2017 Draft Profile

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The pool of big men who will be available in the middle of the first round should be abundant.  If the Hawks want to go the route of drafting a project and developing him, they could look at 19-year-old Harry Giles.  The 6'11" Duke center didn't play a ton in his only season but has potential, regarded by most as a top reruit in the 2016 class.  For more on him, we spoke with Indiana Sports Coverage founder Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth), who writes about the Indiana Pacers:

He didn't play a whole lot at Duke, but he did prove to make quite an impact as a rebounder, cutter, roll man in the pick-and-roll, and as a threat in transition. What really sets his game apart is his ability to handle the ball and to utilize change of pace as a perimeter playmaker, which is something that not many big men can do. Defensively, he has very good lateral quickness for a big man and that could help a unit with defensive versatility to guard cross match assignments on switches and to handle the nuances of the game. It never hurts to have an athletic power forward that can make plays on defense better than most big men, rebound at a high level, and guard out on the perimeter with great success. 

How does his game translate to the NBA?

Since he is considered a project player, it's hard to see how Giles will produce in terms of an immediate impact in the NBA. He doesn't have sufficient shooting abilities to be a modern power forward that most teams need in their half-court offense, and he doesn't have the weight to be a center yet. However, I believe he can make an instant impact as an energy big man who thrives at doing the dirty work that teams need on both ends of the floor.

I definitely believe that Giles needs to improve his jump shot, especially if he ends up playing most of his minutes as a power forward. He already thrives in the nuances of offense that are necessary for a complementary player except being able to convert on catch-and-shoot jumpers and on jump shots in general. I also believe he needs to get his ball handling skills back to what they were before his injury since that was a major reason why scouts fell in love with him before his second knee injury in high school. Giles could create a truly unique advantage team if he can get close to recovering those abilities since most big men can't keep up with him, especially not laterally.

What style of play suites his game best?

This is a great question about Giles because it truly depends on what position he ends of playing in the NBA. As a power forward, he could struggle to help his team in a spread offense since he doesn't have a consistent jump shot and his ball handling hasn't fully recovered. However, he could create unique advantages as a center, especially if he can recover the skill-set and athleticism that had scouts ranking him as the top high school player in the country. Since he shouldn't play alongside another big man that doesn't consistently knock down deep jump shots, he would be best suited on a team that gets out and runs in transition a lot.

To which current or past NBA player would you compare him?

Before his most recent knee injury, he was drawing Kevin Garnett, Chris Webber, and Amar'e Stoudemire comparisons. However, I believe he projects closer to Bobby Portis since both are high energy players who have great size for the power forward position. To be clear, I mean he can produce at the level that Portis does immediately, not what he can become as a final product. After I thought of a comparison, I searched other websites to see what other analysts said and I found that NBADraft.net shared the same opinion. Both players thrive as energy big men on both ends of the floor and are capable of guarding the perimeter at a very high level with the frame to become impactful post defenders. They both have an above average ability to handle the ball with a need to become more consistent medium volume jump shooters.

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Draft Profile: Harry Giles Could Be Risk Worth Taking

As the Hawks contemplate their options at number 19, one potential stretch four who could still be on the board is Syracuse big man Tyler Lydon.  Lydon has the characteristics Atlanta has always liked: length, size and shooting.  To learn more about him, we spoke with John Cassillo (@JohnCassillo), the Managing Editor for Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician (@NunesMagician), an SB Nation blog covering the Orange.

Tyler has the length and leaping ability to make an impact on the boards, and that also helps him create some space as a shooter. He possesses a quality jump shot and can put a nice arc on the ball to further exacerbate a height advantage on smaller perimeter defenders. His athleticism makes him a mismatch on bigger players, who may not be able to move as quickly to the rim. Lydon’s also a great free throw shooter, hitting nearly 84 percent from the stripe last season.

He’s definitely a tweener between the 3 and 4 -- with potential be a stretch 4 in the pros. He mostly played at power forward and center at Syracuse, but at his current weight (around 220-230 pounds), it’s unlikely he’ll be able to do the same at the NBA level. If he gains 15-20 pounds, there’s a chance for him as a 4, which could create mismatches on a solid inside/outside game. Lydon’s a solid rebounder (8.6 per game last year), but also needs to get more aggressive on the boards if he wants to find success there in the NBA.

Mentioned him being aggressive above, but that really goes for his entire game. Lydon was reasonably dynamic off the ball (especially on the inside), but increased movement could help him be in a better position away from the rim. Tyler also needs to create his own shot more -- something that’s been a struggle in his two years with the Orange. The ability to do for yourself on offense is essential in the pros. If he can improve there and gain the aforementioned weight, he could develop into much more of a matchup problem over time.

A team the runs a lot of pick-and-rolls, and has a capable point guard that can help get the most out of the players on the floor with him. Lydon can’t create much of a shot for himself right now, so having a capable distributor to assist him there early on would be vital to his success. He was an active defender in the zone, but we’ll have to see how that effort translates to a man-to-man scheme in the NBA. A team that can play with some pace (like the Hawks) and force him to push a bit more and get out in transition could end up making a great investment by drafting Lydon. 

To which current NBA player would you compare him?

The Houston Rockets’ Ryan Anderson is a reasonable comparison. Anderson has range and is an accurate and reliable shooter from three, as well as the free throw line. Lydon may be able to pull down more rebounds and is a more capable shot-blocker than Anderson, but overall shooting prowess is about the same. Lydon’s also the more athletic player of the two, which should certainly help his upside versus Anderson’s ceiling (a 30-minutes-per-game power forward whose primary role is on the offensive end).

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Draft Profile: Tyler Lydon May Be A Stretch-4 Option For Hawks

Now perhaps more than ever, the NBA rewards players with versatility, size, ballhandling skills, defensive ability and the ability to shoot from distance. If the Hawks are looking for such a package in the upcoming draft, one player who could fit the bill is Frank Ntilikina. To find out more about the French teen, Hawks.com spoke with Pascal Giberné (@PascalGibBN), a correspondent for Canal+ Afrique (@cplusafrique).

“It was his best game as a pro, by far.” 

Never one to praise his players, Strasbourg’s coach Vincent Collet didn’t mince his words while describing Frank Ntilikina's (Neeleekeena) performance during the decisive Game 5 of the LNB semifinals against ASVEL. The 18-year-old point guard displayed a tenacious defense on Casper Ware, ASVEL's point guard and the 2016 Pro A Finals MVP. With a prodigious wingspan measured at seven feet and his quick feet, Ntilikina delivered Pippen-esque D, suffocating and frustrating the older vet. The Pippen comparisons are legit. The 6-foot-5 Ntilikina can be a hawking presence on defense, eluding screens and shutting down opponents. The NBA draft is all about potential and Ntilikina has plenty. His basketball IQ is the very first thing the scouts mentions when they talk about him. Basketball comes easy to him. He is crafty with the ball and can play fast or slow. He can shoot. Smart, polite, he is a coach's dream (more on that later). In 32 appearances this season, he averaged 5.2 points (on 48.5 percent shooting) and 1.4 assists in 19 minutes per game. The numbers aren’t overwhelming, but keep in mind that he wasn’t the main option.

How does his game translate to the NBA? 

Ntilikina’s game is perfect for the Association. The NBA is all about the pick-and-roll, and Ntilikina will excel in that department. He is a tall guard with length who can play the 1 and the 2 spots. He possesses a good handle, he can shoot threes, and he knows how to maneuver his defender. He is a natural player with sharp instincts on offense and defense. He is a good, very long athlete. He can finish at the rim using a variety of moves or kick out for a teammate. He uses his hesitation dribble to freeze the defense, penetrate and rely on his floater. His court vision is excellent, sometimes to a fault, as Ntilikina is always looking for an open teammate. As Larry Brown always said, he plays the right way.  

Ntilikina is an 18-year-old, and sometimes he plays like one. He can be naive, and one would love to see more assertiveness in his game and attitude. Physically he doesn’t have that first-step burst or out-of-this-world elevation. He will have to put on some muscle and spice up his athleticism. His shot is a little flat and he will have to work on this. A coach's dream, he is sometimes too cautious with the ball, afraid to make mistakes. He will follow his coach's orders while refusing to take risk. Quiet, Ntilikina is not a vocal leader. The NBA likes players who exude confidence and a pinch of craziness, especially at the point guard spot, and it’s not in Frank’s DNA. Don’t get me wrong, he is the total package, but teams will have to be patient and respect the process. Ntilikina did lead the French junior National Team to the title of the 2016 FIBA U18 European Championships in December. He dominated his age group and was voted the MVP of the tournament. It’s time for him to show the same domination at the pro level. 

What style of play suits his game best? 

He like when the game is fast but will be as efficient in a half-court type of offense. 

To which current or past NBA player would you compare him? 

He has some Pippen in him, and even though he loves Russell Westbrook, Ntilikina is pretty much his own man.

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Draft Profile: Is Frank Ntilikina The Next International Sensation?

As rumblings continue surrounding our interest in a big man, another name that could be available at #19 is Creighton center Justin Patton.  Patton is a true 7-footer who can run the floor and could develop under head coach Mike Budenholzer and his staff.  To learn more about Patton, we spoke to Tom Nemitz (@WBR_Tom) with White and Blue Review (@whitebluereview), and independent website covering the Creighton Blue Jays:

Justin Patton has great hands, great balance and good footwork, which makes him appear quicker in game situations than his combine numbers would lead you to believe. Combined with his ability to run the floor, it’s a skillset not many true seven footers have, even in the NBA.

He shot nearly 70% from the field, with 72 of his 200 made field goals coming on a dunk, no doubt inflating that percentage a bit. Though it's an extremely small sample size, he did make 8-15 from three-point range, so he’s not strictly a scorer at or around the rim.

Patton's skillset fits in well with the new era of NBA big men -- he's not going to score much on post-up opportunities, but moves extremely well without the ball and his soft hands allow him to catch tough passes in traffic and while on the move. Offensively, it's pretty easy to project Patton as a productive player immediately.

Defense is another story. He has the tools to be a good defender, but too often relies on his lateral quickness to compensate for a lack of fundamentals in his footwork. He's really raw on the defensive end, and was too often exposed when Big East teams saw him a second or third time this winter. As he grows into his body, builds strength, and gains experience he'll improve but entering the league he'll be a liability on defense. 

Quite simply, Patton has to get stronger. He put on significant weight during his redshirt season at Creighton, but he's still not big or strong enough to hold his ground in the paint. It isn't that he plays "soft" so much as he just doesn't yet have the body to be able to absorb contact. He had just 87 free throw attempts this season in 35 games, and made just 51.7% from the line. I'd think those are both red flags to NBA scouts.

The lack of strength hurts him defensively and on the glass, as well. He averaged six boards a game despite 11 games -- basically a third of the season -- where he had 8 or more in a game because against teams with stronger or more physical big men, he was pushed around too much. The same could be said defensively. Against teams with big, physical centers or power forwards, he often struggled to defend without fouling.

Almost everything I've heard and read indicates scouts are fairly sure he will improve defensively and on the glass as his body matures; the question is how long it will take and where his ceiling is. Whoever drafts him will need to be willing to stash him in the G-League for a year of heavy-duty strength and conditioning. That could make him intriguing to a team like Atlanta, who has the luxury of Dwight Howard as their current center and could give Patton a year or two to develop. 

Patton excels on pick-and-rolls and pick-and-pops, and thrives in an offense where he can run the floor. He'll be far more successful in an offensive scheme where he's allowed to run in the open floor than one where he's asked to play a more traditional back-to-the-basket role.

After an early January game in NYC where he decimated St. John's on both ends of the floor, Red Storm coach Chris Mullin compared Patton to Marcus Camby. I like that comparison, but it’s not perfect; Camby had a similar frame at 6'11", 220 but had much better defensive skills while Patton is better offensively. That's a bit of a cop-out, though, since you asked for a current NBA player and Camby's been out of the league for a few years. 

Other comps I’ve seen on scouting reports are LaMarcus Aldridge and Andrew Bogut, but I’d compare Patton to more of a Thon Maker-type — a very skilled, mobile, seven-footer who’s a bit of a project.

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Draft Profile: 7-Footer Justin Patton Could Be A Hawks Target

Another name that has been linked to the Hawks in several mock drafts is Texas big man Jarrett Allen.  To learn more about him, we spoke with Cody Daniel (@CodyDanielSBN) with Burnt Orange Nation:

Jarrett Allen’s biggest strength may be his upside. At this point in his progression, there isn’t a single aspect of his game that’s dominant, but his excellent tools and flashes of potential in various areas make him an intriguing prospect for today’s NBA. 

Allen’s above average athleticism is apparent around the rim on both ends of the floor, and he’s already flashed his potential as a quality, back-to-basket offensive option. When he’s locked in, Allen’s length can allow him to become a high-level rim protector and an above average rebounder. When it’s all put together and polished, Allen certainly looks the part of a future NBA starter. 

If developed properly, Allen has the tools to blossom into an ideal modern-day center. He’s still considerably rough around the edges, but Allen can excel in up-tempo situations as a rim runner, use finesse to score around the rim, and possesses the potential to stretch the floor a bit. Additionally, when he’s engaged, Allen can defend multiple positions and protect the rim at a high level.

That said, this is operating under the assumption that he’ll develop as expected, but there’s still plenty of holes in his game at this point.

For starters, Allen’s motor runs hot and cold and when he’s not engaged, his weaknesses are magnified. Among Allen’s most glaring weaknesses is his strength and toughness, or lack thereof. Whether he’s playing forward or center at the next level, he’ll be pitted against a much more physical level of competition and until Allen bulks up and learns to remain in an aggressive, attack mode during games, he’s going to get bullied in the paint quite often. 

Furthermore, Allen’s overall feel for the game and basketball IQ need some considerable improvement and until then, even utilizing his strengths will be a far more difficult task than it was in the Big 12.

For the first year or two of his professional career, much of Allen’s productivity will likely come as a rim runner in transition or out of the pick-and-roll. He’s quicker than your average big man and runs the floor really well, which will aid in gaining a step on defenders if he can prove to be a halfway decent mid-range option, as he should be.

In a more long-term sense, Allen has tremendous potential as a back-to-basket offensive option, but he’ll need to bulk up and improve his basketball IQ considerably before he becomes a consistent factor in that regard.

It’s difficult to project the kind of talent Allen can become at the next level because his lone season at Texas was less than ideal. A modern-day center, Allen played out of position as a power forward in Austin in an offense without a competent point guard and sub-par shooting, so he likely fills a completely different role with a completely different impact a season or two from now.

That said, he seems to be a more athletic Cody Zeller with a higher two-way ceiling, but his game may look completely different once he’s in an offense that isn’t built for him to fail. 

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Draft Profile: Jarrett Allen Has Tools To Be An NBA Starter

In the upcoming 2017 NBA Draft, there will undoubtedly be a large number of 'one-and-dones'; players who entered themselves into the draft just a year after finishing high school. The Hawks will certainly have a number of them on their draft boards. While most of the one-and-dones do a year of college basketball in the United States, Terrance Ferguson took the less-traveled route of playing a year professionally in Australia. For more on 6-foot-7 swingman, we talked to Paul Force, founder of 36reasons.net (@36reasons), a blog focused on the Adelaide 36ers of Australia's National Basketball League (NBL):

Ferguson came to Australia as the first ever American kid projected to play a season and then be an NBA first round draft pick. His numbers weren’t what many expected (4.6 points per game on 38 percent shooting), but it was foolish to expect a light-bodied teenager to dominate in a very physical league while playing his first professional season. Ferguson is already an elite defender and has a sweet stroke – a budding “3 and D” guy. Plus he is an exceptional athlete, winning Dunk of the Year for the NBL. He is still a few years away from being a solid contributor in the NBA, but importantly he has got great character. Regardless of the hype, Ferguson was great with fans, great with team promotions and events and worked hard to improve his game. He probably didn’t get the high-volume minutes he expected, playing instead just 15.1 minutes/game, but he never showed any discontent. 

