 2nd rounder could go undrafted. However, it is starting to feel more and more unlikely that he will. There seems to be more momentum picking up towards moving up rather than moving down.
According to what the NBA usually likes to draft, Tonje has some downsides. First, he isn't a young phenom. He's 24 years old, and thus, many scouts will see him as needing to be ready to go more than some sort of developmental project. Second, he only has one year's worth of tape to show. His time at Missouri was cut short by injury, and the years at Colorado State show a little; it's nothing like the tape he can put on for Wisconsin.
The mock drafts are a bit undecided but after there's more certainty on which players are in the draft and more conversations with NBA personnel, don't be surprised to see Tonje's stock continue to rise.