The Raptors only hit 33.5 percent of their threes last season, which ranked No. Toronto’s plan to field an entire team of 6’8+ players proved to have an obvious hole: none of them could shoot. He’s a good bet to be Dallas’ replacement for Dorian Finney-Smith. He’s a high-energy player on both ends who can hit the glass, defend bigger forwards, and offer some spot-up shooting potential. O-Max skyrocketed up draft boards as the big winner of the scouting combine. Still, he fills a clear need as a rim protector behind Luka Doncic, which was the team’s biggest weakness. I’m skeptical of his offensive utility in the league, which is why I ranked him outside of the top-30 on my board and gave the Mavs a C grade for this pick. Lively is a long center who posted the third best block rate in college basketball as a freshman at Duke. The Mavericks had to replace the size and defense they lost in the Kyrie Irving trade, and they accomplished that with their two first round picks. Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper to the Mavs Photo by Alex Nahorniak-Svenski/NBAE via Getty Images I also really liked the Warriors picking up Trayce Jackson-Davis in the late second round, a four-year college stud via Indiana who should be in an ideal fit in their dribble-handoff actions. Studying under Chris Paul and Stephen Curry can’t hurt, either. His defensive struggles should be insulated a bit playing with Draymond Green. The 6’5 guard shot the hell out of the ball - 44.7 percent from three and 51.3 from two thanks to a deadly floater. I think he found a great spot for his skill set in Steve Kerr’s system of passing, spacing, and off-ball movement. Podziemski was somewhat of a polarizing prospect as a down-transfer from Illinois to Santa Clara who put up huge numbers despite his athletic deficiencies. 19 Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/NBAE via Getty Images Now let’s dive into the best fits of the 2023 NBA Draft. Our instant grades for the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft weighed a variety of factors, but were mostly determined by where players were based on my pre-draft board.
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Rookie scale contracts remain among the most team-friendly in the league, with clubs controlling the first four years of a player’s career before getting matching rights on whatever their next contract looks like if they reach restricted free agency. As the league is set to embrace more punitive luxury tax restrictions, teams are becoming even more incentivized to find cost-controlled contributors with their draft picks. That doesn’t mean hope for immediate returns should be disregarded. It’s going to take years before we can properly evaluate how teams did in this draft as the players in the class slowly grow into their bodies and into their games. Rosters around the league change far too quickly for that, especially when 19 of the 30 first round picks in the 2023 NBA Draft were teenagers. It’s foolish to judge a selection in the NBA draft exclusively on present day fit.
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