C.J. Leslie A Lottery Pick?

C.J. Leslie is sitting out the NBA draft combine this week because of an injury to his shooting hand, but it appears that he is in good shape to earn a first-round draft selection anyway. Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski calls Leslie a "fast-rising prospect" for several teams, and then there is this tidbit:

One league personnel director told Yahoo! Sports that Leslie and Kentucky's Nerlens Noel rate as the two most explosive athletes in this year's draft class. Two teams drafting in the mid-20's told Yahoo! Sports that they believe Leslie will be gone before they'd get a chance to select him.

That makes it sound like Leslie could make his way into the lottery, which is surprising on some level, but scouts have been tantalized by his physical tools since forever. What remains to be seen is whether or not he can piece those varied talents together into a complete basketball player. His quickness and athleticism will translate to any level. What NBA teams believe about the rest of his game will determine where he ends up being selected in the draft.

The hand injury is minor, and I'm sure he'll be able to impress teams during individual workouts. Of course, if that fails, he can always just show them highlights like this one:

Or this one: