Hindsight is 20/20: Redoing the 2015 NBA Draft

The 2015 NBA Draft was littered with stars, but the lottery was also full of misfires. Looking back, how should the first round have played out?

It’s a funny thing to look back at the 2015 NBA Draft and the thoughts in real time. Fans will be quick to remember the young New York Knicks fan crying incessantly over the selection of Kristaps Porzingis. Now the Latvian sensation could well be the future of the prestigious organization, and perhaps a savior — if they don’t run him out of town, of course.

Much like with that kid, though, it’s impossible to know with certainty about NBA prospects what they’ll ultimately become. You can only project so much about a player without actually seeing them in an NBA game. What’s more, projections are just that in terms of skill and physical development for these prospects. As such, it takes a few years at least to start to see returns on investments in most cases.

Now two years removed from the aforementioned 2015 NBA Draft, we’re starting to see which players are worth their salt. By the same token, we’re also starting to see which players may have been overvalued at the time — and there were plenty of those in the class. Admittedly, there are still some players that the jury is still out on (looking at you, Emmanuel Mudiay). For the most part, however, we can make an assessment of these guys and see how they stack up against one another.

After seeing the 2015 NBA Draft class have two seasons under their belt, how should these players have gone off the board? Let’s just redo the first round with the benefit of hindsight to see.

All stats are courtesy of Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.

1. Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns, C

Original Pick: Karl-Anthony Towns, C

Despite the much deserved love that Kristaps Porzingis gets from the 2015 draft class, the right player still went first overall with the Minnesota Timberwolves taking Karl-Anthony Towns. The center out of Kentucky has proven to be every bit as good as advertised. And at just 21 years old after his first two seasons in the league, Towns looks viably like a future MVP in this league.

After an impressive rookie season, Towns’ encore performance in Minnesota was just as impressive, if not more so. Playing in all 82 games (he’s played in all 164 possible thus far in his career), the big man saw the floor for 37 minutes per night in the 2016-17 season and did it all. He averaged 25.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 54.2 percent overall and 36.7 percent from long range. He’s the definition of versatility, a blend between the traditional and modern center in terms of his skill-set.

Though it might be hard to imagine given what he’s already doing in the NBA, the potential for Towns to become even more dominant still remains. As mentioned, he’s still only in his early 20s and could well take his game to the next level as an overall defender and a facilitator. He no doubt has the IQ and skills to make that happen. The big man is just getting started, and the Timberwolves undoubtedly made the right call — even if it was a no-brainer at the time.