The NBA draft is just a few weeks away and the Philadelphia 76ers will have to decide what they plan to do with the No. 3 pick they were granted at the lottery after a miserable 24-58 season. The Sixers will be looking to add a young talent to a roster in need of an injection of youth.

With that No. 3 pick, the Sixers can go in a number of directions. It appears the popular pick is Rutgers star Ace Bailey at that slot. Most mock draft projections have Duke phenom Cooper Flagg going No. 1 to the Dallas Mavericks and Rutgers’ Dylan Harper going No. 2 to the San Antonio Spurs. Therefore, Bailey makes a lot of sense for Philadelphia at 3, but he does have his own question marks.

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One has to wonder what the draft experts are saying about Bailey at this point of the draft process. The folks at The Ringer broke down Bailey’s main NBA comparison as former All-Star Gordon Hayward:

The shot looks smooth: His release point is high, he has zero problem elevating over the top of the defender, and he has good touch and consistent and repeatable shot mechanics. The jumper is Ace’s ace in the hole in any given situation, and he’s gone to it repeatedly this season at Rutgers, typically in the midrange. He had to push that easy button frequently because hardly anything was easy within that Scarlet Knights offense; beyond Dylan Harper, his team was not exactly teeming with playmakers or offensive threats who could draw attention away from him.

The book on bothering Bailey at this point is to crowd him, and it hit the bestseller list in Big Ten play. You can be the wiggliest, most athletic player in the world, but the ball has to come to you. Against pressure his handle was often wobbly on his hand and rolling up his wrist, and as a result his decision-making plummeted. This led to some abysmal assist-to-turnover and assist-to-usage numbers and also kept him away from the rim and the free throw line. Yet, somehow, he was still able to wow us—splashing right-shoulder spins in the midrange, one-dribble pull-ups with two and three defenders draped over him, overhand short-range runners or hooks. I don’t know that he’ll ever evolve into a dynamic hub of offense, but with some added strength and weight, he should put up points well into his career.

The biggest question with Bailey at this point is his shot selection. As talented as he is, he relies on his talent and size a bit more than he should which then leads to him taking tougher shots than waiting for an open one at this point. He can get away with that against the competition in college, but in the NBA? The young man is going to be in for a rude awakening so he is going to need some development and coaching in that area.

On the flip side, one has to wonder if the Sixers want to develop him at this point. The focus for this group is to win a championship in 2025-26. The expectation is that Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey will return healthy and lead this group, and with the Eastern Conference expected to be wide-open in the 2025-26 season, the Sixers are going to have as good a shot as anybody to get the job done and succeed. The chance for Bailey to really develop would be slim unless he impresses right away.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: What are draft experts saying about Sixers prospect Ace Bailey?