Every year in NBA.com’s series of NBA Draft profiles, we like to identify and write about a sleeper, a player who might not turn up in mock drafts, get invited to the Portsmouth Invitational, or otherwise be considered to have a chance at making a roster.

This year that guy is Baylor’s Nuni Omot.

It’s open for debate as to what constitutes a sleeper. But in our definition of the term, a player must possess the following qualities:

• At least one NBA-level skill.

• High character.

• Work ethic.

• Perseverance.

We’ll start with the obvious.

Omot can shoot the rock. And at 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot wingspan and above-average athleticism, he can shoot it over pretty much anybody.

Consider the numbers. In the 2017-18 season, Omot shot 43.3% from behind the 3-point arc, fifth in the Big 12 Conference. Perhaps more impressive in a league where coaches are sticklers for defense, Omot shot 48.1% during league play. That led the conference.

“He can shoot,” Baylor assistant coach John Jakus says. “He can really, really shoot. Our [director of basketball operations] Bill Peterson was in the NBA for 12 years and has been working him out pre-draft. Nuni’s hitting numbers from three that very few guys can hit. Guys that are all stars.”

Peterson, who was a Milwaukee Bucks assistant for six seasons, a player development coach for the Dallas Mavericks and a head coach in the G-League, was impressed with Omot’s tools.

“At the end of the year, Nuni came to me and said ‘coach, I know you’ve been in the league,’ ” Peterson says. “ ‘You know me, and you know what’s expected. What do I need to do?’ ”

Peterson and Omot went to work. The first order of business was to forget the college 3-point line ever existed and move back a few steps to the NBA line. Omot mastered the deeper range fairly quickly. Then his workouts became more refined.

“I’ve treated him like an NBA player,” Peterson says. “Fundamentally, there were things we could help him do to get his shot off quicker. If you think about Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Kyle Korver, guys like that, they come off a pin down [screen] and get it off right away. We’ve worked on that with Nuni, and he’s gotten better and better and better.”

Peterson has also encouraged Omot to incorporate a shot fake with a couple of dribbles.

“Then he can put his body into [his defender] and lean back and score the ball,” Peterson said. “He’s learning to get it down and up quickly into the shot pocket.”

Omot isn’t afraid of hard work. As a junior, he played sparingly. Omot knew that in order to get on the floor more, he’d have to improve his shooting.

“I could shoot it a little bit,” Omot said. “But last summer, I worked on my shot like crazy. I lost count of how many shots I put up, but I worked and worked, just trying to become more consistent.”

Omot shot 31% from three as a junior and averaged 11.2 minutes a game. In his final season, Omot’s playing time (23.8 mpg) shot up as drastically as his 3-point percentage did.