Is Cliff Alexander The Greatest Undrafted Talent Ever?

The 2015 NBA Draft was a bust.

The numbers likely will not bear this out: last year's draft was the highest-rated ever on television, and the year before that was the second-highest at the time. But it's a fair bet that many of this year's many viewers tuned in seeking payoff for the breathless excitement that's swirled all week.

It was supposed to be a night of transactional pandemonium, with everything from Boogie Cousins and Eric Bledsoe to top-five picks supposedly in play. Instead, apart from a couple mid-tier trades and an egregiously low draft slot for Justise Winslow, the evening delivered chalk.

Fitting, then, that the biggest legitimate shock is something that did not happen. Namely, Cliff Alexander doesn't have a job.

On college resume alone, one could argue that Alexander deserved his fate of going undrafted. According to Rivals.com, he was the fourth-best high school prospect in last year's class when he came out of Chicago's Curie High School, a battering ram of a power forward who engineered one of recruiting's premier troll jobs in selecting Kansas over Illinois. The Jayhawks were already loaded but, as one of Bill Self's greatest-ever recruits, he was perhaps the greatest reason for Kansas being tabbed No. 5 in the preseason AP Poll. Instead, he tanked, averaging a paltry 7.5 points and 5.4 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game.

Remarkably, that on-court underachievement was actually the highlight of his season. The low point came when, seemingly through no fault of his own, he was ruled ineligible for KU's final seven games after his mother was found to have accepted a loan from an agent. Mediocre production plus zero on-court time in conference and NCAA Tournament games generally does not equate to a healthy draft stock.

Yet a fall of this magnitude is mostly unprecedented. Rivals' database dates back to 2003 and in that time, Alexander is the only player ranked in the top five of his high school class to go undrafted as a one-and-done. Only two others failed to get drafted at all, and one of those is Baylor's Isaiah Austin, who was a projected first-rounder in last year's draft before being forced to medically retire on account of Marfan syndrome. Alexander is a unique draft disappointment, which naturally leads to the question of why.

The explanation probably lies somewhere within the intersection of scouting and basketball politics. A year ago, Alexander's stock rocketed to intergalactic levels on account of out-dueling city rival and last night's number three pick, Jahlil Okafor, in an unbelievable four-overtime, buzzer-beater classic in the Chicago City Championship. While Okafor fouled out late in regulation, Alexander dominated to the tune of 20 points and 12 rebounds, and no one batted an eyelash when he publicly declared himself a one-and-done player at his signing conference. The lottery beckoned. Then came the season at Kansas.

While no one imagined he'd plummet out of the draft entirely, he did take a considerable hit. ESPN's Chad Ford ranked him 40th on his draft board, citing concerns with Alexander's basketball IQ and a lack of range on his jumper. Draft Express' Jonathan Givony was more bullish, placing Alexander 28th, but also making mention of his abysmal passing, high turnover rate and low field goal percentage inside the paint. Add in the fact that Alexander stands, at most, 6-foot-9 and probably checks in closer to 6-foot-8, and perhaps the question all along should have been why an undersized 4 with no shooting range was such a commodity in the first place? Especially within today's space-oriented game. At the very least, it calls into question how he was more highly-regarded out of high school than top overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns, to say nothing of other lottery picks like Justise Winslow, Myles Turner, Trey Lyles and Devin Booker?

But Alexander is still hell on wheels as a rebounder and he explodes above the rim like Semtex. Someone – anyone – should want that on a non-guaranteed deal late in the second round. Perhaps no one did because Self, and Kansas, didn't go to bat for him. We can't know, because the Kansas athletic department denied VICE Sports' request for comment. We do know that Alexander didn't do himself any favors on the way out the door. He pinned some of the blame for his poor season on the program. Self, for his part, came off as relatively supportive after the draft, telling the media that Alexander was jobbed by the NCAA and reminding everyone that the suspension "hurt him." He also pointed out the obvious silver lining – Alexander is almost certainly the most sought-after undrafted free agent available, and his delay in signing with a summer league team is likely on account of having several options.

Irrespective of cause, Alexander is still unemployed and the morning after chatter has painted him as the latest cautionary tale of a talented player leaving school too early. Cliff Alexander is a case unto himself, though, and if history tells us anything, it's that we likely won't see another equivalent talent go undrafted again soon.

The upside? Good or bad, no one knows what's coming next, either.