Markelle Fultz Discussion

[Negrodamus]

My expectation for Fultz is McCollum. If he doesn't get to that level, as the first overall pick, I'll be disappointed. I think his length, athleticism, and size combo gives him a higher ceiling than McCollum.

McCollum is a fair projection for Fultz in the general sense.

He has more talent than McCollum, and can be better, but he needs to be at least as good as him for the deal to be worth it, and I expect that he will be.


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I wouldn't trade 2 top 5 picks for McCollum either.

I wouldn't either, but he's the level Fultz should attain. I think the ceiling can be a Harden as they have similar length and game type (poor defenders out of college, 6'4ish with 6'10+ wingspan). I don't see him becoming Harden, but somewhere in the middle between McCollum and Harden is what I'm hopeful for.

[LongLiveHinkie]

We are running out of roster spots. Next year's draft outside of Porter and Doncic isn't nearly as good as this year's draft and falls off majorly. If we get #1 we keep it and have our pick of the litter. It was a worthy gamble, because we simply don't know where the pick will fall next season. They had an opportunity to go up and get the #1 guy on their board, who they also considered to fit perfectly.

Looking at it from the perspective of the Sixers, if they passed on that opportunity, and next season, say the Lakers end up picking 7th, then you essentially passed on a prospect you love for Wendell Carter, Robert Williams, Jaren Jackson? Looking at it from their perspective, if they adore Fultz that much, they'd be kicking themselves to pass on him. And they still get #1 overall protections, so they don't miss out on Porter or Doncic should the ping pong balls get crazy.

Can't believe this is still being debated btw. Only one person here hated the trade up, and that's LloydFree, whose talent evaluation track record isn't exactly Jerry West, if you get what I mean. To put it lightly.

[PLO]

We are running out of roster spots. Next year's draft outside of Porter and Doncic isn't nearly as good as this year's draft and falls off majorly. If we get #1 we keep it and have our pick of the litter. It was a worthy gamble, because we simply don't know where the pick will fall next season. They had an opportunity to go up and get the #1 guy on their board, who they also considered to fit perfectly.

Looking at it from the perspective of the Sixers, if they passed on that opportunity, and next season, say the Lakers end up picking 7th, then you essentially passed on a prospect you love for Wendell Carter, Robert Williams, Jaren Jackson? Looking at it from their perspective, if they adore Fultz that much, they'd be kicking themselves to pass on him. And they still get #1 overall protections, so they don't miss out on Porter or Doncic should the ping pong balls get crazy.

Can't believe this is still being debated btw. Only one person here hated the trade up, and that's LloydFree, whose talent evaluation track record isn't exactly Jerry West, if you get what I mean. To put it lightly.

We're still in a great position with the draft assets we have moving forward; I really like the wing class next year in terms of depth, if the Lakers pick goes to Boston we can likely pick up a good prospect with our own pick, not to mention we are still in the mix for the elite talent in the draft. If we have the Kings pick for the year after we are in the Bagley sweepstakes.

I'll be really interested to see how Porter goes this year; I see a guy who's pretty overhyped at this stage. I think quite a bit of his game is underdeveloped because he's been physically so far ahead of his contemporaries. He has a lack of burst and his handle isn't great - its the latter I'd be more concerned about if I was evaluating him given the former can be improved dramatically by putting on some weight/muscle. I'll be interested to see how physical he is in college, like is he prepared to get amongst it scrabbling for rebounds in traffic etc.

Doncic is legit - but he could already be close to his ceiling given how advanced he already is and his comparative lack of athleticism. If a draft was conducted right now I think he'd go first 6 times out of 10.

We have a shot at both players next year and the top talent the year after. It's a great spot to be in.

The only complicating factor for me at this stage is how top heavy next years draft is in bigs - if Embiid has a great injury-free season and several of the bigs grade out as the best players and we land a top pick its a situation that could be a bit messy. Overall though we're in great shape vis-a-vis the draft.

[tk76]

Isn't Bagley potentially reclassifying as eligible for next year's draft? That would really be beneficial to the Lakers should the pick fall in the #2-5 range, since it would mean 2018 would be stacked at at least 1-3.

[LloydFree]

McCollum is a fair projection for Fultz in the general sense.

He has more talent than McCollum, and can be better, but he needs to be at least as good as him for the deal to be worth it, and I expect that he will be.


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I wouldn't trade 2 top 5 picks for McCollum either.

I wouldn't either, but he's the level Fultz should attain. I think the ceiling can be a Harden as they have similar length and game type (poor defenders out of college, 6'4ish with 6'10+ wingspan). I don't see him becoming Harden, but somewhere in the middle between McCollum and Harden is what I'm hopeful for.

