Markelle Fultz

[Lalouie]

He has questionable drive. Was often viewed as not bringing 100% to the table. He even said he was bored. I think he's a bad choice

[TheOGJabroni]

You always take BPA, period. If Fultz is BPA (which most believe), worry about the fit later. So much can change in the NBA.

[Hoopz Afrik]

Fultz is definitely not going to be the best player in the draft. He is fgoing to be good but not a Superstar.

Disagreed 100%. If this draft produces a legit superstar then my money is that it'll be Markelle.

[blazeyo]

Fultz is definitely not going to be the best player in the draft. He is fgoing to be good but not a Superstar.

Disagreed 100%. If this draft produces a legit superstar then my money is that it'll be Markelle.

Nope. No superstar is going to be called Markelle.

[Upperclass]

Superstar, first team all nba potential is limited to Fultz and Monk imo. Frank Jackson is up there too for me

[DarkAzcura]

Not sure where all this IT dominates the ball comes from. Not only does he not always bring it up but the C's are all about ball movement, pick n roll/screens. They do what they need to do to get IT open, personally think Fultz will be huge in helping with that.

He does dominate the ball. The usage gap between him and AB (the Celtics 2nd leading scorer) is the same as between Harden and Gordon in Houston.

IT does do a lot more off-ball than Harden, especially with Horford so gifted passing out of the high post, but IT is still the 1st, 2nd and 3rd option when it comes to handling and creating.

USG isn't usually what people mean when they say a player dominates the ball. Players who isolate and struggle to play off the ball are usually considered ball dominant players regardless of usage because it's necessary for their success. And if I am wrong and people are actually using usage as an indicator of ball dominance without looking at shot type, then I'd say the players you should be worried about fitting well together are those that isolate a lot and struggle to shoot. Joe Johnson is a good example of this..not a very high usage but pretty ball dominant.

Like you said, IT does a lot off the ball, and he does handle the ball quite a lot, but it's not in a way where another player can't be incorporated.

Anyway to the OP, no..Fultz does not have a higher chance of busting by being on the Celtics. If anything, he has a better chance of learning quicker playing with the Celtics.

[neno]

Forfeiting the pick will retain team chemistry while saving money and space on roster and team bus

[Marcus]

Fultz makes all the sense in the world considering the Celts need another scorer playmaker on the team. Kelle helps take pressure off IT IMO. I don't think he starts right away if at all due to AB being there. But he very well could be the IT of the second unit in Boston with Marcus Smart playing the AB role.

[atlantabbq99]

I was about to say that Fultz is a rich man's Jamal Crawford, but after watching him more, i see him more as a 6'4 Kyrie Irving, which is kind of scary. Just like Kyrie, he is not a super athlete like Wade or Francis, but he can get any where on the court he want with his ball handling and quickness, his inside game is just as good as his outside game, which is way above average most NBA players. And Just like Kyrie, i only see him being a 2-4 assist guy, and his defense will not be good, but only on the same level of defense as Kyrie or Melo or Love

[LALifer49]

I was about to say that Fultz is a rich man's Jamal Crawford, but after watching him more, i see him more as a 6'4 Kyrie Irving, which is kind of scary. Just like Kyrie, he is not a super athlete like Wade or Francis, but he can get any where on the court he want with his ball handling and quickness, his inside game is just as good as his outside game, which is way above average most NBA players. And Just like Kyrie, i only see him being a 2-4 assist guy, and his defense will not be good, but only on the same level of defense as Kyrie or Melo or Love

Now that is an interesting comparison, seeing as how Kyrie is one of my favorite players in the league, do you think Fultz is the easy #1 pick?

[cksdayoff]

Fultz doesn't have Kyrie's elite handles. His handles are pretty good though

[atlantabbq99]

I was about to say that Fultz is a rich man's Jamal Crawford, but after watching him more, i see him more as a 6'4 Kyrie Irving, which is kind of scary. Just like Kyrie, he is not a super athlete like Wade or Francis, but he can get any where on the court he want with his ball handling and quickness, his inside game is just as good as his outside game, which is way above average most NBA players. And Just like Kyrie, i only see him being a 2-4 assist guy, and his defense will not be good, but only on the same level of defense as Kyrie or Melo or Love

Now that is an interesting comparison, seeing as how Kyrie is one of my favorite players in the league, do you think Fultz is the easy #1 pick?

No, i think all three guys, Fultz, Ball, and Josh Jackson each have legitimate arguments why they should be #1. It all depends on each guys' work ethic, proper coaching, and intangibles. You never know, if things go just right, Jackson, i think has a 10% chance to be another Kawhi. Ball possibly could be a top 5 PG in 3-4 years behind Curry and Westbrook. and Fultz could have a 10% chance to be on the same level as Iverson five years from now.

