Syracuse Basketball: Judah Mintz is 1st-round pick in NBA Draft projection

He’s only played in five collegiate games, and 2023 NBA Draft projections are obviously super early, but Syracuse basketball freshman point guard Judah Mintz is garnering draft buzz.

In the latest two-round projections for the 2023 NBA Draft by Bleacher Report lead scout/NBA Draft analyst Jonathan Wasserman, he is projecting that the 6-foot-3 Mintz will get selected by the Indiana Pacers, at No. 26 overall in the first round.

"Here is what Wasserman had to say about the Syracuse basketball freshman. “The second-leading freshman scorer at 17.5 points, Mintz should creep his way onto NBA radars with his ball-handling and off-the-dribble footwork for creation, mid-range shot-making, secondary playmaking, rim pressure and defensive energy. Scouts will presumably want to see more three-point shooting to buy a 172-pound guard for the next level.”"

First of all, this is really cool. Second of all, Judah Mintz has a long way to go before we can declare him a one-and-done player on the Hill. Syracuse basketball (3-2), by the way, was set to host America East Conference member Bryant this Saturday afternoon in its next non-conference encounter.

Syracuse basketball freshman point guard Judah Mintz is impressing NBA Draft experts.

To date in the young 2022-23 campaign, Mintz is presently leading the Orange in scoring, at 18.0 points per game, according to ESPN statistics.

That puts him slightly ahead of ‘Cuse senior shooting guard Joe Girard III, who is collecting 17.8 points per contest. Judah Mintz is hitting on 50.7 percent from the field, just 28.6 percent from beyond the arc, and a so-so 69.6 percent from the charity stripe.

Additionally, in 33.4 minutes of action per meeting, he is producing 3.2 assists, 2.4 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 2.2 turnovers per affair.

To reiterate, 2022-23 is just getting underway, but other national analysts and scouts are taking notice of Mintz’s performances so far as well, while giving him some early 2023 NBA Draft buzz.

Those experts include Adam Finkelstein, 247Sports’ director of scouting, high-school hoops scouting analyst Max Feldman and Pro Insight’s Tyler Glazier and Alex Brown.

Mintz, whose hometown is in Fort Washington, Md., near Washington, D.C., was a four-star prospect in the 2022 class. Syracuse basketball hauled in a six-member 2022 cycle, and Judah Mintz proved the highest-rated of its current freshmen, with ESPN rating him at No. 36 overall in this class.

Prior to joining the Orange, he was a standout for one of the best teams in high-school basketball, the powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

By the way, in Wasserman’s latest mock 2023 NBA Draft, several other former Syracuse basketball recruiting targets were included.

Jarace Walker of Houston was projected to go at No. 10 to Golden State, followed by G.G. Jackson of South Carolina at No. 11 to Brooklyn, Kyle Filipowski of Duke at No. 22 to Sacramento, Central New York native J.J. Starling of Notre Dame at No. 25 to Charlotte, and Arthur Kaluma of Creighton at No. 42 to Minnesota.