Tennessee basketball's transfer guard, Chaz Lanier, has lit up the basketball court throughout the year, but inconsistency has resulted in his landing in the second round of the NBA Draft.
ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo shared their mock draft with a few weeks remaining in the college basketball regular season. They have Lanier going to the San Antonio Spurs at No. 39 overall, which is a big drop from Knecht's NBA Draft projections one year ago.
Despite the disappointing projection in the NBA Draft, Lanier has proven he can be an asset for whatever NBA franchise drafts him later this year.
Lanier is averaging 17.4 points per game and shooting 41.1% from the field and 40.2% from three-point range.
Rick Barnes has developed a formula for creating his rosters over the past few years. He mixes traditional recruiting with the transfer portal, and it has worked well for Tennessee.
The biggest success from this formula was Dalton Knecht, who transferred from Northern Colorado. He went on to be a first-round draft pick for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Barnes leaned on the same formula by signing North Florida's Chaz Lanier out of the transfer portal. He's another sharpshooter that can score from anywhere on the court.
While he hasn't played poorly throughout the year, the Nashville, Tennessee native will have to step up his game in the final stretch of the regular season and in the postseason if he wants to be considered for the first round of the draft.
Lanier has first-round potential, but he has to start shooting more consistently. He can't have any more performances like we saw against Kentucky on Tuesday. Lanier shot 3-for-13 and 0-for-7 from three-point range against the Wildcats, which is a big reason why Tennessee lost.
The Vols have Vanderbilt on the schedule next, which will be a big game for Tennessee. The Vols lost the first game against the Commodores and can't afford to lose many more games this year if they want to remain a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament.