2017 NBA Mock Draft, Week 27: The final randomized lottery
By Chris Stone
De'Aaron Fox
PG, Kentucky
Draft Status: In with an agent
Dallas Mavericks’ head coach Rick Carlisle seems to have a special penchant for putting point guards in a situation to succeed, which is why sending Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox to Dallas might make for a good match despite Fox’s flaws. The 6-foot-3 point guard shows tremendous promise as an offensive creator because of his ability to get into the lane and break down defenses. Fox is a high volume guy when it comes to getting to the rim and he finishes at a high clip when he gets there. That skill also opens up passing lanes for Fox to find shooters, something that should be accentuated on an NBA floor compared to his time at college where many of his minutes were spent with non-shooters (save Malik Monk and sometimes Derek Willis) surrounding him.
The concern with Fox is that he is also a non-shooter and building around him could be difficult if he doesn’t improve. Assuming Fox’s shooting stays below average, which is the most likely scenario, he’ll need to be surrounding by capable shooters and need to dominate the ball offensively. That can work, but it reduces the flexibility that a front office will have in finding secondary creators.