Scoot Henderson went third, but is still the second-best player in this NBA draft class

Scoot Henderson is not the ideal 2023 NBA basketball player. That archetype is a 6-foot-7 or taller shooter with good defensive instincts. Henderson is 6-foot-2 and his jump shot is still a work in progress. With the profile of a franchise point guard prospect from 2002, Henderson is considered the second- or third-best prospect in the 2022-23 NBA Draft.

What Henderson does have is the Big Joker in that he has played against Victor Wembanyama on national television. Not only did he play against the most hyped NBA Draft prospect since LeBron James, but Henderson also went after him.

He took it to Wembanyama from the start of their October 2022 matchup. Henderson attacked him at the rim, and on the perimeter. On the biggest stage of his basketball career he showed no hesitation. He put up 21 shots and shot 50 percent from the field on his way to a 28-point performance. Wembanyama found his legs in the second half and was spectacular, scoring 37 points on 7-11 from the 3-point line. However, the gauntlet was laid down by Henderson in the first half and the team that he played for — G-League Ignite — won the game.

With Wembayama obviously off to San Antonio with the Spurs holding the first-overall pick, the thought was that the Charlotte Hornets would go with the 6-foot-9 Miller. However, The Athletic’s Shams Charania is reporting that the Hornets are extremely intrigued by Henderson.

Coming out of Henderson’s fall showdown against Wembanyama, he was widely considered the clear No. 2 prospect in the draft. Being that the game was played on Oct. 4, there was still an entire men’s college basketball season to be played. That season was dominated by Miller who led the Alabama program to its best season since the vacated 1986-87 campaign. He averaged 18.8 points per game and shot 85.9 percent from the free-throw line — usually a good indicator that a player will be an above-average shooter in the NBA.

From here, an observer can try to compare the level of play between the NBA G-League and modern-day Men’s College Basketball, or point out Henderson’s ghastly 27.2 percent from the 3-point line in his second G-League season. Regardless of how much prestige men’s college basketball has lost, Miller was still on television more often than Henderson and is a more widely recognizable player. Tragically, as well as he played, his name has mostly been in the media due to his involvement in a situation that has resulted in one of his former teammates — Darius Miles — being on trial for the murder of Jamea Harris. Miles has pleaded not guilty. Miller was not charged with a crime and was also not suspended by Alabama. During the NCAA Tournament, he struggled on the court and Alabama lost in the Sweet 16.

Miller may fit the bill of the 2023 NBA wing, but I firmly believe that in sports there is always room for special talents whose heads don’t quite reach the desired inch mark on the wall. Height is always important in basketball, but I also watched Mugsy Bogues play 15 NBA seasons at 5-foot-3.

Henderson played against the best player in this draft class. Miller was not presented with that opportunity. Henderson took advantage of that opportunity and had Wembanyama flummoxed at several points during the game. The eventual No. 1 overall pick did rise to the occasion, but he was forced to by the second-best player in the 2023 draft class.

Maybe if given the opportunity Miller would have shown out as well. At the start of their NBA careers, Miller is going to be by far the better shooter of the two players, and the Hornets might be sending up smoke signals to work exchange picks with the Portland Trail Blazers for the No. 3 overall pick in the draft.

Miller is the more tantalizing prospect of the two, but the player most likely to become a superstar between the two is Henderson.