Here’s some good news off the bat: I will not be mentioning anyone from Villanova in a college basketball post. It’s a new day. [Editor’s note: FUCK YOU! Josh Hart.]

We’ve passed the halfway point of the NBA season, and things are beginning to fall into place. The bottom of the standings are starting to take shape, mock drafts are being… mocked(?), and consensus players are rising to the top. So with the Sixers looking at two possible picks in the top 5-10 this year, who should you be watching?

Picks

First, the Sixers currently have a 15.5% chance at the number one pick, a 50.5% chance at a top-3 pick, and a 53.1% chance of getting the Lakers’ pick. If the season ended today, the lowest the Lakers’ pick could end up is at #6, and the lowest the Sixers could land at is #7. Here’s where everything landed on my first spin of Tankathon:

tankathon 1

I’d take that every time. So if the Sixers land in that range, with at least one pick in the top seven, who are they looking at?

Players

Here’s Draft Express’ current top 7:

  1. Markelle Fultz – PG, Washington
  2. Lonzo Ball – PG, UCLA
  3. Josh Jackson – SF, Kansas
  4. Dennis Smith – PG, N.C. State
  5. Jayson Tatum – SF, Duke
  6. Jonathan Isaac – SF, Florida State
  7. Lauri Markkanen – PF, Arizona

We’ll take them one by one:

Markelle Fultz

Fultz is this season’s golden goose. He’s been atop DE’s mock since October and is showing zero signs of giving up that title. He’s the total package. Fultz can score from the inside, mid-range, and long distance (42.1% from the three) while averaging 6 assists, 6 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game. He’s literally your dream player. Just watch the guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEFg-5BApQA

If you land the number one pick, you take Markelle Fultz. There is no question.

 

Lonzo Ball

Lonzo Ball has one of the weirdest looking jump shots you’ll ever see. A right hander, he brings the ball over to the left side of his face, before flinging his right hand out in a way that screams “there’s no way this is doing in.” It goes in. Often.

Ball and Fultz faced off for the first time the other night, and you can argue Lonzo actually outplayed Markelle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk3QG5FNueo

Ball is a little bouncier than Fultz, and at 6’6″ is longer and taller (though that might give you – with his jumper – some horrifying MCW flashbacks). And he’s a mock draft climber. Unlike Fultz, who was ranked as high as #4 last April, Ball kinda come out of nowhere:

lonzo mock

Back in 2015, Mike Schmitz said of the then high school stud:

“His size, court vision, basketball instincts, rebounding ability and defensive playmaking will make him an eventual, legitimate triple double threat in the Pac-12. It will be interesting to see how Ball’s jump shot, arguably his biggest weakness, develops under former sharpshooter and current UCLA head coach Steve Alford. Overall, Ball has room to improve his body, jumper, and shot selection, but he’ll serve as a do-it-all lead guard for the Bruins, and has a chance to continue that versatility at the NBA level down the road if he continues to develop.”

His development has continued, and depending on whom you ask he could be the only non-Fultz tier 1 prospect in this draft.

 

Josh Jackson

The 6’8″ Josh Jackson was ranked #5 in The Ringer’s big board, and Jonathan Tjarks said of Jackson on January 3, “if Jackson could consistently shoot, he would have an argument, along with Washington’s Markelle Fultz, as the no. 1 overall pick in the draft.” Consistency still has to be shown, but Jackson is working:

In Liberty Ballers’ end of year big board on December 28th, all four writers ranked Jackson #2 behind Markelle Fultz, with Marc Whittington heaping on the highest praise: “There’s too much that he’s good at for him not to be useful at the very least. If the shot comes around even a little, he’s a star.” He’s also touted as an elite defender at the SF position, something that’s an absolute must in the modern NBA.

 

Dennis Smith Jr.

Smith takes the #2 spot on the Ringer’s Big Board. He was my pre-season favorite based off of hype videos alone. Let’s watch one of those:

Now, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: There are concerns about his shooting. Smith is crazy athletic. Like, Russell Westbrook athletic. He averages 2.2 steals per game and shoots an insane 66.2% at the rim as a 6’3″ guard. Here’s Tjarks again:

For as gifted as he is physically, Smith does have an Achilles’ heel. In comparison to Wall (6-foot-9.25 wingspan), Westbrook (6-foot-7.75) and Bledsoe (6-foot-7.5), all of whom have Inspector Gadget–type arms that allow them to play much bigger than their size, Smith has a below-average reach (6-foot-3) that would put him in the bottom 10th percentile of starting PGs in the NBA. The lack of length hasn’t prevented players like Isaiah Thomas and Kemba Walker from becoming stars, but that’s because they are lights-out shooters who can score at will 20–27 feet from the basket. Kemba’s huge leap over the past two years has coincided with him becoming a much better 3-point shooter, as he’s gone from shooting 30.5 percent from 3 as a rookie to 42.1 percent from 3 this season.

Smith has been a pretty good shooter at NC State, shooting 73.9 percent from the free throw line and 37.7 percent from the 3-point line on 4.5 attempts per game. However, that’s still a pretty small sample size for a guy who wasn’t known as a great shooter in AAU ball, and it’s something NBA scouts will be monitoring very closely over the next two months. Because of his size and speed, Smith will always be able to dribble into jumpers. It’s just a matter of how many of them will he make.

Smith is still recovering from an ACL tear that he suffered before his senior year in high school, but he’s climbing the ranks, and doing it fast. Of all of the top-10 prospects, he’s the most highlight-ready.

 

Jayson Tatum

LB’s Marc Whittington, again:

Tatum is a smart basketball player who excels on the defensive end and struggles to score efficiently against the best defenders. While his outside shot is still a work in progress, he has been a willing shooter from distance (5 3PA per 40 minutes) and has enough positive shooting indicators to believe he’ll be a passable shooter from deep.

Tatum is as high as #4 on the Ringer’s Big Board, and NBADraft.net names his pro comp as a “Danny Granger/Shane Battier” type who has “no major weaknesses in his game.

 

Jonathan Isaac

Falling a spot behind Tatum on Draft Express, Isaac is as high as number 4 on Aran Smith’s big board at NBADraft.net. A 6’10”-6’11” wing/PF, Isaac is obviously drawing Kevin Durant comparisons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRQTz12KVEI

A talented scorer and long defender, Isaac may be more of a high floor, low ceiling player, but one that could fit into any system.

 

Lauri Markkanen

A Finnish giant, Markkanen might scare away some Sixers fans since he’s listed as a seven-footer. However, Lauri’s game is a lot more stretch-4/wing than pound down low big.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ6ZIG28OPY

He may look like your typical thin, soft big, but SB Nation already called him the best 7-foot 3pt shooter college basketball has ever seen. That’s incredibly high praise, and for the record, Markkanen is attempting 4.7 three-pointers a game and making 48.7% of them. Players like Markkanen are what the future of the NBA looks like.

 

Frank Ntilikina

And finally, a wildcard: The Belgium born, French-raised, playing in Germany Frank Ntilikina. The 6’5″ PG was praised by all of the Liberty Ballers staff back in December, with Max Rappaport saying he has “an Antetokounmpoan wingspan, improving jumper, and ability to finish above the rim” making him “exactly the type of two-way point guard the Sixers need.” He’s young (won’t be 19 until after the lottery, like Fultz) and is a little more raw, but if you were to be able to get someone like Ntilikina with your second of two top-10 picks? That’s a good draft.