NBA Draft 2017: Pro comparisons for prospects

Which current and former players do the top 2017 NBA Draft prospects compare to overall and in various elements of their games?

It’s a tradition as old as the NBA Draft itself, and a formality that the incoming prospects will be compared to pro players. By the same vein, though, there are often immense exaggerations when it comes to actually doing so. Player A more than likely isn’t going to be the next LeBron James or Kevin Durant. And Player B probably isn’t going to have the same career as Tim Duncan or Dirk Nowitzki.

While all of that is true, there’s a reason that many of these comparisons get thrown out there or gain any kind of traction. Someone’s length and offensive prowess may lead to a Durant comparison. By the same token, an elite stretch-four prospect could be subject to Dirk comps. And so the list goes on and on.

But the danger when it comes to making comparisons in this vein is that it tends to put unrealistic expectations on these young players. That’s unfair to them and unfair to raise the hopes of fans. In that vein, we’re going to try and remedy that to some degree.

We’re going to make comparisons to the top eight prospects in the 2017 NBA Draft. However, we’re going to pinpoint the areas that make the comparison noteworthy. What’s more, there will be plenty of hybrid comparisons with numerous areas being compared to separate players. Now that we have that, let’s get started with Lonzo Ball as we go in alphabetical order.

Lonzo Ball, PG, UCLA

Comparison: Jason Kidd (playmaking on the run), Kevin Martin (outside shooting, defense)

The Jason Kidd to Lonzo Ball comparisons have been thrown out roughly 100 times at this point. When you see Ball on film throughout his time at UCLA, it’s not hard to see why. Whenever the Big Baller is running the offense on the break, he has a lot of Kidd to his game. He’s great at simply making the fun and creative play that will best set his team up in those situations. The unfortunate thing about that comparison, however, is that the aptness of it really falls apart from there.

For one, Ball is a much more prolific shooter coming out of college than Kidd was. Yes, there are concerns about that because of his funky stroke (we’ll get to that), but the efficiency numbers don’t lie and he’s far more adept than Kidd was coming out of Cal. In Kidd’s favor versus Ball, however, is that the Cal product was much better in the halfcourt creating and running the offense. He was also a much more capable defender on the perimeter. Ball is a complete liability on the defensive end currently, though he has the length and athletic profile to develop into a player who’s Kidd-like on that end.

When it comes to getting the complete profile through comparison for Ball, the other player that has to be mentioned is Kevin Martin. Though he flamed out quickly, he proved out of Western Carolina to be an offensive threat, despite a weird shooting stroke and being a minus-defender for his entire career. Ball as of now fits that profile well, coupled with the playmaking of Kidd.