NBA Draft 2017: 5 best fits for Jayson Tatum

2. Philadelphia 76ers (No. 3 overall)

This is the best case scenario for raising Tatum’s floor. If you want a development situation that will work with him, this is it. The Sixers are a team that likes to get shots at the rim and desperately needs 3-point shooting from the wing, and would have great interest in making Tatum into more of a three-level scorer. They have Dario Saric and Ben Simmons, who can initiate offense from the perimeter as fours and handle most of the shot creation duties. Joel Embiid provides rim protection and offensive punch to address that small-ball problem that we saw with the Dallas fit. Ideally, with Tatum on board you can roll out a lineup of Simmons, Timothe Luwawu, Tatum, Saric, and Embiid and have enough length and athleticism to defend anything.

For Tatum, this means that he can focus on providing bench scoring, working on polishing his defense and his 3-point shooting, and add another quirky dimension to an already quirky team by giving them both a dominant mid-post threat in addition to Saric’s court vision, Embiid’s dominance, and Simmons’s pick-and-roll offense. He may never become the next Melo on this team, but even if he’s not at that level, the Sixers could be the best team to add a consistent 3-and-D aspect to his game.

Grabbing Tatum doesn’t move the needle much for Philadelphia — they still could put all these things around Malik Monk, or Josh Jackson, and get a better outcome — but that’s more a testament to where the Sixers are at from a team-building perspective. You can find a way for them to be a good fit for every guy in the top-10.