I remember seeing Maker video a couple years ago and he was suppose to be the next big thing. I guess the last year or so he's been exposed and really isn't that good. I wouldn't use a first maybe a second.
What exactly are you basing that on? He hasn't really been available for most pro scouts to see, given that he's played a prep schedule this last year. He was highly ranked on college recruiting boards (typically around 9th or so) until he recently decided to declare for the NBA.
FWIW: playing for the Athletic Institute (CAN) team this last year he played in 18 games, averaging 25.8 points, 14.3 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 blocks per game. He also got to the FT line an average of 13 times per game. Yes, that was against preps -- but at least against a pretty elite schedule. Sure, it's not against NCAA or Spanish ACB competition, but I don't see how that performance leaves him 'exposed', though. He's supposed to dominate those kids and he has.
He didn't have a great Nike Hoops Summit last summer, and that is what most folks are basing their downgrade of him on. That was a long time ago. He's not the same player -- no young kid is. They are growing and changing too fast at that age. The flip side of that Summit event is that Skal, who beat him out for the starting spot had the reverse effect, rocketing to the top of everybody's draft board ... only to slowly slide down ever since then. Just as Skal probably was overrated based on that one event, Maker was probably underrated by that one event. The difference is, everyone got to see Skal play in games over this last season and make that correction. Maker has been out of site and so is still being assessed on data that is very old.
Whether he is worth expending a draft pick on? I think that will be determined by the Combine and the pre-draft workouts. I don't think we have enough information on him publicly right now to go by to make a call yeah or nay.
I trust Danny will do his due diligence and slot him into a tier somewhere on his board and if he makes sense to pick at one of his picks, he will pick him.