By Miles Wray

Currently, DraftExpress has Kansas University sophomore and native Ukrainian Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk ranked 24th overall in their most recent mock draft. That’s just two spots behind the University of Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, who just scored 46 points on Kansas in their triple-overtime thriller earlier this month -- a game in which Mykhailiuk played six total minutes. That’s 31 spots ahead of Wayne Selden, Jr., who is second on the Jayhawks with 15.2 points per game -- Mykhailiuk is sixth on the team with 6.1 points per contest.

How is it possible for a college sophomore to receive a first-round grade from a legitimate source when his counting stats -- not to mention his more advanced metrics as well -- look like that of an ordinary benchwarmer? As you can probably imagine, it takes a pretty special confluence of circumstances. After spending some time watching Mykhailiuk play his game, I’m inclined to blame his stats on a bizarre lack of integrative team play from his Jayhawk teammates, and I am very optimistic for his potential as an NBA player.

Extreme Youth
Although Mykhailiuk is a sophomore, he is still just 18 years old, and won’t turn 19 until this June. This means that he’s younger than some of the highly touted high school seniors who will only be eligible for college play next season, like Josh Jackson and Thon Maker. Mykhailiuk is also considerably younger than many highly projected college freshmen, including Ben Simmons, Jaylen Brown, or Skal Labissiere. What Mykhailiuk lacks in the Points Per Game column, he totally makes up for it by having big-game college experience and professional experience (in Ukraine, prior to joining Kansas), all before the age many prospects graduate from high school.

Look at how dynamic and comfortable Mykhailiuk was at the 2014 Hoops Summit in Portland. He was just 16 at the time, and holding his own in a gym that was filled with current NBA players like Karl-Anthony Towns, Dante Exum, Emmanuel Mudiay:

A few months later, Mykhailiuk was once again shredding nets, this time for his national team. While Ukraine’s U18 team was entered into the B Division tournament in FIBA Europe that year, Mykhailiuk stood well above the competition that was mostly two years older than him, winning the tournament MVP:

Help Defense
One reason that Mykhailiuk doesn’t have great statistics is that he plays great team defense -- which is one of those areas of the game that can elude the box score almost entirely. 

Playing against Irvine, Mykhailiuk (wearing #10) provides timely help against the mammoth 7’6” center Mamadou N’Daiye:

The ball goes out of bounds off Mykhailiuk’s swipe, so Irvine retains possession. Still, the deflection is definitely valuable for Kansas, as it was essentially a shot erased from the hands of N’Daiye, plus now Irvine must reset their offense with under ten seconds on the shot clock.

On this possession against Texas Tech, watch how Mykhailiuk maintains constant vigilance even though he is on the opposite side of the play. He makes a perfect read and steps right into the passing lane:

This time, the steal does go on Mykhailiuk’s box score line. But what should have been an assist for Mykhailiuk -- off of his on-time and unselfish pass in the fast break -- goes undocumented, as his teammate’s (Selden) shot gets blocked. That pass could also be filed under:

Intuitive Feel
It seems to me that Mykhailiuk is virtually always making the correct play. That is: not necessarily the play that inspires the crowd, but the play that best helps his team get either a basket or a stop.

This feels like a rare quality to see in college basketball, a game that feels really rooted in stagnation if you watch it right after watching any significant dose of the NBA. Look at this possession against Irvine: Mykhailiuk just makes a solid, quick pass, moving the ball along -- which stands in contrast to the slower decision-making from his teammates:

What’s more, after getting rid of the ball, Mykhailiuk cuts across the baseline, clearing that side of the floor for his teammates and establishing himself as an open shooter. Perhaps a visionary NBA passer would have hit Mykhailiuk with a skip pass, but at least Kansas is able to draw a foul on Irvine.

I also love this off-ball cut that Mykhailiuk makes in the tense final minutes against Texas Tech, a play that ends with him drawing the foul:

I was really surprised when Kansas coach Bill Self pulled Mykhailiuk from the game almost immediately after this play. Which leads us to:

Lack of Trust (or something?) from Teammates
It feels a little funny to critique Kansas’ 3-point shooting when they have the best accuracy in the nation, at a sizzling 46.2%. It feels even funnier to critique it when Mykhailiuk is the team’s only regular shooter at below 40% accuracy this season, at 35.3%.

Nonetheless, there is a pretty incredible trend of Kansas teammates not looking to hit Mykhailiuk with a pass during the moments when he is the open man, properly spaced at the right spot on the arc. Part of the reason that Kansas may be shooting the deep ball so well is that they’re doing so infrequently, just 197th in the nation in attempts per game. More readily integrating Mykhailiuk into the offense would create a much more spaced-out floor for other Kansas players, which would increase their offensive prowess all the more. Instead, there seems to be a lack of patience for Mykhailiuk to play through his mistakes -- neither he nor any other player will drain even all of his wide-open shots -- and other Jayhawks would rather plow into a clogged key than give up the ball.

Here’s an example from the Texas Tech game, with Kansas going for a blocked shot instead of passing out to the unguarded Mykhailiuk:

Mykhailiuk’s six minutes in the Oklahoma game were positively riddled with examples like this. Here’s the first possession in the sequence, with Kansas ultimately scoring a highly contested lay-up while Oklahoma completely ignored Mykhailiuk:

(Notice how Mykhailiuk adjusts further down the baseline on the offensive rebound to get in his teammate’s line of sight.) 

Incredibly, the Jayhawks ignore Mykhailiuk again on their very next possession:

His tip on the loose ball helps the Jayhawks gather the offensive rebound -- but Mykhailiuk once again does not get statistical credit. 

The Jayhawks reset their offense and then -- finally -- find Mykhailiuk in the corner, with Hield himself wandering too far away. Mykhailiuk drains it:

Two possessions later, Mykhailiuk has become acceptable to pass it to, having made his last shot -- a teammate seeks him out with a cross-court pass, even. Then he misses the shot:

Kansas gathers the offensive rebound, and Mykhailiuk remains the open man, with Hield still drifting too far away. Instead of simply moving the ball to the open man, Kansas forces a pass to somebody other than Mykhailiuk, and the ball is stolen.

Having missed the one shot, Myhailiuk is now firmly in the dog house. A minute later, a teammate plows into a clogged key for the miss instead of looking to Mykhailiuk:

Mykhailiuk’s two shots shown here -- one make, one miss -- would be his only two attempts of the night. 

It’s a small sample size -- as is every sample size at this point in Mykhailiuk’s career, but he did shoot 44.4% on 3-pointers in his 2013-14 season playing professionally in Ukraine. But I can definitely see how a lack of trust from teammates and a very short leash from his coach would have Mykhailiuk’s percentages looking unimpressive during his time at Kansas. 

However the draft shakes out, and whether Mykhailiuk enters the draft this year or the next, I think it could end up being fantastic for his career to end up with one of the teams that have established reputations on developing raw, young, international talent: I’m thinking of teams like the Toronto Raptors (Bruno Caboclo, Lucas Nogueira), Utah Jazz (Dante Exum, Rudy Gobert), and forever and always the San Antonio Spurs (most recently Tiago Splitter, Aron Baynes). While Mykhailiuk probably won’t make much of an impact in the NBA for the 2016-17 season, he has a wealth of talent for whatever team will choose to develop his strengths.