NBA Draft 2015: Kelly Oubre Rising! Kansas Jayhawk Swingman To Upstage Duke’s Justise Winslow As Top Swingman Of Next Year’s Class?

The NBA Draft class of 2015 is being known as a big man's draft but there's also some heat in the small forward spot. Kelly Oubre of the Kansas Jayhawks made the highest jump into the Top 10 as he lives up to his potential-slowly catching up to Duke's Justise Winslow.

The Blue Devil Winslow joined his Team USA mates Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones to enable Duke to have the best freshman class of 2014. ESPN draft guru Chad Ford has ranked him at no. 6, the best among small forwards:

"Winslow continues to have the slight edge over Kelly Oubre, Mario Hezonja and Stanley Johnson as the first wing off the board. Winslow is now shooting 39 percent from 3, a rate that has scouts really encouraged. And he's shooting an impressive 71 percent at the rim. But his field-goal percentage on 2-point shots is an awful 12 percent. Figuring out some semblance of a midrange game is going to be a key for Winslow going forward."

However, the "slight edge over Kelly Oubre" is rapidly thinning out. Oubre was projected as one of the top players in the entire class of 2014 but he had some trouble integrating himself with coach Bill Self's playbook. The struggle seems to have ended. Oubre is the fastest riser in Ford's latest mock draft jumping five spaces from 14th to 9th:

"In four out of his past five games, Oubre has been the best player on the floor for the Jayhawks. He has two 20-point games (against Lafayette and Kent State) and two double-doubles in his past four. He appears to get more aggressive by the game. While his shot wasn't falling in the UNLV game, he made up for it with terrific defense on Rashad Vaughn. Oubre is shooting 48 percent from 3-point range and has improved his 2-point shooting to 39 percent. If he keeps improving at this rate, there's a good change he's the first wing off the board."

Oubre already skipped over Stanley Johnson of Arizona who dropped to 11th place. Winslow is the next target in the college swingman three-way battle. Some NBA teams are starting to tank and the scouts are out full throttle. This is the time to get noticed and Oubre is smartly taking advantage. 

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