Before Rakeem Christmas’ senior season at Syracuse, few thought he had a shot to be selected in the NBA Draft.

But with a breakout senior season in which he averaged 17.5 points per game and was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team, Christmas is in secure position to have his named called on Thursday night.

The 23-year-old Philadelphia native measured nearly 6 feet, 10 inches and 243 pounds at the NBA Draft Combine in May, where a strong performance in the five-on-five scrimmages saw him ascend across mock drafts.

Where Christmas is selected — most experts have him going early in the second round — will depend on a variety of factors. Based on research and conversations with people in NBA scouting, here are three reasons why teams should select Christmas.

Click here to see why teams shouldn’t pick Christmas. Draft analysis on former Syracuse power forward Chris McCullough will be posted on Wednesday.

A team should draft Christmas because of his… 

1. Position versatility

At just under 6 feet, 10 inches, Christmas is a little small for an NBA center but has the length and offensive skill to play forward or center as a pro.

That will bode him well as he tries to catch on as an off-the-bench big man, where playing both spots could increase his value and opportunity for minutes.

Defensively, Christmas’ length — his 7-foot-5 wingspan was among the best at the Combine — should allow him to match up with both fours and fives in the NBA. He could get out-muscled by bigger post players and doesn’t have much experience defending on the perimeter, but should be physically able to defend a variety of players once he adjusts to playing man-to-man at the next level.

He also was a dependable rebounder and shot blocker throughout his college career, and finished his senior year averaging nine rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

Offensively, Christmas proved last season that he can score in the paint and he even flashed a mid-range jumper in the Combine scrimmages last month.

2. Ability to score in different ways

What stood out during Christmas’ senior season was his ability to score with ease in the paint, regardless of what defenses threw at him. The only way to stop him was to bully him off the block and make him shoot off-balance or away from the basket, and the biggest offensive knock on him heading into the pre-draft process was that he’s undersized for a center but doesn’t stretch the floor at all.

At the Combine, Christmas worked in the pick and roll with various point guards and hit mid-range jumper after mid-range jumper. It was a small sample size, but his consistent performance in two scrimmages showed that his lack of out-of-the-paint scoring in college could have had more to do with how he was used than his ability.

3. Possibly untapped potential 

By a similar token, the way Christmas was used at Syracuse leaves a lot to be desired.

During a senior season in which he consistently dominated opponents, he was exclusively a low-post scorer. But his well-rounded Combine performance showed that he may be able to do more than just score with his back to the basket, and a team could pick Christmas for the chance that that wasn’t a fluke.

Christmas also played in the middle of a zone and had to constantly worry about fouling out — because of SU’s lack of frontcourt depth — which often inhibited his ability to aggressively protect the rim.

He may be 23, an unattractive age for an NBA prospect that isn’t usually synonymous with “potential.” But Syracuse’s system, on both ends of the floor, makes it possible that there’s a lot we haven’t seen.

Published on June 23, 2015 at 1:11 pm