I don't think it's possible for OKC to get into the lottery

Tatum analog(s) in current NBA?

Right. Hypothetically (like if they had BKN pick).

When hes good - Carmelo and when hes bad - Evan Turner

Man that's just such a huge donotwant player type.

Not gambling on 80%tile Melo outcome in the top 5 of this darft

i'm hesitant to say this, but i was gonna say his analog is skinny rudy gay.

there are ways you could turn a rudy gay college analog into something a lot better than 80% Melo, but i would never consider him over ball or fultz.

edit - actually i think i have a better analog, andre roberson's body but rudy gay's skillset

Glad you posted this because this was my initial thought too but didnt post it because it felt way off for some reason

I agree

I see him as a potential Paul Peirce/Melo on the high end of the scale but he has a bigger bust factor then the pgs. If he could shoot the three he would be unstoppable. Hes a absurdly good free throw shooter and hes a long kid. Anyways he would have to Melo this tourney up to be in any consideration to be picked that high and even then im sure its a longshot, i think with a huge tourney theirs a chance though. Hes 4 on most the big mocks ive seen currently so hes the biggest riser over the past monthish.

Really i shouldnt have said i have him or Jackson on the same tier as Fultz/Ball. Fultz/Ball are locks i think to be big time players. Tatum/Jackson are closer to the next tier then those two really. I really think Tatum/Jackson could turn out being star Sfs though. I feel like Tatum is showing some nice upside lately and am looking forward to seeing him more in the tourney to see how hes going to perform in some more big games.

I like the next set of guys alot to, but not as much as those other 4 guys. Guys like Monk,Fox,Smith,Markkanen, and Isaac have nice upside as well. Just a really sick draft this year.Id have Fultz/Ball as my 1A 1B as of today then Jackson/Tatum 2A 2B followed by everyone else being pretty close in that top bunch of guys.

Im not sure Lonzo Ball is a better prospect than Jayson Tatum. I kind of like Tatum more than Ball.

idk about Tatum vs. the PGs, but he is the best Duke prospect save Kyrie in the past 15 years.

Tatum is #1 overall worthy

Jay Williams
Ingram?

I have Tatum 7th right now, lol. this is a fun draft.

also "best duke prospect" can be interpreted a lot of ways. fairly sure jabari hypetrain was higher.

Jay Williams is in a 15 year window. CDL is blowing up some BS, so Ingram just went 2nd albeit in a **** draft. Scrub Okafor went 3rd, Deng was also pretty highly touted in 2005. Shane is basically in the 15 year range and Brand is slightly out (2000).

There have been 15 drafts since Jay Williams including 2017 (which is relevant bc that's where Tatum will be).

Ingram is a worse prospect than Tatum. Jabari was slightly worse. Okafor was worse too.

I don't care about their hype or perception as that is all crowdsourced. I am talking about my own analysis of Tatum as a prospect. Popular opinion is a boring debate bc its just based on draft boards. Its much more interesting to discuss specific opinions and that's what I'm doing in offering my opinion of Tatum as a better draft prospect.

Al horford, Paul millsap

You realize that Steph Curry is 2 years older than Kemba Walker and only slightly better

It's funny that Ben Simmons got blasted last year for his team missing the tournament & they went 19-14.

Markelle Fultz's team is 9-22, 2-16 in the Pac, & lost their last 13 games.

I'm not saying Fultz isn't going to be the best player in the draft, etc. Just funny that it was a narrative with Simmons & doesn't seem to be with Fultz.

Thoughts on Zach Collins out of Gonzaga? A guy on one of the sites I frequent said he has Staps vibes, and his numbers look sexy albeit barely playing for a great college team.

Looks like he's a lotto pick next year, but what if a team in the mid/late first promises they'll draft him?

stats def look good for zach collins - although judging by his 'never' assist rate i'm guessing he's mainly a finisher? maybe he does the sabonis thing and just bides his time to put up huge stats next year as a starter in a presumably less competitive class

decent amount of upside if he thinks he can be a top 10 pick or so

rookie scale salaries:
//basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/rookie_scale

Collins passes the eye test massively - good athlete with great touch.

1. Lonzo
2. Jackson
3. Tatum
4. Fox
5. Fultz

then a big drop imo

trying to go team specific here

1. Celtics - Ball
2. Lakers - Fultz
3. Suns - Jackson
4. 76ers - Monk
5. Magic - Markkanen
6. Kings - Fox
7. Knicks - Nkilitina
8. Kings - Tatum

Tatum prob deserves the #6 slot but I imagine Kings dont want Knicks snagging Fox

I'll be mostly interested watching Fox this weekend. Anyone think Markkanen could fit with A.Gordon in the 4/5 positions? Maybe Magic are better taking Fox.

celtics - pair the highest IQ/eFG pg with the 2nd best coach in the nba and figure it out
lakers - no choice, cya d'angelo. let him win ROY and chase Boogie/Paul George.
suns - grab your wing of the future, continue to play very young and tank, try to snag best PG of next class. feels weird not taking Markkanen but they already have Bender and I'm prob overvaluing the impact of TJ Warren (who I didnt realize was only 23).
76ers - pretty self explanatory, need a 2 guard, monk is a 3 pt god. saric making the great rise puts less stock in a markkanen/embiid pairing
Magic - again like I said this one is tough, you have to reboot somewhere, prefer the idea of a dirk center next to the athletic/cant shoot gordon over rebooting their crappy PG depth or installing tatum as their SF. payton/fournier/tatum/gordon/vooch is pretty meh whereas X/X/X/Gordon/Markkanen could be something interesting. Also cool with just rebooting and rebuilding around Markkanen at his natural PF slot.
Kings - Showing some stuff from their young frontcourt, got another pack after the Knicks, Knicks need PG, use info available to select best player. Probably Fox.
Knicks - Need PG. Nkilitina, ez.
Kings - Finally someone for Tatum, their new Rudy Gay!

Isaac and Dennis Smith make the "wow they dropped more than I thought" and get taken somewhere in the teens.

Markannen looking extremely boss like against the Fighting Hawks