NBA execs poll: Zion not in the top 5 of players under 25 they would build around

NBA Central
@TheNBACentral
http://HoopsHype.com polled 15 NBA talent evaluators to learn which players under 25 they?d build around:

1) Luka Doncic - 100%
2) Jayson Tatum - 64%
3) Devin Booker - 25.3%
4) Ja Morant - 18.7%
5) Donovan Mitchell - 16%
5) Bam Adebayo - 16%

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheNBACen...05455009497089

Recency bias. Bam and Murray much higher than anyone would expect normally. Zion at 7th with 13.3%. Ingram 9th with 12%. One "exec" said Ingram was 6'11".

No surprise....

57 games played in last two years.
Suffered injuries in the last two years.
Played with minute restrictions in the last two years.

No doubt he has a high ceiling. But, too, there are a lot of unanswered questions concerning his durability.

Not surprised. Considering the ********show this past season, anyone on the outside would feel weary.

1-4 makes sense to me

Too much is made of these list. We've seen enough terrible front office decisions and will continue to see more awful decisions every year to know they make significant size mistakes. With that said Williamson as impressive as he's been he has some serious concerns. Regardless of what Griffin says Zion has to play basketball at no more that 265. That should be his max weight limit.

Pay this no mind. Bam? Really? Like he's anything but a bigger Draymond?

Who cares?

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Pay this no mind. Bam? Really? Like he's anything but a bigger Draymond?

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Bam is great, and don't undervalue ''bigger Draymond''. Draymond had a strong argument for being one of the handful of most impactful players in basketball for a couple of years there. You take that, add height and offensive equity (Bam is a much more capable scorer than Draymond ever was) and that is a very significant player.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Bam is great, and don't undervalue ''bigger Draymond''. Draymond had a strong argument for being one of the handful of most impactful players in basketball for a couple of years there. You take that, add height and offensive equity (Bam is a much more capable scorer than Draymond ever was) and that is a very significant player.

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Is that a franchise player though?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Is that a franchise player though?

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Depends what you mean by franchise player. I don't think Bam will ever lead the league in scoring or jersey sales, which is what a lot of people seem to mean by that, but can he be the best player on a championship calibre team? I don't know yet, but I can imagine circumstances where he could be.

That's a question you could ask about a lot of these guys. They have Morant at 4: is he good enough to be the best player on a championship team? Maybe, but I've yet to see anything that makes me think he will be. What about Donovan Mitchell? Same principle, maybe if the team is built just right but he doesn't scream ''championship team number 1''.

It's a bad list but I don't think Bam in particular is a choice to single out as particularly awful.

To me a franchise guy is, put him on any team in the league and you make him the focal point to your franchise direction. I don't believe Bam on the Hornets gets that kind of attention. He's incredibly good. Draymond is incredibly good. But without players to uplift the team in other ways, he's not winning you games by himself the way Morant, Luka, Zion, Giannis, Mitchell, or Booker are.

He is almost the perfect big for the modern game. That much is assured. Luckily, I'm not sure he ever becomes even a passable 3pt threat.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Who cares?

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Agreed, these are the same clowns that picked KAT over AD one year.

Luka
Tatum
Zion
Booker
Mitchell