Very well. Once he builds up his light frame and develops some consistency, Ferguson will be a contributor. He has all the tools to be a very solid pro. Defensively he is ready to go, which is a huge bonus. Ferguson also looks to be a good fit for the Hawks, giving them some youth, defensive ability and athleticism at the 2 and 3 spots. 

Hit the gym and eat! Outside of that, his priorities should be working on his shot and creating more off the dribble. While he has a nice stroke, hitting 31.3 percent on threes and 60.0 percent from the line shows that it still needs some work. 

Transition. With his athleticism and three-point potential, Ferguson is best suited to a team that likes to run. In the half-court, the 19-year-old often struggled and only seemed comfortable when left to shoot wide open shots.

I see some similarities to former Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat star Eddie Jones. Ferguson has a better shot than Jones, but he will need to work hard to match his defensive work and ability to get to the basket. Jones made three All-Star teams and three Second Team All-Defense teams too. If Ferguson can match that, he will have had a very good career.

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Draft Profile: Will Terrance Ferguson Shine After Year In Australia?

Many think we will go big with the #19 pick in the 2017 Draft.  If we do, Wake Forest's John Collins is a name that may be available.  Given that the only big men under contract for next season are Dwight Howard and Ryan Kelly, we may opt for the 6'10" forward if he's available.

For more on Collins, we hit up Samurai Foochs (@SamuraiFoochs) with Blogger So Dear:

John is very much a throwback in the sense that in an ideal world he'd play the 4...about 15-20 years ago.  He's a big man who can be absolutely dominant under the basket with regularity, run the floor with the best of them, and outworks people for rebounds.  His mid-range game definitely improved from freshman to sophomore year, and I anticipate him spending more time in the NBA will only improve that.  The other thing I'd point out is his work ethic is killer.  The guy went from a relatively under-the-radar high school prospect to a mid-first rounder in two seasons.  The importance of coaching can't be overstated either (thank you Danny Manning) but it's pretty obvious to me that for John, ball is life.

There's good news and bad news.  The good news is, as I said, he's a classic big man with a fantastic motor, refined post moves, good athleticism, and good IQ.  The downsides are that he's too small to really play the 5 unless it's in a small lineup, and he can't stretch the floor enough to be your typical 2017 NBA power forward.  I do think John will pan out, but I see it being in a way similar to his fellow Demon Deacon James Johnson in being a strong bench contributor.  Obviously I'd love to see him as a perennial All-Star setting the league on fire, but as his game stands now (which again, could expand or change to John's benefit) I see John as a high floor, low ceiling solid pick.

Range and defense.  If he can get more consistent with his mid-range jumpers I think he'll be very much set offensively.  Defensively, I wouldn't say he's a bad defender, but he needs to work on lateral quickness and sticking with assignments.  When things get gritty under the basket and/or on the glass, though, John handles his business.

I've already alluded to this, but absolutely post play down low, both offensively and defensively.  The bad news is if John is any kind of 5, he's a small ball 5, but the good news is small ball is taking over the league, so I can see him carving out a niche for himself.

It's by no means a perfect comparison and I'm not 100% sure it's the most on point, but I will say the first name that popped into my head is Zach Randolph.  They're similarly-sized height-wise (Z-Bo is a LOT beefier, however) and both bring that sort of lunch pail, grit and grind, "might not be pretty but I'm gonna do me", beast down low sensibility.  That said, while Z-Bo is bigger, there's no question John is more explosive, so like I said it's not a perfect comparison, but I think it's a pretty solid one.