If I thought Fultz resembled anything closes to Harden, he'd be worth three top 5 picks. He isn't nearly as skilled as Harden was at the same stage. Fultz's​ handle is below average for a starting NBA PG, and while he is a good passer, he doesn't have close to the creativity or awareness of Harden. Harden is an NBA anomaly. Every slow 6'4 player isn't going to become James Harden. Harden's skill level is on a different planet.

... And there is a Grand canyon sized gap in skill and awareness between CJ McCollum and Harden, too.

[MR28]

My expectation for Fultz is McCollum. If he doesn't get to that level, as the first overall pick, I'll be disappointed. I think his length, athleticism, and size combo gives him a higher ceiling than McCollum.

McCollum is a fair projection for Fultz in the general sense.

He has more talent than McCollum, and can be better, but he needs to be at least as good as him for the deal to be worth it, and I expect that he will be.


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I wouldn't trade 2 top 5 picks for McCollum either.

We didn't.

[PLO]

Isn't Bagley potentially reclassifying as eligible for next year's draft? That would really be beneficial to the Lakers should the pick fall in the #2-5 range, since it would mean 2018 would be stacked at at least 1-3.

I thought I read somewhere that in recent days his Dad has said that rumour is more smoke than fire.

[Unbreakable99]

Isn't Bagley potentially reclassifying as eligible for next year's draft? That would really be beneficial to the Lakers should the pick fall in the #2-5 range, since it would mean 2018 would be stacked at at least 1-3.

Why would I be beneficial to the Lakers?

[PLO]

Isn't Bagley potentially reclassifying as eligible for next year's draft? That would really be beneficial to the Lakers should the pick fall in the #2-5 range, since it would mean 2018 would be stacked at at least 1-3.

Why would I be beneficial to the Lakers?

Typo: I think he means the Celtics. In terms of over-the-top delusion of fans the two are roughly comparable anyway.

[Ugly Duckling]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

[MR28]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

And you shouldn't have traded Butler for a pile of ****.

[WMDman]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

Respectfully, I think the Bulls should have picked DSJ. He was clearly the better prospect.

[PLO]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

We'll see. When Ball is constantly coughing the ball up with his mediocre dribble penetration attempts in the half-court and the Lakers are at 0.25 W/L next season get back to us.

[mithrandir17]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

Clearly better after a handful of summer league games? Against players who wouldn't be in the league next week. OK.

[76ciology]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

Same tier, big difference in fit that he wouldn't excel with us. We need a big time perimeter scorer who can handle the ball and guard multiple positions.

[Negrodamus]

I wouldn't trade 2 top 5 picks for McCollum either.

I wouldn't either, but he's the level Fultz should attain. I think the ceiling can be a Harden as they have similar length and game type (poor defenders out of college, 6'4ish with 6'10+ wingspan). I don't see him becoming Harden, but somewhere in the middle between McCollum and Harden is what I'm hopeful for.

If I thought Fultz resembled anything closes to Harden, he'd be worth three top 5 picks. He isn't nearly as skilled as Harden was at the same stage. Fultz's​ handle is below average for a starting NBA PG, and while he is a good passer, he doesn't have close to the creativity or awareness of Harden. Harden is an NBA anomaly. Every slow 6'4 player isn't going to become James Harden. Harden's skill level is on a different planet.

... And there is a Grand canyon sized gap in skill and awareness between CJ McCollum and Harden, too.

I don't know what point is being hammered home here. I didn't say I expected him to be Harden, I don't think Harden and McCollum are close in skill level, I don't think every 6'4 prospect is going to be Jame Harden (although if there ever was going to be one, they'd probably be the first pick in the draft...).

And I said I'm hoping Fultz can land somewhere in between that Harden and McCollum threshold. If Harden is "worth three top five picks" and McCollum is worth none, Fultz will land slightly in the middle with one and a half (don't think Lakers will be a top five pick next year; questionable if the Kings will still be this bad the year following) valuation and we can all be content, no?

[LordCovington33]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

Same tier, big difference in fit that he wouldn't excel with us. We need a big time perimeter scorer who can handle the ball and guard multiple positions.

Coupled with the fact that he doesn't want to be here. I don't to be spending the next few years worrying about him leaving as soon as he can. We know what happened to Paul George's value when he let it be known that he wanted out and had his sights on a certain team.

[eagereyez]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

[LordCovington33]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

And you shouldn't have traded Butler for a pile of ****.

So funny coming from a Bulls fan who lost their best player for a bag of chips.

[Unbreakable99]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

Agreed.