With that said, none of the three guys are one the same level as Lebron or Shaq when they were in the draft, but each guy has a very good shot at making multiple all star teams and one or two Team USA rosters in their future careers.

[reanimator]

IMO Fultz has much better passing ability than Kyrie.

[eagereyez]

i just checked out harden's ftr in his freshman year at asu and god that is some efficiency

Harden was a FT drawing Adonis, man. Fultz's ftr scares me. It's the one thing that gives me a long pause. I can't decide if it was because of his lack of explosion, or because opposing teams loaded up on him. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

[Dr Positivity]

I just spent 10 minutes searching for this thread. :/ Surprised that, for over a month, there are no comments in the thread that's dedicated to the consensus #1 pick.

I don't follow college hoop, but from all I've read/watched it really seems he's a can't miss guy. Other than one poster, who kind of derailed the topic IMO, I couldn't find a reasonable take of why he might not be worthy of a #1 pick.

I would be really interested to hear such arguments, what are some of the concerns you have about him? E.g., I can't find one reason why would someone take Ball over him. You can even play devil's advocate if you will.

- His season actually wasn’t that amazing. Of the DX top 10 Fultz is only 8th in WS/48 and 6th in BPM, behind Jackson and Ball in both. Before considering impact concerns considering his team’s record.

- Not as good a 3pt shooting prospect as advertised. Lots of reason to think that when predicting 3pt one should look at 3pt volume and FT% in addition to NCAA 3P%. Since Fultz is 64% FT this makes him more of an average 3pt shooting prospects (projected at 34-35% on a site I recently read). Ingram last year was an example of a “great shooting prospect” who’s 60s FT% showed holes in that statement. If Fultz doesn’t shoot 3s well it also makes the IT issue bigger.

- Analytics guys note that PPG is one of the worst stats to use to predict NBA success. Stats like steals, blocks, assists, rebounds, efficiency carry over better. So this is an issue for Fultz since points per game is the bread and butter of why he’s rated #1. He's pretty good in the other stats but not #1 level over Ball and Jackson

- Non elite athlete. “Yeah but it’ll be fine” was used to describe Evan Turner and D’Angelo Russell coming into the draft as well and it ended up being a huge concern. On the other hand players like Harden and Kyrie weren’t top level athletes either.

- This is totally unfair, but could Fultz in worst case scenario be PG Jahlil Okafor? Remember how much scouts drooled on Okafor’s “advanced” offensive game for his age, his footwork, isolation skillset? Just because you look the part in terms of moves doesn’t mean it always comes together. I see Fultz worst case scenario as a scorer being a guy who isn't that good at 3s, isn't explosive enough to get to the rim as often as expected, so he just puts up these crappy wannabe Kobe midrange shots. For me I don't think ability to hit difficult shots is going to matter unless those difficult shots are from 3 or the rim. Nobody wants a shot creating midrange option anymore. Even for the patron saint of midrange shots DeMar Derozan, it only ends up ok for him because he's one of the best at getting to the rim/FT line of his position.

[atlantabbq99]

- Non elite athlete. “Yeah but it’ll be fine” was used to describe Evan Turner and D’Angelo Russell coming into the draft as well and it ended up being a huge concern. On the other hand players like Harden and Kyrie weren’t top level athletes either.

Kyrie Irving (and James Harden) was also labeled as "Non elite athlete. Yeah but it’ll be fine” coming out of Duke.

I'm not say Fultz is a sure thing or a bust, but using "Non elite athlete" is a weak argument for both sides. you can look back and find cases for and against " Non elite athlete", and as a result, its a poor way to measure players.

By the way, i never did measure Evan Turner and Exum high as a prospect. I always had them ranked very low. I even called Exum a future bust when he was in the draft, and alot of people called me crazy for saying that. I never liked Turner and Exum because both guys are such poor shooters like Rubio.

I tend to be more of a believer on Fultz because i think his jump shot , mid range and 3pt shot, can translate from college to the NBA, just like Kyrie.

[Shamrock]

Should be noted that Fultz shot 74% from the FT his junior year and 71% his senior year of high school . The ability is there, not sure if it's conditioning related

[Upperclass]

He reminds me of Kyrie too. I think I said that earlier in the thread. His got moves aren't handle based though. He throws you off balance with amazing footwork and body movement

[SBM]

I haven't watched him enough to say he will never be a bust

[SBM]

I have not seen anything special from Fultz by watching highlights. I don't like the fit either. I don't like trading off good players to play good players, its called lateral movement.