On my draft list of where I think he'll go, I have him ranked 18th. On my list of where I would consider him, I have him 13th. If your asking would I pick him with the 6th pick, the answer is no. He's a terrific athlete for a big man, or should I say tall man. Since he's as thin as bean pole I doubt the word big is appropiate.
If we look at his positives, he's a terrific shotblocker. He led all of college in blocked shots. As I stated, he's a terrific athlete and he certainly has the height and wingspan that your looking for. OK, now that I've covered the positives, lets take a look at the negatives. He's a terrible man defender. He lets much shorter and average players push him around in the paint. Needless to say his lower body strength matches his upper body strength. He's a very good weakside shotblocker, but not as good when doing man defense. In the game he played against Jerome Jordan. A player with more of an NBA body and a 7 footer as well, he got abused. Jordan got anywhere he wanted on the floor and scored anytime he wanted. This was my first chance to see Whiteside go up against someone similar to what he would face in the NBA. Needless to say, I was disappointed. And I'm not a big fan of Jordans.
On offense he seldom if ever passes the ball when he gets it. He forces bad shots as a result at times. He does have a post game. Its a little rough around the edges to say the least, but it shows promise. He also has a jumper that doesn't look that bad. He's inconsistant with it, but in time I can see it being a weapon. His footwork in the post is terrible and at times he looks lost on the floor. I know your big on basketball IQ. I would say that Whiteside is low on that particular quality at the moment.
To go along with all of this, despite being a freshman, he's going to turn 21 shortly. He wasn't able to pass all the requirments to be elligible for college until he turned 20 years old. Add to the mix that he's rumored to be extremely immature and not very dedicated to improving, and you have a kid with a lot of physical ability and a giant red flag hanging off of him. I would be shocked if someone took him in the lottery, and he could slide all the way down to the very bottom of the first round. I doubt it, but it could happen..